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

Fact Sheet: Achieving Political and Economic Progress in Iraq -- [White House.gov]
Iraq Has Great Economic Potential
The improvements in security resulting from the surge are enabling Iraqis to make progress on their economy. Since the surge began:
Business registrations have increased by more than nine percent;
Total inflation has fallen by more than 60 percentage points;
Investment in energy and telecom industries has increased;
Oil production is up, particularly north of Baghdad;
Iraq's Government Has Stepped Forward To Meet More Of Its Own Expenses
Early in the war, the U.S. funded most of the large-scale reconstruction projects in Iraq. Now the U.S. is focusing on encouraging entrepreneurship. The Iraqi government is stepping up on reconstruction projects. They have outspent the U.S. in recent budget 11 to one, and soon we expect the Iraqis will cover 100 percent of these expenses.

Combat Outpost Program Solidifies Trust, Garners Intelligence in Mosul -- [MNF-I]
MOSUL — Based on information gained from presence patrols out of Combat Outpost (COP) Rock, Coalition forces recently conducted an intelligence gathering mission here. The COPs allow Soldiers to live in the city and allows constant contact with Iraqi citizens, building trust

Bush meets military chiefs on Iraq -- [Iraq Updates]
President George W. Bush met with the US military chiefs Wednesday to hear their recommendations on Iraq amid a growing consensus in favor of a pause in drawing down in US forces, officials said.

A Cold Spring -- [Kaboom - in Iraq]
...Telling them we know what is best and that they need to start relying on their own government and police so we can leave and everyone wins and that any help we can and do provide at least offers a new spring in a land of endless, destitute winters doesn’t often have the effect you think it would. Or should. Or could.
Whether I think we’re here for something other than oil doesn’t matter when they think that we are. Open up your freedom and treasure it! That’s a bow of independence … pretty, isn’t it?

Old but Relevant Quote -- [LT Nixon - in Iraq]
I recall reading Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" on my first deployment and the quote on the first page provided some insight into why we do things that doesn't necessarily benefit ourselves. The rationale being service to others is what makes humanity different than the rest of the animal kingdom. I thought of it last night before drifting off to sleep and thought I should share. Make of it what you want. It's from John Donne from long long ago:

Last Night's Bottle Rocket -- [Catle Argghhh! - Last Night's Bottle Rocket - in Iraq]
*looong sparktrail* - *white flash -- wuhBOOM!*
After about an hour of map-snooping and flash-to-bang comparing (we're not allowed to meander until they sound the All Clear, which they forget to do sometimes), we figured it hit a (vacant) vehicle storage lot a couple-hundred meters away. An on-scene meander after brekkies confirmed it.

Behind the Bloodshed in Basra -- [PJM - Mohammed Fadhil - Iraqi]
...Another important dimension in this confrontation, largely ignored, regards Sadr’s rhetoric about security situation in Basra. The anti-Multinational Force powers always blamed British troops for insecurity in the province prior to their withdrawal.
Now it must be asked in a loud clear voice - who’s responsible for insecurity now that British troops are gone?

Maliki Sets New Cash-For-Arms Deadline.

US-led coalition warplanes dropped bombs on Shia militia positions in Basra overnight, directly entering the fray for the first time since the Iraqi army launched a crackdown in the city, a British mi...

Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides -- [Times Online]
Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra.
His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the other side without a second thought.
...The reason for his apparent switch of sides was simple: the 36-year-old was already a member of the al-Mahdi Army which, like other militias, has massively infiltrated the British-trained police force in the southern oil city. He claimed that hundreds of others from the 16,000-strong force have also defected to the rebels’ ranks.Abu Iman joined the new Iraqi police force after the invasion, joining the Mugawil, a special police unit infamous for brutality, kidnapping and sectarian murders.

Iraqi PM Vows to Continue Basra Offensive Despite Protests -- [VOA]
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he will continue the Iraqi military offensive in Basra "to the end" with no negotiations or retreat, despite angry protests in Shi'ite districts calling for his resignation. VOA Correspondent Challiss McDonough has been monitoring events from our Middle East Bureau in Cairo and reports intense fighting in Basra continued for a third day.

Iraqi security forces battle the Mahdi Army -- [LWJ - Bill Roggio - in Iraq]
The Iraqi security forces have launched Operation Knights' Assault against the Mahdi Army and other Iranian-backed Shia militias in Basrah. Muqtada al Sadr’s unilateral cease-fire may fall apart as fighting breaks out in Bagdad and southern Iraq.

AFP Reporter Embedded With Terrorists -- [Jawa Report]
To think members of the Mahdi Army are anything other than terrorists is to not have a firm grip on reality. And yes, I know the al-Maliki government has been dealing with these terrorists for some time, and that al-Sadre's party is part of the ruling coalition (or was). Welcome to the mess that is the entire Middle East.

Sadr Tidings -- [Jules Crittenden]
The good news is, Iraqi forces are heavily engaged with the Mahdi Army with U.S. troops in a supporting role, all over the place. The weird part is, al-Maliki has supposedly taken a lead role in directing operations against his erstwhile bedfellow al-Sadr. The key question, in all matters requiring an element of trust in either al-Maliki or al-Sadr, is which one can you throw farther? The Sadrists are claiming it’s all political, to cut them out of provinicial elections, and if al-Maliki’s that interested, there’s got to be a sleazy political angle to it.* On the other hand,

Iraqis for McCain -- [San Francisco Chronicle - Kathleen Parker]
If Iraqis could elect America’s next president, chances are good that the next occupant of the Oval Office would be Gen. David Petraeus.
Barring that unlikely development, John McCain will do. Or so I hear from an Iraqi journalist with whom I’ve corresponded the past couple of years, a woman whose family was once courted by Saddam Hussein but who later became a victim of his torturers.

Who’s the cougar now?! -- [Military Times -Sheila Vemmer - embed in Iraq]
The troops we’ve been rolling with stopped by a farmhouse out in the desert a few days ago. An extended family lives there in a dark, multi-room dwelling made of crumbly blocks, without furniture.
The father said he’d just taken a third wife, a girl of 17. He had to be in his late 50s. The judge told him she was too young. He said, “She wanted me! What am I going to do?”

Goodbye, Iraq: -- [Grims Hall - in Iraq]
Sir, said she, leave your horse here, and I shall leave mine; and took their saddles and their bridles with them, and made a cross on them, and so entered into the ship.... and so the wind arose, and drove them through the sea in a marvellous pace. And within a while it dawned.

AFGHANISTAN

School books -- [Yellowhammering Afghanistan - in Afghanistan]
The nearly 7 million children enrolled in Afghanistan schools this year is an all-time high, according toe Khanif Atmar, Afghanistan's education minister.
The new school years is just getting underway in most of the country. Children get the months of the harsh Afghan winters off because the snows and temperatures make it difficult to attend schools.
Construction and equipment for many new schools has been made possible through international aid, including military-assisted projects. Here in Ghazni, the military-lead Provincial Reconstruction Team has built and opened a number of schools for this year alone.

Much sexes -- [Yellowhammering Afghanistan - in Afghanistan]
I have a terrific terp.
When he's not translating for me or other members of our team, he is constantly learning new English words and even slang in a desire to master the nuances of our language.
He not only translates the words to match their appropriate meaning, but he uses the proper inflection, mimicking my emotions if I am happy, angry, appreciative.
So when he makes a mistake, it is not only rare, but sometimes funny.

Kabul, Afghanistan. Not quite as commonly portrayed.

Kabul is portrayed as many things. This is a locals point of view from his perspective.

UK to send judges for Sharia training to the Taliban -- [Sanjar]
Recently the Anglican Church [Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams] expressed that there was nothing wrong with the British legal system adopting some laws from Islamic shari'a and implementing them for British citizens of the Islamic faith.
This is the first time a high ranking religious figure in Europe expresses support for Sharia inside Europe. An Islamic legal system in Europe as suggest by Anglican Church would mean:
"1) Permit polygamy for European Muslim citizens, and not punish them for it – even though this is considered criminal under European law;
"2) Permit European Muslim citizens to beat their wives to discipline them, as the Koran urges;

Coalition forces disrupt weapons facilitation in Helmand -- [Combined Joint Task Force -82 - in Afghanistan]
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Coalition forces were attacked while conducting an operation, March 26, to capture a Taliban leader and disrupt facilitation networks in Helmand Province resulting in insurgents’ deaths and the wounding of a civilian not involved in hostilities.
Coalition forces searched of compounds in the Kajaki district targeting a Taliban insurgent linked to weapons facilitation operations in the area. “Coalition forces received small-arms fire from several insurgents armed with AK-47s, machine guns, hand grenades and rocket propelled grenades during their search,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, Coalition forces spokesman. “Coalition forces firing in self-defense during multiple engagements killed several insurgents.”
Coalition forces discovered a wounded civilian not involved in hostilities after the engagement.

PSD Soldiers make a difference at FOB Sharana -- [Combined Joint Task Force -82 - in Afghanistan]
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan -- “We are the best section in this company. My Soldiers think we are, I think we are,” said Staff Sgt. Ian Roberts, the noncommissioned officer in charge of Task Force Rugged’s commander and command sergeant major’s Personal Security Detachment.
The 10-Soldier element in Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 36th Engineer Brigade out of Fort Hood, Texas, does far more than escort the senior leadership around the battlefield.
“They are my go-to guys,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Frank C. Busch, of TF Rugged.
The Soldiers of the “Rugged” PSD are on the road quite a bit. They have conducted more than 40 convoy patrols throughout Regional-Command East, from Jaji, Northern Afghanistan, to Forward Operating Base Warrior in the southern Ghanzni Province, Afghanistan, in the one year that they have been here.

Taliban uses kid as a fighter! - Child launching a rocket

U.S. AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Defining Stunning: The United Nations Unabridged Dictionary -- [Threats Watch - Steve Shippert]
In the enduring spirit of Spy vs Spy, it’s the real-life UN version: “Surprising” vs. “Stunning.” Surprising: (adj.) 1. The United Nations hands out military service medals to Pakistani soldiers. Stunning: (adj.) 1. The United Nations appoints a new human-rights...

Tech. sgt. rescues carjacked toddler in D.C. -- [AF Times]
“I pulled over to let this speeding car pass me, saw the handle of the gas cap sticking out and saw a Marine Corps sticker,” Elliot was quoted as saying in an MSNBC report. “A Marine would never do that.”
Elliot followed the car, suspecting it was stolen. The carjackers eventually parked the car in a Maryland suburban neighborhood and jumped out, speeding off in a blue Dodge Charger, reports said.
That’s when Elliot went to get the keys from the still-running car and noticed a frightened toddler in back.

Cables, dispatches and memoranda -- [Peace Like a River]
A brief world news roundup for 28 March 2008.
... Iran has strongly protested the recent arbitrary act of the US forces on fingerprinting Iranian pilgrims and imposing restrictions on them. The Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini on Thursday stressed that restrictions imposed on Iranian pilgrims at Iran’s border crossings with Iraq should stop immediately.

...South Korea said Thursday that it was “deeply regrettable” that North Korea had ordered South Korean officials to leave its territory, but that the South was undaunted. The predawn expulsion on Thursday followed an announcement on Wednesday by the new South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, that his government would not expand economic cooperation with North Korea unless it cooperated in dismantling its nuclear weapons programs.

WAR ON TERROR /TERRORISM

PART V: Quick To Defend Alleged Terrorists, CAIR Even Questioned Al Qaeda 9/11 Role -- [Counterterrorism Blog - (IPT)]
CAIR's soft spot for terrorists extends well beyond the Hamas connections documented in yesterday's installment in this comprehensive series on the group. Today we focus on its portrayal of virtually any law enforcement action against radical elements as an

Fitna the Movie: Geert Wilders' film about the Quran (English)

SUPPORTING THE TROOPS...OR NOT

Soldiers' Angels Needs Your Help - Our Founders Request -- [Soldiers' Angels Texas]
This month our flights for wounded and families of fallen bill just for March is at $60,000.
Shipments for deployed, vet packs, and backpacks and suplies to CSH
this month $200,000.
We haven't even talked family assistance which averages $30,000 a month.
Talking to your newspapers and local media helps immensly as well.
Please if you are tight on funds just help by emailing and putting on your blog, do not stress on donating if you are financially comfortable please help by donating.

The Troops need to know that............"America has NOT moved on!" -- [Soldiers Angels Network]
March 26, 2008, Pasadena, CA- Often when deployed service members are asked "What do you need from home?" they answer simply "Your prayers and your support!" Mike Cox from Kirkwood, Missouri has set his sights on raising awareness about America remembering to support our troops and raising funds for much needed supplies at Fort Leonard Wood USO Club and the Fisher House that is slotted for a groundbreaking at the St. Louis VA Medical Center.
While his mission is clear, the steps to get there will take him approximately 850 Miles worth to complete his mission.

Soldiers' Angels Recognizes the Sacrifices of Children in Military Families -- [Soldiers Angels]
...These children make sacrifices and serve their country as much as anyone in uniform does, quietly shouldering part of the burden, making their mom or dad understand that what they are doing is important. Military parents often have to miss holidays and special occasions, and children are left home to worry while parents go on difficult missions. Active duty military families also have to move every two or three years, making the children uproot, change schools and say goodbye to friends. Because military children have to transition and adapt a lot, they gain great life experience and maturity at a young age. April serves as a reminder for military families that there is support available to them with resources to help.

Could You Be A Mentor? -- [SpouseBuzz]
Are you willing to give of yourself in order to help a child? Are you willing to mentor children of our fallen heroes?
Mentors can play a critical role in helping children grieving the loss of a loved one in the Armed Forces, and TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, is recruiting 300+ mentors to help at its 14th annual Good Grief Camp being held Memorial Day Weekend near Washington, DC

Minimus.biz: Paul Schrader Ships Travel Size Goods With Maximus Heart -- [News Blaze]
Since then, Minimus has shipped hundreds of thousands of packages for Soldiers' Angels. Minimus was instrumental in working with Soldiers' Angels to make sure that every soldier serving in Iraq and Afghanistan received a care package from home this last Christmas.

Letters From Our Founder -- [Soldiers' Angels Veterans Support]
I come to you personally asking all of my Soldiers Angels to help me help our Veterans in all of our VA Hospitals and VA Nursing Homes. It has long been a dream of mine to also help our Veterans from every war.
Soldiers Angels has been helping our deployed troops where ever they are, whether it is Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea,etc. We have helped them for 5 years now and we will continue to do so.
In March, 2007 Soldiers Angels started helping the Vets in the various VA\'s around our Country as most of you know from the Wish Lists we have posted on the Forum or send via Emails to you. We have a number of States that we have not been able to get Soldiers Angels to help in yet.

Every Picture Tells a Story (Prologue) -- [Greyhawk]
...I've experienced the internet version of this treatment too many times to count. I write a post about Iraq, and an early comment will accuse me of being a Republican! (Often some other term for "Republican" is applied - "wingnut" being common.) If I bother to respond that I'm not writing as a political party member but as a guy who has been (twice now, and could return sometime in the future) to Iraq I am then accused of claiming that only people who've been to Iraq have the right to talk about it. That accusation is absurd - but the implications of the fact that I have the power to delete comments at will but let theirs stand seems never to cross their minds.
Anyhow, when did victory become a distinct and identifiable Republican characteristic? I'm not saying it is - but there are certainly a lot of non-Republicans out there who believe it without question or hesitation.

MILITARY

Should Arlington honors go beyond rank? -- [Military Times]
...An enlisted service member killed in battle and posthumously awarded the Silver Star for heroism is rendered lesser honors at Arlington National Cemetery than an officer who dies in a car crash the day after being commissioned.
That statement took officials at several veterans’ organizations by surprise. But it is true: Burial honors at Arlington, the nation’s most storied military cemetery and home of the Tomb of the Unknowns, are accorded strictly by rank, not by the circumstances of death.
“That is the custom that has been prescribed,” said Jack Metzler, the superintendent at Arlington for the past 17 years.

WELCOME HOME

1000 Words -- [Longest Drill Weekend EVER]
Will has officially arrived back in North Carolina after a long journey!!!! The official "deployment" is now over - now it enters the 'reintegration phase'.
Welcome back to America Will.

POLITICS

Madeleine Albright: "We Created More Terrorists... Our Soldiers Are the Problem" -- [Gateway Pundit]
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT CONTINUES ATTACKS ON MILITARY AND PRESIDENT!
Albright says that the War in Iraq is the biggest disaster ever.
Of course... This is the same person who said that 500,000 dead Iraqi children was worth it:

"It's a hard choice but we think the price is worth it." -- [CBS News]

Exclusive Photos Show Al-Hanooti's Political Clout -- [IPT]
Before he was alleged to have become a spy for Saddam Hussein's regime, Muthanna Al-Hanooti's charity work and political activism provided him with access to the highest echelons of government.
Newsletters collected by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, some published now for the first time, show Al-Hanooti photographed with dignitaries ranging from First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1996 and Vice President Al Gore along with significant members of Congress.

Feds: Saddam Financed Lawmakers' Trip -- [SF Gate /AP]
(03-26) 22:15 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The three anti-war Democrats made the trip...

Baghdad Boys "Didn't Know" But "Don't Mind Being Used" -- [The Tank - Steve Schippert]
The Baghdad Boys are busy informing us that they didn't know Saddam Hussein's intelligence service (IIS) was behind their 2002 trip to Baghdad. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), and former Rep. David E. Bonior (D-MI) were such masters of nuance that they took it upon themselves to lend aid and comfort to an enemy and usurped the policies of the elected administration in the run-up to conflict. But now they say they had no idea that Hussein might have had a hand in facilitating their dissent. So which is it? Masters of nuance or victimized dupes? They can't have it both ways. And as I wrote earlier this morning, there are no excuses for their actions. There are none now and there were none then.

42 Democrats Vow a Drawdown in Iraq If They Win Seats -- [WaPo]
More than three dozen Democratic congressional candidates banded together yesterday to promise that, if elected, they will push for legislation calling for an immediate drawdown of troops in Iraq that would leave only a security force in place to guard the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

"A Significant Increase In The Army and Marine Corps" -- [Hugh Hewitt]
...At the Jacksonville stop, the GOP nominee will call for a significant increase in the size of the Army and Marine Corps. I asked if the Navy would be part of the call for an expanded military, and Schmidt demurred until the senator speaks next week. It seems to me that a naval power needs more than the 280 ship Navy we are headed for.
Expansion of the military is a crucial issue for the fall campaign. The Jacksonville speech will thus be a very significant milestone in Campaign 2008.

THE MEDIA

Freedom Fighter Called “Terrorist” by INS -- [Michael Totten]
Karen DeYoung published a story in the Washington Post that ought to embarrass anyone making decisions about who deserves permanent residence in the U.S.

Friend or foe? -- [Belmont Club]
CNN's analysis of events in Iraq are wonderful example of how to patch up a theory that is rapidly falling to pieces. The theory of course, is that Iran is a poor, misunderstood victim of US aggression in a third country. The facts however, are that Iran is supporting the Madhi Army in Iraq. How to square the circle? Easy. Just read Michael Ware. "Al-Sadr is involved in a very complicated relationship with the Iranians," said CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware. "The Iranians do provide funding and support for his militia, yet at the same time they're trying to rein him in and get him to adopt a certain political agenda, which from time to time he resists."

A Change of Heart -- [CBN News - Boots on the Ground]
"Despite the differences in religion, race.and so on, I have learned that all human beings are brothers, and that all can live together."
I guess that makes two hearts changed for the better.
Now, consider the incredible leverage of the U.S. Media. Imagine, for a moment, if CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews and the rest ran stories like this every day. How many Arabs in the Middle East watch these news programs? Millions, to be sure. Ask yourself how much more quickly the war on terror could be won if the American press made a point of showing the generosity of the American people.
Somehow the media elite have come to believe that reporting positive news about America is a compromise of journalistic integrity.

Coming soon: NATO TV -- [The D-Ring]
NATO plans to start an online TV channel to improve the image of the Western military alliance.
NATO TV will be launched at a summit next week in Bucharest, Romania, alliance spokesman James Appathurai said Wednesday.
Much of its coverage will focus on the mission of the alliance’s 47,000 troops in Afghanistan. NATO plans to have five TV crews sending regular reports from the country.
The better question is: will people watch it?

NYT Reporter Accuses Bush Administration of Lying About Anti-Terror Program -- [NewsBusters]
Eric Lichtblau, who covers the Justice Department for the New York Times, has an article up on Slate's front page , adapted from his upcoming book "Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice," accusing the Bush administration of lying to him about its anti-terrorist surveillance programs.

MILBLOGGING

On Popularity, Readership, Publishing, and Big Brother -- [Far from Perfect]
...The Military has taken a dim view of bloggers, and milbloggers specifically. They are attempting to censor, close down, and control what we put on our sites for one reason or another. They claim OPSEC concerns, which I understand, but I also believe there are more politically motivated reasons as well. I know the Army hates it when they see soldiers engaged in PR where the soldiers views differ from the “company line” as it were. They don’t want the negative feelings of soldiers regarding the war, government, and politics in general to feed to fires of anti-war people, ultra-liberals, the terrorists (think Tokoyo Rose-esque), etc. I understand the need for that, but I also think that our right to voice our opinions, feelings, and thoughts on the war and the life we lead are important to the future and understanding this point in our grand history. I personally think the right to tell our story, in our own voice, outweighs any negative impact on such a naturally flexible thing as politics.

HUMOR / SATIRE

Day By Day

Bring your Daughter to war day

Obama to Disown Pastor If Hillary Dumps Bill -- [ScrappleFace]
(2008-03-27) — Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential front runner, today reiterated his intention to stand by his controversial pastor despite his presidential rival’s remarks that she would have left the church where the Rev. Jeremiah Wright preached racially-charged, anti-American messages.