Dawn Patrol

BREAKING NEWS : TERRORIST HIT LONDON!
Four Blasts Hit London, Killing at Least 2

LONDON (AP) -- Three explosions rocked the London subway and one tore open a packed double-decker bus during the morning rush hour Thursday. The blasts killed at least two people and injured about 190 in what a shaken Prime Minister Tony Blair called a series of "barbaric" terrorist attacks.

Command Posts has Updates

IRAQ

Dry Holes [Major K - in Iraq]
We got another "hot tip" from our higher headquarters the other day. An arhabi big shot was supposed to be meeting with several lieutenants at a location in our AO - Area of Operations. We happened to have already hit this location before, and recently. We informed the folks upstairs about this and while they raised their eyebrows, they insisted that the location was good. I complied as I am a Soldier and that's my job, and also because the way the arhabi move around to avoid capture, there was a very remote chance that this informant's information was good.

Good gambling partners and not so good gambling partners [Phil and Becky - in Iraq]
This evening, they were conducting route clearance along one of our routes, as usual, when they came under attack by small arms and RPG fire. One of their vehicles took an RPG round square into the engine block but everyone inside escaped unscathed because the round failed to detonate. Those are the guys you want as your gambling partners when you go to Atlantic City or Las Vegas.

A long road to freedom [Live in Iraq - in Iraq]
After fleeing from his native Iraq in 2001 and embarking on a journey, which took him through five different countries and eventually to the United States as a refugee, an interpreter with II Marine Expeditionary Force, Headquarters Group, II MEF (Forward), has returned home to aid Marines in the rebuilding process in the city of Fallujah.

Iraq Army Making Progress [Assumption of Command - in Iraq]
From time to time I like to go to Google News and do a search on "Iraqi Army". And it never fails to produce articles on the progress the Iraqi Army is making towards being self sufficient. Today was no differant. Here are some link to some I have found today:...
...One in particular caught my attention.

What allows freedom and human rights to flourish? [Lance in Iraq]
(pic)
The little item in the upper right hand corner, that's what. You could add up all the UN resolutions from now til doomsday and not reach the outcome in this picture: three siblings playing together without fear.

Chicken and his Counter Part in the Back Seat [Kevin Kelly - Dixie Sappers - in Iraq]
...On the way back to the FOB, we stopped a couple of cars to check the drivers out. We got one car that was pulled over and we checked ID's and then went to inspect the vehicle. You should have seen the guy's eyes when the M-1 tank pulled up beside them at a safe distance and turned its main gun toward the vehicle. I guess they thought at first we were going to shoot them or something. Needless to say, whatever we asked them to do, they did it as fast as they could. I'm sure I would have done the same thing. When we got to the vehicle, the driver didn't want to open up the back door and kept pointing inside. I now know why he didn't want to open the back door. In the back seat was a live chicken as well as a bucket of fried chicken sitting on top of a block of ice.

Iraq Broadcast [A soldiers perspective - in Iraq]
If you?re wondering what?s really going on in Iraq, various AM talk show hosts will be broadcasting from the theater. I wrote about this in the last post, I believe. To find what all this is about just read the Just Desserts (Part II) post.HERE is a list of the broadcast times and places, or you can just click on the following links:...

An American Boy Grows Up [Patriot Voices]
This link was sent by one of our soldiers in Iraq. Please take a few minutes to listen to the entire presentation. Feel the pride. Let the goosebumps rise. Shed a tear or two.

Five American Terrorists Arrested in Iraq [Outside the Beltway]
The U.S. military has arrested five American citizens in recent months for anti-American terrorist activity in Iraq. Oddly, the five have no apparent connection to one another except for shared hatred of their country of citizenship.

MSM REPORTS ON IRAQ

West turns blind eye as police put Saddam's torturers back to work (TIMES ONLINE)
IRAQI security forces, set up by American and British troops, torture detainees by pulling out their fingernails, burning them with hot irons or giving them electric shocks, Iraqi officials say. Cases have also been recorded of bound prisoners being beaten to death by police.

Durbin: U.S. won?t leave Iraq for years (DAILY HERALD)
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Tuesday it would take a miracle to get U.S. troops out of Iraq within three years and hinted Democrats will filibuster a Supreme Court nominee they find too conservative.

Time For Straight Talk On Iraq (BOSTON GLOBE)...David L. Phillips
President Bush failed to offer any new ideas on how to win the war in Iraq during his recent speech at Fort Bragg, N.C.

So, Mr Bremer, where did all the money go? (GUARDIAN)
At the end of the Iraq war, vast sums of money were made available to the US-led provisional authorities, headed by Paul Bremer, to spend on rebuilding the country. By the time Bremer left the post eight months later, $8.8bn of that money had disappeared. Ed Harriman on the extraordinary scandal of Iraq's missing billions

The Enemy Spies (NEWSWEEK)
In the shadows: The insurgents' most powerful weapon may be their vast network of infiltrators and spies?forces strengthened by talk of American exit plans. A secret CIA study frets about a whole new generation of master terrorists.

CHUCK - UPDATE

Update 06 July [From My Position - Wounded in Iraq]
...Chuck did not have any skin grafting done on Tuesday. The surgeons wanted to see if any of his wounds would heal some more so there would be less grafting. And they are healing well... His right leg now has two "smaller" wounds instead of one large one. The surgeons were able to stitch some of the skin on his leg, so now the wound is not as big. His left leg will not need any gratfing, and he has two wounds on that leg that are stitched up. His left bicep and forearm need grafted, as well as the two wounds on his right leg.
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On a more somber note, Chuck's battalion suffered a KIA recently. The soldier was in HHC, not Chuck's company. Please pray for this soldier's family and the soldiers of 2-34 AR as they mourn the loss of a Brother in Arms. There is also a soldier from HHC (2-34 AR) who will soon be coming to Walter Reed. Please pray for him and his family as well.

Compare and Contrast: Malaria and the Iraqi Insurgency [Chaotic Synaptic Activity]
The correlation between the interaction of man with a disease and the US and it?s coalition with the Iraqi ?insurgency? have something in common.
Laurie Garrett published her lengthy work, ?The Coming Plague? in 1994. While the book is not about malaria, that is one case study she presents to show how we made some poor decisions, which allowed the disease to carry on, even today.

AFGHANISTAN

Mountain Marines [The Siegrist Blogs - in Afghanistan]
This photo was taken in the Abad area of operations. We have been supporting these hard charging Marines during their search for hard core TB fighters in the mountains. Since the operations are still on going I'll have to with hold info of what exactly we are doing but needless to say Colalition Forces are bringing the smack to the bad man.

Taliban claims to hold SEAL, offers no proof (MSNBC)
A purported Taliban spokesman reiterated a claim Thursday that his group is holding a missing U.S. commando and said insurgent leaders had decided to kill him. He offered no proof to back up the claim.

MSM REPORTS ON AFGHANISTAN

In Afghan Crash, Deadly Chain Of Events For U.S. (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER)...Daniel Cooney, Associated Press
The last radio contact was an urgent appeal for help. Night was falling, a rainstorm was threatening, and four Navy SEAL commandos were surrounded by a dozen enemy fighters in rugged, wooded mountains. They needed reinforcements. Their hurried call set in motion a chain of events that would lead to one of the U.S. military's deadliest blows in Afghanistan.

U.S. Medical Team Attacked By Afghan Insurgents (WASHINGTON POST)...Associated Press
Rebels attacked a U.S. military medical team as it was helping villagers in the same region of eastern Afghanistan where a U.S. airstrike last week killed as many as 17 civilians, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

According to this article Toyota is opening a new plant in Canada and not the US because our workers are stupid: [Intel Dump - Kris Alexander]
"The level of the workforce [in Canada] in general is so high that the training program you need for people, even for people who have not worked in a Toyota plant before, is minimal compared to what you have to go through in the southeastern United States," said Gerry Fedchun, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, whose members will see increased business with the new plant.
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He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained - and often illiterate - workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use "pictorials" to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

Vector Control [Foxholes and Dog Tags - in Kosovo]
Last week I got an opportunity to work in one of my more neglected job fields in the army, that of Vector Control.
See, Preventive Medicine has a broad variety of duties, to include entomology and medically important arthropod control, meaning if there is a problem with bugs that make people sick, it is our job to control them.
Or, well, it was at one time. That is one of the job duties that got contracted out to civilians.
But that's ok, because the Civilians don't mind if we tag along a bit to train up on these tasks.

July MEDCAP [Jim's Blog - in Kosovo]
Last weekend we conducted the first-ever MEDCAP in Pozaranje. Actually it was a DENTCAP/OPTCAP where we planned on only providing dental and optometry services. The KPC showed up with a doctor and medical team, so we ended up giving them a room to do medical care. We saw 197 people, gave 150 eye exams and 50 dental exams. In a typical MEDCAP we see more people, but an optometry exam requires more time than a doctor visit. (pics)

THE MEDIA

Terrorists: Attack Here [Alenda Lux]
MSNBC ran an Associated Press article today with the headline "Study: 100 chem plants could be terror targets: Lethal chemicals found near most populous U.S. area, report finds."
Well, if they weren't targeted before, you can bet they are now.

CHICKENHAWKS??

Chicken Hawks II [Outside the Beltway]
I was going to ignore the idiotic rantings of Frank Lautenberg on the Senate floor yesterday, since they essentially refute themselves. Plus, I've discussed the issue before (here and here and, less directly, here).

Matt Yglesias has an attempt at a more nuanced version of this issue, though, creating a chicken hawk taxonomy:...

Sometimes breeding shows [Wizbang]
Now, the Bush twins have been a great source of amusement for most people as they repeatedly get photographed partying and doing other sorts of things healthy people of their age are wont to do. In fact, a few liberal bloggers have demanded to know why they haven't enlisted in the military and gone off to fight Daddy's war. "I guess they have more important things to do," is the sniffed followup.

Well, according to this story, in Barbara's case it just might be true...

Pataki's Son - Marine Now or JAG Later [Blackfive]
The left wing nutjobs are working themselves into a frenzy because of Governor Pataki's son, Teddy Pataki, was recently commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps and wants to defer his service until he completes Law School....

POLITICS

Dean raps GOP 'culture of corruption,' but fellow Democrats won't join [Cadillac Tight]
For someone holding a M.D., Dean is remarkably stupid. Democrats don't want to start slinging around corruption charges because they are, if anything, more corrupt than Republicans.

Nancy Pelosi got caught not reporting all her trips. [Primary Main Objective]
Pelosi Turns In Delinquent Reports for 3 Sponsor-Funded Trips
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) filed delinquent reports Friday for three trips she accepted from outside sponsors that were worth $8,580 and occurred as long as seven years ago, according to copies of the documents.
The filing is among hundreds of revisions from members of both parties who have amended missing or incomplete reports as scrutiny of lawmaker travel has intensified.
Where's the liberal outrage?

And this weeks Desi Award Goes To?. [Parrot Check]
A real bright apple. Someone who, when speaks through the written word, makes you think, ?Wow! How do people who think like that actually sleep at night. Besides being heavily sedated?.?. Yes, this weeks winner for the Desi Award for Extreme Absurdity is??.

CONGRATS

Happy 1st Anniversary [365 and a Wake Up - in Iraq]
...You might think that against the backdrop of this war ? a war that will determine the future of nations ? everyday life would seem bland and unimportant. But you would be wrong. I?ve spent a hundred evenings dreaming about leaving work and coming home to my loving wife. The brightest part of my soul never made it to Iraq, it is back in California with my better half. And I do mean better half ? every quality I possess she eclipses a thousand-fold. That?s why I married her. A year ago today. Happy Anniversary my love. You are my? everything.

EEW!

And I thought Kaleb was ugly..... [Ma Deuce Gunner - in Iraq]
Kaleb is my father-in-law's dog. He is a German Wire-haired Terrier. He is a great bird dog, and mouser, too, but not the most handsome dog ever. He looks like a million bucks next to this one. Click at your own risk, this pooch looks like the Crypt Keeper.