Dawn Patrol

Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and other sources around the world. If you're a blogger, you can join the conversation. If you link to any of these stories, add a link to the Dawn Patrol too and your trackback will be added to the list. Hat Tips to the Dawn Patrol are greatly appreciated.

IRAQ

Quote -- [Jack Army - in Iraq]
Heard on the FOB:
Americans are like machines - you work all day and all night, you don't sleep, and keep doing this all year long...
-An Iraqi Interpreter

Marines make presence known, win hearts and minds -- [MNF-I]
“Showing a presence in the area does a lot more than people would think,” said U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Joseph A. Cervantes, squad leader, 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2. “We mainly do two types of patrols, one being security patrols, which are designed to have a deterrent effect on anything that happens in the area.”
...“They seemed a little distant and cold at first,” said Martin. “They’ve always been friendly, but you can tell we’re now winning them over. They’re beginning to trust us and (they’re) glad we’re here.”
Martin recalled a recent 16-hour operation when the Marines were welcomed with open arms by the locals.

Troops Find Execution House -- [Defense Link]
BAQUBAH, Iraq, June 25, 2007 — Iraqi security forces and Task Force Lightning soldiers discovered an execution house and an illegal prison in the Baqubah neighborhood of Khatoon yesterday during the sixth day of Operation Arrowhead Ripper

Operation Arrowhead-Ripper

Stryker Soldiers of B Company, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Division take up blocking positions on the western outskirts of Baqubah, Iraq in support of Operation Arrowhead-Ripper, a major military offensive to clear insurgents from the city. They make sure no one gets in or out of Baqubah, ensuring insurgents do no escape the city. Soldiers are equipped with the new Land Warrior System.

Drilling for Justice -- [Michael Yon - in Iraq]
On 19 June American forces sealed off Baqubah and began attacking targets within the city. The immediate goal of Arrowhead Ripper was to free Baqubah of al Qaeda, by trapping and killing its members, but according to American officers here, public remarks by senior military officials may have flushed many AQI leaders before the attack. Despite this frustrating and significant setback, progress toward the end-state goal of Arrowhead Ripper—turning over Baqubah to Iraqi government control—appears to be working, at least in terms of the removal of the current AQI leadership and its quasi-government. There are conflicting signals about how many of the AQI leadership escaped before Arrowhead Ripper launched.

Prayers -- [Jake's Life - in Iraq]
I'm sure you hate seeing that headline on this blog as much as I hate typing it. Unfortunately I am bringing you all another prayer request for two of our guys who were badly wounded the second night we were out in the Zaidon.
...My squad and I went out on a pretty routine mission with them to sweep for weapons caches. We found an abandoned house that had bullet casings all over it and we spent about 20 minutes investigating. Satisfied that nothing was to be found there, we began to make our way out of the building. I was the second to last man out. As I was walking away, LCPL Arguello followed behind me and I heard a loud bang. The whole squad hit the deck, thinking a grenade had been thrown behind us. ...
I moved up with the engineers to investigate a little more. What we found scared the living hell out of me.

Bad Days -- [All Quiet on the Southwest Asian Front - in Iraq]
...A second assistance column sent by another battalion ran into even more. They spotted 5 IEDs on the way there, but not the sixth. They escaped serious damage from that one, but then the SAF (small-arms fire) ambush started up, including RPGs (Rocket-propelled Grenades). They had to stop and fight that one out.
The worst part of it was they could clearly see that some of their attackers were children.

Ar Ramadi -- [The Gunner's World - in Iraq]
With a quick smack from my right hand the magazine slides into place, my left hand pulls the upper receiver of my pistol back and letting it slide forward it goes home with a click driving the first round of the clip into the chamber, 15 left in the clip, locked and loaded. With the command of "Condition One" all weapons loaded the three other Marines and myself all climb back in the HUMMER. I feel the sweat dripping down my back and down my ribs as the flack jacket I am wearing hugs my upper torso, with my helmet and goggles strapped on the sweat just keeps coming, partly from my heightened heart rate and the increasing heat at only 10:00AM. I am riding with the Marines of 2nd Battalion 5th Marines through the streets of Ar Ramadi.

Operation Arrowhead Ripper

B-roll of Operation Arrowhead Ripper. Scenes include U.S. Soldiers using night vision, patrolling streets, entering buildings and roofs, and interviewing local Iraqis. Produced by Spc. Samantha Szesciorka. Visit www.dvidshub.net for full-length and broadcast quality versions. Clips in video: Operation Arrowhead Ripper.

Slave to the System -- [Desert Flier - in Iraq]
...The patient did well. Stable for the flight, I busied myself with watching his oxygen status, changing out oxygen tanks, and giving IV fluids and some pain medications. Flight medic taps me on the shoulder and signals "two mikes out". I have just enough time to clamp and store his IV fluids back into the "hot pocket" and check the oxygen tank one more time. Once we touch down, it's too late for housekeeping. We count tasks in seconds, and have precious few to spare. Flashes of light off to my right as our Blackhawk launches countermeasure flares. In all reality, I'm too busy taking care of the patient to care. It registers in the back of my mind "Hmm, wonder why we're launching chaffe?" I hear the pilots and crew chief talking over the "comms", and they don't know why it launched, either. Our countermeasure flares can be triggered manually, but are always on sensors, too. The helo computer sensed some sort of heat threat, ...

Saturday, June 23, 2007 VIDEO -- [LT Mark Green - in Iraq]
...I Know its been a while since I last posted any video or pictures but fortunately we have not been that busy, which means not many people have been getting injured. This video is a compilation of our past three weeks here in Ramadi. Quite a few O.R. pictures and alot of faces of people here doing a great job, and some just taking a nap (imagine that). Anyway hope you enjoy the video, and thank you for your continued support.

Tokens of Home -- [Acute Politics- in Iraq]
There's a small charm that hangs around my neck. Many soldiers carry some small token or good luck charm- Saint Christopher medallions, coins, crosses, sometimes even hand blown glass hearts. Mine is a stylized fishhook carved and polished out of bone. The Maori call it Hei-Matau; they believe it will bring strength, peace and good health. My sister bought mine for me while in New Zealand this winter, and I've worn it ever since. The Maori say that with time, part of the essence of the bone and of the wearer will swap places, and the necklace will become a small part of one's self. Mine has certainly changed in the six months I've worn it- one side has become even more highly polished from the constant rubbing of my cotton shirt, and the other shows dark streaks along the pores of the bone and hints of color from months of sweat and dust.

Yesterday’s Hotel Bombing Was A Very Bad Sign For Al Qaeda, Indeed -- [Pat Dollard]
Now there’s no doubt that yesterday’s heinous assasination of four U.S.-allied Sunni sheiks was a bit of a loss to our side. However, we certainly did not lose our alliance with those tribes. The sheiks who will take their place will not only remain in the fight against Al Qaeda, but will now be even further motivated to crush them. Fresh, fierce blood vendettas are like that. Most importantly, these assasinations represented not only yet another dramatic setback for Al Qaeda’s ambitions in Iraq, but for its very survival there.

No Significant Spike in Violence Following Latest Askariya Attack -- [Counterterrorism Blog - Daveed Gartenstein-Ross]
The day after the al-Askariya Mosque in Samarra, Iraq was bombed for the second time in a year and a half, I wrote that the second bombing was "potentially disastrous." Analysts feared that, similar to the first attack on the al-Askariya Mosque on February 22, 2006, this provocation could spark sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias. Fortunately, about two weeks after the event, Iraq has not witnessed a major spike in violence.

Iraq Report: al Qaeda Strikes at the Seams -- [The Fourth Rail]
Today's report includes: Al Qaeda strikes with five suicide attacks; four members of the Anbar Salvation Council killed; update on operations north and south of Baghdad; Senior al Qaeda leader killed in Mosul; raids against al Qaeda networks focus on central Iraq; targeting the Mahdi Army and the Iranian secret cells.

Mayor of Iraq town ask what you need?

Sadr bites the hand that feeds him -- [Iraq the Model - iraqis in Iraq]
In our last post we briefly mentioned a statement in which Sadr’s office accused Iran of hosting and assisting al-Qaeda, today I’ll talk about that statement in more detail.

Anonymous Sources: Iranian Forces Invade Iraq -- [Confederate Yankee]
Well, we saw this coming:
Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces have been spotted by British troops crossing the border into southern Iraq, The Sun tabloid reported on Tuesday.
Britain's defence ministry would not confirm or deny the report, with a spokesman declining to comment on "intelligence matters".
An unidentified intelligence source told the tabloid: "It is an extremely alarming development and raises the stakes considerably. In effect, it means we are in a full on war with Iran -- but nobody has officially declared it."
...As it so happens, Michael Yon was there, and wrote about the attack in his dispatch, Death or Glory

ON Point UPDATE #2 on Operation Phantom Thunder, by Andrew Lubin -- [ON Point]
Yesterday, ON Point talked with LTC Gregory Baker, deputy commander of the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade. Based at Wheeler Army Air Field in Hawaii, the 25th has been in Iraq for 11 months. The brigade’s attack weaponry consists of the Kiowas (1/82nd, scout weapons 2/6 Cavalry), the Chinooks (for troop/cargo transport) of 3/25th, and the Blackhawks of the 2/25th Aviation Battalion (also for transport). The unit is split between Mosul, Tal Afar, and their current...

Troops rescue local sheik -- [MNF-I]
RUSHDI MULLAH — A local Sunni man who had escaped his al-Qaida kidnappers arrived at an Iraqi army checkpoint pleading for help in rescuing his brother, a local sheik, late at night June 23.

Wounded Soldier Heals, Returns to Unit in Iraq -- [Gazing at the Flag]
BAGHDAD, June 25, 2007 - Army Sgt. 1st Class Adin Salkanovic won't spend a full 15 months in Iraq like the rest of the soldiers in his unit. Still, he knows all too well about the sacrifices of war.
The platoon sergeant with 1st Cavalry Division's Troop B, 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, volunteered to rejoin his unit in Iraq after recovering from multiple gunshot wounds suffered in Buhriz, Iraq, March 6.

Understanding Current Operations in Iraq -- [SWJ - Dave Kilcullen - in Iraq]
I’ve spent much of the last six weeks out on the ground, working with Iraqi and U.S. combat units, civilian reconstruction teams, Iraqi administrators and tribal and community leaders. I’ve been away from e-mail a lot, so unable to post here at SWJ: but I’d like to make up for that now by providing colleagues with a basic understanding of what’s happening, right now, in Iraq.
This post is not about whether current ops are “working” — for us, here on the ground, time will tell, though some observers elsewhere seem to have already made up their minds (on the basis of what evidence, I’m not really sure). But for professional counterinsurgency operators such as our SWJ community, the thing to understand at this point is the intention and concept behind current ops in Iraq:

Water -- [My Desert Adventure - in Iraq]
You are looking at acres of pallets of bottled water. As the temperature goes up, this “water field” has been getting bigger and bigger. All of our water comes from the Tigris River and I guess it gets purified along the way (I’m sure the recent case of flesh eating bacteria had nothing to do with the water). Somewhere I read that the water from the river is just as clean as the water in any reservoir back home. Considering how dirty it is outside the wire, I doubt it. Once it bakes a while outside, it tastes something like dirty bath water

You know you are really going home when... -- [Foreign and Domestic]
...your replacements arrive. After January's bad news of the extension, no one wanted to get too excited about going home this time. The odds were of course astronomically against another extension, but you just never know.
But this last week saw two sure signs of our imminent departure.
First, we loaded all of our non-essential gear into a connex to be shipped home. Second, our replacements arrived. In the military, one unit replacing another in a combat zone is a very complicated process. The new unit arrives, gets their bearings, and then gradually assumes more and more responsibility, as we will have less and less. One of the most important things we have to do is

AFGHANISTAN

CLOTHING DONATIONS FOR AFGHANISTAN -- [Afghanistan Jag - in Afghanistan]
If you are interested in sending clothing donations to help the people in Afghanistan, please contact me at my email address, which you can find under the "my profile" section to the right.

New Forensic Technology -- [A JAG in Afghanistan - in Afghanistan]
...The officer Merrill is writing about is COL Rahmatullah and it didn’t surprise me in the least when I read that it was him. As Merrill writes, more than anything these people need more education to help them progress. To him, I’m sure this was a perfectly logical request and he had every reason to believe that such technology exists out there. This just accentuates why we need to be here and why we need to continue to be here.

I'm still here... actually I moved to up there. -- [Partamian Report - in Afghansitan]
I am no longer at KAF. I moved north to the Uruzgon province. I'm just outside the thriving metropolis of Tarin Kowt (that's a joke). Our little camp is attached to a big Dutch FOB. There are also a lot of Australians here as well. We've been here for about a week. The day we got here, there was a lot of fighting going on in the area, but we were not involved.

RAF AFGHAN DIARIES: 29th May 2007 -- Added: 7 hours ago

Tonight the patrol is headed to a village where rockets have been launched at the airbase. Although things have been quiet for the last month the RAF are careful not to become complacent.

ISAF troops discover IED factory, detain 13 -- [ISAF - in Afghanistan]
TARIN KOWT, Afghanistan (June 26) - ISAF soldiers discovered an improvised explosive device factory here that may have played a role in the suicide attack a week ago in Chowreh district.

Military investigates press report of detainee abuse -- [ISAF - in Afghanistan]
KABUL, Afghanistan (June 25) – ISAF and U.S. military officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding an article written by Wolfgang Bauer in the German magazine “Focus”, accusing U.S. and Afghan soldiers of witnessing and participating in alleged detainee abuse in Ghazni province.
On June 10, during the conduct of a combined patrol, the article alleges a detainee was tied to the back of a military vehicle. According to the article, the vehicle's engine was then turned on, and the man was told he would be dragged across the road if he did not cooperate. Additionally, the article alleges threatening of the detainee’s family members. ISAF and U.S. military officials are conducting formal investigations into the matter.

Little Boy Suicide Bomber -- [The Tank - W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
In this morning's Military Roundup we linked to a post over at Little Green Footballs about a six-year-old boy being recruited as a suicide bomber by the Taliban.
Details were sketchy then. The AP has more now about little Juma Gul and his story of what the Taliban was doing to him, "provoking tears and anger" from Afghan tribal leaders

Taliban Tells 6-Year-Old His Suicide Belt Will Spray Flowers -- [Gateway Pundit]
The Taliban told the 6-year-old street child to go "spray flowers" on the Americans.
Afghan boy Juma Gul ,6, right, has lunch with his brother Dad Gul at a joint U.S.-Afghan military command center in Andar district of Ghazni province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, June 23, 2007. The story of Juma Gul, who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into carrying out a suicide bombing against U.S. troops provoked tears and anger at a weekend meeting of tribal leaders. Though the Taliban dismissed the story as propaganda, at a time when U.S. and NATO forces are under increasing criticism over civilian casualties, both Afghan tribal elders and U.S. military officers said they were convinced by his dramatic account.

Afghanistan Briefing 26 June 2007

Taliban Admits Defeat -- [Strategy Page]
June 25, 2007: The Taliban has admitted defeat, in their own unique way. In recent media interviews, Taliban spokesmen announced a shift in emphasis to suicide bombings. The Taliban also admitted that the Americans had infiltrated their high command, which led to the death or capture of several senior Taliban officials, and the capture of many lower ranking ones as well. There have also been some prominent defections recently, which the Taliban spokesmen did not want to talk about.

Inevitable: Some Democrats now calling for withdrawal from Afghanistan -- [Hot Air]
A.k.a. home of the “real” war on terror, the good fight that the left had been spoilin’ to win before Bush went and distracted them with that “fake” war that’s killed ten times as many troops. “You don’t hear people saying, ‘We need to get out of Afghanistan,’” declares Russ Feingold, followed immediately by a bunch of people saying we need to get out of Afghanistan.

U.S. AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

House Moves to Cut Funds for UNDP, Human Rights Council -- [One Free Korea]
Each entity has recently brought particular discredit on itself, and in each case, there is a North Korea nexus. The UNDP recently failed a UN internal audit after U.S. diplomats outed the organization for allowing its Pyongyang operations to become, as a U.N. staffer put it, “an ATM machine” for the regime. It turns out that North Korea used some of the funds to buy overseas real estate and dual-use equipment, and that the U.N. even had a stock of counterfeit currency in one of its safes that handled North Korea program-related funds.

Iran Has a Plan to Break the Arms Import Ban -- [Strategy Page]
June 25, 2007: Iran is using Syrian arms purchases from Russia, as a way to get around a UN and U.S. arms embargo. The latest example of this is a billion dollar purchase of Russian MiG-31 and MiG-29 fighters. These are the latest models of both aircraft types. Five MiG-31s have apparently already been delivered. About two dozen aircraft are involved, and Syria will keep some of them, but the rest will show up in Iran.

U.S. to Impose Sanctions on Lebanese and Syrian Figures -- [MEMRI Blog]
Official U.S. sources have told Al-Hayat that the White House is shortly to issue a presidential decree against several Syrian and Lebanese figures on charges of undermining Lebanese stability. The decree will impose economic sanctions on these figures and ban them from entering the U.S. Among the Lebanese named in the decree are MPs close to the Syrian regime, including Abd Al-Rahim Murad and Nasser Qandil.

WAR ON TERROR /TERRORISM

Terrorists Keep Blogs, Too -- [Danger Room]
Islamists use the Web to spread propaganda, communicate anonymously, share training guides, get organized -- even sell t-shirts. So it's not exactly a shock that Muslim extremists are blogging, too.
Dancho Danchev reviews a handful of terrorist blogs -- and warns that "these are just the tip of the iceberg, but yet another clear indication of the digitalization of jihad."
One particularly active site Dancho highlights is Jihad Fields are Calling: Allah Send Us To Bring People Out From the Slavery of The People to The Slavery of Allah. And it's got all the features you'd expect from a top-flight -- if crude -- propaganda operation. Here's a diary from a woman who claims she was drugged and raped in Abu Ghraib.

SUPPORTING THE TROOPS...OR NOT

US troops Nazis, according to anti war weasels --[BlackFive - Uncle Jimbo]
I have always had fairly cordial relations with the large collection of liberals, progressives, moonbats, anarchists and other assorted lefties here in Madison. I've even been to an Independence Day Tea Party and Re-Revolution that was decent theater. This truce was tested on Memorial Day when some anti-war wankers decided to try and stop me from filming in a public park. It didn't work out for 'em and it made me question their peacefullness.

"We the soldiers love and appreciate you too... " -- -- [Soldiers' Angels Germany]
Hello,
Greetings from Baghdad, Iraq.
I just want to thank those Angels assigned to me who have wrote me a letter or sent me a card. I appreciate your love and support. It's an honor and privilage to serve this great nation we live in and to fight for our freedoms. I also appreciate your prayers.
I know I have seen your mail going out to many of our troops. Thank you so much, we love all of that love and support we're getting from you Angels. It really boosts our morale when we receive some love from people back home and it makes our jobs easier knowing we are being supported by our people back home in America - people like you.

Virtual Installations -- [SgtStryker]
It is never easy for the families left behind when a loved one deploys. The daily duties of running the household, taking care of the children, paying the bills and dealing with the constant stress and worry of knowing your spouse may never come home again can be overwhelming for military families. Families of active duty service members who live on or near base have access to the many resources and services available to military families. They can go to Community Services, base counseling, The Red Cross, legal aid, even the service emergency relief societies if the need arises. But what about the families of National Guardsmen or reservists who may not live near a military base? What about the wife of an Army reservist who lives in Evenston, Wyoming hundreds of miles from a commissary, exchange or volunteer network?

Soldiers' Angels Receives US Army's Commander's Award for Public Service -- [Soldiers' Angels Kansas City]
Dear Angels,
We have HUGE news to share with you! Soldiers’ Angels received the US Army’s Commander's Award for Public Service on Saturday, June 17th, 2007 in Sacramento, CA. at the Military Order of the Purple Heart National meeting.
This award is the fourth highest public service honorary award that may be granted and is given for service or achievements that contribute significantly to the accomplishment of the mission of an Army activity, command, or staff agency.

The Passing of the Sword -- [Soldiers' Angels Germany]
This past Saturday we were in one of the dayrooms at the Landstuhl outpatient facility unpacking the groceries we had just purchased at the Commissary. Soldiers' Angels provides fruit, cereal, microwave meals and other late-night snacks for the patients arriving after regular meal hours.
I'd been told there were some VIPs scheduled to come through but didn't think much of it because that happens all the time. So when First Sergeant Lowe came in the room and said, "MaryAnn, I'd like you to meet CSM Mellinger", I was speechless.

IN MEMORY OF...

Remembering the fallen - VIDEO -- [Military Times]

Flag Waving--Marine Charles Lindberg Dead at 86 -- [Matt Sanchez]
The raising of the flag at Iwo Jima ensured the survival of the Marine Corps for another 200 years.
Within five weeks, over 6000 Marines had perished in a battle to occupy a small island that was named for the sulfur in it's bowels. The taking of Iwo Jima allowed for the landing of planes and the continuation of the island hopping campaigns that eventually lead to the defeat of Japanese Imperial forces.

MILITARY

Free Speech, The Military, And National Interest -- [Chapomatic]
That’s the title of an interesting article from 1980 that describes the legal history of how military folks are restrained or not in their speech at various distances from a war zone. It’s a good read, particularly in light of the dustup Skippy and I had the other week about what limits retired generals should have when speaking in that capacity. The article discusses the unique position of senior officers, but only obliquely mentions retirees.

Field Training -- [A Soldier's Perspective - SGTHuckleberry]
...One of the things we do is train units preparing to deploy to a combat zone. We focus on small unit tactics and dismounted operations. We train them to deal with IEDs, VBIEDs, angry mobs, desperate citizens, you name it. It get sort of repetitive after a while but I like the predictability of it here. Even though we tend to do similar operations with each rotation, they are all different enough that we learn something from each one. When you come in from the field you feel a great sense of accomplishment that the guys leaving will be better prepared for whatever they will face during their next deployment.

POLITICS

A New Push For A Different National Iraqi Makeup -- [RedState]
The Bush Administration is concerned that it will be forced to fight repeated battles aimed at keeping the reconstruction effort in Iraq going. Naturally, much--if not all--of its concerns stems from the belief that eventually, one of those battles will be lost to a Democratic Congress and the reconstruction effort will be short-circuited.

Great Cheney Switch, v7.0 -- [Captain's Quarters]
I'd like to have a shot of what Sally Quinn's drinking. In today's Washington Post, Quinn tells us that Republicans have decided that Dick Cheney has to go, and will start devising plans to force him out of an office to which he has been twice elected. Quinn believes that this has reached the Goldwater-to-Nixon scenario in the summer of 1974, only this time Cheney stands accused of hurting the GOP's chances in the next election rather than any lawbreaking.

THE MEDIA

Fallout From MSNBC Report -- [Real Clear Politics]
A few heads have rolled following MSNBC's investigation into journalists who gave to candidates:
...The paper which dropped Cohen's column was the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, WA. He is still employed at the Times.

Brian Williams Highlights Students Asking Bush to Stop Torturing Prisoners -- [NewsBusters]
On Monday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams highlighted a "surprise" letter presented to President Bush by high school students visiting the White House who wanted the President to "stop the practice of torture." Williams: "When they got there, 50 of them [out of 141] presented him with a handwritten letter that they had signed demanding that the United States stop the practice of torture."
During the 37-second segment, Williams recounted the story and at one point showed a copy of the letter on-screen with the sentence "We do not want America to represent torture" blown up so it was readable to viewers.

Earning the Trust of the Public -- [Accuracy In Media]
The question is not whether unfairness and errors persist in the news media. Glaringly, they do. But how should the media eradicate them, so that biased reporting will not continue to taint the good name of the fourth estate of the realm?
In this respect, the media cannot ignore the recent speech by outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in which he accused the media of abandoning their ethics of impartial reporting and accuracy.

Brzezinski's Latest Blast: 'Whatever Happened to Iraq Study Group?' -- [NewsBusters]
Mika Brzezinski is at it again. As noted here and here, the daughter of Jimmy Carter's former National Security Advisor is inclined to inject her personal political views into her MSNBC newsreading role.
At 6:10 am EDT on today's "Morning Joe," Mika read an item reporting that Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) had called for a change of course in Iraq and expressed support for the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by James Baker and Lugar's fellow Hoosier, Lee Hamilton.
Mika couldn't restrain herself, archly asking:
MSNBC NEWSREADER MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Whatever happened to the Iraq Study Group, because I believe President Bush asked for those pieces of advice, correct?
Host Joe Scarborough immediately called Mika on her editorializing.
MSNBC HOST JOE SCARBOROUGH: The thing is, Mika, if you write for the front page of the New York Times, they don't let you go into the editorial room.

HUMOR / SATIRE

Day By Day

Extreme Makeover Iraq Edition

(Need more? The previous Dawn Patrol is here.)