Hating America

I found this piece to be very insightful and an extraordinary read.

Hat tip to Truth, Lies & Common Sense

HATING AMERICA-Part I
By Bruce Bawer | The Hudson Review | November 19, 2004

I moved from the U.S. to Europe in 1998, and I’ve been drawing comparisons ever since. Living in turn in the Netherlands, where kids come out of high school able to speak four languages, where gay marriage is a non-issue, and where book-buying levels are the world’s highest, and in Norway, where a staggering percentage of people read three newspapers a day and where respect for learning is reflected even in Oslo place names (“Professor Aschehoug Square”; “Professor Birkeland Road”), I was tempted at one point to write a book lamenting Americans’ anti-intellectualism—their indifference to foreign languages, ignorance of history, indifference to academic achievement, susceptibility to vulgar religion and trash TV, and so forth. On point after point, I would argue, Europe had us beat.

Yet as my weeks in the Old World stretched into months and then years, my perceptions shifted. Yes, many Europeans were book lovers—but which country’s literature most engaged them? Many of them revered education—but to which country’s universities did they most wish to send their children? (Answer: the same country that performs the majority of the world’s scientific research and wins most of the Nobel Prizes.) Yes, American television was responsible for drivel like “The Ricki Lake Show”—but Europeans, I learned, watched this stuff just as eagerly as Americans did (only to turn around, of course, and mock it as a reflection of American boorishness). No, Europeans weren’t Bible-thumpers—but the Continent’s ever-growing Muslim population, I had come to realize, represented even more of a threat to pluralist democracy than fundamentalist Christians did in the U.S. And yes, more Europeans were multilingual—but then, if each of the fifty states had its own language, Americans would be multilingual, too.1 I’d marveled at Norwegians’ newspaper consumption; but what did they actually read in those newspapers?

That this was, in fact, a crucial question was brought home to me when a travel piece I wrote for the New York Times about a weekend in rural Telemark received front-page coverage in Aftenposten, Norway’s newspaper of record. Not that my article’s contents were remotely newsworthy; its sole news value lay in the fact that Norway had been mentioned in the New York Times. It was astonishing. And even more astonishing was what happened next: the owner of the farm hotel at which I’d stayed, irked that I’d made a point of his want of hospitality, got his revenge by telling reporters that I’d demanded McDonald’s hamburgers for dinner instead of that most Norwegian of delicacies, reindeer steak. Though this was a transparent fabrication (his establishment was located atop a remote mountain, far from the nearest golden arches), the press lapped it up. The story received prominent coverage all over Norway and dragged on for days. My inhospitable host became a folk hero; my irksome weekend trip was transformed into a morality play about the threat posed by vulgar, fast-food-eating American urbanites to cherished native folk traditions. I was flabbergasted. But my erstwhile host obviously wasn’t: he knew his country; he knew its media; and he’d known, accordingly, that all he needed to do to spin events to his advantage was to breathe that talismanic word, McDonald’s.

For me, this startling episode raised a few questions. Why had the Norwegian press given such prominent attention in the first place to a mere travel article? Why had it then been so eager to repeat a cartoonish lie? Were these actions reflective of a society more serious, more thoughtful, than the one I’d left? Or did they reveal a culture, or at least a media class, that was so awed by America as to be flattered by even its slightest attentions but that was also reflexively, irrationally belligerent toward it?

This experience was only part of a larger process of edification. Living in Europe, I gradually came to appreciate American virtues I’d always taken for granted, or even disdained—among them a lack of self-seriousness, a grasp of irony and self-deprecating humor, a friendly informality with strangers, an unashamed curiosity, an openness to new experience, an innate optimism, a willingness to think for oneself and speak one’s mind and question the accepted way of doing things. (One reason why Euro- peans view Americans as ignorant is that when we don’t know something, we’re more likely to admit it freely and ask questions.) While Americans, I saw, cherished liberty, Europeans tended to take it for granted or dismiss it as a naïve or cynical, and somehow vaguely embarrassing, American fiction. I found myself toting up words that begin with i: individuality, imagination, initiative, inventiveness, independence of mind. Americans, it seemed to me, were more likely to think for themselves and trust their own judgments, and less easily cowed by authorities or bossed around by “experts”; they believed in their own ability to make things better. No wonder so many smart, ambitious young Europeans look for inspiration to the United States, which has a dynamism their own countries lack, and which communicates the idea that life can be an adventure and that there’s important, exciting work to be done. Reagan-style “morning in America” clichés may make some of us wince, but they reflect something genuine and valuable in the American air. Europeans may or may not have more of a “sense of history” than Americans do (in fact, in a recent study comparing students’ historical knowledge, the results were pretty much a draw), but America has something else that matters—a belief in the future.

Over time, then, these things came into focus for me. Then came September 11. Briefly, Western European hostility toward the U.S. yielded to sincere, if shallow, solidarity (“We are all Americans”). But the enmity soon re-established itself (a fact confirmed for me daily on the websites of the many Western European newspapers I had begun reading online). With the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, it intensified. Yet the endlessly reiterated claim that George W. Bush “squandered” Western Europe’s post-9/11 sympathy is nonsense. The sympathy was a blip; the anti-Americanism is chronic. Why? In The Eagle’s Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World, American journalist and NPR commentator Mark Hertsgaard purports to seek an answer.2 His assumption throughout is that anti-Americanism is amply justified, for these reasons, among others:

Our foreign policy is often arrogant and cruel and threatens to “blow back” against us in terrible ways. Our consumerist definition of prosperity is killing us, and perhaps the planet. Our democracy is an embarrassment to the word, a den of entrenched bureaucrats and legal bribery. Our media are a disgrace to the hallowed concept of freedom of the press. Our precious civil liberties are under siege, our economy is dividing us into rich and poor, our signature cultural activities are shopping and watching television. To top it off, our business and political elites are insisting that our model should also be the world’s model, through the glories of corporate-led globalization.

America, in short, is a mess—a cultural wasteland, an economic nightmare, a political abomination, an international misfit, outlaw, parasite, and pariah. If Americans don’t know this already, it is, in Hertsgaard’s view, precisely because they are Americans: “Foreigners,” he proposes, “can see things about America that natives cannot. . . . Americans can learn from their perceptions, if we choose to.” What he fails to acknowledge, however, is that most foreigners never set foot in the United States, and that the things they think they know about it are consequently based not on first-hand experience but on school textbooks, books by people like Michael Moore, movies about spies and gangsters, “Ricki Lake,” “C.S.I.,” and, above all, the daily news reports in their own national media. What, one must therefore ask, are their media telling them? What aren’t they telling them? And what are the agendas of those doing the telling? Such questions, crucial to a study of the kind Hertsgaard pretends to be making, are never asked here. Citing a South African restaurateur’s assertion that non-Americans “have an advantage over [Americans], because we know everything about you and you know nothing about us,” Hertsgaard tells us that this is a good point, but it’s not: non-Americans are always saying this to Americans, but when you poke around a bit, you almost invariably discover that what they “know” about America is very wide of the mark.

In any event, The Eagle’s Shadow proves to be something of a gyp: for though it’s packaged as a work of reportage about foreigners’ views of America, it’s really a jeremiad by Hertsgaard himself, punctuated occasionally, to be sure, by relevant quotations from cabbies, busdrivers, and, yes, a restaurateur whom he’s run across in his travels. His running theme is Americans’ parochialism: we “not only don’t know much about the rest of the world, we don’t care.” I used to buy this line, too; then I moved to Europe and found that—surprise!—people everywhere are parochial. Norwegians are no less fixated on Norway (pop. 4.5 million) than Americans are on America (pop. 280 million). And while Americans’ relative indifference to foreign news is certainly nothing to crow about, the provincial focus of Norwegian news reporting and public-affairs programming can feel downright claustrophobic. Hertsgaard illustrates Americans’ ignorance of world geography by telling us about a Spaniard who was asked at a wedding in Tennessee if Spain was in Mexico. I once told such stories as well (in fact, I began my professional writing career with a fretful op-ed about the lack of general knowledge that I, then a doctoral candidate in English, found among my undergraduate students); then I moved to Europe and met people like the sixtyish Norwegian author and psychologist who, at the annual dinner of a Norwegian authors’ society, told me she’d been to San Francisco but never to California.

One of Hertsgaard’s main interests—which he shares with several other writers who have recently published books about America and the world—is the state of American journalism. His argument, in a nutshell, is that “few foreigners appreciate how poorly served Americans are by our media and educational systems—how narrow the range of information and debate is in the land of the free.” To support this claim, he offers up the fact that “internationally renowned intellectuals such as Edward W. Said and Frances Moore Lappé” signed a statement against the invasion of Afghanistan, but were forced to run it as an ad because newspapers wouldn’t print it for free. Hertsgaard’s acid comment: “In the United States, it seems, there are some things you have to buy the freedom to say.” Now, I didn’t know who Lappé was when I read this (it turns out she wrote a book called Diet for a Small Planet), but as for the late Professor Said, no writer on earth was given more opportunities by prominent newspapers and journals to air his views on the war against terror. In the two years between 9/11 and his death in 2003, his byline seemed ubiquitous.

Yes, there’s much about the American news media that deserves criticism, from the vulgar personality journalism of Larry King and Diane Sawyer to the cultural polarization nourished by the many publishers and TV news producers who prefer sensation to substance. But to suggest that American journalism, taken as a whole, offers a narrower range of information and debate than its foreign counterparts is absurd. America’s major political magazines range from National Review and The Weekly Standard on the right to The Nation and Mother Jones on the left; its all-news networks, from conservative Fox to liberal CNN; its leading newspapers, from the New York Post and Washington Times to the New York Times and Washington Post. Scores of TV programs and radio call-in shows are devoted to fiery polemic by, or vigorous exchanges between, true believers at both ends of the political spectrum. Nothing remotely approaching this breadth of news and opinion is available in a country like Norway. Purportedly to strengthen journalistic diversity (which, in the ludicrous words of a recent prime minister, “is too important to be left up to the marketplace”), Norway’s social-democratic government actually subsidizes several of the country’s major newspapers (in addition to running two of its three broadcast channels and most of its radio); yet the Norwegian media are (guess what?) almost uniformly social-democratic—a fact reflected not only in their explicit editorial positions but also in the slant and selectivity of their international coverage.3 Reading the opinion pieces in Norwegian newspapers, one has the distinct impression that the professors and bureaucrats who write most of them view it as their paramount function not to introduce or debate fresh ideas but to remind the masses what they’re supposed to think. The same is true of most of the journalists, who routinely spin the news from the perspective of social-democratic orthodoxy, systematically omitting or misrepresenting any challenge to that orthodoxy—and almost invariably presenting the U.S. in a negative light. Most Norwegians are so accustomed to being presented with only one position on certain events and issues (such as the Iraq War) that they don’t even realize that there exists an intelligent alternative position.

Things are scarcely better in neighboring Sweden. During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, the only time I saw pro-war arguments fairly represented in the Scandinavian media was on an episode of “Oprah” that aired on Sweden’s TV4. Not surprisingly, a Swedish government agency later censured TV4 on the grounds that the program had violated media-balance guidelines. In reality, the show, which had featured participants from both sides of the issue, had plainly offended authorities by exposing Swedish viewers to something their nation’s media had otherwise shielded them from—a forceful articulation of the case for going into Iraq.4 In other European countries, to be sure, the media spectrum is broader than this; yet with the exception of Britain, no Western European nation even approaches America’s journalistic diversity. (The British courts’ recent silencing of royal rumors, moreover, reminded us that press freedom is distinctly more circumscribed in the U.K. than in the U.S.) And yet Western Europeans are regularly told by their media that it’s Americans who are fed slanted, selective news—a falsehood also given currency by Americans like Hertsgaard.

No less regrettable than Hertsgaard’s misinformation about the American media are his comments on American affluence, which he regards as an international embarrassment and a sign of moral deficiency. He waxes sarcastic about malls, about the range of products available to American consumers (whom he describes as “dining on steak and ice cream twice a day”), and about the fact that Americans “spent $535 billion on entertainment in 1999, more than the combined GNPs of the world’s forty-five poorest nations.” He appears not to have solicited the opinions of Eastern Europeans, a great many of whom, having been deprived under Communism of both civil rights and a decent standard of living, have a deep appreciation for both American liberty and American prosperity. But then Hertsgaard, predictably, touches on Communism only in the course of making anti-American points. For example, he recalls a man in Havana who, during the dispute over Florida’s electoral votes in the 2000 presidential contest, whimsically suggested that Cuba send over election observers. (Well, that would’ve been one way to escape Cuba without being gunned down.) Hertsgaard further sneers that for many Americans, the fall of the Berlin Wall proved that they lived in “the chosen nation of God.” Now, for my part, I never heard anyone suggest such a connection. What I do remember about the Wall coming down is the lack of shame or contrition on the part of Western leftists who had spent decades appeasing and apologizing for Soviet Communism. In any event, does Hertsgaard really think that in a work purporting to evaluate America in an international context, this smirking comment about the Berlin Wall is all that need be said about the expiration of an empire that murdered tens of millions and from which the U.S., at extraordinary risk and expense, protected its allies for nearly half a century?

The victory over Soviet Communism is not the only honorable chapter of American history that Hertsgaard trashes. World War II? Though he grants that the U.S. saved Western Europe, he puts the word “saving” in scare quotes and maintains that “America had its own reasons” (economic, naturally) for performing this service. September 11? Here, in its entirety, is what he has to say about that cataclysmic day: “Suddenly Americans had learned the hard way: what foreigners think does matter.” The Iraq War? An atrocity against innocent civilians—nothing more. There’s no reference here to Saddam’s torture cells, imprisoned children, or mass graves, no mention of the fact that millions of Iraqis who lived in terror are now free. Instead, Hertsgaard cites with approval a U.N. official’s smug comment that Americans, who never understand anything anyway, have failed to grasp “that Iraq is not made up of twenty-two million Saddam Husseins” but of families and children. For a proper response to this remark, I need only quote from an address made to the Security Council by Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari on December 16, 2003. Accusing the U.N. of failing to save Iraq from “a murderous tyranny,” Zebari said: “Today we are unearthing thousands of victims in horrifying testament to that failure. The United Nations must not fail the Iraqi people again.”5

Hertsgaard compares America unfavorably not only with Europe but—incredibly—with Africa. If “many Europeans speak two if not three languages,” he rhapsodizes, “in Africa, multilingualism is even more common.” So, one might add, are poverty, starvation, rape, AIDS infection, state tyranny and corruption, and such human-rights abominations as slavery, female genital mutilation, and the use of children as soldiers and prostitutes.

Hertsgaard contrasts America’s “frenzied pace” with the “African rhythms” that he finds more congenial and notes with admiration that “Africans live in social conditions that encourage inter- change, discourage hurry, and elevate the common good over that of the individual.” In response to which it might be pointed out (a) that those “social conditions” generally go by the name of abject poverty and (b) that Hertsgaard fails to cite such recent examples of benign African “social . . . interchange” and expressions of concern for the “common good” as Mugabe’s terror regime in Zimbabwe, ethnic clashes in the Central African Republic, Somali anarchy, Rwandan genocide (800,000 dead), prolonged civil wars in Sudan (two million dead), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1.7 million dead), Liberia (200,000 dead), the Ivory Coast, and elsewhere, not to mention massacres of Christians by Muslims in Sudan and Nigeria. To recommend Africa to Americans as a model of social harmony without a hint of qualification is not just unserious, it’s hallucinatory.6

Every nation requires serious, responsible criticism, particularly if it’s the planet’s leading economic power, the arsenal of democracy, and the center of humanity’s common culture. But Hertsgaard’s criticism of America is neither serious nor responsible. Though at one point (apropos of American medicine and science) he concedes, with breathtaking dismissiveness, that “We Americans are a clever bunch,” he usually talks about his fellow countrymen as if they’re buffoons who have mysteriously and unjustly lucked into living in the world’s richest country, while most of the rest of the species, though far brighter and more deserving, somehow ended up in grinding poverty. For him, Americans’ intellectual mediocrity would seem to be a self-evident truth, but his own observations hardly exemplify the kind of reflectiveness a reader of such a book has a right to expect. For example, when he notes with satisfaction that the young Sigmund Freud “complained . . . incessantly about [America’s] lack of taste and culture,” Hertsgaard seems not to have realized that Freud was, of course, comparing the U.S. to his native Austria, which would later demonstrate its “taste and culture” by welcoming the Nazi Anschluss. One ventures to suggest that had Freud—who escaped the Gestapo thanks to intervention by Franklin D. Roosevelt—survived to see the liberated death camps in which his four sisters perished, he might well have revised his views about the relative virtues of American and Austrian culture.

Part II & III here

Part IV here

Lex

When Lex is ashore he blogs, and does it well. While at sea he does not, and that's a shame. I'd been meaning to point you that way again, knowing he'd be returning this past week, and now I find he's shipping out again!

Bah! Go visit, indulge yourself in some of the finest writing you'll find in a MilBlog. Note, you have to click "read more" on all his posts - what you see are only headers. And while there be sure to click a few of his greatest hits on the sidebar.

Thank me later, for now just go!

Au Revoir

A friend of Milblogs, co-blogger and guest author for Mudville, has bid a farewell. She has decided to end her blogging on I Love Jet Noise but hopefully will carry on with her own blog (fingers crossed) Cassandra will be truly missed.

Sports & Military

- Our newest member to Milblogs, Out of Water, thinks Pat Tillman should have made the cover of Sports Illustrated, and I agree.

Greyhawk was thinking maybe Ron Artest for sportsman of the year, but Blackfive also thinks Pat Tillman. One deserves it, but the other seems more representative of the modern athlete. Your call.

B5 notes re Tillman: ?Currently he is in third place behind Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps.? I had to Google Phelps ? he?s an Olympic swimmer whose 15 minutes are up.

A comment at B5: ?Chalk up one more vote for Pat Tillman. Why is there even a contest? Let's see, choose between a guy who rides a bicycle and left his wife & kid for Sheryl Crow, an Olympic swimmer who got a DUI, or a guy who turned down a $3.6 million contract in the NFL to enlist and fight terror, to end up giving the ultimate sacrifice.?

and other sports & military realted news:

- Jordan has always been a team player, Sgt. Maj. James R. Jordan that is, and so has his "not so little brother' Michael. Baldilocks has the latest on him

- Did you know that the Marine Corps sponsors a Busch Series car. Number 25. The Army and Air Force both sponsor a NASCAR team, also. The Army has #01 in the Nextel Cup and the Air Force has #21 in the Busch series.
I CAN'T HEAR YOU!has the full take on it.

Fightin? Words

You media pansies may squeal and may squirm,
But a fightin? man knows that the way to confirm,
That some jihadist bastard truly is dead,
Is a brain-tappin? round fired into his head.
To hell with some wienie with his journalist degree
Safe away from the combat, tryin? to tell me,
I should check him for breathin,? examine his eyes.
Nope, I?m punchin? his ticket to Muj paradise.

To hell with you wimps from your Ivy League schools,
Sittin? far from the war tellin? me about rules
And preachin? to me your wrong-headed contention
That I should observe the Geneva Convention,
Which doesn?t apply to a terrorist scum
So evil and cruel their own people run from,
Cold-blooded killers who love to behead,
Shove that mother? Geneva, I?m leavin? em dead.

You slick talkingheads may preach, preen and prattle,
But you?re damn well not here in the thick of the battle.
It?s chaotic, confusin? it all comes at you fast,
So it?s Muj checkin? out because I?m going to last.
Yeah, I?ll last through this fight and send his ass away
To his fat ugly virgins while I?m still in play.
If you journalist wienies think that?s cold, cruel and crass,
Then pucker up sweeties, kiss a fightin? man?s ass.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

UPDATE:

Russ has givin an explanation to his poem here at the American Thinker

A Small and Often Tragic World

Keep your Wiley's on for this one.

Korea:

Back in '89-'91 as the Iron Curtain fell and Saddam Hussein announced for all to hear that a peaceful world was not his cup of tea I was stationed at Yongsan Army installation in Seoul Korea. Like everywhere else I've been stationed or deployed, news from there strikes a bit close to home. When I read the following a couple weeks back I immediately sent an email to the Mrs.
See if you can guess why.

YONGSAN GARRISON ? When a student at Seoul American High School last year mentioned she was having a hard time caring about the faraway war in Iraq, Michelle Pell decided to make it matter.

Pell, an English teacher, began putting a sign on her door each day to tally the fatalities from the fighting. The latest count was at least 1,186, according to Pell?s door.

Ms Pell is posting the death toll on her door in a school on a military installation, reminding her young students every day that their parents could be the next to go. Since they actually attend High School for reasons other than developing awareness of Iraq and since worrying excessively about their odds of being orphaned could be detrimental to achieving their educational goals I think that her project is unpardonable. Being the parent of students at a Department of Defense Dependents School in Europe I immediately pinged the wife to check with the kids to make sure none of their teachers were engaged in any similar freakish and unforgivable behavior.

By the way, the paragraphs quoted above were from a story in Stars and Stripes relating the sad news that a graduate of Seoul American High School had become the first allumnus of that proud institution to loose his life in Iraq. In fact, he was class of '90 - he graduated while I was stationed there. Since I lived in the small family housing area it's likely I saw him from time to time, one of the many young faces I passed in the playground while there with my kids or saw in the PX or the commisary or at the Fourth of July fireworks...

There are pictures of the man acompanying the article - high school yearbook photos and more recent shots of a proud young father in uniform holding his child. His face hadn't really changed in those very few years. I didn't recognize him, but he looked like every young American I've ever seen.

?I?ve been waiting for this to hit since the war started,? Pell said while sitting in her empty classroom Wednesday afternoon. ?It just makes me sick."

I'll bet she has; I'm sure it does. He must have been the toughest number she ever added to her door.

________________

Iraq:

I had the honor of hearing a very high ranking Air Force officer speak here in Iraq recently. He told of presenting Purple Hearts to a couple of Air Force troops who'd been wounded in action while serving with the Army in Fallujah.

These young enlisted men were Air support liasons, their mission with the Army was to coordinate close air support, calling in death from above on enemy positions often dangerously close to friendly forces. All this while in the thick of things under enemy fire. One of these individuals left a marked impression on the General, the story he told struck a chord with me too.

The young Senior Airman (SrA, USAF E4) accompanied the Company Commander and a small group of soldiers into a house containing some very much alive and hostile enemy forces. The bad guys got the first shots, killed the Captain and dropped another of the GIs there. Without thought for his own safety the SrA grabbed the wounded troop and began pulling him out of the room and to safety, but took a round in the right shoulder for his efforts.

Other troops meanwhile joined the fray and finished off the rats' nest. Ultimately the Air Force guy gets a purple heart from a General, who relates the story I'll quote from memory.

"He had a wounded right arm, so after pining the medal I shook his left hand. But then he saluted me with his right hand, a move that I could tell caused him great pain."

The General choked up a little while telling the tale, and the ever-present dust appeared to be irritating his eyes, too.

Should have kept the Wiley's on.

________________

The General didn't name names in his story, so I began looking around. I knew from 2Slick's absolute must-read report on Fallujah that the Army had lost only one Company Commander, but his account didn't include the name. Next stop Blackfive's, who didn't disappoint me. The Captain's name was Sean Sims, and he was stationed in Germany. I looked in at Sarah's, an Army wife in Germany, and found another interesting angle on the story there.

All that info in hand I turned to my trusty research assistant, Google.

I still haven't identified that Air Force Airman, but I found blogs run by friends or relatives of the Captain here and here and here. The last site has followup entry here, that includes a message from Cpt Sims' father, himself a retired Colonel:

I don?t know what to say or how to describe the sacrifice of your blood for this country. Having served in Vietnam, twice, having a father who spent 36 years as a soldier through two wars, and a brother who served in Vietnam twice and is now 100% disabled from his injuries there, I am encouraged by the awareness of our countrymen for the sacrifices of our children. I am thankful for the realization by our citizenry that freedom is not free.

The Colonel doesn't mention it but I realize now that he also served in Korea. I know because in that same blog entry where his words are reproduced I found a picture of this warrior son of a warrior's son, holding his child, the same picture that I first saw in this Stars and Stripes story I first mentioned above, mourning the first Seoul American High School graduate to die fighting in Iraq.

A picture of a man now young forever.

So much more than number 1,186 on Michelle Pell's door of horror.

________________

Germany, America, Fallujah...

Cpt Sims' funeral will be held today in the US. There has already been a service honoring all four of the fallen of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment in Vilseck, Germany.

Cpt Sims' unit had an embedded reporter with them in Fallujah, and his account of their lethal run through the heart of the anti-Iraqi insurgency will be told in a six-part series in the Miami Herald, part one of which is here.

This is how it begins:

After Sims took in the view, soldiers of Alpha Company scrambled to a road overlooking Fallujah. Then sniper fire began and the battle was joined. Some soldiers emptied their M-16 clips, some yelling, others laughing as return fire pinged off the armored Bradley fighting vehicles and pavement around them.

''Lord, I have to say a special prayer now,'' the 32-year-old Sims said in the soft-spoken accent of his hometown of Eddy, Texas.

He hustled up a berm to the road to link up with the Task Force 2-2 reconnaissance team.

Crouched on his right knee, Sims watched the insurgents' mortar rounds land, and a minute or two later he heard the retort of U.S. artillery. A few hundred yards away, the outskirts of Fallujah rose out of the desert in a warren of sand-colored houses.

Satellite images after recent airstrikes showed dozens of ensuing explosions that probably resulted from roadside bombs placed by the insurgents.

''Everybody realizes that it's something that will affect the rest of our lives, in terms of seeing that type of combat,'' Sims had said a few days earlier. ``When the first bullet impacts, you know the eyes of the world are going to be on you.''

Near Sims, a sniper lay on his belly with a rifle scope pressed against one eye. A five-man team of insurgents was scampering in and out of the buildings of Askari. One rebel appeared to be carrying mortars.

More bullets flew by, and the mortar rounds moved closer. Capt. Kirk Mayfield, of the recon team, yelled, ``Everyone behind the truck!''

Standing next to his Humvee, Mayfield screamed for U.S. mortar strikes on the five-man team. After the ensuing rumble, a voice called over the radio: ``Can I get a battle damage assessment?''

''An assessment?'' the reply came. ``There is no more building.''

Sims laughed to himself.

Sniper shots zipped by, pinging off the Humvee.

''Where is that sniper? Here it is,'' Mayfield barked, turning to a gunner behind an automatic grenade launcher. ``Blow him away.''

The red-hot streak of another bullet whizzed past. The gunner shot round after round, with explosions echoing across the town, then pulled a pair of binoculars to his face and announced: ``He is not there anymore.''

Sims called over to his men, ''Let's go,'' and they went scrambling back down the dirt berm.

The story of the last days of a brief life lived in freedom's cause.

Wizbang-Best MilBlog Nominations

Greyhawks E-mail

I got around to this a bit late, as nominations close Sunday night (tomorrow). Whatever you all can do to get the word out to the the milblog community is appreciated. Tell them they need to mobilize fast :-).

Nominations - Best Military Blog

Kevin Aylward

Wizbang

Greyhawks thoughts:

When I first saw the awards I was glad to see there was no military blog category. I know this was done with the best intentions but I can’t support this sort of competition between actual military – there’s a beauty pageant/popularity/high school prom queen element to this that utterly trivializes the fact of what we’re doing.

There are a handful of actual blogs run by active duty military people on or the near the front lines – I cycle through them every day. Every day I’m glad to find the authors have not gone the way of Bob Zangas, who quit blogging forever last Spring when he and his Iraqi interpreter were gunned down near Hillah by insurgents wearing police uniforms.

On the other hand I note a significant number of blogs about military done by veterans and non-military folks. I can’t speak for others here on the front line but I think the category would best be filled by those sorts.

Again, I know the category was added with the best of intentions and am honored to be mentioned, but I respectfully decline to participate.

Cold Dust Season

Has it been a year already since 'Dub flew over here with that plastic turkey? Man, time flies whether you're having fun or not, so why not have fun?

Here's a thought for the day: if you're at work, on a computer, chances are its called a "workstation". why not call them funstations? It's not that hard a thing to do, and it would change the way people feel about their jobs completely. In fact, why call it work at all? Just call it fun. Perception is everything, after all, and if you insist on calling it fun it will actually be fun in time. It's true, I know from experience. Do you use worksheets of some sort at your office? Call them funsheets. I'll bet you can think up lots of other such examples.

Know why we don't think that way? Because our parents made the same mistakes we did in raising children. We end their "fun" days too early, bring them to the grown up table too soon. Proof: there are no playgrounds in middle schools in America. This is a huge mistake. Turn 12-14 year olds loose in a playground and they'll have a great time - I've seen this happen. We should let them stay at the kids table longer, but no - we turn the fun dial down to about "2" as soon as our kids turn 10. The real world is a harsh place, you know, and it's going to grind you up and wear you down, and that certainly isn't fun. Suck it up. Get used to it. Thus we become workaholics, each and every one of us.

But how rude of me - here you've stopped by, likely taking a break from whatever your job is, and I'm wasting your time with this drivel. That's not why you came here, is it? Throws you off a little. "Hey, I clicked in here to see how goes it in Iraq and you're telling me to have fun! Outrageous!" Sorry, I'll try to fulfill your expectations now, return to what you're used to.

After all, we mere humans are creatures of habit. Nowhere is this more apparent then in a confined environment like that experienced here in camp life in Iraq. We wake at proscribed times, we eat at proscribed times; we conduct our duties on a rigid schedule and return to bed within a few moments of the exact same time every day. If we're not careful we become obsessive about this routine, then little things like mortar attacks really throw us off and we blow them all out of proportion. Damn - that was not on the agenda...

I'm going to avoid that obsession, intentionally bust out of that routine, do something exciting and different. Get ready - here it comes. If you've visited here a few times you've seen plenty of pictures of the moon, but yesterday I pointed my camera at a different target to provide you with this

The sun, in all it's glory.

Of course it's behind an enormous curtain of dust and sand. A storm front made it's way across Iraq earlier this week, and high speed cold air whipped in behind it, lifted the sand and soil, cut visibility down to a very few hundred yards, and turned the sun into something like the pathetic "energy saver" light bulb that even now is "illuminating" an area extending several inches from it's glass shell suspended above my head as I type...

And something somewhere whistled in that wicked breeze. A quiet howl that persisted through the day, a chilling sound to go with the chilling air. Chilling? In the desert? Yes - and given that it's windy and the air is full of solid particles for our breathing pleasure it seems hardly fair (and strangely unreal) that it should be cold too, but it is indeed, though admittedly the sort of cold that causes shivers rather than frostbite.

The sort of cold that reminds hunters that the time has come...

The sort of November cold I associate with Thanksgiving at home, arriving right on time, even in Iraq. Right on time to remind us one and all that time flies whether you're having fun or not, that soon it will be Christmas, and a more intense cold will be upon us. The sort of cold that brings both numbness and pain to the fingertips, and for those far from home and family a different numbness and pain to the soul.

Speaking of fun Christian holidays, lets repel any lost or lingering lefties with a passage from the Bible. Today we read from Genesis, chapter 12:

1 Now (1) the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And (2) I will make you a great nation, And (3) I will bless you, And make your name great; And so (4) you shall be a blessing;

"We're going to do great things, Abram, you and me, we're going to really get things started. But first you must get out of this corner of the earth. Put it in your rearview and don't look back." Americans can relate to that - we as a nation came from elsewhere, left home for a promised land. We got there and met other travelers, and sat down with them for the first thanksgiving. Odd that I'm an American writing this from the very same land that is the answer to the question "What did God tell Abram to put in his rearview?"

There are good reasons for leaving this land. One is certainly the flies. Not the time flies, the real flies. The cold weather brings them in to the tents, like a Biblical plague. They're persistent creatures - small, quick, annoying. Not annoying enough to drive you away by themselves, of course, but enough to make the ultimate good bye to this place a bit less sorrowful than it otherwise might be. Hard to tell whether they're brave or foolish, these little pests, they land upon you while you try to eat - or while you're doing anything, for that matter. This just makes us more determined to swat them, of course, to keep them from taking some of the fun out of Thanksgiving.

And though in the end the flies won't drive us away we know that when we do leave they will remain.

And though it's still a bit too early to talk of leaving that time will be upon us all too soon. The elections here in Iraq will mark a significant waypoint on that road home, one of many, after which things will be different. How so? What then? That's conversation for the grown up table this Thanksgiving season. And how amazing it will be, to be here for that talk, and those elections, and for the American elections that came before, when those seats at the grown up table were divvied out. We'll see soon enough if the right people got them.

Time flies... kids grow up too fast...

Are holidays away from family too great a price to pay to be here in this historic time? Great things have great price, of course. So it goes. And the Mrs. set a fine Thanksgiving feast for us before I left, and I anticipate another on return.

And I realize that wherever I am I've much to be thankful for.

I pondered linking something, someone else's efforts that support my own claims, the fundamental heart of blogging, of course. I realized I have something different for you this time, and it's from a source I?ve already quoted from. On arrival here I opened a Bible to a random passage, read it.

This is what I found:

Fear not, O Jacob My servant,' declares the LORD, 'And do not be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you (17) from afar And your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return and will be (18) quiet and at ease, And (19) no one will make him afraid.

So I've got that going for me - which is nice.

It's Jeremiah, chapter 30, and if you prefer to think I, a guy in Iraq whose family is in Germany, read the whole book just to find that quote rather than discovering it via supernatural guidance then I'm certain there's nothing I can say to make you change your mind.

After all , this is just a blog.

I close with my sincerest wishes that your Thanksgiving is a fun one, free of flies or other foul things that plague us on the edge.

For our time together has certainly flown by, and I'm afraid I must go now - I've got to get back to work.

Troop Levels in Iraq

Up or down? In or out? Here's food for thought from the Boston Globe:

WASHINGTON -- A growing number of national security specialists who supported the toppling of Saddam Hussein are moving to a position unthinkable even a few months ago: that the large US military presence is impeding stability as much as contributing to it and that the United States should begin major reductions in troops beginning early next year.

Their assessments, expressed in reports, think tank meetings, and interviews, run counter to the Bush administration's insistence that the troops will remain indefinitely to establish security. But some contend that the growing support for an earlier pullout could alter the administration's thinking.

Those arguing for immediate troop reductions include key Pentagon advisers, prominent neoconservatives, and some of the fiercest supporters of the Iraq invasion among Washington's policy elite.

Are there really those in the administration whose opinions matter who are thinking this way? Is this a trial balloon? Or has the administration already determined a future course that includes a significant troop reduction in Iraq in the first half of '05? I think it must be true - or else why would the NY Times feverishly establish a contrary position, demanding that the US immediately throw more of it's best and brightest into Iraq?

The swift and stunning American military sweep through Falluja this month recalls the equally swift and stunning sweep through Baghdad and other Iraqi cities some 20 months ago. Those triumphs quickly turned sour when looting and lawlessness took over the thinly patrolled streets, embittering residents, stalling reconstruction and giving the insurgency a jump-start on the occupation authorities. The sequel needs to be different. That will require a rapid reinforcement of American ground troops in Iraq. About 20,000 to 40,000 more soldiers are needed right away.

Funny, I seem to recall something about 40,000 more troops in a John Kerry talking point...

Of course the Times piece is just another turd they've thrown in the punchbowl for thanksiving - which is why they don't have a seat at the grown up table this year. On the other hand the Globe story is a worthy read, by all means, check it out.

The Feast

Emphasis added in following:

Kevin Sites
describes the immediate aftermath of the shooting of one of the thousands of insurgents in Fallujah (emphasis added):

For a moment, I'm paralyzed still taping with the old man in the foreground. I get up after a beat and tell the Marines again, what I had told the lieutenant -- that this man -- all of these wounded men -- were the same ones from yesterday. That they had been disarmed treated and left here.

At that point the Marine who fired the shot became aware that I was in the room. He came up to me and said, "I didn't know sir-I didn't know." The anger that seemed present just moments before turned to fear and dread.

Clearly the Marine is responding to Sites belated identification of the individuals as having already been treated and disarmed (a point which the Marine need not accept as Gospel anyway). But now watch the NY Times work it's "magic", making the key quote disappear:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 21 - A marine who appears to shoot and kill an unarmed and wounded Iraqi prisoner in an NBC News video was not aware that the incident was being recorded, and moments later approached the cameraman with seemingly remorseful words - "I didn't know, sir, I didn't know" - according to the first public description of the events by the cameraman, Kevin Sites, since his brief and somewhat ambiguous initial report.

There are no clarifying remarks to follow, and no verbatim quotes from Sites' web page. (A feat I was able to accomplish with ease.) Sites was clear on what it was the Marine didn't know - but that didn't fit the Times' storyline. Pathetic. You can't tell whether this is the work of a reporter or an editor, (that lack of accountability is one of the major flaws with legacy media) but the reporter (Ed Wong) also wrote a piece prior to the invasion of Fallujah declaring the "real problem" to be Ramadi - another city nearby - in essence accusing the US of having botched the operation before a shot was fired. The Times' pre-attack coverage of Fallujah also included a story explaining that President Bush had earned a huge majority of military votes from Iraq due to his anti-gay marriage agenda.

In spite of the few "balanced" pieces they occasionally print The Times remains a premier left-wing information toilet. Sadly there's a market for such, as it seems to benefit from an endless supply of readers eager to feed from it and accepting that every morsel they discover there is delicious and nutritious too. In the case of their twisting of Kevin Sites' account of the shooting in Fallujah it's disappointing to see so many who should know better eagerly fighting their way to a coveted spot at the drain pipe for the feast.

Are there Atheists in Cockpits?

No. And you know why? Because they can't call them "cockpits" any more.

Mentioned this story over the weekend, but it's worth repeating:

Air Force Academy officials are cracking down on some staffers who put Bible verses at the bottom of their academy e-mails.

"None of this [Bible or personal signature notes] is appropriate, and it says this in Air Force instructions," Lt. Col. Laurent Fox said Thursday.

Academy officials sent a memo to everyone at the school on Sept. 15, explaining the policy for using government e-mail. Earlier this week, academy superintendent Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa said the school would bolster its religious-tolerance training after a survey showed evidence of harassment or pressure toward cadets based on their beliefs.

He said that about half the cadets who responded to the annual survey reported hearing religious slurs, comments or jokes and that some cadets felt ostracized because they weren't religious.

This move comes on the heels of the recent DoD decision to ban official support of the Boy Scouts by military installations - because the scouts require religious faith in their members. (They don't require faith in any specific divine being, mind you, just faith, be it Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, etc.)

Likewise you can (for now) celebrate any of those religions in this handsome building:

The famous Air Force Academy Chapel. Of course, someone soon will realize how utterly offensive and insensitive such structures are, and the bulldozers will certainly make short work of it. Or perhaps the Air Force can take it down Air Force style, faster than you can say "sniper in the mosque!"

(picture found here - along with several other awesome shots)

Those who've already read Belmont Club today might recall this quote, perhaps now with an extra chill:

For one, Hitler would have taken a very dim view of Jesusland, a country which George Bush is said to be in the process of founding, whose geographic location is to the immediate south of the United States of Canada. Martin Bormann said, "National Socialism and Christianity are irreconcilable." Hitler, according to Klaus Fischer's Nazi Germany stated that "one day we want to be in a position where only complete idiots stand in the pulpit and preach to old women." In a concession to popular feeling, however, the Nazis offered the public certain acceptable 'faith traditions' including something called "Gottglaubig", a dished-up creed heavily overladen with ancient Germanic pagan beliefs with versions of rituals for birth, marriage and death. "By 1938, carols and nativity plays were were forbidden in the schools, and the words 'Christmas' itself was replaced by the word 'Yuletide'."

How appropriate, with the Holiday season upon us.

Update 6 May 2005: This story has reappeared in the headlines. See this updated post and many the links and comments it contains.

Emails from Dave

The Green Side has some interesting e-mails from Dave.

Dear Dad -

Just came out of the city and I honestly do not know where to start. I am afraid that whatever I send you will not do sufficient honor to the men who fought and took Fallujah.

Shortly before the attack, Task Force Fallujah was built. It consisted of Regimental Combat Team 1 built around 1st Marine Regiment and Regimental Combat Team 7 built around 7th Marine Regiment. Each Regiment consisted of two Marine Rifle Battalions reinforced and one Army mechanized infantry battalion.

Regimental Combat Team 1 (RCT-1) consisted of 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (3rd LAR), 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5); 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (3/1)and 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry (2/7). RCT-7 was slightly less weighted but still a formidable force. Cutting a swath around the city was an Army Brigade known as Blackjack. The Marine RCT's were to assault the city while Blackjack kept the enemy off of the backs of the assault force.

Continue reading here

Getting the word out about Fallujah

Castle Argghhh! has some photos of some interesting finds not covered by the MSM

All - I've just received the slideshow from the
Exploitation Team (unclass, they want this out) that
shows some of the stuff the 'other guys' were doing in
Fallujah. Ya want some fodder for Law of War
discussions to go along with the Marine in the Mosque,
here's your link.

The effort is more than a sidelight

European Stars and Stripes
November 21, 2004
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=25635
Extra Space On Planes Used For Goods For Iraqi Kids

By Ron Jensen, Stars and Stripes

LOGISTICS SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA, Iraq ? Col. Bradly MacNealy hates empty space.

That?s why he initiated a space-available program to ferry troops around Iraq if there is a seat aboard any aircraft of the Task Force 185th Aviation, which he commands.

And that?s why these same birds carry school supplies donated through Operation Iraqi Children to units far and wide for distribution to local schools.

?If we have empty space on our aircraft, we?re doing something wrong,? MacNealy said.

He is especially proud of the task force?s effort to get the school supplies to Iraq children, but worried that the effort will end when his troops leave soon.

Supplies donated to the charity founded by actor Gary Sinise were getting only to Kuwait, where they languished. The 185th Task Force took on the job of distributing them throughout the country, getting them one step closer to their intended recipients.

The two groups came together through the family support group for the 185th Aviation Brigade of the Mississippi National Guard. The support group had collected a colossal amount of school supplies of its own to send, including 8,000 backpacks stuffed with items for young students.

It approached FedEx to help deliver the goods overseas. FedEx already was helping Operation Iraqi Children, but was frustrated because the gear was stuck in Kuwait. It wondered if the brigade could help.

?We said, ?Well, we?ll give it a try,?? MacNealy said.

The brigade already had a secret weapon in this effort. Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeffery Smith, who works in Kuwait for the brigade?s rear detachment to send aircraft parts north, had established relationships with Air Force and Army logistics people. He began seeking space for the idle school supplies for Operation Iraqi Children.

In August, it began arriving at Logistics Support Area Anaconda in the form of large, towering pallets that included such things as notebooks and soccer balls.

Capt. Stacey Cetin coordinates delivery of the supplies to units throughout Iraq that want to help out a nearby school. If there is room aboard the brigade?s CH-47 Chinooks, C-23 Sherpas or UH-60 Black Hawks, the supplies are loaded.

?It goes space available,? she said. ?Mission comes first. Beans and bullets come first.?

Flying crews soon got into the act. They have begun figuring out how a brief detour can drop off goods somewhere without harming the mission.

Soon, Cetin?s phone began ringing. E-mails began arriving. Soldiers, airmen and Marines all wanted supplies sent to them.

?They?re very thankful,? she said of the units that receive the school supplies. ?They?re also saying, ?Can you put us back on the list again???

MacNealy said about three deliveries are being made each day by his aircraft. In all, the brigade has received and delivered 800 pallets of supplies since it began this effort.

MacNealy and Cetin are concerned that when their tour concludes at the end of December, the supplies might languish again in a Kuwaiti warehouse.

?We?re hoping the unit that comes in to replace us picks it up,? MacNealy said. ?If we weren?t doing this, that warehouse in Kuwait would be filling up.?

The effort is more than a sidelight to the goal of the entire operation, the commander said. It is providing help to the people of Iraq, showing them that America is here to help, not to occupy.

In that way, he said, it is a direct part of the war effort.

?And it?s not paid for by the government,? he said of the supplies. ?These are civilians donating to the cause that is helping us win over here.?

OOPS!

Since I've taken the reins of this site I've learned a little blog lingo, learned blog etiquette and have almost mastered html. What I haven't mastered is cleaning spam. Although it's easy enough through Moveable Type (when it want's to cooperate) I do sometimes get caught up in the monotony of it, especially when I get slammed with 800 porn/gambling spam in an hour. Any way, the point I'm trying to get to is, some of you will notice that your comments have have been deleted. Any one who had the word men in their comment. This word has been removed from my blacklist, however I didn't realize til too late, that several, well maybe alot of your comments have probably been remove. If it was one or two, well hell, even five or six I'd repost them myself, but we're talking 20 or more and I'm still cleaning. All I can do is say I'm sorry and your welcome to repost them. Greyhawk and I plan to update MT when when we switch servers in the near future. I really would hate to go with a registration option and hopefully it won't come to that.

Oh and any one named Grannysexthumbs, don't even try it.

(sigh) 448 to go.

Allawi Cousin Freed

hose who were following events here closely will recall that three relatives of Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi were kidnapped immediately prior to the assault on Fallujah. Although there was initially little hope the story has ended well, albeit with limited fanfare. I certainly almost missed the happy ending:

In Baghdad, the cousin of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was freed by kidnappers, according to Al Arabiya television.

Ghazi Allawi, 75, was taken hostage Nov. 9 along with his wife and pregnant daughter-in-law. The women were both set free five days later.

Don't know how that slipped the attention of so many - it's right there in the LA Times round up of news from Iraq, Under the headline "U.S. Troops Fire On Bus, Killing 3"

Sites

If you're not familiar with this site there are three things you should know before reading this post:

1. No one can accuse me of undue sympathy for journalists, I've done more than my share of highlighting their various character flaws and other shortfalls. FOr instance, while others were wringing their hands over the matter Mudville exposed the fraud perpetrated by CBS and Seymour Hersh on the Abu Ghraib case, by far the most heinous act ever committed by the media against America's efforts in the War on Terror. (That story and other media bashing exposes can be found here.)

2. I am a GI stationed in Iraq.

3. This post isn't about the Marine who shot a combatant who deserved a far worse death than he got.

Keep those things in mind and we'll get along just fine...

Last week, before the great brouhaha over the Marine shooting of a combatant in Fallujah I linked to Kevin Sites' Blog with these words:

Whenever reading a published report from the front I always wonder where the work of the reporter ends and that of the editor begins. By that same token, I'm never certain who to blame for any part of a story I might find offensive or recognize as patently false.

Many media types fault blogs for that "lack of an editor". I find it a strong point. Don't like what you read here? I'm responsible for it - your disagreement is with me. I even provide you the forum to do so. MSM stories, on the other hand, are a vague "responsibility free" zone - witness RatherGate for an excellent example. Dan-o's got deniability - plausible or not - and can hide behind any number of scapegoats; there are enough layers of people involved in that fraud to offer even those who can't hide a perfect opportunity to shrug and deny.

That said, I can't help but admire a reporter like Kevin Sites, who has been blogging off and on from Iraq since the invasion. Here are his latest posts - photos and a report from the streets of Fallujah.

After the shooting became the biggest story of the week for last Monday I added this quick update:

For those accusing Sites of various anti-American crimes I offer the same admonition I'd give to those who accuse the young Marine of atrocities: "You weren't there."

The gist of which was drawn from an even earlier (and initially unrelated) post wherein I asked Is there a name for the psychological condition whose sufferers believe anything they hear about Iraq - except for the words of those of us who are here - to the point where they are compelled to demand that the people who actually live here share their twisted view?

Later in a very much misunderstood, sometimes misquoted, and often ignored post I offered up a more in-depth defense, noting the fact that in Fallujah only one side was fighting for freedom of the press - among other noble causes - and that those who would call for the end of embedded reporters were dishonoring the sacrifices of a lot of GIs.

Now I'll dispense with subtleties and add this: I've seen a number of people claim that Sites "wasn't fit to accompany those Marines" yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah but the one inescapable fact is this: He was accompanying those Marines, he did go through that door, and I'm not sure the loudest whiners in this entire episode would have the guts to do so.

Now go back and read this entry, from even earlier then those others linked above. Never mind, I'll excerpt:

“Since January this year, anti-Iraqi forces have abducted at least 20 journalists,” pointed out Lt Cmdr Balice, quoting the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

There is a widespread perception among Iraqis that foreign journalists are “spies” or collaborators with coalition forces, the CPJ had stated in a recent report.

Reporters Without Borders, an international media watchdog with its headquarters in Paris, has listed Iraq as the most dangerous country for journalists.

The 19-month Iraq conflict has now claimed the lives of 57 news media personnel - journalists and critical support staff - and one is missing, according to records kept by the International News Safety Institute.

At the onset of the invasion in 2003, Sites virtually walked into this country without the relative safety of being embedded with U.S. forces, and has been here off and on ever since. Knowing the sort of cojones that took I expected throughout the whole latest series of events that Sites would post his own thoughts on the issue on his blog, where as I noted originally no editor (or anchorman or pundit, I now add) would stand between him and the public.

Now he has done so, in the form of a letter to the only people he feels (rightfully) he owes an explanation.

To Devil Dogs of the 3.1:

Since the shooting in the Mosque, I've been haunted that I have not been able to tell you directly what I saw or explain the process by which the world came to see it as well. As you know, I'm not some war zone tourist with a camera who doesn't understand that ugly things happen in combat. I've spent most of the last five years covering global conflict. But I have never in my career been a 'gotcha' reporter -- hoping for people to commit wrongdoings so I can catch them at it.

This week I've even been shocked to see myself painted as some kind of anti-war activist. Anyone who has seen my reporting on television or has read the dispatches on this website is fully aware of the lengths I've gone to play it straight down the middle -- not to become a tool of propaganda for the left or the right.

But I find myself a lightning rod for controversy in reporting what I saw occur in front of me, camera rolling.

It's time you to have the facts from me, in my own words, about what I saw -- without imposing on that Marine -- guilt or innocence or anything in between. I want you to read my account and make up your own minds about whether you think what I did was right or wrong. All the other armchair analysts don't mean a damn to me.

Here it goes.

And here you go to read the whole thing - unless you've already decided what happened and don't care to let additional facts disturb you.

UPDATE: comments unintentionally removed can be seen in extended entry

Name: 1trupatriot
Email Address: OneTruePatriot@yahoo.com
URL:

Comments:

I'm with you. I appreciate your link, I saw a smidgen of it this morning on Fox news, but couldn't find more. Sometimes the truth isn't pretty. I hope Kevin Sites can hold his head high, knowing that some of us would have reacted just as he did. It takes guts for you to support him, when half the blogging community is saying things like "frag him". The truth is none of us, from that Marine, to Kevin Sites, to me or anyone else, would know exactly how we would react unless we were there. And since we weren't, we may just hafta take their words for why they did whatever they did.

_________________________________________________________________

Name: Dman
Email Address: stuppldu@hotmail.com
URL:

Comments:

Are there any links to Sites reporting and video on the atrocities of the terrorists? If not, are there any links to Sites reporting on the positive actions of the Marines resulting in positive outcomes? I am not trying to be sarcastic but rather trying to make a judgement whether Site is truly balanced in his reporting as he claims.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Bucky Katt
Email Address: jaalinta@aol.com
URL:

Comments:

If there are, I haven't seen them. On the contrary his Blog write-ups of the attack on Falluja are typical of the MSM leftest screed one would expect to see in the NYT Op-Ed section.
It pretty much belies his "straight down the middle" claim.

What bothers me is the self-righteous attitude displayed by Mr. Sites. It's *all* about him. I believe it was Salt Lick in a earlier post that mentioned the title of Sites' blog: "Dispatches from a life in conflict" i.e. Mr. Sites' life. It don't get more self-centered than that.

Instead of letting Military Justice take its due course, he decided to be judge, jury and executioner. He *knew* what was going to happen, despite his protestations to the contrary. Now that this hornets nest has been stirred up, he's trying to back pedal. Why? Because despite his claim that "All the other armchair analysts don't mean a damn to me.", it does upset him otherwise he wouldn't be wasting his breath or his bandwidth.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: m2
Email Address: mbmays@gmail.com
URL:

Comments:

"Now he has done so, in the form of a letter to the only people he feels (rightfully) he owes an explanation."

I take issue with only this statement in your post. If Mr. Sites feels he has the right to report it, if he feels that the world has a right to know it then I have a right to question his rationales.

Godspeed Greyhawk.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Military Wife
Email Address: youweren'tthere@themosque.com
URL:

Comments:

To err is human. Now guess who I'm talking about.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: ThomasAgee
Email Address: tagee@sbcglobal.net
URL: http://tagee@sbcyahoo.com

Comments:

Keep posting GREYHAWK. Sites can defend himself, he obviously feels the need to do so. It's nice to know ya'll have as much info as you do over there. Don't take no crap off nobody.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: 1trupatriot
Email Address: OneTruePatriot@yahoo.com
URL:

Comments:

of course he shows the good stuff. He shows the character, the integrity, the brotherhood. At some point, no matter how intent on getting the "big story" a reporter is, they either pack up when the bullets start flying or they decide to dig in and stay. This guy stayed, time after time. You can feel his respect for the men he is with. What he seems to be saying is that he almost hoped the head honchos would take the tape away and relieve him of the responsibility, but they saw the need to be honest, as much as it would hurt. The commander could easily have taken that tape and told him to shut up, he might have told the story but without the tape it wouldnt have the same impact. They didnt take the tape, they didnt stop him. We ARE fighting for democracy over there, right?

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Max Power
Email Address: roustabout@gmail.com
URL:

Comments:

Whats moore telling is what sites DOESN'T say, that the shooting was entirely justified. I do appreciate your even handedness, but Sites personal bravery has no place in this story IMHO. Keep up the great work.
-Max

__________________________________________________________________

Name: 1trupatriot
Email Address: OneTruePatriot@yahoo.com
URL:

Comments:

well, maybe what he is saying is he doesn't know for sure that it was? In all our rush to support our soldiers, and I do, perhaps we are rushing too quickly to say he did nothing wrong? Maybe, just maybe, this young man did something he shouldn't have done, in the heat of the moment, with all the trauma and fear of having been shot the day before? I'm saying perhaps just because it was a mistake doesn't mean it didn't happen. Maybe part of the story, even part we may not want to hear, is the damage done to the psyches of these young men when they are forced to make split second decisions that aren't judged in the light of war, but in the light of humanity? So, what happens if he was wrong to shoot, but he had a darn good reason to be afraid, here in the world we call that guilty by reason of temporary insanity. Guilty, with a damn good excuse, but guilty nonetheless. And maybe not, maybe we won't know, but at least we will have tried our best to understand.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Mr. K
Email Address: kirk5874@hotmail.com
URL:

Comments:

I think it may be best to reserve judgment on the whole episode until more comes out.

But in my gut I do not trust Sites. Here is a story about when Sites was captured by Fedayeen.
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0304/11/lol.11.html

I am sure Sites one day wants to come back to the USA. If he did not regret the release of his video, why the lengthy explanation? Regardless of the sacred responsibility to report, he is not obliged to release everything he films. The very fact that he has been there so long, and knows the Arab people and Arab media, means he knew the impact of the release of his video.

His action was not like that of the Marine: over with and done and cannot be undone. He had the time to reflect on the impact of his actions. He can press the delete button, or even delay the release.

Did he view the release of the video in the context of, will this help or hurt the cause of the Marines in 3.1 he cares so much about? Any moron with the IQ of a skunk knows the answer to that question.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: EagleSpeak
Email Address: lawofsea@aol.com
URL: http://www.eaglespeak.blogspot.com

Comments:

Well said, Greyhawk!
If Sites managed to tape what was, at best, a confusing situation, well, we don't talk about the "fog of war" for no reason.
SItes understands the context as shown by his comments:

I'm also well aware from many years as a war reporter that there have been times, especially in this conflict, when dead and wounded insurgents have been booby-trapped, even supposedly including an incident that happened just a block away from the mosque in which one Marine was killed and five others wounded. Again, a detail that was clearly stated in my television report.
No one, especially someone like me who has lived in a war zone with you, would deny that a solider or Marine could legitimately err on the side of caution under those circumstances. War is about killing your enemy before he kills you.
In the particular circumstance I was reporting, it bothered me that the Marine didn't seem to consider the other insurgents a threat -- the one very obviously moving under the blanket, or even the two next to me that were still breathing.
I can't know what was in the mind of that Marine. He is the only one who does.

Exactly.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Walter Wallis
Email Address: unclgene@pacbell.net
URL:

Comments:

The man was the enemy. HE WAS NOT YET A PRISONER! He made a sudden, unexpected move, as differentiated from the other enemies who apparently did not make sudden, unexpected moves. There is a reason that guys say "Freeze, turkey" or some such. When the story got to me it was "Marine shoots unarmed prisoner." Whoever put that statement in the story was prejudging a situation apparently well outside his/her experience. The failure of Sites to adequately convey the situation to his editors with his tape made him deserving of the criticism raining down on him.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Paulie at The Commons
Email Address: paulie@paulieworld.com
URL: http://www.paulieworld.com/blog

Comments:

Greyhawk:

Keep up the fire, as the Manchus used to day. Or, Rock Steady, as my old regiment used to say.

You are providing two essential services, military and communicative, and I thank you for both.

God Speed.

Paulie

__________________________________________________________________

Name: jordan
Email Address: mariajordan60@hotmail.com
URL:

Comments:

On the back handed slap to the public, which happens to take a dim view of Sites' actions: he has a job because the public consumes his work.
The context he provided was "The man did not appear to be armed or threatening in any way." You can hear the panic and fear in the Marine's voice just before he shot.
It bothered Sites that the soldier did not see the other enemy wounded lying around as a threat? Doesn't that show that the soldier was alarmed by this particular guy's movement only?

Sites has ingratiated himself with the Marines he depends on for his safety and continued work, and seems to be doing a persuasive job of getting back in everyone's good graces.

All I can do is warn deployed family members to keep their distance.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Rightwingsparkle
Email Address: mazzman1@sbcglobal.net
URL: http://www.Rightwingsparkle.blogspot.com

Comments:

Gosh, I feel so wierd disagreeing with you Greyhawk. It isn't that I think Sites is anti military or anything like that. I just have a different take on it.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: BloodSpite
Email Address: nospam@npsamplease.com
URL: http://www.techography.com

Comments:

I think everyone needs to remember a few things.

First off Sites is a reporter. Wether *we* think he should have not released the tape is moot. That is his job and he is going to perform his job as he see's fit.

Secondly before the raving mad dogs tear me to pieces, think of this as a ray of hope.

I think Greyhawk will back me here.

As a infantryman you have to be aware of your surroundings.

That means that said infantryman more than likey knew Sites was there, with his camera.

Now what trained rationale individual would shoot a individual without cause knowing there would be filmed record of it?

I think we should wait and allow justice to run its course.

That is, after all, one of the reasons we are in the Middle East at all, yes? Justice?

Wait. Don't turn loose your wolves ladies and gentlemen. While not imnipotent the military rarely hangs people out to dry totally undeservingly.

Let law takes it course first. In the end I think all will be justified and proven.
*Because we weren't there!*

Take care Greyhawk and stay safe.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Sean
Email Address: dustmans@mfr.usmc.mil
URL: http://docinthebox.blogspot.com

Comments:

Great Post Grayhawk!

In the fog of war, you react by instinct, whatever else you can say about Sites, he has guts. Having an imbedded reporter going with your group into combat is the same as going through a big inspection. You don't want to do something that will embarrass yourself or those around you. In the Marines defense, if you take out the bad guy, he's not going to come back and fight another day. So I agree with what the Marine was doing, just not in front of a camera and I agree with Kevin Sites for not hiding the truth, it is a black eye for us today but in the long run, it shows the world that we stand behind letting the people back home see what is going on out there (same could be said with Milblogs!). I hope the Marine comes out of this alright and I for one don't label Kevin anti-American (but if he's behind me I won't be capping someone that's lying on the ground)

Stay safe!

PS Grayhawk, I'm heading your way in January, keep a portajohn warm for me.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Jill Livingston
Email Address: jillabc@comcast.net
URL:

Comments:

Per Jonah Goldberg's 2001 article in JWR: "Journalist before American": During the 1987 seminar filmed for a PBS series "Ethics in America" Peter Jennings of ABC and Mike Wallace of CBS agreed that reporters shouldn't be distracted by loyalty to their own country. Placed in a hypothetical scenario of travelling with enemy troops during a Vietnam -like war, Wallace and Jennings were asked if they would warn American soldiers walking into an impending ambush. At first Jennings said he would warn them, but famously switched his position after Wallace lectured him about what it means to be a journalist."

Then there is David Westin, president of ABC news at the time of 9-11 who stated he "...didn't have an opinion" when asked if the Pentagon was a legitimate target. The way I would like all the journalists at ABC News to perceive it, is there is a big difference between a normative position and a positive position. ...as a journalist I feel strongly that's somthing that I should not be taking a position on."

With the MSM showing its bias so openly individual reporters are going to be judged fairly or not by the actions their news organs take with the material provided by the reporters.

When is it appropriate for a reporter to withold information? Just because they can file a report does that mean they always should?

For this particular incident I am putting my faith in the military system that the Marine will get a fair hearing that is held with the proper context of the hell of the moment. I pray for that Marine and all of our fighting forces. They will have to live the rest of their lives with the horror of the unpeakeable acts they have had to witness and sometimes be a part of so we can be free. I hope our country will recognize the help some veterans will need when they come home.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Bill Trippe
Email Address: btrippe@hotmail.com
URL: http://counterpundit.blogspot.com

Comments:

Excellent post. I appreciate your perspective on this. I, for one, am reserving judgment on both Sites and the marine.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: bclimo
Email Address: billclimo@comcast.net
URL:

Comments:

Tried to post this to Kevin Sites, but he has no way of sending him critiques of his works.

"Just read your letter to Marines in "3.1". I would think after spending some time with them, you might have learned that 3/1 is the usual abbreviation for the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

My big question is why you allowed my Marines to proceed into the mosque without giving them the important and necessary info to prevent the shooting that occurred. Had you not been there the day before? Why didn't you question the ambiguous reply from the departing squad? Did you offer any info, or just wait for the worst thing to happen? Are you another of the "objective Journalists" who use the Marines as protective cover and then sell them out for your Pulitzer prize.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Cecil Turner
Email Address: turnercg1@mindspring.com
URL:

Comments:

I'm unimpressed with Sites's side of the story. Whether intentional or not, he and NBC handed a significant propaganda victory to the insurgents. The most charitable interpretation is cluelessness.

Sites said: "I considered not feeding the tape to the pool -- or even, for a moment, destroying it. But that thought created the same pit in my stomach that witnessing the shooting had. It felt wrong." Okay, but what's the rush? How about saving it for the post-war documentaries? Does it bother you that Al Jazeera thinks it worthy of near-continuous looping?

In my opinion, each reporter ought to have to pass a test prior to embedding, with questions like the following:

"With a live video feed, you see missile fire dropping on the Baghdad "Green Zone," with an easily identifiable landmark in the background, your immediate reaction should be:

A) I've got to get this scene on air immediately--it's important news; or,

B) This obviously can't be aired--it shows the enemy where his shot is falling--I wouldn't dream of acting as his forward observer."

Anyone who can't immediately identify "B" as the correct answer need not apply.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: O'Rourke
Email Address: rkorko@dslextreme.com
URL:

Comments:

The fact that Sites "DID go through that door" has nothing to do with anything. Whether he is a sniveling coward or the bravest man who ever lived is beside the point.

The real question is not did a marine do something "wrong". The question is why is a reporter releasing video which gives aid and comfort to our enemy, makes Iraq more difficult to pacify, and makes the job of being a marine in Iraq more dangerous?

Benedict Arnold was the most courageous field general of the revolutionary war. None of us "were there" when he went over to the British.

So what?

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Foobarista
Email Address: foobarista@yahoo.com
URL:

Comments:

I'm rather torn about this situation. Sites definitely gave Al Jazeera and other enemy propagandists anti-American, pro-terrorist fodder, and doubtless he knew this when he published his report. I can't imagine he wasn't unaware that his footage would be made into terrorist recruiting videos, showing just what soulless monsters the American Marines are. The guy that was shot in the video did more for the terrorist cause than any other fighter in Falluja.

On the other hand, self-censorship is a Bad Thing in a reporter. I'd rather have official military censors than encourage or insist on self-censorship among reporters.

When does a reporter cease being an invisible chronicler and become part of the battle?

Another thing: video is no more "truthful" than text. Video isn't "the truth" any more than a text description is, and it can be taken out of context, misused, and otherwise manipulated in the same way. Unfortunately, the effect is far more powerful.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Toby Petzold
Email Address: neognostikos@hotmail.com
URL: http://www.neognostikos.net/blog

Comments:

I just hope the Marine is cleared.

Using mosques as redoubts and feigning surrender and making women and children into human shields and all the other stuff is dishonorable crap. Our fighting men and women are facing some of the worst vermin on Earth. Whatever they have to do to exterminate these violent Submitters is fine with me because I know that our people are not murderers of innocents but are the agents of justice.

And that rat our man killed wasn't in that mosque as a prisoner or as a worshipper, but as an unjustified murderer of Americans and free Iraqis who had lost his fight. To hell with him and all his kind.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: J Yowsa
Email Address: jyowsa@hotmail.com
URL:

Comments:

The net effect of what Kevin Sites did is undemocratic, anti-free press and anti-human rights. But it's also totally in sync with what the rest of them have been doing all along. I notice too that CBS, the New York Times and others have picked up on Sites as THE voice of authority in the matter. Is he? He seems full of himself to me. And what a laugh talking about "truth" and NBC in the same breath. At least say you're going outside the mold or something if you're going to that. The best Sites can claim is that he assisted those liars in blowing an aberration totally out of proportion. And otherwise he himself lied.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: zoomlens
Email Address: goodjinipper12@yahoo.com
URL: http://insiteon.blogspot.com

Comments:

What if the enemy had thrown a grenade or flipped a switch and set off some device - if the marine had hesitated? Would the media be blaming the marine for not saving Sites' life? Well, no, because the marine would be dead,too. I liked the embed idea at first. I don't know now. Maybe we just need to have a screening process to make sure there is no hidden agenda that could go into action after the embed has made nice with the troops and gotten their loyalty.I believe there is enough evidence around to think that Sites had two agendas:No.1: His Chance at Fame. He inserted himself into the story very well. No.2: A liberal bias. Just because he went into Iraq by himself does not mean that he is a patriot. It means something was driving him that was bigger than fear. If that was just getting the honest story, then why did this become "Film at 11:00 on Al Jazeera?" All he had to do was report it quietly to the military and keep his mouth shut until they were through investigating ...instead of producing propaganda for the enemy. I guess for me, journalists should, of course, be honest. No question. But they should be Americans first and journalist second - if they want to embed with our troops. Sorry to sound off so. I just feel really strong about this. I signed the petition for the marine. I hope all of you did, too. LGF has it and so do some other sites. I linked to LGF to get it in my blog. Also there are some addresses there and at Blogs for Bush that some of you might want to use to write or call the Pentagon , etc. in support of the marine. God Bless, Grey hawk.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: bendan
Email Address: caobei@gmail.com
URL:

Comments:

I'm amazed at the comments regarding this incident. Bravo to Greyhawk for pointing out that Kevin Sites is a decent guy and that he doesn't deserve this criticism. And by criticism, let's be f-ing honest: a bunch of people shooting their mouths off about this guy could get him killed by some jacked up soldier or Marine in Iraq. Sure, the rumor starts like this, but how does it end up? "Hey, that's the guy who is down with the Haj. No shit? Let's get that fokker." Read between the lines of zoomlens' post: the guy is practically calling Sites a traitor.

Some people don't seem to have a problem with that.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Bill Faith
Email Address: bill.faith@gmail.com
URL: http://smalltownveteran.typepad.com/

Comments:

It took Nixon to go to China and it took Greyhawk to stand up for Kevin Sites and make it stick. Well said, sir. I have just this moment decided it's time for me to do a blog post titled "Judge not ... Marines or Reporters". Trackback to follow in a few hours.

Be safe, sir.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Salt Lick
Email Address: turf1@vt.edu
URL:

Comments:

Greyhawk --

Well, it's pretty hard to argue with a GI stationed in Iraq, but you've certainly left me scratching my head. After reading your defense of Sites several times, I understand your main points as:

1. You can't criticize Sites if you weren't there.

2. You can't criticize Sites because he has big gonades.

I'm not sure how either of those points addresses the issue of Sites knowing the probable propaganda use of this video, yet deciding to release it to the world. Still, if a guy with boots on the ground is comfortable with the way this has played out, so be it.

Stay safe.

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Cecil Turner
Email Address: turnercg1@mindspring.com
URL:

Comments:

"And by criticism, let's be f-ing honest: a bunch of people shooting their mouths off about this guy could get him killed by some jacked up soldier or Marine in Iraq."

Which do you think more likely, Sites being killed by a US serviceman, or a US serviceman being killed by some "jacked up" Jihadist (whom Sites's video helped inflame)?

"Read between the lines of zoomlens' post: the guy is practically calling Sites a traitor."

Sites seems to think his only responsibility is to his embedded unit, and the only issue is whether he fairly portrayed the Marines in question. It would be nice to see him acknowledge the issue of helping the enemy in wartime.

"Some people don't seem to have a problem with that."

This is obviously not limited to Sites (and in fact, his NBC editors/producers may well bear the lion's share of the responsibility)--and perhaps military censorship of embeds needs to be reexamined--but he's the one in denial. He apparently recognizes his video was damaging (to the US war effort), but doesn't see himself as part of the problem. It brings to mind an Orwell quote:

"Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help out that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, 'he that is not with me is against me.'"

I'm sure there's some debate over the proper role of a free press. But there shouldn't be any doubt that the insurgency's propaganda effort is central to their campaign. At a minimum, US news organs should refrain from handing them useful material. And I'd second Orwell's observation: "This is elementary common sense."

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Timmer
Email Address: timmer847@cox.net
URL: http://www.sgtstryker.com

Comments:

Well said Soldier. And thanks...

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Surf-actant
Email Address: jsmythe1@cox.net
URL:

Comments:

Grey,
Looks like I'll be over there in January as well. I gotta tell you, I find myself in almost total disagreement with you. I can tell you right now, I know exactly what I am going to tell my Marines if we end up with an embed(s).

Let me put this in timeline form.

First, I'll get the embed and his crew alone and put on the nails-hard Marine Officer face and sneeringly, condescendingly ask them that now ultimate hypothetical: What they would do if they knew we were walking into an ambush, or if we were going to drive right by an IED?

Would they warn us?

This would be an open attempt to challenge them, maybe get them to thinking that they need to cowboy up and put me in my place, and thus, tell me the probable truth:

No, they wouldn't. After all, this is the pinnacle of professional, objective journalism, according to them, not you or I.

Perfect. Fine. Now, at least, the groundrules have been put in place. We all know where everybody else stands.

I would then have my Co Gunny form up the Company in a School-Circle and explain to them exactly what was going to happen. And I'd make sure that the Embeds were standing right there next to me, facing my unit.

This is what I would tell them:
1. The Embeds would be persona-non-grata within the Co./Unit. This is not in a diminutive or derogatory sense. I would instruct my Marines, in fact order them, that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES are any of them to risk anything, themselves or their buddies, to save any of the Embeds if they find the Embeds hip deep in the shit. Again, this is not personal. The Embeds have defined our relationship, not us. I would liken it to the Mars Rover: think of the Embeds as the physical constructs needed to move the camera and mike around the combat zone, that's it. If the Embeds define themselves in this manner, then it is only morally correct for us to do so as well.

And I have to be glaringly honest here, this is not a hard decision to make. Again, I do not mean that in a spiteful manner in any way, shape or form. What other course of action, from a purely logical standpoint, do I have that will ensure the highest probability that I get all of my Marines home safe and sound?

Who knows, back in the rear, back in CONUS, every one of my Hard Chargin' Devildogs could end up being best pals with the Embed(s), hell even be his/her best man at a wedding. But we won't be in the rear, will we?

I'd then make sure that the Embeds understand that they are on their own. That we consider them non-humans. They do not exist. If they get in the way, they will have to deal with the consequences. Again, I DO NOT mean that someone takes them out behind the woodshed and doubletaps them. But if they are standing in the way filming when we have to hightail it somehwere in a Hummer while taking rounds, they WILL get run over. Similarly, if one of them gets hit at the same time one of my Marines takes a round, my Marine will get absolute priority from the Doc.

Really, in the final analysis, you can't have it both ways. You can't be a patriotic American in a war zone, irrespective of your status as civilian or combatant, AND a totally objective MSM correspondant AT THE SAME TIME!! It is a metaphysical impossibility. It cannot be done. You are either one or the other. The trick will be getting them to admit that their hunger for the Big Story will always, no matter how grotesque to us, override their natural fear in a combat environment.

The galactically ironic thing is, they look at us in precisely the opposite light: how can as obtuse and misguided a concept as patriotism overcome a Marines' natural fear when lead is coming downrange at you?

__________________________________________________________________

Name: Wince and Nod
Email Address: winceandnod@yahoo.com
URL: http://winceandnod.blogspot.com/

Comments:

Greyhawk,

Thanks for your perspective. "You weren't there, he was" is a very persuasive argument for me. Truth is powerful. It is one of our weapons, and Sites is a soldier trying to wield the truth as best he can. So, was this a friendly fire incident? Don't think so, although the round dropped uncomfortably close. I suspect this video tape is a strategic victory for the West. It will improve discipline among our troops and ultimately be a propoganda victory for the U.S. Our soldiers die for freedom, including freedom of the press. Yet freedom of religion, the press, and speech are the most dangerous freedoms we have. All are vehicles for ideas. Right now we are fighting the idea that it is OK to indiscriminately kill to advance an idea. Our contention is that freedom itself is the antidote to this poison. Let freedom ring!

Yours,
Wince

Quote of the Day

...comes from reporter Toby Harnden in his London Sunday Telegraph account of his experiences as an embedded reporter with the U.S. Army in Fallujah:

The ground rules were simple, said Lieut Nathan Braden, as he read out all 12 pages of them to our group of embedded journalists. We were to bring no drugs, no alcohol and no guns. Especially no drugs, he repeated, his gaze lingering over the longer-haired photographers.

Though the winner in the "not joking" category goes to Thomas Friedman in the NY Times:

Readers regularly ask me when I will throw in the towel on Iraq. I will be guided by the U.S. Army and Marine grunts on the ground. They see Iraq close up. Most of those you talk to are so uncynical - so convinced that we are doing good and doing right, even though they too are unsure it will work. When a majority of those grunts tell us that they are no longer willing to risk their lives to go out and fix the sewers in Sadr City or teach democracy at a local school, then you can stick a fork in this one. But so far, we ain't there yet. The troops are still pretty positive.

Good news keeps pouring in

Dear Mr & Mrs Greyhawk

As the old joke goes, sometimes a cigar is just cigar. In Iraq, contrary to the impression one can often get from watching the news, for most part a car is just car, not a carbomb, and there are a lot of them driving around.

More good news from Iraq:

Good-news-from-iraq-part-15

Opinion Journal

Wind of Change

Thanks for your help in spreading the good news.

Best regards

Arthur

Attention to all those sending packages to soldiers

The military's capacity to transport mail and packages to overseas areas, principally combat theaters, is so strained that the Defense Dept. has announced it will not accept any mail or packages addressed to "any soldier" serving overseas.

(Hat tip to Donald Sensing at One Hand Clapping)

Accordings to ABC News:

Last December, the military postal system received eight million pounds of packages and letters, much of it addressed, "to any soldier." This year, with full combat in Fallujah and increased attacks on convoys carrying fuel, bombs and bullets, the Department of Defense is limiting the mail to items addressed by name only — and asking that they be sent only by immediate family and friends

But don't be discouraged there are ways to get items to our GI's

The right solution is to support organizations like Soldiers Angels, Adopt a Platoon, Adopt a Sniper, Operation Gratitude , etc. They have POCs and can get stuff where its needed.

The Web site, America Supports You , will be a place where Americans can send messages.

AND here's an Update from Adopt Any Soldier

WHAT? NO MORE AnySoldier.com MAIL??? NO, NOT TRUE!

Due to the massive confusion and panic caused by the message that mail sent to "Any Soldier" will be stopped, we state the following: The Pentagon announced that it could not handle the massive amounts of mail and requested that unsolicited mail not be sent, that packages addressed to "Any Soldier", Any Service Member", etc would not be delivered. The mail from this program IS solicited by the contact, and IS addressed TO the contact. If they withhold mail, it is a federal offense (18 USC 1700-1705)... Please also see "Note #2" on the bottom of "How to Send" I wrote a year ago... Some postal employees and many in the news media are unable to distinguish the difference. To avoid conflict and to ease the tensions of those involved, please put "ATTN: Any Soldier (or Sailor, Airman, or Marine as it applies) under YOUR name in YOUR return address and NOT in the address to the contact. We will resume normal procedures after the holidays. Thank you for your patience and your support! -Marty

EX
FROM: GI Joe's supporter
ATTN: Any soldier (GI)
return address

TO: GI Joe
APO address

USPS now says only 13 days left (Dec 6) to mail packages (Priority only) to the soldiers to make it by Christmas!
Note this is simply a guide, so send EARLY!
Please Spread this around.

Going to church today?

If so pray for the troops.

And here's a reminder of the cost of freedom:

OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- Marine Lance Cpl. Shane Kielion was killed in action in Iraq not knowing that his first child had been born just hours before.

April Kielion, the Marine's widow and high school sweetheart, gave birth to a boy in Omaha on Monday, said Kielion's old high school football coach, Jay Ball.

"She's hanging in there," Ball said. "She's a strong woman. She's got a terrific family and lots of supportive friends."

The baby was named Shane Kielion Jr., said April Kielion's father, Don Armstrong. He said his daughter was "doing as well as to be expected under the pressure."

Shane Kielion, a rifleman in the 1st Marine Division of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed Monday in Al Anbar Province, the military said.

Officials at Camp Pendleton, California, where he was stationed, refused to comment on how he was killed. Anbar Province includes Falluja -- which American forces now control after a lengthy offensive -- as well as other guerrilla strongholds.

In another story, also from CNN

The Air Force Academy's longtime football coach has agreed to remove a Christian banner from the team's locker room after school administrators announced they would do more to fight religious intolerance.

Coach Fisher DeBerry agreed Friday to remove the banner, which displayed the "Competitor's Creed," including the lines "I am a Christian first and last ... I am a member of Team Jesus Christ."

DeBerry put the banner up Wednesday to encourage the team, which has experienced one of its worst seasons in recent years, academy spokesman Lt. Col. Laurent Fox said.

A day earlier, academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa announced the school would do more religious tolerance training after some nonreligious cadets reported on a survey that they felt ostracized. Others reported hearing religious slurs or jokes.

Outgoing Air Force Secretary James Roche issued a statement Friday backing the academy's effort. "Our policy is clear. Tolerance of gender, racial, ethnic and religious diversity is required at our Air Force," Roche said.

In September, academy officials issued a memo explaining the government's e-mail policy after some staffers put biblical verses at the bottom of their e-mails. Some cadets were admonished in March for using academy e-mail accounts to encourage other people to see "The Passion of the Christ," Mel Gibson's movie about the crucifixion.

Heroes

Dexter Filkins, embedded with the Marines in Fallujah, offers some profiles in courage in today's New York Times:

Despite their youth, the marines seemed to tower over their peers outside the military in maturity and guts. Many of Bravo Company's best marines, its most proficient killers, were 19 and 20 years old; some directed their comrades in maneuvers and assaults. Bravo Company's three lieutenants, each responsible for the lives of about 50 men, were 23 and 24 years old.

They are a strangely anonymous bunch. The men who fight America's wars seem invariably to come from little towns and medium-size cities far away from the nation's arteries along the coast. Line up a group of marines and ask them where they are from, and they will give you a list of places like Pearland, Tex.; Lodi, Ohio; Osawatomie, Kan.

Typical of the marines who fought in Falluja was Chad Ritchie, a 22-year-old corporal from Keezletown, Va. Corporal Ritchie, a soft-spoken, bespectacled intelligence officer, said he was happy to be out of the tiny place where he grew up, though he admitted that he sometimes missed the good times on Friday nights in the fields.

"We'd have a bonfire, and back the trucks up on it, and open up the backs, and someone would always have some speakers," Corporal Ritchie said. "We'd drink beer, tell stories."

Like many of the young men in Bravo Company, Corporal Ritchie said he had joined the Marines because he yearned for an adventure greater than his small town could offer.

"The guys who stayed, they're all living with their parents, making $7 an hour," Corporal Ritchie said. "I'm not going to be one of those people who gets old and says, 'I wish I had done this. I wish I had done that.' Every once in a while, you've got to do something hard, do something you're not comfortable with. A person needs a gut check."

Holding Up Under Fire

Marines like Corporal Ritchie proved themselves time and again in Falluja, but they were not without fear. While camped out one night in the Iraqi National Guard building in the middle of city, Bravo Company came under mortar fire that grew closer with each shot. The insurgents were "bracketing" the building, firing shots to the left and right of the target and adjusting their fire each time.

In the hallways, where the men had camped for the night, the murmured sounds of prayers rose between the explosions. After 20 tries, the shelling inexplicably stopped.

On one particularly grim night, a group of marines from Bravo Company's First Platoon turned a corner in the darkness and headed up an alley. As they did so, they came across men dressed in uniforms worn by the Iraqi National Guard. The uniforms were so perfect that they even carried pieces of red tape and white, the signal agreed upon to assure American soldiers that any Iraqis dressed that way would be friendly; the others could be killed.

The marines, spotting the red and white tape, waved, and the men in Iraqi uniforms opened fire. One American, Corporal Anderson, died instantly. One of the wounded men, Pfc. Andrew Russell, lay in the road, screaming from a nearly severed leg.

A group of marines ran forward into the gunfire to pull their comrades out. But the ambush, and the enemy flares and gunfire that followed, rattled the men of Bravo Company more than any event. In the darkness, the men began to argue. Others stood around in the road. As the platoon's leader, Lt. Andy Eckert, struggled to take charge, the Third Platoon seemed on the brink of panic.

"Everybody was scared," Lieutenant Eckert said afterward. "If the leader can't hold, then the unit can't hold together."

The unit did hold, but only after the intervention of Bravo Company's commanding officer, Capt. Read Omohundro.

Time and again through the week, Captain Omohundro kept his men from folding, if not by his resolute manner then by his calmness under fire. In the first 16 hours of battle, when the combat was continuous and the threat of death ever present, Captain Omohundro never flinched, moving his men through the warrens and back alleys of Falluja with an uncanny sense of space and time, sensing the enemy, sensing the location of his men, even in the darkness, entirely self-possessed.

"Damn it, get moving," Captain Omohundro said, and his men, looking relieved that they had been given direction amid the anarchy, were only too happy to oblige.

A little later, Captain Omohundro, a 34-year-old Texan, allowed that the strain of the battle had weighed on him, but he said that he had long ago trained himself to keep any self-doubt hidden from view.

"It's not like I don't feel it," Captain Omohundro said. "But if I were to show it, the whole thing would come apart."

Be prepared; the full story will introduce you to several GIs who didn't make it. A must read for those not afraid of a dose of reality from Iraq.

Support the Troops?

From Stars and Stripes:

WASHINGTON ? The Pentagon has a message for its troops serving in war zones: America Supports You.

That?s the name of a new campaign, introduced Friday at the Pentagon by Charlie Abell, principal deputy under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

Abell said the program is designed so that the Department of Defense can ?realize what?s going on and to be able to tell our soldiers and their families that we support you.?

The effort is two-pronged, according to Allison Barber, special assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, internal communication/public liaison.

?We?re going to go to Americans and say, ?Join our Web site. Tell us what you?re doing to support the troops.? The second part is we?re going to take the info to the troops.

?We have a myriad of ways to talk to the troops, to provide information, and we?re going to use them all,? Abell said.

Barber said she also would be attending a taping of Ellen DeGeneres? daytime talk show that will have a segment dedicated to the program, and said the DOD is aggressively pursuing other high-profile shows, such as ?Live with Regis and Kelly? and the ?Late Show with David Letterman.?

Barber said that during visits to Iraq and Afghanistan, Defense officials were hearing servicemembers ask about the sentiments back home.

?Do Americans still support us?? she said the troops were asking. ?And of course the answer is yes. You and I see it here, the yellow ribbons and all the terrific things folks are doing, but the guys overseas don?t see it. We have a communications gap.?

The Web site, http://americasupportsyou.mil/, will be a place where Americans can ?join the team,? Barber said.

A text block asks you what you?ve done to support the troops, and when you send the information, it gives you the opportunity to link to Stars and Stripes? Web site, where you can be shipped an ?America Supports You? dog tag by providing a shipping address.

There?s also a space for Americans to send messages to the troops. One such message was on the new site Friday:

?Despite what you hear or read in the media back home, America thanks you for defending our way of life. We support you and may God bless you, keep you safe and return you home soon,? wrote ?Jeff? from San Antonio.

Barber cited America?s flagging support as the Vietnam War continued as one reason for the campaign.

?In the Sixties, we did not do a good job of separating the war from the warrior. As the war grew unpopular, people started taking it out on the GI,? she said.

Abell reiterated that point when asked if Americans can support the troops without supporting the war.

?I think America can do this easily. If you don?t support the war philosophically, you can still support the troops.?

Which once again leaves those who are for the war but against the troops out in the cold.

The site can be found here

Our friend Zeyad is in the Thick of it

Fierce fighting has been going on in several areas of Baghdad for the last 4 hours. I was supposed to leave for Basrah this morning, as soon as I walked out of the front door I was face to face with ten or so hooded men dressed in black carrying Ak-47's and RPG's. They had set up a checkpoint right in front of our door.

Someone barked at me to go inside. Nabil was also about to leave for his school. His driver had just called him and said that he was turned back at the street entrance by another checkpoint. We looked at the main intersection and it was swarming with armed men running about and motioning drivers and pedestrians to leave the area.

We watched them from behind the door with my mother frantically trying to get us inside. There was an exchange of fire and someone was bellowing "Where are the National traitors? (referring to the National Guards) Let them come and taste this." More shooting followed.

Read what follows next

Why the lefty's don't get a seat at the grown up table this year

Let’s stipulate for the sake of argument that everything the Left claims to fear about the Bush admin and mainstream red-state America is true

According to Mike

Hail to the Chief

Chief Wiggles was under investigation for running Operation Give? (Or something else??) Interesting story (or is it several stories?) developing here ? complete with cameo appearances by Tom Brokaw, shady Iraqi officials, the President of the United States, and God.

Greyhawk's Guide to Military Blogs

Updated! (With plenty more to come)

In my travels through the blogosphere I sometimes find sites that have attempted to compile a comprehensive list of military blogs. A formidable task, since the MilBlogs Ring membership alone now exceeds 100 and probably contains less than half of all military folks with blogs. Unfortunately most those lists are wrong (though not for lack of trying and in spite of good intentions) or outdated. Not surprising since military people tend to change their status frequently and bloggers in general come and go rather steadily. But invariably someone will list a blogger as military who is not, or as being deployed somewhere they are not, or just capture about one tenth the total number of military blogs out there. As the founder of the MilBlogs Ring I'm a little more in touch with who's who among MilBloggers, ring members and otherwise, thus I present the following, Greyhawk's Guide to the Military Blogs.

This is work in progress, so expect to see this grow and change continuously. Please don't send me any names of sites I've omitted just yet, I'm moving through a long list. However, if you spot any innaccuracies in my categorizations, please don't hesitate to comment or email.

Note that blogs will be listed under all categories for which they are qualified, so expect to see repeated names.

Oh - and those so inclined are encouraged to right click, view source, and plagiarize to your hearts content.

____________________

Currently deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF):

Afghanistan (OEF)

Dogtulosba
Sgt Hook

Iraq (OIF)

Able Kane Adventures (Joe Kane)
Dagger JAG
A Line in the Sand (Sgt Missick)
The Mudville Gazette (Greyhawk)
My War (CBFTW)
The Questing Cat (Questing Cat and the Jersey Cowboy)

Elsewhere in the Middle East:

2Slick's Forum

____________________

Previously deployed for same

Afghanistan

Signaleer (RTO Trainer, Afghanistan)

Iraq

American Soldier
Chief Wiggles
Chrome Dome Zone
CPT Patti
Doc in the Box (Sean Dustman)
Iraq Now Note: now called 'Countercolumn' (Jason Van Steenwyk)
Life as a Baghdad Babe (Rebecca)
Magic in the Baghdad Cafe (Maj Paine)

Elsewhere in the Middle East:

LT Smash (now Citizen Smash)
Hardtack and Havoc (Ed)

____________________

Other Active Duty Troops

Overseas (non OIF/OEF)

Budaechigae (Korea)
Kommentariat
The Mudville Gazette (Germany)
Neptunus Lex (Somewhere at sea)

US

American Soldier (Drill Sergeant Rob)
Chapomatic
Haze Grey and Underway (Jaybob)
Horologium
SlagleRock
Weck up to Thees

____________________

Guard/Reserve

Evangelical Outpost
Citizen Smash
Noble Eagle

____________________

Spouse/Family

An Army Wife Life
Army Sergeant's Wife
Chrome Dome
CPT Patti
Just an Army Wife
Magic in the Baghdad Cafe (Bear)
Marine Corps Moms
Mama Montezz Mental Rumpus Room
The Mudville Gazette (Mrs Greyhawk)
Trying to Grok (Sarah)

____________________

Retired

Baldilocks
Snugg Harbor

____________________

Veterans

Argghhh
Balloon Juice
Blackfive
Froggy Ruminations
Grim's Hall
Intel Dump
Ipse Dixit
Serenitys Journal
Small Town Veteran
Useful Fools

____________________

Group Blogs

Sgt Stryker's Daily Briefing

____________________

Support, organizations, other

2nd Battalion 94th Artillery
A Collection of Thoughts
Iraq War News
Operation Truth
Stryker Brigade News
Soldier's Angels

____________________

That's all for now - but this post is growing daily! Check back soon!

The Army Motto

More trivia for today:

What Army's Motto is "Blood and Fire"?

Give up? The Salvation Army!

I think you feel differently about charities you've seen in action - you'd have to, knowing the work they do is real, and that it matters. Among my ribbons is a Humanitarian Service Medal - I got it for doing relief work in the aftermath of a hurricane some years ago. Amidst all the devastation, the Salvation Army set up shop to feed the volunteers who'd come to help in the recovery.

Even before then I always put something in the kettle. I won't be in America for Christmas this year, so I won't hear the bell ringers, and that's one of the many things I'll miss greatly. So it goes. Those bells of Christmas never bothered me, even though I couldn't afford to put money in every kettle every time I entered a store and I always felt a tiny bit guilty passing the ones I couldn't help.

I can't spend Christmas in America, so I won't hear the bell ringers. Neither will you, if you do all your shopping at Target.

If you pass one elsewhere, please drop a quarter for me.

Heading to the Front

As the blogosphere grows expect an increasing number of blogs from everywhere - including military in Iraq. Michael is preparing to deploy now and you can follow his adventures from the beginning here.

On a personal note, besides not wanting to leave my pregnant wife for a year, I am eager to return to Iraq and continue the fight against terrorists. Unlike what you may have heard from the media, there are a lot of guys that are looking forward to again getting in the fight. I was part of the initial invasion into Iraq, but in a lot of ways, I think that was easier than what we are currently doing. Combat is an ugly, surreal, unnatural, and exhilirating experience. Something that most people should hope to never experience, but something I find myself mysteriously longing for. I pray that this doesn't come back to haunt me. Just for the record, I support everything we are doing in Iraq and believe that the only way to defeat terrorism is to pick a fight with them.

All Eyes on Fallujah Part V: London

(See introduction to series here.)

Dates below are for the story - not the events the reports describe.

Monday, 8 November, Opening salvos

Phantoms Close In On A Ghost Town

(London Sunday Telegraph)...Toby Harnden

The soldiers of "Phantom troop", from the US Army 1st Infantry Division, had moved to within 700 metres of the eastern boundary of Fallujah early yesterday, gaining their first view of the rebel-held city.

"It's a ghost town out there," said Staff Sgt Robert Walker, gazing at the city through a thermal imaging sight. "Those warehouses and stuff are pretty much blown to hell."

US units had bombarded Fallujah into the early hours yesterday to try to draw out enemy fighters before an assault involving more than 10,000 troops, which could be a decisive battle for Iraq's future.

"A-Hour" is the phrase used by the US Army to describe the moment that its co-ordinated offensive will start. As the designated time drew near, Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, Humvees and armoured personnel carriers rolled out of a nearby base towards the city.

Suicide Squads Await US Troops' Assault On Falluja

(London Sunday Times)...Hala Jaber

SCORES of suicide bombers have been primed to defend Falluja against an imminent onslaught by American and Iraqi forces, according to insurgents' commanders planning a ferocious counterattack.

More than 100 cars laden with high explosives have been distributed throughout the city to be detonated when US marines mount a long-awaited ground offensive, they claim.

One commander said that 300 foreign fighters had volunteered for suicide bombings as American forces laid siege to the stronghold of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, America's most wanted man in Iraq.

Some would be used in 118 vehicles already rigged with explosives, he said; others would be waiting in booby-trapped homes for American and Iraqi soldiers hunting from house to house for al-Zarqawi's fighters.

It was impossible to verify such claims, but as the only western newspaper reporter in Falluja last week, I saw thick black cables running across roads to the city centre, indicating the sites of "improvised explosive devices" - home-made bombs intended for American convoys.

Tuesday, 9 November: The "real" battle begins

'I Got My Kills ... I Just Love My Job'

(London Daily Telegraph)...Toby Harnden

After seven months in Iraq's Sunni triangle, for many American soldiers the opportunity to avenge dead friends by taking a life was a moment of sheer exhilaration.

As they approached their "holding position", from where hours later they would advance into the city, they picked off insurgents on the rooftops and in windows.

"I got myself a real juicy target," shouted Sgt James Anyett, peering through the thermal sight of a Long Range Acquisition System (LRAS) mounted on one of Phantom's Humvees.

"Prepare to copy that 89089226. Direction 202 degrees. Range 950 metres. I got five motherf****** in a building with weapons."

Capt Kirk Mayfield, commander of the Phantoms, called for fire from his task force's mortar team. But Sgt Anyett didn't want to wait. "Dude, give me the sniper rifle. I can take them out - I'm from Alabama."

Attack Is Based On Shock And Awe But The City Must Be Left Standing

(London Times)...Michael Evans

OPERATION Phantom Fury, the planned attack on Fallujah, has all the familiar hallmarks of the US-led invasion of Iraq last year, although on a scale more commensurate with seizing control of a city.

The tactics and strategy are the same: weeks of bombing, insertion of special forces to provide up-to-date intelligence, concentrated artillery fire, removal of defences by combat bulldozers and then a mass thrust against the insurgents from at least two directions. The strategy is based on classic assumptions: that overwhelming force from the air and from the ground will stun the enemy into submission. As with Operation Iraqi Freedom, the invasion in March last year, the US Marines and army units are relying on aggression, speed and superior firepower to overcome whatever opposition the insurgents might muster in Fallujah.

Huge damage to the insurgents' suspected positions had been meted out from almost nightly US airstrikes since June, although it was clear that they remained well armed and had an underground route into the city for reinforcements and escape.

Yesterday's two-pronged attack into the city by 15,000 US troops and 3,000 Iraqi soldiers from the northeast and northwest was initially aimed at seizing a number of key sites, including the railway station, the city's main hospital (to pre-empt propaganda claims by the insurgents about civilian casualties), and, earlier, two bridges over the Euphrates.

With such tactics, the result can never be in any doubt, as was proven when the US armoured forces took 19 days to reach Baghdad, only to find the enemy was not prepared to put up a fight to defend the city.

This time, the Americans are facing a different type of enemy, but the chances are that despite all the reports of booby-trapped houses, hidden snipers, waiting suicide bombers and heavily defended positions, the key insurgency leaders on the most-wanted list will have been spirited away.

Wednesday, 10 November: Has the enemy fled?

Deadly Rockets Blast Way Through

(London Times) ...Michael Evans, Defence Editor

THE American military has been using novel and devastating methods to clear Fallujah's streets. It has adapted a mine-clearing system, based on a rocket-propelled hose with explosives attached, used for the first time on D-Day on the fortified beaches of Normandy.

The Miclic is normally designed for open spaces because it generates tremendous pressure, setting off mines over a large area. In Fallujah the Miclic, fired from 300 to 400 metres, is used to detonate roadside bombs and car bombs. It is highly effective but also indiscriminate, and not normally considered suitable for an urban environment. The aim is to ensure infantry and armoured vehicles are not impeded by booby-traps, roadside bombs and other hidden devices.

High buildings have also been taken over by snipers with telescopic sights to help to spot insurgents.

Other bomb-clearing methods in Fallujah include using the Meerkat, a South African remote-controlled mine-detector controlled from a huge, heavily armoured vehicle called a Buffalo. To ensure there are no hidden devices in houses down either side of a street, the Americans have also been using a small robot called PakBot, a 31 lb device equipped with an imaging system which can be dropped through a window.

The PakBot unfolds and starts to hunt through the house. It can climb stairs and even open cupboards, sending back images to its controller who has a joystick to operate it, although some PakBots run autonomously.

Every feature of modern technology has been deployed from electronic bomb-jamming equipment, called Warlock, installed on Humvee armoured vehicles, to the Shadow 200 tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), operated by the US Army to provide close-range pictures of enemy positions and movements.

The Americans are also using some of their most destructive weapon systems, deployed with such effect in the Iraq War last year: US Marine Cobra gunships firing anti-tank missiles, and AC130 Spectre gunships, converted Hercules transport aircraft armed with cannons.

The Multiple Launch Rocket Systems weapon, which fires hundreds of bomblets, is likely to be in reserve. It was used in Baghdad last year to attack side streets where Iraqi tanks were thought to be hiding.

Militants Unleash Wave Of Attacks Across Iraq

(London Times)... Ali Hamdani and Richard Lloyd Parry

RESISTANCE fighters seized the centre of the western city of Ramadi yesterday as the US assault on Fallujah set off a wave of militant attacks across the country.

Local journalists reported that Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province which includes Fallujah, was taken over by armed men after a unit of US military snipers abandoned an hotel from which they had been dominating the centre of the city.

Insurgents armed with Kalashnikov rifles, heavy machineguns and rocketpropelled grenades paraded in the street, firing their weapons in the air. Earlier in the day at least seven insurgents were killed in Ramadi and five US soldiers were injured when they opened fire on two suspected car bombs.

The offensive in Fallujah triggered a storm of insurgent attacks elsewhere in the country, suggesting that much of the anti-coalition resistance has already dispersed far beyond its stronghold. Around 45 people were killed in attacks on police stations in the city of Baquba. A car bomb outside an Iraqi National Guard base near Kirkuk killed three people. A senior local government official was assassinated in Samarra.

A Savage Dance Of Death In The Alleys Of Fallujah

(London Times)... James Hider

THE green video screen in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle is the ultimate in reality television, and that is how we watched the battle of Fallujah unfold as our 30-tonne steel beast advanced into the district of Jolan, the rebels' bastion, in the small hours of yesterday morning.

Outside, in the bomb-blasted streets, up to 5,000 die-hard insurgents were out to kill. Inside, on a screen accurate enough to show rats scavenging on the rubbish piles, the battle between luminous green tanks and luminous green gunmen seemed almost abstract.

Only the shock of the explosions and the occasional back blast of dust when a gunner opened fire reminded us we were in the midst of the most desperate urban battle since the fall of Baghdad. That, and the shrapnel which went right through my arm later in the morning.

The assault had begun with a day of intense bombardment of the rebels' positions on Monday - a vast display of artillery, tanks and war planes hitting the buildings where guerrillas were believed to be lurking, ready to detonate huge buried mines as the US Army advanced.

Airbursts of shrapnel sent a vast jellyfish of smoke drifting into the city, raining fire on guerrillas perched on the rooftops.

As night fell over the darkened city, the explosions lit up the sky and American troops preparing to fight pulled up deckchairs to watch the show.

Two US Marine battalions then stormed Fallujah's disused train station and a block of apartments on the edge of town.

'This Is Where The Foreign Fighters Hang Out'

(London Daily Telegraph)... Toby Harnden, in Fallujah

The flimsy metal door was ripped off its hinges as a hefty boot from a Legion platoon soldier made decisive contact. Inside the small room lay an AK-47 rifle, alarm clock parts and a handwritten notebook in Farsi. Moments earlier, the gunman, thought to be Iranian, had fled as Legion, Hunter and Outlaw platoons of the US army's Task Force 2-2 undertook one of the more dangerous tasks of the battle for Fallujah.

Clearing buildings door to door in a guerrilla stronghold is risky at any time. Into the bargain this time, the platoons from Phantom troop had been ordered to sweep Fallujah's industrial zone, a haven for foreign fighters.

Also in the room was a red-and-white keffiyeh, a bag of bandages, an optical sight typical of those used by a sniper and a pile of photographs of Arab men, including one in a similar keffiyeh, of military age, and boxes of ammunition.

Moving deliberately through the area, the Phantoms came under sniper, mortar and small arms fire and had to negotiate mines and other explosives.

Remarkably, they had completed a third of their task by nightfall yesterday without suffering a single casualty.

Arab World Deplores 'Barbaric' Offensive

(London Times)... Michael Theodoulou

THE Fallujah offensive drew stinging criticism from commentators across the Arab world. "Beside the human catastrophe in making Fallujah a ghost city, one should wonder at this point whether there is any difference between what the US forces claim to stand for and what former President Saddam Hussein stood for," Qatar's al-Watan newspaper said.

An equally tough editorial in a newspaper of the same name in Saudi Arabia, whose government, like that of Qatar's, is a staunch US ally, stated: "The American forces are expected to increase their barbaric acts in the hope of finishing off once and for all the Iraqi resistance so that they can have peace and realise their aims."

In contrast to the invective seen in the press, Arab leaders, many of them reluctant to offend Washington, have been low-key in their response, quietly urging caution and expressing concern for Fallujah's civilians.

Assault Risks Political And Military Backlash

(London Financial Times)... Steve Negus

The opening moves of a US-led assault on the rebel-held town of Falluja end a seven-month stand-off that both US and Iraqi interim government officials found intolerable.

Since Washington called off an earlier offensive in April, US and Iraqi officials say, the rebel stronghold has been both an unacceptable challenge to the government's authority and a refuge for radical Islamists bent on destabilising the country.

But the attack carries the risk of a political and military backlash that could make swathes of central Iraq virtually ungovernable.

Before launching the assault, Iyad Allawi's interim government considered two other options - negotiating with representatives of Falluja to persuade them to turn over the more radical insurgents and accept government authority, or isolating the town.

Peace talks failed, according to the government, because local negotiators could not force an agreement against the will of the hardliners in their midst.

Urban Resistance Poses Questions Over Tactics

(London Financial Times)

Taking Falluja may prove the easy part. Recent experience has shown that holding on to it is likely to be much harder, writes Peter Spiegel

The US military's ability to push into the heart ofFalluja just 48 hours after it launched its offensive in the rebel-held city is a sign that even a hardened and determined resistance has little hope of holding out against overwhelming American advantages in firepower and personnel.

But military analysts and former coalition officials warn that taking the city, while far from complete, may actually prove the easy part of the operation; the hard part will be holding it.

'Every Town Will Become A Falluja'

(London Financial Times)... Steve Negus and Dhiya Rasan

Just as they did during the first siege of Falluja seven months ago, residents of the Iraqi town of Karma, most of whom have tribal ties with the embattled city, have rallied to the defence of their kinsmen.

Masked gunmen stand guard on the rooftops of the town, keeping watch over the surrounding countryside as the dull thud of explosions drifts from Falluja, some 20km to the east.

Black smoke drifts into the sky from what residents say are burning US oil tankers ambushed by local fighters, while guards at checkpoints on the roads leading in and out keep watch for anyone who might be an Iraqi government spy.

The first siege became what one Iraqi politician has dubbed a "recruiting agent for the insurgency", as Sunni Arab communities mobilised to support Falluja, mounting solidarity attacks on US supply convoys and other targets.

Now, Karma's insurgents boast that this second offensive will spread their up-rising even further.

"Every Iraqi town shall become Falluja," declares a masked insurgent called Abu Askar, who that morning returned from a trip to bring armour-piercing rockets into Falluja.

Thursday, November 11: Hump day (this is not a 5-day week)

Refugees Claim That Civilian Casualties Left To Die

(London Times)... Richard Lloyd Parry and Ali Hamdani

REFUGEES escaping Fallujah described a humanitarian crisis in the city yesterday, with women and children killed by the US bombardment or dying for lack of medical treatment, medicines and sanitation.

At Al-Numan General Hospital in Baghdad, the families of civilian victims evacuated from Fallujah claimed that US forces were bombing outlying villages where refugees have regrouped, as well as the city.

"I was praying at the village mosque," said Abu Mustafa, 35. "I heard a big bang so everybody rushed towards that explosion, which turned out to be an American missile."

Friday, 12 November: After the Night of Power

Humanitarian Aid To City Blocked By US Military Cordon

(London Financial Times)... Steve Negus

Falluja's remaining civilian population has lacked humanitarian aid since the beginning of the assault on their town on Monday, relief groups in Baghdad said yesterday.

Iraq's Red Crescent says at least 157 families, or 1,000 people, remain inside the embattled town without electricity, water, or medical care, although there may be many more.

Most of the town's population of up to 300,000 people are thought to have fled before the US-led offensive. The Muslim Scholars' Board, an influential group of Sunni clergy, has estimated that between 60,000 and 150,000 people remain within the city, but has not said how it came by that number.

Saturday 13 November: The Push

US Troops Stretched To Limit As Insurgents Fight Back

(London Daily Telegraph)... Robin Gedye, Foreign Affairs Writer

Insurgent attacks across Iraq stretched American forces to their limits yesterday when rebels appeared to be in control of at least two cities, and the operation in Fallujah entered its most dangerous phase.

The holy city of Najaf became the seventh city to be placed under a night-time curfew with insurgents across the Sunni Triangle, the country's most volatile region, united in their determination to use the battle for Fallujah as a rallying call to terror.

Despite air strikes on Iraq's main northern city, Mosul, on Thursday night and claims by US forces that the city was calm, masked gunmen openly controlled its streets yesterday with eyewitnesses reporting that neither police nor US forces were to be seen.

Insurgents remained in charge of at least one of the nine police stations which they had attacked earlier while some police were reported to have thrown off their uniforms to join the terrorists. A contingent of US troops was detached from guarding the perimeter of Fallujah, where the American toll rose to at least 22 dead yesterday since the operation began, and moved to Mosul in an attempt to re-impose order.

Black Watch Tastes Success As Two Rebels Are Held

(London Daily Telegraph)... Tom Newton Dunn, in Camp Dogwood

The Black Watch defeated a suicide bombing squad and arrested two insurgents after firefights and a helicopter chase across the Iraqi desert yesterday.

Two insurgents were being interrogated at the battle group headquarters, Camp Dogwood, after suicide bomb-making equipment was found in their car.

Ten insurgents had earlier traded heavy fire before trying to flee. But as others shot their way out, two were tracked by a helicopter and then surrounded and arrested while hiding in a mosque. It is the first major success for the Scots batallion since its arrival in North Babil province, 25 miles south of Baghdad, two weeks ago.

The four-hour running battle started when insurgents opened fire on British soldiers in two Warrior fighting vehicles with rocket-propelled grenades and AK47s. They had been manning an illegal vehicle checkpoint on a bridge over the Euphrates, north-east of Camp Dogwood.

The troops returned fire, forcing the insurgents to jump into three cars and flee into the desert.

An Army Air Corps Lynx helicopter pursued one car. The second was intercepted by Black Watch troops who fired on it, stopping it in its tracks. As soldiers closed in, the enemy scattered. After a booby trap was disarmed, a large arms cache was found inside.

A second helicopter tracked a third car and ground troops cornered it outside a mosque in a village and the arrests were made.

Rebels Roam Free In Central Baghdad

(London Times) Richard Lloyd Parry, Ali Hamdani and Ali Hussain Khudair

MASKED guerrillas roamed freely through parts of central Baghdad yesterday as the Iraqi capital succumbed to levels of disorder not seen since the after-math of last year's invasion.

As US soldiers and Marines regained control of Fallujah, insurgents elsewhere undermined the coalition's claims of progress towards restoring security before elections scheduled for January.

Resistance fighters had partial control over the Iraq's third biggest city, Mosul, and launched attacks in at least four towns in the Sunni-dominated centre of the country, including Ramadi, Baquba and Samarra.

But it is Baghdad that has seen the most alarming developments of the past week - gunfights on the streets of the capital between US and Iraqi soldiers and police and insurgents who appear to have escaped from Fallujah before this week's assault.

"There was intense fighting first thing in the morning, and later in the day," said Omar Salah, a 28-year-old man who was shopping in the Adhamiya district of central Baghdad yesterday. "We expect it to get worse because of what's happening in Fallujah."

With a day to go before the beginning of Eid, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the capital was more isolated and dangerous than it had been at any time during the 19-month occupation.

Sunday, 14 November: End game on the eve of Eid

Iraqi rebels slip away to fight another day

(London Daily Telegraph)... Aqeel Hussein in al-Nouaimia and Toby Harnden in Fallujah

Families fleeing the besieged city of Fallujah say that rebel fighters have slipped through the American and Iraqi military cordon and have been driven away in Mercedes cars to rejoin the battle elsewhere in Iraq.

The fighters, said to include foreign militants using satellite telephones, are believed to be heading for Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, to open a new front.

Abu Haider, 47, a mechanic who escaped with his family on Friday, said: "I saw many fighters with their faces covered, coming out beside us, carrying light weapons and their telephones.

"I asked one how he had managed to arrange a lift to the city. He replied, 'It is the order. We have to choose another field to fight on outside Fallujah.' "

Yesterday, President George W Bush gave warning that guerrilla violence in Iraq could worsen as the January elections draw near. "The desperation of the killers will grow and the violence could escalate," he said.

Good Riddance

PowerLine has more reaction from Baghdad to the Shooting in Fallujah

Fish Gotta Swim...

It's a good thing we're communicating by written words now rather than spoken, because there's a helicopter parked about 50 yards from me, still running, an ambulance next to it with a guy on a stretcher in between. It's loud - but it's also dark out right now so I can't see if it's an American on that stretcher or an Iraqi. Whoever it is they're on their way out now.

It's gone. That's better - it's much quieter. Quiet is better because you can hear the incoming rockets.

Trivia test 1: Which of the following is an actual quote from Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi regarding the insurgents in Fallujah on the eve of the assault?

A: "The insurgents have known for months that we're coming - go ye now forth and wound them, then patch them up and make them promise to stop killing children, and beheading people, and shooting Iraqi aid workers. Make them say "I'm sorry" for the atrocities they committed in the name of Saddam Hussein too. Ensure they are sincere, accept nothing less than pinky swears, and then and only then let them go in peace. Remember, we are in the business of winning hearts and minds!"

"Pinky swears! Pinky swears!" Chanted the wildly enthusiastic soldiers. Allawi replied: "Hearts and minds!"

or

B: "The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage ... and you need to free them from their grip," Allawi told Iraqi soldiers on Monday during a visit to the main U.S. base outside Fallujah.

"May they go to hell!" the soldiers shouted. Allawi replied: "To hell they will go."

It may surprise many of you that the correct answer is 'B'. But in fact it's the only answer. And there's no "third way" in between the two. Armies function on an "on/off" switch - those who would have it otherwise are fools.

Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly...

Donald Sensing (who I'm overjoyed to see blogging again) has a great post on the likely fate of the Marine from Fallujah. I don't need to say which Marine, do I? I don't think I need say more than the Reverend on that topic at all.

I don't have time for TV here, so I rely on internet sources for information. A check of the web's major mainstream news sites shows very little banner coverage of the shooting in Fallujah. Guess it's a TV moment - lacking video the story just isn't big. That and the fact that it happened on the wrong Tuesday in November. It must be huge on TV though, cause the blogs are sure all over it, making it out to be the biggest story since last week, when Fallujah was attacked and Jihadis everywhere declared they would destroy us all.

I can see why it would be big on TV, especially big screen American TVs; a group of men enters a room occupied by other men who'd very recently been trying to kill them. Not just any room - it's a room in a place of worship, although it's sanctity has been defiled by those same shooters. Now they lie prone, the fight apparently taken out of them. Still all those men walking in are ready to shoot - they know this enemy too well - and now one in fact is shooting. Each is doing his job, it's that simple. Simple but intensely compelling, a riveting situation, to say the least.

A professional knows his business and does it well. I wasn't in that room - I wasn't in that town - but I trust those who were did what they had to do. I won't second guess them. He had to shoot, don't you agree? It was his job. The military sent him in, sanctioned his actions, flipped the "on" switch, so to speak. That's the price you pay for freedom - ugliness on the edges, sometimes thrust into your dining rooms. I'm on that edge - or at least most likely closer than you - that's the price I pay for freedom. You just have to look at it from time to time from your safe place in the center, and comment on it if you're so inclined.

In spite of all this - the fact that none of us were there but this guy was, and he was doing his job that was sanctioned by military command and control authority - in spite of all this an amazing number of people are eager to condemn him for the shooting.

Trivia test two: I'm talking about

A. A Marine shooting an enemy in combat.

B. Kevin Sites shooting video.

C. All of the above.

Welcome to the ugly edge of freedom, where evil is real and nobody hates us today who didn't hate us yesterday.

Trivia 3: Which side's soldiers died in Fallujah while defending freedom of the press?

Don't betray their memory.

Damn - it's late and there's another helicopter. No problem, I sleep through that noise all the time.

Good night America, sweet dreams to you all.

Not the least bit Sorry

I'll bet you can determine with 90% accuracy how someone views America simply by asking them how they feel about this picture

You may have seen it before, but I'm putting Risawn?s picture here for the benefit of all Jihadis who might wander by this page. This is what you're up against. Sweet dreams, boys.

Oh, and by the way she's not pretending - she's military and a blogger. And she's not sorry. Here's her military page.

She's got great reports here detailing what basic training is all about. Any guys out there who are considering signing up should probably read her description of basic and see if they're tough enough to take it.

Lots more photos here too.

Happy Birthday

17 years ago today the now not-so-little middle hawk child was born. She has traveled around the world, as a military brat, thru three continents, eight countries, six states, seven schools, and a hundred sad goodbyes. This year, she especially had a sad goodbye as her daddy has gone to war. She is a trooper and always brings a smile to my face when in need.

You've grown up so fast.
Happy Birthday Baby!

All Eyes on Fallujah Part IV: The LA Times

(See introduction to series here.)

Dates below are for the publication of the story - not the events the reports describe.

Monday, 8 November, Opening salvos

U.S. Troops Advance To Fallouja's Edge

Patrick J. McDonnell, Alissa J. Rubin and John Hendren

BAGHDAD - U.S. warplanes pummeled suspected insurgent positions in Fallouja early today as thousands of American troops advanced to the edges of the rebel-held city and prepared to launch an all-out assault.

Iraqi commandos and U.S. troops captured a hospital in Fallouja late Sunday. The facility was seized "to ensure that there was a medical treatment facility available to the population as well as making sure the insurgents could not continue to exaggerate casualties," a senior Pentagon official said on condition of anonymity.

Iraqi Troops Prepare For A Fight

Patrick J. McDonnell

NEAR FALLOUJA, Iraq - Thousands of troops from the new Iraqi army are training at U.S. Marine bases here to participate alongside U.S. forces in a planned full-scale assault on the insurgent-held city of Fallouja in coming days.

Iraqi forces are integral to the onslaught, U.S. officials insisted, scoffing at suggestions that the Iraqis would only be window dressing to make any invasion seem an Iraqi operation.

"They're more than just a show," Lt. Col. Gareth Brandl said of the Iraqis. "They'll be with us - shoulder to shoulder."

Annan Defends Letter Warning Of Fallouja Risk

Maggie Farley

UNITED NATIONS - Despite accusations of interference, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday that it was his duty to speak up about how an assault on Fallouja might increase insecurity and disrupt elections slated for January, though he recognized that the final decision belonged to Iraq.

"We know that obviously the Iraqi government is responsible for running its affairs. But we have the responsibility to assist and work with them on the elections, and so to express concern was our business," he told the Los Angeles Times. "It's not something that one should take as amiss."

Tuesday, 9 November: The "real" battle begins

Rumsfeld Looks To Military Success To 'Tip' Iraqi Opinion

Mark Mazzetti

WASHINGTON - U.S. troops captured Saddam Hussein, killed his much-loathed sons and handed power over to an Iraqi interim government. But none of that succeeded in tipping Iraqi public opinion decisively in favor of the United States.

Now, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other officials say they are hoping that crushing militants in Fallouja will serve as a milestone for winning the backing of the Iraqi public and deflating the lethal insurgency.

2 Coalition Soldiers, 6 Iraqis Killed In Attacks

Alissa J. Rubin

BAGHDAD - A wave of bombings shook the capital Monday night, killing at least six Iraqis and wounding more than 40 others, Iraqi and American officials said. A U.S. soldier and a British soldier were killed in separate incidents.

The first blast, a car bomb, exploded about 6:25 p.m. near St. George's Church in southern Baghdad, just minutes after U.S. and Iraqi troops launched their attack to take back control of the rebel-held city of Fallouja, about 35 miles to the west.

U.S.-Iraqi Force Pushes Into Rebel-Held Fallouja

Patrick J. McDonnell, Alissa J. Rubin and John Hendren

FALLOUJA, Iraq - Ten thousand U.S. troops and more than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers in tanks and on foot attacked this insurgent stronghold Monday night in a long-planned offensive aimed at ending guerrilla control of the city.

House-to-house fighting raged in several Fallouja neighborhoods this morning as Marines pushed into the city under fire from insurgents holed up inside houses.

Lying In Wait For The Battle

Patrick J. McDonnell

FALLOUJA, Iraq - The Marines rolled out before dawn Monday during a chilly downpour.

Water dripping from their combat gear, they walked half a mile from the staging area to the spot where a line of 7-ton troop trucks was waiting to transport them to the northern outskirts of this city.

The troops were eager to be on the move, especially toward Fallouja, where American forces began an invasion last April, but aborted the mission after five days. "Gentlemen, this is payback time," said 1st Sgt. Jose Andrade.

As the trucks began to roll, 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Rafael Pegeuro contrasted what he was about to do with what was going on his neighborhood in the Bronx. "My friends are back home flipping burgers."

Wednesday, 10 November: Has the enemy fled?

Reality Of Combat Hits U.S. Platoon

Patrick J. McDonnell

FALLOUJA, Iraq - The two dead insurgent fighters lay face down in the muddy road.

"There must be [more] bad guys around here," said Staff Sgt. Dennis Nash as he guided the 1st Platoon of Charlie Company past the bodies.

What followed was an hours-long series of firefights between the 1st Platoon and an often unseen rebel force firing from windows and alleyways in a neighborhood of stately two-story stucco houses and palm tree-lined streets.

Troops Push Deeper Into Fallouja

Patrick J. McDonnell, Mark Mazzetti and Alissa J. Rubin

FALLOUJA, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces pushed deeper into Fallouja on Tuesday and today, taking control of mosques, the City Hall complex and other key buildings as they searched house to house for weapons and guerrillas.

Troops from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, seized the City Hall near the city center without major resistance this morning as troops began the third day of their major offensive to take control of the insurgent stronghold, Marines said. Heavy fighting continued in some areas, including the Jolan district.

Several units encountered heavy fire from snipers and squads of guerrillas, but U.S. military leaders said that overall, resistance was lighter than expected and the advance was proceeding more quickly than anticipated.

Thursday, November 11: Hump day (this is not a 5-day week)

Forces Cross Key Road Into Fallouja's Heart

Patrick J. McDonnell, Alissa J. Rubin and Mark Mazzetti

FALLOUJA, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces pressed into the heart of Fallouja on Wednesday, chasing insurgents out of the city's battered northern neighborhoods and crossing a key highway into densely packed quarters to the south.

After three days of combat in which as many as 600 rebels may have been killed, military officials estimated that U.S. and Iraqi troops loosely controlled about 70% of the longtime insurgent stronghold. They cautioned, however, that they had not yet conducted coordinated, house-to-house clearing operations, and commanders believe that small bands of guerrillas are still operating in areas said to be in U.S. hands.

Sunnis, Shiites Divided In Response To Attack On Fallouja

Ashraf Khalil

AMMAN, Jordan - The U.S. and Iraqi military assault on Fallouja is drawing a diverse reaction from Iraqi citizens. Many decry the images of destruction, but residents in several cities describe the campaign as a painful necessity and the only way to quell the insurgent violence that continues to wrack the nation.

"They should have engaged Fallouja months ago in order to get rid of the terrorists who work against the interests of the Iraqi people and try to impede democracy in Iraq," said Muqdad Ali, a 30-year-old philosophy student in the Shiite Muslim-dominated city of Najaf, in the south.

Friday, 12 November: After the Night of Power

Beyond Embattled City, Rebels Operate Freely

Alissa J. Rubin and Tyler Marshall

BAGHDAD - Iraqi insurgents have extended their reach over large swaths of the country, including sections of the capital, making it unlikely that the United States can establish the stability needed for credible elections in January even if its forces succeed in Fallouja, military and political analysts say.

There is little doubt that American-led forces will recapture Fallouja within days, the analysts say. But U.S. officials who are planning for the election face another challenge: a law and order vacuum in many Sunni Muslim areas where there are no American or Iraqi forces and insurgents can operate with impunity.

Fallouja Toll Rises; Bombing In Baghdad

Alissa J. Rubin and John Hendren

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces pushed into southern Fallouja on Thursday after achieving many of their objectives elsewhere in the city. Continued heavy fighting in some areas increased the toll to 18 U.S. soldiers and five Iraqi officers killed since the beginning of the operation, press officers here said.

Violence flared elsewhere in the country. In Baghdad, a powerful car bomb ripped across a busy shopping street, killing at least 20 people and wounding 30, police on the scene said. In Mosul, the northern city that is Iraq's third largest, street fights raged for a second day and insurgents appeared to completely control several neighborhoods.

Fallouja Insurgency Chaotic, Persistent

Patrick J. McDonnell

FALLOUJA, Iraq ? The mosque had been taken, but the fire kept coming.

"We've got chunks of territory, but these guys [insurgents] are all over the place," Marine Lt. Brandon Turner said Thursday as he stood amid shattered glass and concrete under the green dome of the Khulafah Rashid mosque, his fellow Marines resting on a plush red carpet.

<...>

Mosques being used as military positions by insurgents have come under attack from Marines. The troops usually enter the facilities on the heels of U.S.-allied Iraqi forces after the guerrillas are flushed out. Laser-guided bombs have felled at least two minarets in which snipers were holed up. Marines have found extensive weapons caches and anti-American propaganda in several mosques.

"We have a lot of mosques in our AO [area of operations], and to the best of my knowledge in only one instance did we not receive fire from a mosque," said Capt. Matt Nodine, judge advocate for the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. "These mosques have lost the protections of the Geneva Convention. We are not here to destroy mosques. But the terrorists are using them and we will go after them."

At the majestic Khulafah Rashid mosque, on the highway that divides the northern and southern portions of Fallouja, Marines attacked after taking sniper fire from one of the facility's two minarets. That minaret now lies crumbled after being struck by a 500-pound laser-guided bomb from a U.S. aircraft.

The U.S.-led attacks on mosques have also served to halt the announcements from mosque loudspeakers urging people to resist the Americans. The taped recordings castigating the "infidels" could be heard throughout the first days of the invasion, infuriating Marines.

Saturday 13 November: The Push

Troops Shrink Insurgents' Turf

Patrick J. McDonnell

FALLOUJA, Iraq - U.S. forces moved Friday to consolidate control of the center of this rebel stronghold, pushing into southern neighborhoods to root out fighters dug in there.

As many as 50 rebels surrendered Friday, said Col. Craig Tucker, who heads one of the two regimental combat teams that swooped in from the north Monday.

"I understand from the enemy we have captured that their morale is low," said Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, who heads the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment. "They feel that the city is surrounded, and the only thing remaining for them is to surrender or die."

U.S. Forces Try To Quell Insurgency In Mosul

Alissa J. Rubin and Roaa Ahmed

MOSUL, Iraq - The Iraqi government hurriedly pulled in troops Friday to help control the burgeoning insurgency here, while Sunni Muslim preachers used weekly prayers to urge Iraqis to take up arms on behalf of their brothers in Fallouja.

The Iraqi government called in national guardsmen from camps on the Iranian and Syrian borders, according to an Associated Press report. Meanwhile, the U.S. moved a Marine Stryker battalion from Fallouja to help quell the violence in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city.

Sunday, 14 November: End game on the eve of Eid

U.S. Closes In, but Fallouja's Rebels Persist

FALLOUJA, Iraq - U.S. commanders said Saturday that they had established at least loose control over almost all of Fallouja, and estimated that 1,600 insurgents had been killed during the six-day battle to reclaim the city from the rebels.

As Marine units continued to press southward through the city, 1st Marine Division commander Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski said the battle had come down to "pockets of determined resistance" by increasingly hemmed-in militants.

Fighting continued throughout the city, but at a diminished pace, commanders reported.

"There are no high-fives yet," said Lt. Col. Gareth Brandl, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 8th Marine Regiment, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting. "This thing's not over."

Next: From London

Get a taste of Reality

from our fellow MilBlogger, American Soldier

PART I

Date: The Past Time: Early Place: Iraq

The convoy was preparing for a push north. All the soldiers were waiting anxiously by their vehicles. Some quiet, some reading excerpts from their bible and others just trying to make the time go by with jokes and small talk.

The officers had just finished up with their briefing and dispersed back to their squad members.

"So the Intel we have is pretty solid. We will most likely encounter some local sects of resistance." Lt. X say announces.

"We're also going into an area that is known to have a shit load of IED's and Roadside bombs."

*a few sighs*

"Yeah, so be alert, you all know what to look for."

"What about Hajji, what are the rules?" Sgt. A questions with some reservation.

"If Hajji is shooting at you then do what have to do, but you know the rules of engagement."

*small rumbling*

"Look, its going to suck. Just be alert, we'll deal with it, if it happens!"

Con't reading - See what happens next

PART II

We arrived at our destination point. It was an area that was on the outside of a fenced in parimeter, just a few roads over. Intel told us that these goons were inside a small slum compound. They were making IED's and blowing fellow Soldiers up. So the amount of energy between us all was very revealing.

"Why don't we just blow these f*****s up with Artillery?" SPC E said aloud.

"Woman & children are inside." I replied.

Read on about this soldiers story

Posted by at 08:50 PM

Our Precious Bodily Fluids

General "Buck" Turgidson: Mr. President, about, uh, 35 minutes ago, General Jack Ripper, the commanding general of, uh, Burpelson Air Force Base, issued an order to the 34 B-52's of his Wing, which were airborne at the time as part of a special exercise we were holding called Operation Drop-Kick. Now, it appears that the order called for the planes to, uh, attack their targets inside Russia. The, uh, planes are fully armed with nuclear weapons with an average load of, um, 40 megatons each. Now, the central display of Russia will indicate the position of the planes. The triangles are their primary targets; the squares are their secondary targets. The aircraft will begin penetrating Russian radar cover within, uh, 25 minutes.

President Merkin Muffley: General Turgidson, I find this very difficult to understand. I was under the impression that I was the only one in authority to order the use of nuclear weapons.

General "Buck" Turgidson: That's right, sir, you are the only person authorized to do so. And although I, uh, hate to judge before all the facts are in, it's beginning to look like, uh, General Ripper exceeded his authority.

As one of many patriots dedicated whole heartedly to the preservation of our precious bodily fluids I'm astounded to learn that many people consider Dr Strangelove a work of fiction - a parody even.

Go figure.

Small World

USA Today offers a brief report on the same press conference we mentioned yesterday, with a few added details on how one was wounded:

All four servicemen will be sent home soon to recuperate, but they say it's hard to leave their comrades back in the field. ?I'd go back (to Iraq) in a heartbeat,? Chapman said. He was hit while on patrol in the turret of a Humvee. After an Iraqi national guardsman was shot by a sniper, Chapman scanned nearby rooftops and windows through the scope on the wire-guided missile launcher he operates. A sniper's bullet hit under Chapman's helmet, temporarily blinding him.

The bullet cracked Chapman's skull, but he said doctors told him he has no brain damage. ?Everybody says I'm lucky, and I'll go with that,? he said.

Which sounds awfully similar to the story told by Kevin Sites here:

Then insurgent snipers begin firing in front of the Marines as well. One round pierces the Kevlar helmet a twenty-year old Mark 19 gunner -- in my vehicle. He is badly wounded. He's put in a canvas stretcher and six Marines run through the streets carrying him to a waiting military ambulance.

Small world, huh?

Takin' it to the Streets

Me, last week: where are the protestors? Must be the wrong Tuesday in November.

Smash: Hey! Look over here!

Awww Shoot...

Issues on the shooting of a combatant in Fallujah:

This fact seems to be undisputed: the man was a combatant, and not a very nice boy. He had very recently been actively shooting at US Marines from a mosque. Sorry Charlie, there are numerous movies about people shooting at US Marines and the fate they generally meet. This guy may never have seen one - if he had this whole thing might not have happened. We must work harder at spreading our culture.

Here's the best quote I've seen in mainstream media on this so far:

Charles Heyman, a senior defense analyst with Jane's Consultancy Group in Britain, defended the Marine's actions, saying the wounded man could have been concealing a firearm or grenade.

"In a combat infantry soldier's training, he is always taught that his enemy is at his most dangerous when he is severely wounded," Heyman said.

If the injured man makes even the slightest move, "in my estimation they would be justified in shooting him."

In other words, an enemy who knows he is dying is probably willing to take you along. That truism must be considered when dealing with legal combatants and wounded suicidal maniacs too.

You'll find several good points and a great comment thread here.

And a tip of the hat to 2Slick, who says everything I would about the incident, and thus saving me alot of typing time.

And reminder: if you see a corpse of any sort around these parts (much less a living guy, wounded or not) it's best to think of it as an IED rather than a dead body.

Unless you want to be dead too.

From the Front

Whenever reading a published report from the front I always wonder where the work of the reporter ends and that of the editor begins. By that same token, I'm never certain who to blame for any part of a story I might find offensive or recognize as patently false.

Many media types fault blogs for that "lack of an editor". I find it a strong point. Don't like what you read here? I'm responsible for it - your disagreement is with me. I even provide you the forum to do so. MSM stories, on the other hand, are a vague "responsibility free" zone - witness RatherGate for an excellent example. Dan-o's got deniability - plausible or not - and can hide behind any number of scapegoats; there are enough layers of people involved in that fraud to offer even those who can't hide a perfect opportunity to shrug and deny.

That said, I can't help but admire a reporter like Kevin Sites, who has been blogging off and on from Iraq since the invasion. Here are his latest posts - photos and a report from the streets of Fallujah.

If you haven't visited his blog before, set aside a bit of time to wander the archives, you'll be glad you did.

Update: Damn. Wasn?t aware of this story when I first posted this entry. Bizarre timing incident, to say the least.

Update 2: Glenn Reynolds notes the story sounds familiar?

Update 3: For those accusing Sites of various anti-American crimes I offer the same admonition I'd give to those who accuse the young Marine of atrocities: "You weren't there."

Here's Site's quote on the incident:

"I have witnessed the marines behaving as a disciplined and professional force throughout this offensive. In this particular case, it certainly was a confusing situation to say the least."

Another POV on Fallujah

More first hand accounts of Fallujah, from the soldiers wounded there:

LANDSTUHL, Germany — Getting the Purple Heart Medal for his war wounds doesn’t mean Spc. Kris Clinkscales is a hero.

“Getting the Purple Heart just means the rocket found me,” quipped the 22-year-old sniper from the 1st Cavalry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Hood, Texas.

Clinkscales spoke with reporters Monday while recuperating from wounds sustained a week ago in the massive offensive on the one-time insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. He took shrapnel to his right elbow and has temporarily lost some movement in the hand.

The four wounded servicemen paraded in front of the throngs of media representatives at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center were in good spirits and up to cracking periodic jokes between renditions of how they sustained their wounds.

Lance Cpl. Ryan Chapman, 22, of Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., took a bullet to the head from a sniper he had been hunting.

“Everyone keeps telling me I’m lucky. I’ll go with that,” said the TOW missile launcher. “It’s nothing too serious. [The bullet] cracked my skull, but it looks worse than it really is.”

<...>

Despite it all, the four said they’d return if they could. None sustained wounds that will require them to leave the military.

“If I could get a helmet on,” Chapman said, pointing to the huge knot on the left side of his head, “I’d go back. Now. My brothers are still there.”

From Stars and Stripes. Read it all here.

On line from the Front Lines

Satellite dishes jam the tops of living trailers at FOB Marez in Mosul, Iraq. Except the large dish on the right, all are personal, commercial systems. (From Stars and Stripes)

That's not my camp above, by the way, but it's typical of most in this country. I mention this because I get questions like this a lot:

"Where are you and what do you do over there? How do you people in Iraq have so much time on the internet? Aren't we at war?" and "I have a brother who's there and he says they never get a chance to email!"

First: Where am I? What do I do? Sorry - too much info. Nothing heroic, nothing glamorous, how's that?

Next:

1. There's more "down time" in a war then you could possibly imagine.

2. I was blogging before I came here, so I came here with a plan. The Mudville Gazette is produced on my personal laptop, pictures that I take are done with a camera donated to me by a a fellow blogger.

3. My military duties always come first. The average entry on this site takes me 10 minutes to do. I send a burst of email to the Mrs, she posts them throughout the day. Thus I'm not on line as much as you might think based on post times of my entries. Sometimes I send her a url and say "link this" and she does the rest.

3a: Sometimes I put more effort into a post. These are the ones with photos and a lot of my own writing. I wish I could do more of them. Some weeks I'll have more time than others. This week I was compelled to waste a bunch of time on this entry.

4. The most remote bases I know of here have morale tents with email access - whether your buddy/son/brother/whoever chooses to spend their spare time waitng to use it (or the X-Box or the TV or whatever) is up to them. Note: there may be exceptions I'm not aware of. So give them the benefit of the doubt - if they say they only get email twice a year I'm sure it's true.

But for your own peace of mind don't read this from Stars and Stripes:

LOGISTICAL SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA, Iraq — Across the sea of aluminum conex trailers at bases around Iraq, small orbs of communication are sprouting like foliage.

Units and groups of people are pitching in to buy satellite systems for either television or Internet service, to help bring them a little closer to home.

“It’s working out pretty well,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Dave Smith, a Florida National Guardsman serving with Company H, 171st Aviation Regiment at Anaconda.

He and a few colleagues bought an Internet satellite system from the unit they replaced and plan to sell it to the one that replaces them.

Up to 12 people can use it, although they try to vary usage so everyone isn’t on at once.

“We try to be courteous and not download big files,” Smith said.

Having the system allows them to communicate with family back home at odd hours, without a long walk to a Morale, Welfare and Recreation tent.

“Mostly it’s just the convenience,” Smith said. At the MWR Internet tent “you had to wait in line and you could only use it for 15 minutes.” He now chats with home via instant messenger a few times a day.

<...>

More common than Internet is satellite TV, found in nearly every living area in the country.

Servicemembers can buy antennae and dishes for the American Forces Network or several other types of TV lineups.

At Anaconda, members of the 28th Public Affairs Detachment each pitched in about $25 for an Orbit satellite system and one year of television service.

“You pay that for one month of cable in the States,” said Staff Sgt. David Gillespie, noncommissioned officer in charge.

<...>

In the 276th Engineer Battalion living area at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, clusters of satellite dishes line the horizon above the trailers.

Master Sgt. Robert Scholtz, communications section chief, said there really aren’t many rules governing satellites. For security reasons, troops are not allowed to use wireless technology anywhere in the theater.

At some bases, groups with Internet satellites have been told not to use Web cams in their trailers.

In either case, Scholtz said, he always reminds soldiers about operational security.

“OPSEC is always a big thing. We always tell them, ‘Whatever you put out there, they’re listening.’ ”

Which brings us right back to point one - I don't talk about where I am or what I do.

Scout?s Honor

This is repulsive. and I echo Hugh Hewitt in hoping someone at the Pentagon reverses this nonsense quickly ? or better yet declares the whole thing a fraud.

Brings to mind this old joke:

?Know the difference between the Boy Scouts and the US Military? One has adult leadership.?

Expect discontent among the rank and file. This is not what we fight for.

All Eyes on Fallujah Part III: The Washington Post

(See introduction to series here.)

The Washington Post provided the most straightforward series of reports on Fallujah I've seen, including a few stories that qualify as overlooked gems.

Dates below are for the publication of the story - not the events the reports describe.

Monday, 8 November, Opening salvos

Fighting Around Fallujah Intensifies

Premier Puts Most of Iraq Under State of Emergency

By Karl Vick, Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, Nov. 8 -- U.S. ground forces fought insurgents on the outskirts of Fallujah early Monday, and U.S. warplanes pounded the insurgent-held city, as a full military assault appeared increasingly imminent. On Sunday, Iraq's interim government had announced a state of emergency for most of the country.

Overnight, Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops seized Fallujah's main hospital, located across the Euphrates River from the bulk of the city -- connected by the ironwork bridge from which the burned bodies of U.S. security contractors were hanged last spring. The largely symbolic action put an Iraqi imprimatur on an offensive that will necessarily be led by American armor, aircraft and troops, which Monday morning were still awaiting orders to advance. U.S. commanders have not said when the major offensive would start.

Annan's Warning On Fallujah Dismissed

By Dafna Linzer, Washington Post Staff Writer

NEW YORK, Nov. 5 -- The United States, Britain and Iraq on Friday angrily dismissed a warning from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that a military offensive in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah could jeopardize the credibility of upcoming elections in Iraq.

In letters dated Oct. 31 and addressed to President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and interim Iraqi leader Ayad Allawi, Annan said using military force against insurgents in the city would further alienate Sunni Muslims already feeling left out of a political process orchestrated largely by Washington.

"I wish to share with you my increasing concern at the prospect of an escalation in violence, which I fear could be very disruptive for Iraq's political transition," Annan wrote to the three leaders.

"I also worry about the negative impact that major military assaults, in which the main burden seems bound to be borne by American forces, are likely to have on the prospects for encouraging a broader participation by Iraqis in the political process, including in the elections."

Annan's comments and criticism drew anger and frustration from U.S., British and Iraqi officials.

Tuesday, 9 November: The "real" battle begins

Rumsfeld Says Fallujah Attack Won't Go Halfway

Unlike in April, Effort Has Iraqi Government's Support

By Bradley Graham, Washington Post Staff Writer

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declared yesterday that the military assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah would be carried through to completion, unlike the U.S. Marine operation in April that was aborted after several days.

"I cannot imagine that it would stop without being completed," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news conference.

Pressed on the possibility that interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi might halt the offensive, Rumsfeld said he would be "amazed" if that happened. He said the Iraqi leader had been involved in extensive discussions on whether to proceed. "The decision to go included the decision to finish and to finish together," Rumsfeld said.

Wednesday, 10 November: Has the enemy fled?

U.S. Forces Battle Into Heart Of Fallujah

Units Meet Scattered Resistance; Attacks Continue Elsewhere

By Jackie Spinner, Karl Vick and Omar Fekeiki, Washington Post Foreign Service

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 9 -- U.S. forces pushed into the heart of Fallujah on Tuesday, encountering roadside bombs, rockets and gunfire on the second day of a battle to wrest control of the city from insurgents.

Army and Marine units that entered Fallujah from the northeast and northwest on Monday night had fought their way to the city center and beyond by Tuesday night, U.S. commanders said.

Soldiers with the Army's 1st Infantry Division made their way to the southeastern part of the city, a neighborhood of factories and warehouses where they expected to find guerrillas waiting for them. Instead, the district was relatively quiet, though the units reported being fired on by women and children armed with assault rifles.

"There were multiple groups running around shooting at us," said Air Force Senior Airman Michael Smyre, 26, of Hickory, N.C., an airstrike spotter attached to the 1st Infantry who was wounded when a rocket hit his armored vehicle. "You could see a lot of rubble, trash everywhere. It was real nasty-looking."

Marines fighting to the west of the Army units advanced to the main east-west highway that divides Fallujah and reported persistent resistance from insurgents firing from mosques.

Rebuilding What The Assault Turns To Rubble

Seabees, Other Units Began Planning Early for the Reconstruction of Fallujah

By Jackie Spinner, Washington Post Staff Writer

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 9 -- Weeks before Marine and Army units stormed into Fallujah, blowing up buildings and blasting holes in insurgent positions, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Larry Merola was already working on a plan to fix the damage.

Merola, an architect from Stoughton, Mass., was part of a Seabee team of engineers, builders and carpenters responsible for estimating the battle damage long before the first tank rolled.

Merola and his crew -- which included an ironworker from Connecticut, an electrician from Virginia and a general contractor from New Hampshire -- pored over combat plans with Marine commanders and made suggestions for how to secure the city without completely tearing it apart.

"A lot of trigger-pullers and pilots, they can do just about anything with their weapons," said Merola, 38, a reservist with the 7th Naval Construction Regiment, based in Newport, R.I. "But you don't want to give people a piece of flat earth to start over with when you're done."

Now, with U.S. and Iraqi security forces pushing their way through Fallujah, military commanders say an essential component in the battle to retake the city is putting it back together when the infantry leaves. More than $90 million in U.S.-funded reconstruction projects are planned for the city once it is secure.

"We don't do a combat operation in Fallujah unless we are prepared to repair it," said Col. John R. Ballard, commander of the Marine 4th Civil Affairs Group, based in Washington. "This isn't about punishing the town. This is about getting rid of a very bad influence. When we do that, there is going to be damage."

Thursday, November 11: Hump day (this is not a 5-day week)

Troops Secure Much Of Fallujah

Violence Breaks Out Elsewhere in Iraq as Insurgents Seek New Fronts

By Jackie Spinner and Omar Fekeiki, Washington Post Foreign Service

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 10 -- U.S. and Iraqi forces established control over more than 70 percent of Fallujah on Wednesday, U.S. commanders said, and troops described encountering only small pockets of resistance as they pushed through a city that they likened to a ghost town.

"It's a lot lighter than we expected," said Staff Sgt. Jimmy Amyett, 24, of the 1st Infantry Division's Fox Troop, 4th Cavalry. When his unit first moved into Fallujah, he said, "we thought the city would explode on us."

Elsewhere in Iraq, fierce fighting broke out in several cities, as insurgents strove to open fronts away from Fallujah. In Baghdad, gunmen kidnapped relatives of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi from their home on Tuesday, a spokesman for Allawi said Wednesday. An Islamic militant group said it would execute Allawi's relatives unless U.S. and Iraqi forces withdrew from Fallujah.

An Iraqi general, meanwhile, said troops discovered abandoned houses in the northern part of Fallujah where kidnappers had "slaughtered" foreign hostages. "We found the insurgents' black clothes," said Brig. Gen. Abdul-Qadir Muhammed Jasim, the Iraqi army's chief of operations for the region. "We've found hundreds of CDs, documents with their names."

3 Allawi Relatives Held Hostage; Fighting Erupts In Several Cities

By Karl Vick and Naseer Nouri, Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, Nov. 10 -- Armed men kidnapped three relatives of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, and fierce fighting broke out in several Iraqi cities Wednesday as insurgents strove to open fronts away from the U.S. military assault on Fallujah.

Allawi's first cousin Ghazi Allawi, 74, and two female relatives were abducted from their Baghdad home Tuesday night after a brief gun battle with bodyguards assigned to the family, according to a spokesman for the prime minister's office.

An Islamic militant group later posted a warning that the three faced execution in 48 hours unless Allawi ordered U.S. and Iraqi troops out of Fallujah. Allawi's office issued statements refusing the demand.

"This action is another of the terrorists' crimes and will not weaken the will of the government to fight terrorism to achieve peace and stability in a free and democratic Iraq," said another Allawi spokesman, Thaer Hasan Naqib.

Artillerymen Clear Path For The Infantry

By Jackie Spinner, Washington Post Staff Writer

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 10 -- U.S. Army observers watched as the white pickup truck sped from house to house in Fallujah on Wednesday morning, stopping more than 20 times to drop off armfuls of rocket-propelled grenades. Every few stops, the driver threw dirt on the roof of the cab, apparently in an attempt to disguise his vehicle.

A few miles away, soldiers in the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Platoon, Alpha Battery trained their M109A6 Paladin, a self-propelled 155mm howitzer, on the truck. Minutes later, a shell shot out of the cannon, whizzed across the sky and landed next to the truck with a massive boom, shooting off shrapnel.

In the resulting cloud of dust and fire, the observers could not tell whether the truck had been hit directly. But even if the driver got away, said Staff Sgt. Shawn Zawistowski, a member of the 1st Infantry's Task Force 2-2, "I guarantee we made him think twice."

Powerful artillery pieces such as the Paladin deserve much of the credit for the ease and speed with which the U.S. military has been able to take control of most of Fallujah, according to American soldiers who have been sweeping through the city over the past two days.

Seeking Salvation In The City Of Insurgents

By Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Special to The Washington Post

FALLUJAH, Iraq -- He first tried to get to Iraq in April 2003, when U.S. troops established control over the country and jihad became a place on a map.

"I wanted to come and fight for Islam," said Abu Thar, who started the journey from the capital city of his native country, Yemen, across the Arabian Peninsula. "I met a Jordanian merchant who provided me with tickets to Syria and a hundred dollars.

"He even drove me to the airport himself."

Abu Thar arrived at the airport in Sanaa, the Yemen capital, with a group of other Yemeni students, a flock of would-be jihadis forming a neat line at the immigration counter. Abu Thar was wearing a traditional Arab robe and a small turban.

"And when the police asked me why I was going to Damascus, I said, 'To work.' They asked me what kind of work. I said, 'To work for the salvation of my soul.' And they sent me back."

A thin young man with an ascetic manner and a lovely voice, Abu Thar fingered the fabric of his cheap cotton trousers. By his reckoning, the Western clothes were what finally got him started on the smugglers' road to Iraq, in time for the showdown in Fallujah.

"This time," he said, "I learned the lesson and bought these."

If foreign fighters are the primary stated reason that 10,000 U.S. troops this week commenced the largest combat operation since the fall of Baghdad, the journey of Abu Thar sheds rare light on their presence in Fallujah. Arab fighters poured in when Marines first laid siege to the city in April. At the time, many Fallujans welcomed the foreign fighters as reinforcements against an occupation force that many felt were punishing an entire city for the actions of the few who had mutilated the bodies of American contractors days before.

But in the six months that followed, by many accounts, a coolness developed between hosts and guests. The Arabs were blamed for beheadings, car bombs that killed civilians and for imposing their strict notions of faith on a local population with traditions of its own.

In the end, the stubborn presence of foreign fighters scotched efforts to return control of Fallujah to Iraq's interim government. By Monday night, when U.S. tanks rolled into the city largely emptied of civilians, American commanders estimate that Arabs from countries other than Iraq accounted for at least 20 percent of the 3,000 or so fighters who remained.

This is the story of one.

Friday, 12 November: After the Night of Power

U.S. Tries To Corner Fallujah Insurgents

Evidence of Guerrilla Atrocities Is Found

By Jackie Spinner, Karl Vick and Omar Fekeiki, Washington Post Foreign Service

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 11 -- U.S. forces pushed toward a corner of Fallujah where commanders said insurgents may be preparing to make a last stand, as soldiers and civilians uncovered evidence of atrocities committed by the foreign and Iraqi guerrillas who controlled the city for nearly seven months.

In the industrial area on Fallujah's south side, residents said Thursday that the bodies of 20 foreign fighters had been found outside a truck repair shop, many killed by a single shot to the head. Insurgents native to Fallujah said the foreigners were executed for deserting their positions when the U.S.-led assault on the city began Monday night.

In the northern half of the city, now largely under the control of U.S. and Iraqi forces, Marines making a door-to-door sweep on Wednesday found a bruised, starving man chained to the wall of a house. The man, who identified himself as a taxi driver from nearby Abu Ghraib, said he had been kidnapped by men who refused to give him food or water and beat him with electrical cords during 10 days of captivity.

Violence Erupts Across Iraq At Sites Far From Fallujah

By Karl Vick and Bassam Sebti, Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, Nov. 11 -- Armed insurgents rampaged Thursday through Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, detonated a massive car bomb in the capital and apparently seized control of two smaller urban centers. This violence took place as U.S. forces continued their major offensive in Fallujah.

The scattered and spreading guerrilla attacks appeared to be part of a threatened effort by insurgents to open new battle fronts away from Fallujah, an anti-American bastion 35 miles west of Baghdad in the Sunni Triangle.

Masked men brandishing machine guns and wrapped in ammunition bandoliers overran police stations in Mosul, a major city 220 miles north of the capital, carrying off weapons and armored vests in a second day of street violence, U.S. military officials here said.

In Baghdad, gunfire and explosions continued to rattle sections of the city, while gunmen battled U.S. Army units and Iraqi police in western neighborhoods largely populated by Sunni Muslims and officials of former president Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led government.

In a late-morning attack on Sadoun Street, a busy commercial strip, a car bomb exploded with a force that stunned even jaded residents.

The blast killed 17 people, blackened one block of the street, destroyed a medical supply store and incinerated 10 cars. The suicide bomber had apparently tried to hit a passing convoy of five Iraqi police cars.

"These are the Arab fighters who are losing now in Fallujah. I saw a whole family burned in front of me," said Abu Adullah, as a tear rolled down his cheek. Adullah's real estate office was damaged in the blast.

"May God curse them," he said. "May God curse them."

Saturday 13 November: The Push

U.S. Forces Meet Fierce Resistance In Fallujah
Push South Greeted By 'Hornet's Nest'

By Jackie Spinner and Karl Vick, Washington Post Foreign Service

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 12 -- Insurgents in trenches met advancing U.S. and Iraqi forces in southern Fallujah with a burst of bullets and rockets Friday in what commanders described as one of the fiercest days of fighting since the battle to retake the city began five days ago.

Marines and soldiers said they encountered guerrillas dug into traditional defensive positions from which they could pop up, shoot and quickly take cover. The Americans said they and their Iraqi allies fought back with rifles, automatic weapons, belt-fed machine guns, mortars and hand grenades.

"It was a hornets' nest," said Capt. Erik Krivda, of Gaithersburg, the officer in charge of the Army's 1st Infantry Division Task Force 2-2 tactical operations command center.

Sunday, 14 November: End game on the eve of Eid

U.S. Ground Assault on Fallujah 'Ahead of Schedule,' Commander Says

Marines Find Mutilated Body Believed to Be Western Woman

Jim Krane

NEAR FALLUJAH -- The U.S. military's ground and air assault of Fallujah has gone quicker than expected, with the entire city occupied after six days of fighting, the Marine commander who planned the offensive said Sunday. The military said 31 Americans have been killed in the siege.

Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski said he and other commanders learned from April's failed three-week Marine assault on Fallujah, which was called off by the Bush administration after a worldwide outcry over civilians deaths. This time, the military sent in six times as many troops and 20 types of aircraft. Troops also faked attacks before the assault to confuse enemy fighters.

<...>

On Sunday, U.S. soldiers from Task Force 2-2 of the 1st Infantry Division discovered an immense series of underground bunkers linked by tunnels that insurgents stocked with medical supplies, a CNN correspondent embedded with the unit reported.

Warplanes dropped four 2,000-pound bombs on the bunker network in the city's southeast corner, setting off 45 minutes of secondary explosions as weapons stockpiles detonated, CNN correspondent Jane Arraf said

Next: The LA Times

Stunned in London

Tim Blair points us to a Guardian article that cries out for some sort of recognition - as perhaps the most senseless story filed yet in the history of the conflict in Iraq. The first two paragraphs start the ball rolling:

US military chiefs said yesterday that they saw no need for the Iraqi Red Crescent to deliver aid inside Falluja because they did not think any Iraqi civilians were trapped there.

"There is no need to bring [Red Crescent] supplies in because we have supplies of our own for the people," said Colonel Mike Shupp of the marines.

I'm sorry, perhaps the Queen's English is too difficult for my commoner's brain, but you claim the generic 'chiefs' say no Iraqi civilians are trapped in Falluja, and then quote an actual Colonel who says we've brought them food? Please decide what your story is before writing it.

This sort of moronic behavior made Monty Python a fortune, but they were doing parody.

Here's another quote from the Colonel regarding civilians who aren't in Falluja:

"We want to help them as much as we can. We are on the radio telling them how to come out and how to come up to coalition forces."

Still the intrepid reporter fearlessly charges forward without retracting his first paragraph. (Guess someone missed that day in J-School.) Then the real fun begins with this prediction from a hero of the revolution:

One Sunni Muslim cleric, an aide to Abdullah Janabi, the wanted head of the "mujahideen council" that ran Falluja until the US assault, said the rebellion would intensify.

"Maybe the Americans will come into Falluja," said the cleric, who asked not to be named. "Maybe they will take it. But it is not the end. There are 18 provinces in Iraq and the resistance will continue to grow tougher ... America has taken its last breath."

And who is this brave 'cleric' declaring the "mother of all battles" to "roast us in the fires of hell"? That will be explained several paragraphs later:

The cleric, aged in his 40s spoke to the Guardian for two hours in a private house in Baghdad. He spent six years fighting in Saddam Hussein's army in both the Iran-Iraq war and the first Gulf war and largely supported the former dictator. In April last year he fought alongside Iraqi troops at Baghdad airport and has helped run the rebellion.

"I felt like every human being feels when someone comes into their country: sad and terrified. Now we have to fight to change our sadness to happiness," he said. He fled to Baghdad as the assault began last week.

If he'd like I can arrange an airport tour for him. Maybe even an introduction to some of the old gang.

No wonder we see poison spew forth from folks claiming to be Brits in the comments section of blogs by Iraqi teenage girls. It's tragic that people have to rely on shoddy reporting, but that's no excuse for anyone being gullible enough to believe it.

Even the Russians had a joke about "truth" and "Pravda."

Listen up, Stupid

Email to Iraqi Blogger Hammorabi:

What makes me really angry is that I live in Australia, yet I understand fully why the Iraqi people are fighting this illegal occupation, whilst dogs such as yourself will do anything to appease your masters. Do you not feel any sympathy for the 100,000+ Iraqis who have died from American bombs?

Comment left on the blog 'Star from Mosul':

America intends that a pro-Washington government should be elected in Iraq, and they will stop at nothing to bring that about. Anyone who is not completely pro-American is immediately condemned as "terrorist" or "insurgent" or "terrorist-sympathiser", etc etc, and is treated with complete barbarism by the US military. The Americans - as has often been observed - protect none but their own. You would not know it, from listening to our Prime Minister, but in Britain there is huge anger among ordinary people at what has been done to Fallujah; people are saying how is this behaviour of the Americans any different from what Saddam Hussein did at Hallabjah?

Rachel in London

Is there a name for the psychological condition whose sufferers believe anything they hear about Iraq - except for the words of those of us who are here - to the point where they are compelled to demand that the people who actually live here share their twisted view?

Do these people stop for a minute to ponder the utter ridiculousness of their claims? Are they completely ignorant of the air of superiority they project when conveying this message?: "Look you ignorant savages, I'll tell you exactly how it is in your country since you backwater morons are too stupid to see it for yourselves..."

Sheeesh.

Update: Mosul

Another first-hand perspective on Mosul from Ibrahim Khalil, blogger at Iraq Today:

What happened in Mosul last Wednesday and Thursday was that Mosul became out of control like what I wrote in my last article. But the situation in just the next day (Friday) and today (Saturday) is more stable and no more fighting is occurring in the city.

However, the situation is still as unstable even though there is no fights like last Thursday. Friday was a somewhat quiet day, while today Saturday we had some attacks and we were hearing the sounds of explosions here and there.

What happened especially on Thursday is that the police director ran away and left the city. Yesterday I heard in news that Interior Minister chucked the police director of Mosul and today, the mayor of Mosul said that the police director had run away just when the last events started. That caused many policemen to leave their stations and the city to become without police in many places. We said that the city became out of control. The Mayor said also that "no one knows where the police director is now and we are seeking for him." The Mayor blamed the Director and the police system for all of what has happened in the last two days. But he said that "we got some forces from Baghdad to keep the security and that we will get more this day so we will keep security better from tomorrow."

Read the whole thing. And visit his archives for previous events in Mosul.

Hall of Fame Induction Speech?

Pull the dogtags and this is what he says: "First off I gotta give props to my Lord and Savior, then a shout out to Barbie - Hey girrrrl! And thanks to all you parents who weren't afraid to teach your sons to pee standing up...

Blue State Nightmare

Speaking of Rightwingsparkle? heh

In the Neighborhood

More and more MilBloggers every day. 2Slick is a Blackhawk pilot somewhere in this AOR, and like your's truly enjoys watchdogging the media coverage of our activities.

(Hat tip: Rightwingsparkle )

Good news from Afghanistan

Dear Mr & Mrs Greyhawk

And it's so much more than just the election...

Chrenkoff

Opinion Journal

Winds of Change

The mainstream media certainly doesn't - so thanks for your help in spreading the good news.

Best regards

Arthur

News From Hell

Or: "The more things change..."

Left in comments by Wisdom Cube, worthy of a post:

"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."

Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman

All Eyes on Fallujah Part II: The NY Times

(See introduction to series here)

Dates below are for the story - not the events the reports describe.

Monday, 8 November, Opening salvos

G.I.'s Open Attack To Take Falluja From Iraq Rebels

By Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Robert F. Worth

FALLUJA, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 8 - Explosions and heavy gunfire thundered across Falluja on Sunday night and Monday morning as American troops seized control of two strategic bridges, a hospital and other objectives in the first stage of a long-expected invasion of the city, the center of the Iraqi insurgency.

Hours earlier, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, faced with an expanding outbreak of insurgent violence across the country, formally proclaimed a state of emergency for 60 days across most of Iraq. The proclamation gave him broad powers that allow him to impose curfews, order house-to-house searches and detain suspected criminals and insurgents.

The first of several thousand marines in tanks, Humvees and armored personnel carriers began taking up positions on Monday morning along the northern edge of the city to prepare for an attack, and American jets began bombing targets.

Early Target Of Offensive Is A Hospital

By Richard A. Oppel Jr.

FALLUJA, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 8 - The assault against Falluja began here Sunday night as American Special Forces and Iraqi troops burst into Falluja General Hospital and seized it within an hour.

At 10 p.m., Iraqi troops clambered off seven-ton trucks, sprinting with American Special Forces soldiers around the side of the main building of the hospital, considered a refuge for insurgents and a center of propaganda against allied forces, entering the complex to bewildered looks from patients and employees.

Tuesday, 9 November: The "real" battle begins

U.S. Begins Main Assault In Falluja, Setting Off Street Fighting

6,500 American G.I.'s And 2,000 Iraqis On Attack

By Dexter Filkins and James Glanz

FALLUJA, Iraq, Tuesday, Nov. 9 - Thousands of American marines and soldiers swarmed over a railroad embankment on the northern edge of Falluja on Monday night and early Tuesday, setting off a wild firefight and making their first advances across the deadly streets and twisting alleyways of this rebel-held city.

The move, following weeks of bombings by American airplanes, marked the beginning of the main assault on Falluja, expected to be the most significant battle since the fall of Baghdad 19 months ago.

Most of the 6,500 American troops and 2,000 Iraqi soldiers went over the embankment at six separate points, military officials said, aiming to clear out insurgents one house at a time and eventually take several large public buildings in the heart of the city.

The drive into Falluja's downtown came after the interim Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi, gave formal authority to the American-led troops to start the assault. American and Iraqi officials have said elections planned for the end of January would be imperiled if Falluja and other cities in the Sunni Muslim heartland remained in the hands of the rebels.

Urban Warfare Deals Harsh Challenge To Troops

By Dexter Filkins

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 8 - The two marines were pinned down on a roof on Monday, pressing themselves against a low, crumbling wall as insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at them from a building near the middle of town.

Hours before, they had clambered over a railroad embankment - a berm, to the engineering-minded - and started their advance into this rebel-held city.

Commanders called in artillery fire on the building where the grenades were emerging, their tails spitting and glowing like sparklers across the sky. But the artillery only flattened the building next door to the one occupied by the insurgents.

"This is crazy," one of the marines said. "Yeah," his buddy said, "and we've only taken one house."

Machines Of War Grope In The Dust And Shadows

By Richard A. Oppel Jr.

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 8 - The Americans had tanks and bombs. The insurgents had the shadows.

Hours after American troops captured the peninsula just across the Euphrates from downtown Falluja early Monday morning, outgunned insurgents continuing shooting, and taking constant fire from the Americans' far more powerful weapons.

On the peninsula, the Americans had tanks, Bradleys, .50-caliber machine guns, long-range sniper rifles and a new type of Humvee-mounted Gatling gun that soldiers say can fire up to 2,000 7.62-millimeter rounds per minute. Overhead, Cobra helicopter gunships and jets swooped in to shoot missiles and drop bombs.

The insurgents' weapons were comparatively timid: mortars, Kalashnikov rifles with their firecracker-like pop, and rocket-propelled grenades with a 400-meter effective range.

The Americans were 500 meters to 600 meters away...

Wednesday, 10 November: Has the enemy fled?

U.S.-Led Assault Marks Advances Against Falluja

By Dexter Filkins and Robert F. Worth

FALLUJA, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 10 - After two days of street-to-street fighting, the American-led assault on Falluja had wrested at least a third of the city from insurgents on Tuesday, capturing the mayor's office, two mosques, a commercial center and other major objectives in the heart of the downtown and advancing past the main highway through the city.

The insurgents continued to fight and withdraw to new positions as American and Iraqi military forces - relying heavily on artillery and air support - pushed in from the north. Battles continued in the south Falluja neighborhoods of Resala and Nazal as the insurgents appeared to be retreating along a central corridor toward the southern fringes of the city.

At the Pentagon, Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, the commander of day-to-day military operations in Iraq, said in a video teleconference from Baghdad that commanders anticipated "several more days of tough urban fighting" before the Falluja offensive was over. He said most of the military's objectives had been met "on or ahead of schedule" against a force of 2,000 to 3,000 insurgents.

Rebel Fighters Who Fled Attack May Now Be Active Elsewhere

By Edward Wong and Eric Schmitt

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 10 - Insurgent leaders in Falluja probably fled before the American-led offensive and may be coordinating attacks in Iraq that have left scores dead over the past few days, according to American military officials here.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who is the most wanted man in Iraq, has almost certainly departed, military officials say. Americans say his group is responsible for ambushes, bombings and beheadings that have killed hundreds of people in more than a year.

Before the offensive began, some military officials said Mr. Zarqawi could be operating out of Falluja, but his precise whereabouts have not been known.

"I personally believe some of the senior leaders probably have fled," Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, commander of the multinational forces in Iraq, said in a video conference with reporters on Tuesday.

In Taking Falluja Mosque, Victory By The Inch

By Dexter Filkins

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 9 - After nearly 16 hours of fighting, the United States marines thought they had finally won their battle for the green-domed mosque, which insurgents had been using as a command center.

Then a car drove up behind a group of the marines on Al Thurthar Street. Seven men bristling with Kalashnikovs, rocket-propelled grenades and black ammunition belts spilled onto the street, ready to fight at point-blank range. The marines turned and fired, and killed four of them immediately, blowing one man's head entirely away before he fell on his back onto the pavement, his arms spread wide.

Three more fled. Cpl. Jason Huyghe cornered two of them in a courtyard. One of them, he suddenly realized, was wearing a belt packed with explosives.

"I saw the guy roll over and pull something on his jacket," Corporal Huyghe said, "and he exploded."

Sunni Party Leaves Iraqi Government Over Falluja Attack

By Edward Wong

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 9 - In the first major political backlash over the assault on Falluja, the country's most prominent Sunni political party said Tuesday that it was withdrawing from the interim Iraqi government, while the leading group of Sunni clerics called for Iraqis to boycott the nationwide elections scheduled for early next year.

The moves seemed to promise that popular protest against the American-led attack on the city, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim, is likely to grow in coming days.

Thursday, November 11: Hump day (this is not a 5-day week)

Assault Slows, But G.I.'s Take Half Of Falluja

By Robert F. Worth and Edward Wong

FALLUJA, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 11 - Advances in Falluja slowed considerably on Wednesday after American-led troops took control of about half of the city.

On Tuesday night, insurgents kidnapped three relatives of the Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi, from their home in Baghdad. A militant group calling itself Ansar al-Jihad posted an Internet message saying it was holding the three hostages and would behead them in 48 hours unless Dr. Allawi called off the siege of Falluja and ordered the release of all prisoners.

Some of the military units operating in the invasion came under heavy sniper fire where the advance has slowed or stopped along a major boulevard that bisects Falluja, but military officials asserted that the force was simply regrouping and would soon continue to push ahead.

"They have made good progress through the city, and they're now about halfway through," said Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commander of the First Marine Division.

Hard Lesson: 150 Marines Meet 1 Sniper

By Dexter Filkins

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 10 - American marines called in two airstrikes on the pair of dingy three-story buildings squatting along Highway 10 on Wednesday, dropping 500-pound bombs each time. They fired 35 or so 155-millimeter artillery shells, 10 shots from the muzzles of Abrams tanks and perhaps 30,000 rounds from their automatic rifles. The building was a smoking ruin.

But the sniper kept shooting.

He - or they, because no one can count the flitting shadows in this place - kept 150 marines pinned down for the better part of a day. It was a lesson on the nature of the enemy in this hellish warren of rubble-strewn streets. Not all of the insurgents are holy warriors looking for martyrdom. At least a few are highly trained killers who do their job with cold precision and know how to survive.

"The idea is, he just sits up there and eats a sandwich," said Lt. Andy Eckert, "and we go crazy trying to find him."

Friday, 12 November: After the Night of Power

U.S. Presses Fight In Falluja; Insurgents Strike Other Cities

By Robert F. Worth and James Glanz

FALLUJA, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 12 - Rebels mounted fierce counterattacks Thursday against rapid advances by American troops into the southern part of Falluja, while insurgents elsewhere in Iraq appear to have opened up a second front in the fighting by overrunning police stations and laying siege to the provincial headquarters in Mosul.

The invasion of Falluja, now in its fourth day, is seen by military planners as a way to smash the largest safe haven for the insurgency in Iraq. Since the assault began on Monday, about 600 rebels have been killed, along with 18 American and 5 Iraqi soldiers, military officials said.

American marines and soldiers seem to be carrying out a pincer movement in Falluja, pressing insurgents ever farther south in intense fighting. But the military has been forced to detach an armored battalion from its cordon operation around Falluja to help quell violence in Mosul, about 200 miles to the north, siphoning off about a third of the forces that had been put in place to catch insurgents attempting to flee the fighting here.

[On Friday, United States officers said American-led forces had gained control of most of Falluja and that insurgents were trapped in the southern part of the city, Reuters reported. "They can't go north because that's where we are. They can't go west because of the Euphrates River and they can't go east because we have a huge presence there. So they are cornered in the south," Master Sgt. Roy Meek told Reuters.]

Black Flags Are Deadly Signals As Cornered Rebels Fight Back

By Dexter Filkins

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 11 - The stars began to glimmer through a wan yellow-gray sunset over Falluja on Thursday evening. The floury dust in the air and a skyline of broken minarets and smashed buildings combined for the only genuine postcard image this country has to offer for now.

Sitting on a third-story roof, Staff Sgt. Eric Brown, his lip bleeding, peered through the scope of his rifle into the haze. Moments before, a lone bullet had whizzed past his face and smashed a window behind him. "God, I hate this place, the way the sun sets," Sergeant Brown said.

Sgt. Sam Williams said, "I wish I could see down the street."

But these marines did see a black flag pop up all at once above a water tower about 100 yards away, then a second flag somewhere in the gloaming above a rooftop. And the shots began, in a wave this time, as men bobbed and weaved through alleyways and sprinted across the street. "He's in the road, he's in the road, shoot him!" Sergeant Brown shouted. "Black shirt!" someone else yelled. "Due south!"

Saturday 13 November: The Push

U.S. Troops Set For Final Attack On Falluja Force

By Dexter Filkins and Robert F. Worth

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 12 - American forces moved into position on Friday for a decisive battle with bands of insurgents, pounding some of their remaining strongholds with airstrikes and repelling attempts by some fighters to shoot their way out through the desert countryside south of the city.

But other fighters, among the most resilient the Americans have encountered in five days of battle, seemed resigned to making a last stand in Falluja's southern residential neighborhoods.

"Right now they've got no place to go," said Col. Craig Tucker, commander of a regimental combat team encompassing several battalions of American troops. "I think they've come here to die."

Disguised In Iraqi Uniforms, Rebels Kill A Marine

By Dexter Filkins

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 12 - The farther south the marines push through this rebellious city, the more often they notice that the men shooting at them are wearing tan uniforms with a smart-looking camouflage pattern that is the color of chocolate chips.

Those are the uniforms of the Iraqi National Guard.

On Friday, after several hours of nonstop gun battles around a mosque in southern Falluja had killed about 100 insurgents, the marines said that those tan uniforms had cost one of their own his life the day before. It happened in what they first called an ambush, but now believe was a case of mistaken identity, combined with quick reflexes by insurgents who are using their wits to deadly effect as they approach their last stand.

Along The Outskirts Of Falluja, The Heavy Shadow Of Battle

By Abdul Razzaq Al-saeidy

NAIYIMA, Iraq, Nov. 12 - Two men stood by the open trunk of a red Opel sedan on Friday, unloading rockets in a parched dirt field several miles south of Falluja. One man gingerly cradled a pair of three-foot black cylinders in his arms.

Nearby, two metal tubes poked from a pile of sandbags. They were aimed at a palm grove where the marines had set up their headquarters, named Camp Falluja, or as the Iraqis call it, Al Masraa, or the Farm. Moments earlier, the whistle of rockets had been heard.

"They must have fired from these tubes, and they're bringing more rockets now," Said, a Falluja resident who was guiding an Iraqi reporter, said. "We've got to get out of here. The Americans might open fire on us."

Sunday, 14 November: End game on the eve of Eid

U.S. Armored Forces Blast Their Way Into Rebel Nest In Falluja

Dexter Filkins and Robert F. Worth

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 13 - Army tanks and fighting vehicles blasted their way into the last main rebel stronghold in Falluja at sundown on Saturday after American warplanes and artillery prepared the way with a savage barrage on the district.

Earlier in the afternoon, 10 separate plumes of smoke rose from southern Falluja, as if etched against the desert sky, and probably exclaiming catastrophe for the insurgents.

"It's a broad attack against the entire southern front," said Col. Michael D. Formica, the Army commander in charge of the cordon effort around the city. "We're just pushing them against an anvil."

The assault progressed enough for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to conclude that "coalition and Iraqi forces have completed the move, for all practical purposes, from the north of town to the south" of Falluja.

"Needless to say, there still will be pockets of resistance and areas that will be difficult, so I don't mean to suggest that it's complete ," he said during a visit to Panama. "Clearly there's a large number of terrorists that have been killed or captured, and that is a good thing for the people of Iraq."

Next: The Washington Post

All Eyes on Fallujah

"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."

- Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman

Have times changed? Last week Qatar's English Language Gulf Times carried a warning of a different sort from CENTCOM officials to journalists on the eve of the assault in Fallujah:

US-led coalition forces gear up for a final push on the Iraqi hotspot of Fallujah, an official of the US Central Command (Centcom) in Qatar has cautioned world media against the potential threat journalists faced from insurgents and militants operating in the city.
<...>
"Since January this year, anti-Iraqi forces have abducted at least 20 journalists," pointed out Lt Cmdr Balice, quoting the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

There is a widespread perception among Iraqis that foreign journalists are "spies" or collaborators with coalition forces, the CPJ had stated in a recent report.

Reporters Without Borders, an international media watchdog with its headquarters in Paris, has listed Iraq as the most dangerous country for journalists.

The 19-month Iraq conflict has now claimed the lives of 57 news media personnel - journalists and critical support staff - and one is missing, according to records kept by the International News Safety Institute.
<...>
"There is a concentration of international media at Fallujah and roughly 50 journalists are embedded with coalition forces," explained the Centcom official.

A number of journalists, who are working unilaterally, have received direct threats from the anti-Iraqi forces, according to Lt Cmdr Balice.

Quds Arab-language news wire service in recent days has reported that anti-Iraqi forces have forced out four Arab-language media outlets from Fallujah.

Dubai-based Al-Arabiya, the Middle East Broadcasting Company, the Lebanese Broadcasting Company and Al-Iraqiyah television were accused of providing biased coverage to coalition forces by refusing to telecast insurgent stock footage of alleged civilian casualties.
<...>
"We are trying to get Arab media to embed with the coalition troops as it is very important that Arab citizens get balanced media coverage from Iraq," observed the Centcom official.

Though embedding places restrictions on the mobility of media personnel, as they move along with designated coalition force units, it offers direct safety, claimed Lt Cmdr Balice.

But the Centcom official declined comment on the expulsion of Al Jazeera satellite television channel from Fallujah by the interim Iraqi government. "All I can say is that it was a decision of the interim Iraqi government and the coalition forces are there to support them," he maintained.

On Al Jazeera's coverage of the Iraq conflict, Lt Cmdr Balice recalled that "there have been specific cases where facts were not in proportion to reality". "We have seen unfair influence towards one side of the story," stated the Centcom official referring to Al Jazeera's reports from Iraq.

Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Ayoub was killed on April 8, 2003 when US missiles hit the channel's Baghdad office, an incident described by Al Jazeera as a "deliberate" strike. "I wish to reiterate that there was a direct threat to our forces from that building and it was not a response to the media," Lt Cmdr Balice said.

The Centcom official concluded by expressing hope that journalists would not succumb to the intimidation tactics of the anti-Iraqi forces.

As we've seen in the week since, stories and photos from those many journalists were delivered rapidly and regularly from the frontlines throughout the battle for Fallujah. Regardless of your thoughts on the results of their efforts, the risks taken by these individuals were real, and their results were often outstanding and always worth noting. This week we'll take a look at their last week's work, paper by paper, day by day, providing headlines, the first paragraph, and links to the full story. A comprehensive guide to the battle for Fallujah, as reported by the many reporters who went in harms way to bring it. Whether the "truth" has been delivered from Fallujah will be a matter of opinion of the reader.

Part two is here.

Happy Birthday

Many people ask me why I started to write and how was the beginning and I today remember the time when we were sitting together, carrying our dreams, our ambitions and our hunger to communicate with the others; it felt like a sweet dream to find all the doors wide open for us and all the chains that restricted our minds simply gone.

Mohammed

<...>

What’s a blog and who’s going to read it? And is it important what we have to say? Such questions were on my minds when Omar started our blog and I couldn’t find an answer that convince me to write. However, and after my brothers published their first posts, my questions were answered. “So there are many people who actually read blogs, and it seems to be important what we write!”. after that I decided to join my brothers and post my thoughts and opinions.

Omar

Iraq The Model, one year old!

The Last Melting Pot

I’m in Germany, he’s in Iraq. Some years ago we lived in Korea. Our children have traveled more than we, since we’ve been in Europe.

So this struck home, as they say. Yes, exactly.

I have to wonder if the academic and media elitists who sneer at the "provincials" in the "red states" have any conception of those kinds of life experiences, much less the effects that they've had on veterans, their families, and their friends. The level of sneering directed South (or East, from the Left Coasters) over the last few days seems to indicate a considerable ignorance as to just how much international knowledge and experience the 'red staters' really have.

I'd add another fact that those same elites might be uncomfortable with: a large number of GI's have married natives of those foreign countries, and lived all over the world throughout their careers, and raised children of mixed parentage who in turn join the military and start the process again. What you usually end up with on or near military installations everywhere is a hodgepodge of nationalities, individuals with a vast collective knowledge of the earth and its peoples and cultures, (reality, not theory) and classrooms full of children for whom "race" is an abstract and who likely have more real world experience than their teachers.

There is a difference between veiwing a culture as a tourist and actually experiencing it.

Help a fallen hero reunite his family

Bill faith at Small town Veteran with the must read post of the week

For reasons that I'm sure mattered at the time but which I pray all those concerned now view as "ancient history", when SGT Gell left for Viet Nam he left a number of younger brothers and sisters in foster homes. I understand he promised his mother that when he returned he'd bring them all together. As a result of his death, some of his brothers and sisters lost contact with each other.

We hope that some of our readers will be able to help.

The Last Battle of Vietnam

It never occurred to me, ever before,
That our Navy would win the Vietnam War.
When they took to their boats in this year of elections,
With the mission of making some major corrections
I shared their belief, John should not be elected,
And their view overdue, truth should be resurrected.
Yet I questioned the course they?d set themselves for,
Knowing how John was loved by the media whore.

Ignored and dismissed by the media queens
Being shrewd, savvy sailors they still found the means
To reach out to the people, to open their eyes
To a phony John Kerry and his war story lies.
With their very first ad, they torpedoed his boat,
A Cambodian Christmas would no longer float.
His heroics unraveled, his stories fell flat,
Especially that one ?bout his magical hat.

John called on his lawyers and media whores,
And threatened the Swiftees with vile legal wars.
But these warriors kept charging back into the fire,
And made the folks wonder, ?Is Kerry a Liar??
Till the question of whether he?s telling the truth
Was still in their minds in the election day booth.
So the brave Swiftees gave us what we?d not had before,
They gave us our victory in the Vietnam War.

Those brave, stalwart sailors, falsely labeled as liars,
Stood firm and stood tall, kept directing their fires,
Steadfast, unrelenting, they served once again,
And defeated John Kerry, these honorable men.
All Vets can take pride, yes all, not just some,
That we won the last battle of Vietnam.
It took far too long to bring an end to our war
But we did, November Second, Two Thousand Four.

To our Brothers, forever on that long black Wall,
You?ve been vindicated now, one and all.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Holidays Are Coming...

...and I've had a few folks offer to send things to me. While I appreciate the offers, I can't accept - please understand that under no circumstances will I release my location or that of my family for what should be obvious reasons.

That said, any who are so inclined are hereby encouraged to make a contribution to Soldiers Angels who are working feverishly to ensure that every GI here gets something for Christmas this year.

If everyone who stops by can spare them the cost of one lunch this week I'm sure there are troops who will benefit from it.

Thanks

So, Scott Ott mentions me in his book eh? Probably thinks I'll link him for it.

He's wrong, I'm linking because he sent an autographed copy.

It worked for this guy too.

And this guy...

Dust in the Wind

We'll get to the heavy stuff shortly, but let's start with everyone's small talk starting point: the weather. Today might be the finest I've seen in my time here. The sky is clear and the temperature is mild and there's no dust or sand or smoke or other pollutants in the air. Perhaps a lower level of human activity on the eve of Eid-al-Fitr has contributed to such a day. Whatever the cause there's something different about objects on the horizon today; they have color. The norm is for a washed out grey aspect, as some amount of haze or dust seems to be ever present here. I spoke recently with a local who told me that this phenomenon, this oppressive blur has been here since the '91 war; prior to that the visibility was fine and the air was cleaner.

Could that be true? I think the man's memory is of a world better than it really was; certainly that's a human trait we all share, but far be it from me to say he's mistaken. (Though climatological records indicate he is.)

Color pictures often don't look like color pictures here, and even in the best focus, this land is blurry. Here, look at the distant buildings in this shot and you'll see what I mean:

Of course, if you look at the big structure in the foreground it's a bit more clear. That's one of Saddam's many glorious projects, funded with money from Oil-For-Food or any number of other fundraisers he ran with his rather elite group of avid supporters from around the world.

Given the number of structures in the background, how many starving people do you suppose are in this picture?

The answer is none - it was taken after the war.

Here in Mudville, earlier this week:

That said, the past weekend was an ugly one, as insurgents launched rather feeble yet deadly attacks outside Fallujah, ostensibly to draw off the impending assault. These accomplished nothing of any tactical military value but did give sympathetic reporters the ability to publish sentiments similar to this:

"Widespread lethal attacks prove that even as coalition forces mass for the inevitable battle in Fallujah, control of the broader situation remains elusive for the Americans and their allies".

The attacks have no other purpose save to provide those lines to the media, without whose support the insurgency in Iraq would fall.

Que the LA Times; here's their big story yesterday:

Iraqi insurgents have extended their reach over large swaths of the country, including sections of the capital, making it unlikely that the United States can establish the stability needed for credible elections in January even if its forces succeed in Fallouja, military and political analysts say.

Their experts are in London, by the way.

The situation is not pretty, but is also not unexpected. What's not reported is that much of the dramatic increase in violence began on Laylat al-Qadr, the night of power, the anniversary of the night in which the Quran was first told to Mohammed. Tragically and traditionally an upsurge in violence occurs, and with or without Fallujah the events would have played out very much the same.

But given the option of facing US Marines and Soldiers and their Iraqi allies or crawling away to other locations, the insurgents chose to spread death to innocents elsewhere.

Star from Mosul is a blog by a teen age girl in Mosul:

The morning came, I was sleeping at my room upstairs, and a war of bullets started... I decided to move myself down when it started to be a heavy fighting and there were also explosions and mom was shouting at me to get down... It was 10AM. My oldest sister was ready to go, but she can't go in such situation so she decided to wait till it clams down.

My brother-in-law was supposed to come before the Eid. We didn't know when exactly, because the hospital's phone is broken... My oldest sister (Let's call her S now) was so worried that he'll come and get stuck in the other side of the city because of the curfew, so she tried to call him on a friend's mobile, it wasn't working but it did at about 11AM, she told her to tell him not to come because the situation is too bad and he won't make it till here.. The friend told her that he already started his way to Mosul an hour ago. Here S started to worry too much!! Till about 11:30, her sister-in -law called and told her to call her husband on the mobile because she's Trying to and failing... She said also that her father-in-law got shot in his leg while trying to get back from the clinic, and he's in the hospital and that her husband should go with him since nobody in the neighborhood can move his head out of the door! The war was horribly improving.

S called her brother-in-law, and he told her that he is in the hospital and that his father has DIED...

I can't describe how I felt, I was crying and shaking and the tears wouldn't go out... I just held Aya who's just lost a grandpa and made sure she won't cry and make things worse. S was terribly SAD, confused, and WORRIED about everything. Mostly about her husband who's in his way to a big surprise and about her sister-in-law who's alone at home in the middle of the war, pregnant in her 9th month..

For 4 hours and a half, we were stuck at home, making sure dad won't get out of the house in this war, trying to clam Aya who was frightened after a loud explosion... Those were one of the most horrible moments in my life. People calling asking if what they've heard about S's father-in-law was true, my sister crying and worried (I've never seen her like that), 3 cars burning in the street, and then S's brother-in-law called and asked about the place where they keep the cotton (They brought his father home, and they're trying to wash him like the Muslims do to their dead before burying them), there were no enough cotton and they can't go out to buy some.

I talked a lot till now so I'll try to shorten things. At 3PM, things calmed down... Dad drove S to her house, and there they were ready to get the body and burry it. Dad went with them since he was his friend, and came back after we've had futoor.

Till 5:30, my brother-in-law finally arrived! Thank God. He was stuck for 1:30 minutes with his luggage on the other side of the bridge, and he came on foot from the bridge to his house, eager to see his little daughter after a month of absence... And here he comes, to find his dad dead and buried!

Nobody knows who shoot him, but everybody knows that he's now in Heaven. He died in the night of power, fasting, and shaheed. At least he's seen his first grandchild who'll carry his name (Aya)... His son said that this was the death that he's always dreamt of.

I had two eye doctors. Both are dead now!! Imagine! Both are killed now! This one was so kind and he was shy from me more that I was from him. Both men are great in everything and have the best manners and I'm not exaggerating.

Okay, it was a long day that I slept at 10 o'clock and I was so tired. I woke up at 2:30AM (The mosque was calling at that time, telling us to be careful and to guard the neighborhood because a bad group of robbers and destroyers has entered the city somehow!!) and started praying and reading Quran till 5:15AM. It's the night of power, we should pray a lot...

You'll be heading her way shortly to leave a comment, I'm sure.

Also in Mosul is Colby Buzzell, the American soldier whose blog My War has unfortunately not been updated since September. His top post is a letter from his Battalion Commander, and it's a fitting read today:

I believe that we are making progress in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Despite the ravings of pundits and uninformed ambulance chasers, this fight doesn't' hinge on oil or payback. It isn't about religion or race. And it damn sure is not about any innate desire to rule the world. These people will succeed or fail on their own merits. The task is daunting. You can release a person from bondage. You can remove a tyrant from power. You can create the conditions for liberty. But, you cannot simply grant or proclaim freedom. Freedom without honest action is a whisper in a storm just as change without vision and purpose is the illusion of progress. For ages these people were literally beaten to the point of submission by oppression, censure, murder, torture, and rape - regardless of age or gender. I have asked myself why they let it happen. The only answer I can fathom is that evil flourished because good people refused to pay the price required to oppose it.

And if you're wondering just who are those 'good people' referenced above I highly recommend you (as I did) take a good long look in a mirror, a serious gut check, and read on.

This enemy has twisted and distorted things both sacred and profane to guideas well as justify its means and its stated end. Nothing is beyond the realm of the possible when it comes to the depths to which it will sink, the horror it is willing to commit, or the suffering it is willing to inflict. This enemy has no concept of mercy nor does it recognize combatants. Innocence is not a factor. You need only look at the headlines of the day to confirm that children, teachers, and doctors are murdered everyday by these villains. What makes them evil? I submit that it is not the act that earns them the epithet of evil - it is the intent to commit and the pride theydraw from the act. These animals revel in the post act announcements that they are responsible. They feel vindicated by the proclamations that they perpetrated these horrors in the name of God and that having committed the seacts some how elevates them. Make no mistake, this enemy is formidable but by no means invincible. To defeat this cancer requires the one thing that civilized people all over the world possess in absolute abundance - The will. The will to be free can only be surrendered by the person that has it - it cannot be murdered, raped, tortured, or stolen. It's not about being a martyr or a saint, it's about being a decent human being. And, the unvarnished truth is that the killing and the horror will continue until those with the will to endure prevail.

His is the most brilliant analysis I've seen, capturing a lot of issues that swirl about this blurry world as elusive to many as dust devils in the sand. Read it all, and read it again tomorrow. I know I will.

But tonight, if you have the courage, leave words for this amazing young lady, in comments on her website.

Or a prayer for a peaceful Eid.

Who does the General report to?

If you're looking for the full picture on Fallujah no one provides a better perspective on the latest news from the front and what you can do to support the Marines there then the Marine Corps Moms.

Update: Sorority girls love the Marines? Looks like it in the pictures on the mom?s site. Must be the hair cuts.

Veterans Day, Vermont

I have nothing to add to this story:

Kyle Gilbert, her only child, was 20 when he died. He was a top-ranked karate black-belt and a car aficionado who proudly drove a red 1969 Chevelle. He enlisted in the Army shortly after graduation from Brattleboro Union High School, following the example of his father, Robert, who served 20 years earlier.

Gilbert's unit, the 82d Airborne Division, was among the first to enter Iraq in March 2003. He died five months later, on Aug. 6. Even before official word came, his mother had pieced together the news from reading a brief item in USA Today about deaths in his unit.

''I turned to a co-worker and said, 'I don't feel so good about this,' and just then the phone rang," Regina Gilbert said.

The idea of naming the newly rebuilt bridge spanning Whetstone Brook for him surfaced in a column in the Brattleboro Reformer written by Judith Gorman, an opponent of the war. ''The president has been way too busy to do more than pay lip service to the casualties of his war or to personally honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice on his behalf," Gorman wrote. ''Let's do it for him."

Momentum built quickly, and the town assumed oversight of fund-raising and planning the $10,000 memorial.

Yet the process was difficult from the start. Opponents criticized etchings of an eagle and two American flags on the granite memorial as jingoistic.

They also objected to the inclusion of the phrase, ''Freedom is not free." That phrase was eliminated and replaced with Kyle Gilbert's last words to his mother, uttered in a truncated satellite telephone conversation on July 18: ''Just don't forget me."

But most objectionable to some residents was the inclusion of the name Operation Iraqi Freedom.

<...>

As Brattleboro prepares to dedicate a downtown bridge to Gilbert on this Veterans Day, the engraving of an accompanying stone memorial has exposed a philosophical and cultural rift in this town of 12,000 in southeastern Vermont, home to both hippie vestiges of 1960s communes and more conservative natives in the rural outlying areas. Veterans groups are dismayed by town officials' decision to jettison a reference to Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Pentagon's name for the invasion, after a group of residents complained that the name endorsed the war in Iraq and President Bush's policies.

''It's not endorsing Bush; that was the mission," Frank Wetherby, 57, a Vietnam veteran who lives in nearby Vernon, said as he shopped for hunting gear at Sam's Outdoor Outfitters. ''Where do they get off? That's the sort of thing that turns this into 'them against us.' Support your troops; I don't care what your philosophy is."

<...>

For Gilbert's parents, the dispute over the memorial has been a source of consternation.

''I am the mother, and I think with my heart," Regina Gilbert, 41, a receptionist at a chiropractor's office in nearby Guilford, said in an interview this week. ''I just wanted my son's name on the bridge."

Friday Cat Blogging, MilBlogs Style

From the NY Times coverage of the battle on Fallujah:

Despite the world-shaking blasts of weaponry as the Americans try to root out the snipers, this is also a contest of wills in which the tension rises to a level that seems unbearable, and then rises again. Marine snipers sit, as motionless as blue herons, for 30 minutes and stare with crazed intensity into the oversized scopes on their guns. If so much as a penumbra brushes across a windowsill, they open up.

With the troops' senses tuned to a high pitch, mundane events become extraordinary. During one bombing, a blue-and-yellow parakeet flew up to a roof of a captured building and fluttered about in tight circles before perching on a slumping power line, to the amazement of the marines assembled there.

On another occasion, the snipers tensed when they heard movement in the direction of a smoldering building. A cat sauntered out, unconcerned with anything but making its rounds in the neighborhood.

"Can I shoot it, sir?" a sniper asked an officer.

"Absolutely not," came the reply.

Anniversary

Veterans Day also marks the anniversary of the start of the MilBlogs ring ? I meant to do a bit more of a post on this happy occasion but problems with servers and issues with anti-Iraqi forces kept me busy.

Here?s a high-speed low drag cake. Enjoy.

Runner's High

Quarter moon and contrail; Near dawn somewhere over Iraq a military aircraft returns from a mission somewhere else in Iraq leaving a contrail underlining the moon waning through the final days of Ramadan.

Type of aircraft? Don't know. Returning from Fallujah? Perhaps. Death at the other end of that vapor trail?

Could be.

Blessed are the peace makers.

Last weekend I had my first day off since I've been in country. Celebrated with a relaxing long run, a few laps around the camp. Light drizzle was falling at the start, but halfway through the rain stopped and a cool breeze kicked in. Perfect running weather. Lately all my running has been done on a treadmill, so this was my first outdoor run in weeks. I know exactly which part of my quads let the treadmill work for them, because they protested this run. They were wasting their time, I've run marathons before, and pain isn't going to stop me. so I went hard enough and fast enough for long enough to induce an endorphin rush, a runner's high. Puts a quick stop to that pain crap.

Someone described this deployment to me in this way early on: "Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint." I didn't ask them if they'd ever run one. Late in a marathon several of your leg muscles will likely fail. Did you know you can use hip and abdominal muscles to compensate for the loss? I would imagine more than a few troops are doing that now, as a result of this marathon.

Anyway, the bottom line is eventually some of the muscles give out, reach their limit, can't make it, and the rest get to work double time, double effort. I wish the quitters wouldn't protest though, it just seems wrong, don't you think? "We're going further only if the rest of you do all the work, and by the way, please stop."

Just seems wrong.

See this run? This is the route of my typical 5-miler in Germany, a land that 60 years ago was nearly destroyed. The run I was on this past weekend wasn't as scenic, but it had its moments, and like I said, the weather was fine. This is a land of every day beauty, and if you keep your eyes open and your head up you'll turn a corner and see things like this.

That's kind of rewarding, kind of motivating. But you know why I won't stop going? Here's a teen age girl in Iraq and here's another who's father is here. Go read them. Don't read on until you've done it.

I don't like a lot of things about the world they're growing up in, so I'm doing my bit to change it. I'm not talking about this writing mind you - though I suppose that's a little part of it - I'm talking about what I'm doing.

When did I stop talking about running?

Blessed are the Peace Makers.

Not the peace lovers, we all love peace. The peace makers.

The difference? One group makes history while the other makes noise.

Speaking of the peace lovers, where are they? The coalition is involved in the heaviest fighting of the year and no one is in the streets protesting?

Must be the wrong Tuesday in November.

Some months ago when the peaceful people of Fallujah hung the mangled corpses of US contractors from a bridge in that town the American media did a brief bit of soul searching and decided to show the pictures of that atrocity in all their gory detail, in hopes of generating a massive outpouring of anti-war sentiment from the American people, of instilling a desire for regime change in the good ol' USA. They of course underestimated the American spirit, that drive that leads some among us to run marathons and others to cheer. Here's a typical quote from the day:

But the real effect of the images on Americans could be felt just months from now.

"These are the kinds of pictures that will linger," said John Schulz, dean of Boston University's College of Communications and a former faculty member at the National War College.

"They'll be there in November when people go to vote."

See you at the finish line.

An American Hero

More than a few folks predicted that after the elections there would be a shift in the tone of coverage of the Iraq war. Whatever the reason, credit the NY Times for publishing this profile of an American hero, Sgt Rowe Stayton.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HEADHUNTER, Iraq - Wearing 60 pounds of body armor over his desert camouflage uniform and cradling a black M-4 rifle, Sgt. Rowe Stayton looks every bit the typical Army infantryman in Iraq.

He is not.

An Air Force Academy graduate and former F-15 fighter pilot, then-Major Stayton left the Air National Guard 17 years ago to run his civilian law practice in Denver and rear his six children. But his life changed not long after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when he enlisted in the Arkansas Army National Guard in what he says was an act of patriotism.

Now Sergeant Stayton, 53, is leading three other soldiers young enough to be his sons on an infantry fire team that regularly runs combat patrols in the Haifa Street section of Baghdad, one of the riskiest missions in the Iraqi capital. More than a third of the 119 soldiers in his Guard unit, Company C of the First Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment, have been awarded Purple Hearts for being wounded in action since they arrived here in April.

"That's one club I don't necessarily want to join," said Sergeant Stayton, in full battle gear one recent afternoon while his platoon acted as a quick-response force to back up another unit on patrol.

Pentagon officials have been expressing fear that the sweeping call-up of tens of thousands of Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers for yearlong tours in Iraq and Afghanistan may soon cripple recruiting and retention in America's part-time force. But Sergeant Stayton's story echoes those of a small number of other reservists with prior military service who have answered the nation's call to arms.

Military personnel specialists say that his case is unusual in several other ways too: the long gap since his previous service, his willingness to enlist as an Army sergeant after a career as an Air Force officer and fighter pilot and his willingness to volunteer for infantry duty when the Army is searching for every able-bodied foot soldier to battle the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It all raises the question, "Why?" to which Sergeant Stayton smiles and patiently tries to explain, obviously not for the first time.

"This country has been so good to me," he said. "I just have so many things to be grateful for. It's an honor to be here."

<...>

Sergeant Stayton is a self-effacing man who initially declined to be interviewed for this article and agreed only after being assured that his fire-team comrades would be included.

<...>

For a high-flying aviator, the life of a muddy-boots ground-pounder has been an adjustment. "It's taught me humility," Sergeant Stayton said. "I'm not at the bottom, but I can sure see it."

Then again, there are not many Army sergeants whose college classmates are now senior generals in Washington and in Japan.

Sergeant Stayton graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1973. He rose quickly through the ranks, first as a T-37 instructor and then as a pilot in the first operational F-15 fighter squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va.

But he said he became disenchanted with the military. It was during the Carter administration, and he was frustrated with cuts in military spending and capability. He left active duty to attend law school in Denver, but remained in the Air National Guard, commuting to a unit in Des Moines for seven years.

In 1987, he decided to leave the Guard. By then he was a major and more promotions seemed likely. But the cold war was winding down, and he had never been deployed overseas, much less seen combat. His family and law practice beckoned.

When the Persian Gulf crisis broke out in 1990, he looked into volunteering, but the war ended before anything came of that.

It was not until the Sept. 11 attacks that he again felt the calling. This time, he said, he was determined to find a combat unit. An Air Force recruiter told him that he had been out too long and had lost his officer's commission. "I was too old to fly anyway," he said.

On a trip to his summer home in Arkansas in 2002, he stopped at an Army National Guard armory in Arkadelphia, where a recruiter listened to Sergeant Stayton's story and promised him a spot if he passed a physical exam. That was easy for Sergeant Stayton, a stocky, muscular man with cropped graying hair. After nearly a year of bureaucratic snarls during which the Guard lost his records twice, Sergeant Stayton finally took his oath of service in June 2003 and reported for two weeks of annual training.

The deployment has taken its toll on his personal and professional life, as it has for many other reservists. His law partner married, and he had to close his practice. "Clients don't really like their lawyer being in Baghdad," he said. (Nonetheless, he has filed two appellate briefs from here.)

Sergeant Stayton sent his 11-year-old son, James, the only one of his children left at home, to live with the boy's mother. He said he regularly called and sent e-mail messages to his son, but had underestimated how difficult his deployment to a combat zone would be on James. Despite the danger and hard stares he and his unit get from many Iraqis in the streets, Sergeant Stayton said he still believed in America's mission in Iraq. "While out on patrol recently, I had an older woman walk alongside me," he said. "She kept her eyes straight ahead so no one could see she was talking to me, and she kept thanking me for being here."

An amazing story. There's a picture of Sgt Stayton on the Time's page, complete with DCU pilot and jump wings.

Technical difficulties

Might see Mudville come and go in the near future.
Just a server problem.

Fallujah, Before the Shooting

A round-up of political posturing (and other preparartions) in and around Fallujah on the eve of battle.

Kofi Annan sounds very... John Kerryish on Iraq:

UNITED NATIONS — Despite accusations of interference, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday that it was his duty to speak up about how an assault on Fallouja might increase insecurity and disrupt elections slated for January, though he recognized that the final decision belonged to Iraq.

"We know that obviously the Iraqi government is responsible for running its affairs. But we have the responsibility to assist and work with them on the elections, and so to express concern was our business," he told the Los Angeles Times. "It's not something that one should take as amiss."

Annan warned in a private letter sent this week to President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi that a full-scale attack on Fallouja would fuel further divisions and instability in Iraq and undermine participation in the elections. He also expressed concern that an attack would cause more civilian casualties and short-circuit negotiations to get nationalists to join the political process.

British and American spokesmen said the decision to use force in Fallouja was in the hands of the Iraqi government. In Brussels, Allawi said he found that in the letter, Annan seemed "confused."

"I don't know what he means by 'not to attack,' or 'to attack,' " he told BBC radio. "What are the substitutes? I don't know what pressure he has to bear on the insurgents. If he can stop the insurgents from inflicting damage and killing Iraqis, then he is welcome."

The letter underlined a fundamental difference in philosophy between the U.N. and the U.S.-led coalition on how best to neutralize the insurgents and "win the hearts and minds" of Iraqis.

"This is a very difficult situation, and difficult choices have to be made," Annan said. "We have extremist terrorists who have created an impossible situation for the average Iraqi…. So I can understand the desire and concern to want to deal with these people. We are in a process where one wants to pacify these hotspots, but at the same time one also wants to woo all Iraqis to participate in the process to make it as inclusive as possible."

<...>

At the same time, Allawi and other Iraqi leaders are critical of the U.N. for sending only a few dozen staffers to Iraq and then second-guessing the government's decisions from afar.

"The Iraqi sovereign government is dealing with a situation on the ground. They are probably the best judge of what is likely to work and what is not likely to work," said Iraq's ambassador to the U.N., Samir Shakir Mahmoud Sumaidy, who will meet with Annan on Monday to protest the letter.

Meanwhile, as if on que, "a number of Sunni Muslim leaders" proposed a peaceful solution at the exact moment the bullets begin to fly:

As Marines step up preparations for military offensives on two major Iraqi cities, a number of Sunni Muslim leaders are forwarding a plan to establish the rule of law in those areas through peaceful means, with the promise of reducing the insurgency across a large swath of the country.

Some of the groups leading the bid have encouraged violent resistance in central, western and northern Iraq. The groups say they will withdraw their support for violence if Iraq's interim government can reassure Sunni leaders wary of national elections, which are scheduled for the end of January.

The Sunnis have proposed six measures, including a demand that U.S. forces remain confined to bases in the month before balloting. Such an ambitious demand, which some advocates acknowledge is not likely to be met and may be open to negotiation, represents a dramatic shift by Sunni groups opposed to the U.S. operation in Iraq.

<...>

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad offered no reaction to the proposal, which it received this week. A Western diplomat emphasized that any decision lay with Iraq's interim government.

In separate interviews, senior U.S. and Iraqi officials were privately skeptical of the overture and indicated it was unlikely to avert a military offensive on Fallujah and Ramadi, which commanders say could begin at any time.

"They don't seem to get it. The monopoly of power is over," said a senior Iraqi government official, referring to former President Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government. "One wonders how representative these elements are of the mainstream Sunni population. They may represent nostalgia for the past, but for sure no realistic vision for the future."

To bring the election story "fool circle" here's this from the NY Times

The chief United Nations electoral expert gave an upbeat report on Friday on the elections scheduled for the end of January in Iraq, saying that despite the difficulties of working in such conflicted conditions, procedures were advancing on schedule.

Carina Perelli, director of the electoral assistance division, said the registration process had begun in Iraq, with 542 centers open and 6,000 trained registration clerks at work.

To complete the loop on the Fallujah preparations we must check in with the Marines:

Friends, Romans, Marines: Blow Off Pre-Battle Steam

For U.S. Marines awaiting orders to attack rebel-held Fallujah, the bags are packed, trucks are loaded and letters have been sent home, leaving one final, pre-assault diversion: “Ben-Hur.”

Blowing off steam, hundreds of Marines took their cue from the 1959 Charlton Heston classic and gathered Saturday at a base near Fallujah for a slapstick chariot race featuring cobbled-together carts and confiscated Iraqi horses.

“These men are about to face the greatest personal and professional tests of their lifetimes,” said the Marine commander. “We wanted to lighten things up, take the tension off what we’re about to do.”

The charioteers, wearing togas over their body armor, waved baseball bats done up as spiked maces and jumped into carts forged from cast-off vehicle parts. The makeshift chariots were pulled by Iraqi horses commandeered from looters in the area.

But in case you imagine the action a bit too vicious, there's this important note:

Instead of chariot-to-chariot races, the Marines held timed heats. A weapons team duo eventually prevailed in the final heat.

Not enough to deter PETA, I'm sure.

Scott Speicher

Looks like the whereabouts of Navy Pilot Scott Speicher, missing since the early days of Desert Storm, will remain a source of speculation, rumor and confusion:

The Navy dismissed a broadcast report Friday that American forces in Iraq have recovered human remains believed to be those of missing Navy pilot Scott Speicher.

?There?s nothing to substantiate the story, and we?ve communicated that to the Speicher family,? said Cdr. Conrad Chun, a Navy spokesman.

<...>

Speicher has been missing since the first night of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when his F/A-18 Hornet was down over southern Iraq. Speicher, who was flying off the Jacksonville-based Saratoga, was originally declared killed, but Navy officials changed his status to missing and presumed captured after recovered pieces of his plane indicated that he might have ejected safely.

More here. (But not much.)

SWIFT JUSTICE

Bold John sailed forth in his faux scow,
Till the Swiftees fired across his bow;
And legions of irate attorneys,
Could not defend Cambodian journeys,
Nor stories of his fabled hat,
So voters sensed they smelled a rat.
And while the networks denied them prime,
The Swiftees surely got their time.

While John screamed it was all a smear,
O?Neill came across sincere,
And forced Big John to duck the press,
To run, to hide from his specious mess.
But relentless those old Swiftee guys,
They bit, hung on, exposed his lies.
These brave old warriors once again
Stood for their country, for their kin.

They made us all look one more time
At the traitor who?d charged them with crime,
And gave false witness to their deeds
For nothing more than political needs.
It?s a smear proclaimed the New York Times
Those liars all committed crimes.
Chris Matthews raged, foamed at the mouth,
Still the turncoat?s campaign headed south.

So the Swiftboat Veterans? charges stuck
And made poor John a sitting duck.
He had no answers, no glib replies,
To cover up his treasonous lies;
That made us think, our minds aware,
The Swiftees had some truth in there;
What if he?d faked his combat valor,
Were all those medals tinged with pallor?

Dan Rather would not pay them heed,
But still the Swiftees made John bleed.
The mainstream pundits called them liars;
But no lefty slant could staunch these fires.
The blazes that these Swiftees set
Were burning John Boy?s ass you bet;
And those Swiftboat fires just burned away
Till they fried John?s ass on election day.

Now all you heroes on that Wall
Take solace seeing Kerry fall.
This scheming pol who stained your name
Has been denied his claim to fame.
The Swiftees stood and did their best,
Denied the traitor his life?s quest.
You can rest in peace our honored kin
Your honor restored by honorable men.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

The Forecast Calls For Fog

The fog of war, of course.

Expect everything you read everywhere about Fallujah for the next few days to be wrong. It's certainly not true - some things will inevitably (and inevitably accidentally) be right - but start with that basic premise of wrong and you'll have a good understanding of the very fluid situation there. (Spare me the links to web sites of experts - I've seen them. Thanks.)

That said, the past weekend was an ugly one, as insurgents launched rather feeble yet deadly attacks outside Fallujah, ostensibly to draw off the impending assault. These accomplished nothing of any tactical military value but did give sympathetic reporters the ability to publish sentiments similar to this: "Widespread lethal attacks prove that even as coalition forces mass for the inevitable battle in Fallujah, control of the broader situation remains elusive for the Americans and their allies". The attacks have no other purpose save to provide those lines to the media, without whose support the insurgency in Iraq would fall.

That same media tends to ignore the insurgent attacks that fail; witness this CENTCOM news release:

CAMP RAMADI, Iraq ? An Army unit assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force, discovered and defused an explosive-laden youth center in Ramadi Nov. 4, which was rigged by insurgents to detonate and potentially kill dozens of Iraqi children. They also discovered more than two tons of explosives hidden in a mosque.

The discoveries were made during a sweep of the city looking for improvised explosive devices.

After a thorough investigation of the youth center, the Soldiers discovered that the explosives were rigged to detonate three ways: through a light switch, a remote control and by wiring that ran from the youth center to the nearby Al-Haq Mosque, where the unit discovered the firing mechanism.

At another mosque, a search yielded the discovery of more than two tons of ammunition, explosives, mortar systems and RPGs. Artillery rounds; assault rifles and various IED-making materials were found, as well. Fifty suspected insurgents were also detained during the sweep.

Mosques are granted protective status due to their religious and cultural significance. However, when insurgents violate the sanctity of the mosque by using the structure for military purposes, the site loses its protective status.

Great care is taken by the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines of I Marine Expeditionary Force, who are committed to assisting Iraqi Interim Government in providing security to Iraqi people.

A Marine officer near Fallujah describes similar atrocities in an email home:

The enemy inside the town have come to fight and kill Americans. Nothing will sate their bloodlust and hatred other than to kill everyone of us or at least die trying. It is hard to fathom as a Westerner as rational thought would dictate that we will only be here for a relatively short blip in their history and while we are here, billions of dollars in investments will pour in and opportunity that is beyond comprehension will open up for anyone willing to work. This is not Kansas and this enemy does not think like that.

If we build a school or clinic, they destroy it. They would rather deny medical care or education for the children of the citizens who live nearby than to have any symbol of the West in general and America specifically among them. It is hard to comprehend. Frankly, we are done trying.

For eight months, we have been on our chain. The enemy has fooled itself misinterpreting our humanity and restraint for lack of will and courage. For eight months, we have watched Marines, Soldiers and Sailors maimed and killed by invisible cowards hiding behind some wall or in a canal as he detonates another IED. For eight months, we have been witness to suicidal sociopaths driving vehicles laden with explosives into crowds of Iraqis and into our own convoys.

<...>

Every day, the enemy takes more hostages, assassinates developing Iraqi leaders and savagely beats suspected collaborators. I will give you just one recent example that happened last week. One of our patrols was moving down a street when they saw what looked like a fight. The Marines closed with the scene. It was a family that had come to Iraq on religious pilgrimage that was taken hostage and was being taken into Fallujah. The muj stopped for some reason and the father began fighting. The Marines interdicted and captured two of the kidnappers. Two more ran and the Marines could not get a shot without fear of killing/wounding others.

Every day, insurgents from inside Fallujah drive out and wait for Iraqis that work on our bases. Once the Iraqis leave they are stopped. The lucky ones are savagely beaten. The unfortunate ones are killed.

A family that had fled Fallujah in order to get away from the fighting recently tried to return. When they got to their home, they found it taken over by terrorists (very common). When the patriarch showed the muj his deed in order to prove that the house was his, they took the old man out into the street and beat him senseless in front of his family.

Summary executions are common. Think about that. Summary executions inside Fallujah happen with sobering frequency. We have been witness to the scene on a number of occasions. Three men are taken from the trunk of a car and are made to walk to a ditch where they are shot. Bodies are found in the Euphrates without heads washed downstream from Fallujah. To date we have been allowed to do nothing.

I have no idea the numbers of beheadings that have occurred in Fallujah since I have been here. I have no idea the number of hostages that have ended up in Fallujah since we have been here. I just don't know that Americans would be able to comprehend the number anyway. Unfortunately, the situation has only gotten worse. There is no hope for any type of reasoned solution with an enemy like this.

Once again, we are being asked by citizens who have fled the city to go in and take the city back. They are willing for us to literally rubble the place in order to kill the terrorists within. Don't get me wrong, there are still many inside the town that support the terrorists and we cannot expect to be thanked publicly if we do take the city. There is a sense of de ja vu with the refugees telling us where their houses are and asking us to bomb them because the muj have taken them over. We heard the same thing in April only to end up letting the people down. Some no doubt have paid with their lives. The "good" people who may ultimately buy into a peaceful and prosperous Iraq are again asking us to do what we know must be done.

Of course, among the first news reports from any coalition offensive in Iraq will be the inevitable footage of wounded children in the hospitals (see here here here ) - or perhaps not:

Iraqi troops backed by U.S. Marines have seized Falluja's main hospital, the first objective in a push to retake the city from insurgents, hours after Iraq's interim prime minister declared a 60-day state of emergency across most of the nation.

Gunfire and artillery echoed across the town overnight Sunday, but it remained unclear when the bulk of the U.S.-led force outside Falluja would begin moving.

The hospital -- on the western edge of the city -- was taken by the 36th Iraqi Commando Battalion with only minor resistance late Sunday, according to a pool reporter.

U.S. military officials said the hospital needed to be secured so hospital workers could attend to casualties without facing intimidation by insurgents, and to end its use as a source of anti-U.S. propaganda.

In the past, hospital officials have said U.S. airstrikes killed only innocent civilians, a claim the American military disputed.

Expect a different sort of backlash and outcry to result from that action.

Meanwhile, far from Iraq, Kofi Annan times his actions to match the opening shots in the long-anticipated campaign:

UNITED NATIONS ? U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned leaders of the United States, Britain and Iraq that another full-scale assault on the rebel-held city of Fallouja would further alienate Iraqis and disrupt elections planned for January.

Annan's warning, contained in a letter sent Sunday, has angered some officials here.

"This is an issue for the government of Iraq," said British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry. "It's easy for those not in Iraq to underestimate the overwhelming concern the Iraqis have for security. There cannot be an area as big as Fallouja which is allowed to be a base for terrorism."

Some diplomats said Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was "furious" when he received the letter. Iraq's new U.N. ambassador immediately sought to meet with Annan to argue that the U.N. was interfering. Allawi recently criticized Annan for not doing enough to help Iraq prepare for elections. The world body's officials say Iraq is not secure enough for more U.N. workers to help organize the nationwide vote.

Here's Lt. Col. David G. Bellon again, explaining Fallujah from the view of one US Marine on the ground, on the scene:

Now, their own ignorance and arrogance will be their undoing. They believe that they can hold Fallujah. In fact, they have come from all over to be part of its glorious defense. I cannot describe the atmosphere that exists in the Regiment right now. Of course the men are nervous but I think they are more nervous that we will not be allowed to clean the rats nest out and instead will be forced to continue operating as is.

Its as if a window of opportunity has opened and everyone just wants to get on with it before it closes. The Marines know the enemy has massed and has temporarily decided to stay and fight. For the first time, the men feel as though we may be allowed to do what needs to be done. If the enemy wants to sit in his citadel and try to defend it against the Marine Corps and some very hard Soldiers... then the men want to execute before the enemy sobers up and flees.

Annan's motives remain unclear.

Posted by Greyhawk at 12:39 PM | Comments (5)

Good news from Iraq, Part 14

BY ARTHUR CHRENKOFF

A look at the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.

Bruce Chapman, of the Discovery Institute, recounted on these pages not long ago how "[b]asking in the sun by the Al Hamra Hotel swimming pool, a Spanish journalist complained to me that 'all my editors want is blood, blood, blood. No context. No politics'."

<...>

If your regular reading and viewing habits have fulfilled your fortnightly quota of "blood, blood, blood", read the stories below for some "context" and "politics". Yes, there is more to Iraq than just the gore.

SOCIETY: The Iraqi Interim Government is now online.

Powerline blog, via one of its readers, brings to our attention the results of an opinion poll, which is not getting any publicity outside Iraq. "[The] poll taken in Baghdad, Mosul and Dehok and published in Iraq on October 25. The poll probably over-sampled Sunnis, which makes its results even more striking

<...>

It seems that insurgents are failing not only to win popular support but also to slow down the march towards democracy. Iraq's Shia religious establishment have now thrown their weight and moral authority behind the election

<...>

Iraq's higher education institutions will, meanwhile, benefit from a better connection with the outside world.

Similarly, LG has won a contract as part of South Korea's reconstruction package, to provide telecom network linking Iraq's 19 universities. And speaking of foreign connections, "Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research (Dr. Taher Al-Baka'a) announced that Iraq agreed with UNESCO for implementing 4 projects in the scope of higher education... [T]hese projects will be financed by Qatar Institution of Education, Science and Society Development."

<...>

Iraq's health system also continues to receive help from overseas.

<...>

Humor - a quality frowned upon in totalitarian societies - is making a welcome comeback in Iraq.

And folks, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Or maybe a better paraphrase would be; this is just a grain of sand in a wide open desert

Friends and Enemies

After this...

and this...

and this...

...then hearing this

...should be shocked then by this? via The Corner

but really, Assasination?

I know not all Britons feel this way but still one must ponder.

These quotes come to mind:

To know your enemy, you must become your enemy... Keep your friends close and your enemies closer - Sun Tzu

_

To become a good man, one must have faithful friends, or outright enemies. - Napoleon
_

No enemy is so annoying as one who was a friend, or still is a friend, and there are many more of these than one would suspect. - William Saroyan
_

An open foe may prove a curse, but a pretended friend is worse. - Benjamin Franklin
_

A true friend stabs you in the front. - Oscar Wilde
_

The best way to destroy your enemy is to make him your friend. - Abraham Lincoln
_

Do we know who our friends are?

We know who our enemies are.

So this quote creeps in:

He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. - Thomas Paine

So is this inevitable ?

Seems maybe so

And according to this, we bloggers may play a pivitol role in all this.

Now I'm not ready to jump into a war with Iran, but it seems the oppressed Iranians are becoming more courageous with each passing day and may soon start their own uprising (let us hope).

"Bush is now a lame duck president

Bush-bashing film director marks 17 reasons of hope for Democrats

"Bush is now a lame duck president. He will have no greater moment than the one he's having this week. It's all downhill for him from here on out ? and, more significantly, he's just not going to want to do all the hard work that will be expected of him. It'll be like everyone's last month in 12th grade ? you've already made it, so it's party time!

Huh?

Bloggers on the liberal Democratic Underground website have overwhelmingly labeled Nov. 3, 2004, the day after Election Day, "more depressing" than Sept. 11, 2001 in a poll of online members.

More depressing than 9/11/01, is that these people forgot 9/11/01

Another MilBlogger in Afghanistan

Dogtulosba has been having a lot of adventures on his way across America to SW Asia.

Stand by for more.

Help from our German friends

We will never forget our American friends.

As I met Patti in 2003 I was looking in the internet for information about the Iraq war, because a good friend from me from Forth Biehler, Wiesbaden, Germany went in May 2003 to Iraq to help the Iraqi people to rebuild their country. For me and my husband Rudi were this it a great opportunity to do something for my American friends, to give something back to our friends who have given us so much over the last 59 years.

On Good Friday 2004 Irene and Manfred Kilp and me we visited for the first time wounded and injured Soldiers and Marines in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) and brought them greetings from the Soldiers Angels. Since this time our visits were every time truly overwhelming to us all, to go to the war wounded who had just returned from combat from Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan or from Iraqi Freedom in Iraq, give them your hand, a smile and to say to them:

Thank you for fighting the war against every art from the terrorism.
Thank you for bringing more freedom to the people of Iraq.
Thank you for keeping our world a little bit safer and bring more freedom in our world.

This time it was our first visit in a military hospital. We have seen, our wounded Soldiers and Marines need our all help, since the war against the terrorism started, day for day wounded arrive at the greatest US military hospital in Europe, here in Landstuhl. And how we have seen, they need backpacks! On this day the first 60 backpacks which arrived from the Soldiers Angels we have been dispatched on the wounded directly. A lot of good things were in it - all things they need so much: hooded sweat shirt, T-Shirt, sweat pants package of boxers and socks, 120 minute ATT calling card, CD Player (w/extra batteries), Stick Deodorant, shave gel, shampoo and body bath, disposable razors, toothbrush, with bristle cover, tube of toothpaste and more goodies.

me and the backpacks in the Fisher House

Since this time a lot of Angels, friends and other people have donated money, backpacks and a lot of things and their time to make the backpacks ready. They have written together with students so much Get Well Soon cards which we have done all in the backpacks, so the greetings from home went directly to the wounded. All the wonderful handmade blankets of hope, we brought to the wounded will help him to find ?a way? for a fast recovery, to lift his spirit and to express our love and appreciation for his toll he has paid. Until today we were this year eight times in the hospital and brought to wounded over 280 backpacks, over 100 gift bags with T-shirt, underpants and socks, over 40 German/English cooking books for the nurses and the Fisher House and much more. This was only possible through the help from Kathy Gregory, manager from the Fisher House Landstuhl and Chaplain (LTC) William T. Young from the Chaplains office Landstuhl, our hero Sgt. Leecharde R. Bersamina, 1st AD and all the wonderful and hard-working Angels who sent so many boxes to Germany.

The most of our visits we started together with the Fisher House, Kathy Gregory. She welcome us always with a kind and friendly reception to made us feel very welcome and at ease. She has given us their time to go with us and the backpacks over the wards to give it out. A great thankyou to Chaplain (LTC) William T. Young and Chaplain (MAJ) R. Coggins, too, who have given their time to go with us to the wounded, too. Until today, we visited a lot of Soldiers and Marines, seldom females wounded. I am so sad to say this, but the most of them suffer extensive injuries and wounds, on their bodies, in their faces, arms and legs or have lost limbs ? lost this for every. On the wards Kathy or the Chaplains introduced us as, ?Hello, the Fisher House and members from the Soldiers Angels, Germans who support their American friends in overseas bring you a backpack and greetings from home?.

me and Irene with the backpacks for the Fisher House

To say, "Hi, how are you? How you are going?? to meet our all heroes with a warm smile and a firm handshake is a wonderful feeling which we will never miss. To see how young they there! Walking over the wards seeing young men and sometimes women often 19, 20, 21 years old, often kids, is as you will see your own daughter or son there. And if you look them in their eyes, you see the strength, courage and patriotism in them. It is hard not to go to each of them to give them greetings and say a great thankyou to them. To see a hero sitting in a wheelchair, above-knee amputated, is ready to continue his recovery to go further to other hospitals in the States and will lacerate your heart. They smiled so brightly, and their eyes so full of love, they are full of admiration for what we all do.
Often they say only a work, thanks and sometimes more, but you can see in their eyes that they would say more if they can. Their morale was great and all expressed a desire to get back to their buddies! They talked about their fellow Soldiers with honour and sincere admiration. They spoke of their loved ones and how they missed home. Then, they expressed their gratitude for our visit, and how much it meant to them.

Kathy, Andrew, me and in front of picture Manfred

We are glad that we have the courage to do that, to support our wounded American friends here in Germany and the Angels in the States. All the time when we left the hospital we couldn't stop talking about how we related to each individual and what they said that affected us so directly.
The important matter is: They have seen that they are not alone. That we believe in them and that we will never forget them. They all are on our minds, in our hearts, and in our prayers.
God Bless our both countries.

Wilhelmine Aufmkolk, Germany 02. November 2004

The Adventures of Chester...

...is a blog by a former Marine officer who participated in the Iraqi campaign. He's blogging up a storm these days, sharing his take on the developing situation as US Marines and Soldiers, along with their Iraqi counterparts, prepare to end the days of the anti-Iraqi forces' control of Fallujah.

You could get insight from the NY Times too, of course, but they don't even know how to spell (M)arine. (That's two days in a row, Mr Worth.)

Definitely check with Chester.

Ya need a Visa

Americans attempting to escape four more years of President Bush (news - web sites) by fleeing to Canada will have to wait in line, just like immigrants from any other country, the Immigration Ministry said Wednesday

Hat tip to: Chromedomezone

What if...

What if, McCain had not refused to be Kerry's running mate? And what if Kerry listened to Clinton? So much for what ifs.

Keeping the Edge on the Romulans

USA Today shows up just a bit too late with the story that could have changed the outcome of the election

The Air Force Research Lab's August “Teleportation Physics Report,” posted earlier this week on the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Web site, struck a raw nerve with physicists and critics of wasteful military spending.

In the report, author Eric Davis says psychic teleportation, moving yourself from location to location through mind powers, is “quite real and can be controlled.” The 88-page report also reviews a range of teleportation concepts and experiments:

*Quantum teleportation, a technique demonstrated in the last decade that shifts the characteristics, but not the location, of sub-atomic particles at great distances.

*Wormholes, a highly theoretical possibility whereby the intense gravitational field near black holes could rip open entrances to distant locales.

*Psychokinesis, or psychic teleportation. In support of the idea, the report cites UFO reports, Soviet and Chinese studies of psychics and U.S. military studies of spoon-bending phenomena.

Enter the party poopers:

“It is in large part crackpot physics,” says physicist Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University, author of The Physics of Star Trek, a book detailing the physical limits that prevent teleportation. He describes the Air Force report as “some things adapted from reasonable theoretical studies, and other things from nonsensical ones.”

Some experts have long criticized what they see as a military sweet tooth for junk science. A “remote viewing” project, for example, undertaken by defense intelligence services and declassified in 1994, sought to see whether psychic powers could be employed to spy on the Soviet Union. The teleportation report “raises questions of scientific quality control at the Air Force,” the FAS' Steven Aftergood says.

Davis, a physicist with Warp Drive Metrics of Las Vegas, couldn't be reached for comment. The Air Force paid $25,000 for the report, part of a $20.5 million advanced rocket and missile design contract. The report calls for $7.5 million to conduct psychic teleportation experiments.

“The views expressed in the report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Air Force, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government,” says an Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) statement sent to USA TODAY. “There are no plans by the AFRL Propulsion Directorate for additional funding on this contract.”

By the way, I'm standing behind you right now.

Too slow.

Here's the report. Read it and we'll all meet at 4 this afternoon to discuss it. You choose the location.

Thanks Tim

Really, thanks.

Post election thought of Iraqis

SALUTE

Hi Friends,

Congratulations to all American people and to our Iraqi people for this great outcome of the American Elections. This was a great statement by the American people; a statement showing the quality and backbone of this people and affirming their worth and qualification as world leaders.

From new free Iraqis to the Whitehouse

These are very important events and almost all the people are taking this elections very seriously ,maybe its very important for the Americans ,but its as much as important for us ,I am watching the news all the time to see the latest poll,and see who is leading ,for me I prefer GWB to be reelected ,simply because what he done for me ,and let my voice be heard.

Congratulation America

I want to congratulate the American people about the last elections (America you did the right thing), I was by the side of Bush, in fact I wanted him to win because he is the man, he is the one who lebrated us from the SH, and I am not against Kerry because I don't know much about him. what am I talking about I can't even vote I am just giving some talking.....(LOL)

Congratulations for GWB!

In Iraq we expect to crush and end all terrorists, get real democracy and freedom, reconstruct Iraq to a strong economy and be partner with the USA towards stable and safe region and world.

Fast Post

I have come back from Basra yesterday, filled with happiness about the American election result which I stayed awake all night to follow for the first time of my life. I am still busy to finish my accumulated work here in Baghdad and wanted to congratulate the Americans with the re-election of President George W. Bush for another four years

Dear Americans, BUSH is the man

If it wasn't BUSH, Saddam Hussein was may have still been in Baghdad, but not in a prison, but in full power, and Iraqis in full terror.

And because my husband is over there fighting for these bloggers rights to free speech, I give you...


Disappointment...

Well, what is there to say? Disappointment doesn't even begin to describe it...
To the red states (and those who voted for Bush): You deserve no better-

Raed in the Middle

I don’t know whether I should laugh or what… The fact that bush won the elections didn’t have that much of an effect on me; I didn’t really care who’s going to win because I know there isn’t that much of a difference between the two candidate’s foreign policy. But reading some analysis and statistics about why did bush win is the real disaster.

Arafat Dead?

The big rumor here in the Middle East is that in a modern day Viking-ship moment, his last request was that his remains be loaded onto an unmanned aerial vehicle, flown to 30,000 feet, and detonated over Israel.

Just a rumor.

More here.

In a related story, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

We pass on our best wishes and hopes for a full recovery

Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after her husband and Senator John F. Kerry conceded. Our friend Roger has done a thoughtful post

My heart goes out to them.
She?ll no doubt get great care, others could benefit from a click here?

Their Veterans' Day

at Blackfive who is hosting our favortite MilBlog poet, Russ Vaughn

Depressed and Enraged

LGF operative zombie got some great photos

Dawn of a New Day

Sunrise. Think it's pretty?

The dawn of a new day. Another day closer to coming home. Another day closer to mission accomplished. There will still be plenty to do, of course, and for someone else that day will mark the start of their task, mission begun.

That's what so many failed to comprehend about that whole mission accomplished thing. It wasn't your mission. That was someone else's mission. Sorry, those of you who didn't get it. I saw that banner and hoped there would be something left for me to do.

Some day my mission will be accomplished too. For now I carry on, do my duty, and mark the passage of time.

GIs through the years have adopted a lot of ways to do this. Crossing days off calendars, putting tick marks on the underside of the hat brim, you name it. In the computer age I've even seen a lot of automated versions of the short timer's calendar.

Don't misunderstand me, I don't keep time out of boredom or any overwhelming desire to get away from here. I've got plenty to do. Here, look:

To do:

Survive American elections

Survive Ramadan (over halfway there!)

Survive Iraqi elections

There's more, of course, but why sweat the details?

Anyhow, since the Muslims use the moon for their calendar I've been doing the same, marking the passage of time by watching it change daily :

See? The last quarter of Ramadan begins.

Saw more than a few online pundits wondering how the troops in Iraq were responding to the election results. 'How are they celebrating in Iraq?'

Glad you asked.

Well, the muck left behind by the past few day's rains has turned to dust, and brooms are the weapon of choice today. How are we marking the occasion? We're sweeping the dust off the ages off the floor of the tent so we can get back to business.

I had to verbally counsel one guy to please stop taunting a Democrat. He wasn't being mean about it but its just not done, get it? Then I talked to the other guy and asked if the guys were bugging him too much. "No" he said "I can handle it. We're all okay with each other."

Good. Good. See, the brotherhood of arms trumps political persuasion.

That said, I echo this question from Jonah Goldberg: "NOW THAT HE'S NOT USING IT... Can John Kerry please tell us what his super-duper special terrific secret plan to fix Iraq was?"

Is that fair? Is that mean? Unless everyone knows (nudge nudge) that there was never a plan?

And what if it's not that badly broken?

Anyhow, how did the troops mark the election? According to the NY Times, in a story headlined (no kidding) "Most Of The Troops In Iraq Have Other Things Than The Election On Their Minds, Like War" most of the troops didn't even remember it was election day (bold emphasis added below).

The marines (sic) here are expected to lead an all-out attack on Falluja, the insurgent stronghold, in the coming days. Although the Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi, has not yet given the final order, the troops are busy cleaning their weapons and doing combat drills for what could be the most decisive battle since major combat operations ended almost a year and a half ago.

Access to radios and the Internet is scarce here, and the uncertainty of the electoral outcome on Wednesday added to the confusion about what was actually happening back home. "We can't even get accurate football scores, so there's no way we can rely on getting the election," said Cpl. Aaron Gilbert, a marksman from Columbus, Ohio.

Some of the marines clearly had strong views about the presidential race and the way it would affect the military, though they have been instructed not to share those with reporters. Others seemed not to care much, saying the election seemed too far from their everyday lives to make much of an impression.

That reporter shore is a smart feller. He's rite. I'm hopin I can get me one of them innernets over here and start me a blog. Also he's rite about homo marridge, Thats the nummer one issue with troops, homo marridge.

One domestic issue resonates with many troops, he said, because it angers them: gay marriage. But on many other issues, troops tend to be too busy or too far from home to pay close attention

If I get me a innernet I'll stop that homo marridge.

The Washington Times sent a reporter to a different Iraq. Their headline? "Bush's Victory Comforts Troops, Most see win as support of war"

For U.S. troops serving in Iraq ? many of whom are preparing for a imminent confrontation with armed militants in rebel strongholds ? the presidential election back home passed by quickly, with most saying they were relieved that their commander in chief, President Bush, fended off a challenge from Sen. John Kerry.

Of a dozen service members interviewed, only one said he voted against Mr. Bush, and he asked that his name not be published.

Two dozen soldiers and Marines watched election results trickle in on television and scanned Web sites at a recreation center on the Habaniyah air base just west of Fallujah, where the military is preparing for a major strike to root out insurgents.

Marine Lance Cpl. Chase Frost, a 20-year-old Louisiana native, said he was cheered by the final results.

"It seems we still have some good-hearted Americans who still want the right thing to be done about terrorism," Cpl. Frost said.

Interesting that in both the real world and the alternate universe where NY Times reporters dwell Marines and Soldiers are preparing to attack Fallujah - though the spelling of the town's name is slightly different. We'll watch to see if the results of combat differ as well.

By the way, while both stories have pictures, The Washington Times has a picture of smiling Marines.

Here in my world the Chaplain opened the commander's staff meeting with a prayer. After calling for hellfire to rain down on gay people everywhere he gave thanks for our Democracy, thanks for the freedom that Americans enjoy, and expressed his fervent hope for Iraqis to share that soon.

You see, registration began for the Iraqi elections this week - a story I haven't seen in too many places yet. I'm going to bet that the NY Times reporter has been instructed by his commanders not to tell that story.

Some day soon he might have freedom to tell the truth. Or some day soon people just won't listen.

Fine days ahead indeed. One would think a better sunrise then that pictured above would be called for.

That's better. Just needed a different perspective.

Worth Noting

(But not gloating)

President Bush:

*** Became the first President to be re-elected while gaining seats in the House and Senate since 1936 and the first Republican President since 1924 to be re-elected while re-electing Republican House and Senate majorities.

*** Became the first President to win a majority of the popular vote since 1988

*** Received 57.4 million votes - more than any other candidate in history. He broke President Reagan's 1984 mark of 54.5 million. (96% reporting)

***Increased the popular vote by seven million votes since 2000 - more than twice Clinton's increase from 1992 to 1996.

***Improved his percentage in every state except four (MD, OR, VT and WY). This includes a four percent increase in John Kerry's home state, Massachusetts.

Via the indespensible Corner

Meanwhile, in a story very much downplayed in US media, the voter turnout was the largest in 30 years

And, in spite of some early claims to the contrary, youth voters turned out in record numbers too.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Early press reports, including one by the Associated Press, claiming that 2004 was not a "breakout" year for young voters are being refuted by Declare Yourself, the national nonpartisan, nonprofit youth voter movement. Based on analysis of national exit poll data by CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement), the facts are as follows:

* 21 million Americans under the age of 30 voted in 2004, an increase of
4.6 million from the 2000 election

* The percentage of eligible young people who voted also increased, from
42.3 percent in 2000 to approximately 51.6 percent yesterday

* In the ten most contested battleground states, youth turnout was
64 percent, up 13 percentage points from 2000

The surge of young voters at the polls has been obscured by an overall increase in turnout for all voters. In fact, youth voter turnout was the highest it has been in more than a decade, and four percentage points higher than its 1992 peak year.

Since "Exercise Your Right We Fight For" has been our motto here the past week or so we offer all those who did so our humble thanks.

My kids tickle me

First my O' so insightful daughter (OSID) had come home from school yesterday frustrated. Her class was having Mock-Debates. She was disgusted by how ignorant most of her peers were about the election and about the electoral college. I didn't dare tell her that I didn't fully understand the electoral college myself. She couldn't understand how they didn't know the difference between a Republican and a Democrat. I didn't dare try to explain to her about the Republican Moderates and Conservative Democrats. I listened, then tried to explain to her that the average 13 year old just doesn't take an interest in politics. It's usually boring. She's an exception, she understands why her father is over in Iraq and why he volunteered, and why they must succeed.

Now my son, who was old enough to vote this year has been very excited about his college Gov't course. I'm afraid if he had taken this course any other time, he would not have been so interested. He did not sleep last night. He stayed up all night an watched the election. He has alot of issues he feels strongly about.

My middle one, 'the Reinasant' asked me if Bush loses, am I going to be "all depressed for four years" I said I may be a little upset but rest assured life goes on after an election no matter who wins. She later confessed to me that while on the bus to school, the other day, she warned her little sister that if their was anything she wanted, she'd better ask now, cause if Bush loses, Mom's will be in a rage and say no to everything, then if Bush wins ask for whatever you want cause Mom will be deliriously happy and say yes to anything.
Well at least she had her little sister best interest at heart.

Now I have know idea how they've become so interested in politics, but it can't be a bad thing to be knowledgeable.

Mrs Greyhawk
(oops used wrong log on, too much excitement)

Just in Time

Another lawyer available for Ohio: [i cant find link in washington times
but here's this link]

Saddam Hussein's family dismissed a prominent Jordanian lawyer who had led the ousted Iraqi dictator's defense team, accusing him of seeking "personal gain and fame," other members of the team said yesterday.

Saddam's family told Mohammed al-Rashdan in late September that he was being relieved of his duties, "but he did not accept the wish" until yesterday, said Ziad al-Khasawneh, spokesman for the lawyers appointed by Saddam's wife, Sajida.

Mr. al-Khasawneh told the Associated Press that Mr. al-Rashdan, appointed in January, handed over all relevant documents to Saddam's Jordan-based defense team yesterday. The team consists of 20 lawyers and 1,500 volunteers.

"He has traveled to the United States without the knowledge of the defense team. He communicated with the special Iraqi tribunal in charge of President Saddam's trial without our consensus, and he had differences with the family on defense procedures," Mr. al-Khasawneh said.

BOHICA?

Good morning America.

My sincere thanks to all those who voted.

Imagine that while you were sleeping the largest airlift of its kind deposited a battalion of lawyers into Ohio, armed to the teeth with technology and briefs not available in the previous combat, the infamous Florida ?00 campaign.

Did it happen? Or was it just a nightmare for many and a fond dream for some?

We?ll know soon enough. There?s been some talk this election regarding who America?s enemies would like to see win, and why. That's all pointless chatter now, but this much is certain: they?d love nothing better then to see America torn and divided, with ?He?s not my president!? as our unofficial national motto for another four years.

So here?s a thought to start your day:

John Kerry now has a chance to be something of an American hero, to follow a long tradition of American Statesmen and concede, and call for a nation to unite in support of its democratically chosen Commander in Chief.

Having failed in his first opportunity to be a hero years ago in Vietnam, what will he do this time?

I await my chance to cheer for his statesmanlike conduct.

Update: NZ has similar thoughts and links to many others.

Kerry is the Black Knight

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

All chanting: Run away! Run away!

Black Knight: Have at you!
King Arthur: You are indeed brave, sir knight, but the fight is mine.
Black Knight: Oh, had enough, eh?
King Arthur: Look, you stupid bastard. You've got no arms left!
Black Knight: Yes I have.
King Arthur: Look!
Black Knight: It's just a flesh wound!

The Black Knight continues to threaten Arthur despite getting both his arms cut off
King Arthur: What are you gonna do, bleed on me?

YES,YES, YYEEES!

Now I can sleep.

Dear John Edwards

Please get some sleep.

Regards,

America

Attention Guardian Readers

Clark county Ohio results

Bush, George W. Republican 26,056 53.27%
Kerry, John F. Democratic 22,616 46.24%

Precincts Reporting: 75.00% 48,910

UPDATE:

It?s over, 100% reported

Bush, George W. Republican 34,444 50.96%

Kerry, John F. Democratic 32,824 48.56%

Close enough to consider that backlash from the Guardian?s scheme might have tipped it to Bush.

An Overlooked Statistic

From The Washington Times

Mr. Bush already had won Florida, the site of the bitterly contested post-election recount wars in 2000. He also looked poised to become the first presidential candidate since 1988 to win a majority of the popular vote.

2004, the year of the return of the two-party system.

Free Advice

When the Iraq sand gets good and wet from a couple days of rain it forms a thick pasty dark brown mud that clumps in the tread of your high-speed DCU suede boots. Mix in a couple rocks and you’ve got a real mess. Going from the muck onto pavement or a wooden floor is a real joy, because suddenly you’re wearing shoes that make you off balance. Fortunately among the other ton of gear I was issued here I‘ve got a very slick DCU pattern Gortex rain coat big enough to fit over top of my body armor with plates in.

We’re too many hours off of east coast US time for me to stay up watching election returns here, though by the time I wake up polls will still be open on the west coast.

There’s a bit in the book Last Full Measure about members of the US Army during the election of '64 helping secure the victory for Lincoln. I emailed the author discussing the similarities of that election to this one - a rabid anti-war faction willing to abandon the effort, gloom in the papers, a president not at all popular with a large percentage of the electorate...

Jeff Shaara took the time to respond, but declined to discuss the political issues. It was not his intent for any of his writings to be seen as political. Fair enough, it wasn't my intent to politicize his writings, just found the comparison with then and now to be rather amazing. And likely the impact on history to be so too.

The military (veteran and active) had a huge and unrequested (we certainly didn't ask anyone to use us) impact on this election. More than just being a time of war, it's inarguable at this point which candidate wanted to pass himself of as a "war leader" and what the result of that attempt would be. If all other things were equal, I'd want the outcome of this election to be a Bush victory for this reason alone: at last a generation of proud Vietnam veterans would have some satisfaction, will have achieved a payback to one who did more than most to vilify them over the years. The media often portrayed the Swift Vets and so many countless other veterans groups against Kerry as not letting the wounds of Vietnam heal. The truth was just the opposite. The indelible image of the campaigns for me will be this one ; two proud vets turning their back on their betrayer. The quote that went with it says all that need be said of JFK as CinC: "He turned his back on me when I was in Vietnam in 1971," said Hill, a former state commander of the Massachusetts VFW. Hill said he had prayed for the day when he could protest against Kerry before a national audience.

Hopefully tomorrow the healing will begin.

Roger Simon makes a pledge to not be overly jubilant in victory.Sage commentary - I agree for different resons. If there is a clear winner tomorrow there will be a possibility of blogs claiming a bit too much credit for whatever that outcome may be. I'll not make friends in the blogosphere for this statement but it's worth noting now: the Left Wing blogs were very much Dean backers, virtually one and all, and their combined influence couldn't get their boy a close second to the party nomination. Remember Dean? Given that the media was in Kerry's camp from Iowa on it's also worth noting how willing they were to switch over and become mere echo chambers for that same media. Yeah! What he said! With expletives!

Given their willingness to roll over for the legacy media storyline the lefty blogs neutered themselves in this election. (Face it - they had no choice.) Since it was the center-right blogs that were the counters and fact-checkers to a conventional media in this one a Kerry victory would display for all concerned that blogs are impotent at this point in time as a political force. Read that carefully: Impotent. No "r" in the middle.

And look at the power of blogs on the right. RatherGate! Well done - easily bloggings finest hour. And look what's become of Dan as a result.

He's the anchor for CBS News.

Heh - I kid. No matter how you slice it there's a piece of the pie that rightfully belongs to the bloggers on the right.

Assuming a Bush win. Because, after all, how often is a sitting President re-elected in time of war?

Almost always.

So there you have it, my fine blogging friends, a bit of ammo to use against each other should your side lose and the other choose to dance a victory dance you find personally offensive.

I have mud to clean from my boots and a bed that needs me on it. Tomorrow I have to help rebuild Iraq some more. We're Americans, that's what we do to defeated foes.

No noise while I'm sleeping. Don't make me have to get out of that bed and come back over there and smack you.

Vote.

You’re welcome.

Tears for Addy

Many babies are born while daddys are away in Iraq or other far corners of the globe, but few such stories quite equal this one. Last month Marine Sgt Joshua Horton was seriously wounded in fighting near Baghdad. Four days later his wife (a Navy veteran) gave birth to premature quintuplets.

Horton's mother, Lauchlan Jones, spoke to the media Friday in the Laurel Clark Memorial Auditorium on the NNMC compound to deliver Horton's message to the world. She was joined by Horton's two younger sisters and his brother, Peter Rodriquez, himself a former Marine.

"Good Morning and Oorah!," Jones started as she introduced herself. "I am the proud mother of Marine Sgt. Joshua Horton. I am here today with my family to talk about Josh, a son; a father, a brother and a real American Hero."

<...>

A police officer in Aurora for the past five years, Horton was an active-duty Marine until 1998, but re-enlisted with the Reserve after Sept. 11. He left for Iraq last month for a scheduled seven-month tour of duty, even though his assignment would have extended about three months past a full-term pregnancy for his wife.

"However, it's important to note," said Jones, "that Josh and Taunacy both felt very strongly that somebody needed to defend our country, even though it meant Josh not being with his wife during the precarious early days of her pregnancy."

As Horton stated to his mother, "I feel it's my duty to go to Iraq with Marines I helped train." Jones said Horton was taking his Marine unit into combat for the first time and he wanted to get them there and back safely.

"Even when the Marines offered to let him stay behind because of his wife's pregnancy, he still wanted to leave, 'so somebody else's family could have their dad home for a while,'" she said.

However, this week,

Addyson Juanita Horton, one of the quintuplets born to the wife of a wounded U.S. Marine from Oswego, died Saturday, 19 days after she was delivered in an emergency Caesarean section.

"Addy's heart stopped beating early this morning and despite every effort ... she was unable to be revived," the family of U.S. Marine Sgt. Joshua Horton and his wife, Taunacy, said in a statement released by Edward Hospital in Naperville, where the child was being treated in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The family said that the public's "prayers and heartfelt thoughts are deeply appreciated" and asked for privacy as they grieve and make funeral arrangements for their "perfect, beautiful little girl."

You may want to read this too.

Monetary donations for the family can be sent to: The Horton Five, c/o Harris Bank, P.O. Box 6201, Carol Stream, IL 60197-6201, or can be made in person at any Harris Bank. Anyone with in-kind donations is asked to contact the office of Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn at (312) 814-5220

Beyond Stupid

This defies explanation

The 96-Hour Campaign had rented several vans for Tuesday, to drive voters to and from the polls. They were all parked at the top level of the Kiowa St. parking garage near Bush/Cheney-Pete Coors headquarters. I, along with a few others, had decorated the vans with Bush/Cheney and Coors signs Friday night. They were left in those spots as we went home, since it was after midnight. Apparently one of the vans was not locked properly (we didn't go into the vans to decorate them; we just taped signs onto the outside) and a group of socialist thugs stole it.

They drove it through one of the gates of Ft. Carson, the largest military installation in town, and then set fire to the van.

There are a couple posssible ways this Van could have gotten on base:

1. Whoever was driving it had an ID of some sort granting access.

or

2. They convinced the gate guard that

a) It was George Bush's personal Van. See the sign dude?
b) They were bringing Coors Beer to the NCO club. See the sign dude?

Okay that's a joke - though this story isn't. In a post-911 world it seems unlikely someone was granted access without filling out a temporary vehicle pass. Certainly the story as yet is about 10% told, but it seems that somebody's ass is going in a sling on this one.

For your sanity

Those folks experiencing high levels of anxiety today are urged to visit this site and this site at regular intervals.

A little humor to take to the polls

"Swift Geese Veterans for Truth" ad

"Indecision"

Facts From the Front

I humbly propose a MilBlogger's "Order of the Pen and Sword" an online War Reporters Hall of Fame. The criteria? Front line reporting, free of any politics, editorializing or agenda-driven slant. (Acknowledging that any piece without the words Bushitler and Oilwar are seen as right-wing propaganda by the loony left - but we'll just give them the good hard ignoring they deserve)

A nation at war deserves truth from the frontlines of that war. When truth is questionable then facts and only facts become infinitely more important. Though the blogosphere is fast replacing "professional" journalists in this capacity more than a few Americans still expect that service from reporters, print or electronic. And although as a whole the profession has failed in that responsibility regarding the war on terror there are some excellent reporters out there telling the real story, agenda-be-damned. Those who go in harm's way and send back facts are the real heirs to the finest traditions of American war correspondents, and are as deserving of accolades as are those GIs who are engaged in prosecution of the war. Sadly, while there are countless opportunities for such individuals in today's world, whether for reasons of politics, upbringing, training, or ability very few rise to the occasion.

That said, when I see David Zucchino's name on a story I read it:

MAGAR, Afghanistan ? "No Taliban here," the police chief said.

"No, never," the sub-governor added. "This is the safest place in all Afghanistan."

Marine 1st Lt. Jeremy Wilkinson, the snuff-dipping commander of Whiskey Company, was skeptical. Every week, U.S. troops are ambushed by gunmen in these hooded passes along the border with Pakistan.

"Well, everyone says there aren't any bad guys around," the lieutenant told the two ostensible allies as they squatted on their haunches, stolid and implacable. "But how come we keep getting attacked?"

The Afghans had no answers. Wilkinson and his men moved on, penetrating deeper into the Pushtun tribal highlands on a mission emblematic of the shifting U.S. effort in Afghanistan, where both the enemy and the truth are elusive.

Three years after the fall of the Taliban, American forces have seized a measure of control over the restive border region. They have built alliances with local police and militia leaders, buying allegiance through training, equipment and humanitarian projects. The Taliban, defeated but not entirely broken, has support among the ethnic Pushtun mountain tribes here.

Insurgents continue to flow into Afghanistan along ancient donkey trails and rocky ravines from Waziristan, Pakistan's lawless tribal region where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding. Commanders like Wilkinson lead regular forays into remote canyons, trying to seal infiltration routes and divine the intentions of tribes at war with one another ? and sometimes with the Americans.

<...>

The Marines encountered the district police chief and sub-governor in Magar, a remote hamlet carved from a mountainside at 7,500 feet. In the mud-and-stone dwelling that serves as the office of the sub-governor, Khanan Mangul, hangs a dusty portrait of interim Afghan President Hamid Karzai. But Wilkinson had dealt with Mangul before and did not fully trust him.

"The sub-governor is a little wishy-washy," said Wilkinson, older and more self-assured than most lieutenants, having served nearly eight years as a Marine enlisted man. "He tends to blow with the wind."

Wilkinson is wary of being manipulated, and he understands the precarious nature of his mission. In a sense, allegiance to the U.S. also is for sale, wrapped in the fragile promise of a generator or well or four-wheel-drive truck.

"You can't buy an Afghan," he said after listening to the sub-governor. "But you sure as hell can rent one."

Zucchino authored Thunder Run, to date the finest book I've read on the war in Iraq. He was also the editor for the initial series of articles that later became the book Blackhawk Down. His writing captures the chaos and the glory and the insanity of war and almost-war, without needless editorial comment.

In Spera, a mountain hamlet two hours by dirt track from Khowst, the teams encountered sullen elders in dark turbans who complained about the lack of paved roads, electricity and running water. They also were angry about searches of their homes by U.S. forces.

Spc. Chris Ifill, a civil affairs reservist who was a college junior in Philadelphia just a few months ago, let out a sigh. He'd been in Afghanistan only a few weeks, but he'd heard it all before. He told the elders that if they would just point out Taliban fighters and sympathizers, the Americans wouldn't have to conduct searches.

"Until your people stop turning their heads when they see something instead of telling us what they know," Ifill said, "we won't have the security we need to provide humanitarian assistance."

The bearded faces of the elders were inscrutable.

"Can we get a new truck?" Adrim Gul, a village militiaman, asked abruptly.

A new four-wheel-drive truck recently provided by the Americans had been driven off a cliff by a police officer, killing the district police chief's nephew and destroying the vehicle.

Ifill reminded the elders that a U.S. helicopter had flown survivors of the accident to Camp Salerno for treatment. Then he hinted that a new truck could be on the way, provided the flow of useful information improved.

The elders murmured and spat. They picked at their calloused feet and scraped their teeth with matchsticks.

"We'd like a tractor also," Gul finally said.

Just the facts man. Just the facts.

An Asian Occasion

Michael Totten notes an occasion worth noting:

The United States has relinquished its last outpost in the Demilitarized Zone to South Korea and cut troops there as part of a deal to give Seoul more responsibility for guarding the tense border with the North.

I'm a Korean war veteran myself, having served there during the cease fire that dates from the 1950's, and I've stood on that line in Panmunjom. (And now years after the fact, I'll get one of these. Cool.)

Update: Stars and Stripes reports:

The U.S. military in South Korea has resumed flying unmanned aerial vehicles near the Demilitarized Zone, a U.S. Forces Korea newspaper reported Friday.

Unmanned surveillance aircraft. Ain’t technology wonderful?

Cross your fingers

Some left-leaning Californians say they would rather leave the United States -- and go to Canada or elsewhere -- than stay with George W. Bush as president.

I hope to say good riddance!

Update: Flynt: 'I'll flee if Bush wins'

"If Bush is re-elected - but I don't want to even consider the thought for one second - I really have to think about living somewhere else," Flynt said early Monday in a strip club on the Champs Elysees in Paris where he was celebrating his 62nd birthday

Oh please be true, let's bring some self respect back to America. I'm tired of America being called the porn capitol of the world.

A Brief Note

Apologies to the majority of readers, but this really needs to be cleared up. At the bottom of every post is the name of the person who wrote it. In most cases that will be my husband, an American GI in Iraq (Greyhawk) or me, a military spouse in Germany (Mrs. Greyhawk).

Sometimes we will even have guest bloggers. Most likely they will be fellow military bloggers.

The bottom line is this: note who wrote a post before commenting on it (again: for your convenience the author?s name is at the bottom. It might even help if you check that first, then you can use the proper gender voice in your head while reading.) Addressing me as if I were a soldier in Iraq (see this post) just makes you look silly. (We have low expectations of lefties here already; please don?t exceed them.)

Thanks. We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging for smart people.

Chow Runner

Ahhh.. basic training...

"Anyone here like water sports?"

Yeah, every time the question was asked some hands went up. Every one I knew who had been there before me warned me about that one. The nice man in the Smokey Bear hat was looking for the Latrine Queen and his court - those watersports fans would spend the better part of the next several weeks making sure everything in the great big bathroom sparkled

There were other less desirable jobs though. Chow Runner was one. I don't even know if the practice is still used. Back in the day the smallest, youngest, quietest member of the group was chosen for this duty; to enter the chowhall in advance of the hungry half hundred, executing perfect facing movements and reporting from a memorized script to a table full of those Smokey Bear hat wearing gorillas, requesting permission to bring the crowd in to feed...

And woe be upon the poor bastard should any aspect of his appearance or performance fail to meet their standards. One stutter would be all it would take. After rising as one to chew him into small pieces they would send him back outside to try again. The folks standing at attention in formation waiting knew one thing for certain: though the start of their lunch hour might be delayed the end of it would not. The sight of the chow runner returning to report failure was not a good sign.

But that was years ago, and now I see the need for chow runners, the need to ensure that the little guy was a tough guy, that he could could take it, and perhaps to earn him so much empathy from the rest of the gang that they couldn't in a million years do anything to hurt him. No one wanted to inherit Chow Runner duties.

Honestly I hadn't thought of the Chow Runner in years. Then I met a young guy here, Hometown High class of '03 (I'm not sure if the class of '04 is represented yet) and if they still have Chow Runners this guy was it. Or someone even smaller, and that's hard to imagine. Anyway, Chow Runner or not the guy survived basic and now he's here in Iraq serving God and country and proving himself in more ways daily then the average young American will in their life.

So when I saw him yesterday he looked down and beat, like he was bearing the weight of the world along with that heavy armor that each and every one of us wears here. I asked why.

Whats wrong hero?

Nothing. Well, I'm in Iraq...

You're making history son.

Yeah, but its an unpopular war. People at home don't want us here...

I like tidy endings to my stories, but I'm not writing the end of this one. You are, on Nov 2nd.

3 Exclusive interviews

Interview With Swift Boat Vet Van Odell

Five Minutes vs. Five Years: Interview With Swift Boat Vet George Elliott

From Kerry's Own Boat: Interview With Swift Boat Vet Steve Gardner

via Deans world

Chemical Weapons in Fallujah?

Want to really make the Marines angry? Make them fight in chem gear.

Insurgents in the rebel Iraqi city of Falluja claimed yesterday that they had added chemicals to mortar rounds and missiles that they intend to fire at American forces preparing for an all-out assault.

Cell commanders said some of the weapons could cause high-temperature fireballs and others were filled with cyanide.

A military committee made up of former officers in Saddam Hussein?s army ? among them experts on chemicals and guerrilla warfare ? is said to have been organising forces in Falluja and planning tactics.

The committee is understood to include members of all the main insurgent groups, including that of Abu Musab alZarqawi, the terrorist leader behind the beheading of the British engineer Ken Bigley and many other atrocities.

Thanks for the advance notice guys. By the way, the weather is nice and cool here now, so no sweat.

Fan Fic Revisited

James Lileks joins the Kerry Fan Fiction Team!

I am certain Bin Laden fears a Kerry presidency more than a Bush second term. He knows – and I think we all know this – that Kerry would summon in the military guys, and say “I want you to find bin Laden.”

Uh – sir, I don’t quite –

"I mean it. Find him. "

You mean, find him? Why – such a thing has never been considered, sir; we’ve just been waiting for him to wander into camp looking for directions, or perhaps to use the bathroom. That whole Abu Ghraib thing - well as you no doubt know, we were just trying to provoke him to set his ol' beard on fire and run screaming into camp waving a big-ass scimitar, and then we'd be like all Indy on him and pow! Pow! But it never worked out. We never even had a Plan B. Find him? You serious? This is so totally unexpected! You mean, actually go try and get him?

"That’s exactly what I mean. And I have a plan."

Sir?

"I want you to go here –"

Where, exactly? Your hand is covering all of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan on the map –

"That’s right. I want you to go here, and I want you to look for him. And when you see him, get him. "

Is that the plan, sir?

"No, there’s more. See this? I’ve drawn a blue line, making a wide new river to his exact position. Send the Navy."

Uh – yes. Yes of course sir. Anything else, sir?

"Yes. Take this hat. If he’s invisible, you’ll see him – but only if you have the hat on. Now find him! "

You all remember the Kerry Fan Fiction, right? (Last chance to visit before the elections!)

Why I'm partial to this Cowboy and why you should vote for him.

Reason 1: In the past three years, he has done more to advance the cause of women's rights around the world than all of the liberal supporting "feminists," ACLU lawyers, Hollywood celebrities and Women's Studies Departments put together.

Reason 2: His honorable service.

Reason 3: His compassion

And here are 50 more of the Biggest Reasons: Let Freedom Reign

If you haven't seen the latest Osama video. Here

And here's food for thought from our friend Russ

The Question

The question you must ask yourself
As you head off to your poll,
Is who you trust to lead us now
That survival is our goal.

We tread the path of Jihad?s wrath,
Where misstep could spell doom,
And future times of horrid climes,
In Holocaust?s gray gloom.

What then again I?ll ask of you,
Should be our true agendas,
Privilege and prosperity
Or ways to best defend us?

Affluence won?t concern us much,
Other problems will confound us,
When our cities lie in smoking ruins,
With destruction all around us.

What sort of man I ask you now
Do we really want to lead us?
A nuanced poll, who talks and talks,
While Jihadis grimly bleed us?

Or a fighter, who will walk the walk,
Take the battle to them there,
Force their hand and make them stand,
Destroy them in their lair?

This veteran says let?s fight them there;
Lure all those fanatic fools,
To where they face armed fighting men,
Not children in their schools.

I know how I shall vote this time,
I?ll vote to win this war;
Not to let John Kerry lose it,
As he did mine long before.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Want a good laugh? Here's the latest Republican ad produced by 'The Club for Growth' (media Player) and here. (Real player) The best yet.

WHY VOTE?

A re-cap of our recent posts on the importance of voting:

Trick or Treat (A series):
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Choices
Vote
Blood Moon Rising
Fear in Baghdad
The Empty Throne

Posted by Greyhawk at 12:52 PM | Comments (2)