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

Anecdotal Evidence -- [Guidons, Guidons, Guidons! - in Iraq]
...One of the many slides they show us is a slide called "SIG ACTS", that is significant activity in the area of operations in the last 24 hours. Lately that side has been pretty barren. Just how barren becomes apparent when the slide from today is compared against the slide depicting SIG ACTS from a year ago today...it is easily a 50% or more reduction in enemy action. This is not just today, but for several weeks now.

Is US On The Verge Of Defeating Al-Qeada?

US commanders in Iraq say a recent raid produced an intelligence bonanza that could lead to future successes in the battle against Al-Qeada.

Resistance is futile: You will be (mis)informed. -- [Michael Yon - in Iraq]
...Anyone who has been in Iraq for longer than a few months, visited a handful of provinces, and spoken with a good number of Iraqis, likely would acknowledge that the reality here is complex and dynamic. But in the last six months it also has been increasingly hopeful, despite what the pessimistic dogma dome allows Americans and British to believe.
...Several upcoming dispatches will focus on how the situation in Southern Iraq has dramatically improved over past months. Ironically, the character of this improvement is distinguished by the lack of violence, as well as the increasing order and normality as Iraqi Security Forces step up to greater responsibility for security in the region.

The situation in Iraq is incredibly complex -- and the products of the ‘Surge’ are far too fragile to survive a Coalition drawdown (Part 1 of 2) -- [Jeff Emanuel]
...As any conscious American is well aware, within weeks of unanimously approving both the new commander and the new direction, many in Congress were out in front of microphones and television cameras, declaring that “The Surge has failed” and “The war is lost,” and announcing the appallingly-named (to say the least) “slow bleed” strategy to drain the soldiers in Iraq of the funding and supplies necessary to fight the war, while also sponsoring and appearing in television advertisements designed to drain what little public support remained for the securing and rebuilding effort there. While lip service was paid (at the beginning) to granting Petraeus the time and resources necessary to fully implement his plan, politics quickly trumped patriotism and honest dealings, and attempt after attempt was made to cut him off at the knees and to declare failure before his strategy had ever even been implemented. This lack of unity at home greatly damaged the credibility of America and of her forces in the Middle East, who were (and are) dependent on the Iraqi people's ability to trust that the Coalition will not abandon them, whatever the cost, in order to be able to make any real, long-term gains on the ground there.
It was not until June -- weeks after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had declared that the strategy had “failed” -- that the entire cast ‘Surge’ troops had arrived in Iraq and been positioned to carry out their mission, leaving only two months for fully-manned counterinsurgency operations before Petraeus’s testimony to Congress on progress in Iraq was due.

Enemy mortar team tracked, engaged

Good Morning America in Fallujah -- [BlackFive - Uncle Jimbo]
...Attached is a clip of ABC out with RCT-6. They're almost breathless in reporting the truth: how smoothly things are going in Fallujah. Other media outlets who shall be left unnamed have had the same opportunity to report this, walking through the market district of the city just like ABC did, and didn't report this adequately.

Air Cavalry crews see higher-tech attacks, weapons from Iran -- [MNF-I]
BAGHDAD — Air cavalry helicopter pilots have had to change their tactics to adapt to newer and higher-tech surface-to-air missile systems that officials believe are coming in from Iran, a senior official in Iraq said Friday.

Raid in Baghdad's Sadr City kills 49 Special Groups operatives -- [LWJ - Bill Roggio - in Iraq]
...Coalition forces, often the cover name given to the special operations forces hunter-killer teams of Task Force 88, met heavy resistance in Sadr City as they cleared buildings in search of the Special Groups leader. The clearing teams "received sustained heavy fire from adjacent structures, to include automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades, or RPGs," and killed 33 terrorists. Six more terrorists were killed as air support was called in on a team attempting to maneuver and hit the Task Force with RPGs, and another ten were killed as the raiding party was leaving the site.

Iraq inquiry into US Sadr raid - BBC News

Sadrists Call For U.S. Pullout From Residential Areas In Southern Iraq -- [Pat Dollard]
Baghdad, Oct 22, (VOI) – The Sadrist bloc, or Iraqis loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, call on Monday for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from residential areas in the province of al-Diwaniya, southern Iraq, and to hand over security responsibilities to Iraqi forces.
“The Sadrists also demanded the rehabilitation of security agencies in the province and filtering them of any militias affiliated to parties in power,” Ali al-Mayyali, a bloc member in Diwaniya, said in a statement he read out during a press conference in Baghdad.

Evacuated to the CSH -- [Far From Perfect - in Iraq]
So I’ve been in the hospital for the last few days with what is called a Non-Battle Injury. In other words, I was not wounded in battle, I had an urgent healthcare matter that required surgery. I got a whirlwind tour of the medical evacuation system for Iraq and Kuwait in the process. I have to say it works pretty well, especially if you are litter bound. I was medevac’d from my FOB to the Combat Surgical Hospital, CSH, in Mosul. They did an evaluation and decided I needed surgery. An hour or so later I was in surgery. Can’t really say too much about how that went as they gave me some really good sedatives and a spinal block. I woke up shortly after the surgery in the recovery room numb from the belly button down.

The World Sport -- [Those Wacky Iraqis - in Iraq]
...I have stated before that if we really want to win we have to win the heads of these people. The soldier playing here today is doing a much more valuable service by simply playing soccer than by going on patrol or sitting in a guard tower. He is reaching across the ocean, in a literal and figurative sense as no matter what the language, religion, education, or name, this simple game of pick up football is a bridge across it all.

Ain't no party like an Iraqi Party -- [Jason's Iraq Vacation - in Iraq]
Well Ramadan is finally over, which means the end of hiding our drinking habits from the Iraqi's and also the end of their fast. Instead of having a Mardi Gras-type celebration before their fasting period, Muslim's have a big 4 day feast after the big fast.
...they began cooking the traditional meal of lamb and assorted veggies with and kobez, which is basically just a flat bread. I think the unfortunate among us were those who enjoyed a little too much lamb, but what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?

In Country -- [Sergeant Grumpy - in Iraq]
After the long months of training, we are finally here in Iraq. It took almost 4 days altogether to get to our Firebase, transiting thru Ireland, then Kuwait, and Baghdad. We rested in Baghdad for a little over a day before hopping on Blackhawks for a night time flight. Just as last time, it was the coolest part of the trip, the moon was partially obscured by clouds and was a mean red color.

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan, a country that is truly in need of our help . . . -- [Richard's Deployment to Afghanistan - in Afghanistan]
Dear All,
I am writing to you all from FOB Salerno, Afghanistan with a small story of my experiences in a country that truly is in need of our help.
I am Sergeant First Class Michael Fields from Spokane Valley, Washington.
First and foremost I would like to tell all of the American people thank you, for all of your help and support.
I think that the best way that I could describe Afghanistan is the wild wild west, or life on the great frontier. The Afghan people are a very friendly and affectionate people who really want our help and our free way of life.

Picture and Movie Time -- [Bill and Bob's Excellent Afghan Adventure - in Afghanistan]
...Oh, looky what we found! Oddly enough, Mr. Taliban guy had an antitank mine (Italian, plastic, very nasty,) and four RPG rounds (Russian, metallic, very nasty,) buried within feet of the house in which his children lived. "What? Those aren't mine. My neighbor is angry with me and trying to get me in trouble!"

Another JDAM airstrike on taliban hiding in a camp in Afhganistan

Beggars and choosers -- [Yellowhammering Afghanistan - in Afghanistan]
...The poverty in Afghanistan forces begging in many places. The problem is most of the poverty is out in the countryside where there are no highly-traveled paved road to provide a good begging location like the families have discovered here. (I realize how odd that sounds - to have good versus bad "begging locations" but such is the case in this country.)
As bad as I hate to see the suffering associated with begging - there is no worse sight than a dirty child frantically motioning for something to eat - I realize that these same people are choosers.

Targeting Taliban commander Siraj Haqqani. -- [LWJ - Bill Roggio]
As the Taliban's insurgency in Pakistan escalates, the US and Afghan National Army have identified Pakistani-based Siraj Haqqani as the primary threat to security in eastern Afghanistan. Siraj Haqqani, the son of the influential Taliban leader and former defense minister Jalaluddin Haqqani, was described as "one of the most influential insurgent commanders in eastern Afghanistan" who has "vied for the lead role as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s prime antagonist."

Stressed Out -- [6 Months In Kabul -- in Afghanistan]
Today I visited the Pol E Charki prison. I discussed the prison in an earlier posting. I am trying to see if I can get involved with mentoring the Afghan physician that works there because they are in need of some help. I figure if I get busy enough with the Police Academy clinic, the new National Police Clinic, CMAs, and now the prison then I won't have to go downrange and do nonmedical stuff.
The prison was an interesting experience. It has...

Hye Times... -- [PARTAMIAN REPORT - in Afghanistan]
The Romanians have moved out from the KAF MWR Internet room and out into the fight. One the FOB's I went to recently had a platoon of Romanian Soldiers. Their PL happened to be Armenian too. I keep running into Armenians over here. There was a KBR guy at another FOB from the Republic of Georgia. He stopped me when he saw my name tape. He was also Armenian.

Back to the Basics -- [ETT PA-C - in Afghanistan]
...At Riley, pay attention to soldier skills. The rest is fairly useless. Reality is here and as long as you have common sense, the ability to use your weapon and a decent capacity to adapt to environments, you'll be fine. That is unless you are at a flag pole. Then all you need to know is.....Is your unit patch correct or are you wearing your reflective PT belt in the day time. Another is the wearing a helmet in the Humvee while driving a max of 10mph on KAF. You get my drift. We call them FOBbits. They still get to worry about nothing while the rest of us go outside the wire and do the job that needs to be done.

U.S. AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

San Diego Wildfires: How You Can Help -- [DiscoveredSD]
"We have more houses burning than we have people and engine companies to fight them," San Diego Fire Capt. Lisa Blake said. "A lot of people are going to lose their homes today."
The conclusion: San Diego needs your help – and here’s how you can provide it.

The fires this time -- [Neptunus Lex]
Neighbors are packing up.
...This sorta sux.
Update: Ashes and dust everywhere, the sky is pewter colored and the wind is howling. The girls ask if we’re evacuating - I tell them the mandatory evacuation area is across the 56. They look out the back window and point to the highway. Friends call in by cell phone to say they are evacuating.

As Anger Grows, Thousands of Turks Demonstrate To Condemn Terrorism -- [MEMRI Blog]
Grieving and angry, Turks poured out to the streets all over Turkey to condemn PKK terrorism that claimed about 50 lives in less than a month - mounting the pressure on the government to fight back.

Deadly Turkey-Iraq border clashes

To raise them up. Part 3: Investing in people -- [LWJ]
B.A. Patty was recently embedded with the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In part three of the series, Patty discusses the role investments – in the NCO corps of the AFP, in the local economy – play in counterinsurgency.

A Larger Threat Than Nukes -- [Strategy Page]
October 22, 2007: Many of Iran's neighbors are not as worried about Iranian nukes as they are concerned about a more aggressive Iran attempting to seize bits of disputed terrain throughout the region (as it has already been doing with small islands in the Persian Gulf), and asserting its traditional role as the regional superpower. Iran already has weapons of mass destruction (chemical weapons developed during the 1980s war with Iraq), but has never put them in play. Iran has never let terrorist groups have any of their chemical weapons, nor has it openly threatened to use this stuff against its neighbors.

The Losers Lament -- [Strategy Page]
The September 6 Israeli air raid in Syria has been a major setback for Russian arms sales. The Syrians had invested heavily in new Russian air defense systems, and the Israelis apparently brushed right by them. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russians have been trying to rehabilitate the reputation of their weapons. Throughout the Cold War, whenever Russian and Western (especially American) weapons met on the battlefield, the Russians lost.

WAR ON TERROR /TERRORISM

Worried Bin Laden Urges Iraq Insurgents to 'Unite' -- [The Blotter]
Showing apparent signs of concern over events in Iraq, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urged insurgents to "unite your lines into one" in an audiotape played on al Jazeera Monday.
"Don't be arrogant," bin Laden warned. "Your enemies are trying to break up the jihadi groups. It's critical that we work in one united group."

Remember the Name of This U.S. Enemy: Haqqani -- [Counterterrorism Blog]
It's a sure bet that you'll hear a lot this election season about Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden still being on the loose and thumbing his nose at America from his hideout in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. But I think eventually you'll also hear about a couple of other evildoers, to use President Bush's term, who are responsible for killing hundreds of American troops in Afghanistan since 2001.

SUPPORTING THE TROOPS...OR NOT

The Book Tour: Bookstore, the VA, and the Milkshake Man -- [Bouhammer Afghan Blog]
...I leaned over to ask David Stanford what the deal was with him, and he told me that the Milkshake Man had lost both legs in Vietnam. While working at the VA, he started going over to Walter Reed visiting the wounded troops. He takes them trays of McDonald’s milkshakes. He befriends them over several weeks and visits and jokes around and gets to know them. Once they get comfortable with him and open up to him, he then pulls up his pants and shows them that he is a double-amputee himself. He does this as an inspiration to them so they can see that despite their injuries, they can lead normal lives. After the signings were done, I pulled out my copy of The Long Road Home and asked the Milkshake Man to autograph the comic strip in the book that Garry wrote where he mentions The Milkshake Man. It was a true honor to meet someone who does what he does out of the true caring and compassion that he possesses for these wounded warriors.

Foot Patrol 4-4

OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME 2007 -- [Yikes]
OK, here we go again..... time to collect cards for our Heroes overseas!! Last year, thanks to all of you working together, over 20,000 (yes, that's TWENTY THOUSAND) Christmas/holiday cards were shipped to our troops in harm's way. Let's do it again this year! I know we can!!! Our heroes need us now more than ever -- let's show them our love & appreciation!

Lakeway Patriot Committee Supports Our Troops -- [Miss LadyBug]
I was watching the Red Sox beat the crap out of the Indians (unfortunately...) tonight in Game 6 of the ALCS. When the game was over, I didn't get around to changing the channel. The local news came on after all the post-game hoo-ha. A story about the Lakeway Patriot Committee and their Patriot Fest held this weekend caught my attention

FOOTPATROL CHAPTER NINE

Soldiers' pictures banished from hometown post office -- [WND]
Spokesman: 'It's not a place to post things or make displays'
Members of the U.S. military have been vilified for their service and have faced criminal charges for battlefield decisions and congressional accusations of rampant "hate crimes." Now a California post office also has banned photographs of local soldiers who are defending their country.

On the brotherhood of war -- [Soldiers' Angel Germany]
" ...and I was really glad about that. Because I always thought if something happened to us, I wanted to be the one who was hurt the worst."
- A Soldier at Landstuhl recounting how he had switched positions with another Soldier just moments before their vehicle was hit. Because of that he was, in fact, the only occupant to sustain serious injury.

MILITARY

What Happened at Haditha -- [Opinion Journal]
The massacre that wasn't, and its political exploitation.
Here is what we know. On November 17, 2005, Kilo Company of the First Marine Regiment's Third Battalion was returning from a routine logistics mission in Haditha, a town 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. Haditha is in Anbar province, a heart of the Sunni insurgency with one of the highest U.S. casualty rates in Iraq. The security situation at the time was treacherous.

Charting a New Course – Marines – Navy – Coast Guard in the 21st Century -- [ON Point - Andrew Lubin]
70 % of the world is covered by water • 80% of the world lives at or near a coastline• 90% of the world’s commerce travels by ship Any maritime disruption to global security or commerce has an immediate and usually negative impact on the United States, and this week our sea services presented a unified and thoughtful strategy that is designed to protect our vital interests in today’s globalized and interconnected world. “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower” was...

WELCOME HOME

The best thing about Iraq -- [Desert Flier - home from Iraq]
In all honesty, when I really have to pin it down, the hardest thing about coming back are the questions. Not a lot of questions. A lot of the same questions.
"So, how was Iraq?" Can I answer this one in two sentences or less?
"Well, should we be there?" Dunno, ask Rumsfeld.
"When are you due to go back?" I just left, people. Do I really have to ponder when I have to go back? Dunno, ask Cheney.
Every time, without fail, I know I'm giving this pained look as I attempt to answer yet another thoroughly complex question that I know will take hours to actually answer. How do I streamline the responses into a politician's soundbite? Dunno. . .
So I've resorted to this: "I can tell you the best thing about Iraq." ...

POLITICS

Making Choices -- [From My Position... On the way! ]
If your future success depended on selecting a corporation to manage your affairs and best interests, would you choose a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
29 have been accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad checks
117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
If you said “Hell no!” than I suggest you get your voter registration card in. That corporation is reflective of the 535 members of the United States Congress.

Anti-War Veteran Quits Anti-War Organization -- [Weekly Standard]
Frustrated by the lack of progress toward surrender in Iraq, veteran John Bruhns has quit the anti-war group AAEI
...'An early sign of trouble?' You mean, like the departure of Rumsfeld was an early sign of trouble for the Bush administration--or the way Saddam's capture in a hole was an early sign of trouble for his brutal regime? It would be premature to say that the anti-war campaign has run its course; it clearly has not. But unless Iraq gets dramatically worse, it's all over but the shouting. Even in Berkeley, antiwar activist now find themselves outnumbered--what does that mean for the antiwar movement?

Plausibly Deniable Cat Herders -- [Cannoneer4]
...Pretty much everybody who is reading this knows that Morale Operations are being conducted in cyber space. Judging from the commenters, I reckon most acknowledge the political and ideological impediments to victory in the Iraq Campaign and the wider struggles of which it is but a subset. It gives me no pleasure to contemplate the bitter fact that millions of my countrymen want us to lose. I really do not want a politicized military, but, the military knows who wishes them well and who wishes them ill.

Disrespecting America (photo) -- [A Soldier's Perspective]
This is just despicable. Anyone see something wrong with this picture? Hint: he is the one who thinks his heart is in his crotch.

THE MEDIA

HUMOR / SATIRE

Day By Day

Day By Day

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