Page 30 - Combat Experience News Today

Weve got to have that fundamental political plan in place. and then the military plan should fall on top of that. what im concerned about is that we have some detailed military plans to defeat isis, but if we dont have a long-term political plan, then we can find ourselves back there for a third time five years from now. >> joining the discussion now is lieutenant colonel anthony sheaffer, a senior fellow at the london center for policy research and former army intelligence officer. also joining...

They would have been following him and tracking him. one of our reporters had chatted with him in mosul. we know that guy. that guy is a very charismatic figure. he is more of a gang leader than planner. when you see him on the metro station, right by the bataclan, the operation is ongoing. if you are a mastermind, you dont risk being taken like this. that detail shows you are careless. you cant be careless if you are the mastermind of the operation. >> what do you suspect he was doing before an...

And now its confirmed. >> the assumption is this wasnt gratui gr gratuitous, this was a real gun fight? >> yes, such a scope, so many rounds of bullets were fired and so many people were involved also in breaking that siege and taking it this apartment. and you have to bear in mind that these people, like i said, when you go to syria, i was in syria ten days ago. the government forces had taken over al nusra camp in the northern part of homs. what i saw was al nusra fighters had dug trenches wit...

Warfare that theyre doing. theyre raging war. theyve been doing that for two, three years sometimes. so, when you come from an environment like that, and you find yourself in saint-denis holding a siege, its a piece of cake, you know. you scare the people away. you know, youre able to stand to the police, no problem. and for quite a long time. it lasted seven hours to take them. so if theyve been to syria, they got combat, thats what well hear, the returnees, you know, people that have combat ex...

They were obviously professionalized class two terrorists. these are life long terrorist professionals. no one can go into a venue and just gun do 150 people while doing almost near perfect reloading drills. its such a tense situation, without having combat experience under their belt. combat experience where they have jihad, the pleasure, the blood lust of holy war. so for whoever carried out this attack, they operated as a group, they planned as group. it was initiated by suicide bombers at th...

Attack. you keep talking and everyone keeps talking about the apparent attacks. this was one military-style assault. the first bombings, suicide bombings or roadside bombings because there was some talk about a canister bombing by the stadium where the french president was inside, thats a come-on attack. thats going to draw a lot of attention. its going to draw first responders. and then 15 minutes later or so you saw the much more deadly phase where you have the opened fire in the restaurants a...

I kind of have, i guess psychological problems, if you will. and i guess the mental stress. so. >> twaun stallworth serving a one year sentence for cocaine possession, is still haunted by a combat experience that occurred 20 years earlier during the battle to free kuwait. he says he once saw a friend blown up by a woman and a child who were concealing explosives. moments later, he saw another child running towards him. >> i didnt know what to do. but i turned, i aimed and i fired. he was 6 years...

To some sort of attack here in our own country? >> its really hard to assess because we dont really have a good handle on how many people have gone to the middle east, picked up all of this combat experience and training with explosives and come back. i think the bigger threat is the people that are in place in the united states who are reacting to the isis appeal to conduct some sort of lone wolf operation. this is a real daunting task for law enforcement. >> lieutenant cnn rick francona, we al...

>> recently two females graduated from the grueling army ranger school, becoming the fist two women -- first two women to do so. the army, navy and air force plan to open all of their combat jobs to women next year. congressman duncan hunter, himself a former marine, is demanding that mabis resign because he, quote, openly disrespected the marine corps as an institution, and he insulted the competency of marines birdies regarding their professional judgment, their combat experience and their qua...

What its like to be in a combat situation? i wonder if that -- if this connected for you with your combat experience? >> to a point it did. you know, being in those kind of situations and going through that sort of training, it does help you prepare for situations like this. the difference is, is when youre in combat, youre in full gear and you have a weapon in your hands and youre more ready for it. when youre out in a civilian community, its not something that youre ready for on a regular basi...