U.S. Marines, Blackwater mercenaries, SEALs, and spanish troops shooting at Mahdi army from multiple camera perspectives (2004) end of video shows captured Mahdi army militants crying

[jrthe3]

[embed]https://reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/nr7cty/us_marines_blackwater_mercenaries_seals_and/[/embed]

U.S. Marines, Blackwater mercenaries, SEALs, and spanish troops shooting at Mahdi army from multiple camera perspectives (2004) end of video shows captured Mahdi army militants crying

[Seven_Veils]

This is the strangest mix of uniforms/weapons I’ve ever seen for the coalition side

[WillJongIll]

I’ve never been in the army, but if I’m ever in a real combat situation and I have the choice between a bright purple baseball cap and an Kevlar reinforced helmet, I’m going to go with the helmet. That’s just my preference.

[oh_three_dum_dum]

The Najaf video?

Travis Haley talked about this day on his YouTube channel years afterwards and revisited the subject from recognizing some of the mistakes he thinks he made and events that happened throughout the fight. I think he said the Marine rocking the SAW in this was actually a data systems Marine who happened to be there at the time.

Edit: he also wrote [an article](https://www.sofmag.com/ten-years-to-the-day/) about it in SOF magazine if you’re interested in more background…and can ignore that it’s Soldier of Fortune magazine.

[SeatSnifferSam]

It is widely known rounds won’t hit their target unless you say “git sum”

[Just_a_Guy_In_a_Tank]

I was on those rooftops a few weeks after the firefight in the video. The An Najaf (actually Kufa) hospital and university complex was a great defensive position. There were excellent fields of fire from many 2- and 3-story rooftops including the hospital rooftop, which if my memory serves me correctly was about 7 stories high. There were also Alaska barriers around the entire complex grounds, which was very sizable. The main power was out to the hospital, which had been abandoned at some point prior to the coalition (mostly Spanish) forces taking it over. The Spanish left shortly after my unit arrived there, due to pressure following the Madrid train bombing. There were still El Salvadoran army there (we called them “El Sals”) who had managed to get a Mk-19 on a tripod up to the rooftop of the hospital. All those guys were like five foot nothing so props to them.

[robmac550]

Dude in purple hat: “You’re all stupid. See they’re gonna be looking for army guys.”

[Expensive-Future-0]

Dude, you guys remember, “shoot them if they are wearing green” ?

[Al-Azraq]

Nice to hear some Spanish accent in this video.

Although it is funny, we were told by politicians at that time that we were on humanitary mission in Iraq.

[johnnyrockes]

Get down on it

[MadRonnie97]

Was the Mahdi Army one of the less extreme insurgent factions, or am I thinking about someone else?

[Stelio_Kontos-13]

The vehicle at 2:15 is a Spanish Army “VEC” (Recon Cavalry Vehicle)

[catsby90bbn]

Purple hat has his red dot mounted on his rail. That’s some air soft shit.

[lSpartanl1999]

my name is mehdi

[greennalgene]

Can any of those dudes hear to this day?