January 6, 2005
WAR OF THE RATS (via John Resnick):
Marine sniper credited with longest confirmed kill in Iraq (Cpl. Paul W. Leicht, Jan. 02, 2005, Marine Link)
Seen through a twenty-power spot scope, terrorists scrambled to deliver another mortar round into the tube. Across the Euphrates River from a concealed rooftop, the Marine sniper breathed gently and then squeezed a few pounds of pressure to the delicate trigger of the M40A3 sniper rifle in his grasp.Posted by Orrin Judd at January 6, 2005 6:24 PMThe rifle's crack froze the booming Fallujah battle like a photograph. As he moved the bolt back to load another round of 7.62mm ammunition, the sniper's spotter confirmed the terrorist went down from the shot mere seconds before the next crack of the rifle dropped another.
It wasn't the sniper's first kill in Iraq, but it was one for the history books.
On Nov. 11, 2004, while coalition forces fought to wrest control of Fallujah from a terrorist insurgency, Marine scout snipers with Company B, 1st Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, applied their basic infantry skills and took them to a higher level.
"From the information we have, our chief scout sniper has the longest confirmed kill in Iraq so far," said Capt. Shayne McGinty, weapons platoon commander for "Bravo" Co. "In Fallujah there were some bad guys firing mortars at us and he took them out from more than 1,000 yards."
Somebody better tell Pat Leahy that Americans are killing Iraqis.
Posted by: David Hill, The Bronx at January 6, 2005 7:19 PMPrecision shooting, hitting individuals at two-thirds of a mile--and that's with the "little" sniper rifle, the 7.62 (.30 cal.). Imagine what they can do with the Barrett .50.
Posted by: Mike Morley at January 6, 2005 9:08 PMDoesn't this violate their constitutional rights?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at January 6, 2005 11:09 PMIt is a little creepy to talk about killing as a sport, even if the cause is just.
That said, this appears to be a caliber-class record, rather than the absolute record. Mike, to answer your question; this is what they can do with a Barrett .50:
http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/KillingShot_2430Metres.asp
Posted by: Jason Johnson at January 6, 2005 11:49 PMSomebody correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Canadian soldier up for a medal in the U.S. and prime minister Chretien threatened to court marshall him if he accepted the honor?
The article linked by Jason only says the medal was "delayed".
Posted by: Randall Voth at January 7, 2005 7:04 AMLong-range, point-fire capabilty has always been an American forte'. Take a look at any British history of Revolutionary and 1812 war battles, and you will see how much this impressed t4he other side.
This fact is somewhat suppressed domestically out of Bellesiles-like political correctness. There was a recent History Charrel bit anout the Revolution from the Brit point of view, done as a sort of travelogue, with some English guy driving around the U.S. touring battlefields. He kept mentioning the incidents of British officers getting knocked off and wound up doing an interview of an American riflemean at a private shooting range. You tell that the interview had been edited to blunt its impact, but the point was still. made.
War means fighting, and fighting means killing, as one of our greatest military leaders once said. If you cannot face this in the slow calm of the paused breath and the focused eye, you have no right accept the benefits of war on your behalf.
Posted by: Lou Gots at January 7, 2005 7:41 AM
Even more impressive, IIRC, the 23rd Marine Regiment is a Marine Reserve unit. In other words this is a guy whom most of his friends and neighbors think of as a civilian.
Posted by: cornetofhorse at January 7, 2005 9:24 AMJason;
No, it's not a caliber class record. Note that the claim is "the longest confirmed kill in Iraq".
As for violating their rights, I've seen reports around that because of the new restrictions on what can be done with captured jihadis, fewer of them are being captured. This is most likely because the Left has yet to make the argument you're mocking (although I suppose it's just a matter of time).
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at January 7, 2005 2:58 PM