Dawn Patrol

Mrs Greyhawk

The Dawn Patrol takes quite an effort to compose so if you find something in the Dawn Patrol and use it, a Hat Tip would be appreciated.

Iraq

Ailing Iraqi girl one step closer to operation (Star & Stripes)
Rhma Taha Ahmed might not have to have her hands and feet amputated after all. And she just might live to a ripe old age.
The 5-year-old Iraqi girl, who suffers from a congenital heart defect, tapped a soft spot earlier this year in some soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment in Mosul.
<...>
?This came about because two young soldiers came into a house one night and saw someone less fortunate and in need,? said Capt. Paul Carron, Company C commander. ?If soldiers have one consistent trait it is problem solving, they see a wrong and they make it right. We all want to see this made right,? said in an e-mail to Stripes.

80%! [Iraq the Model - Iraqi bros. in Iraq]
Humam Hammodi, Chairman of the constitution drafting committee told Al-Sabah that the branch teams of the committee have succeeded so far in completing 80% of the constitution's draft.
Hammodi added that his colleagues at the committee branch-teams are willing to fulfill the task by the previously set deadline of August 15th 2005.
"The final draft will come out with an Iraqi spirit and there are actually little differences to debate" said Hammodi.

Educational Exchange -Fulbright Scholarships (Baghdad US Embassy)
Third Annual Competition
Fostering mutual understanding between the people of Iraq and the United States through educational and cultural exchange
Opportunities for Iraqis to Study and Teach in the United States in 2006-07

It Sure Don't Smell Like Roses! [Assumption of Command - in Iraq]
So there I was, wondering around the FOB, when along comes one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Soldiers make a lot of trash and KBR is contracted to take care of the trash. I am not sure why, but they found a trash truck with big sublimina

Warped Ideologies [Dadmanly - in Iraq]
Victor Davis Hanson describes a truly The Sorry Bunch in National Review Online.
Those who oppose every step we take in this Global War on Terror often insist that the problems we confront in the world are our own making. If only we handled things differently. If only we approached things more diplomatically. We have angered and humiliated the Arab world. We have created the motive and impetus of the Jihadis who confront us.

Going to war under false pretenses... [KadNine]
I had an interesting conversation with a fellow veteran yesterday. We met at a local Radio Shack. Both of us arrived about fifteen minutes before start of business, and so, with nothing else to pass the time, we talked.

Afghanistan

Short the Great Feels the Wrath [Fire Power Forward - in Afghanistan]
I have come to make peace. I hereby retract every evil, mean, or snide comment I have made about the Air Force. I will hereby render proper respect to our Nomex clad brethren and will no longer use the term ?Crew Rest? in a disparaging manner. I now see the true mastery of their evil genius and stand in awe of their diabolical ways. I truly did not appreciate the breadth and depth of the vindictive power of his unholiness, the Evil Flight Planning Voo-Doo Witchdoctor until I saw Short the Great wither and reduced to near madness at the stroke of a button.

Now What?! [The National Guard Experience - in Afghanistan]
Damn. It's almost been a year in Afghanistan for me. This is the longest I've ever committed to anything. My civilian resume is like 12 pages long because of the job hopping I do. No, I've never been laid off. And yes, I'm a good employee. But this

Iran

The coming coup [Regime Change Iran]
Iranian blogger, Hoder.com:

Things are really getting nasty here. After Karrubi's unbelievably blunt letter to the Supreme Leader, everything is suddenly changing. All non-fundamentalists are rallying behind Rafsanjani. Many are talking about a possible coup by Sepah and Basij after Friday's second round results. ...

Hoder is perhaps the most famous Iranian blogger. He is currently in Iran to witness the vote. He is an Iranian journalist whose newspaper was shutdown by the regime. He moved to Canada, began blogging and has been a supporter of the reformist movement. He provides a glimpse into the reformist mind in Iran.

Other Parts of the World

Pakistan's Terror Problem [Smash]
AL QAEDA?S TRAINING APPARATUS is reestablishing itself into a network of smaller jihadi camps run by Pakistan-based terror groups Harkat-ul-Mujahedin, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to a report in Monday?s Los Angeles Times.
<...>
Musharraf?s reluctance to go over these terrorist groups is understandable, as a self-preservation measure. He holds on to power in Pakistan by a bare thread, and an Islamist revolt would likely....

Israel Joins NATO Exercise [Yankee Sailor]
Israel has had an expanding military relationship with Turkey since 1996, and has participated with the United States in exercises before, but for the first time Israel has been added as an official participant in a NATO exercise.

"They Had Killed Them for Honour" [Andi's World]
It has happened again.

Multan - A Pakistani poured kerosene over his sleeping wife and daughter and burned them to death in the country's latest example of "honour killings", said police on Monday.

Why was the mother set aflame? Because...

Fallout of Shooting ROK Army Shooting Rampage [GI Korea Blog]
Some very disturbing details are beginning to emerge from the ROK Army shooting rampage. The soldier named PVT Kim apparently planned the attack 2 days prior due to bullying from senior soldiers. After he got off his guard shift on the DMZ he didn't turn in his weapon. He instead decided to take his weapon to his barracks and attack his own platoon.

Gitmo

POWs Speak Out Against Durbin [No Pundint Intended]

Senator Durbin,

As one who was held in a North Vietnamese Prison for nearly seven
years and whose definition of torture and bad treatment is somewhat
at variance with yours, I deplore your senseless comments about
alleged "barbaric treatment" at our terrorist detention facility at
Guantanamo.

What Doesn't Transmit Light, Creates It's Own Darkness [Diary Of A Hollywood Refugee]
An Open Letter to Sen.Richard (Dick) Durbin:
I have waited many days before posting this letter to you only because I was experiencing such disgust, contempt, and vitriol towards your putrid misguided lies about our Military, Our Gov't and the treatment of those incarcerated at Gitmo, that I needed to calm down enough to write it without vomiting!
As the daughter of a Jewish parent, your audacious comparison of the intentional systemic genocide of Jews perpetuated by Hitler and the German gov't, to the treatment of suspected terrorists at Gitmo who are

Is this worthy of coverage? [Glossy Red Lips]
Alright now, it seems as if this real torture is far worse than what's getting all the coverage. The MSM sure has it's priorities right.
In this photograph, made available by the U.S. Marines an Iraqi man sits on the floor with welts and lacerations across his back and arms from being tortured with electricity while held captive, according to the Marines. The man, along with three others, were

Why NOT Just Give Them a Trial? [Froggy Ruminations]
This is something that liberals and RINOs like John McCain have been complaining about for some time now.

Sir Richard of Durbin: A Dr. Seuss From Beyond The Grave Tale [The Nose On Your Face]
In the whole of the world there is none more speech frantic
Than Sir Richard of Durbin, Crown Prince of Bad Antics

From his seat high atop the United States Senate
Sir Richard screamed "foul" and then said that he meant it.

"Stalin and Hitler and also Pol Pot
Bad men I concur, but not compare to this lot

Military Issues

Military Wife Speaks Her Mind [Patriot Voices]
The story below was received in an email. I thought it was perfect to share with you here. The story is written by a military wife. Her words say it all, and she speaks her mind very well. I got "goose bumps" while reading it.

What Is a War Criminal? [Eric's Grumbles Before The Grave]
Once again the Left is on a rampage. Now, instead of comparing the President (and the rest of the administration and the military) to Nazi's or Stalinists, they are declaring that Bush is a war criminal. And, by inference, that would mean that the rest of the administration is culpable as well, and probably the soldiers, since they obey the orders of the administration. How do

Helmets to Hardhats - Tapping the Military for Tomorrows Work Force [Jack Army]
Those "Helmets to Hardhats" guys are a bunch of hard workers. They have a new interactive flash presentation.
And they emailed me a nifty button:
In case you don't know or don't remember, these guys help troops find jobs in the "constructive arts" field.

Military Life

Mowing the yard, by the numbers [An American in Italy - husband in Afghanistan]
Lawns mowed previous to yesterday's activity: 0

Attempts to start the lawnmower before giving up and calling a neighbor's husband: 6

Colorful invectives used: 8

Times said invectives used: 78

Politics

The Democrats' Connection With Anti-Semites: [The New Editor]
Richard Baehr has written a provocative -- and we think on-target -- piece about the anti-Semitic overtones to the mock
impeachment hearings held by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) last week. Read it here .

"So what are we to make of Thursday's mock Judiciary Committee hearing designed to impeach
President Bush, conducted by Michigan Congressman John Conyers? The meeting was attended by
about 30 Democratic members of Congress."

The Media

American Sucker: A fisking [Counter Column]
That pretty much describes this Dad, this reporter, and anyone else who takes this news story at face value.

John Tod of Mesa had been prepared to face Father's Day worrying about his son's pending date with the war in Iraq.

So why would a reporter believe him?
Answer: Because this dad's story fits the template. The reporter is writing the story he WANTS to hear, because he thinks he's got a scoop. He's not writing the story that's actually there. Which is, to be sure, not much of a story in the first place.

Let Big Bird Fly on its own Power [Reasoned Audacity]
When should entertainment have claim on the public purse?
Congress will reduce the NPR and PBS budget from $200,000,000 to a mere $100 million. Our friends on the left are Outraged! Outraged!

The MSM Reports

Poll shows Americans 'generally in a funk' (USA Today)...Richard Benedetto and Judy Keen
...Thirty-nine percent of Americans, mostly Republicans, now say they favor the war in Iraq, down from a high of 72% in April 2003, the day after a statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad. Fifty-eight percent say the United States should continue to operate the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and 52% approve of the way the United States is treating prisoners there.

There's Progress In Iraq (Washington Post)...Kofi Annan
Today I am traveling to Brussels to join representatives of more than 80 governments and institutions in sending a loud and clear message of support for the political transition in Iraq.

Guantanamo's Long Shadow (New York Times)...Anthony Lewis
When Vice President Dick Cheney said last week that detainees at the American prison camp in Guantᮡmo Bay, Cuba, were treated better than they would be "by virtually any other government on the face of the earth," he was carrying on what has become a campaign to whitewash the record of abuses at Guantᮡmo.

The Heat Is On In Guantanamo (Washington Post)...Eugene Robinson
...It goes against America's grain to hold people indefinitely in prison without proving, in a court of law, that they have committed some crime. The whole thing just smells. Like a fish left out in the Guantanamo sun.

Gitmo Truth Or Fiction? (Long Island Newsday)...Letta Tayler
No link up yet
...The extent to which national security interests may be superseding human rights was impossible to determine during a tightly controlled, 2?-day trip last week to the base on the southeast tip of Cuba, which included an exclusive glimpse of detainees inside their cells. What was apparent was the despair of some inmates - Muslim men from 44 countries whom the White House dubs "the worst of the worst" who paced and muttered in wire-mesh cells, like animals in cramped cages.

The Vietnam Syndrome (Washington Times)...Arnaud de Borchgrave
Admittedly stretched very thin, the U.S. military has the courage, the stamina and the weapons to see the Iraq insurgency through, however long it takes. The body politic is another story.

Marine Units Found To Lack Equipment (Boston Globe)...Bryan Bender
Marine Corps units fighting in some of the most dangerous terrain in Iraq don't have enough weapons, communications gear, or properly outfitted vehicles, according to an investigation by the Marine Corps' inspector general provided to Congress yesterday.

Freed Australian Apologizes To Bush (Washington Times)...Rod McGuirk, Associated Press
An Australian engineer held hostage in Iraq for nearly seven weeks arrived in his home country yesterday and apologized for his televised plea for coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq

For The Record - Tillman Investigation (Los Angeles Times)
A June 10 Section A article said the Army general investigating the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan blamed confusing regulations for the military's failure to tell his family that he had been a victim of "friendly fire" until after he was buried. Brig. Gen. Gary M. Jones said the delay stemmed from commanders' desire to complete the investigation before releasing information.

Anniversaries

Zaczelo sie w Gdansku - It began in Gdansk. [Chrenkoff]
This is the official slogan of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the founding of "Solidarity" - arguably, as the official poster suggests, the first domino, whose fall eventually led to democratization of Eastern and Central Europe and the end of the Soviet Union.

NEVER FORGET [A Collection of Thoughts]
Twenty years ago, this week, Hezbollah terrorists hijacked TWA Flight 847, and trampled Navy Diver Robert Stethem to death. Stethem's only crime was being American. The hijacking and murder was among the first televised Islamic terror attacks a