Anon

Elusive sniper saps US morale in Baghdad

Commanders weigh their options as 'Juba' notches up more kills

Rory Carroll in Baghdad
Friday August 5, 2005
The Guardian

They have never seen Juba. They hear him, but by then it's too late: a shot rings out and another US soldier slumps dead or wounded.

There is never a follow-up shot, never a chance for US forces to identify the origin, to make the hunter the hunted. He fires once and vanishes.

Juba is the nickname given by American forces to an insurgent sniper operating in southern Baghdad. They do not know his appearance, nationality or real name, but they know and fear his skill.

"He's good," said Specialist Travis Burress, 22, a sniper with the 1-64 battalion based in Camp Rustamiyah. "Every time we dismount I'm sure everyone has got him in the back of their minds. He's a serious threat to us."

Gun attacks occasionally pepper the battalion's foot and mounted patrols, but the single crack of what is thought to be a Tobuk(SVD) sniper rifle inspires particular dread.

Since February, the killing of at least two members of the battalion and the wounding of six more have been attributed to Juba. Some think it is also he that has picked off up to a dozen other soldiers.

In a war marked by sectarian bombings and civilian casualties, Juba is unusual in targeting only coalition troops, a difficult quarry protected by armoured vehicles, body armour and helmets.

He waits for soldiers to dismount, or stand up in a Humvee turret, and aims for gaps in their body armour, the lower spine, ribs or above the chest. He has killed from 200 metres away.

"It was the perfect shot," the battalion commander, Lt Col Kevin Farrell, said of one incident. "Blew out the spine.

"We have different techniques to try to lure him out, but he is very well trained and very patient. He doesn't fire a second shot."

Some in the battalion want marksmen to occupy rooftops overlooking supply routes, Juba's hunting ground, to try to put him in the cross-hairs.

"It would be a pretty shitty assignment because he's good," said Spc Burress. "I think it's a sniper's job to get a sniper, and it'd probably take all of us to get him."

American snipers operate in teams of at least two people, a shooter and a spotter, the latter requiring more experience since he must use complicated formulae to calculate factors such as wind strength and drag coefficients.

Some worry that Juba is on his way to becoming a resistance hero, acclaimed by those Iraqis who distinguish between "good" insurgents, who target only Americans, and "bad" insurgents who harm civilians.

The insurgent grapevine celebrates an incident last June when a four-strong marine scout sniper team was killed in Ramadi, all with shots to the head.

Unlike their opponents, US snipers in Baghdad seldom get to shoot. Typically they hide on rooftops and use thermal imaging and night vision equipment to monitor areas. If there is suspicious activity, they summon aircraft or ground patrols.

"We are professionals. There is a line between a maniac with a gun and a sniper," said Mike, 31, a corporal with a reconnaissance sniper platoon who did not want to his surname to be used.

He spoke during a 24-hour mission on a roof during which his team ate junk food and urinated into a bottle. During daylight they lay on the ground, immobile, to avoid being seen. "It's not a glamorous life," he said.

There was no sign of Juba, who tended to operate further east, but the team spotted mortar flashes and fed the coordinates to base.

Mike said he had shot 14 people in Somalia, three in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. "It's not like you expect it to be, an emotional high. You just think about the wind, the range, then it's over with."

Sniper fire is only of the threats for an American military that has suffered heavy losses this week.

Yesterday another soldier was killed in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, adding to the 21 who died in attacks on Monday and Wednesday.

Roadside bombs account for most of the lives lost, and the size and design of the explosions has led investigators to conclude that the insurgents are learning bombmaking methods from other terrorist organisations.

Yesterday's New York Times reported that the techniques used by Hezbollah in Lebanon were increasingly being seen in roadside bombs in Iraq.

An unnamed senior American commander quoted by the paper said bombs using shaped charges closely matched the bombs that Hezbollah used against Israel.

"Our assessment is that they are probably going off to 'school' to learn how to make bombs that can destroy armoured vehicles," he said.

Shek

The four man team that was killed in Ramadi fell asleep. It was not the work of a sniper team. However, this guy sounds like the real deal. Makes me wonder if he is an Iraqi or a foreign agent.

bigross86

Wow, that sucks. This Juba is gonna one pain in the ass to get. I'm just wondering if it's worth trying to capture him as oppose to kill him for information on other snipers.

__________________
You're a naughty girl, go to my room!

Shek

It's not worth it. If you have a shot, take it.

Anon

Agreed. Countersniping is about executing a shot when you get it, not about capturing.

Shek, four Marine snipers operating together ALL fell asleep?

Jesus christ. I hate to say it...but they deserve what they got, and let them be an abject lesson to others.

Shek

I apologize, I tried to find the the link that had that information, but couldn't find it. However, I think it was a fire team and not a sniper team. I've never heard of a 4-man sniper team, only 2- and 3-man teams. Supposedly, they found several magazines and a gameboy at the OP location.

I don't like to put forward Army vs. Marine arguments, but my feeling is that the Marines are much too willing to take unnecessary risks IMO based on some of these higher visibility incidents as well as conversations with my old XO when my unit went to Babil and worked with the Marines and conversations with a friend at school who was in Ramadi with the 1ID Fort Riley BDE. Two three man sniper teams moving in a semi-permissive urban environment is not a recipe for success in my book. There are several other ways to infil snipers in an urban environment that doesn't involve an easily recognizable element. My guess is that their movement was tipped off by local informants and then the ambush was set up.

Anon

The Marines have taken to using entire Sniper sections(six men) together in Iraq.

In my day, 99% of the time it was just two man teams operating alone, but we did occasionaly get chopped to the FIST-V team or USAF G-FAC ground teams. Rare, but it happened.

If you could find out definitively whether or not the guys you're thinking of were snipers or not i'd really appreciate it.

BTW, it's been confirmed that the six lost the other day were all snipers. They were operating in 2x3 man teams, and were apparently ambushed while moving into their positions.

5rd M-40s(or M-24s) are not exactly very useful for such fighting, which is why i loved my M-21. It didn't have the absolute top end range of the bolt guns, but it was still VERY useful in a close range fight.
Perhaps it's time to re-equip all our lads with the M-25(modernized M-21 currently used by US Army Sniper team spotters and SOCOM). Odds are that if those six men all had M-21s or M-25s at least some of them would still be alive today.

Wraith601

Sounds like it's time for some US snipers to go hunting for this bastard.

__________________
"We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be, detested in France."
-Sir Arthur Wellesley

Lunatock

Well this one definately sounds like the OIF Maj. Kroenig -Vasily Zietsev's nemesis, and "The Cobra" -Viet Kong Sniper that Carlos Hathcock won the Sniper duel against.

Anon

These famous sniper duels go all the way back to the Revolutionary war really.

Wraith601

I certainly won't shed any tears if somebody takes him out.

bigross86

See, this would make a good movie/TV show, unlike Saving Jessica Lynch...

Lunatock

Pick your sources carefully. The lower in rank and status, the better.

Somaton

I just came across a 15 min video of Juba in action. Disturbing as it is are you allowed to link to such clips in here, or is it even relevant?

__________________
Walk like a priest.

SovietHonor

please show it.