Dawn Patrol

Iraq

Walking the Line [Michael Yon]
Sam was, by all accounts, a practical hands-on man whose grip had the grit of hard work. He started it all with little more than a barren field and some air in his pockets. Through hard work, he turned that into a store. Unfortunately, hard work alone wasn't enough to overcome beginner's fumbling, and Sam lost that business, but not his drive for success. So on the next go-round, in addition to hard work, he took the experience that he milled into business smarts, and opened another store, and the customers lined up.

The poor prisoners at GITMO [From My Position - in Iraq]
The prisoners at GITMO. How dare they treat them that way. A few facts, to put it into perspective.

I don't have a toilet in my room. Last month we opened up our first set of real porcelain, and then promptly ran out of water.

I don't have a sink, either.

Balls instead of Bombs [Who's your Baghdaddy? - in Iraq]
Some of the soldiers in our unit get together with some of the local villagers for a weekly game of soccer. Soccer in this part of the world (they call it football) is like football in the U.S. They are very passionate about the sport, begin playing at a young age, and follow their favorite teams. Personally, running up and down a field chasing after a ball in 100+ degree weather looks a little like "work" to me so I haven't actually played yet. Not to mention the Iraqis are really good at this sport so we usually take a schlacking (They even loaned us some guys in order to even the odds). However, I did take some photos at the last game in order to show you some more good stories you won't see on the evening news.

MOBBED BY KIDS AND ADULTS [SFC Kevin Kelly's Dixie Sappers - in Iraq]
...After we got everything unloaded, I looked over to see a little boy that I had recognized from the previous visit there. This little boy had one eye that was completely swollen shut and the other was just about closed. I called our doc over and he looked at him. He did an examination and said that it must have been an allergic reaction to something so he was able to give him some medicine and said it should go down pretty quick. There were other kids around that had all kinds of ailments. Most of them would say something was wrong so they could get a wheelchair or walker, but you could tell the ones that were really hurt. We finally were getting ready to leave and walking back to our tank when a little girl came up to me and gave me 2 flowers..

The minister of health get stoned in Najaf. [Free Iraqi]
Yesterday and while the minister of health was visiting Najaf he and his guards were stoned and beaten near the holy shrine of Imam Ali by Najafis. There are two stories for this incident.

Back in the rear! [Fun With Hand Grenades - on his way to Iraq]
I just stepped out of my first shower in ten days. I've had the Chinese food I was deprived of and am currently sucking down a Cherry Coke. Being that I'm relaxed and somewhat back to regular life... blog time.
Now that it's said and done I find my mind on Iraq more and more. A lot of the training we did over the last week and a half really got me to thinking about how life will be over there; the dangers and endless possibilities that Iraq poses,

Operation Spear in Anbar Province [Winds of Change]
US Marines and accompanying Iraqi troops return to the Qusaybah/Qaim region on the Syrian border, and launch Operation Spear in the city of Karabilah. This region is the main hub of the southern ratline from Syria, which has been inaccurately compared to the Ho Chi Minh Trail of the Vietnam War. Spear explains the reports of US troops massing on the Syrian border.

Afghanistan

Re: Afghanistan Land of Extremes [The National Guard Experience - in Afghanistan]
My photos are selling like hotcakes on the West Coast and they're being gobbled up in record numbers. If anyone wants more info you can contact Susanne at airenwen@yahoo.com Thanks Susanne! And thanks to all my supporters!

Callsigns [Howdy's Blog - in Iraq]
I came out west near Syria and linked up again with Hurl. It has been a lot of years since he threw up in his flight glove. My daughters get no small amount of amusement out of that. We are in a smaller base, which is not an airbase. If I would describe it, I'd say it was a firebase. We have plenty of guns, ammunition, armor, sandbags, water and food......and laptops with internet.

Iran

Iran's Election. [Willism]
Wandered over to Publius Pundit early this morning, and found this post explaining that Iranians in America can vote at polling locations (.pdf) around the country.
So I wandered over to the Houston Ramada (phone # 713-688-2222) to do a little sleuthing and ALMOST GOT ARRESTED! They took my license and were prepared to book me, but I convinced them that would be a terrible mistake, they would look bad, etc.

The Mullahs' "Polling Places"...in America [The Word Unheard]
This is absolutely insane. Forgive me while I come unhinged.
Here we are engaged in a Global War on Terror, in a conflict we did not initiate.
We have been left with 3,000 civilians murdered on our own soil.
We have endured the loss of some 1,700 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines fighting abroad.
We are fighting terrorism, terrorists and the regimes that support(ed) them.
The single greatest state sponsor of terrorism in the world is, without question or argument, the Mullahs who rule Iran with an iron fist.

First Reports on the Election - Why the media is getting it wrong [Regime Change Iran]
The western media is reporting a close election in Iran and some are claiming that it is so close that the government has extended the hours of the polling places in order to accommodate the voting public.

What is wrong with these reports?

According to various news accounts, the international media in Iran for the election is estimated between 70 and 200 foreign journalists.

Other Parts of the World

Zaytun Soldiers Find A Mission In Iraq [GI in Korea]
The ROK Army's Zaytun Unit has finally found something to do in Iraq. It took a year to find something for them to do but at least 40 of the 3,200 soldiers will be guarding a UN office building in Irbil the Kurdish capital city.

Military Issues

Make a difference in the life of a wounded hero [Marine Corps Moms]
Col. John Folsom with the Wounded Warrior Project sent this wish list from Senior Master Sergeant Elizabeth Christiansen who is assigned to the the currently deployed 332 Air Expeditionary Wing, Expeditionary Medical Group.

Dear Colonel Folsom,

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. As you probably are aware, we are an extremely busy, advanced, state of the art, trauma hospital and see upwards to over a thousand patients a month. Some patients are returned to duty directly from the hospital while others are sent over to the CASF for air transportation to higher levels of health care at places such as Landstuhl, Germany.

Now YOU Can Swim Like a Fish [Froggy Ruminations]
While Froggy and friends are already like fish in the water, soon the rest of you land lubbers will be able to be as well. An Israeli inventor is in the patent application process for a device that will take air out of solution from seawater just like a fish does. Operating under the concept of Henry?s Law, the device uses a mini centrifuge to lower the partial pressure of a trapped amount of seawater causing the air within to come out of solution like a can of coke releasing CO2 when it?s opened.

Durbin Debate

Durbin calls U.S troops the N word - the video and more reaction [unalienable Right]
Trey Jackson has the video of Durbin using the N-word (and the S word, and the P word) to describe the U.S. military.

Heated Rhetoric [Smash]
(updated)
CONGRESS has a responsibility of oversight concerning how the government conducts its business, including the business of national defense. This function is written into our Constitution, as one of the many "checks and balances" against abuse of power.

Leahy Defends Nazi-gate Scandal [21st century Republican]
Vermont Senator Pat "Leaky" Leahy tried to spin his way out of the Democrats' Nazi-gate scandal yesterday - after Illinois Senator Dick Durbin compared U.S. troops at Guantanamo Bay to soldiers in Hitler's Third Reich - by saying his colleague was misquoted in the Wall Street Journal.

Words mean things. ?Torture? means more than rap music [The Anchoress]
And it means more than having to stand for a few hours, or a hot, stuffy room, or the air conditioner turned up too high, or a cold meal instead of three hot ones.

AGAINST ALL ENEMIES [Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum - in Iraq]
In my last post I mentioned rising above the negativity that seems to be directed by the MSM at the military. Now a US Senator is comparing us to the Nazis and to Pol Pot. I beg your pardon sir! I take great exception to your irresponsible slander. Do you have even the slightest bit of common sense, can you fathom for a millisecond the meaning of what the Nazi's stood for? Obviously you are old enough to remember Pol Pot, and the heinous crimes against humanity he committed.

No, Dick, It?s Just You? [Jump Blog]
Senator Dick Durbin?s remarks of Wednesday afternoon have been much discussed over the past two days, so I was reluctant to enter the fray. I try not to comment on things that are being covered adequately elsewhere, especially if they are important, because I do not wish to contribute to wall of noise that eventually drowns out the issue. For my own edification I thought I might compare descriptions of torture in Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and the Khmer Rouge?s Cambodia with the description of the interrogation techniques used on a prisoner (likely the prisoner known as ?063″) at Guantanamo Bay. Here are the results of this research.

Reflections of a POW [Iraq War News]
Written in February, 1998, and published in the Richmond-Dispatch, this article contains some very important observations from a former POW, Paul Galanti. It was written during the Clinton Administration. I have highlited a few sections I found particularly compelling.
A number of radio hosts, bloggers, etc., have been saying the same things, but this one is written by someone who has a first-hand perspective.

Rumsfeld Promises Durbin Better Treatment at Gitmo [ScrappleFace]
Just a day after Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin compared U.S. personnel at the military detention facility at Guantanamo to those who worked in Nazi concentration camps, Soviet gulags and in Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld promised the Illinois Senator that he would receive better treatment during his own Gitmo captivity.

Investigate Abuse in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan
I am going to offer a "resolution of inquiry" that, if passed by the House, would compel the Bush Administration to hand over key documents that could shed light on who authorized what at detention facilities in Iraq, Cuba, and Afghanistan. Under the rules of the House, Republicans will have to debate the resolution and take a vote on it. They should do the right thing and take this tragedy seriously. But if they don?t, they?ll be on record against the resolution for all of the world to see.
When America fails to punish the people responsible for these kind of atrocities, it makes the job harder for all of our troops; it makes it easier for Osama bin Laden to find new recruits

Blogging

Blackfive Blogiversary (Number Two) [Blackfive]
Blackfive was started on June 18, 2003, with this post. Soon, things started ramping up and here we are two years later. Who would have thought I'd go to Harvard to talk about MilBlogs or be on MSNBC or interviewed by the media like USAToday or the Army Times, etc?

My Blog [Courage Without Fear - in Iraq]
Over that las few days the hits on my blog have sky-rocketed. This is mostly due to me joining the MilBlogs webring.
Many of the other sites on MilBlogs are politically motivated or are trying to tell a specific story or show a specific spin on things. Thats not me.

Bloggers at the bar [Jeff Jarvis]
: Heather Green at Business Week says that if the Times/Time source case goes before the Supreme Court, it could affect bloggers because attorney Floyd Abrams, representing the reporters, said on TV recently:

I think a blogger ought to be protected also. It seems to me that the purpose of this privilege is to protect the people who play a function in American life. It's not to protect reporters as such. It's to protect people who gather information and disseminate it on a widespread basis to the public.
Journalists are citizens and citizens are journalists.

... "They are notorious for taking quotes totally out of context," he added, "even making them up."

Army's Rules for Blogging from the Battlezone [Huffington Post]
Attention bloggers in uniform: the Army is on to you. In April, the Multi-National Corps Command in Baghdad issued a policy memo on the rules governing blogging from the front lines.

The Media

Flawed Assumptions About Iraq [Yankee Sailor]
Kevin Drum, in the Washington Monthly contemplates the ramifications of an early American withdrawl from Iraq, and comes to some reasonable conclusions...based on flawed assumptions. For instance, on the argument that America needs to double the number of troops on the ground in Iraq, Kevin asserts...

PBS - Two opposing views [KadNine]
I love PBS. I grew up without cable and PBS instilled in me an intense love for documentary films and do-it-yourself shows. I created countless science fair projects based on NOVA programs, and even today I fix up my hundred year old house using inspiration gleaned from a lifetime of watching This Old House.

My only problem with PBS is that it takes tax payer money and preaches liberal dogma at me. A liberal world view is fine for individual Americans, it is a free country after all, but I bristle at being forced to fund it.

Why Wasn?t This on the News Tonight? [Athiest Soldier - in Iraq]
Democrats Urge Inquiry on Bush, Iraq
Amid new questions about President Bush?s drive to topple Saddam Hussein, several House Democrats urged lawmakers on Thursday to conduct an official inquiry to determine whether the president intentionally misled Congress.

The Growing Number of Growing Numbers Comes At a Time When ... :
Here's a good example of seemingly overpessimistic media coverage from Iraq. On Sunday, in a story carried on front pages around the country (including in Houston, Philadelphia and Miami), Knight-Ridder's Tom Lasseter portentously reported...

The MSM Reports

On Serious Note, Gitmo Tactics Far From Torture
Some readers are angry that I made light of the politics surrounding the treatment of suspected terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay. They're upset that I didn't take it seriously.
OK. I'll take it seriously, particularly statements by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who compared Guantanamo to Hitler's camps, Stalin's gulags and the Cambodian killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.

Who We Are (New York Times)
It was a relief to hear Senator Arlen Specter declare that it was time for Congress to bring the prison camp at Guantᮡmo Bay, Cuba, under the law.

No American 'Gulag' (Washington Post)
Several days ago I received a telephone call from an old friend who is a longtime Amnesty International staffer. He asked me whether I, as a former Soviet "prisoner of conscience" adopted by Amnesty, would support the statement by Amnesty's executive director, Irene Khan, that the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba is the "gulag of our time."

"Don't you think that there's an enormous difference?" I asked him.

"Sure," he said, "but after all, it attracts attention to the problem of Guantanamo detainees."

Crescendo of Concern Newsweek
Americans want their soldiers home; Congress is getting angry about the conduct of the war. It?s time for Bush to start being frank about Iraq.

Humor

Don't Try This at Home! [Chaotic Synaptic Activity]
A really funny security camera vid....

Caption Contest Time Again [Assumption in Command]
This one should be good but I have to add one thing:
No Flatulence Jokes!