Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
THEY ARE OUR SOLDIERS
THEY ARE OUR SOLDIERS
They carry the weight of the world as easy as they
carry the gear on
their back.
They are missed at Sunday dinners and spend birthdays
overseas.
The eat MRE's and dream of home-cooked meals and
family.
Their leave is never long enough and goodbyes come too
soon.
They have responsibilities that we could never imagine
and that
creates places within them where we are not welcome.
Places that only the soldier, one arms length away,
would understand.
They make friendships that even years later causes
their eyes to
light up and their speech to become more rapid as they
tell their
stories.
They are our heroes.
They sacrifice to serve.
They defend us from enemies seen and unseen and at
times, they defend
us from ourselves.
Indoor plumbing, a real bed, and laundry rooms are
unknown luxury in
a war zone and take on a whole new importance.
They long remember the smell of the cot and can feel
the grit from
ever-present sand.
They carry pictures of their children and families
alongside
magazines of live ammo.
They are a paradox of gentleness and warrior.
They bleed red, white, and blue, and they cry real
tears.
They carry guilt for those they left behind and guilt
for what may
await them.
The letters they send are never long enough or
frequent enough.
The letters we send them are never long enough or
frequent enough.
So each letter is read and reread until they can
recite each line by
heart.
It matters not what branch they chose to serve in.
They are the brotherhood of proud men and women.
They are in our prayers and in our hearts.
They are our soldiers.
They have earned the right to be our heroes.
May we earn the right to call ourselves Americans and
give them the
respect and support they deserve.
Monday, December 29, 2003
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Saturday, December 27, 2003
We rarely get a chance to see another country's editorial about the USA.
Read this excerpt from a Romanian Newspaper. The article was written by Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title "C"ntarea Americii meaning "Ode To America") on September 24, 2002, in the Romanian newspaper Evenimentulzilei ("The Daily Event" or "News of the Day").
~An Ode to America~
Why are Americans so united? They would not resemble one another even if you painted them all one color! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious beliefs. Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart.
Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, and the secret services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed out onto the streets nearby to gape about. The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand. After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over the smoking
ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national flag.
They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every
car a government official or the president was passing.
On every occasion, they started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America!" I watched the live broadcast and rerun after rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who gave his life fighting with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that could have killed other hundreds or thousands of people. How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being?
Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which no money can buy.
What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their galloping history? Their economic Power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the risk of sounding commonplace.
I thought things over, but I reached only one
>conclusion...Only freedom
can work such miracles.
Friday, December 26, 2003
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Merry Christmas Heroes
I'd like to wish you the very best for the holidays and the coming New Year. I appreciate your willingness to serve our country and the personal sacrifices you have made for the freedoms of our nation and for the oppressed of other lands. You all are heroes. You are in my thoughts and prayers as you are away from your familes at this special time of the year. God bless you and keep you all safe!
Terry Doyle
Mom of Adam, Ft. Carson, CO
MIL of Jenny, Kuwait
It is the men and women of our country that join our military services that enable each of us the right to live the lives we live...from our freedom of speech, to our freedom of religion, right down to our right to vote...These men and women allow us to selfishly crawl into our oversized warm beds, and cover up with our security blanket and sleep soundly at night....What most of us 'americans' over look is...well, our military people ARE our security blanket!! Without them going threw these hellish times, where would we be??....
I am eternally greatful we have such brave men and women providing such a security for me and everyone else....These men and women are TRUELY our blessing from above, so I thank each soldier from the tip of my toes to the top of my head, and I thank God for each of them nightly...
To each soldier I share this thought that gets me threw what seems to be a trial of a day........
"There are blessings all around, sometimes we just can't see them, and sometimes we only see them later in life."
Thank YOU Heroes!
Vickey in Virginia
My thoughts are with you this holiday season and even though you are far away, I
hold you in my heart forever. Be safe thank you for all you do.
Merry Christmas Hero,
Patti Patton-Bader
To My Heroes...
Whereever I go,
Whatever I do,
I want you to know,
My thoughts and prayers are just for YOU!!
GOD BLESS!!
SEMPER FI!!!
Future Marine, Trista
For all our wonderful military men and women. Thank you all for your service and sacrifice for our country. I'm sorry that many of you are spending the holidays away from home and family, but want you to know that you are in our hearts and thoughts, and that we are wishing you safe and speedy deployments.
Take care and stay safe,
Sara
Thank you for risking your lives over there. You are one person fighting for so many in the US and Iraq. Thanks,
The Bentz'
Thanks for fighting to keep our country free from terrorists. I respect you. I'm sorry you can't be here for the holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. You're one of a kind and you're in my prayers. Come home safely.
Timothy Louis Cherry
You all are doing such a fine job, and I want you to know how very proud you make us here in America. I want to thank you all and wish you a Merry Christmas and New Years, and that you come home soon to celebrate the holidays that you spent away. God Bless you and know that you are thought of and loved by us daily.
Love and big hugs to you,
Dee Juliano
To all the soldiers, males and females. I just want to wish all of you a Merry X-mas. Remember that the big man up above is looking after each and everyone of you. You guys are true heroes! This country is very lucky to have brave people like you guys. Soon this will be over and you'll guys will be home.
Love, Miriam.
Every time I hear the song, " I'll Be Home for Christmas." I think of y'all. You are true heros. If there were more men and women like y'all in the world, there would not be so much hate. Even when we can not be with you, our thoughts are. May the Lord above continue to guide and protect y'all. May He bring each one of y'all home safe. Whenever a breeze goes across your cheek know that it is an angel sent to watch over you. When a breeze touches your head know that it is your family and friends reaching out to you. When you look at the stars know that we are all looking at the same stars and thinking of you. When you see the sun or the moon, know that it is God smiling down on you
May the New Year find you surrounded by family and friends.
Charlene
jaberwacky@amnetline.com
I am writing to wish you all a Merry Christmas, I know it must be hard being away from families this time of year. I would also like to thank you for what you are doing to keep our country safe. Remember you are in our thoughts and prayers daily. I hope the New Year brings you home to your families.
I will be remembering one special Marine this Christmas, his name is Cpl. Jason Mileo. Jason was killed in action April 14, 2003, in Bagdad. Jason was my cousin and I miss hum dearly.
May God Bless You and keep you safe,
Mary from Pasadena, Maryland
To all our military men and women: My sincere thanks to all of you for what you are doing for our country. Your sacrifices, loyalty and dedication is what makes this country great. You are in my daily thoughts and prayers and I pray that our Heavenly Father protects you and brings you home again soon. Wishing you much peace and happiness this Christmas and always. God Bless you all.
Much love,
Nancy
Dear Heroes,
Season's Greetings! You will have a special place in our hearts this holiday season. We are thinking of you, and we will never ever forget you.
You are in my prayers for your safe return home.
Merry Christmas!
Sharon Sparks
To our incredible Military:
Thank you for defending something to precious to us. Our Freedom.
Your bravery, dedication, and sacrifices are to be commended.
With much love,
Michele in Montana
I thank God everyday for our brave men and women in our U.S. Military...May God Bless you this holiday season. My thoughts and prayers are with each of you.
Cheriese
My thoughts and prayers are with all the brave men and women defending our country.We love you all., and are thinking about you now and always.
with love,
Melissa (maine)
For all our soldiers and sailors serving here and abroad: Thank you so much for your service to our country. Each and every one of you is "Person of the Year" and we owe you a debt of gratitude and appreciation. Sending you best wishes for a happy and safe holiday, and if you are deployed, a very speedy return home.
You are in our hearts and thoughts.
Sara
Proud Army Mom of Dan
To My Heroes,
Myself and my family will always have you in our hearts and prayers. We are very grateful for all you have done and the sacrifices you have made. I cherish my freedom and know who I owe it to. Keep safe-Be well-Come home soon !
MERRY CHRISTMAS
AMERICAN ARMED FORCES
By Peggy Baker
Mother of a Soldier
Today as we sit at our dinner tables, many of us will experience the absence of a family member, due to the upholding of our freedom. We will be brought to tears easily today but in a mixture of emotions. As for myself, my Soldier and I have spent the last 26 years of birthdays and holidays together?I will miss him terribly. On the other hand his absence has changed my life, as I am sure so many parents of soldiers can relate. I no longer take anything for granted. Everything I do is a precious freedom that I want to be thankful for. I never want to forget the brave men and women that have laid down their lives in order that I might sit here in my cozy home and enjoy all the blessings around me.
More than ever in my life I understand the meaning of patriotism. I experience that lump in my throat every time I hear the National Anthem, see our flag, or catch a glimpse of a soldier in uniform.
Because of my soldier?s commitment to our Country I have come to know some fine people. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and grandparents who are committed to making a difference in a soldier?s life. I am proud to know these people.
I received this e-mail from one of my ?adopted soldiers? ?
?It?s beginning to look a lot like Christmas?Even in Iraq.? Peggy,
I want to thank you for the phone card and Christmas decorations! It was really nice of you to send some of your own collection! We put the Santa on top of our tree in our MWR building and hung the Merry Christmas banner on our entrance way. I have also received decorations from Carol. I am planning on taking some pictures with my digital camera and sending you some so you all can see how you are ?lighting? up our holidays here! Thank you again!
Your friend,
Earl
NO Earl?THANK YOU! Thank each and every one of you that has given up so much for America! ?? We salute you??..
So when I sit down at my dinner table today, I will try not to be sad about what I am missing but rather be grateful for all I have been given?
God bless our Military and keep them safe.
Merry Christmas to all our sons and daughters!
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
A Soldiers Christmas Poem
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.
I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.
I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.
NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.
WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.
FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.
THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.
WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED! UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.
SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.
THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.
I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.
THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.
THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."
THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.
I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.
I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."
ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."
Thank you for Angels
Throughtout the year angels came and said, We want to help, we want the soldiers deployed to know "We Care'"and they came and brought clothes and food and cheer to as many as they could. These angels came and asked for nothing in return. There were there when a soldier was tired, they were they when a soldier was alone. They were there to celebrate birthdays and to comfort a wife who missed her hero dearly, They were there for a Camp who was cold and needed thermals and they were they there for Thanksgiving with 5 Turkeys, 5 Hams, dozens of boxes of stuffing and mashed potatoes and 100 fruit cups. This page is dedicated to all the Soldier's Angels who came from all corners of the world to help aid and comfort the Boots On The Ground.
Zax_mom
I have a care package ready to go to my assigned soldier...my son and I are
thrilled to be a part of this. I have his APO on the box...now direct my
empty head please!! We take it to the post office...fill out customs papers
even though it's only going to his APO and they take it from there??? I am
so confused! We actually had left overs (I guess we went a little crazy on
our shopping spree ) and I made up another box for a female who was
requesting Christmas cards...is this ok? WHEW...it doesn't take much to
confuse this mind...I'm tellin' ya! Oh...BTW...I am Elaina age 31...mom to
Zak 11 and Alexa 3. We live in Arizona. Zak's poppa (my dad) is retired Navy
and my brother was a Marine. Zak is very very interested in pursuing a
career as an Air Force pilot someday (go little man, go I say!!) We are
soooooo very excited to be a part of this. Thanks for havin' us!!
Debbie
Hi. My name is Debbie. I am married to Bob, and have 4 wonderful kids,
Nathan is 25, Josh is 23, Crystal 20 and my youngest Kylee is 12. I grew up
on the West coast and have been in Illinois now for 13 years. My brother
has been in the Army for 17 yrs. and needless to say I am very proud of him.
We feel so blessed that he has a great wife & kids that has been so
supportive of his military career. Being gone 6-9 months out of every year
can take a toll on the families. I have been on my own 'mission' since
march when I heard that some guys weren't getting mail. Since then my home
has been a warehouse for our troops. Thank goodness my husband and kids
support our efforts. Every month my friends & I work on new projects to
raise money for postage. I am very proud of all and military and I
appreciate all the sacrifices that have to make. I had searched the web for
months to find support that wasn't negative and was so happy when I was told
about this group. I would just like to say Thank you to all and keep up the
great work. There are still 1000's out there not getting mail and maybe we
can all solve that problem. God Bless all our Military and their families.
Trista
Well, in case some of you don't know me. I'm Trista a 19 year old female
from the Cincinnati, Ohio area. I'm going into the Marine Corps and will be
on my way to Parris Island in the new year. Just so you all know, I think
you're all incredible!!! Keep up the OUTSTANDING work! SEMPER FI! Future
Marine, Trista
Mrs_CPT_Crain
Hi,
My name is Megan Crain,and I am the wife of Cpt nathaniel Crain, and mother
to Elianna Nicole. Elly is 21 months old. Nathaniel left ft. leonard wood on
2 April with the 5th Engineers. He is currently attached to the 223
Engineers, Mississippi National Guard, due to heavy losses suffered by this
unit. His spirits are surprisingly high considering all that has gone on. I
hear from him much more now that he is with the guard, but they are
constantly on the road moving. I am also a stampin up demonstrator and would
like to put my talents to good use for the soldiers and all those who
contribute to make our loved ones lives a little bit brighter. If any one
out there has any ideas or any interest in this please contact me. If anyone
is interesed in making any purchases I will also offer a 15% discount to the
group. Keep your chins up, everything does happen for a reason and we much
trust in God.
Laci Gerhart
Hi! My name is Laci Gerhart and I just joined A Soldier's Blog. I'm a
sophomore at the University of Kansas majoring in Ecology. I'm originally
from Hutchinson, KS, if anyone's ever heard of there... :) I've noticed most
other people have family members who are or were in the armed forces. I had
two second cousins overseas in the early 90's and my sister and I (at the
time she was around 10 and I was around 6) sent them care packages with what
we considered "essentials" which was mostly squirt guns and popcorn, but we
were so excited when they wrote us back and said that they used the squirt
guns to wake their friends up in the morning. I've never forgotten how happy
that letter made me....I am so excited to be a part of this group and I hope
I can help make a difference in someone's life.
Wendy
My husband David and I live in London, KY. When I refer to "Lovey" that is
my Hubby...I have a million "pet" names for the whole crew...is a miracle my
kids grew up knowing their actual names!!!!
London is 41 miles North of the KY/TN line on the Eastern side of KY. Its a
small town-am thrilled to be in a small town again.
The two youngest boys: Joshua, 22 and Isaiah, 20 live in London also. The
oldest boy (Jamey) lives in IN with his wife Jen and baby son Adam. Too far
for this Gramma!!!
Our daughter, Rachel ("GI Jane"), is 19 (in October) and she's also our
Soldier. We also have a younger daughter, Nicole, who is 12, and lives in
WI with her mother.
Rachel is at APG, MD for her AIT and will be graduating the 18th of this
month-her MOS is 63W (All Wheel-vehicle Mechanic). She hopes to work on her
Papa's 18 wheeler when she is back home...!(He still drives,I am
semi-retired, in more ways than one...LOL)
Love the outdoors-would love to live on the top of a mountain in a log-cabin
and live off the land!!!
Since I was a little girl (a "FEW" moons ago) I have been called "Wen" by
the people closest to me and my friends...so, please feel free to shorten it
up to Wen...!
Enough babble for now...LOL
Nancy Wiebel
Hi,
My name is Nancy and I live in eastern Iowa. I have a nephew in the NG and
he's currently stationed in CA. My dad was army in WWII. I'm happy I found
this group. You are all a wonderful bunch of people.
Hugs,
Nancy
Susie Feaster
Hello.....my name is Susie Feaster (aka medicfam). I am California girl who
moved from there 11 years ago and came to Boise, Idaho and never looked
back. I think (of course I am biased) I live in one of the best
communities!
I have been married to Randall for almost 15 years and we have a yours, mine
and ours family. His kids are Kati who is 27 and married.....she is my
bestest friend ..... and Randy who is 20 and married. My son Robert is 18
tomorrow and then we have the LITTLE PRINCESS Leah who is 12. They are all
awesome kids and we have a great family. We are all here in Idaho and all
the older kids left to go "home" to California but guess what....they all
came back!!!!
I have no military people in the family nor friends. The only military
people that I know are people that Randall works with. He is a paramedic
working on the ambulance and also helicopter. The pilots on the copter are
either retired military or reserves.
I have prayed for some type of "guidance" to show me what I was supposed to
do to help out. I pray for the military but never was able to figure out
what I could do....this one person with no connections.....to help out.
Well my daughters PTA we decided we would try and help the military with
packages for the holiday. I was given the task to do research to figure it
out. Well I stumbled upon Patti's website and was HOOKED
Now I cannot do enough to help and am knowing this is what GOD wants me to
do. I am only one person and I cannot change the world but you know
what.....I can make one person smile and they will be a little happier for
the day. Makes it all worth it. My problems are tiny compared to what our
troops are going thru. I will continue to help out however I can.
Angel Hugs to all
Susie
Vickie
Hello, my name is Vickie, I'm from Northern New Jersey. 34 years old,
single. I'm a desktop solutions specialist (crazy stresssful job) so I
definitly need something fun to keep me sane. This is the first year I've
become invovled in sending care packages to soldiers deployed overseas and I
have to say I absolutly love it!!!! It is so much fun for me and I've met
so many wonderful people. I don't have any family or friends (well now I
have friends ) in the military, this is just something I wanted to do one
day after watching the war coverage on TV. I'm looking forward to meeting
some new friends on this board. Thanks for inviting me to join.
AnneinCal
Hello everyone. My name is Anne from Southern California. I'm called Annie
by many. I am big supporter of the troops and have been supporting various
units with the help of my friends, coworkers, support groups, etc. since
this March. I have a brother named Richard in the Air Force who served in
the Gulf war and who like many other troops is willing to serve his country
again. I have the greatest respect for the military and its families for
all they endure and the sacrifices they make to keep America free. I also
enjoy reading about the military especially World War II stories and the
Greatest Generation. I have my own website which I created for my firm so
that they can see the difference we made in our troop's lives. It is called
For The Troops www.4thetroops.net
It's wonderful to be part of this group of Angels who support the troops!
Hugs and God Bless, Anne
Elizabeth
I am Elizabeth from Michigan. I am originally from South Carolina. But have
lived here for 8 years. I am married to Randy and we have 4 daughters ages
13, 10, 8, and 2. We are a very loud and busy family!
My husband and I have never served, but we have had siblings, parents,
uncles, cousins, etc... who have served our nation. We believe that it is
our duty and and privilege to support and honor our veterans and those
currently serving our nation.
Charlene
Frist I would like to go on record and say that I HATE talking about myself.
But since I don't have anyone to write this Bio for me, here goes. :)
I am 26 years old. I was born and raised in Florida, where I still live. I
hope to move out of this state one day. I have one brother. He's 16 1/2
months older than me. He's also single (wink wink). LOL I am not married,
nor do I have any children.
I am very honest, so if you would like to know anything, please feel free to
ask. There are very few questions that I won't answer. Thanks for reading.
Hope you are still awake. LOL
Charlene
jaberwacky@amnetline.com
Dee Juliano
My name is Dee. I live in New Jersey. I'm married to a Marine veteran from
the Viet Nam war. My son Ryan is 2/325 Alpha company. I am honored to be a
new member of this group and to get to know you and your soldiers I'm
looking forward to the activities and projects we will be doing.
Angel hugs,
Dee
Vickey from Virginia
Nope, I am not an angel....far from it actually!! Peggy Baker is my best
bud, so when her son went into the army it was like a family member of mine
went in! Besides, I am a mother of four children, three of them boys, my
eldest boy has total soldier envy so I'm almost POSITIVE he will join a
branch of service when he is old enough (he's only 11 now)...Oh and I am the
wife of a vet of the gulf war...
My husband, when he found out about this group said, 'I wish there was a
group like this when I was in the Navy. The entire time I was in, I got six
letters, and ONE care package when the war was going on'.....mind you fellow
'angels', he comes from a LARGE family, broke my heart when he said this,
and it was at that point that I KNEW I had to extend my family and adopt a
soldier.......So, here I am.
God Bless Our Soldiers.......whom in my mind are actually 'Peacemakers'
I love each one of them equally the same...
Vickey from Virginia
Miriam Ramirez
I live in South Gate, Ca (Los Angeles area), 23 years old. I don't have a
military backround but was about to join the Marines when I was 17 ( I
wanted to sooo bad. ), but due to an illness I wasn't allowed to go. But I
do enjoy helping out groups like this one. As well for my Fire and Police
dept. I live with parent and sisters, I have no kids but I adore them. My
little angels of my very own are my 2 godddaughters Amber 4 and Jade 2. Due
to them I'm looking forward to life. I work and go to school. I don't know
what else to say, you could go ahead and ask. But I love to help out to
whoever needs it and our soldiers will always need it.
Sharon Sparks
Hi! I am Sharon Sparks, and I live in Baltimore, Maryland. I come from a
long line of patriots. I am the daughter of a World War II veteran. My
great-great grandfather was a Civil War veteran; and I have ancestors who
fought in the American Revolution. I am in the process of gaining membership
into the Daughters of the American Revolution. I was introduced to this
group by my friend, fuzzrat. I am glad she did because I have gotten to know
many wonderful people here, as well as getting to know many of our heroes
who are serving our country in our armed forces.
Peggy Baker
My name is Peggy Baker.
I live in Virginia with my husband and four children. My oldest son is in
the Army stationed in Korea. Outside of my family, this is the greatest
honor I have ever had...
To be part of this group and to let our Heros know we support them 100%
Carol (puentec)
Hi, my name is Carol. I am from Chicago. Come from a military family.
Grandfather/Merchant Marines. Dad/Ret.Maj Army WW11 Vet and hero.2 brothers
Viet Nam vets. 1 brother Ret. Sgt. Daughter Army Res. home base Ft. McCoy,
Wis. A very proug and gracious AMERICAN who belives in supporting our
Military. Proud and honored to be a part of all you wonderful ANGELS.
'OLD SOLDIER'S NEVER DIE THEY JUST FADE AWAY'
Ana-Marie Smith
My name is Ana-Marie Smith and I reside in Sunny California. I grew up with
a father who retired from the US Navy after 23 years of service. My husband
was also in the Navy for 10 years. I have lived overseas a few times so I
am familiar with the hardships of deployment.
Turtle (Jenn Dupree)
I'm Jennifer DuPree but you can call me "Turtle". I currently live in a
small town 30 min east of Raleigh, NC called Angier & I'm a social worker in
Child Mental Health. I have also lived in the mountains of Western NC & I
grew up in Atlanta, GA! My adopting of soldiers began in the Gulf War & I'm
thrilled to be here to show my support & love for these brave men & women
during this war too! Living in Angier I am very close to Fort Bragg,
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and Camp Lejeune so it hits home even more so
for me this time around! My personal ties to the military include my dad
who served in the Army in Germany many moons ago, my Paw Paw who flew
bombers in WWII earning all kinds of honors including the distinguished
flying cross and my dear friend/adopted brother who is a marine that has now
served in both the Gulf War and our current drama production! God Bless all
of you for joining this group and making this effort so successful! You can
find me @ turtledupree@hotmail.com if you need me!
Patti Patton-Bader
Hi,
I am Patti from Pasadena, Ca.
I am founder of Soldier's Angels, I come from a military family starting
with Gen. George Patton great uncle, my dad Lt. Col Patton, my brother SPC
David Patton, and my son, my hero, Spc Brandon Varn. I am so proud of all
our Armed Forces and so very proud of each and everyone of you angels.
Thank you ,
patti
Delora
My name is Delora. I have been a single mom to 2 great kids for many years.
I have a daughter Monica, 22 who presented me with a beautiful granddaughter
one year ago January. My son Jay is now 20 and stationed at Ft Campbell. He
joined the army Sept 6, 2001. He returned from Iraq in July and is waiting
for the rest of his batallion to return in Feb. I have continued to write
his friends and others since he came home and have shared names of these
soldiers with the group. Thank you all for helping me remember them.
Becca
My name is Rebecca Vinson, I live in the middle Ga area. I have a younger
brother who is stationed in Germany and two close friends of mine are also
stationed in Germany. Myself and one of my best friends are scheduled to
leave for basic training the first part of next year for the armyas well.
My grandfather was in the navy in the Korean war, and I have a couple of
uncles who fought in WWII. My mom and my three sisters and I are sending out
boxes and cards and letters to deployed soldiers and ones at their duty
stations who we know do not recieve mail from home. This is a wonderful
site and I am honored to be apart of something so wonderful.
Terry Doyle
I'm Terry and live in Indiana. My oldest son Adam is an MP with the 59th MP
CO out of Ft. Carson, CO. He just returned 12/6 from being deployed to Iraq.
His wife Jenny is also in the Army. She is in the 68th CSB-HHD and is
currently serving in Kuwait. My husband was Army and served in Viet Nam. My
dad (passed away this summer) was Army Air Corps in WW2. I'm looking
forward to all the great projects! Love, Terry
Sara Ehrlich
I'm Sara from New Jersey. My son Dan is finishing up AIT (will graduate
12/18) at Ft Huachuca and after a course in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles at Ft
Huachuca and Airborne training at Ft Benning will (we hope) be on to the
82nd at Ft Bragg. My father and grandfather were career Navy, so this is my
first Army experience. I have a project going to collect books, magazines,
DVDs and games for deployed soldiers and have the pleasure and honor of
corresponding with a number of these wonderful men and women. I am so happy
to be part of this wonderful group.
A SOLDIERS BLOG
KEEP YOUR HELMET ON!!
We are praying for your safe return. Thank you for all We all miss you.
-Karen Humphreys Thank You! you do ? Ginny Mazzuca Come home safe!
You are in my prayers. -Bev Wood
God Bless you -Cindy Cronin Stay safe & come
All ? Rock Brockman home very soon We are all very
Thank you for keeping our Thank you for -Dave Dixon proud of you!
Country Safe ? Eileen Greilsamer all you?ve done & -Melissa Eckert
Your Bravery. Thanks for giving us peace of mind!
Best Wishes ? Betty Sidel -Candice Wilson God Bless You! Come Home Soon! Best Wishes!
-Bernadine Robinson -Clyde Garrett
Your sacrifice is very much
appreciated ? Thank you very much! We are so proud of you all. Keeping you in our
You will always be in my prayers. Thank you ? Marie Henderson daily thoughts and
- Veronica Nickerson prayers ? Karen Palazzo
A Heartfelt Thank You for a job well done!
BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON FROM EVERYONE AT EARLY, CASSIDY & SCHILLING, INC.
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
We are proud of you You are all Be safe ? Happy Holidays! There are no words
each and every day. Wonderful! -Lynne Cook to express the level of
Best Wishes ? Andy Cassidy - Virginia Buch respect I have for all of you.
Our Prayers -Laraine Lyons
Best Wishes Thank You! are with you!
Happy Holidays!! Tim Schilling - Lori Perkins All the best.
Sylvia Carrington You are in Our prayers.
Thank you for -Michele Way
Thank you for being there all that you do. ? Aletha Norris
For us. ? Jim Hodgson See you back home!
Best Wishes Larry Jaggers
Thank you all so Marlene Stringer
much. Be Safe!! Happy Holidays ? Tom Butler
-Debbie Lewis
A Heartfelt Thank You for a job well done!
BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON FROM EVERYONE AT EARLY, CASSIDY & SCHILLING, INC.
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
I hope you return
Have a happy & safe home safe and sound
. holiday - Lori Lee Sherwood soon! ?Jennie Cheng
Take Care, Be Safe -Jean Rodgers MY WHOLE FAMILY THANKS YOU
FOR PROTECTING WHAT WE HAVE.
May God Bless You All ? Jeff Hixon -DAVE MADARAS
God Bless America!
A Heartfelt Thank You for a job well done!
BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON FROM EVERYONE AT EARLY, CASSIDY & SCHILLING, INC.
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
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ANGEL'S WALL OF HONOR
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Soldier's Angels are a group of people who came from far and wide to say " We care."
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Ideas from A-Z for care packages
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Great Neck Saw Manufacturer's Inc
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Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #4410
Alicia M. Schiffer
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Susan Kight
Hi all I am Kari and I live in South Bend, Indiana. My 20yr old daught is PFC Amanda and she is currently stationed in Balad, Iraq. Balad is between Mosul and Baghdad. She is from Ft Campbell with the 101st Airborne....Go Screaming Eagles!!!! She had been in the Army now for about 1 1/2 years. I am married to a wonderful man and also have a 12 yr old daughter and 8 yr old son. Thanks for having me :)
Hugs
Kari
Hello I'm Mary Ann from TN. My son Mike is a SSG with Alpha Co 2/325 82nd ABN. His wife Samona (Mona) is also in the Army and is stationed at FT.Bragg awaiting his return from Iraq. My Dad was USN as well as my biological brother Russell. Dad retired in 1960. This is Mike's 3rd deployment and is by far the worst. I look forward to meeting all of you.
Mary Ann
Hello all my name is Melissa and I am 32 yrs old married with 2 children, living in Maine..I am soooo excited to be doing this..it is the very least that I or anyone can do for our "heroes" I can not wait to send something out to my guy...
My husband's step brother was serving in I raq,with the 101st Airborn Div, and is now home on leave, to have another knee surgery... We are sooooo very proud of him, and I feel very honored to do something for someone else.
Melissa
Hi,
My name is Megan Crain,and I am the wife of Cpt nathaniel Crain, and mother to Elianna Nicole. Elly is 21 months old. Nathaniel left ft. leonard wood on 2 April with the 5th Engineers. He is currently attached to the 223 Engineers, Mississippi National Guard, due to heavy losses suffered by this unit. His spirits are surprisingly high considering all that has gone on. I hear from him much more now that he is with the guard, but they are constantly on the road moving. I am also a stampin up demonstrator and would like to put my talents to good use for the soldiers and all those who contribute to make our loved ones lives a little bit brighter. If any one out there has any ideas or any interest in this please contact me. If anyone is interesed in making any purchases I will also offer a 15% discount to the group. Keep your chins up, everything does happen for a reason and we much trust in God.
Merry Christmas To All
God Bless Our Troops
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
U.S. Troops Arrest Rebel Suspects in Iraq: "BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces arrested eight rebel suspects in a stronghold of anti-American resistance northwest of Baghdad, the military said Tuesday, as troops tightened security against possible attacks over the Christmas holidays. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Militants Tied to Saddam Aide Arrested, Judge Killed: "American soldiers arrested Muslimmilitants with ties to an Iraqi fugitive near the top of theirmost wanted list, but the assassination of a senior Iraqi judgehighlighted continuing instability in postwar Iraq. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Siblings separated by Holocaust reunited: "For nearly 60 years, Binyamin Shilon believed his sister was among the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Now he holds her in his arms and cries with joy."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Saddam 'destroyed WMD after first Gulf War': "Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein almost certainly destroyed his weapons of mass destruction after the first Gulf War in 1991, according to the United Nations' former chief weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix."
In Ananova: War In Iraq
Egyptian minister undaunted after attack: "Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Tuesday he was undaunted after Islamic extremists attacked him in Jerusalem a day earlier, saying it would only strengthen his country's resolve to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Gunmen Kill Top Judge in North Iraq City: "A leading judge in the northernIraqi city of Mosul was assassinated Monday night, a policeofficial said Tuesday. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Iran protests US decision to send People's Mujahedeen to other countries: "The Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador, who heads the US interest section here, to protest remarks by US Iraq overseer Paul Bremer that People's Mujahedeen members would not be expelled to Iran but sent to third countries. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S. Troops Arrest Militants Tied to Saddam Aide: "U.S. troops have detained threeMuslim militants with ties to fugitive Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri,a former top aide to toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, asenior U.S. military official said on Tuesday. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Deaths of two US troops push US toll past 200; Russia to cut Iraq debt: "Two US soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter died as Russia signaled readiness to forgive much of Iraq's debt in exchange for favorable treatment of Russia's oil and other businesses. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Iraq's New Army Battles Its Own Problems: "The day before their recent deployment, some troops in Iraq's new army excitedly sounded the siren of their new ambulance. Two tightened bolts on a cargo truck. One meticulously wiped dirt off his assault rifle. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
US Troops Arrest Militants Linked to Saddam Aide: "U.S. troops have detained threeMuslim militants with ties to fugitive Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri,a former top aide to captured Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, theU.S. military said Tuesday. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Iraq's new army battles its own problems: "The day before their recent deployment, some troops in Iraq's new army excitedly sounded the siren of their new ambulance. Two tightened bolts on a cargo truck. One meticulously wiped dirt off his assault rifle."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Egyptian minister shoved by Palestinians: "Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher returned home after his one-day peace mission to Israel deteriorated into a shoving match with Palestinian extremists that landed him in the hospital."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Economy, Saddam Boost Bush in Opinion Poll: "Signs of an improving economy andthe capture of Saddam Hussein gave President Bush a boostheading into the 2004 election campaign, according to an ABCNews/Washington Post poll released on Monday. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S. extends Israeli-Syrian mission: "The Security Council voted unanimously Monday to extend the U.N. peacekeeping mission along the Israeli-Syrian border."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Diplomatic Language: "Part of discussion over Iraq between U.S. Ambassador in Egypt David Welch and some Al-Ahram Weekly journalists, as reported via FrontPage Magazine :
"
Nevine Khalil : And what if there is democracy in the region and the people decide to elect governments that are not friendly to the US? What would you do about that?
Welch : You mean like France?
In Command Post: Irak
X-Mas Grudge Match: Santa Claus vs. George W. Bush (22 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
3 Killed by Bomb: "From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : A roadside bomb killed two United States soldiers in Baghdad on Monday, hours after troops captured a former general in Saddam Hussein's once-feared security services on charges of recruiting ex-soldiers to attack Americans.
"
The blast that ripped through a military convoy in the late morning also killed an Iraqi interpreter and wounded two other soldiers, the US military said in a statement.
[...]
The US military said eight soldiers were wounded during raids in the mainly Sunni Muslim al-Anbar province which netted 40 "enemy personnel".
It did not say how the soldiers were hurt but added that one was evacuated to a combat support hospital.
A military convoy was hit with an explosive device near the town of Habbaniyah, seriously wounding one soldier.
Another three soldiers had minor wounds, a military statement said.
[...]
A US soldier was wounded by small arms fire in an attack in the northern town of Mosul on Monday morning, the US military said.
In Command Post: Irak
Two U.S. Soldiers and Iraqi Killed Amid Economic Push: "Two U.S. soldiers and an Iraqiinterpreter were killed in Baghdad, but Washington pressed Asiato join an international drive to reduce Iraq's debt andofficials hoped to restart a key oil export pipeline soon. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S. Iraq Debt Envoy to Hold New Talks in Asia: "The U.S. special envoy on Iraqidebt, James Baker, is to meet the leaders of Japan, South Koreaand China in Asia next week for a new round of debt-reductiontalks, the White House said. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
N.H. Guardsman Heads to Iraq After Pardon: "A New Hampshire National Guardsman was pardoned Monday for an assault conviction involving his wife and son so he could be deployed to Iraq. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Soldiers patrol city streets as Americans are warned of imminent terrorist threat (23 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Monday, December 22, 2003
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Goodnight Saddam
A Tribute to Operation Red Dawn
On December 13, 2003
The world slept, as evil fell to its knees.
In the darkness of night, deep in a hole
The lights from Red Dawn lit up his world.
Don't expect sympathy, with a defeated look.
You never felt pity for the lives you took.
A nation of people, oppressed, and ruled by fear,
Can breathe a sigh of relief, Redemption is here.
No hole is deep enough to get in their way.
No night is too dark to cause dismay.
They strike like the eagle upon its prey.
Say goodnight Saddam.
Red Dawn had its day.
It must have been hard for Red Dawn.
As they found you on that night,
Not to take retribution for the loss,
Of so many comrades, and innocent lives.
Now you too know why, we call them our pride.
With dedication, they never give up their fight,
To rid this world of a tyrant's spite,
They endure, persevere, and risk their own lives.
No hole is deep enough to get in their way.
No night is too dark to cause dismay.
They strike like the eagle upon its prey.
Say goodnight Saddam.
Because your road ended,
When Red Dawn had its day.
CT Dawson
12/14/03
Nation's threat level rising to orange: "The government on Sunday raised the national threat level to orange, the second-highest, saying attacks were possible during the holidays and that threat indicators are "perhaps greater now than at any point" since Sept. 11, 2001."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
Libyan deal shows need for U.S. shift: "The White House portrayed Libya's promise to abandon weapons of mass destruction programs as affirmation of President Bush's hard-line strategy on arms proliferation and suggested the U.S.-led war in Iraq helped convince Moammar Gadhafi that he should act."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
U.S. forces round up Iraqi rebel suspects: "Acting on intelligence gleaned from the capture of Saddam Hussein, U.S. troops rounded up dozens of suspected rebels during two days of raids in towns where loyalty to the deposed president remains strong, officials said Sunday. Two Iraqis were killed."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
AP Poll finds Bush getting good marks: "Amid rising consumer confidence, President Bush gets good marks for his handling of the economy from a clear majority of voters for the first time in more than a year, an Associated Press poll finds."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
The U.S. soldier is Time Person of Year: "The American soldier, who bears the duty of "living with and dying for a country's most fateful decisions," was named Sunday as Time magazine's Person of the Year."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
Israeli leader warns of confrontation: "A government plan to dismantle Israeli settlements and impose a new boundary with the Palestinians will touch off bitter confrontation with Jewish settlers but must go ahead for the sake of the country's security, the prime minister's top deputy said Sunday."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
Malvo trial now turns to defense efforts: "The daughter of one sniper victim called Lee Boyd Malvo evil. Teachers and others who knew the convicted killer when he was younger described him as bright, courteous, sweet and lonely."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
HE WAS HIDING IN A HOLE!: "Link appeared here ."
In The Drudge Report Archives
Bush Got First Heads-Up Saturday Afternoon...: "Link appeared here ."
In The Drudge Report Archives
8 months after invasion...: "Link appeared here ."
In The Drudge Report Archives
Troops from 4th Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team caught former Iraqi leader...: "Link appeared here ."
In The Drudge Report Archives
Saddam Captured...: "Link appeared here ."
In The Drudge Report Archives
U.S. Terror Alert Level Raised: "The government is raising the U.S. terror alert level to yellow alert, or "high" due to increased intelligence "chatter" and a new tape from al Qaida.
Tom Ridge will speak at a press conference sometime this afternoon. We'll have more as it comes in."
In Command Post: Irak
Exclusive: Inside Saddam's Cell: "It was a defiant, if resigned, Saddam seen by L. Paul Bremer and some of his Iraqi foes hours after he was caught. They tell Scott Pelley about their meeting with him on 60 Minutes, Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT."
In CBS News: Iraq Crisis
Top US general says several hundred caught in Iraq sweep: "Several hundred people have been detained in Iraq in a sweep against insurgents using intelligence following the capture of Saddam Hussein, General Richard Myers, head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff revealed. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Syria Trying to Stop Iraq Border Crossing: "Syria is trying to stop fighters from crossing the border into Iraq to join the resistance against U.S.-led forces, the head of the Iraqi Governing Council said Sunday. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Homeland Defense raised Alert status for the Holidays in IraqWar.info
US Soldier punched Saddam after spitting incident. in IraqWar.info
Syria trying to stop Iraq border crossing: "Syria is trying to stop fighters from crossing the border into Iraq to join the resistance against U.S.-led forces, the head of the Iraqi Governing Council said Sunday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Iraqi Insurgents Blow Up Oil Pipeline: "Insurgents blew up an oil pipeline and fired on gasoline storage tanks, as U.S. troops searched for rebels and weapons."
In New York Times: World Special
Bush declares: 'We must get rid of Arafat' (21 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Israel arrests prominent Hamas leader: "Israeli troops conducted a series of raids in the West Bank city of Nablus Sunday, arresting a Hamas leader and killing a 5-year-old Palestinian boy, Palestinian witnesses said."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
The American soldier named Time's Person of the Year: "The American soldier, who bears the duty of "living with and dying for a country's most fateful decisions," has been named as Time magazine's Person of the Year."
In Ananova: War In Iraq
GIs Named Top Newsmakers By Time: "Soldiers were singled out by Time magazine as the top newsmakers of the year because ?the very messy aftermath of the war? made it clear the troops in Iraq would be making headlines for months or years, says Time Managing Editor Jim Kelly."
In CBS News: Iraq Crisis
'Twas 13th December, when deep in Iraq,
the 4th I.D. had a big enemy to track.
Saddam's stockings were smelly from months on the lam,
In hopes that Dean or Kerry would soon take command;
Our soldiers were nestled in their desert humvees,
they'd been told they were hunting Iraqi V.I.Ps;
And Saddam with head lice infesting his cap,
Had just settled down for an Iraqi-type nap,
When out on the farm there arose such a clatter,
He sprang from his shack to see what was the matter.
Away to his hideout he flew in a snit,
Tore open his pants leaping into the pit.
The searchlight on the dictator now caught in our snare,
Gave the lustre of mid-day to his nasty wild hair.
When, what to our soldiers' wide eyes should appear,
But a bedraggled old dictator cowering in fear!
Beneath the dirty old beard and the lice in his mane,
They were amazed to discover that it was Saddam Hussein.
More rapid than eagles they called up old Rummy,
And he whistled, and shouted, and said, "This is yummy!"
"Now, Condi! now, Sanchez! now, Cheney and Bush!
On, TV! on Radio! and Free Republic! Let's Rush!
To the top of the news! Get this video on!
Call FNC first! Then Dan Rather and Tom!
As a gloved doctor examined the smelly old goat,
he shoved a big wooden stick down Saddam's nasty throat,
Around the world in a flash the footage it flew,
As the French and Russians gulped, wondering what we now knew.
And then, in a twinkling, we heard from our leader
as he confirmed the capture of the despotic bottom feeder.
As he concluded his announcement, they replayed the scene,
(We heard nothing from Clark and nothing from Dean).
Saddam was covered in filth, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all greasy, with ashes and soot;
A bundle of money he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler who'd sold out to Chirac.
His eyes -- how they sagged! his dimples now pits!
His forehead was covered with curious zits!
His head was examined for vermin and lice,
shaved his face of the beard that was his disguise;
A large piece of wood was probed in his mouth,
(And we don't even know if the gloved hand went South);
He still had a fat face but had lost his round belly,
His clothes were a shambles and his feet downright smelly.
He was skinny and drawn, the lying old coward,
And I laughed when I thought of the speech made by Howard;
But the spin of the media and a liberal talking head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
Dean spoke not a word; Kerry went straight to work,
And tried to get airtime; (sounds just like the jerk),
Bush kept it short, not given to prose,
And giving a nod, up the polls he rose;
He sprang back to work, to his team gave a whistle,
And to D.C. they flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, as he went on his way,
"Happy Christmas to all, and God Bless the USA!"
Saturday, December 20, 2003
Barak Defends Plan to Assassinate Saddam: "Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak defended an Israeli plan to assassinate Saddam Hussein in 1992, breaking his silence on an operation that was canceled after five Israeli commandos were killed during a dress rehearsal. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Attacks Decline in the Iraqi City Samarra: "After emerging as one of the worst trouble spots for U.S. forces in Iraq, the violence in Samarra tapered off this week amid raids by American troops and calls by Muslim clerics for insurgents to halt attacks that lead to civilian deaths. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Turkish court charges man in bombings: "An anti-terrorism court Friday charged a Turk with an offense amounting to treason after authorities said he acted as a link between al-Qaida and suicide bombers in attacks that killed 62 people in Istanbul last month."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
How Army Sleuths Stalked the Adviser Who Led to Hussein: "The man who led U.S. Special Operations forces to Saddam Hussein's hideaway was not on anyone's Top 55 or even Top 200 fugitive list."
In New York Times: World Special
Yes, Convoy Was Attacked, Bremer Says: "L. Paul Bremer III, the top American official in Iraq, acknowledged on Friday that a convoy he was traveling in two weeks ago had been attacked."
In New York Times: World Special
Halliburton Says It Saved U.S. Oil Money: "Halliburton officials noted that it saved taxpayers $164 million by importing most of the fuel from Turkey."
In New York Times: World Special
Baker Briefs Bush on Trip on Reducing Iraq's Debt: "Administration officials pronounce James A. Baker's trip ? to France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Britain ? a success."
In New York Times: World Special
Fears of Retaliation for U.S. Limits on Iraq Work: "The decision to ban certain countries from bidding on reconstruction projects may come back to haunt some American companies."
In New York Times: World Special
2 Kurdish Parties Close to Forming Unity Government: "Once they have created a single government in the Kurdish areas of the north, Kurdish officials will push for a federalist system in Iraq."
In New York Times: World Special
The Aftermath: ""It started about 3pm in Fallujah. From the time it was announced that Saddam was caught, until about 3pm, everyone was astonished. There was no reaction, just waiting, to see if it was true. There was a rumour that he was seen in Fallujah, so people went out cheering. Explosions started, people demonstrated in the streets, with lots of heavy firing till midnight, rockets, RPGs." Jo Wilding writes about the reaction of Iraqis to Saddam Hussein's capture."
In Electronic Iraq
A Look at U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq: "As of Friday, Dec. 19, 460 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 315 died as a result of hostile action and 145 died of non-hostile causes, the department said. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saddam, Libya Announcements Boost Blair: "In less than a week, Prime Minister Tony Blair has had two big moments in the international spotlight, going public first with important good news for him and close ally President Bush. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Ex-Atty. General Would Aid Saddam Defense: "Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark said Friday that he would be willing to provide legal counsel to Saddam Hussein if the ousted Iraqi leader requested Clark's assistance. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Ex-atty. general would aid Saddam defense: "Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark said Friday that he would be willing to provide legal counsel to Saddam Hussein if the ousted Iraqi leader requested Clark's assistance."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Bomb demolishes Badr Brigade HQ in Baghdad: "Bomb blast in Baghdad destroys the HQ of the Badr Brigade. What will the Shi'ites do now?"
In Back to Iraq 2.0
Anti-Bush Iraq Documentary Makes the Party Circuit: "In the midst of a film industrycrackdown on digital movie piracy, filmmaker Robert Greenwaldis urging rampant, unauthorized copying of his documentarycriticizing the Bush administration's reasons for invadingIraq. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
War in Iraq Voted Top Story of 2003: "The "major combat" phase was over in six weeks, but the war in Iraq - from its tumultuous prelude to a still-active insurgency - was in the global spotlight throughout the year. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Democrats Press Rumsfeld for Halliburton Records: "Democratic lawmakers pressed DefenseSecretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday for records that could shedlight on a draft audit that found Halliburton may haveovercharged the U.S. government by $61 million for fuel itshipped into Iraq. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Homemade Humvee armor gets a no-go from Pentagon in IraqWar.info
Mideast 'road map' architects to meet: "The architects of the "road map" to Palestinian-Israeli peace hope to meet early next year to press for its implementation, the European Union's top diplomat said Friday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Why did the West lend so much to Iraq?: "Iraq is swamped by more than $120 billion in debt that clouds its economic future. Where did it come from? Why did so many Western democracies, including the United States, lend so much money to President Saddam Hussein? What happens now?"
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Friday, December 19, 2003
Freedom Tower Design
The proposed Freedom Tower, center, is seen from the south, with the Statue of Liberty at left, in this artist's architectural illustration by the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, released by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., in New York, Friday Dec. 19, 2003. (AP Photo/Lower Manhattan Development Corp., HO)
Rebels kill one U.S. soldier in Iraq: "Rebels killed a U.S. soldier in the first fatal ambush for the U.S. military since the capture of Saddam Hussein last weekend. Also in the Iraqi capital, Shiites buried an assassinated politician Thursday after a sneak attack blamed on Saddam loyalists."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Saudi warning doesn't sway some Americans: "As armored personnel carriers and heavily armed soldiers guarded Western housing compounds, some Americans said Thursday they were in no rush to leave Saudi Arabia despite a State Department recommendation that U.S. citizens depart because of terrorism threats."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Russia Willing to Discuss Iraqi Debt: "President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia is willing to start negotiations on forgiving Iraq's $8 billion in debt to Moscow, its largest creditor. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Ðîññèÿ ãîòîâà îáñóäèòü ñîêðàùåíèå èðàêñêîãî äîëãà ñ ó÷åòîì ñâîèõ èíòåðåñîâ: " ÷åòâåðã ðîññèéñêàÿ ñòîðîíà âûðàçèëà ãîòîâíîñòü ïðèñòóïèòü ê ïåðåãîâîðàì ïî óðåãóëèðîâàíèþ çàäîëæåííîñòè Èðàêà. Îá ýòîì ñòàëî èçâåñòíî ïîñëå ïåðåãîâîðîâ ïðåçèäåíòà ÐÔ Ïóòèíà ñî ñïåöïðåäñòàâèòåëåì ïðåçèäåíòà ÑØÀ. Îäíàêî ïîçèöèÿ Ðîññèè íà ïåðåãîâîðàõ áóäåò îïðåäåëÿòüñÿ â òîì ÷èñëå ñ ó÷åòîì ýêîíîìè÷åñêèõ èíòåðåñîâ ÐÔ è ðîññèéñêèõ êîìïàíèé â Èðàêå."
In Lenta.Ru: Iraq
Rebels Kill GI, Shiite Official in Iraq: "Guerrillas ambushed a U.S. military patrol with small arms fire, killing one soldier, the military said Thursday. Suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists killed a representative of a major Shiite political party. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Iraqi newspaper publishes photos of Saddam behind bars: "A giant photo of fallen dictator Saddam Hussein getting a jail visit from his nemesis Ahmed Chalabi graced the front page of a Baghdad newspaper. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Bush visits US war wounded: "President George W. Bush visited US soldiers wounded during the Iraq conflict and paid tribute to their sacrifice against "an enemy that hates what America stands for." (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.N. to Meet With Iraq Council, Coalition: "Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Thursday for a Jan. 15 meeting with the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S.-led coalition to discuss what role the United Nations might play as Iraq heads toward self-government. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Russia willing to discuss Iraqi debt: "President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia is willing to start negotiations on forgiving Iraq's $8 billion in debt to Moscow, its largest creditor."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Myers: Bin Laden alive, will be found: "Osama bin Laden is probably alive and will be caught one day "with absolute certainty," America's top general said Thursday during a pre-Christmas morale-boosting visit for U.S. troops in Afghanistan."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Sharon: Israel won't wait for Palestinians: "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday that Israel will take unilateral steps to establish a makeshift border, using a controversial security barrier, if Palestinians do not make moves toward peace within a few months."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
2 "Huge Explosions" in Baghdad: "BBC World is reporting "2 Huge Explosions" in Baghdad. No Links yet.
UPDATE: Not any more they're not. Nothing on Google News either. As You Were."
In Command Post: Irak
Israel Defense Forces' 1992 plan to assassinate Saddam Hussein: "Haaretz [ Full story »» ] reports: Sayeret Matkal, the IDF General Staff's elite special-operations force, trained in 1992 to assassinate Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in a daring operation that would have landed commandos in Iraq and fired sophisticated missiles at him during a funeral. The attempt was called off after five soldiers were killed during a training accident.
"
In Command Post: Irak
Arresting Children: ""Two days ago there was a demonstration after school finished, against the coalition and for Saddam. Yesterday the American army came and surrounded the whole block. They just crashed into the school, 6, 7, 8 into every classroom with their guns. They took the name of every student and matched the names to the photos they got from the day before and then arrested the students. They actually dragged them by their shirts onto the floor and out of the class." They wouldn't give their names. The children at Adnan Kheiralla Boys' School in the Amiriya district of Baghdad were still scared, still seething with rage. Jo Wilding writes about the event from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
One Small Business in Iraq, Indicative of Many: "In 1953 an Iraqi man named Aziz Mikhail Zablok opened a small shoe store in Baghdad. This was no small feat, for when Aziz was 12 years old; he had begun working to help support his widowed mother of four. He eventually learned to make shoes while working for the International Shoe Company. With his brother, he opened a small shop on Rashid Street in Baghdad selling imported shoes. Eventually they began making their own in the back of the shop. Things continued to improve, and in 1958 they bought and opened a factory, then many more shops. Their business, priding itself on handmade, high quality shoes would grow into over 20 successful stores throughout Baghdad. Dahr Jamail traces the history of the family business from the coming of Saddam's regime, through the US invasion, to the present day occupation."
In Electronic Iraq
Another Home Pillaged, More Illegal Detentions: "On December 9th, at 10pm, US soldiers stormed a home in Al Ewadiyah neighborhood of Baghdad. Taharoh Muhammad Munahi Al Rufayai, a 43-year-old college professor; Leith, her brother and a retired army officer; and their elderly aunt Fahad. The soldiers forced the inhabitants to stand outside at gunpoint for five and a half hours in their bed clothes while they searched and pillaged the home, destroying much of its contents while looking for weapons and members of the resistance. Twenty soldiers picked through the home, while many more waiting outside with the family members, amidst hummers and light tanks, while helicopters circled above. Dahr Jamail writes from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
Secondary School under Siege by US Forces: "On the evening of December 16th, in the Amiriya suburb of West Baghdad, the residents held a pro-Saddam Hussein demonstration. Many of the kids were throwing stones at a US Humvee Patrol as it passed by. Aside from this, it was a non-violent demonstration-no shots were fired, nobody was injured. Today, US forces from the First Armored Division returned with two large tanks, helicopters, several Bradley fighting vehicles and at least 10 hummers to seal off the Al Shahid Adnan Kherala secondary school for boys. Dahr Jamail writes from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
Finally, the end for Saddam: "The capture of Saddam Hussein was a fittingly ignominious end for a cruel dictator, writes eIraq contributor Hasan Abu Nimah. But the end of Saddam does not justify the occupation, nor does it mean that the situation in Iraq will immediately improve."
In Electronic Iraq
Growing Fury and Unrest: "On the BBC, we watch footage of Americans gunning down Iraqis as they ran from the armor clad vehicles. Gunned down in the street as they tried to run away, red tracer bullets leaving laser-like trails as they flew past bodies falling upon the cement. This was told to be in Ramadi, by the BBC, then later the same footage was told to have occurred in Falluja. As usual, the truth is hard to come by, even here, unless it is witnessed personally -- or residents of an entire neighborhood or city are all telling the same story. This when, according to Iraqis converging around journalists today at the scene amidst pools of blood and pieces of US military uniforms, remnants from the night before when the fighting commenced in earnest. Pent up rage towards the occupiers was being released in the form of RPG's and machine guns firing towards the Americans. Three Hummers are reported to have been destroyed. Black scars mark where they were hit, burned into the pavement. Dahr Jamail writes from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
Interview: Saddam's Capture, WMDs and the U.S. Occupation of Iraq: "Democracy Now! interviewed Electronic Iraq correspondent and former Jordanian Ambassador to the United Nations, Hassan Abu Nimah. Abu Nimah recently returned from Cairo, Egypt where he met with Arab officials from across the Middle East. In this interview he discusses Saddam's capture, WMDs and the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Format: Real Video -- Watch 128k stream | Watch 256k stream | Listen to the interview with Real Audio. The interview begins at 36:25 on the timeline in the 59 minute show."
In Electronic Iraq
Freedom of Information Act request filed on behalf of A.N.S.W.E.R.: "Yesterday, attorneys with the Partnership for Civil Justice and the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee filed a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) with the FBI on behalf of the A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) Coalition. The FOIA request follows media revelations of FBI domestic spying targeting the antiwar movement, and is part of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition's Campaign to Defend the First Amendment."
In Electronic Iraq
Amnesty: "Only justice can serve the future of Iraq": ""The way this trial is handled will be crucial for the future shape of Iraq and the extent to which the rule of law will be respected," said Amnesty International. "It is important for the truth to emerge but equally important for justice to prevail.""
In Electronic Iraq
Fuel shortages continue in the north: "A severe petrol shortage in the northern city of Dahuk has seen people waiting hours at a time to get fuel, and the sprouting of a flourishing black market. Queues of vehicles have stretched for over a kilometre in recent weeks as petrol stations have run dry."
In Electronic Iraq
Title VI funding renewal imperils Middle East scholarship: ""For nearly four decades, American universities have benefited from the U.S. Department of Education programs funded under Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Title VI provides grants to nurture area and international studies centers and aims to create national resources for teaching foreign language and supporting research and training in international studies and world affairs. But these programs are under threat as neoconservatives seek to place conditions on continued funding. Title VI reauthorization already has passed the House and is expected to be taken up by the Senate in January." Electronic Iraq co-founder Laurie King-Irani, writing in the pages of In These Times, examines legislation that imperils Middle East studies in the United States"
In Electronic Iraq
Through a legal lens - the attack and occupation of Iraq: "The passage of time does not in any way alter the illegal nature of the war that has been waged by the United States and Britain in Iraq. From the moment their combined forces commenced hostilities without the express authorisation of the United Nations Security Council, the illegality of the invasion was confirmed. The Charter of the United Nations, universally accepted as legally binding, is clear and unambiguous on this issue. Shane Darcy from the Irish Centre for Human Rights reports for Electronic Iraq."
In Electronic Iraq
Searching Iraq: A Journalist's Diary: "I went to Ad Dour once, where Saddam was caught on 14 December 2003, when I was embedded with the US military as a photographer for a news agency. The 4th Infantry Division -- the Army division taking the credit for Saddam's capture -- raided a farm September 24th, 2003 on a tip that there was a large weapons cache. The Army began by raiding about 20 homes, separating the men and women and then combing through the houses. After their search of the houses turned up only a shotgun and one AK-47, they went to the farm. The highlight of the village raid was when the soldiers roughed up and then arrested some ragged old man who the locals said was 'senile'. Jamal A. Wilson describes a day spent with the US army in September 2003, searching for a weapons cache in the area Saddam was ultimately discovered."
In Electronic Iraq
Jubilation, grief, and sadness in occupied Baghdad: "The winds of change are blowing strongly across Baghdad today, literally and figuratively, on this grey, windy, chilly day. The overall mood is subdued, aside from a few small, sporadic demonstrations, namely by the Communist Party. This underscored by the fact that Saddam has been returned to the Iraqi capital, albeit under drastically different circumstances from when he left. What can be said of Iraqi reaction? It all depends on who I talk with."
In Electronic Iraq
NGOs sceptical that security will improve: "While initial bursts of celebratory gunfire and people dancing in the streets marked the capture of the former dictator, Saddam Hussein, on Saturday evening, international aid agencies remaining in Baghdad said the event was unlikely to have a positive effect on the security situation."
In Electronic Iraq
Blocking Military shipments: "Protesters plan to stop war shipments Antiwar group seeks to shut port of Oakland with picket line April 3 ? Shifting protests against the war in Iraq to a new level, a San Francisco group says that it will set up a picket line Monday to block supplies being shipped to U.S. forces fighting in Iraq. The group, Direct Action to Stop the War, said will attempt to ?shut down the war merchants? at the port of Oakland by urging members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to not cross the picket line. Full story... This action will still..."
In How To Stop The War
Demand more media coverage of Iraqi civilian casualties and war damage: "I'm sure you've noticed that the U.S. TV media has provided scant coverage of the damage this war has done to the lives of civilian Iraqis. As of this writing, an estimated minimum of 876 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the war, and it's safe to say that few if any of their names or stories have been told on CNN, or any other mainstream TV news channel in the U.S. Here's what MEDIA CHALLENGE!, a coalition of anti-war groups, is urging: Every day for the next three weeks call the national news chiefs listed below (also separately call..."
In How To Stop The War
Uniting for Peace UN action: "Jeremy Brecher is spreading the word about an opportunity for emergency action at the UN: Uniting for Peace UN General Assembly Provides Crucial Opportunity for Global Peace Movement by Jeremy Brecher; April 02, 2003 By The United Nations General Assembly is hovering on the edge of calling an emergency session to challenge the US attack on Iraq. But US opposition has been fierce. The world's "other superpower" -- global public opinion as expressed in the global peace movement -- can tip the balance if it concentrates on demanding a UN General Assembly meeting to halt the war on Iraq now...."
In How To Stop The War
Librarian Strike: "This is a twist on the "no business as usual" angle. I read here that 1,900 librarians around the world expressed their opposition to the war before it happened. I don't know how that compares with the total librarian population -- which is to say I don't know if there are enough anti-war librarians to execute enough of a strike to have an impact. It wouldn't make a difference unless it caused a marked decline in availability of the service. Workers in essential services strike in Europe often to accomplish change, and I assume it's effective at least some of..."
In How To Stop The War
World Dignitary Cease-Fire Summit in Baghdad: "This idea is pretty radical, but would be highly effective if implemented, I think. It first came to mind before the war, and part of it was actually tried back then. Basically the idea is to get the Pope, and a number of other highly prominent and valued world dignitaries, to announce their intention to go to Baghdad to force a cease-fire. I say part of was already tried because there was at least a mini-movement directed toward getting the Pope to go to Baghdad back before the war started. It was probably spurred by the published plea to the..."
In How To Stop The War
Promote John Mellencamp's Protest Song "To Washington": "John Mellencamp has released a protest song called "To Washington". It's more than just a war protest song -- it's protesting the whole chain of events that led Bush and us to this point. The lyrics are below I suggest that peace activists do what they can to get this song played on their local radio stations, as well as Internet stations, record stores, and wherever else. The bigger vision would be to try and get the song to number one on the charts, and keep it there. Here are the lyrics of "To Washington" --you can listen to the..."
In How To Stop The War
Bringing PNAC to light - The Project for a New American Century: "The best strategy I have come up with to turn public opinion on this war is the idea of bringing the Project for a New American Century to the attention and focus of the mainstream American public. Even surface analysis of the PNAC shows that the war in Iraq is not about liberation for Iraqis, but control for the U.S., and military dominance in the Middle East. The news reports showing strong Iraqi resistance to the U.S. invasion provide the other piece of that puzzle. Americans in general are not in favor of global dominance for America, or a "unipolar"..."
In How To Stop The War
Welcome to HowToStopTheWar.org: "This site was created out of concern that some of the anti-war protest efforts were not having their intended effects -- namely, to influence public opinion and bring an end to the war. I'm speaking particularly of the traffic-blocking and more aggressive efforts. I truly applaud the dedication and effort of those non-violent resisters, I just feel (and I know many agree) that they are not winning people over, but instead angering and alienating many who might otherwise be open to hearing anti-war views. My hope is that HowToStopTheWar.org can become a clearinghouse of ideas for creative and achievable projects..."
In How To Stop The War
InsideVC's War Blog: "Saddam and the CIA . Details from UPI. (via Matt Welch )"
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Kurds, Kirkuk, Kontrol
The NYT has an excellent article summarizing the breadth of de facto power in Kurdish hands in the north. Among other things, it mentions that "Kurdish groups appear to be quietly nursing relations with foreign neighbors independent of Baghdad. A Turkish consulate will open in Sulaimaniya this month..."
A Turkish consulate??
Meanwhile, the Boston Globe describes the lead up to the council elections in Kirkuk:
In preparation for the vote... Iraqis whitewashed the building, hung up red, white, and blue bunting - and then took it down, because those are not the colors of the Iraqi flag. And when Major General Ray Odierno entered the auditorium, the delegates were instructed to stand. They dutifully rose, then sat and offered tepid applause for Odierno's opening remarks.
An AP report on Yahoo news goes into more detail on the process of the elections, themselves, with a description of the flap surrounding a group of independent delegates. Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, finally "said he would not decide until Sunday whether he would accept the results of the balloting or choose other members.
"When I make my decision tomorrow," he said, "everyone must abide by it."
So....the Kurds are clearly in control, with occupation forces trying to put a good face on the intense inter-ethnic rivalry with these, uh, elections. The same NYT article mentioned above summarizes things: "American authorities are still unsure how to handle the problem." We seem to be pressing ahead with the symbols of democracy (i.e., red, white and blue bunting), despite the facts on the ground. Is it that we don't know what else to do, or are we attempting a public relations exercise, or a little of both?"
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Looking for some good news...
The Christian Science Monitor recently published a "report card" on the occupation, and summarized the good news by citing "coalition officials," suggesting that crime was lower outside of Baghdad, and that those living in the north and south have "more electricity than ever."
The Washington Post adds a glimmer of hope to this assessment, describing a new approach the US military will be taking in Baghdad, involving more contact between soldiers and civilians, and changing the organization and techniques used in patrolling.
The Guardian , however, rains on the parade, reporting that "Baghdad is being carved up by armed gangs," and that there is "a total disconnection between the optimistic language of US press briefings at Saddam Hussein's old palace and the anarchic reality on the street."
I'd been wondering about that."
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Sergio Vieira de Mello
Human Rights Watch , Amnesty International , and the US Government all are backing Mr. Vieira de Mello enthusiastically. Given his background (see BBC profile ), if anyone can take a four-month appointment with no clearly defined authority and make something happen -- he can. Cross your fingers."
Iraq Democracy Watch: " UN Resolution = American business contracts
1. From the Washington Post , re: the latest UN Resolution:
The seven-page resolution would immediately transfer legal control over Iraq's oil industry from the United Nations and Iraq to the United States and its allies. The oil proceeds would be used to finance the country's reconstruction, the costs of an Iraqi civilian administration, the completion of Iraq's disarmament and " other purposes benefiting the people of Iraq ." [Emphasis added.]
Is that like what shows up at the end of a job description -- "and other duties as necessary"?
So what the draft is saying is that we will decide what benefits the people of Iraq. And then when folks like Philip Carroll say that the Iraqi people will decide whether or not to stay in OPEC or not, or that the Iraqi people will decide which telecommunications company to use, American voters will be convinced of our own benefaction. It's all for the Iraqi people. Say, "The Iraqi People" ten times, fast.
2. Meanwhile, the NYT reports that Paul Wolfowitz has come back from a trip from Bosnia, freshly enlightened about the benefit of taking plenty of time before holding elections after a dictatorship. There are countless historical examples, mind you, of imperial powers (woops, did I say, "imperial"?) occupying a weaker country indefinitely, saying that they need to do it to maintain stability. Please feel free to add examples in the comments section.
3. From an outstanding article in Asia Times :
a) Rebuilding oil fields, potentially also exporting oil -- Halliburton
b) General infrastructure reconstruction -- Bechtel
c) Rebuilding seaports - Stevedoring Services of America
d) Refurbishing rebuilt airports - Airlink USA
e) Contracted policing services - Dyncorp
f) See yesterday re: satellite phone service and MCI Worldcom
Don't know what ever happened to the Iraqi United National Company for Investment and Construction (see previous post ). "
Iraq Democracy Watch: " Now, about that interim authority...
The U.S., Britain and Spain presented a third draft of the resolution for lifting sanctions on Iraq --although The Guardian reports the US is trying to push it through in 48 hours. The current draft, says the Financial Times, is "close to its [the American] bottom line." Basically, we throw some bones to the U.N., buy off Russia, and drop "the open-ended grant of authority in favor of a requirement that the United States and Britain cede power when 'an internationally recognized, representative government is established.' " (NYT) Well, that's a relief.
Oh, and we do get to appoint our own auditors for monitoring Iraqi oil profits. We have a strong tradition of auditing our own interests here in America.
Where, you might ask, are the Iraqis in all of this? Well, 10,000 were on the streets of Baghdad protesting their lack of real power in the still amorphous and undefined interim authority. And key players among the Iraqi opposition groups are saying they won't play if the so-called authority doesn't have real control over the ministries. The Financial Times quotes Hoshyar Zebari, of the Kurdistan Democratic party, as saying that if the US doesn't empower the Iraqi political parties, they will not participate, and, instead, "seek local power 'on their own turf'," a sentiment echoed by Kasim Sahlani, head of the political bureau of the Da'awa party.
Given the fact that the Washington Post reports a marked increase in vigilante justice in Baghdad, and yesterday's sharp spike in violence between Kurds and Arabs in the north (Boston Globe), these signs do not bode well. We know that President Bush doesn't like basing policy on focus groups, but let's hope the US can sense a pending civil war when the signs start peeking out."
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Iran - a moderating influence?
I couldn't wait until tomorrow -- Salam Pax is back, with a note:
"I came back from the trip seriously worrying that we might become an Iran-clone. If anyone went to the streets now and decided to hold elections we will end up with something that is scarier than Khomeini?s Iran."
Houchang Chehabi , a professor of International Relations at Boston University, said in a recent lecture that the U.S. shouldn't be so worried about Iran's potential interference in Iraqi politics. Why? The Iranian Islamists tend to be less radical, and could act as a moderating influence on the Iraqi Shi'ites.
Question #1: does anyone in the DoD know this? (Clearly, it doesn't matter if State knows about it, since they're just a bunch of intellectual whiners, anyway.)
Question #2: if we know about it, are we complaining about Iran because we are trying to pick a fight? "
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Correction
Quick correction, thanks to Christopher Allbritton of Back In Iraq 2.0 . According to Christopher, "Turkey has been supporting clandestine groups in Iraqi Kurdistan for years now. The various Turkomen parties ALL get a crap load of money and support from Turkey and they have been a more or less destabilizing force against the Kurds. However, I suspect Turkey will definitely step up its support in the near future..."
Thanks, Christopher!
"
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Northern Iraq
We've been hearing about Bremer's publicity tour in Mosul, celebrating its "embryonic democracy." It's certainly possible for the new city council there to morph into something concrete, but the current level of democracy, with Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus in virtually complete control, remains debatable. A profile of Petraeus in the Washington Post quotes him as saying, "I am the occupying power, make no mistake...," and depicts him as a veritable village khan, receiving individuals and telling them what they can and can't do.
Kirkuk is also installing a new city council, which, according to ABC News , will have 24 members elected by a body of 300 selected by the Americans. But, it turns out, according to the Post , again, US forces are supporting the new coalition of the Kurdish PUK and KDP -- to the virtual exclusion of the non-trivial minorities of Arabs, Assyrians and Turkmen. The Kurds control the local police force (made up of peshmerga forces), the television station, and the new city council. And you may have heard the recent reports that the Kurds are offering oil deals to a number of major oil companies.
Given the incredible tensions existing now between local Arabs and Kurds, and the Turkish discomfort with the prospect of Kurdish autonomy, I would venture to say we could be looking at a powder keg. For example, if we manage to keep Turkey from invading, as we have so far, we may not be able to prevent it from supporting clandestine groups among the ethnic minorities. "
Iraqi Mobile Phone system still on hold in IraqWar.info
Saddam's men worked for the CPA in IraqWar.info
Post-war procedures for US troops in Iraq being discussed. in IraqWar.info
Atta Trained in Baghdad in IraqWar.info
2 "Huge Explosions" in Baghdad: "BBC World is reporting "2 Huge Explosions" in Baghdad. No Links yet.
UPDATE: Not any more they're not. Nothing on Google News either. As You Were."
In Command Post: Irak
Israel Defense Forces' 1992 plan to assassinate Saddam Hussein: "Haaretz [ Full story »» ] reports: Sayeret Matkal, the IDF General Staff's elite special-operations force, trained in 1992 to assassinate Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in a daring operation that would have landed commandos in Iraq and fired sophisticated missiles at him during a funeral. The attempt was called off after five soldiers were killed during a training accident.
"
In Command Post: Irak
Arresting Children: ""Two days ago there was a demonstration after school finished, against the coalition and for Saddam. Yesterday the American army came and surrounded the whole block. They just crashed into the school, 6, 7, 8 into every classroom with their guns. They took the name of every student and matched the names to the photos they got from the day before and then arrested the students. They actually dragged them by their shirts onto the floor and out of the class." They wouldn't give their names. The children at Adnan Kheiralla Boys' School in the Amiriya district of Baghdad were still scared, still seething with rage. Jo Wilding writes about the event from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
One Small Business in Iraq, Indicative of Many: "In 1953 an Iraqi man named Aziz Mikhail Zablok opened a small shoe store in Baghdad. This was no small feat, for when Aziz was 12 years old; he had begun working to help support his widowed mother of four. He eventually learned to make shoes while working for the International Shoe Company. With his brother, he opened a small shop on Rashid Street in Baghdad selling imported shoes. Eventually they began making their own in the back of the shop. Things continued to improve, and in 1958 they bought and opened a factory, then many more shops. Their business, priding itself on handmade, high quality shoes would grow into over 20 successful stores throughout Baghdad. Dahr Jamail traces the history of the family business from the coming of Saddam's regime, through the US invasion, to the present day occupation."
In Electronic Iraq
Another Home Pillaged, More Illegal Detentions: "On December 9th, at 10pm, US soldiers stormed a home in Al Ewadiyah neighborhood of Baghdad. Taharoh Muhammad Munahi Al Rufayai, a 43-year-old college professor; Leith, her brother and a retired army officer; and their elderly aunt Fahad. The soldiers forced the inhabitants to stand outside at gunpoint for five and a half hours in their bed clothes while they searched and pillaged the home, destroying much of its contents while looking for weapons and members of the resistance. Twenty soldiers picked through the home, while many more waiting outside with the family members, amidst hummers and light tanks, while helicopters circled above. Dahr Jamail writes from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
Secondary School under Siege by US Forces: "On the evening of December 16th, in the Amiriya suburb of West Baghdad, the residents held a pro-Saddam Hussein demonstration. Many of the kids were throwing stones at a US Humvee Patrol as it passed by. Aside from this, it was a non-violent demonstration-no shots were fired, nobody was injured. Today, US forces from the First Armored Division returned with two large tanks, helicopters, several Bradley fighting vehicles and at least 10 hummers to seal off the Al Shahid Adnan Kherala secondary school for boys. Dahr Jamail writes from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
Finally, the end for Saddam: "The capture of Saddam Hussein was a fittingly ignominious end for a cruel dictator, writes eIraq contributor Hasan Abu Nimah. But the end of Saddam does not justify the occupation, nor does it mean that the situation in Iraq will immediately improve."
In Electronic Iraq
Growing Fury and Unrest: "On the BBC, we watch footage of Americans gunning down Iraqis as they ran from the armor clad vehicles. Gunned down in the street as they tried to run away, red tracer bullets leaving laser-like trails as they flew past bodies falling upon the cement. This was told to be in Ramadi, by the BBC, then later the same footage was told to have occurred in Falluja. As usual, the truth is hard to come by, even here, unless it is witnessed personally -- or residents of an entire neighborhood or city are all telling the same story. This when, according to Iraqis converging around journalists today at the scene amidst pools of blood and pieces of US military uniforms, remnants from the night before when the fighting commenced in earnest. Pent up rage towards the occupiers was being released in the form of RPG's and machine guns firing towards the Americans. Three Hummers are reported to have been destroyed. Black scars mark where they were hit, burned into the pavement. Dahr Jamail writes from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
Interview: Saddam's Capture, WMDs and the U.S. Occupation of Iraq: "Democracy Now! interviewed Electronic Iraq correspondent and former Jordanian Ambassador to the United Nations, Hassan Abu Nimah. Abu Nimah recently returned from Cairo, Egypt where he met with Arab officials from across the Middle East. In this interview he discusses Saddam's capture, WMDs and the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Format: Real Video -- Watch 128k stream | Watch 256k stream | Listen to the interview with Real Audio. The interview begins at 36:25 on the timeline in the 59 minute show."
In Electronic Iraq
Freedom of Information Act request filed on behalf of A.N.S.W.E.R.: "Yesterday, attorneys with the Partnership for Civil Justice and the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee filed a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) with the FBI on behalf of the A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) Coalition. The FOIA request follows media revelations of FBI domestic spying targeting the antiwar movement, and is part of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition's Campaign to Defend the First Amendment."
In Electronic Iraq
Amnesty: "Only justice can serve the future of Iraq": ""The way this trial is handled will be crucial for the future shape of Iraq and the extent to which the rule of law will be respected," said Amnesty International. "It is important for the truth to emerge but equally important for justice to prevail.""
In Electronic Iraq
Fuel shortages continue in the north: "A severe petrol shortage in the northern city of Dahuk has seen people waiting hours at a time to get fuel, and the sprouting of a flourishing black market. Queues of vehicles have stretched for over a kilometre in recent weeks as petrol stations have run dry."
In Electronic Iraq
Title VI funding renewal imperils Middle East scholarship: ""For nearly four decades, American universities have benefited from the U.S. Department of Education programs funded under Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Title VI provides grants to nurture area and international studies centers and aims to create national resources for teaching foreign language and supporting research and training in international studies and world affairs. But these programs are under threat as neoconservatives seek to place conditions on continued funding. Title VI reauthorization already has passed the House and is expected to be taken up by the Senate in January." Electronic Iraq co-founder Laurie King-Irani, writing in the pages of In These Times, examines legislation that imperils Middle East studies in the United States"
In Electronic Iraq
Through a legal lens - the attack and occupation of Iraq: "The passage of time does not in any way alter the illegal nature of the war that has been waged by the United States and Britain in Iraq. From the moment their combined forces commenced hostilities without the express authorisation of the United Nations Security Council, the illegality of the invasion was confirmed. The Charter of the United Nations, universally accepted as legally binding, is clear and unambiguous on this issue. Shane Darcy from the Irish Centre for Human Rights reports for Electronic Iraq."
In Electronic Iraq
Searching Iraq: A Journalist's Diary: "I went to Ad Dour once, where Saddam was caught on 14 December 2003, when I was embedded with the US military as a photographer for a news agency. The 4th Infantry Division -- the Army division taking the credit for Saddam's capture -- raided a farm September 24th, 2003 on a tip that there was a large weapons cache. The Army began by raiding about 20 homes, separating the men and women and then combing through the houses. After their search of the houses turned up only a shotgun and one AK-47, they went to the farm. The highlight of the village raid was when the soldiers roughed up and then arrested some ragged old man who the locals said was 'senile'. Jamal A. Wilson describes a day spent with the US army in September 2003, searching for a weapons cache in the area Saddam was ultimately discovered."
In Electronic Iraq
Jubilation, grief, and sadness in occupied Baghdad: "The winds of change are blowing strongly across Baghdad today, literally and figuratively, on this grey, windy, chilly day. The overall mood is subdued, aside from a few small, sporadic demonstrations, namely by the Communist Party. This underscored by the fact that Saddam has been returned to the Iraqi capital, albeit under drastically different circumstances from when he left. What can be said of Iraqi reaction? It all depends on who I talk with."
In Electronic Iraq
NGOs sceptical that security will improve: "While initial bursts of celebratory gunfire and people dancing in the streets marked the capture of the former dictator, Saddam Hussein, on Saturday evening, international aid agencies remaining in Baghdad said the event was unlikely to have a positive effect on the security situation."
In Electronic Iraq
Blocking Military shipments: "Protesters plan to stop war shipments Antiwar group seeks to shut port of Oakland with picket line April 3 ? Shifting protests against the war in Iraq to a new level, a San Francisco group says that it will set up a picket line Monday to block supplies being shipped to U.S. forces fighting in Iraq. The group, Direct Action to Stop the War, said will attempt to ?shut down the war merchants? at the port of Oakland by urging members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to not cross the picket line. Full story... This action will still..."
In How To Stop The War
Demand more media coverage of Iraqi civilian casualties and war damage: "I'm sure you've noticed that the U.S. TV media has provided scant coverage of the damage this war has done to the lives of civilian Iraqis. As of this writing, an estimated minimum of 876 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the war, and it's safe to say that few if any of their names or stories have been told on CNN, or any other mainstream TV news channel in the U.S. Here's what MEDIA CHALLENGE!, a coalition of anti-war groups, is urging: Every day for the next three weeks call the national news chiefs listed below (also separately call..."
In How To Stop The War
Uniting for Peace UN action: "Jeremy Brecher is spreading the word about an opportunity for emergency action at the UN: Uniting for Peace UN General Assembly Provides Crucial Opportunity for Global Peace Movement by Jeremy Brecher; April 02, 2003 By The United Nations General Assembly is hovering on the edge of calling an emergency session to challenge the US attack on Iraq. But US opposition has been fierce. The world's "other superpower" -- global public opinion as expressed in the global peace movement -- can tip the balance if it concentrates on demanding a UN General Assembly meeting to halt the war on Iraq now...."
In How To Stop The War
Librarian Strike: "This is a twist on the "no business as usual" angle. I read here that 1,900 librarians around the world expressed their opposition to the war before it happened. I don't know how that compares with the total librarian population -- which is to say I don't know if there are enough anti-war librarians to execute enough of a strike to have an impact. It wouldn't make a difference unless it caused a marked decline in availability of the service. Workers in essential services strike in Europe often to accomplish change, and I assume it's effective at least some of..."
In How To Stop The War
World Dignitary Cease-Fire Summit in Baghdad: "This idea is pretty radical, but would be highly effective if implemented, I think. It first came to mind before the war, and part of it was actually tried back then. Basically the idea is to get the Pope, and a number of other highly prominent and valued world dignitaries, to announce their intention to go to Baghdad to force a cease-fire. I say part of was already tried because there was at least a mini-movement directed toward getting the Pope to go to Baghdad back before the war started. It was probably spurred by the published plea to the..."
In How To Stop The War
Promote John Mellencamp's Protest Song "To Washington": "John Mellencamp has released a protest song called "To Washington". It's more than just a war protest song -- it's protesting the whole chain of events that led Bush and us to this point. The lyrics are below I suggest that peace activists do what they can to get this song played on their local radio stations, as well as Internet stations, record stores, and wherever else. The bigger vision would be to try and get the song to number one on the charts, and keep it there. Here are the lyrics of "To Washington" --you can listen to the..."
In How To Stop The War
Bringing PNAC to light - The Project for a New American Century: "The best strategy I have come up with to turn public opinion on this war is the idea of bringing the Project for a New American Century to the attention and focus of the mainstream American public. Even surface analysis of the PNAC shows that the war in Iraq is not about liberation for Iraqis, but control for the U.S., and military dominance in the Middle East. The news reports showing strong Iraqi resistance to the U.S. invasion provide the other piece of that puzzle. Americans in general are not in favor of global dominance for America, or a "unipolar"..."
In How To Stop The War
Welcome to HowToStopTheWar.org: "This site was created out of concern that some of the anti-war protest efforts were not having their intended effects -- namely, to influence public opinion and bring an end to the war. I'm speaking particularly of the traffic-blocking and more aggressive efforts. I truly applaud the dedication and effort of those non-violent resisters, I just feel (and I know many agree) that they are not winning people over, but instead angering and alienating many who might otherwise be open to hearing anti-war views. My hope is that HowToStopTheWar.org can become a clearinghouse of ideas for creative and achievable projects..."
In How To Stop The War
InsideVC's War Blog: "Saddam and the CIA . Details from UPI. (via Matt Welch )"
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Kurds, Kirkuk, Kontrol
The NYT has an excellent article summarizing the breadth of de facto power in Kurdish hands in the north. Among other things, it mentions that "Kurdish groups appear to be quietly nursing relations with foreign neighbors independent of Baghdad. A Turkish consulate will open in Sulaimaniya this month..."
A Turkish consulate??
Meanwhile, the Boston Globe describes the lead up to the council elections in Kirkuk:
In preparation for the vote... Iraqis whitewashed the building, hung up red, white, and blue bunting - and then took it down, because those are not the colors of the Iraqi flag. And when Major General Ray Odierno entered the auditorium, the delegates were instructed to stand. They dutifully rose, then sat and offered tepid applause for Odierno's opening remarks.
An AP report on Yahoo news goes into more detail on the process of the elections, themselves, with a description of the flap surrounding a group of independent delegates. Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, finally "said he would not decide until Sunday whether he would accept the results of the balloting or choose other members.
"When I make my decision tomorrow," he said, "everyone must abide by it."
So....the Kurds are clearly in control, with occupation forces trying to put a good face on the intense inter-ethnic rivalry with these, uh, elections. The same NYT article mentioned above summarizes things: "American authorities are still unsure how to handle the problem." We seem to be pressing ahead with the symbols of democracy (i.e., red, white and blue bunting), despite the facts on the ground. Is it that we don't know what else to do, or are we attempting a public relations exercise, or a little of both?"
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Looking for some good news...
The Christian Science Monitor recently published a "report card" on the occupation, and summarized the good news by citing "coalition officials," suggesting that crime was lower outside of Baghdad, and that those living in the north and south have "more electricity than ever."
The Washington Post adds a glimmer of hope to this assessment, describing a new approach the US military will be taking in Baghdad, involving more contact between soldiers and civilians, and changing the organization and techniques used in patrolling.
The Guardian , however, rains on the parade, reporting that "Baghdad is being carved up by armed gangs," and that there is "a total disconnection between the optimistic language of US press briefings at Saddam Hussein's old palace and the anarchic reality on the street."
I'd been wondering about that."
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Sergio Vieira de Mello
Human Rights Watch , Amnesty International , and the US Government all are backing Mr. Vieira de Mello enthusiastically. Given his background (see BBC profile ), if anyone can take a four-month appointment with no clearly defined authority and make something happen -- he can. Cross your fingers."
Iraq Democracy Watch: " UN Resolution = American business contracts
1. From the Washington Post , re: the latest UN Resolution:
The seven-page resolution would immediately transfer legal control over Iraq's oil industry from the United Nations and Iraq to the United States and its allies. The oil proceeds would be used to finance the country's reconstruction, the costs of an Iraqi civilian administration, the completion of Iraq's disarmament and " other purposes benefiting the people of Iraq ." [Emphasis added.]
Is that like what shows up at the end of a job description -- "and other duties as necessary"?
So what the draft is saying is that we will decide what benefits the people of Iraq. And then when folks like Philip Carroll say that the Iraqi people will decide whether or not to stay in OPEC or not, or that the Iraqi people will decide which telecommunications company to use, American voters will be convinced of our own benefaction. It's all for the Iraqi people. Say, "The Iraqi People" ten times, fast.
2. Meanwhile, the NYT reports that Paul Wolfowitz has come back from a trip from Bosnia, freshly enlightened about the benefit of taking plenty of time before holding elections after a dictatorship. There are countless historical examples, mind you, of imperial powers (woops, did I say, "imperial"?) occupying a weaker country indefinitely, saying that they need to do it to maintain stability. Please feel free to add examples in the comments section.
3. From an outstanding article in Asia Times :
a) Rebuilding oil fields, potentially also exporting oil -- Halliburton
b) General infrastructure reconstruction -- Bechtel
c) Rebuilding seaports - Stevedoring Services of America
d) Refurbishing rebuilt airports - Airlink USA
e) Contracted policing services - Dyncorp
f) See yesterday re: satellite phone service and MCI Worldcom
Don't know what ever happened to the Iraqi United National Company for Investment and Construction (see previous post ). "
Iraq Democracy Watch: " Now, about that interim authority...
The U.S., Britain and Spain presented a third draft of the resolution for lifting sanctions on Iraq --although The Guardian reports the US is trying to push it through in 48 hours. The current draft, says the Financial Times, is "close to its [the American] bottom line." Basically, we throw some bones to the U.N., buy off Russia, and drop "the open-ended grant of authority in favor of a requirement that the United States and Britain cede power when 'an internationally recognized, representative government is established.' " (NYT) Well, that's a relief.
Oh, and we do get to appoint our own auditors for monitoring Iraqi oil profits. We have a strong tradition of auditing our own interests here in America.
Where, you might ask, are the Iraqis in all of this? Well, 10,000 were on the streets of Baghdad protesting their lack of real power in the still amorphous and undefined interim authority. And key players among the Iraqi opposition groups are saying they won't play if the so-called authority doesn't have real control over the ministries. The Financial Times quotes Hoshyar Zebari, of the Kurdistan Democratic party, as saying that if the US doesn't empower the Iraqi political parties, they will not participate, and, instead, "seek local power 'on their own turf'," a sentiment echoed by Kasim Sahlani, head of the political bureau of the Da'awa party.
Given the fact that the Washington Post reports a marked increase in vigilante justice in Baghdad, and yesterday's sharp spike in violence between Kurds and Arabs in the north (Boston Globe), these signs do not bode well. We know that President Bush doesn't like basing policy on focus groups, but let's hope the US can sense a pending civil war when the signs start peeking out."
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Iran - a moderating influence?
I couldn't wait until tomorrow -- Salam Pax is back, with a note:
"I came back from the trip seriously worrying that we might become an Iran-clone. If anyone went to the streets now and decided to hold elections we will end up with something that is scarier than Khomeini?s Iran."
Houchang Chehabi , a professor of International Relations at Boston University, said in a recent lecture that the U.S. shouldn't be so worried about Iran's potential interference in Iraqi politics. Why? The Iranian Islamists tend to be less radical, and could act as a moderating influence on the Iraqi Shi'ites.
Question #1: does anyone in the DoD know this? (Clearly, it doesn't matter if State knows about it, since they're just a bunch of intellectual whiners, anyway.)
Question #2: if we know about it, are we complaining about Iran because we are trying to pick a fight? "
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Correction
Quick correction, thanks to Christopher Allbritton of Back In Iraq 2.0 . According to Christopher, "Turkey has been supporting clandestine groups in Iraqi Kurdistan for years now. The various Turkomen parties ALL get a crap load of money and support from Turkey and they have been a more or less destabilizing force against the Kurds. However, I suspect Turkey will definitely step up its support in the near future..."
Thanks, Christopher!
"
Iraq Democracy Watch: "Northern Iraq
We've been hearing about Bremer's publicity tour in Mosul, celebrating its "embryonic democracy." It's certainly possible for the new city council there to morph into something concrete, but the current level of democracy, with Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus in virtually complete control, remains debatable. A profile of Petraeus in the Washington Post quotes him as saying, "I am the occupying power, make no mistake...," and depicts him as a veritable village khan, receiving individuals and telling them what they can and can't do.
Kirkuk is also installing a new city council, which, according to ABC News , will have 24 members elected by a body of 300 selected by the Americans. But, it turns out, according to the Post , again, US forces are supporting the new coalition of the Kurdish PUK and KDP -- to the virtual exclusion of the non-trivial minorities of Arabs, Assyrians and Turkmen. The Kurds control the local police force (made up of peshmerga forces), the television station, and the new city council. And you may have heard the recent reports that the Kurds are offering oil deals to a number of major oil companies.
Given the incredible tensions existing now between local Arabs and Kurds, and the Turkish discomfort with the prospect of Kurdish autonomy, I would venture to say we could be looking at a powder keg. For example, if we manage to keep Turkey from invading, as we have so far, we may not be able to prevent it from supporting clandestine groups among the ethnic minorities. "
Iraqi Mobile Phone system still on hold in IraqWar.info
Saddam's men worked for the CPA in IraqWar.info
Post-war procedures for US troops in Iraq being discussed. in IraqWar.info
Atta Trained in Baghdad in IraqWar.info
Head of U.S. Team Searching for Iraq Arms May Leave: "In a potential setback to the so farfruitless hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, thehead of the U.S. search team, David Kay, told administrationofficials he is considering leaving the job as early as nextmonth, U.S. officials said on Thursday. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S. Troop Strength in Iraq to Spike with Rotation: "U.S. Army troop strength in Iraqwill spike, at least briefly, as more troops are kept in thecountry as part of a major rotation in coming months, Pentagonofficials said on Thursday. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Is the search for weapons over? (19 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Sharon gives ultimatum on peace deal: "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday that Israel was willing to move some Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip but delivered an ultimatum that Palestinians had only a few months to make peace or Israel would impose its own solution."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Japan Orders Air Force Team to Get Ready for Iraq: "Japan issued orders on Friday for membersof its air force to prepare to leave for the Middle East,marking the start of its contribution of military personnel tosupport the reconstruction of Iraq. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.N. OKs $1.4B for Iraq Kuwait Victims: "A United Nations panel has approved paying an additional $1.4 billion in damages to the victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, officials said Thursday. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
An Email from a Captain in Iraq: "From The Corner .
Via Silflay Hraka .
* * *
An Email from a Captain in Iraq
We knew there was a dinner planned with ambassador Bremer and LTG Sanchez. There were 600 seats available and all the units in the division weretasked with filling a few tables. Naturally, the 501st MI battalion got ourtable. Soldiers were grumbling about having to sit through another dog-and-pony show, so we had to pick soldiers to attend. I chose not to go.
But, about 1500 the G2, LTC Devan, came up to me and with a smile, asked me to come to dinner with him, to meet him in his office at 1600 and bring a camera. I didn't really care about getting a picture with Sanchez or Bremer, but when the division's senior intelligence officer asks you to go, you go. We were seated in the chow hall, fully decorated for thanksgiving when all kinds of secret service guys showed up.
That was my first clue, because Bremer's been here before and his personal security detachment is not that big. Then BG Dempsey got up to speak, and he welcomed ambassador Bremer and LTG Sanchez. Bremer thanked us all and pulled out a piece of paper as if to give a speech. He mentioned that the President had given him this thanksgiving speech to give to the troops. He then paused and said that the senior man present should be the one to give it. He then looked at Sanchez, who just smiled.
Bremer then said that we should probably get someone more senior to read the speech. Then, from behind the camouflage netting, the President of the United States came around. The mess hall actually erupted with hollering. Troops bounded to their feet with shocked smiles and just began cheering with all their hearts. The building actually shook. It was just unreal. I was absolutely stunned. Not only for the obvious, but also because I was only two tables away from the podium. There he stood, less than thirty feet away from me! The cheering went on and on and on.
Soldiers were hollering, cheering, and a lot of them were crying. There was not a dry eye at my table. When he stepped up to the cheering, I could clearly see tears running down! his cheeks. It was the most surreal moment I've had in years. Not since my wedding and Aaron being born. Here was this man, our President, came all the way around the world, spending 17 hours on an airplane and landing in the most dangerous airport in the world, where a plane was shot out of the sky not six days before.
Just to spend two hours with his troops. Only to get on a plane and spend another 17 hours flying back. It was a great moment, and I will never forget it. He delivered his speech, which we all loved, when he looked right at me and held his eyes on me. Then he stepped down and was just mobbed by the soldiers. He slowly worked his way all the way around the chow hall and shook every last hand extended. Every soldier who wanted a photo with the President got one. I made my way through the line, got dinner, then wolfed it down as he was still working the room.
You could tell he was really enjoying himself. It wasn't just a photo opportunity. This man was actually enjoying himself! He worked his way over the course of about 90 minutes towards my side of the room. Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to shake a few hands. I got a picture with Ambassador Bremer, Talabani (acting Iraqi president) and Achmed Chalabi (another member of the ruling council) and Condaleeza Rice, who was there with him.
I felt like I was drunk. He was getting closer to my table so I went back over to my seat. As he passed and posed for photos, he looked my in the eye and "How you doin', captain." I smiled and said "God bless you, sir." To which he responded "I'm proud of what you do, captain." Then moved on.
* * *
"
In Command Post: Irak
Ñòîðîííèêè Õóñåéíà ïðîíèêëè âî âðåìåííûå âëàñòè in IraqWar.Ru
Mukhabarat Agent: No WMDs here!: "No WMDs in Iraq but plenty of chaos!"
In Back to Iraq 2.0
America's enlightened warriors: "Preparing the mind for battle
Via the Baltimore Sun
December 18, 2003
* * *
On the theory that preparing the mind for battle is as important as preparing the body, the top officer in each service provides a reading list of recommended books for enlisted personnel to commissioned officers. The Marine Corps, which for many Americans has the image of being the toughest of the tough, offers the most extensive reading list, with about 175 books divided among each rank.
They include classics on warfare, such as The Art of War, by Sun Tzu (for staff sergeants and lieutenants); and The Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides (for colonels). The U.S. Constitution is recommended for low-ranking enlisted personnel and junior officers.
There are memoirs by enemies, including World War II German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and by Civil War generals, such as William Tecumseh Sherman. There are books on courage, firepower and military innovation. And there are best sellers, such as Fields of Fire, by former Navy Secretary James H. Webb Jr., and Diplomacy, by former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. There are heroic tales and examinations of stunning defeats.
For senior officers, the largest category centers on the Vietnam War. "Marines are expected to read at least two books a year from this list," according to the list's introduction. "The lessons learned from the books can be used to be better leaders both in and out of the Corps."
Following is a sampling of books from the list of recommendations by Marine Corps rank, compiled by Tom Bowman, The Sun's military affairs reporter.
Private, private first class, lance corporal
Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein. A recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe - and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankind's most frightening enemy.
The Bridge at Dong Ha, by John Grider Miller. On Easter morning 1972, Marine Capt. John Ripley, the sole U.S. adviser to the tough 3rd Battalion of the South Vietnamese marines, braved intense enemy fire to blow up a bridge and stop a major invasion from the north.
Corporal and sergeant
The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane. One of the greatest war novels, it is the story of the Civil War through the eyes of Henry Fleming, an ordinary farm boy turned soldier.
The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West, by William H. Leckie. Chronicles the importance of African-American units in the conquest of the West.
Second lieutenant and first lieutenant
Grant and Lee: A Study in Personality and Generalship, by J.F.C. Fuller. An analysis of the Civil War battles commanded by Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee; argues that Grant was among the best generals ever.
How We Won the War, by Vo Nguyen Giap. North Vietnam's military commander discusses "just wars of national liberation" from tactics for insurgency operations to the political guidelines for enlisting the populace on the insurgent's side.
Captain
Once a Legend: "Red" Mike Edson of the Marine Raiders, by Jon T. Hoffman. Edson earned the Medal of Honor and lasting fame during a desperate, two-day defense of Guadalcanal's vital airfield.
On Guerrilla Warfare, by Mao Tse-tung. Written by the future Chinese leader in 1937, it served as an instruction manual for guerrilla fighting.
Major
Guerrilla Warfare, by Che Guevara. A leader of the 1959 overthrow in Cuba discusses the need for revolution to topple governments in Latin America. He details his style of hit-and-run tactics that proved successful.
It Doesn't Take a Hero : The Autobiography of General H. Norman Schwarzkopf. The general who commanded U.S. and allied forces in the 1991 Persian Gulf war talks about his life, from his teen-age years spent in the Middle East to his time as a young officer in Vietnam and then to the gulf war.
Lieutenant colonel
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. Considered among the best military memoirs, the two-volume work was published by Mark Twain and completed in the last month of the Civil War general's life. He offers firsthand accounts of the waging of war.
Take That Hill! Royal Marines in the Falklands War, by Nick Vaux. The book chronicles the actions of Britain's 42 Commando Royal Marines and their actions in the Falklands during the 1982 war with Argentina.
Colonel
The Marine Corps Search for a Mission 1880-1898, by Jack Shulimson. Although the Marines distinguished themselves fighting on the Barbary Coast, their essential mission and identity remained unclear throughout most of the 19th century. The book tells how the Marine Corps got out from under the thumb of the Navy and became a distinct and separate branch of the military.
Seeds of Disaster: The Development of French Army Doctrine, 1891-1939, by Robert A. Doughty. Discusses the failure of the French Army to turn back the Nazi attacks in the spring of 1940. Although France possessed the technology to fight, it lacked the right tactics and leadership.
Brigadier general through general
The Best and the Brightest, by David Halberstam. The story of how the U.S. got involved in Vietnam through the "best and brightest" policymakers appointed by John F. Kennedy.
Maverick Marine: General Smedley Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History, by Hans Schmidt. A two-time Medal of Honor recipient, Butler, beginning in 1898, served on American foreign military expeditions from Cuba to the Philippines, China, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, France and China. After a rescinded court-martial and premature retirement in 1931, he renounced war and devoted his energies to causes ranging from labor unions to the anti-war movement of the 1930s.
* * *
"
In Command Post: Irak
Iraqi Scientists Going on U.S. Payroll: "Hundreds of Iraqi scientists and technicians who the Bush administration says worked on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs for Saddam Hussein will be paid by the United States for their role in postwar projects, partly to keep the Iraqis from selling their expertise elsewhere. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Poll: Public Confident of Osama Capture: "Public confidence that Osama bin Laden will be caught is rising along with approval of President Bush's handling of foreign policy and terrorism in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's capture, an Associated Press poll says. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS IN DECEMBER!: " (Ann Coulter)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
More troops headed to Iraq in new year in CNN - War in Iraq
Double legal terror blow for Bush (18 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Pentagon Adjusts Iraq Deployment Plans: "The Pentagon is sending an additional brigade of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division to Iraq and extending the deployment there of another 82nd Airborne unit in what officials said Thursday is a minor adjustment to their plan for rotating fresh forces into Iraq next year. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Rumsfeld approves deployment of additional troops to Iraq: officials: "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved the deployment of an extra brigade of the elite 82nd Airborne Division to Iraq in January and extended that of another brigade to maintain combat power, senior US defense officials said. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.N. to Meet With Iraq Council, Coalition: "Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday called for a Jan. 15 meeting of the key players in Iraq to pin down what role they want the United Nations to play as the country moves from U.S. occupation to a democratically elected government. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
UN's Annan Wants Meeting on UN Role in Iraq: "U.N. Secretary-General KofiAnnan on Thursday proposed a Jan. 15 meeting with the IraqiGoverning Council and the U.S.-led coalition to see what rolethe United Nations should play if it returns to Baghdad. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Arresting Children: ""Two days ago there was a demonstration after school finished, against the coalition and for Saddam. Yesterday the American army came and surrounded the whole block. They just crashed into the school, 6, 7, 8 into every classroom with their guns. They took the name of every student and matched the names to the photos they got from the day before and then arrested the students. They actually dragged them by their shirts onto the floor and out of the class." They wouldn't give their names. The children at Adnan Kheiralla Boys' School in the Amiriya district of Baghdad were still scared, still seething with rage. Jo Wilding writes about the event from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
One Small Business in Iraq, Indicative of Many: "In 1953 an Iraqi man named Aziz Mikhail Zablok opened a small shoe store in Baghdad. This was no small feat, for when Aziz was 12 years old; he had begun working to help support his widowed mother of four. He eventually learned to make shoes while working for the International Shoe Company. With his brother, he opened a small shop on Rashid Street in Baghdad selling imported shoes. Eventually they began making their own in the back of the shop. Things continued to improve, and in 1958 they bought and opened a factory, then many more shops. Their business, priding itself on handmade, high quality shoes would grow into over 20 successful stores throughout Baghdad. Dahr Jamail traces the history of the family business from the coming of Saddam's regime, through the US invasion, to the present day occupation."
In Electronic Iraq
Another Home Pillaged, More Illegal Detentions: "On December 9th, at 10pm, US soldiers stormed a home in Al Ewadiyah neighborhood of Baghdad. Taharoh Muhammad Munahi Al Rufayai, a 43-year-old college professor; Leith, her brother and a retired army officer; and their elderly aunt Fahad. The soldiers forced the inhabitants to stand outside at gunpoint for five and a half hours in their bed clothes while they searched and pillaged the home, destroying much of its contents while looking for weapons and members of the resistance. Twenty soldiers picked through the home, while many more waiting outside with the family members, amidst hummers and light tanks, while helicopters circled above. Dahr Jamail writes from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
Stryker Brigade gets first combat in IraqWar.info
New look, new mission: "New look for a new mission."
In Back to Iraq 2.0
Poll: Public Confident of Osama Capture: "Public confidence that Osama bin Laden will be caught is rising along with approval of President Bush's handling of foreign policy and terrorism in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's capture, an Associated Press poll says. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Baker had a "constructive" meeting with Putin in Moscow: White House: "US envoy James Baker had a "constructive" meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on lightening the burden of Iraq's debt, the White House said. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Bremer escaped Iraq ambush two weeks ago: "U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer escaped a rebel ambush on his convoy two weeks ago, authorities said Friday. An explosion, meanwhile, struck the office of a major Shiite party, killing an Iraqi woman."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
Boat with drugs, ties to al-Qaida seized: "The U.S. Navy has seized a boat in the Persian Gulf carrying two tons of hashish and four people tied to the al-Qaida terrorist network, the military said Friday."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
Jewish settlers denounce Sharon's plans: "Outraged Jewish settlers on Friday denounced as a betrayal Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's intention to move some settlements as part of a plan to separate from the Palestinians if peace efforts remain stuck."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
Revised WTC Freedom Tower design unveiled: "A new design for the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site slopes gracefully into a spire rising 1,776 feet, echoing the Statue of Liberty, images released Friday show."
In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
Guantanamo: "Gericht vs. Bush: Rechte für Häftlinge"
In News.at: Welt
Iraq war news
Bremer Says He Survives Iraq Assassination Bid: "Iraq's U.S. administrator PaulBremer said Friday he had escaped an assassination attempt inBaghdad in early December. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saddam's Daughter Cried at Dad's Capture: "Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter said she broke down and cried when she heard news of her father's capture, adding in an interview that TV images of a disheveled Saddam beamed the across the world were meant to "break the spirit of Arabs." (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saddam's daughter cried at dad's capture: "Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter said she broke down and cried when she heard news of her father's capture, adding in an interview that TV images of a disheveled Saddam beamed the across the world were meant to "break the spirit of Arabs.""
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Truck blast wounds two soldiers in Iraq: "A roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military truck outside Baghdad on Friday, wounding two U.S. soldiers, the military said, while an Iraqi woman died as another blast hit the office of a major Shiite party."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
U.S. warns Israel on imposing solution: "The United States warned Israel against imposing a solution if peace efforts remain stalled, and the Palestinians called Ariel Sharon's ultimatum unacceptable."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Saddam's arrest brings humiliation debate: "Was he an Arab hero or a dictator? This is the question being debated in newspapers in the Middle East and by Arab intellectuals faced with the image of a bearded, bedraggled Saddam Hussein in the hands of American captors."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Truck Blast Kills 2 U.S. Soldiers in Iraq: "A U.S. military tanker truck exploded on a road outside Baghdad on Friday, and witnesses said it killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded one. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saddam's Arrest Brings Humiliation Debate: "Was he an Arab hero or a dictator? This is the question being debated in newspapers in the Middle East and by Arab intellectuals faced with the image of a bearded, bedraggled Saddam Hussein in the hands of American captors. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Blast Hits Office of Iraq's Shiite Party: "A predawn explosion Friday at an office belonging to Iraq's major Shiite party killed one Iraqi woman and wounded five others, witnesses said. It was the second attack this week on the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution Party. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Truck blast kills 2 U.S. soldiers in Iraq: "A U.S. military tanker truck exploded on a road outside Baghdad on Friday, and witnesses said it killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded one."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
One killed in explosion at Shiite building in CNN - War in Iraq
Officials: WMD chief may quit in CNN - War in Iraq
Saddam's daughter wants fair trial in CNN - War in Iraq
Witnesses: Iraq Tanker blast kills two: "A U.S. military tanker truck exploded on a road outside Baghdad on Friday, and witnesses said two U.S. soldiers were killed and another was wounded."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Sharon probes removing some settlements: "In an extraordinary shift of Israeli politics, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the leading patron of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, is talking about dismantling some of them."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Turkey captures man suspected in bombings: "Turkish authorities have captured a Turkish man suspected of planning last month's deadly truck bombings in Istanbul after meeting with Osama bin Laden, an intelligence official said Friday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Blast hits office of Iraq's Shiite party: "A predawn explosion Friday at an office belonging to Iraq's major Shiite party killed one Iraqi woman and wounded five others, witnesses said. It was the second attack this week on the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution Party."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Reserve Unit awaits OK to use steel armor: "Fearing roadside bombs and sniper bullets, members of the Army Reserves' 428th Transportation Co. turned to a local steel fabricator to fashion extra armor for their 5-ton trucks and Humvees before beginning their journey to Iraq earlier this month."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Woman killed in Baghdad bomb attack: "An explosion at an office belonging to Iraq's major Shiite party has killed one Iraqi woman and wounded five others in Baghdad."
In Ananova: War In Iraq
Witnesses: Iraq Tanker Blast Kills Two: "A U.S. military tanker truck exploded on a road outside Baghdad on Friday, and witnesses said two U.S. soldiers were killed and another was wounded. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Blast Hits Office of Iraq's Shiite Party: "Rebels killed a U.S. soldier in the first fatal ambush for the U.S. military since the capture of Saddam Hussein last weekend. The violence continued Friday, when an explosion at office belonging to Iraq's major Shiite party killed one Iraqi woman and wounded five others, witnesses said. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
US to pour more troops into Iraq; Russia to consider cutting Iraq's crushing debt: "The United States said it will pour more troops into Iraq after another US soldier died there in a roadside ambush, and Russia agreed to consider reducing Iraq's crippling debt. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.N. to Meet With Iraq Council, Coalition: "Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday called for a Jan. 15 meeting of the key players in Iraq to pin down what role they want the United Nations to play as the country moves from U.S. occupation to a democratically elected government. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Blast hits office of Iraq's Shiite party: "Rebels killed a U.S. soldier in the first fatal ambush for the U.S. military since the capture of Saddam Hussein last weekend. The violence continued Friday, when an explosion at office belonging to Iraq's major Shiite party killed one Iraqi woman and wounded five others, witnesses said."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Reserve Unit Awaits OK to Use Steel Armor: "Fearing roadside bombs and sniper bullets, members of the Army Reserves' 428th Transportation Co. turned to a local steel fabricator to fashion extra armor for their 5-ton trucks and Humvees before beginning their journey to Iraq earlier this month. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
AP: European Militant Network Shut Down: "Authorities in Europe have shut down a network that recruited at least 200 Islamic militants to carry out attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq, Italian investigators told The Associated Press. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Explosion Rocks Office of Iraq Shi'ite Party: "A blast ripped through a housebelonging to Iraq's main Shi'ite Muslim political group earlyon Friday, killing at least one person and injuring seven,witnesses said. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
US to pour more troops into Iraq; Russia to consider cutting Iraq's crushing debt: "The United States said it will pour more troops into Iraq after another US soldier died there in a roadside ambush, and Russia agreed to consider reducing Iraq's crippling debt. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S. warns Israel on imposing settlement: "The Bush administration is warning Israel it will oppose any effort by its longtime ally to simply impose a Mideast settlement, saying a joint Israeli-Palestinian process remains the best chance for peace."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
U.S. says catching bin Laden difficult: "Al-Qaida suspects are being interrogated. Afghan and Pakistani villagers are being courted. Troops and unmanned aircraft are poised to strike. But finding Osama bin Laden remains enormously difficult, much more so than capturing Saddam Hussein, say American intelligence officials, lawmakers and analysts."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Thursday, December 18, 2003
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Angels Among Us (Our Soldiers)
Oh I believe there are angels among us sent down to us from somewhere up above They come to you and me in our darkest hours to show us how to live to teach us how to give to guide us with a light of love When life held troubled times and had me down on my knees There's always been someone to come along and comfort me A kind word from a stranger to lend a helping hand a phone call from a friend just to say I understand Now ain't it kinda funny at the dark end of the road Someone lights the way with just a single ray of hope Oh I believe there are angels among us sent down to us from somewhere up above they come to you and me in our darkest hours to light us with a light of love, There were so many faces show up in the strangest places They grace us with their mercies in our time of need .To guide us with a light of love.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Monday, December 15, 2003
Sunday, December 14, 2003
Kuwaiti citizens Mohammed Ali (R) and Jassim Gallaf give a thumbs up as they listen in Kuwait City to the news of the capture of Saddam Hussein December 14, 2003. (Stephanie McGehee/Reuters) 
A TV grab taken from Al-Arabiya shows footage of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after his capture, shown during a press conference in Baghdad. Jubilant world leaders hailed the capture of Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator who evaded US-led forces for months, and voiced hope it would bring stability to the wartorn country.(AFP/AL-ARABIYA) 
An injured Iraqi policeman lies in hospital after a car bomb ripped through a police station in Khalidiyah, 60 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, December 14, 2003. At least 17 people died in the latest attack on the force central to Washington's plans to hand over power to Iraqis. REUTERS/Akram Saleh 
Picture shows the antenna of a suspected roadside bomb sitting beside a road in Baghdad December 14, 2003. The device was dismantled by a U.S. Army bomb squad's robot and no injures were reported. A car bomb ripped through a police station in western Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens, witnesses and hospital sources said. REUTERS/Ali Jasim 
An Iraqi man looks at a pool of blood beside graffiti reading 'Yes to Iraqi freedom and democracy' in Khalidiyah, 60 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, after a car bomb ripped through a police station, December 14, 2003. At least 17 people died in the latest attack on the force central to Washington's plans to hand over power to Iraqis. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra 
A U.S, soldier passes by a vehicle destroyed in a car bomb blast outside a police station in village of Khalidiyah, some 35 miles west of Baghdad, December 14, 2003. A car bomb ripped through a police station in western Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 17 people and wounding some 33 others, witnesses and hospital sources said. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra 
A body lies by the side of the road after a car bomb ripped through a police station Khalidiyah, 60 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad December 14, 2003. At least 17 people died in the latest attack on the force central to Washington's plans to hand over power to Iraqis. REUTERS/Reuters Television 
An Iraqi man stands outside a police station after a car bomb blast in village of Khalidiyah, some 35 miles west of Baghdad December 14, 2003. A car bomb ripped through a police station in western Iraq (news - web sites) on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens, witnesses and hospital sources said. REUTERS/Zohra 
Iraqis gather around rubble outside a police station in Khaldiyah, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq Sunday Dec. 14, 2003. A car bomb exploded Sunday morning at a police station in this town west of Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding 33 others, a U.S. military officer said. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) 
Saddam Hussein Captured
Ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein just after his capture. Saddam, 66, was captured alive, dug out of an underground hole near his hometown of Tikrit on Saturday night by US forces and is currently being held in an undisclosed location.(AFP/US ARMY/HO) 
An injured man lies in hospital after a car bomb ripped through a police station in Khalidiyah, 60 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad December 14, 2003. At least 17 people died in the latest attack on the force central to Washington's plans to hand over power to Iraqis. REUTERS/Reuters Television 
Car Bomb Kills 20 At Iraq Police Station
Car Bomb Kills 20 at Iraq Police Station
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)--A car bomb exploded Sunday morning at a police station in a town west of Baghdad, causing about 20 casualties, according to witnesses and the U.S. military. No U.S. soldiers were hurt, the military said.
The attack in Khaldiyah, about 50 miles west of Baghdad, took place at 8:40 a.m. local time near the main police station, witnesses said.
About 20 people were injured in the blast, said a U.S. officer at the scene. It was not immediately clear if anybody had been killed.
No American soldiers were in the area when the bomb exploded, said the officer who asked not to be named.
U.S. troops called to the scene immediately blocked off the area and two helicopters were seen hovering overhead.
It was not clear whether the attack was a suicide bombing. U.S. troops have been targeted by suicide bombers three times in the past week in attacks that left dozens of soldiers injured and one killed.
Khaldiyah is located in the so-called Sunni Triangle west and north of the capital, where attacks against occupation troops and their Iraqi allies have been fiercest.
AP-NY-12-14-03 0302EST
Copyright 2003, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
BUTCHER OF BAGHDAD BEHIND BARS
Arrest 'removes shadow' - Blair: "Tony Blair welcomes the capture of Saddam Hussein, saying it removes the "shadow" of his return to Iraq."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq
Capture of Saddam: "The former dictator's arrest is an important moment for Iraqis, the coalition and the whole Middle East."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq
Iraqis celebrate Saddam capture: "Iraqi cities witness scenes of jubilation as locals celebrate reports of Saddam Hussein's capture."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq
Saddam Hussein facts in CNN - War in Iraq
Saddam Believed Captured: "Gunfire has erupted in the streets of Baghdad as Iraqis celebrate the news from the Iraqi Governing Council that Saddam Hussein may be captured. People are driving through the capital, shouting, ?They got Saddam.?"
In CBS News: Iraq Crisis
Saddam Hussein 'arrested in Iraq': "Iraqi officials say they have been told that the ousted Iraqi leader has been captured by US forces in Tikrit."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq
Iraq Council Confirms Saddam Caught Alive: "U.S. military captured Saddam Hussein alive in his hometown of Tikrit on Sunday, eight months after the fall of Baghdad, the Iraqi Governing Council said. Celebratory gunfire erupted in Baghdad. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Bush Told of Apparent Capture on Saturday-Official: "President Bush was told on Sundaythat there is a strong indication that ousted Iraqi presidentSaddam Hussein has been captured in Iraq, a senior white houseofficial said. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Official: Saddam Dug Hole to Hide Himself: "Saddam Hussein, trapped in a cellar, dug a hole and buried himself as U.S. soldiers moved into the house where he was hiding, an Iraqi official said Sunday. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
"High value target" netted in Tikrit raid: Pentagon: "A senior Pentagon official confirmed that a "high value target" was captured during a raid in the Tikrit area. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saddam Hussein 'arrested in Iraq': "Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has been captured alive in his hometown Tikrit, the coalition says."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq (UK Edition)
Iraqis celebrate Saddam capture: "Iraqi cities witness scenes of jubilation as locals celebrate reports of Saddam Hussein's capture."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq (UK Edition)
Official: Saddam dug hole to hide himself: "Saddam Hussein, trapped in a cellar, dug a hole and buried himself as U.S. soldiers moved into the house where he was hiding, an Iraqi official said Sunday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Iraq council confirms Saddam caught alive: "U.S. military captured Saddam Hussein alive in his hometown of Tikrit on Sunday, eight months after the fall of Baghdad, the Iraqi Governing Council said."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Saddam Captured Alive, Iraq Official Says: "Associated Press, via MyWayNews :
Dec 14, 5:48 AM (ET)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Saddam Hussein has been captured alive in his hometown of Tikrit, a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council said Sunday.
Council member Dara Noor al-Din told The Associated Press that the council was informed of the former dictator's capture in a telephone call from L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator for Iraq.
"Bremer has confirmed to the Governing Council that Saddam was captured in Tikrit," Noor al-Din said. "He spoke on the phone to several members, including Ahmad Chalabi."
Chalabi is a leading member of the council who has close links to the U.S. administration of President Bush.
Read the rest of the article here ."
In Command Post: Irak
20 killed in Iraq bomb - police in CNN - War in Iraq
Pictures of Tikrit night raid: "The US-led coalition is reviewing pay for soldiers of the New Iraqi Army after suffering the embarrassment of a mass walkout from the very first battalion as the American post-war combat death toll nears 200. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saddam Hussein captured: Kurdish official: "Ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein has been captured in a raid by US forces backed by Kurdish fighters in his northern hometown of Tikrit, a senior Kurdish official told AFP. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saddam captured alive, Iraq official says: "Saddam Hussein has been captured alive in his hometown of Tikrit, a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council said Sunday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Car bomb at Iraq police station kills 17: "A suspected suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car outside a police station Sunday morning west of Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding 33 more, the U.S. military said."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Saddam possibly caught - U.S. in CNN - War in Iraq
Reports Saddam captured: "Reports are coming in that Saddam Hussein has been captured in Iraq."
In Ananova: War In Iraq
'Eighteen dead' in police station car bomb: "A car bomb has exploded near a police station in west of Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens of people."
In Ananova: War In Iraq
Saturday, December 13, 2003
LT-Gen Ricardo Sanchez
Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, the top US commander in Iraq said the coalition was reviewing the pay scale for the new Iraqi army(AFP/Henghameh Fahim) 
Friday, December 12, 2003
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Let Iraqis Rebuild Iraq
Iraq should be rebuilt by its own people
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
There are two stories being told about Iraq and its reconstruction. The first is how much money is being passed to the 63 member nations of the so-called Coalition of the Willing. Then there's another story, one not often told, about the reconstruction efforts (and contracts) taking place in Iraq right now.
So far, at least, only U.S. companies have been awarded Iraqi reconstruction contracts. Start with Halliburton and its subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root, with contracts topping $2.3 billion.
A study by the Center for Public Integrity totals American contracts -- so far -- at some $8 billion for more than 70 U.S. companies and individuals in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Those companies donated more money to the presidential campaign of George W. Bush -- a little over $500,000 -- than to any other politician over the last dozen years," the center's study found. "Nearly 60 percent of the companies had employees or board members who either served in or had close ties to the executive branch for Republican and Democratic administrations, for members of Congress of both parties, or at the highest levels of the military."
The fix was in from the beginning. Halliburton's contract to deliver gasoline to Iraqi gas stations, for example, was let without even the pretense of competition.
Meanwhile, at a Baghdad job fair, hundreds of Iraqis showed up looking for work. The message from many was that the United States should make it easier for Iraqis to rebuild their own country.
Indeed, there's no reason why many basic services -- like hauling garbage -- cannot be set up as a service operated by Iraqis.
At the job fair, Ahmed Jassim al-Robaie, the owner of an Iraqi high-tech trading company, told The Associated Press that he didn't see the point. "They're only showing their products and marketing their products," he said. "Iraq has good trade and we're capable of trading. We should be giving courses to them."
That brings us to what ought to be rule No. 1 for the Iraqi reconstruction effort: Let Iraq rebuild Iraq. It would save money, put people to work and remove the foul sense that this war was somebody's campaign payoff.
Iraq Updates
Iraq Tribunal Eyes Saddam Trial; 2 U.S. Soldiers Killed: "A special Iraqi court will try SaddamHussein in absentia for crimes against humanity, if thefugitive dictator is not caught or killed, and bring keymembers of his regime before the tribunal, officials said onWednesday. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Annan Names U.N. Interim Envoy to Iraq: "Iraq is still too dangerous to reopen the U.N. office in Baghdad, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday after appointing a replacement for the top envoy to Iraq, who was killed in an August suicide bombing along with 21 other people. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S. faces backlash over contracts in CNN - War in Iraq
CIA Plans Iraqi Domestic Spy Service, Newspaper Reports: "The United States plans to set up anIraqi intelligence service to spy on groups and individualsinside Iraq that are targeting U.S. troops and civilians, TheWashington Post reported on Thursday. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Arafat dismisses Israeli settlement idea: "Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Wednesday dismissed as meaningless the Israeli premier's hints of evacuating some Jewish settlements, while a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers raised hopes for renewed peace talks."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Annan Rules Out UN Return to Iraq in Near Future: "U.N. Secretary-General KofiAnnan said on Wednesday that Iraq was still too dangerous forU.N. foreign staff to return but indicated he was willing toplay a bigger role once the U.S.-led occupation ended. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Israeli troops, Palestinians clash in Gaza: "Israeli troops battled Palestinians in a Gaza refugee camp on the Egyptian border early Thursday. Residents said two Palestinians were wounded."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
US defends Iraq contracts ban: "The White House says its policy on Iraq tenders aims to encourage more countries to join the coalition."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq
Protesters in Syria call for freedoms: "In a highly unusual protest, more than 150 Syrian pro-democracy activists staged a sit-in Wednesday outside the prime minister's office in downtown Damascus, calling for more freedoms, the release of political prisoners and the abolition of the country's emergency law."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
U.S. faces backlash over contracts in CNN - War in Iraq
US president calls French, German, Russian leaders by phone: "US President George W. Bush called French President Jacques Chirac, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to talk about Iraqi debt, White House officials said. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Who saw that coming?: " The US, again showing the selectiveness of its free-trade obsession, just officially banned French, Russian, and German companies from getting reconstruction contracts in Iraq. The New York Times' source for this appears to be this document (PDF) from rebuilding-iraq.net,..."
In Catalyzer Newsroom
Lebanon: Bomb plot on U.S. embassy foiled: "Lebanese authorities said they halted a bomb attack against the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday, arresting two men outside the compound, one of whom was carrying more than two pounds of explosives."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Annan says Iraq still too dangerous for UN: "UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ruled out quickly resuming a major UN role in postwar Iraq, saying the country remains too dangerous to put his staff at risk. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Bush Welcomes New Iraqi Envoy to U.S.: "President Bush welcomed Rend Rahim Francke to the White House on Wednesday, praising the woman who comes the closest to being Iraq's first ambassador to the United States since a diplomatic break 13 years ago. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S.-Europe Split on Iraq Takes New Turn: "The Bush administration has reopened an emotional rift with Europe - just as its damaged relations with Germany, France and Russia seemed on the mend. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
"A Great Day for Iraq": "Blogger Zeyad of Healing Iraq: The rallies today proved to be a major success. I didn't expect anything even close to this. It was probably the largest demonstration in Baghdad for months. It wasn't just against terrorism. It was against Arab media, against the interference of neighbouring countries, against dictatorships, against Wahhabism, against oppression, and of course against the Ba'ath and Saddam.
Read the rest. Zeyad also has plenty of pictures."
In Command Post: Irak
Israel, Palestinians have new aid effort: "The Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers announced a new effort Wednesday to improve the distribution of international aid in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as donors expressed impatience over the stalled Mideast peace process."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
U.S. Troops Kill Saddam Fedayeen Officer: "U.S. troops shot and killed a senior officer of the paramilitary group Saddam Fedayeen after storming his house in this northern city on Wednesday, his neighbors said. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Iraq Bids Ban Reopens Diplomatic Rift: "Across Europe, response was swift and angry Wednesday to the U.S. order barring firms based in important allied countries - opponents of the Iraq war - from bidding on Iraqi reconstruction projects. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S. Calls Iraq Contract Restrictions Appropriate: "The United States said on Wednesdayits decision to bar Iraq war opponents like France, Germany andRussia from $18.6 billion in U.S. reconstruction projects wasappropriate and an inducement for countries to commit troopsand provide other support. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Pentagon: Many of New Iraq Soldiers Quit: "Plans to deploy the first battalion of Iraq's new army are in doubt because a third of the soldiers trained by the U.S.-led occupation authority have quit, defense officials said Wednesday. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
On Killing Children: An Open Letter to US Military Spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty (10 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Iran's Nobel Winner Hits Out at U.S. Foreign Policy (10 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Pentagon: Barring bidders not punitive: "The U.S. government's decision to bar firms based in countries that oppose the Iraq war from bidding on contracts for Iraqi reconstruction projects was not meant to punish them, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Iraq bids ban reopens diplomatic rift: "Across Europe, response was swift and angry Wednesday to the U.S. order barring firms based in important allied countries - opponents of the Iraq war - from bidding on Iraqi reconstruction projects."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
U.S. Troops Kill Saddam Fedayeen Officer: "U.S. troops shot and killed a senior officer of the paramilitary group Saddam Fedayeen after storming his house in this northern city on Wednesday, his neighbors said. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Iraq Bids Ban Reopens Diplomatic Rift: "Across Europe, response was swift and angry Wednesday to the U.S. order barring firms based in important allied countries - opponents of the Iraq war - from bidding on Iraqi reconstruction projects. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Annan Rules Out U.N. Return to Iraq in Near Future: "U.N. Secretary-General KofiAnnan on Wednesday said Iraq was still too dangerous for U.N.international staff to return but indicated he was willing toplay a bigger role once the U.S.-led occupation ended. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
TASK FORCE ?ALL AMERICAN? CAPTURES SPANISH ATTACKERS in CENTCOM: News Release
4TH ID CAPTURES CRIMINALS, CONFISCATES WEAPONS in CENTCOM: News Release
U.S. raids net dozens of Iraqi insurgents in CNN - War in Iraq
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
The Courier-Mail: Secret heroes of the Iraqi war [11dec03]
Secret heroes of the Iraqi war
11dec03
A DOZEN SAS soldiers have been secretly awarded medals and honours for their courage during 42 days behind enemy lines in the Iraq war.
But the lack of public recognition for the elite army unit's latest medal haul has angered top brass and surprised the soldiers themselves.
Past exploits of Special Air Service Regiment members, who cannot be identified, have been acknowledged in honours lists issued by Government House.
Army personnel are unaware who banned publication of the latest medals but are upset the soldiers' bravery has not been recognised publicly.
The awards were not included in the list of 88 defence personnel recognised for the Iraq campaign late last month.
Defence provides the list to Government House but senior army officers are mystified by the latest exclusions.
"I don't know where the problem is, but it needs to be sorted out," one officer told The Daily Telegraph.
The 12 secret awards follow a well publicised medal for gallantry for "trooper X" for courage under fire on the battlefields of western Iraq, plus the first unit citation for gallantry for the regiment's Number 1 Squadron.
Trooper X, or John W from Queensland, is a sniper who won his award for engaging enemy forces with all three of his weapons systems, while under intense enemy fire on day five of the war.
Heading the new list is SAS Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Rick B and Squadron Commander Major Paul B, who have been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for leadership and professionalism during the Iraq campaign.
The DSC is the military's top award for distinguished command in action.
The young major came up with the idea of using a low-flying American fighter's sonic boom to frighten enemy forces into surrendering.
He was in charge of a force of about 75 elite soldiers from the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment who defeated or destroyed thousands of enemy forces and secured Iraq's western desert. Not a single soldier was injured during the campaign.
Three other SAS soldiers, including two troop commanders and the regimental sergeant major, have been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for distinguished leadership in action.
One SAS soldier who can be identified because he is leaving the army is Major Peter Tinley, who was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his role as deputy commander of the Special Forces Task Group in Iraq.
Major Tinley, from Western Australia, spent three months in the US planning the Iraq mission.
The Courier-Mail: Secret heroes of the Iraqi war [11dec03]
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Boston.com / News / World / In Iraq desert, war simmers for Army units
The idea is stay high enough to avoid clipping camels," said Warrant Officer Wilfrede R. Bonilla one of the pilots on the mission. "But low and fast enough that by the time the bad guys realize we're coming, we're gone."
The gunner on the forward chopper fired bursts at a brush thicket that might conceal an insurgent team armed with surface-to-air missiles. Plumes of mud, pulverized rock, and shattered bark rose along the embankment, an almost surreal stitchery since the fusillades could not be heard above the screaming engines.
Finally, journey complete, the helicopters hopped the sand berm and entrenched tanks surrounding this forward base of the Army's Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, 150 miles from the Saudi Arabian border, and settled onto a landing strip pocked by mortar rounds.
In the wastes of Iraq's vast and largely barren Western Desert, the Third Armored and attached units -- including the 94th Military Police Company based in Londonderry, N.H. -- are fighting a war different from the urban combat of small arms ambushes, rocket attacks, and roadside bombs that have ensnared American units in central and northern Iraq.
The mission here is to secure the border against infiltrators, especially foreign terrorists, radical Islamists, and other volunteer jihadis -- would-be holy warriors -- believed to be trickling into Iraq. That means a grind of daily patrols but also the training of Iraqi border police.
"The Syria line is the main focus, but every border is a potential source of trouble," said Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Hickey, 39, who claims the Army as his hometown but whose parents live in Harwich, Mass. Hickey is the commander of the Second Squadron of the Third Armored Cavalry, responsible for an operations zone covering thousands of square miles and including much of the border with Saudi Arabia, the entire line with Jordan, and a vast swath adjoining Syria.
Most of the region is trackless desert. As winter rains fall, the wasteland -- dotted here and there by forlorn oasis villages and tiny bedouin camps -- is turning into a morass of mud and flood flats. The air is cold night and day, The soldiers lack hot water and other amenities. But transport units from Al Asad, Third Armored's main base near the Syrian border, risk a twice-weekly gantlet of small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades to bring such nonstandard cargo as a Nautilus workout machine, crates of Cheerios, and a television satellite that receives sports programming.
Spotter helicopters and patrols of combat vehicles venture out daily, scouring the wilderness for vehicle tracks and other sign of travel -- although these usually lead not to terror camps but to bewildered nomads. Foreign fighters are believed by US authorities to be entering Iraq by the hundreds, but interception of the would-be jihadis in the desert is rare. Intelligence officers suspect that most cross into Iraq at legal entry points using false documents rather than risk the desolate outback, which is haunted by bandits, more than happy to slit anyone's throat, fellow Muslim or not.
But Army officers also believe aggressive military patrols have deterred foreign fighters from following the sheep paths and camel caravan trails. "We are disrupting terrorist activity, especially on the Syrian border," Lieutenant Colonel Richard Piscal said in an interview at the Al Asad base.
Forward Operating Base Quinn -- named for a Third Armored soldier, Michael Quinn, killed during fighting in the Sunni Triangle town of Fallujah -- is perhaps the most isolated US position in Iraq, a cluster of concrete barracks and bombed-out aircraft hangers on a former Iraqi military airfield.
"It's pretty much like being on the Western frontier," Hickey said. "Rough, wild, and lawless." There is danger here. "No place in Iraq is safe," said Specialist Andrew Harrington of Salem, Mass. But it is not like the daily round of ambushes and bomb attacks endured by soldiers serving in Fallujah, Ramadi, and other fronts in the Sunni Triangle. The lower level of conflict in the Western Desert is fine with the troops of Second Squadron and the 94th MPs, both of which took losses in the Triangle this year -- Second Squadron suffered six killed and more than 70 wounded.
Casualties still occur, however. Later on this day, soldiers at FOB Quinn would mourn a Third Armored comrade killed late last month near the Syrian border.
Meanwhile, a big part of the base's mission is creating homegrown law and order -- shaping Iraqis recruited from local villages into a functional border constabulary. Getting volunteers is easy: At $70 a month, the 204 members of the first class rank among the highest-paid desert dwellers.
Teaching discipline, respect for citizens, and basic police procedure is a trickier proposition.
"Iraq has had decades where the concept of police is linked to baksheesh" -- taking bribes -- "and pushing around people," said First Lieutenant Travis Nelson of Berkeley, Calif. "So we put emphasis on civil rights and approaching people with respect, as well as making traffic stops and diligently carrying out searches."
Eventually the trainees will receive US-issue uniforms. For now, they are a motley crew in black Arabic robes, coarse-spun tunics, patched cotton shawls, and -- in the case of one young tribesman -- a purple velour smoking jacket.
They brandish new AK-47 assault rifles provided by the US military. So far, however, they have not received bullets -- and some American troops are quietly appalled by the prospect.
"Soldiers are definitely wondering what happens when we give these guys live ammunition. There is some pretty dark joking about which way they'll point their guns," said Sergeant Jerome Ciolino of Gloucester, Mass., who carries shrapnel in his triceps received during a firefight over the summer. "But if arming Iraqis is what it takes to get us home, we'll do it."
There is a battle-weary edge to many of the American troops here, and definite cynicism when it comes to Iraqis. But none of the dozens of soldiers interviewed showed signs of strained morale. Most seemed chipper and proud.
"There is no point in getting angry or depressed because this is a job that someone has to do -- and we're it," said Sergeant Kristina Brown, medic with the 94th from Littleton, N.H. "I miss my two kids more than I can say. But I just try to soldier on with a positive attitude."
And the losses mount.
On Nov. 29, a Third Armored soldier attached to the squadron was among those killed during an ambush on a convoy near the Syrian border. He was Specialist Aaron J. Sissel, and the traditional military ceremony held in the small, dimly lit chow hall at FOB Quinn has become a familiar ritual to the soldiers in attendance.
At one end of the room was an inverted M-16 rifle topped by a battle helmet. A sergeant read off a roll call, starting with the names of two soldiers in the room who shouted, "Present!"
Then the sergeant called: "Specialist Aaron J. Sissel!"
Silence.
"I repeat, `Specialist Aaron J. Sissel!' "
The silence was so prolonged it was painful. Tears streamed down the cheeks of the seasoned combat troops.
Outside, a mud-spattered honor guard of seven soldiers fired three volleys that cracked over the barrens with grim finality: Specialist Sissel's 21-gun salute.
Boston.com / News / World / In Iraq desert, war simmers for Army units
Iraq War
Japan approves controversial troop dispatch to Iraq: "Japan's cabinet approved a basic plan to send troops to Iraq on a humanitarian mission, a spokesman for the prime minister's office said. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Israeli kibbutz movement in dire straits: "After spending World War II in Nazi camps, Esther Cohen saw the swamplands of Kibbutz Metzuba as a paradise."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Iraqi Air Force Jets Head to the Junkyard: "Following the Biblical call to turn swords into ploughshares, junkyard owner Ahmad Ali Thalib is converting scrapped jet fighters into pots and pans. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Israel trains US assassination squads in Iraq (9 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
U.N. takes Israel barrier to International court (9 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
With More Money to Spend, Middle-Class Iraqis Go Shopping for Luxury Goods: "A swath of middle-class society has experienced a jump in income that is driving a boom in demand for luxury goods."
In New York Times: World Special
G.I. on Guard at Gas Station Is Shot to Death: "A U.S. soldier was killed in Mosul, Iraq, while standing guard at a long lines of cars backed up because of a gasoline shortage."
In New York Times: World Special
Indonesian Criticizes U.S. Over the War in Iraq: "The foreign minister of Indonesia said that the American policy in Iraq might have made the world more dangerous."
In New York Times: World Special
Japan Cabinet Expected to OK Iraq Mission: "After months of debate, Japan's prime minister said his Cabinet will likely approve the deployment of non-combat troops to Iraq on Tuesday, but opposition parties vowed to do all they can to keep Japanese forces at home. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Japan set to approve troop dispatch to Iraq: "Japan is set to approve a plan to dispatch some 500-700 ground troops to Iraq to provide humanitarian aid for between six months to a year, according to press reports. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Iraqi Symphony Prepares for D.C. Concert: "Muntha Jamil Hafidh describes his orchestra's upcoming performance here in the same terms that any foreign musician might: an opportunity at learn from U.S. musicians and share his country's culture. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
US, Britain pressed on Iraq arms hunt: "The United States and Britain came under pressure at the UN Security Council on Monday to hand over confidential information on the search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Sharon may weigh W. Bank settlement moves: "Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has indicated for the first time that he might consider moving Jewish settlements in the West Bank as part of the unilateral moves he is considering."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Survey: Saddam Killed 61,000 in Baghdad: "Saddam Hussein's government may have executed 61,000 Baghdad residents, a number significantly higher than previously believed, according to a survey obtained Monday by The Associated Press. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Laura Bush Was Worred About Baghdad Trip: "First lady Laura Bush says her husband first told her about a trip to Iraq six weeks before Thanksgiving, and she ranks his surprise trip among "the best-kept secrets ever." (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
US, Britain pressed on Iraq arms hunt: "The United States and Britain came under pressure at the UN Security Council on Monday to hand over confidential information on the search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Recreating Palestine in Iraq: "Here is a must-read article on the new tactics being employed by the U.S. military to crack down on the guerilla insurgency. For example, the U.S. has barbwired entire villages. The notice on the fence reads: "This fence is here for your protection. Do not approach or try to cross, or you will be shot."
Iraqis are allowed to leave and enter their village through carefully monitored checkposts, but only when they produce special identification cards. Sound familiar? It sure does to Tariq, who says, "I see no difference between us and the Palestinians." Perhaps imitating Israel is not exactly the best path to winning Iraqi hearts. But U.S. commanders disagree: Continue »"
In Alternet: War On Iraq
TASK FORCE ?ALL-AMERICAN? TRAINS NEW IRAQI SECURITY FORCES in CENTCOM: News Release
Monday, December 08, 2003
WITH THE STRYKERS IN IRAQ - Michael Gilbert:
Cots, laundry, other logistics vital for troops
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
AT THE STRYKER BRIGADE'S BASE CAMP, Iraq - It's been a rough couple of evenings for Maj. Sean McKenney at the Stryker brigade's nightly battle update briefings.
That's where the brigade staff and battalion commanders gather to update the boss, Col. Mike Rounds, on the day's developments in every area of the unit's operations.
McKenney is the S-4, the logistics officer, and the past two nights Rounds has expressed a great deal of interest in his work.
He's got questions about the latrines and the cots, or shortages thereof. The water. Hot chow. Clean clothes. Gravel for work areas and the motor pools. Fuel and oil for the vehicles.
It's all critical stuff as the Fort Lewis-based brigade, with the help of other support units, transforms a vast, flat patch of northern Iraqi mud into its base of operations and home away from home for some 5,000 soldiers.
McKenney is on the hot seat to make sure all the supplies are on hand, or on the way, to make that happen. And though he's had to endure a few awkward moments with the brigade commander, he said it's all going fairly well.
"This is actually, for the environment we're in, not a bad setup," the major said after Saturday night's briefing.
Today is the brigade's third full day on the ground at its camp, the location of which remains off-limits for reporting under the ground rules for reporters traveling with the unit.
The dining facility served its first hot meal Saturday night - spicy beef over rice with vegetables, and coffee cake.
McKenney got a contractor out to service the 84 Port-A-Johns now on the camp, and he said there's another 220 or so on the way.
Gravel contractors wouldn't come after their trucks got shot up, but deliveries will resume today, he said.
One shower center started up Saturday, although it was later down due to pump problems. And plumbers were finishing on a second, across the post.
Laundry service is scheduled to start Monday.
As for cots, that's a sore point with Rounds, who says the Army has 600,000 of them in Iraq and Kuwait, despite the fact it has only about 130,000 troops in the countries. Why should it be so hard to get 5,000 of them sent to this camp?
The answer to that question might someday be determined by the General Accounting Office. But for the time being, cots should be here today, McKenney said.
That will be some relief to the troops who are sleeping on the concrete or plywood floor of their tents, although many soldiers brought their own cots north with them from Kuwait.
A next priority might be hand-washing stations. There are none in the camp.
Rounds told his team he sees the camp issues as critical to the brigade's success.
"Ultimately when we're looking at quality of life, part of it is morale, yes, but mostly it gives us the opportunity to keep folks healthy and keep them in the fight," Rounds said. "There's enough other things in this country to knock us off our feet, we don't need to do it to ourselves."
The brigade is getting help from Army National Guardsmen and reservists from Mississippi, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Wisconsin, as well as an active-duty artillery battalion that's been here since July.
They're putting up and wiring more than 70 tents; it appeared about half had power by the end of Saturday.
They are also digging trenches to shelter soldiers if the camp is attacked with mortars, a common occurrence at other U.S. camps around Iraq. There are ditches with beams and plywood roofs, which are covered with 18 inches of dirt.
Soldiers at Baquba use theirs so often, for example, that they've rigged them with power for lights and other comforts.
"Stars & Stripes came out and did a story about how nice the bunkers are," Maj. Gary Ladd, commander of a Mississippi National Guard engineer company that's helping build the Stryker brigade's new home, said of the Army newspaper.
His unit has been working all around northern Iraq since April as part of the 555th Engineer Group out of Fort Lewis.
Soldiers here are hoping they don't have a similar need for bunkers. But they'll be glad to know Capt. Kenneth Mitchell, the brigade's assistant engineer, checked them all after Friday night's heavy rain and found no standing water.
The camp is huge, and several miles from any population center, but a mortar strike on the place shouldn't surprise anybody, Ladd said.
"You just never take it for granted that they can't do something," he said. "Never underestimate anybody."
One complicating factor is the mud. It forms instantly when it rains, which appears to happen about every four or five days. Winds come along and dry it, and heavy vehicles turn the dried mud into fine, fluffy sand. And then it rains again.
"It's either powder, or this," Ladd said, almost straining to lift his heavy right boot caked in rich clay mud. "You put your feet in it in the morning and it stays with you all day."
Which makes the shower and laundry facilities especially important.
Lt. Brian Shoemaker, of the 259th Field Services Company from Fort Bragg, N.C., said soldiers from his unit have been deployed steadily the past two years, mainly in Afghanistan and Iraq.
They run what's called a "slicker unit," for shower, laundry and clothing repair.
"We're not doing the clothing repair, though. Not out here," Shoemaker said.
His pride and joy is the 31-ton Laundry Advanced Drying System unit, or a LADS. Its two big rotating drums wash and dry 500 to 700 bundles of laundry a day - each soldier gets to turn in 15 pieces of clothing, and they're washed in a net bag.
It uses 600 to 800 gallons of water a day. The previous-generation unit that's still in use in the Army consumes about 2,500 gallons of water to wash 300 or so bundles a day, Shoemaker said.
The only catch is the LADS is a little trickier to maintain than the other unit, which is why he's trying to get his hands on one of each to make sure he can keep the brigade's clothes clean no matter what.
As for the showers, the 259th runs a tent with sections for men and women. It could handle as many as 1,000 bathers a day, provided there's enough water.
It cranked up Saturday morning, and by all accounts the water was nice and hot. But it was closed later for a breakdown. There was no word on when it might reopen.
"As long as there's showers, I'm good to go," said Cpl. Jamie Christensen, a Stryker brigade medic, who with her buddy Pfc. Tonya Woodard spent part of Saturday making their tent just a tad more inhabitable.
The tents held up fairly well in the rain, but they're all set out on concrete. Most of the floors were soaked by the runoff.
Plywood is at a premium. Some soldiers removed the doors from the wooden outhouses - they're not really needed, since they've also got the plastic Port-A-Johns - until an officer caught them and ordered them to put the doors back.
1st Sgt. Dan Stroud bartered with some engineers: five cases of coffee and a player to be named later for enough plywood to build a quick deck for the floor of his 20-person tent. He's got some Christmas lights, too, and pretty soon the place will be downright cheery.
"It could be worse," said Staff Sgt. Cheryl Ray, surveying the mud as she loaded scrounged lumber into her tent. "Did you see all those kids on the side of the road? There wasn't a house in sight.
"It makes you thankful for what you've got."
More cheer is on the way. Rounds ordered McKenney to get a Christmas tree up in the dining facility, and to procure some lights and decorations.
And McKenney said he's working on getting a post exchange set up in the next few days so soldiers can restock on critical personal supplies such as Mountain Dew and Copenhagen chewing tobacco.
"People will complain no matter what," said Mitchell, the assistant engineer. "I'm pretty happy with what we rolled in on, and it's only going to get better every day."
WITH THE STRYKERS IN IRAQ - Michael Gilbert: mjgilbert41@yahoo.com
Tribnet.com - News
Spc. Michael Roby, left, and Sgt. Danny Armstrong from the 223rd Engineer Battalion, Mississippi National Guard, hammer nails Saturday into the plywood roof of one of more than 100 newly dug bunkers at the Stryker brigade's camp in Iraq. Troops from Wisconsin, Colorado, West Virginia and Pennsylvania are also helping the brigade set up shop.
Iraq war news
Arabs focus on refugee issue after accord: "Deciding the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees may be the biggest challenge to settling more than five decades of Arab-Israeli conflict."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Emirates airlines announces engine deal: "Emirates airlines announced Monday a $1.5 billion deal with engine manufacturers General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for more than 90 engines to power an order of Airbus A380 aircraft."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Some Iraqis Get New Freedom After Saddam: "The Musawis are grateful to the Americans for getting rid of Saddam Hussein. It's meant higher wages, a new car and more freedom. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
S.Korean Electric Workers to Leave Iraq: "A South Korean company said Monday it has decided to withdraw its 60 workers restoring electricity lines in Iraq, after a gun attack killed two of its electricians working for the U.S. government project. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Presidential Trips Abroad: "Andy Rooney looks back at President Bush's surprise Thanksgiving visit to Iraq, and reflects on some other notable presidential trips."
In CBS News: Iraq Crisis
Operation Iraqi Freedom: "A senior representative of the top Shiite religious leader in Iraq tells Steve Kroft that former loyalists of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party must be fired from municipal posts."
In CBS News: Iraq Crisis
Andrew's Winds of War: Dec 8/03: "Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Andrew Olmsted (with plenty of help from Joe) of Andrew Olmsted dot com .
TOP TOPICS
Other Topics Today Include: more on Samarra; Was the '45 minutes' WMD claim accurate; Domestic WMD plot thwarted; Canada - terrorism conduit?; Sniper update; AQ finance chief nabbed; Afghanistan; The Wall and Geneva; Winning the War of Ideas; Chechnya; Will NATO survive the war on terror?
Read The Rest..."
In Command Post: Irak
Indonesia Says U.S. Policy in Iraq Becoming Debacle: "Indonesia, the world's most populousMuslim nation, issued some of its harshest criticism ofWashington's Iraq policy on Monday, saying the U.S. occupationhad not met objectives and was becoming a debacle. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Making a killing in the new Iraq as cars, TVs, food and fridges flood in (08 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Palestinians agree to a conditional ceasefire in Israel (8 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Palestinians can't agree on truce offer: "Palestinians failed to agree on a truce offer to Israel on Sunday after three days of talks, setting back the Palestinian prime minister's hopes for a halt in violence to jump start the stalled U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Daniel Nehme, Syria politician, dies at 78: "Daniel Nehme, a member of the central leadership of Syria's ruling political coalition, has died at age 78, the official Syrian Arab News Agency said Sunday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Report: Source of Iraq Arms Claim Emerges: "By MICHAEL McDONOUGH
Associated Press Writer
Originally published December 7, 2003, 8:22 AM EST
LONDON
* * *
The Sunday Telegraph said Lt. Col. al-Dabbagh identified himself as the source for the British government's assertion that Iraq could have deployed chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of a decision to do so . The paper gave the officer's surname only, citing fears for his safety if he was fully identified.
The 45-minute claim was in a government dossier published in September 2002. A British Broadcasting Corp. report later accused the government of "sexing up" the dossier to make a more convincing case for military action. Government weapons adviser David Kelly apparently committed suicide in July after being identified as the source for the BBC report.
Kelly's death prompted a judicial inquiry that scrutinized the workings of Blair's government and its use of intelligence in the buildup to the U.S.-led war. A report from the inquiry is expected early next year.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that al-Dabbagh was the former head of an Iraqi air defense unit in the country's western desert. It said he had spied for the Iraqi National Accord, a London-based exile group, and provided reports to British intelligence from early 2002 on Saddam's plans to deploy weapons of mass destruction.
Al-Dabbagh said cases containing chemical or biological warheads were delivered to front-line units, including his own, in late 2002, the paper reported. He said they were designed to be launched by hand-held rocket-propelled grenades, and did not know what exactly the warheads contained.
The government's September dossier said that "Iraq's military forces are able to use chemical and biological weapons, with command, control and logistical arrangements in place. The Iraqi military are able to deploy these weapons within 45 minutes of a decision to do so."
The head of the MI6 spy agency, Sir Richard Dearlove, told the inquiry into Kelly's death that the 45-minute warning in the dossier came from an "established and reliable source," quoting a senior Iraqi military officer who was in a position to know the information.
The Sunday Telegraph said al-Dabbagh believed he was the source for that claim.
"I am the one responsible for providing this information," he was quoted as saying. "It is 100 percent accurate.
"Forget 45 minutes, we could have fired these within half an hour," al-Dabbagh added. He said the weapons were not used because most of the Iraqi army did not want to fight for Saddam.
The newspaper said al-Dabbagh works as an adviser to the Iraqi Governing Council and said he has received death threats from Saddam loyalists.
* * *
Via the Baltimore Sun .
"
In Command Post: Irak
Rumsfeld watches training of Iraq's new security forces: "Military says attacks on U.S. troops decline
By John Hendren
Los Angeles Times
Originally published December 7, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld saw firsthand the U.S.-led coalition's strategy of turning over security to Iraqis in a sweep through the nation yesterday, as military officials lauded a precipitous drop in attacks on American troops even as they acknowledged that it was likely the result of poor weather and the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The Pentagon chief focused much of his visit on briefings and demonstrations of the fledgling Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, one of four security forces set up by the occupying coalition.
The Pentagon's strategy in Iraq is to increasingly turn control of security - police, border patrol and military actions - to newly established Iraqi agencies that, in the case of the civil defense corps, often receive less than one month's training.
With 140,000 Iraqi border patrol and police officers, paramilitary troops, building guards and other security forces in place, Rumsfeld said, "they are increasingly taking over security in this country."
He trusted his safety to members of the corps, entering a Baghdad warehouse in which roughly 50 new recruits toting AK-47s were in their first days of training.
During his first stop of the day, in the northern city of Kirkuk, Rumsfeld met with a group of recruits and their commanders in crisp new khaki uniforms at a lavish home confiscated from an unidentified Iraqi on the list of most-wanted former regime officials.
The Iraqi civil defense corps is coming along "very fast," he told the recruits, giving Americans confidence that it "can make a tremendous difference."
* * *
Rumsfeld was joined throughout the day by the top commander on the ground, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez.
Several senior military officials said attacks on U.S. personnel have plunged from nearly 40 a day in early last month to 19 daily over the past week.
Nevertheless, they acknowledged, it is not clear that the decline will endure, and many suggested that attacks would likely increase during the hajj holiday next month.
The coalition death toll soared during Ramadan, making last month the costliest for the United States and its allies since the invasion of Iraq more than eight months ago.
Dempsey said that four of 10 known guerrilla cells were disabled last month, including one that he said was responsible for the October rocket attack on the Al Rashid Hotel that killed a U.S. Army colonel while Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz was in the building.
The 1st Armored is still pursuing intelligence that it hopes will allow the division to crush the remaining six cells, he said.
The arrests have diminished but not ended the insurgents' ability to launch attacks because their leadership and financiers remain at large, Dempsey said.
Nevertheless, Sanchez painted a portrait of gradual success for Rumsfeld's third visit since President Bush declared major combat over May 1.
"The main message to the secretary is primarily that we're being successful, our troops are prepared and we're making a lot of progress," Sanchez said.
* * *
Via the Baltimore Sun .
"
In Command Post: Irak
Iraq Prepares to Create Its Own Tribunal to Prosecute War Crimes Under Hussein: "The special court would try members of Saddam Hussein's government on charges varying from genocide to squandering the nation's wealth."
In New York Times: World Special
Iraqi Exiles Face Uncertainty as Enthusiasm for Them Dims at Home and in Washington: "With Iraq moving toward a new political configuration, Iraqis are debating whether Iraqi exiles are the nation's future or its past."
In New York Times: World Special
General Sees More Attacks as Elections Near: "Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez added that insurgent forces were bent on disrupting Iraq's transition to democracy."
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In TV Interviews, Senator Clinton Criticizes Bush's Handling of Iraq: "Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York sharply criticized President Bush's policies in Iraq during an unusual series of back-to-back appearance on the Sunday morning talk shows."
In New York Times: World Special
WMD claims of Iraqi 'colonel' treated sceptically (8 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Rumsfeld Says Army in Iraq Not Worn Out: "The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on the Army, but the soldiers who are due home next spring are fit to return to a war zone if called upon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Card Calls Prewar Intelligence Woes 'Moot': "President Bush's chief of staff dismissed as "a moot point" any lingering question about whether Bush relied on faulty intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
First Commercial Flight Brings Joy to Iraqi Kurds: "With a final victory swoop over theIraqi Kurd capital and a waggle of his wings on Sunday, thepilot of the new United Iraqi Airlines landed his plane to wildapplause - inside and out. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Turkey charges 3 more in Istanbul attack: "A Turkish court on Sunday charged three more men for their involvement in a string of suicide bombings in Istanbul, raising the total number of suspects to 30."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Iran's Khatami orders vigilante crackdown: "Iran's president Sunday ordered two Cabinet ministers to crack down on hard-line vigilantes who disrupt political meetings following an attack on one of his close aides, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
A Look at U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq: "As of Friday, Dec. 5, 443 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 306 died as a result of hostile action and 137 died of non-hostile causes, the department said. The department did not provide an update Sunday. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
US has forfeited its "moral leadership" of the world under Bush: Dean: "The United States has forfeited its "moral leadership" of the world under President George W. Bush, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean charged. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
No oil crisis in Iraq, ministry says: "Iraq is suffering only a temporary shortage of oil and not a crisis, the spokesman for the oil-rich country's oil ministry said as motorists faced long lines at the fuel pumps. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Iraq's political transformation delicate: "Sitting at his desk, the governor pulls out a photograph of the corpse of a brother - red marks around his neck - who was executed by Saddam Hussein's regime. He displays another of himself, walking with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in Iraq in September."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Sunday, December 07, 2003
Iraq war news updates
Army Force Stretched After War in Iraq: "The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on the Army, but the soldiers who are due home next spring are fit to return to a war zone if called upon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Tough New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns: "The new approach appears to be succeeding in diminishing the threat to U.S. soldiers, but at the cost of alienating the people the Americans are trying to win over."
In New York Times: World Special
Rumsfeld, on the Ground in Iraq, Gets a Report on Progress Against the Insurgency: "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, on a visit to Iraq, was told that attacks against occupying troops had dropped because of better intelligence."
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Funds for Iraq Falling Short of Pledges, Figures Show: "Of $3 billion pledged to meet Iraq's immediate needs at a donors conference six weeks ago, only $685 million has been verified."
In New York Times: World Special
Secular Leaders Worry That, Torn by Turmoil, Iraqis Will Elect an Islamic Theocracy: "In Iraq's present chaotic state, Iraqi officials fear the people may vote for the rigorous order that an Iranian-style Shiite theocracy imposes."
In New York Times: World Special
This Battle of the Bands Is Peaceable: "The Iraqi National Symphony, a symbol of perseverance, will visit the Kennedy Center to play alongside the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington."
In New York Times: World Special
US pushes Iraq security handover: "The US defence secretary says there will be a handover of security operations in Iraq to local forces "over time"."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq (UK Edition)
Rumsfeld Visits Iraq; U.S Touts Progress: "Taking a fresh look at postwar Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met Saturday with senior American commanders and was assured that a recent switch to more aggressive anti-insurgency tactics has begun to pay off. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
US pushes Iraq security handover: "The US defence secretary says there will be a handover of security operations in Iraq to local forces "over time"."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq
Egypt library removes anti-Semitic tract: "The Alexandria Library has withdrawn the first Arabic translation of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" from an exhibit after U.N. cultural officials questioned the display of the 19th century anti-Semitic tract."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Saudi Arabia names top 26 terror suspects: "Saudi Arabia issued the names and photos of its 26 most wanted terrorist suspects and increased protection around Western housing compounds in the capital Saturday as the United States upgraded its security warning, restricting its diplomats' movements."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Iraq Mourners Open Fire, Killing Policeman: "Iraqis mourning two men killed in a firefight with U.S. troops clashed Saturday with civil defense forces, killing one officer and setting his pickup truck ablaze. "Long live Saddam!" they chanted as the vehicle smoldered. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Japan Holds Funeral for Slain Diplomats: "His voice faltering, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offered his condolences to family members at Saturday's state funeral for two Japanese diplomats killed in Iraq, the country's first casualties in the U.S.-led war. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Army Force Stretched After War in Iraq: "Only two of the U.S. Army's 10 active-duty divisions will be at full strength for any new conflict next year as battle-weary soldiers return from Iraq, military officials say. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Rumsfeld urges quick action on Iraqi transfer of sovereignty: "US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged the president of Iraq's governing council to work quickly to resolve outstanding issues on the transfer of sovereignty during a surprise one-day trip to the war-torn country. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
97 vials found in Iraqi scientist's home - some contain bio-weapon precursors. Iraqi records and CPU's destroyed prior to war.: "
Vials: A total of 97 vials-including those with labels consistent with the al Hakam cover stories of single-cell protein and biopesticides, as well as strains that could be used to produce BW agents-were recovered from a scientist's residence.
Storage room in basement of Revolutionary Command Council Headquarters. Burned frames of PC workstations visible on shelves. All rooms sharing walls with this storage room were untouched from fire or battle damage.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The basement historical files were systematically selected and destroyed.
* * *
We have discovered dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002. The discovery of these deliberate concealment efforts have come about both through the admissions of Iraqi scientists and officials concerning information they deliberately withheld and through physical evidence of equipment and activities that ISG has discovered that should have been declared to the UN. Let me just give you a few examples of these concealment efforts, some of which I will elaborate on later:
A clandestine network of laboratories and safehouses within the Iraqi Intelligence Service that contained equipment subject to UN monitoring and suitable for continuing CBW research.
A prison laboratory complex, possibly used in human testing of BW agents, that Iraqi officials working to prepare for UN inspections were explicitly ordered not to declare to the UN.
Reference strains of biological organisms concealed in a scientist's home, one of which can be used to produce biological weapons.
New research on BW-applicable agents, Brucella and Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin were not declared to the UN.
Documents and equipment, hidden in scientists' homes, that would have been useful in resuming uranium enrichment by centrifuge and electromagnetic isotope separation (EMIS).
A line of UAVs not fully declared at an undeclared production facility and an admission that they had tested one of their declared UAVs out to a range of 500 km, 350 km beyond the permissible limit.
Continuing covert capability to manufacture fuel propellant useful only for prohibited SCUD variant missiles, a capability that was maintained at least until the end of 2001 and that cooperating Iraqi scientists have said they were told to conceal from the UN.
Plans and advanced design work for new long-range missiles with ranges up to at least 1000 km - well beyond the 150 km range limit imposed by the UN. Missiles of a 1000 km range would have allowed Iraq to threaten targets through out the Middle East, including Ankara, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi.
Clandestine attempts between late-1999 and 2002 to obtain from North Korea technology related to 1,300 km range ballistic missiles --probably the No Dong -- 300 km range anti-ship cruise missiles, and other prohibited military equipment.
In addition to the discovery of extensive concealment efforts, we have been faced with a systematic sanitization of documentary and computer evidence in a wide range of offices, laboratories, and companies suspected of WMD work. The pattern of these efforts to erase evidence - hard drives destroyed, specific files burned, equipment cleaned of all traces of use - are ones of deliberate, rather than random, acts. For example,
On 10 July 2003 an ISG team exploited the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) Headquarters in Baghdad. The basement of the main building contained an archive of documents situated on well-organized rows of metal shelving. The basement suffered no fire damage despite the total destruction of the upper floors from coalition air strikes. Upon arrival the exploitation team encountered small piles of ash where individual documents or binders of documents were intentionally destroyed. Computer hard drives had been deliberately destroyed. Computers would have had financial value to a random looter; their destruction, rather than removal for resale or reuse, indicates a targeted effort to prevent Coalition forces from gaining access to their contents.
All IIS laboratories visited by IIS exploitation teams have been clearly sanitized, including removal of much equipment, shredding and burning of documents, and even the removal of nameplates from office doors.
Although much of the deliberate destruction and sanitization of documents and records probably occurred during the height of OIF combat operations, indications of significant continuing destruction efforts have been found after the end of major combat operations, including entry in May 2003 of the locked gated vaults of the Ba'ath party intelligence building in Baghdad and highly selective destruction of computer hard drives and data storage equipment along with the burning of a small number of specific binders that appear to have contained financial and intelligence records, and in July 2003 a site exploitation team at the Abu Ghurayb Prison found one pile of the smoldering ashes from documents that was still warm to the touch.
* * *
The foregoing is from " STATEMENT BY DAVID KAY ON THE INTERIM PROGRESS REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE IRAQ SURVEY GROUP (ISG) BEFORE THE HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEFENSE, AND THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, October 2, 2003, " posted at Iraq: Special Report at whitehouse.gov .
"
In Command Post: Irak
Palestinians divided over cease-fire offer: "Hopes faded for Palestinians to offer a full-scale truce to Israel as the militant Hamas and Syrian-based factions said Saturday that they would accept only a narrow cease-fire halting attacks on civilians inside Israeli territory."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
There were 50 specific Iraq-al Qaeda links acknowledged by the CIA before the war: " A LEADING DEMOCRAT on the Senate Intelligence Committee has reiterated his support for the war in Iraq and encouraged the Bush administration to be more aggressive in its preemptive measures to protect Americans. Evan Bayh, a Democrat from Indiana and a leader of moderates in the Senate, responded to questions last week on the war in Iraq and a memo detailing links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden sent to the committee in late October by Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith and later excerpted in these pages.
"Even if there's only a 10 percent chance that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden would cooperate, the question is whether that's an acceptable level of risk," Bayh told me. "My answer to that would be an unequivocal 'no.' We need to be much more pro-active on eliminating threats before they're imminent."
Asked about the growing evidence of a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, Bayh said: "The relationship seemed to have its roots in mutual exploitation. Saddam Hussein used terrorism for his own ends, and Osama bin Laden used a nation-state for the things that only a nation-state can provide. Some of the intelligence is strong, and some of it is murky. But that's the nature of intelligence on a relationship like this--lots of it is going to be speculation and conjecture. Following 9/11, we await certainty at our peril."
* * *
Bayh declined to speak about any of the 50 specific Iraq-al Qaeda links cited in the Feith memo, and said the intelligence community reported before the war that intelligence on the links to "9/11 and al Qaeda" was the weakest part of the justification for war in Iraq.
"Look, there were multiple reasons to remove Saddam Hussein, not the least of which was his butchering of his own people--that's the kind of thing that most progressives used to care about. We were going to have to deal with him militarily at some time in the future. The possibility--even if people thought it unlikely--that he would use weapons of mass death or provide them to terrorists was just too great a risk."
Still, Bayh rejects the conventional wisdom that cooperation between Hussein and bin Laden was implausible because of religious and ideological differences. "They were certainly moving toward the philosophy that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' Both were hostile to us, and while they historically had reasons not to like each other, that historical skepticism is overridden by the enmity and mutual hostility toward us. These are not illogical ties from their perspective."
* * *
Original story reported in The Weekly Standard by Stephen F. Hayes. Via Instapundit .
"
In Command Post: Irak
Killings in Ramadi: ""Two days before the end of Ramadan, just as they were about to break their fast, the family was interrupted by two groups of US troops from the 82nd Airborne Division, bursting into the house from opposite sides. ...The next day the military returned to the village bringing papers with them. They were sorry but they had raided the wrong house, acting on false information." Jo Wilding writes from Baghdad."
In Electronic Iraq
Rumsfeld cautious on Iraq attacks: "The US defence secretary cautions against early optimism following a fall in anti-coalition attacks in Iraq."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq
Rumsfeld visits troops in Iraq in CNN - War in Iraq
Israel kills two suspected Gaza militants: "The Israeli military shot and killed two Palestinians, armed with grenades and an explosive device, crawling toward a security barrier separating the Gaza Strip from Israel, military sources said Saturday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Funeral for two Iraqis turns violent: "A funeral for two Iraqis killed in a firefight with U.S. troops turned violent Saturday, with mourners killing a security officer and chanting pro-Saddam Hussein slogans over his body."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
South Korea awaits first dead from Iraq: "Kim Young-jin begged her father not to go to Iraq, where he was to lay electric lines."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Saudis said to arrest American, Briton: "Saudi authorities have detained an American and a Briton for unspecified reasons, diplomats said Saturday. A Saudi newspaper said the American was the brother of two men convicted in the United States of conspiring to aid the al-Qaida terrorist network."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Saturday, December 06, 2003
The Thunder Run
December 7, 2003 E-mail story Print
The Thunder Run
'Are You Kidding, Sir?': Fewer Than 1,000 Soldiers Were Ordered to Capture a City of 5 Million Iraqis. Theirs Is a Story That May Become Military Legend.
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IRAQ WAR 2003 UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES
ARMED FORCES
IRAQ WAR 2003
UNITED STATES
David Zucchino, David Zucchino is a Times national correspondent based in Philadelphia.
Precede
Nine hundred and seventy-five men invading a city of 5 million sounded audacious, or worse, to the U.S. troops assigned the mission outside Baghdad last April 6. Ten years earlier, in Mogadishu, outnumbered American soldiers had been trapped and killed by Somali street fighters. Now some U.S. commanders, convinced the odds were far better in Iraq, scrapped the original plan for taking Baghdad with a steady siege and instead ordered a single bold thrust into the city. The battle that followed became the climax of the war and rewrote American military doctrine on urban warfare.
Back home, Americans learned of the victory in sketchy reports that focused on the outcome—a column of armored vehicles had raced into the city and seized Saddam Hussein's palaces and ministries. What the public didn't know was how close the U.S. forces came to experiencing another Mogadishu. Military units were surrounded, waging desperate fights at three critical interchanges. If any of those fell, the Americans would have been cut off from critical supplies and ammunition.
Embedded journalists reported the battle's broad outlines in April, but a more detailed account has since emerged in interviews with more than 70 of the brigade's officers and men who described the fiercest battle of the war—and one they nearly lost.
Times staff writer David Zucchino, who was embedded with Task Force 4-64 of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), returned to the United States recently to report this story.
On the afternoon of April 4, Army Lt. Col. Eric Schwartz was summoned to a command tent pitched in a dusty field 11 miles south of Baghdad. His brigade commander, Col. David Perkins, looked up from a map and told Schwartz he had a mission for him.
"At first light tomorrow," Perkins said, "I want you to attack into Baghdad."
Schwartz felt disoriented. He had just spent several hours in a tank, leading his armored battalion on an operation that had destroyed dozens of Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles 20 miles south. A hot shard of exploding tank had burned a hole in his shoulder.
"Are you kidding, sir?" Schwartz asked, as he waited for the other officers inside the tent to laugh.
There was silence.
"No," Perkins said. "I need you to do this."
Schwartz was stunned. No American troops had yet set foot inside the capital. The original U.S. battle plan called for airborne soldiers, not tanks, to take the city. The tankers had trained for desert warfare, not urban combat. But now Perkins, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), was ordering Schwartz's tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles on a charge into the unknown.
Schwartz's "thunder run" into the city the next morning was a prelude to the fall of Baghdad. It triggered a grinding three-day battle, the bloodiest of the war—and dismissed any public perception of a one-sided slaughter of a passive enemy. Entire Iraqi army units threw down their weapons and fled, but thousands of Iraqi militiamen and Arab guerrillas fought from bunkers and rooftops with grenades, rockets and mortars.
The 2nd Brigade's ultimate seizure of Baghdad has few modern parallels. It was a calculated gamble that will be taught at military academies and training exercises for years to come. It changed the way the military thinks about fighting with tanks in a city. It brought the conflict in Iraq to a decisive climax and shortened the initial combat of the war, perhaps by several weeks.
But when Eric Schwartz got the mission that would prime the battlefield for the decisive strike on Baghdad, he had no idea what he had taken on.
Task Force 1-64, a battalion nicknamed Rogue, rumbled north on Highway 8 toward Baghdad. The column seemed to stretch to the shimmering horizon—30 Abrams tanks and 14 Bradleys, their squat tan forms bathed in pale yellow light. It was dawn on April 5, a bright, hot Saturday.
Schwartz's battalion had been ordered to sprint through 10 1/2 miles of uncharted territory. The column was to conduct "armored reconnaissance," to blow through enemy defenses, testing strengths and tactics. It was to slice through Baghdad's southwestern corner and link up at the airport with the division's 1st Brigade, which had seized the facility the day before.
In the lead tank was 1st Lt. Robert Ball, a slender, soft-spoken North Carolinian. Just 25, Ball had never been in combat until two weeks earlier. He was selected to lead the column not because he had a particularly refined sense of direction but because his tank had a plow. Commanders were expecting obstacles in the highway.
The battalion had been given only a few hours to prepare. Ball studied his military map, but it had no civilian markings—no exit numbers, no neighborhoods. He was worried about missing his exit to the airport at what fellow officers called the "spaghetti junction," a maze of twisting overpasses and offramps on Baghdad's western cusp.
Ball's map was clipped to the top of his tank hatch as the column lumbered up Highway 8. He had been rolling only about 10 minutes when his gunner spotted a dozen Iraqi soldiers leaning against a building several hundred yards away, chatting, drinking tea, their weapons propped against the wall. They had not yet heard the rumble of the approaching tanks.
"Sir, can I shoot at these guys?" the gunner asked.
"Uh, yeah, they're enemy," Ball told him.
Ball had fired at soldiers in southern Iraq, but they had been murky green figures targeted with the tank's thermal imagery system. These soldiers were in living color. Through the tank's sights, Ball could see their eyes, their mustaches, their steaming cups of tea.
The gunner mowed them down methodically, left to right. As each man fell, Ball could see shock cross the face of the next man before he, too, pitched violently to the ground. The last man fled around the corner of the building. But then, inexplicably, he ran back into the open. The gunner dropped him.
The clattering of the tank's rapid-fire medium machine gun seemed to awaken fighters posted along the highway. Gunfire erupted from both sides—AK-47 automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs, followed minutes later by recoilless rifles and antiaircraft guns.
Iraqi soldiers and militiamen were firing from a network of trenches and bunkers carved into the highway's shoulders, and from rooftops and alleyways. Some were inside cargo containers buried in the dirt. Others were tucked beneath the overpasses or firing down from bridges.
In the southbound lanes, civilian cars were cruising past, their occupants staring wide-eyed at the fireballs erupting from the tank's main guns and the bright tracer flashes from the rapid-fire medium and .50-caliber machine guns. From onramps and access roads, other cars packed with Iraqi gunmen were attacking. Mixed in were troop trucks, armored personnel carriers, taxis and motorcycles with sidecars.
The crews were under strict orders to identify targets as military before firing. They were to fire warning shots, then shoot into engine blocks if a vehicle continued to approach. Some cars screeched to a halt. Others kept coming, and the gunners ripped into them. The crews could see soldiers or armed civilians in some of the smoking hulks. In others, they weren't sure. Nobody knew how many civilians had been killed. They knew only that any vehicle that kept coming was violently eliminated.
As the column lurched forward, buses and trucks unloaded Iraqi fighters. Some were in uniform, some in jeans and sports shirts. Others wore the baggy black robes of the Fedayeen Saddam, Hussein's loyal militiamen. To the Americans, they seemed to have no training, no discipline, no coordinated tactics. It was all point and shoot. The machine guns sent chunks of their bodies onto the roadside.
The Americans were suffering casualties, too. A Bradley was hit by an RPG and disabled. The driver panicked and leaped out, breaking his leg. A Bradley commander stopped and dragged the driver to safety.
At a highway cloverleaf, a tank was hit in its rear engine housing and burst into flames. The column stopped as the crew tried desperately to put out the fire. But the flames, fed by leaking fuel, spread.
The entire column was now exposed and taking heavy fire. Two suicide vehicles packed with explosives sped down the offramps. They were destroyed by tank cannons. After nearly 30 minutes of fighting, Perkins ordered the tank abandoned. To keep the tank out of Iraqi hands, the crew destroyed it with incendiary grenades.
By now the resistance was organizing. Fighters who appeared to be dead or wounded were suddenly leaping up and firing at the backs of American vehicles. Schwartz ordered his gunners to "double tap," to shoot anybody they saw moving near a weapon. "If it was a confirmed kill, they'd let it go," Schwartz said later. "If it wasn't, they'd tap it again. We were checking our work."
At the head of the column, Ball was approaching the spaghetti junction. His map showed the exit splitting into two ramps. He knew he wanted the ramp to the right. He had been following blue English "Airport" signs, but now smoke from a burning Iraqi personnel carrier obscured the entire cloverleaf.
In the web of overpasses, Ball found the ramp he wanted and stayed right. He was halfway down when he realized he should have taken a different one. Now he was heading east into downtown Baghdad, the opposite direction from the airport. The entire column was following him.
He told his driver to turn left, then roll over the guardrail and turn back onto the westbound lanes. The rail crumbled, the column followed, and everyone rumbled back toward the airport.
Behind Ball, a tank commanded by Lt. Roger Gruneisen had fallen behind. Some equipment from the crippled tank had been dumped onto the top of Gruneisen's tank, obstructing his view from the hatch. With the emergency addition of Staff Sgt. Jason Diaz, commander of the burning tank, and Diaz's gunner, Gruneisen now had five men squeezed into a tank designed for four.
The gunner had swung the main gun right to fire on a bunker. In the loader's hatch, Sgt. Carlos Hernandez saw that the gun tube was headed for a concrete bridge abutment. He screamed, "Traverse left!" But they were moving rapidly. The gun tube smacked the abutment. The entire turret spun like a top. Inside, the crewmen were pinned against the walls, struggling to hold on as the turret turned wildly two dozen times before stopping. It was like an out-of-control carnival ride.
The crew was dizzy. Hernandez looked at the gunner. Blood was spurting from his nose. His head and chest were soaked with greenish-yellow hydraulic fluid. The impact had severed a hydraulic line. Except for the gunner's bloody nose, no one was hurt.
The main gun was bent and smashed. It flopped to the side, useless. The tank continued up Highway 8, Gruneisen on the .50-caliber and Hernandez on a medium machine gun. They rolled up to the spaghetti junction into a curtain of black smoke—and missed the airport turn. They were headed into the city center.
Hernandez saw that they were approaching a traffic circle. As they drew closer, he saw that the circle was clogged with Iraqi military trucks and soldiers. It was a staging area for troops attacking the American column.
From around the circle, just a block away, a yellow pickup truck sped toward the tank. Hernandez tore into it with the machine gun, killing the driver. The tank driver slammed on the brake to avoid the truck, but it was crushed beneath the treads. The impact sent Hernandez's machine gun tumbling off the back of the tank.
The tank reversed to clear itself from the wreckage, crushing the machine gun. A passenger from the truck wandered into the roadway. The tank pitched forward, trying to escape the circle, and crushed him.
The crew was now left with just one medium machine gun and the .50-caliber. Firing both guns to clear the way, the crewmen helped direct the tank driver out of the circle. As they pulled away, they could see a blue "Airport" sign. They were less than five miles from the airport.
They caught up with the column. They passed groves of date palm trees and thick underbrush, and everyone worried about another ambush.
In the lead platoon, Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker was leaning out of his tank commander's hatch, firing his M-4 carbine because his .50-caliber machine gun had jammed. Enemy fire was so intense that Booker had ordered his loader, Pvt. Joseph Gilliam, to get down in the hatch. As Booker leaned down, he told Gilliam: "I don't want to die in this country." As he resumed firing, he shouted down to Gilliam and the gunner, Sgt. David Gibbons: "I'm a baad mother!"
Gilliam, 21, and Gibbons, 22, idolized Booker, who, at 34, was experienced and decisive. He was a loud, aggressive, extroverted lifer. His booming voice was the first thing his men heard in the morning and the last thing at night.
As Gibbons, in the gunner's perch at Booker's feet inside the turret, fired rounds, he felt Booker drop down behind him. He assumed he had come down to get more ammunition. But then he heard the loader, Gilliam, scream and curse. He looked back at Booker and saw that half his jaw was missing. He had been hit by a machine-gun round.
The turret was splattered with blood. As Gibbons crawled up in the commander's hatch, he saw that Booker was trying to breathe. He radioed for help and was ordered to stop and wait for medics. Gibbons and Gilliam tried to perform "buddy aid" to stop the bleeding.
The medics arrived and, under fire, lifted Booker's body into the medical vehicle. The driver sped toward a medevac helicopter at the airport, just as the physician's assistant radioed that Booker was gone. The assistant covered the sergeant's bloodied face and, not knowing what else to do, held his hand. Booker's body arrived just ahead of the rest of the column, which rolled onto the tarmac in a hail of gunfire. Some of the tanks and Bradleys were on fire and leaking oil, but they had survived the gantlet.
At the airport that morning, Col. Perkins spoke on the tarmac with his superior, Maj. Gen. Buford C. Blount III, the 3rd Infantry Division commander. Rogue battalion had lost a tank commander and tank, but they had killed almost 1,000 fighters and torn a hole in Baghdad's defenses.
Blount wanted to keep the pressure on Saddam's forces. He had seen intelligence suggesting that Saddam's elite Republican Guard units were being sent into Baghdad to reinforce the capital. But, in truth, he really didn't have good intelligence. It was too dangerous to send in scouts. Satellite imagery didn't show bunkers or camouflaged armor and artillery. Blount had access to only one unmanned spy drone, and its cameras weren't providing much either.
Prisoners of war had told U.S. interrogators that the Iraqi military was expecting American tanks to surround the city while infantry from the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne cleared the capital. And that was the U.S. plan—at least until the thunder run that morning altered the equation.
Blount told Perkins to go back into the city in two days, on Monday the 7th. Blount wanted him to test the city's defenses, destroy as many Iraqi forces as possible and then come out to prepare for the siege of the capital.
Perkins was eager to go back in, but not for another thunder run. He wanted to stay. He had just heard Mohammed Said Sahaf, the bombastic information minister, deliver a taunting news conference, claiming that no American forces had entered Baghdad and that Iraqi troops had slaughtered hundreds of American "scoundrels" at the airport.
When Perkins got back to the brigade operations center south of the city, he told his executive officer, Lt. Col. Eric Wesley: "This just changed from a tactical war to an information war. We need to go in and stay."
The brigade was exhausted. It had been on the move day and night, rolling up from Kuwait and fighting Fedayeen and Republican Guard units—sprinting 435 miles in just over two weeks, the fastest overland march in U.S. military history. Their tanks and Bradleys were beat up. The crews had not slept in days. Now they had just one day to prepare for the pivotal battle of the war.
The charge up Highway 8 on April 7 was similar to the sprint by Rogue Battalion two days earlier. Fedayeen and Arab volunteers and Republican Guards fired from roadside bunkers and from windows and alleys on both sides of the highway. Suicide vehicles tried to ram the column.
Gunners pounded everything that moved, radioing back to trailing vehicles to kill off what they missed. It took only two hours to blow through the spaghetti junction and speed east to Saddam's palace complex. Schwartz's lead battalion, Rogue, rolled to Saddam's parade field, with its massive crossed sabers and tomb of the unknown soldier. Rogue also seized one of Saddam's two main downtown palaces, the convention center and the Rashid Hotel, home to the Baath Party elite.
Lt. Col. Philip deCamp's Task Force 4-64, the Tusker battalion, swung to the east and raced for Saddam's hulking Republican Palace and the 14th of July Bridge, which controlled access to the palace complex from the south.
The targets had been selected not only for their strategic value, but also because they were in open terrain. The palace complex consisted of broad boulevards, gardens and parks—and few tall buildings or narrow alleyways. The battalions could set up defensive positions, with open fields of fire.
The Tusker battalion destroyed bunkers at the western arch of the Republican Palace grounds, blew apart two recoilless rifles teams guarding the arch and smashed through a metal gate. The palace had been evacuated, but there were soldiers in a tree line and along the Tigris River bank. The infantrymen killed some, and others fled, stripping off their uniforms.
At a traffic circle at the base of the 14th of July Bridge, Capt. Steve Barry's Cyclone Company fought off cars and trucks that streaked across the bridge, some packed with explosives. There were three in the first 10 minutes, six more right after that. The tanks and Bradleys destroyed them all.
By midmorning, Perkins was meeting with his two battalion commanders on Saddam's parade grounds. They gave live interviews to an embedded Fox TV crew. Lt. Col. DeCamp and one of his company commanders, Capt. Chris Carter—both University of Georgia graduates—unfurled a Georgia Bulldogs flag. Capt. Jason Conroy toppled a massive Saddam statue with a single tank round.
As his tankers celebrated, Perkins took a satellite phone call from Wesley, his executive officer. Wesley ran the brigade's tactical operations center, a network of radios, computers, satellite maps and communications vehicles set up on the cement courtyard of an abandoned warehouse 11 miles south of the city center.
It was hard for Wesley to hear on his hand-held Iridium phone; a high-pitched whine sounded over his head. He thought it was a low-flying airplane.
Wesley shouted into the phone: "Congratulations, sir, I—" and at that instant an orange fireball blew past him and slammed him to the ground. The whine wasn't an airplane. It was a missile. The entire operations center was engulfed in flames.
Wesley still had the phone. "Sir," he said. "We've been hammered!"
"What?"
"We've been hit. I'll have to call you back. It doesn't look good."
Rows of signal vehicles were on fire and exploding. A line of parked Humvees evaporated, consumed in a brilliant flash. Men were writhing on the ground, their skin seared. A driver and a mechanic were swallowed by the fireball, killed instantly. Another driver, horribly burned, lay dying. Two embedded reporters perished on the concrete, their corpses scorched to gray ash. Seventeen soldiers were wounded, some seriously.
The brigade's nerve center, its communications brain, was gone. The entire mission—the brigade's audacious plan to conquer a city of 5 million with 975 combat soldiers and 88 armored vehicles in a single violent strike—was in jeopardy.
It got worse. As Wesley and his officers tended to the dead and wounded, Perkins was receiving distressing reports from Lt. Col. Stephen Twitty, a battalion commander charged with keeping the brigade's supply lines open along Highway 8. One of Twitty's companies was surrounded. It was "amber" on fuel and ammunition—a level dangerously close to "black," the point at which there is not enough to sustain a fight.
The Baghdad raid, launched at dawn, was now approaching its sixth hour—well past the Hour Four deadline Perkins had set to decide whether to stay for the night. That benchmark was critical because his tanks, which consume 56 gallons of fuel an hour, had eight to 10 hours of fuel. That meant four hours going in and four coming out.
To conserve fuel, Perkins ordered the tanks set up in defensive positions and shut down. They couldn't maneuver, but they could still fire—and each hour they were turned off bought Perkins another hour.
Even so, time was running out for Twitty, whose outnumbered companies were clinging to three crucial interchanges.
"Sir, there's one hell of a fight here," Twitty told Perkins. "I'll be honest with you: I don't know how long I can hold it here."
Even after Twitty received reinforcements, tying up the brigade's only reserve force, his men had to be resupplied. But the resupply convoy was ambushed on Highway 8; two sergeants were killed and five fuel and ammunition trucks were destroyed. The highway was a shooting gallery. If Perkins lost the roadway, he and his men would be trapped in the city without fuel or ammunition.
American combat commanders are trained to develop a "decision support matrix," an analytical breakdown of alternatives based on a rapidly unfolding chain of circumstances. For Perkins, the matrix was telling him: cut your losses, pull back, return another day. His command center was in flames. He had spent his reserve force. And now his fuel and ammunition were burning on the highway.
On the parade grounds, Perkins stood next to his armored personnel carrier, map in hand, flanked by his two tank battalion commanders. The air was heavy with swirling sand and grit. Black plumes of oily smoke rose from burning vehicles and bunkers.
Perkins knew the prudent move was to pull out, but he felt compelled to stay. His men had fought furiously to reach the palace complex. It seemed obscene to make them fight their way back out, and to surrender terrain infused with incalculable psychological and strategic value.
Sahaf, the delusional information minister, was already claiming that no American "infidels" had breached the city's defenses. Perkins had just heard Sahaf's distinctive rant on BBC radio: "The infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad." A retreat now, Perkins thought, would validate the minister's lies. It would unravel the brigade's singular achievement, which had put American soldiers inside Saddam's two main palaces and American boots on his reviewing stand.
Perkins turned to his tank battalion commanders. "We're staying."
Lt. Col. Stephen Twitty is right-handed, but early that morning he found himself drawing diagrams with his left hand. He was crouched in a Bradley hatch, holding a radio with his right hand while he tried to diagram an emergency battle plan.
Over the radio net, Twitty had heard the tank battalions in the city celebrating and discussing the wine collections at Saddam's palaces. He was only a few miles away, at a Highway 8 interchange code-named Objective Larry, but he was in the fight of his life. Twitty had survived the first Gulf War, but he had never encountered anything like this.
His men were being pounded from all directions—by small arms, mortars, RPGs, gun trucks, recoilless rifles. The two tank battalions had punched through Highway 8, but now the enemy had regrouped and was mounting a relentless counterattack against Twitty's mechanized infantry battalion.
As he scratched out his battle plan, Twitty spotted an orange-and-white taxi speeding toward his Bradley. A man in the back seat was firing an AK-47. Twitty screamed into the radio: "Taxi! Taxi coming!"
He realized how absurd he sounded. So he shouted at his Bradley gunner: "Slew the turret and fire!" The gunner spotted the taxi and fired a blast of 25mm rounds. The taxi blew up. It had been loaded with explosives.
Twitty's China battalion, Task Force 3-15, would destroy dozens of vehicles that day, many of them packed with explosives. They would blow up buses and motorcycles and pickup trucks. They would kill hundreds of fighters, as well as civilians who inadvertently blundered into the fight. Twitty ordered his engineers to tear down highway signs and light poles and pile up charred vehicles to build protective berms. But several suicide cars crashed through, and Twitty's men kept killing them. Twitty was astonished. He hadn't expected much resistance, but the Syrians and Fedayeen were relentless, fanatical, determined to die.
Twitty saw a busload of soldiers pull straight into the kill zone. A tank round obliterated the vehicle—burning alive everyone inside. The driver of a second busload saw the carnage, yet kept coming. The tanks lit up his bus, too.
From Objective Moe, about two miles north, and from Objective Curly, about two miles south, Twitty received urgent calls requesting mortar and artillery fire—"danger close," or within 220 yards of their own positions. Mortars and artillery screamed down, driving the Syrians and Fedayeen back. But at Curly, a stray round wounded two American infantrymen, and the artillery was shut down there.
At Curly, Capt. Zan Hornbuckle had enemy fighters inside his perimeter. He sent infantrymen to clear the ramps and overpasses. It was dangerous, methodical work. The infantrymen crept up behind a series of support walls, tossed grenades into trenches, then gunned down the fighters inside as they rose to return fire.
The Americans were killing fighters by the dozens, but the infantrymen were getting hit, too. Their flak vests protected vital organs, but several men were dragged back with bright red shrapnel wounds ripped into their arms, legs and necks.
Dr. Erik Schobitz, the battalion surgeon, treated the wounded. Capt. Schobitz was a pediatrician with no combat experience. He had never fired an automatic rifle until a month earlier. Schobitz wore a stethoscope with a yellow plastic rabbit attached—his lucky stethoscope. It was hanging there when a sliver of shrapnel hit his face, wounding him slightly.
With Schobitz was Capt. Steve Hommel, the battalion chaplain. He moved from one wounded man to the next, talking softly, squeezing their hands. Hommel had been a combat infantry sergeant in the first Gulf War, but even he was alarmed. He feared being overrun—there were hundreds of enemy fighters bearing down on just 80 combat soldiers, who were backed by Bradleys but no tanks. Hommel tried to appear calm while comforting the wounded.
Enemy fighters were firing on the medics, and some of them fired back. The chaplain grabbed one medic's M-16 and shot at muzzle flashes east of the highway. Hommel didn't know whether he hit anyone, and he didn't want to know. He was a Baptist minister.
Several miles north, at Objective Moe, Capt. Josh Wright was struggling to keep his perimeter intact. Two of Wright's three platoon sergeants were wounded, and two engineers went down with shrapnel wounds. A gunner was hit with a ricochet. An infantryman dragging a wounded enemy soldier to safety was hit in the wrist and stomach. One Bradley's TOW missile launcher was destroyed. Another Bradley had a machine gun go down. One of the tanks lost use of its main gun.
Wright radioed Twitty and asked for permission to fire on a mosque to the north. Through his sights, he could see an RPG team in each minaret and another on the mosque roof. Under the rules of engagement, the mosque was now a hostile, nonprotected site. Twitty granted permission to fire. All three RPG teams were killed, leaving smoking black holes in the minarets.
By now, Wright had managed to get infantrymen and snipers into buildings north of the interchange. They were able to kill advancing fighters while mortar rounds ripped into soldiers hiding in the palm grove.
Then the mortars stopped. The platoon mortar leader at Objective Curly radioed Wright and apologized profusely. He was "black"—completely out of mortar rounds. He couldn't fire again until the resupply convoy was sent north.
Wright's own men were now telling him they were "amber" on all types of ammunition. Wright wasn't certain how much longer he could hold the interchange.
At Objective Curly, Hornbuckle tried to sound positive on the radio but Twitty could hear the stress in his voice. He asked the captain to put on the battalion command sergeant major, Robert Gallagher. A leathery-faced Army Ranger of 40, Gallagher had survived the battle at Mogadishu, where he had been wounded three times. Twitty knew Gallagher would be blunt.
"All right, sergeant major, I want the truth," Twitty said. "Do you need reinforcements?"
"Sir, we need reinforcements," Gallagher said.
Twitty radioed Perkins and told him he could not hold Curly without reinforcements.
"If you need it, you've got it," Perkins assured him.
Twitty called Capt. Ronny Johnson, commander of the reserve company defending the operations center, which was still burning.
"How fast can you get here?" Twitty asked.
"Sir, I can be there in 15 minutes," Johnson said. It was only about two miles from the operations center to Curly.
"That's not fast enough. Get here now."
Johnson and his platoon raced north on Highway 8, fighting through a withering ambush. With 10 Bradleys and 65 infantrymen, the convoy bulked up the combat power at Curly. They plunged into the fight, stabilizing the perimeter.
At the burning operations center, executive officer Wesley was directing casualty evacuation and trying to build a makeshift command center, combining computers and communications equipment that had escaped the fireball with gear salvaged from burning vehicles. Within an hour, they had fashioned a temporary communications network across the highway from the scorched ruins.
Back in radio communication, Wesley resumed helping Perkins direct the battles. He offered to send the rest of Johnson's company to Curly to solidify the interchange. That left the stripped-down operations center virtually unprotected.
At Objective Larry, Twitty's men were beginning to run low on ammunition. He could hear his gunner screaming, "More ammo! Get us more ammo!"
Twitty had to get the supply convoy to the interchanges, a dangerous endeavor. The fuel tankers were 2,500-gallon bombs on wheels. The ammunition trucks were portable fireworks factories. In military argot, they were the ultimate "soft-skin" vehicles. Worse, there were no tanks or Bradleys to escort them; they were all fighting in the city or at the three interchanges.
Twitty called Johnson at Curly and asked for an assessment.
"Sir," Johnson said, "what I can tell you is, it's not as intense a fight as it was an hour ago but we're still in a pretty good fight here."
Twitty asked to hear from Gallagher. "Boss," Gallagher said, "I'm not going to tell you we can get 'em through without risk, but we can get 'em through."
Twitty put the radio down and lowered his head. He had to make a decision. And whatever he decided, American soldiers were going to die. He knew it. They would die at one of the interchanges, where they would be overrun if they weren't resupplied. Or they would die in the convoy.
He picked up the radio. "All right," he said. "We're going to execute."
Just north of the burning operations center, Capt. J.O. Bailey was in a command armored personnel carrier, leading the supply convoy—six fuel tankers and eight ammunition trucks. He felt vulnerable; he had no idea where he was going to park all his combustible vehicles in the middle of a firefight.
The convoy had gone less than a mile when Bailey spotted a mob of about 100 armed men across railroad tracks. He was on the radio, warning everyone, when the convoy was rocked by explosions.
Near the head of the convoy, Sgt. 1st Class John W. Marshall opened up with a grenade launcher in the turret of his soft-skin Humvee. Marshall was 50—one of the oldest men in the brigade—and had volunteered for Iraq. Marshall had just sent grenades crashing toward the gunmen when the top of the Humvee exploded. In the front seat, Spc. Kenneth Krofta was stunned by a flash of light. Black smoke was blowing through the Humvee. Krofta looked up into the turret. Marshall was gone. He had been blown out of the vehicle by a grenade blast.
The driver, Pfc. Angel Cruz, stopped and got out, looking for Marshall. He saw gunmen approaching and squeezed off a burst from his rifle. Bullets ripped into the Humvee.
The radio squawked. Cruz was ordered to move out. Soldiers in another vehicle had seen Marshall's body. He was dead. The convoy was speeding up, trying to escape the kill zone. A week would pass before the battalion was able to retrieve Marshall's corpse.
As the convoy raced through the ambush, an RPG rocketed into a personnel carrier. Staff Sgt. Robert Stever, who had just fired more than 1,000 rounds from his .50-caliber machine gun, was blown back into the vehicle, killed instantly. Shrapnel tore into Chief Warrant Officer Angel Acevedo and Pfc. Jarred Metz, wounding both.
Metz was knocked from the driver's perch. His legs were numb and blood was seeping through his uniform. He dragged himself back into position and kept the vehicle moving. Acevedo was bleeding, too. Screaming instructions to Metz, he directed the vehicle back into the speeding column with Stever's body slumped inside.
Riddled with shrapnel, the convoy limped into the interchange at Curly—and directly into the firefight. Bailey was trying to move his convoy out of harm's way when something slammed into a fuel tanker. The vehicle exploded. Hunks of the tanker flew off, forming super-heated projectiles that tore into other vehicles. Three ammunition trucks and a second fuel tanker exploded. Ammunition started to cook off. Rounds screamed in all directions, ripping off chunks of concrete and slicing through vehicles. The trucks were engulfed in orange fireballs.
Mechanics and drivers sprinted for the vehicles that were intact. They cranked up the engines and drove them to safety beneath the overpass, managing to save five ammunition trucks and four fuel tankers—enough to resupply the combat teams at all three intersections.
Fuel and ammunition were unloaded under fire. The surviving vehicles headed north to Objective Larry, escorted by Bradleys, breaking through the firefight there and arriving safely.
Twitty felt overwhelming relief. He knew he could break the enemy now, and so could the combat team at Objective Curly. But he still had to resupply Capt. Wright at Objective Moe.
Capt. Johnson, whose Bradleys had escorted the convoy to resupply Twitty, headed north toward Moe. By radio, Johnson arranged with Wright to have Highway 8 cleared of obstacles so that the convoy could pull in, stop briefly and let the resupply vehicles designated for Wright peel off. Then Johnson's vehicles were to continue on, obeying a new order from Perkins to secure the mile-long stretch of highway between Objective Moe and Perkins' palace command post in the city center.
The convoy broke through the battle lines and stopped at the cloverleaf at Moe. But there had been a communication breakdown. The full convoy, including the supply vehicles, pulled away under heavy fire, leaving Wright's company still desperate for fuel and ammunition.
Wright's heart sank. He had been forced to tighten his perimeter to save fuel, giving up ground his men had just taken. Now he watched his fuel and ammo disappear up the highway. But the smaller perimeter also meant Wright could afford to send two tanks to a supply point a mile away that Johnson set up near the palace. There the tanks refueled as their crews stuffed the bustle racks with ammunition. A second pair of tanks followed a half-hour later, bringing back more fuel and ammunition. Wright's men were set for the night.
In the city center, the tank battalions led by Schwartz and DeCamp were holding their ground but still desperately low on fuel and ammunition. With the combat teams at all three interchanges able to hold their ground, two supply convoys were now sent up Highway 8 toward the city center. It was a high-speed race. Every vehicle was hit by fire, but the convoys rolled into the palace complex just before dusk, fuel and ammunition intact. Tankers at the 14th of July circle cheered, and there were high-fives and handshakes when the trucks set up an instant gas station and supply point next to the palace rose beds. Perkins was convinced now that Baghdad was his. He didn't need to control the whole city. He just needed the palace complex and a way to get fuel and ammunition in.
Now he had both.
"We had come in, created a lot of chaos, lots of violence and momentum all at once," Perkins said later. "We had speed and audacity. And now with the resupply, we were there for good and there was nothing the other side could do about it."
The next morning, Capt. Phil Wolford's Assassin tank company would repel a fierce counterattack at the Jumhuriya Bridge across the Tigris River. Rogue battalion would engage in running firefights throughout central Baghdad. At the three interchanges on Highway 8, Syrians and Fedayeen mounted more attacks for much of the day, bringing the China battalion's casualties to two dead and 30 wounded. But the American forces now fought from a position of strength. On the third day, April 9, Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed.
On the night of April 7, after a long day of sustained combat, there had been an extended lull at the palace complex and up and down Highway 8. The tankers and the infantrymen sensed a shift in momentum. Some dared to speak of going home soon, for they now believed the war was nearly over. There would be two more days of fierce fighting before Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed. But on the night of April 7, theirs would be a decisive victory, the last one in Iraq for a long time.
The Thunder Run
Iraq war news
Japan's PM hopes to visit Iraq as the nation mourns deaths of diplomats: "Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he wants to visit Iraq, as he prepares to send troops to help rebuild the war-torn country. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Rumsfeld flies into northern Iraq: "US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrives in Kirkuk on a visit to assess the military and political situation in Iraq."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq (UK Edition)
Rumsfeld visits Iraqi northern oil fields: "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, without advanced public notice, flew into northern Iraq early Saturday, landing in the heart of country's northern oil fields."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Baghdad Bomb Attack Kills U.S. Soldier, 4 Iraqis: "A bomb exploded in the middle of a busyBaghdad road on Friday, killing an American soldier and atleast four Iraqis ahead of a visit by Defense Secretary DonaldRumsfeld. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Baker Is Named to Restructure Iraq's Huge Debt: "President Bush named James A. Baker III as his personal envoy to restructure more than $100 billion in Iraq's debt."
In New York Times: World Special
Trail of Anti-U.S. Fighters Said to Cross Europe to Iraq: "Recent arrests show that Al Qaeda has established a network across Europe that is moving recruits into Iraq to join the insurgency."
In New York Times: World Special
Roadside Bomb Kills a G.I. and 2 Civilians in Baghdad: "A U.S. soldier and two Iraqis were killed when an improvised bomb exploded on a commercial strip. About a dozen Iraqis were wounded."
In New York Times: World Special
Hundreds of U.S. Troops Infected by Parasite Borne by Sand Flies, Army Says: "U.S. troops in Iraq have been infected with a parasite spread by sand flies and the long-term consequences are still unknown."
In New York Times: World Special
Powell stays with U.S. Mideast peace plan: "The Israeli and Palestinian authors of a private Middle East peace plan presented their proposals to Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday but were unable to alter the Bush administration's approach to peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Powell views unofficial Mideast peace plan: "The Israeli and Palestinian authors of a private Middle East peace plan presented their proposals to Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday but were unable to alter the Bush administration's approach to peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
AP: Iraq set to form war crimes tribunal: "Saddam Hussein and hundreds of his aides could go on trial for crimes against humanity and genocide in an Iraqi-led tribunal that will be established in the coming days, Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press on Friday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Middle East Demands Honest Dealers, Dealmaking: "When Saddam Hussein compared President Bush to the Mongol general Hulegu in a speech shortly before the U.S. invasion, he demonstrated the importance of history to the peoples of the Middle East. (Pacific News Service, Commentary, Franz Schurmann, Dec 05, 2003)"
In New California Media: Focus on Iraq
How an American war hero is taking his battle over Iraq to Washington (05 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Rigging Iraq's elections (5 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Right media power grows ever larger - Bush has a present for Murdoch (5 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Thousands welcome Sudan rebel delegation: "More than 30,000 jubilant supporters overwhelmed airport security on Friday and rushed up to a plane carrying the first delegation of rebels to arrive in the Sudanese capital in 20 years."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
AP: Bremer predicts more attacks in Iraq: "Iraqi guerrillas will step up attacks in the next few months in an attempt to thwart a transfer of sovereignty from the occupation authority to a new Iraqi government, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq said Friday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Palestinians to open West Bank market: "Palestinian vendors hammered at the rusty locks on their stores Friday as the Israeli military allowed a market in the divided West Bank city of Hebron to open for the first time in more than a year."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Iraqi insurgency claims more lives as US appoints debt envoy: "Iraq's insurgency claimed more Iraqi and American lives when a bomb targeting a US army convoy exploded in a busy shopping street in Baghdad just as a pro-US demonstration condemned growing "terrorism." (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Mum Vainly Tries to See U.S. Iraq Soldier Daughter: "A peace activist accused the U.S.military on Friday of depriving her of the chance to visit hersoldier daughter, telling her that the truck driver was on amission. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Friday, December 05, 2003
BBC NEWS | Europe | Russian 'suicide' blast kills 40
An apparent suicide bombing has killed at least 40 people and injured some 170 on a crowded commuter train in southern Russia, close to the Chechen region.
The blast struck the train just outside the spa town of Yessentuki during the morning rush hour and many of the victims are said to be young students.
A Russian minister said the attack bore the hallmarks of Chechen rebels.
President Vladimir Putin described it as a bid to destabilise the country days before its parliamentary election.
International terrorism, which has now thrown down a challenge to very many countries throughout the world, remains a serious threat to our country too
Vladimir Putin
Justice Minister Yuri Chaika suggested evidence at the scene pointed to "Chechen terrorism" as a possible theory for the blast.
The director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Nikolai Patrushev, said a male suicide attacker and three women accomplices appeared to have carried out the attack.
Two of the female attackers leapt from the train seconds before the explosion while the third woman was, he added, seriously injured and unlikely to survive.
Mr Patrushev said hand grenades attached to the legs of the male suspect indicated he had been a suicide attacker.
No claims of responsibility for the blast were reported in the immediate aftermath, but a string of similar attacks in recent years have been blamed on Chechen separatist rebels.
The Stavropol area, where the blast occurred, has declared Monday a day of mourning.
Student dead
The explosion ripped through the second carriage from the front shortly before 0740 local time (0440 GMT) on Friday, 400 metres (yards) outside Yessentuki.
Investigators said a bomb appeared to have been left under a seat and a railway official quoted them as saying it had had the explosive force of 30 kilos (66 pounds) of TNT.
Many of those hit by the blast were students as young as 19 from the town of Kislovodsk who were on their way to study in Pyatigorsk, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reports.
An incomplete list of the dead published by the authorities in Stavropol suggested the ages of the victims ranged from 16 to 68.
Such was the power of the blast that it tore the carriage in two, knocking it on its side and sparking a fire.
At least 15 people were killed at the scene, with more dying of their wounds in hospital.
Three hours after the explosion, rescuers were still working at the scene, managing to extract one passenger alive but badly injured.
Manhunt
Mr Putin described the attack as "international terrorism" and said it was a clear attempt to destabilise the situation before Sunday's State Duma election.
RECENT BLASTS IN RUSSIA
15 Sept: At least two killed at Russian security HQ in Magas, Ingushetia
3 Sept: At least four killed on Mineralniye Vody train
25 Aug: At least three killed at Krasnodar bus stops
1 Aug: 50 killed at Mozdok hospital
5 July Chechen suicide bombers kill at least 14 at a rock concert near Moscow
"The crime perpetrated this morning bears witness to the fact that international terrorism, which has now thrown down a challenge to very many countries throughout the world, remains a serious threat to our country too."
Russian Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov vowed to track down the "animals" behind the explosion.
"The ground will burn under their feet. These animals will never be able to feel safe," he told a gathering of war veterans.
September's train explosion came on the first day of campaigning for the poll and coincided with a visit by Mr Putin to the southern city of Rostov for a meeting of the country's State Council.
The president has long claimed to have the situation in Chechnya under control.
But with another blast having struck the same train line where people were killed just three months ago, serious questions will be raised about how stringent security measures are, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Moscow.
BBC NEWS | Europe | Russian 'suicide' blast kills 40
Iraq war news
Bush holds fast to his Mideast approach: "President Bush showed guarded interest Thursday in an unofficial peace plan for the Middle East but held firm to his own approach that calls for a democratic Palestinian state and the end of terror attacks against Israel."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
U.S. exporting 'tools of torture' (04 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Powell urges greater NATO role in Iraq: "US Secretary of State Colin Powell called on NATO to take on a greater role in Iraq to help stabilize the violence-wracked country where the US is seeking to ease the pressure on its own forces. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
"We have happy children, lots of them": "Twelve-year-old Ahmad Mu'ayyad is learning how to wrestle. Aspiring painter Hanin Rida, aged 10, is throwing pots, firing her finished pottery and learning how to draw. Budding actor Mithaq Abu Ali, has already acted and sung in three plays."
In Electronic Iraq
Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights and Iraqi human rights minister discuss human rights in Iraq: "The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has offered to make its expertise available to Iraqi officials and representatives of the country's civil society as they establish a legal framework to promote and protect human rights. This initiatives was discussed by Bertrand Ramcharan and Abdel Baset Turki."
In Electronic Iraq
Iraqi Governing Council bans satellite television station Al-Arabiya: "RSF has called on the Iraqi Governing Council to reverse its decision banning the Dubai-based satellite television news channel Al-Arabiya from operating in Iraq until it signs a written commitment not to encourage terrorism."
In Electronic Iraq
Ex-minister: Accord needs Arafat backing: "An organizer of an alternative Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty said Thursday that it was unlikely the agreement would succeed without support from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Guerrillas fire on Iraqi police station: "Guerrillas fired on a police station Thursday in a town west of Baghdad, wounding six Iraqis, and a roadside bomb destroyed a U.S. armored vehicle in the capital. There were no American casualties in either attack."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
U.S. Seeks to Cut Off Money to Guerrillas: "A spate of U.S. raids on Iraqi smugglers signals a new strategy to deny the guerrilla insurgency one of its chief recruiting assets: money. If U.S. military strategists are correct, the insurgency will soon face a financial crisis when old Iraqi dinar notes bearing the face of Saddam Hussein will be worthless. The military wants to deepen the crisis by launching raids on black marketeers thought to be funding the guerrilla movement. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Kyoto Protocol in Peril (04 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Bush Plane Flew Under False Cover on Iraq Trip: "President Bush's flight plan wasfalsified last week to hide his Thanksgiving Day visit to Iraq,the White House said on Thursday, in another example of theextraordinary -- and deceptive -- steps taken in arranging thebattle-zone trip. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Guerrillas Fire on Iraqi Police Station: "Guerrillas fired on a police station Thursday in a town west of Baghdad, wounding six Iraqis, and a roadside bomb destroyed a U.S. armored vehicle in the capital. There were no American casualties in either attack. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Daily U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq: "As of Thursday, Dec. 4, 441 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 304 died as a result of hostile action and 137 died of non-hostile causes, the department said. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Stand by your body count: "Despite eyewitness testimonies to the contrary, the U.S. military stands by its assertion that there were no civilian casualties in the firefight in Samarraon Sunday, as reported by Editor & Publisher Online. Continue »"
In Alternet: War On Iraq
U.S. Seeks to Cut Off Money to Guerrillas: "A spate of U.S. raids on Iraqi smugglers signals a new strategy to deny the guerrilla insurgency one of its chief recruiting assets: money. If U.S. military strategists are correct, the insurgency will soon face a financial crisis when old Iraqi dinar notes bearing the face of Saddam Hussein will be worthless. The military wants to deepen the crisis by launching raids on black marketeers thought to be funding the guerrilla movement. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Powell Hopes for More German Help in Iraq Next Year: "Secretary of State Colin Powell saidThursday he hoped that Germany, a fierce opponent of theU.S.-led war in Iraq, would feel able to give more help to thecountry when Iraqis are granted more control. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Correction: Vatican-Iraq Story: "In a Dec. 3 story about the election of the patriarch of Chaldean Catholics, The Associated Press, using information from the Vatican, erroneously reported his chosen name as Karim III. The Vatican said Thursday the correct name is Emmanuel III Delly. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Bush Plane Flew Under False Cover on Iraq Trip: "President Bush's flight plan wasfalsified last week to hide his Thanksgiving Day visit to Iraq,the White House said on Thursday, in another example of theextraordinary -- and deceptive -- steps taken in arranging thebattle-zone trip. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Israel: Syria still backing militants: "Israel brushed off signs Syria is ready to resume peace talks, saying Thursday the Damascus government continues to back militant groups like one Israel says was behind a suicide bombing attempt on a school."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Thursday, December 04, 2003
Iraq war news updates
U.N. plans long-term monitoring of Iraq: "U.N. weapons inspectors are planning for possible monitoring of Iraq's biological, chemical and missile programs despite being barred from the country by the United States, according to a report to the U.N. Security Council."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
The Long Way Home: "The journey home from Iraq is long and painful for the more than 2,100 soldiers wounded there in the past eight months. David Martin set out to meet some of the wounded and share their stories."
In CBS News: Iraq Crisis
Assad calls Israel source of violence: "Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday accused the Israeli government of following "the policies of escalation and extremism," making the Middle East a more dangerous place."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Iraqis to Form Anti-Guerrilla Militia: "Iraqi political parties and coalition authorities are discussing the creation of a 1,000-member militia to bolster the U.S. military's fight against a guerrilla insurgency, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Wednesday. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
White House: Geneva accord may be useful: "The architects of a far-reaching proposed accord between Israel and the Palestinians campaigned for Washington's approval Wednesday, but the White House said President Bush's blueprint for a Mideast settlement still was the best formula."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
U.S. May Have Just Missed Second Most Wanted Iraqi: "U.S. troops probably just missedcatching the second most wanted man in Iraq in a major raid,but seized important individuals among 54 suspected guerrillasdetained, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
A Look at U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq: "As of Wednesday, Dec. 3, 441 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 304 died as a result of hostile action and 137 died of non-hostile causes, the department said. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Homeless in Baghdad: "Six-year-old Ali, and Sa'id, 10, are grubbing through the rubbish piled up near their temporary home behind the bombed-out Iraqi air force club in the capital, Baghdad. They are part of a new community of sorts sheltering in unfinished buildings at the club's compound, near the national theatre in the heart of the city."
In Electronic Iraq
Coalition casualties accounted for (Updated 3rd of December) in IraqWar.ru (English)
Iraq war news updates
Report: Japan to Send Troops to Iraq: "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has approved a plan to start sending 1,000 troops for non-combat duty in Iraq by the end of December, a newspaper reported Thursday. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saudi police arrest car bombing suspect: "Saudi police manned sandbagged checkpoints across the capital and guarded western compounds after a suspect in a recent suicide car bombing was arrested amid new warnings of possible attacks on foreigners here."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Shiite cleric new head of Iraq's council: "The new president of Iraq's Governing Council is a Shiite cleric and former militia leader who strongly objects to a key part of a U.S. plan to give sovereignty to Iraqis by July 1."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Shiite Cleric New Head of Iraq's Council: "The new president of Iraq's Governing Council is a Shiite cleric and former militia leader who strongly objects to a key part of a U.S. plan to give sovereignty to Iraqis by July 1. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saddam withdrew one billion before US bombs fell: "Hours before the US-led war on Iraq began, the nation's former dictator Saddam Hussein withdrew more than one billion dollars from its central bank, funds US officials believe he and supporters are using today to support armed resistance to coalition forces, ABC News reported. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saudis withhold money for Iraq (04 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Rumsfeld Says Will Not Bargain for Support in Iraq: "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hassaid there was no question of trading U.S. backing for enhancedEuropean defense capabilities for a pledge by France or Germanyto contribute peacekeeping troops for Iraq. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Body Armor Saves Lives in Iraq: "BAGHDAD -- Pfc. Gregory Stovall felt the explosion on his face. He was standing in the turret of a Humvee, manning a machine gun, when the roadside bomb went off. At the time, he was guarding a convoy of trucks making a mail run. (washingtonpost.com)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Kerry Denounces 'Inept' Bush Foreign Policy: "Senator John Kerry attacked President Bush for an "arrogant, inept, reckless" foreign policy and laid out a detailed plan for prosecuting the war on terrorism far differently."
In New York Times: World Special
Interview With Iraqi Resistance Cell: "OK, banal news day over. The Washington Times has this UPI article , the first in a two-part interview with members of an "anti-US Iraqi cell." A taste: "They should have come and just given us food and some security," he said. "Even today I feel like I cannot drive my car at night because of Ali Baba (the Baghdad slang for criminals)."
And notably, they are not Baathists. Read the rest here ."
"It was then I realized that they had come as occupiers and not as liberators," he says. "And my colleagues and I then voted to fight. So we began to meet and plan. We met with others and have tried to buy weapons. None of us are afraid to die, but it is hard. We are just men, workers, not soldiers."
In Command Post: Irak
Harrumph. Oh ... And Saddam Has $1 Billion On Hand: "That's what I say ... "Harrumph." Trollin' the news all day and it?s all soooo banal. Even we at TCP have slow news days, I suppose.
I did see this at Reuters , though: Saddam Hussein withdrew more than $1 billion (580 million pounds) from Iraq's central bank hours before U.S. forces invaded, and some of the money may be funding the Iraqi insurgency against U.S. troops, ABC News has reported.
So at least we have that going for us, which is nice."
Quoting a letter purportedly written by Saddam and obtained by ABC News, and citing U.S. officials, ABC News said on Wednesday $132 million of funds withdrawn by the former Iraqi leader is unaccounted for and may be being used by his followers to fund attacks against U.S. forces.
ABC News said the handwritten letter from Saddam, dated March 19, 2003, was found by U.S. agents in the files of the Iraqi central bank, and obtained by ABC News.
In Command Post: Irak
US under pressure to back claims over Iraq firefight (4 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
American Dream, Super-Sized - Democracy cannot coexist with Bush's failed doctrine of preventive war (3 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Guard Unit Needs Shipping Funds | theledger.com
Guard Unit Needs Shipping Funds
The Florida National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 116th Artillery, headquartered in Lakeland, has plenty of packages and gifts for its 30 members in Iraq this season.
But it doesn't have the money to send them all.
The unit has 30 soldiers stationed in Iraq until at least the end of February. Officers with the headquarters said they try to ship items to them at least once a month. With Christmas approaching, it is even more important to get the packages mailed.
If you would like to contribute a small amount to help ship the items, you can bring a donation to the armory at 4140 Drane Field Road.
If you wish to send a check, make it payable to "Soldier Support Fund" and mail to Soldier Support Fund, 2/116th Field Artillery, 4140 Drane Field, Lakeland, FL 33811-1269. For more information contact Capt. Anthony Varner, the company commander, or Maj. Marty Nichols, Brigade liaison, at 648-3234.Guard Unit Needs Shipping Funds | theledger.com
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Newsday.com - Sampling of editorials from upstate New York
What could be as potentially threatening to America's ability to keep peace and wage war as terrorists falling on their sword _ in the form of suicide bombs _ may be something as simple as paychecks.
A recent General Accounting Office report found that in a survey of Army National Guard soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, 450 of 481 soldiers had trouble getting paid or receiving certain benefits.
One soldier reportedly was asked to submit documents to get his housing allowance and was advised that everything would be worked out. When he returned home, however, he was told it was too late to get the money. Another soldier was dispatched on a four-day trip through dangerous territory to try to straighten out pay mix-ups. In another case, 34 soldiers were mistakenly told they owed the government about $48,000 each.
Serving one's country during wartime is a great enough sacrifice. Soldiers should not have the added burden of wondering if they will get a paycheck _ especially those whose families are depending on the income. The fact that many of the problems seemed to be caused by simple accounting errors is truly sad.
The government must immediately correct these problems. With trouble spots growing around the world, it will be hard enough trying to entice people to serve their country. But what will make it harder still is the belief that when they do sign up, they may have to fight for America and fight for America to pay them.
___P>
The Watertown Daily Times on funding Lady Liberty:
Nov. 28
For two years now, Americans have been locked out of one of the best known monuments to their freedom, the Statue of Liberty. It was closed in the panicky aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. Although other sites have slowly reopened as the country returns to normalcy, the 117-year-old statue remains closed until security can be tightened.
A number of steps have been taken to improve security around the statue and on Liberty Island, but visitors have been barred from entering the statue which houses a museum and observation areas. The government wants to add new exits at the statue monument and upgrade fire safety and emergency notification systems at an estimated cost of $5 million.
The National Park Service has taken measures to improve security and screen visitors outside the statue and to Ellis Island, but funds are not forthcoming for the additional repairs.
Absent federal funds, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said American Express has pledged $3 million and commissioned a television documentary on the statue for broadcast in January, copies of which will be sold for $100 each.
Folgers Coffee has also pledged $1 million. Even when it is reopened, visitors will be limited to the lower of two observation decks. They will be able to take an elevator or climb the 192 steps to an observation deck in the pedestal area; but the statue's crown, which is 22 stories high, and its torch will remain off limits.
"Many of America's and New York's sons and daughters are around the world fighting for the freedoms that the Statue of Liberty stands for," Mayor Bloomberg said. "They're continuing a war that started only a few blocks from here. The reopening of the Statue of Liberty is another way to show that we are going to win the war and that New York will always remain the world's second home."
Lady Liberty, a gift from France in 1886, has welcomed millions of immigrants to America's shores. The inscription at the base of the 151-foot-high statue expresses the hope held out to newcomers seeking opportunity for a better life in the United States.
The city should not have to depend on private donors to make the necessary improvements to the monument. The amount required is not significant in the overall federal budget.
Fear and caution prompted the closing of many places and buildings after Sept. 11. Some have closed permanently. But others have reopened after security measures were implemented. With federal assistance, the same should be done with the Statue of Liberty as soon as possible.
____P>
The Times Union of Albany on the USA Patriot Act:
Here come two more critics of a Bush administration anti-terrorism policy that presents such a threat to civil liberties. Two very unlikely critics, that is, who can't be so readily ignored.
They're Viet Dinh, who helped draft the USA Patriot Act while he worked for Attorney General John Ashcroft, and Michael Chertoff, who also served as a top Justice Department official. Both have added their very credible voices to the long list of civil libertarians and other legal observers who are concerned about the implications of the unconstitutional treatment accorded to Jose Padilla, an American citizen arrested in Chicago last year for allegedly planning to make a radiological bomb.
Mr. Padilla has spent the past 18 months locked up in a military brig without access to a lawyer. Not even Mr. Dinh, who has defended other post-Sept. 11 Bush administration policies on civil liberties grounds, can see the slightest hint of justice there. What alarms him, as he's explained in a series of speeches and a recent Los Angeles Times interview, is that the indefinite detainment of Mr. Padilla allows him no chance to respond to the charges against him. The Bush administration seems to think it has no legal duty to do so, Mr. Dinh complains.
Even those designated as "enemy combatants," as Mr. Padilla has been, have rights. An American citizen arrested on American soil, even on charges of conspiring with the al-Qaida terrorist network to trigger an explosives-and-radioactive attack, has the right to review the evidence against him. So, in fact, do all Americans.
"The President is owed significant deference as to when and how and what kind of process the person designated an enemy combatant is entitled to," Mr. Dinh told the Los Angeles Times. "But I do not think the Supreme Court would defer to the President when there is nothing to defer to. There must be an actual process or discernible set of procedures to determine how they will be treated."
Mr. Chertoff, who previously served as the head of the Justice Department's criminal division and now is a federal appeals judge, also says the treatment of accused combatants like Mr. Padilla must be re-examined. "We need to debate a long-term and sustainable architecture for the process of determining when, why and for how long someone may be detained as an enemy combatant, and what judicial review should be available," he said in a recent speech at the University of North Carolina Law School. These are not men of the political left, remember. They're former colleagues of Mr. Ashcroft himself.
How might the attorney general respond to arguments that he's discarding the principle of habeas corpus? What might President Bush say? Or all the senators who voted to confirm Mr. Ashcroft as attorney general, or all those in Congress who support the Patriot Act? As it happens, the word comes from an official Justice Department spokesman that the case of Mr. Padilla is off-limits as long as it's pending in court.
Sorry, not good enough. Not when what's actually pending in court is the very legality of detaining criminal suspects under the conditions Mr. Padilla finds himself incarcerated. Let's hear the government's argument for indefinite detention without legal representation. Oh, and pardon us if we interpret the lack of an argument as further evidence that there is no plausible argument.
Newsday.com - Sampling of editorials from upstate New York
Iraq war updates
DHL Resumes Flights, Service to Baghdad: "The global package delivery service DHL said Tuesday it had resumed flights to Baghdad, after one of its planes was hit by a missile on its approach to the airport. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S. Forces Stage Massive Raid in Iraq: "U.S. troops north of the capital arrested at least 20 insurgents in a raid while workers began demolishing gigantic bronze busts of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad on Tuesday - both moves aimed at stamping out loyalty to Iraq's ousted regime. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Today's U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq: "As of Tuesday, Dec. 2, 440 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 303 died as a result of hostile action and 137 died of non-hostile causes, the department said. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
AP: West Bank outposts slowly digging in: "Just six months after Israel committed to a peace plan requiring it to dismantle scores of illegal Jewish settlement outposts, an Associated Press inspection of 18 of the encampments found the settlers have expanded significantly."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Israeli to Powell: Skip Mideast meeting: "Israel's vice premier warned it would be a mistake for Secretary of State Colin Powell to meet organizers of an informal Mideast peace treaty. But Powell said Tuesday that just such a meeting is planned this week."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Bush's Baghdad-Bound Plane Was Spotted: "In a footnote to President Bush's surprise trip to Baghdad, the White House identified the location and time when Air Force One was spotted en route to Iraq last week by a British Airways pilot. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
NATO Allies to Stay Course in Iraq, Rumsfeld Says: "Despite recent attacks by insurgentson the forces of U.S. allies, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeldsaid Tuesday that virtually all of the countries providingtroops for duty in Iraq have promised to keep them there. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Latest Iraq Attacks Test Allies' Resolve: "America's allies in Iraq, suddenly besieged by guerrilla attacks that until now targeted mostly U.S. forces, are also under fire at home from a public shaken by the mounting dangers. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Stressed out in Iraq - tired, terrified, trigger-happy (2 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
No freedom without free press (2 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
A combat leader gives the inside skinny of the biggest battle since the war ended (2 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Beyond bull (2 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Iraq row rages as Spain mourns in CNN - War in Iraq
Intelligence experts speak out against the war in a new documentary: "A slew of former CIA officials, ambassadors, weapons inspectors, and high ranking governmental figures testify to the illegality and sheer irrationality of the war in the hour-long documentary Uncovered that has been promoted by the Internet-based lobby group MoveOn. The various interviewees dissect the "intelligence" put forth by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union speech, and the fuzzy photos used in Colin Powell's February speech to the UN, which is described by one former intelligence expert as a piece of "theater.""
In Electronic Iraq
Palestinian killed, 2 homes fall in raids: "Israeli troops killed an armed Palestinian and blew up two houses of suspected militants Tuesday in their second West Bank raid in as many days."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Another Symbol of Hussein's Regime Comes Down: "An Iraqi construction crew is removing the four massive heads of Saddam Hussein, each three stories high, that sit atop the Republican Palace in Baghdad. (The New York Times)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Rumsfeld: NATO Allies to Remain in Iraq: "Nearly all of the NATO countries with troops in Iraq have pledged to remain there in 2004 to help stabilize and rebuild the country, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Idaho-Based Co. Halts Iraq Project: "A Boise-based engineering and construction company has suspended work on power line towers being built in northern Iraq because two engineers for a subcontractor were killed and two others wounded in a weekend attack. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Iraq's King of Clubs evades US capture: "US troops have denied reports that Saddam Hussein's right hand man - the King of Clubs in the most wanted list - had been captured."
In Ananova: War In Iraq
Annan meets with advisory group on Iraq: "Secretary-General Kofi Annan met his advisory group on Iraq for the first time today, a move aimed at persuading countries in the region to support the same approach to the post-conflict country."
In Electronic Iraq
Saudi, Kenya attacks possible, U.S. warns: "U.S. Embassies on Tuesday warned of possible terror attacks against two hotels in Kenya and a housing compound for Westerners in Saudi Arabia. Kenyan police said they were investigating reports that terrorists had packed a truck with explosives for an imminent attack."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Latest Iraq attacks test allies' resolve: "America's allies in Iraq, suddenly besieged by guerrilla attacks that until now targeted mostly U.S. forces, are also under fire at home from a public shaken by the mounting dangers."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Koizumi Adamant Japan Will Send Troops to Iraq: "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi insistedTuesday that Japan would send troops to help rebuild Iraq asdomestic media reported that ministerial approval could bedelayed after the death of two Japanese diplomats there. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Annan Organizes Group of Mideast Nations on Iraq: "Iraq's neighbors, includingIran, and Security Council members, including the UnitedStates, came together in a new grouping some delegates hopewill develop into an international conference on Iraq's future. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Hutton inquiry refuses to allow Blair to see report in advance: "British Prime Minister Tony Blair will have no advance warning of a report, expected early next year, into the death of British weapons expert David Kelly, London's Financial Times said. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S. Sees Lesson for Insurgents in an Iraq Battle: "Americans vowed that the killing of as many as 54 insurgents would serve as lesson, but Iraqis disputed the death toll."
In New York Times: World Special
Rumsfeld Calls Peril in Iraq, Along With Progress, a 'Contradiction': "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld acknowledged that attacks continue to kill U.S. forces even as the economy stabilizes."
In New York Times: World Special
Bush Aides Say Attacks Won't Scare Allies Into Leaving Iraq: "Bush administration officials said that a wave of attacks would not succeed in scaring anyone away from securing Iraq."
In New York Times: World Special
For a Respite in Iraq, a Nickel Ride Across the Tigris: "The River Tigris is Baghdad's one oasis where no one fears car bombs and the traffic moves freely."
In New York Times: World Special
Arafat hails informal Mideast peace pact: "Yasser Arafat praised an informal Israeli-Palestinian peace pact, but violence persisted in the West Bank with an Israeli sweep through the town of Ramallah, where Arafat has his headquarters."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
No happily ever after for married soldiers: "Love does not conquer all, it seems."
In Back to Iraq 2.0
Jordan's king vows to transform Jordan: "Jordan's King Abdullah II pledged Monday to transform his nation into a model democratic state that can serve as an example to other Middle East nations."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Council In Iraq Resisting Ayatollah: "BAGHDAD, Dec. 1 -- A majority of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council has decided to support an American plan to select a provisional government through regional caucuses despite objections from the country's most powerful Shiite Muslim cleric, according to several council members. (washingtonpost.com)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S. Troops Kill 54 Guerrillas in Iraq Firefight: "American troops killed 54guerrillas in a fierce battle to fight off coordinated ambusheson armored convoys carrying large quantities of banknotes inthe tense Iraqi town of Samarra, the U.S. Army said on Monday. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Battle Reveals New Iraqi Tactics: "SAMARRA, Iraq, Dec. 1 -- Sgt. 1st Class Robert Hollis knew there was trouble even before the shooting started. As he stood guard in his M1-A1 Abrams tank outside a bank in this Sunni Muslim town, the usually busy streets suddenly emptied Sunday. Men hurried down back alleys, some running. Women dragged their children away from the positions of U.S. troops. (washingtonpost.com)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Dutch protest against visit Colin Powell: "Some 1,000 people protesting against Colin Powell's visit to the Netherlands and the occupation of Iraq and Palestine gathered in the Dutch town of Maastricht ahead of a meeting of the the European security body, the OSCE."
In Electronic Iraq
It's time to get moving: "It's time to go back. Back to Iraq."
In Back to Iraq 2.0
Iraqis deny US accounts of fierce fight with 'guerrillas' (2 Dec 03) in Radio Free USA
Poll: Iraqis distrusting coalition troops: "Nearly four out of five Iraqis have little or no confidence in occupying U.S. and British forces, but more than 40 percent said the fall of Saddam Hussein was the best thing that happened to them in the past year, according to a poll published Monday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Soldier faces discharge for Iraq marriage: "An American soldier has been reprimanded and will be discharged for taking a break from a foot patrol in Baghdad to marry an Iraqi woman, his lawyer said Monday."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Senate Dems Rip Bush on Iraq, Afghanistan: "Two Democratic senators just back from Iraq and Afghanistan predicted on Monday possible disastrous consequences from the Bush administration's policies for political and economic recovery in both countries. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
U.S., Iraqi police dispute death toll in ambushes in CNN - War in Iraq
Putin demands early Iraq elections in CNN - War in Iraq
Bush remains firm on Iraq transition plan: "The Bush administration is holding to the terms of its plan for transition to Iraqi rule by the end of next June, despite rumblings of Shiite disapproval."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Shiite Assumes Rotating Iraqi Presidency: "Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a Shiite Muslim leader who has criticized U.S.-led plans for Iraqi sovereignty, assumed the rotating presidency of the Governing Council on Monday amid discussions about how to select a transitional government. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Bloodshed, religious politics put US Iraq policy on spot: "Despite vows of no surrender in Iraq, the United States has been thrust into a painful military dilemma by a swelling insurgency, days after a top Shiite cleric ambushed its new political strategy. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Monday, December 01, 2003
More Dutch troops stay longer in Iraq and Afghanistan: "Government.nl [ Full story »» ] reports: The government has extended the mission of the Dutch forces in Iraq by six months. An extra reconnaissance unit of the Commando Corps will be sent to Iraq to gather information on the situation in the south of al-Muthanna province.
RNW [ Full story »» ] reports: Dutch Defence Minister Henk Kamp plans to send four Apache military helicopters to Afghanistan. If approved, the mission will involve the deployment of between 60 and 100 military personnel. The Dutch helicopters are likely to be deployed in and around the Afghan capital, Kabul.
"
In Command Post: Irak
White House Version of Mid-Air Exchange Disputed: "British Airways said on Monday thatnone of its pilots made contact with President Bush's planeduring its secret flight to Baghdad, contradicting White Housereports of a mid-air exchange that nearly prompted Bush to calloff his trip. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
AFTER DUBYA'S MISSION: A MATTER OF AMERICAN WILL: " (New York Post)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Briton disputes reports of abuse in Iraq: "A British envoy on Monday disputed reports by human rights groups alleging a pattern of human rights violations by U.S. forces in Iraq."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Terrorists or civilians?: "Reports out of Iraq about yesterday's deadly gun battle in Samarra are painting markedly different portraits of what happened. Locals and Americans agree that the so-called fedayeen irregulars attacked a U.S. military convoy delivering cash to two banks. What happened next is emerging only through the fog of war.
While the U.S. military is claiming that the 54 Iraqis killed in Samarra late Sunday were terrrorist insurgents, reports filed by Middle East news organizations claim that most of the dead are innocent civilians. Albawaba.com reports, "Locals provided different versions about the incident. According to them, occupation troops killed unarmed bystanders when they opened fire on all directions. Workers at a nearby pharmaceutical plant said at least two colleagues were shot dead and many injured as they walked out of the factory gates at the end of their shift. An AFP reporter saw blood spattered on the ground and bullet holes in the sentry box to left of the white factory gates." According to this Agence France Presse report, the dead included "eight civilians including a woman and a child." Continue »"
In Alternet: War On Iraq
Mis-occupied Iraq: "From the New Yorker, comes another dissection of the poor plannning and blind hubris behind the White House's war. After reading this, it is hard not to think it a monstrous crime that the United States is not actively begging the United Nations to take over the situation, while granting it whatever financial and military backing it might need to help the country recover from its decades of hell - and six months of post-war anarchy and blatant mismanagement by a know-nothing Provisional Authority."
In Alternet: War On Iraq
GETTING OUT OF IRAQ: " (Richard Reeves)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Iraqis 'welcome Saddam's fall': "Most Iraqis regard the ousting of Saddam Hussein as the best event in the past year, a new survey shows."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq
'Two great weeks' says general. For who? in IraqWar.ru (English)
Iraqi Police May Have Coordinated Attacks in IraqWar.ru (English)
3 ex-officers challenging detentions at Guantanamo Bay in IraqWar.ru (English)
Elusive hunt for al-Qaeda in IraqWar.ru (English)
Top UK judge slams Camp Delta in IraqWar.ru (English)
Taleban chief 'seen in Pakistan' in IraqWar.ru (English)
Militia factions threaten Iraq peace hopes in IraqWar.ru (English)
US forces kill Iraqi motorist 'in error' in IraqWar.ru (English)
Additive use could shift theory in anthrax case in IraqWar.ru (English)
US Soldier Shoots Seven-Year-Old in Leg in IraqWar.ru (English)
US Planning More Mobile Iraq Force to Tackle Unrest in IraqWar.ru (English)
Attacked for telling some home truths in IraqWar.ru (English)
Robert Fisk: We are paying the price of an infantile attempt to reshape the Middle East in IraqWar.ru (English)
Terror experts fault Iraq war in IraqWar.ru (English)
Iraq Prisoner Dies in IraqWar.ru (English)
US Army?s appraisal in IraqWar.ru (English)
Iraq's oil pipelines under attack in IraqWar.ru (English)
Military Update: Bush team seen as tone deaf on ?people? issues in IraqWar.ru (English)
Iraq Pipeline Watch in IraqWar.ru (English)
Contracts refused cohorts in IraqWar.ru (English)
Consultant employed president's brother in IraqWar.ru (English)
Aides Prodded Reluctant Bush on Iraq Trip in IraqWar.ru (English)
US claims to have killed 46 militants in Samarra,witnesses say civilians among dead in IraqWar.ru (English)
White House Wants to Hand Afghanistan to NATO in IraqWar.ru (English)
Lima camp under threat of attack in IraqWar.ru (English)
U.S. funds Iraqi TV network in battle against 'hostile' Arab news stations in IraqWar.ru (English)
Iraqi Leaders Say U.S. Was Warned of Disorder After Hussein, but Little Was Done in IraqWar.ru (English)
Oil Experts See Long-Term Risks to Iraq Reserves in IraqWar.ru (English)
Two Iraqi Governing Council members deny accord on direct elections in IraqWar.ru (English)
Iraq Scientists: Lied About Nuke Weapons in IraqWar.ru (English)
Three al-Qaida Caught in Iraq, U.S. Says in IraqWar.ru (English)
Iraqi politician kidnapped in Kirkuk: official in IraqWar.ru (English)
Army Officer's Actions Raise Ethical Issues in IraqWar.ru (English)
For the Iraqis, a Missile Deal That Went Sour: "Saddam Hussein negotiated with North Korea to obtain a missile assembly line, but the deal did not go exactly as he imagined."
In New York Times: World Special
Iraqi Council Agrees on National Elections: "The council agreed by a unanimous vote that full national elections would be the best way to choose an interim government in June."
In New York Times: World Special
South Korean Denounces Iraq Shootings: "The South Korean president urged a security review on Monday after what he called the intolerable shooting of four civilians in Iraq."
In New York Times: World Special
Soldier at Kuwait Base Says She Was Raped: "A soldier reported that she was raped at a desert post in Kuwait where her unit is preparing for its mission in Iraq, a military spokesman said on Sunday."
In New York Times: World Special
A Conversation on Tiptoes, Wary of Mines: "Saddam Hussein's terror still radiates among Iraqis, many of whom condition their words and actions against the possibility he may return."
In New York Times: World Special
U.S. Says 54 Iraqis Killed in Samarra: "The U.S. military said 54 Iraqis were killed in the northern city of Samarra as U.S. forces used tanks and cannons to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes. But residents said Monday that the casualty figure was much lower and that the dead were mostly civilians. (AP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Eight civilians killed, dozens wounded by US fire in Iraq town: "Scenes of devastation dotted the Iraqi town of Samarra after fierce clashes between US forces and insurgents in which senior police and hospital officials said at least eight civilians were killed and dozens wounded by US fire. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Three suspected al-Qaeda members nabbed by US forces in Mosul: "Three men suspected of belonging to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network have been captured by US troops in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
'Intense battle' in Samarra: "There is evidence of a fierce fight between US forces and militants in the central Iraqi city, says BBC's Peter Greste."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq
South Korea stands firm on Iraq, condemns "inhuman" attack: "South Korea said an "inhuman" attack that killed two of its civilians in Iraq would not derail plans to dispatch more troops to the war-torn country. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Koizumi presses ahead with troop dispatch after Iraq attacks: "Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi lashed out at "indiscriminate" attacks in Iraq that killed two of the country's diplomats as a poll showed little public backing for sending troops. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Death toll rises from Iraq ambush: "The number of Iraqis killed after American convoys come under attack in central Iraq rises to 54, US officials say."
In BBC: Conflict with Iraq
Israel's Sharon home sick with the flu: "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was home sick with the flu Monday and canceled all his appearances, Israeli media reported."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Israeli troops kill two in West Bank raid: "The Israeli military launched a large-scale raid on suspected militants in the West Bank city of Ramallah Monday, killing at least two armed Palestinians and arresting dozens of other people, the army said."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Battle Casualty Toll Rises: "From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :
"
The United States has raised the death toll from intense clashes with insurgents in the Iraqi town of Samarra to 54, after reports from Iraqi doctors that eight civilians were killed by US fire in the exchanges.
A hospital director in Samarra says another 60 civilians were injured.
US commanders previously said they had they killed 46 Iraqi insurgents in the clashes.
The hospital says a woman and child were amongst the eight civilians who died in the fighting.
In Command Post: Irak
CIA admits Uncertainties over Iraqi WMD: "From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has acknowledged it "lacked specific information" about alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction when it compiled an intelligence estimate last year that served to justify the US-led invasion of Iraq.
"
[...]
... an explanation issued over the weekend by veteran CIA analyst Stuart Cohen, who was in charge of putting together the 2002 intelligence estimate and currently serves as vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council, made clear the case against Iraq, as presented by the CIA behind closed doors, was much less clear-cut and more nuanced.
[...]
The document still concluded that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of the 150-kilometre limit imposed by the UN Security Council.
It also said that Baghdad did not have nuclear weapons.
Mr Cohen said he still stood by those judgments.
[...]
Moreover, specialists from three US government agencies - the State and Energy Departments and the Air Force - vocally disagreed with at least some of the findings, the CIA analyst said, who denied that these expressions of dissent had been somehow suppressed or buried in footnotes.
" All agencies were fully exposed to these alternative views, and the heads of those organisations blessed the wording and placement of their alternative views ," Mr Cohen said.
The veteran CIA analyst stressed that all major conclusions about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction had been drawn on the basis of information "overwhelmingly" gleaned from a combination of human intelligence, satellite imagery and communications intercepts.
" There is a reason that the October 2002 review of Iraq's WMD programs is called a National Intelligence Estimate and not a National Intelligence factbook ," Mr Cohen said.
" On almost any issue of the day that we face, hard evidence will only take intelligence professionals so far ."
In Command Post: Irak
Relatives of slain Japanese diplomats to head to Kuwait to collect bodies: "Ten bereaved family members of the two Japanese diplomats killed in an ambush in Iraq over the weekend were to leave for Kuwait to bring back the bodies, the foreign ministry said. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
7-year Old Wounded: "From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : A seven-year-old child brandishing a Kalashnikov was shot in the foot by US troops during a raid in the hotspot city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the US military said.
"
"[Troops] conducted a mission in the Ramadi area today. While on patrol, the soldiers witnessed two men with weapons running into a nearby residence. The soldiers followed the men in order to apprehend them for questioning ," a Central Command statement said.
" Upon approaching the house, a seven-year-old child came out with an AK-47 rifle pointed at the soldiers. A soldier responded in self-defence and shot the child in the foot. "
The statement said the child was evacuated to a nearby army medical facility for treatment and then flown to Baghdad.
In Command Post: Irak
Mideast negotiators to launch peace plan: "Last-minute dissent among the Palestinians and strong opposition from Israeli leaders underscored just how difficult it will be for a symbolic peace plan to sway either side after years of conflict in the Middle East."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
U.S. allies promise to stay in Iraq: "U.S. coalition partners South Korea and Spain promised to stay in Iraq despite attacks that killed their citizens over the weekend, while the deaths of two Japanese coincided with a poll that showed growing fears in Japan about sending troops."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
NATO seeks to expand Afghan mission: "NATO wants to expand its mission in Afghanistan, but the alliance's leaders have warned they will need more support from member nations to do the job right."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Saudi interrogators use new technique: "Forget the bread-and-water routine. Saudi Arabian interrogators often bring a Quran, the Muslim holy book, to their prison interviews, using a technique that has proved successful in eliciting information from al-Qaida captives and reorienting them to less violent religious beliefs."
In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Bush's morale-boosting Baghdad visit doesn't make up for urge to go home, say troops: "Just a day after US President George W. Bush flew into Baghdad to feed 600 of his troops the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner, soldiers at the same base were offered a rare musical evening but the Bush high had failed to outlast the impromptu visit. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Saddam Hussein sought missile assembly line from North Korea: "Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain an entire missile production line from North Korea prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq, with Syria offering a transit route for delivery of the goods, the New York Times reported. (AFP)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
South Korea, Japan Sending Troops to Iraq: "Japan and South Korea voiceddetermination on Monday to proceed with sending troops to Iraqdespite weekend killings of several of their nationals thereand popular doubts about taking part in the operation. (Reuters)"
In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
-->
""If anybody is wondering: Where are the young idealists? Where are the people willing to devote themselves to causes larger than themselves? They are in uniform in Iraq, straddling the divide between insanity and order."
By David Brooks
""If anybody is wondering: Where are the young idealists? Where are the people willing to devote themselves to causes larger than themselves? They are in uniform in Iraq, straddling the divide between insanity and order."
By David Brooks
"
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"This site contains graphic pictures of war, It is not meant as any disrespect to our
Brave Armed Forces, rather to bring the realities of the events occuring in Iraq and what a heroic job our troops are doing!
Due to the mature content of this site viewer discretion is advised.
God Bless Our troops."
- Enter War Zone Here
We are very proud of you,
Keep Your Helmet on!
War Blog Home
Message Boards
World News Ticker
Google News
Search Site
War Blog Photos
War Blog Archives
Adopt A Hero
Help The Wounded
Add An APO/FPO
Soldier's Angels
Special Issues
Patriotic Companies
American Heroes
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Brave POW's
Highway To Hell
Peggy Baker Artcles
Beth Bingham Articles
Submit Articles
Soldiers War Stories
Italians Arrive
Saddam Captured
Saddam Captured Photos
Leave A Message
Those You Defend
Donate To Troops
WALL OF HONOR
2-5 Field Artillery
2133rd National Guard
C 6/27 FA
Lutz Patriots
A-1-8 Infantry
1/37 ARMOR REG.
173rd Airborne
105th Military Police
Live Chat
Patriotic Poems
Mailing Rules
PX Gift Cert.
PTSD Center
Iraq Vet Info
Fair Use
Fallen Hero Tributes
- Maj. Mathew Schram
- SSgt. Roger C. Turner
- GSgt. Elia Fontecchio
- Spc. Eugene A. Uhl III
- Spc. Nick Zangara
- PFC Ervin Dervishi
- Capt. Kim Hampton
- SGT. Jay Blessing
- SGT. Juan Carlos Cabral
- Spc. Ray J. Hutchinson
- PFC Michael Weldon
- SSGT. Christopher Bunda
- SPC Michael Diraimondo
- Sgt.Antanacio Haro-Marin
- Sgt. Paul Smith
- PFC Rachel Bosveld
- Sgt. Thomas D. Robbins
- PFC John D. Hart
- Spc. James Chance
- Spc. Jonathan Barnes
- SPC. Paul Sturino
- Spc. Justin W. Hebert
- Lt. Todd Bryant
- Sgt. Scott Rose
- Sgt Joseph Minucci II
- Sgt. Joseph Suell
- Spc. William Sturges
Blogs Of Note
- Hugh Hewitt
- The Indepundit
- Blackfive
- Stryker News
- Sgt.Hook
- The Daily Blogster
- No Pundit Intended
- Paul Prince
- Afghanistan Photos
- Hero Tributes
- Winds Of Change
- Keystone Soldiers
- Capt. Patti
- Airborne Combat Engineer
- 1st Vets
- Voice Of A Soldier's Mom
- Dagger Jag
- Paratrooper Of Love
- Dan In Iraq
- Deeds In Iraq
- Iraq 2.0
- Defend America
- Indigo Insights
- Deans World
- Beau Kellogg
- Kellogg Racing
- Keeping You In Touch
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- Dear Florida Hero
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"This site contains graphic pictures of war, It is not meant as any disrespect to our
Brave Armed Forces, rather to bring the realities of the events occuring in Iraq and what a heroic job our troops are doing!
Due to the mature content of this site viewer discretion is advised.
God Bless Our troops."
- Enter War Zone Here
Fallen Hero Tributes
- Maj. Mathew Schram
- SSgt. Roger C. Turner
- GSgt. Elia Fontecchio
- Spc. Eugene A. Uhl III
- Spc. Nick Zangara
- PFC Ervin Dervishi
- Capt. Kim Hampton
- SGT. Jay Blessing
- SGT. Juan Carlos Cabral
- Spc. Ray J. Hutchinson
- PFC Michael Weldon
- SSGT. Christopher Bunda
- SPC Michael Diraimondo
- Sgt.Antanacio Haro-Marin
- Sgt. Paul Smith
- PFC Rachel Bosveld
- Sgt. Thomas D. Robbins
- PFC John D. Hart
- Spc. James Chance
- Spc. Jonathan Barnes
- SPC. Paul Sturino
- Spc. Justin W. Hebert
- Lt. Todd Bryant
- Sgt. Scott Rose
- Sgt Joseph Minucci II
- Sgt. Joseph Suell
- Spc. William Sturges
- Hugh Hewitt
- The Indepundit
- Blackfive
- Stryker News
- Sgt.Hook
- The Daily Blogster
- No Pundit Intended
- Paul Prince
- Afghanistan Photos
- Hero Tributes
- Winds Of Change
- Keystone Soldiers
- Capt. Patti
- Airborne Combat Engineer
- 1st Vets
- Voice Of A Soldier's Mom
- Dagger Jag
- Paratrooper Of Love
- Dan In Iraq
- Deeds In Iraq
- Iraq 2.0
- Defend America
- Indigo Insights
- Deans World
- Beau Kellogg
- Kellogg Racing
- Keeping You In Touch
- Ground Truth
- Boots and Sabers
- Doc In The Box
- Dear Florida Hero
- Technorati
- Healing Iraq Blog
- THE MESSOPOTAMIAN
- Dagney's Rant
- 52nd Engineers
- Boots On The Ground
- Liz Donovan
- Infomaniac
- Fallen Heroes
- Letters To Iraq
- Veteran's Resources
- Blood Of Heroes
- Accurate Credit
- 100's Newspapers
- Driving Records
- Buddy Finder
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- Fort Sill OK
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- CNN
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- MSNBC
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- Dear Abby Program
- USA Rations
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More Archives
- Archives Cont.
"This site contains graphic pictures of war, It is not meant as any disrespect to our Brave Armed Forces, rather to bring the realities of the events occuring in Iraq and what a heroic job our troops are doing! Due to the mature content of this site viewer discretion is advised.
God Bless Our troops." - Enter War Zone Here
- Archives Cont.
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