2003

The New York Daily News, 22 March, 2003:

War in Iraq claims first blood

U.S. and British forces rolled into Iraq yesterday, starting the ground invasion, but they also suffered their first casualties.

A CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait around 7:40 p.m. New York time, killing all 12 on board. Casualty figures, which originally stood at 16, were revised early this morning.

Four of the men were American, the rest British, U.S. military officials said. There was no immediate word on whether the chopper was shot down or crashed accidentally.

The first loss in a war that at the time was expected by many to claim tens of thousands of coalition lives. Unlike today, there was no shortage of protesters:

Protests erupted around the world as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to oppose the U.S. attack on Iraq. Traffic was stopped in Chicago, and Times Square was filled.

Among the first to fall was Marine Captain Ryan A. Beaupre, of St. Anne, Illinois:

In his tiny hometown of St. Anne, Ill., Marine Capt. Ryan Beaupre was known for his unruly red hair and easy smile. He was the type to surrender his turn on the phone to other Marines with wives and children back home, family and friends said.

Beaupre, a graduate of Bishop McNamara High School and Illinois Wesleyan University, died March 21 in a helicopter crash near the Iraq border. He had joined the Marine Corps in 1995. The family has two other children, Kari Leisure, 28, and Christopher, 22.

And to them he left one last letter home:

Mom & Dad,
Well if you are reading this, then things didn't go well for me over in Iraq. I'm sorry for the pain that I have caused you because of this. Please do not be upset with the Marine Corps, the military, the government, or the President. It was my choice to go into the military. The President and my higher commanders were just doing what they thought was best. Realize that I died doing something that I truly love, and for a purpose greater than myself. There is a paragraph that I read from time to time when I lose focus. "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." John Stewart Mill Now there is a little Marine Corps bravado in there, but I do believe in the basic premise. I want you to know that I could not have asked for better parents, or a better family. ..... I'll never forget that one of my friends in elementary school said that if he could trade places with one person, he'd trade places with me because of my parents and home life. I truly feel that I've had a blessed life thanks to you two. Please give my love to Alyse & Ryan, Kari & Matt & the girls, Chris & Brandy, and everyone else in the family.
All my love,
Ryan

Semper Fi.

2005

The final letter home from Marine Corporal Jeffrey B. Starr, killed in action in Iraq, April 2005, reveals an unwavering sense of purpose:

Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this, that is why I'm writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances. I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark.

The New York Times found this letter so abhorrent to their side in the war on terror that they censored it - the end result was something entirely different in meaning from the original. The New York Times is fighting a war based on lies.

1910

While the dedication of the troops to their cause may be unprecedented, the words of Theodore Roosevelt from nearly a century ago remind us that there's nothing modern or progressive about the Times' sort of intellectually vacant moral cowardice:

Let the man of learning, the man of lettered leisure, beware of that queer and cheap temptation to pose to himself and to others as a cynic, as the man who has outgrown emotions and beliefs, the man to whom good and evil are as one. The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twister pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life's realities - all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affection of contempt for the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves in their own weakness. The r?is easy; there is none easier, save only the r?of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride of slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who "but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier."

(Updated with 2005 and 1910 sections added to original post from 2005-10-27 16:00:55)

Open Post

Every Day Heroes

It's often said that it's difficult to cover the entirety of the Iraq war from a hotel in Baghdad. The truthfulness or fairness of that statement is debateable. But regardless of effort, motivation, or lack thereof, given the thousands of potential stories to tell it's no surprise that many are overlooked. For instance, enter "Lance Corporal Joshua Butler" in the search window at ABC News and you'll get this response: No results were found for "Lance Corporal Joshua Butler". Try the same at the New York Times: Your search for Marine Corporal Joshua Butler in all fields returned 0 results.

That's unfortunate. Because in a rather baffling story last summer the NY Times bemoaned the fact that there were no stories of heroes in the media coverage of the Iraq war. They blamed the Pentagon. (Full text here.) For bloggers this was the equivalent of tossing a lamb chop into a den of lions. Follow the links and trackbacks in this story and you'll find numerous examples of heroism, outstanding acts of courage, and ample evidence that the generation at war in Iraq is no less deserving of accolades then their fathers and grandfathers before them. Since most of those blog reports rely on military news sources for their information we can dismiss that "Pentagon reluctance" to acknowledge heroism and instead ponder why the media has been reluctant to do so. After all, they waste little time in detailing the failures of those same all-to-human troops.

Among the many heroic stories the Times missed is that of Marine Corporal Joshua Butler. Corporal Butler was serving with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team-2 in Husaybah, Iraq, near the Syrian border. On April 11, 2005, they were attacked:

That morning a group of four mortar rounds flew over the base.

Twenty-two-year-old Cpl. Roy Mitros was the sergeant of the guard when this happened.

?It was definitely out of the norm because all of them were within 5 to 10 meters of each other,? he explained.

The Huntsville, Ala., native hurried to the combat operations center (COC) to report the location of the rounds to the watch officer. At that point the base came under heavy mortar and rocket-propelled grenade fire as the COC took three RPG rockets blowing the doors off. Mitros went to get the quick reaction force, finding them all ready with their gear on.

Meanwhile, the attack intensified. Under suppressing fire from small arms and RPGs, a white dump truck approached the Marine's position:

Corporal Anthony Fink, a 21-year-old Columbus, Ohio native and Lance Cpl.s Joe Lampe and Roger Leyton were manning a M-240G medium machinegun when their bunker was hit with an RPG knocking them to the ground. The dust and sand from the busted sandbags clouded their view of the oncoming truck and small arms fire forced them to keep their heads down.

From his post, Lance Cpl. Joshua Butler saw a white dump truck rolling past Fink?s position toward his post and the front entrance.

The 20-year-old Altoona, Pa. native engaged the truck with 20 to 30 5.56 mm rounds as it veered off the road and detonated about 40 meters from his post, creating a crater and sending a wall of smoke into the air.

Butler was thrown into one of the walls of his post as shrapnel and debris landed around him. One piece broke through his goggles that rested on the front of his Kevlar helmet. Getting up to check himself and moving down the wall of his post to gain better cover, he heard another distinct diesel engine rumble.

The first truck was intended to blast a hole for the larger one to follow:

A couple of seconds later, a red fire truck cleared the smoke the previous truck left heading toward Butler and his post at about 40 mph.

?It was like nothing I?d ever seen before,? he explained.

Fellow Marine, Lance Cpl. Charles Young, a 19-year-old from Oldsmar, Fla., fired grenades from a corresponding position at the fire truck hitting directly in front and behind the truck, slowing its progress.

As the truck slowed, Butler was able to make out two men inside the truck, their faces covered by black veils. He engaged these men with his SAW, spraying 100 to 150 rounds into the truck causing it to follow the same path its predecessor made exploding 30 meters from his position.

?I knew what they were doing and I just tried to stop them,? he said.

The explosion created an enormous fire ball that ripped into the air. Doors around the base were blown off their hinges, windows shattered and remains of the fire truck rained down on the entire camp.

A third suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated farther out.

Mitros arrived with the quick reaction force as the small arms fire continued and Butler was sent to be seen by the corpsman.

The attack had failed, but the battle wasn't over...

As Butler stopped the SVBIED attacks, the assault on Fink?s post continued from multiple directions. Taking fire and returning it, Fink and Leyton began firing 40 mm grenades from a M-203 grenade launcher as 1st Sgt. Donald Brazeal, the company first sergeant, arrived at their position to find out where they were taking the heaviest amount of fire.

?(Fink) told me that it was coming from beyond a wall 300 meters from the post, so we reset the machineguns to suppress the wall,? explained the 40-year-old Council Bluffs, Iowa native.

Brazeal and Fink pulled out two AT-4 anti-tank missiles. Brazeal fired the first of the two from a HESCO barrier, landing a direct hit on the wall. Fink then followed it with another direct hit. With the insurgents? position suppressed, they were able to resupply the post with ammunition.

As the battle continued, approximately 100 school children ran out of the school across the street from the base. The insurgents sought cover behind them slowing the fighting.

?The Marines displayed extreme discipline in not firing at the children,? Brazeal explained.
<...>
Despite what Brazeal says was an obvious preplanned attack, no one was severely injured. Three causalities were medevaced for minor injuries, but returned later.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Jessie Beddia, was the primary corpsman during the attacks.

?Most of our causalities were internal injuries from the blast wave of the truck explosions, but miraculously nothing was really serious. A couple of Marines complained about some minor hearing loss, but that is common in that situation,? the 31-year-old from Buytown, Texas explained.

As USA Today noted in their coverage, this was one in a series of defeats for the enemy in Iraq:

The daylight attack on this remote U.S. military base fits a pattern of recent insurgent attacks on U.S. military strongholds. On Saturday, a mortar attack at Camp Ramadi killed three servicemembers, and there was a coordinated assault two weeks ago on the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.

U.S. forces have repelled each attack, inflicting large losses on the insurgents while incurring few casualties.

The Abu Ghraib attack was very similar in execution and outcome to the Husaybah assault:

The insurgents used small and medium arms fire as cover fire for a suicide car-bomber as he drove his way towards the perimeter wall near the southeast tower. Marines returned fire, causing the vehicle to explode before it reached the wall.

A quick reaction force, made up of Marines and U.S. soldiers, as well as Apache helicopters and artillery counter-fire, prevented the insurgency from breaching the perimeter walls.

The insurgent force was estimated to be more than 60 members strong. Their attempt to infiltrate the operating base lasted for two hours before they were forced to retreat, but not without suffering at least 50 casualties.

*****

Shortly thereafter the story of Corporal Butler was forgotten - at least in the media. But last week, following the return of Butler's unit to the States, he was honored in the US Congress by Bill Shuster (R - Pa):

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and distinguish one of America?s finest ? United States Marine Lance Corporal Joshua Butler of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Butler, who dreamed of being a U.S. Marine since he was four years old, protected hundreds of his fellow comrades from suicide bombers mounting an attack with trucks, explosives and no regard for human life.

Butler was stationed in Iraq along the Syrian border, and while guarding the base?s perimeter from a lookout tower his post was attacked. Butler sprayed the first suicide bomber with twenty or thirty rounds causing him to veer off at the last moment to miss his target. The truck, filled with explosives and manned by a suicide-mission insurgent, crashed through the improvised barrier the Marines had built up along the edge of the base. After being knocked down by the blast, Lance Corporal Butler remained focused, alert and ready. Through the smoke of the blast, he saw a red, suicide-driven fire engine coming toward the base. Butler fired one-hundred rounds onto the vehicle. After the truck was hit by a grenade, launched by Pfc. Charles Young, its explosives were detonated outside of the base but within fifty yards of Butler. Debris from this blast sprayed the length of four football fields and knocked down soldiers as far as two-hundred yards away. But no Marines were seriously hurt, including Butler.

Lance Corporal Butler?s actions saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow Marines and marked a significant victory against the insurgents in Iraq. The suicide bombers mission was thwarted by Butler?s courageous and timely reaction. An estimated twenty-one insurgents were killed that day while fifteen were reported wounded.

Lance Corporal Butler ? You are a U.S. Marine and a hero, and across the country Americans are proud of your leadership. Thank you for serving when your nation called.

No doubt Americans would be proud of Corporal Butler and the many like him, but once again, here's the New York Times coverage of the story. We'll assume he didn't meet the Times criteria for that hero they were looking for.

*****

If you read far enough into the AP story headlined U.S. Military Deaths Reach 2,000 in Iraq you may experience a bit of deja-vu:

[Al-Qaida in Iraq] also said it was behind the three suicide car bombs aimed at the Palestine and Sheraton hotels in Baghdad. Deputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal said 17 people were killed - mostly hotel guards and passers-by - in Monday's attack, which involved bombers driving two cars and a cement truck.

The U.S. soldier who shot and killed the truck driver said he initially had a hard time seeing the truck drive through the breach that the first car explosion had created in the concrete wall.

``Once the dust and the debris settled down, I noticed the truck had already breached through our perimeter,'' Spc. Darrell Green told CNN American Morning. ``He backed up and then pulled forward. As he was doing that, I engaged in machine gun and took out the driver. If he had made it through, he could have done a lot more damage, a lot more casualties than what actually happened.''

In a Web posting, al-Qaida in Iraq said it carried out the hotel attack to target a ``dirty harbor of intelligence agents and private American, British and Australian security companies.'' The hotel complex houses offices of the AP and other media organizations.

For saving a hotel full of reporters from certain death, Spc Green was named ABC News Person of the Week.

*****

It's often said that it's difficult to cover the entirety of the Iraq war from a hotel in Baghdad. But if you wait there long enough, eventually the war will come to you.

Syria: Getting Serious?

The New York Times:

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 30 - Security Council diplomats worked out final details on Sunday on a tough resolution against Syria, an action that will forcefully step up international pressure on the country's embattled president, Bashar al-Assad, and deepen his government's struggle to ward off increasing isolation.

Diplomats from the resolution's three co-sponsors, Britain, France and the United States, said they expected passage on Monday and did not foresee a veto from either China or Russia, the two countries most reluctant to punish Syria.

The resolution threatens Syria with economic penalties if it does not give full cooperation to the United Nations investigation that has identified high-ranking security officials as suspects in the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
<...>
Casting the American vote on Monday will be Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the leader of the American diplomatic campaign to isolate Syria. She is joining foreign ministers from the other Security Council states in the higher-level "ministerial" meeting of the panel that the resolution's sponsors requested to give it added force.

The foreign ministers of the council's five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - held a private dinner in New York Sunday at which the resolution was to be discussed.

Ms. Rice and other American officials have said they do not seek "regime change" in Syria but rather "behavior change." As an example, they point to Libya, where Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi decided in 2003 to admit the existence of his weapons programs, agree to dismantle them and thereby start to shed his country's pariah status.

Syria has responded by trying to enlist the support of Arab leaders

To cope, Syria has reached out to the international community, including Arab leaders, trying with little success to promote the idea that it had nothing to do with Mr. Hariri's death. In that connection, Syria sent its deputy foreign minister, Walid al-Mualem, on a tour of Persian Gulf states on Sunday. On Saturday, President Assad said he would set up a commission to conduct Syria's own investigation into the assassination.

Althouh the New York Times reports Syria's quest for support met with "little success", an LA Times story indicates that may not be completely true - as "some Arab leaders" are urging caution:

The Bush administration has embarked on an effort to build strong international pressure on Syria despite warnings from some Arab leaders and Israelis that doing so could lead to a chaotic collapse or even the rise of a fundamentalist Islamic regime in Damascus, U.S. officials say.

American diplomats have been trying to enlist other nations to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad as the United Nations weighs how to respond to an investigator's report implicating top Syrian officials in the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
<...>
But some Arab leaders and other allies say the Syrian government is already fragile and isolated. They have warned that international sanctions or other measures could topple the regime, destabilizing an important corner of the Middle East and possibly opening the way for Islamist groups such as the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.

The outlawed organization, which is alleged by some to have ties to Al Qaeda, has been badly weakened by Assad's government and that of his long-ruling father, Hafez Assad. However, it still is widely considered to have the broadest base of support of any Syrian opposition group.

Meanwhile, the London Sunday Telegraph presents a Syrian response not covered in those accounts:

Syria has accused the United States of launching lethal military raids into its territory from Iraq, escalating the diplomatic crisis between the two countries as the Bush administration seeks to step up pressure on President Bashar Assad's regime.

Major General Amid Suleiman, a Syrian officer, said that American cross-border attacks into Syria had killed at least two border guards, wounded several more and prompted an official complaint to the American embassy in Damascus.

He made the allegations during an official press tour of Syrian security forces on the Iraqi border, which the US claims is a barely guarded passage into Iraq for hardcore foreign jihadis.

While showing off what he said were beefed-up Syrian border measures designed to blunt those criticisms, including new police stations and checkpoints, Maj Gen Suleiman alleged that his own border forces had come under repeated American attack.

"Incidents have taken place with casualties on my surveillance troops," he said, near the Euphrates river border crossing between Syria and Iraq. "Many US projectiles have landed here. In this area alone, two soldiers and two civilians have been killed by the American attacks."

Now for a complete perspective, read this post from a blogger in Lebanon. (Via Michael Totten - who's insight should prove invaluable as this story develops.)

Update: The resolution has been passed by the UN Security council - unanimously.

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Monday in favor of a tough resolution demanding Syria cooperate with a U.N. probe into the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri or face possible punitive measures.

The resolution was adopted 15-0 after the principal drafters, the United States and France, agreed to delete a specific reference to economic sanctions. Instead the resolution would consider possible unspecified "further action" if Syria did not comply.

Unanimous - that's not to be taken lightly. Such things have meaning, after all.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

News from Better Homes and gardens the London Sunday Times:

It has emerged that the former Iraqi dictator, who is about to go on trial, had two sumptuous homes in southern France. Instead of retreating into the rat hole in Iraq where American soldiers caught him, he may have been planning to retire in comfort to the Riviera like other discredited despots.

Saddam never visited either property but one, a white-walled, 12-bedroomed villa on a hill overlooking Cannes, was occasionally used for parties by Uday, his son, according to an Iraqi embassy spokesman in Paris. He said the government in Baghdad would keep the house, valued at ?8.5m, as a ?splendid investment?.
<...>
France?s strict privacy laws combined with the C?d?Azur?s comfortable climate have made it the bolthole of choice for dictators in retirement. Residents have included Mobutu Sese Seko, the Zairean dictator, and Jean-Claude ?Baby Doc? Duvalier of Haiti.
<...>
The dictator?s interest in the property probably dates from a visit he made to Provence in 1975, with President Jacques Chirac, then French prime minister. Saddam reciprocated by offering Chirac a banquet of barbecued Iraqi carp.

The visit resulted in a bonanza for French business, including a deal worth ?3 billion to supply Iraq with a nuclear reactor. It ended up being destroyed in a bombing raid by the Israelis in 1986.

The Counterterrorism Blog has more.

(Via Mrs G's Dawn Patrol)

Update: Heh.

Open Post

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Happy Birthday Lady Liberty!

The 119th Birthday of the Statue of Liberty is today, October 28, 2005. It will be celebrated on Liberty Island with a patriotic ceremony commemorating the original dedication of the monument that now represents freedom to the world.

HT: Soldiers' Angels Germany

Abu Ghraib: The View from the Top

Colonel Janis Karpinski, the highest ranking officer to be punished for the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, has written a book: One Woman's Army : The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story

You can't judge a book by it's cover, but this one has an interesting feature - a photo of the Colonel still wearing her General's stars, and the rank "General" preceding her name. Karpinski was demoted to Colonel as a result of the investigation into the abuse of inmates by soldiers under her command. Based on the numerous media interviews during the lengthy campaign she embarked on following the televised airing of the photos, a better title for the book might be "It was Everyone's Fault but Mine".

*****

Let me save you the cost of the book. You can read Colonel Karpinski's claims to know nothing for free in her PBS Frontline interview:

But I can tell you that these soldiers, these MPs -- Lynndie England was not even an MP, nor was one of the other soldiers. He was a mechanic. OK, they were brought over there specifically to work with these, setting up these photographs and everything. Lynndie England might have been over there for a variety of reasons, but they were brought over there specifically that night. And I know, with no doubt, that these soldiers didn't wake up that morning and say: "Hey, let's go screw with some prisoners tonight. Let's take some pictures. Let's violate everything we know to be decent and correct and fair." Lynndie England surely did not show up in Iraq with a dog collar and a dog leash.

So those items either came from previous experience at other locations with interrogations, or other people with bizarre ideas brought those pieces of equipment independent of any instructions. But somebody who understood what humiliation is to an Arab person designed these techniques. And military police personnel do not study the Arab mind. But my guess is that interrogators should or do; at least they know more, maybe from previous experience or otherwise. But somebody instructed this group of people on the night shift to do these things, and if they made them believe that it would take them out of Abu Ghraib or out of Iraq a day, even one day sooner than what the plan was, that would be incentive enough to get them to do it. I can't tell you specifically, because even though I've been held accountable for all of those soldiers' behavior, I never had the chance to speak to any one of them from when those pictures first surfaced. ...

The only explanation I've seen for the leash comes from Charles Graner, testifying at Lynndie England's trial after he had already been convicted for his role in the abuse:

Graner, who is serving a 10-year sentence for his role in the scandal, said from the stand that one of the central acts of the case - in which England appeared in a photo holding a naked prisoner on a leash - was a legitimate prison procedure.

Graner said he looped the leash around the prisoner's shoulders as a way to coax him out of a cell, and that it slipped up around his neck.

I suppose that's possible - but it seems unlikely.

As for using unwilling subjects in home-spun porn photography , that was a taste Graner and England acquired before they ever set foot in Iraq:

Spc. Steve Strother, a fellow soldier, described a weekend trip in 2003 to Virginia Beach with England and Graner. The three partied on the beach until 1 a.m. before their unit, the 372nd Military Police Company, was deployed to Iraq.

Strother described how he passed out in the room the three shared after a night of drinking, and then was photographed in sexually explicit poses with both England and Graner.

In fact the answers to many of Colonel Karpinski's questions about what exactly went on at her prison can be found with a bit of searching through the news coverage that followed the appearance of the photos on TV. If you accept her claims to not know what was happening in her command, you'll likely believe it's reasonable to assume she wasn't aware of that either.

The following information may be useful to those who actually would like to know the answers to those questions. A re-"print" from January, 2005.

*****

Abu Ghraib is but a stone's throw from where I now type these words, and it's ugliness is more than skin deep. It's a very real place, and an undesirable home to criminals and those whose duty it is to guard them. But to many it's an abstract image, a debate point to be used against opponents like garlic to frighten vampires, a boogy man to frighten children. They inject that ward into any writing they do on certain topics in an attempt to frame the discussion around what is unquestionably now the immediate mind's eye association most people in the world make with the word "torture" - the horrendous photos from the notorious prison.

Here's an illustration from the Washington Post: Does the Right Remember Abu Ghraib? See, it's about Abu Ghraib people! Defend that! The title alone is an attempt to frame the debate on two points. 1) The issue is a right/left issue, and 2) The notorious digital images from Abu Ghraib are a result of government policy.

Both claims lack merit.

Let's dispense with the right/left aspect of this outright. Not everything can be pigeonholed into those political categories, and certainly no one on either end of the political spectrum feels torture is one of the defining points of their position. As much as some may take delight in setting up a "torture aficionado straw man" who supported that other guy in the last election" it's certainly not a legitimate starting point for any reasonable discussion on the matter. Unfortunately there are those who would have it that way in the US Senate, and whatever the outcome the nation will be the worse for it.

If you're looking for further discussion on that political topic move on. The remainder of this post is not for you. But you will miss a chance to look a little deeper into the ugly mirror that is Abu Ghraib, perhaps to clear a bit of fog from it's surface, and discover if you know all you think you do on that topic.

Take this simple 10 question quiz. The answers follow (no fair peeking). There are no trick questions, and no opinion questions. Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts. But perhaps not those you'll find on the editorial pages of your local paper.

Pencils ready? Here's the quiz:

1. The famous "60 Minutes" photos from Abu Ghraib were

a. Taken over a period of several months

b. All from one night

c. All from one week

-------------------

2. Who were the victims in those photos, and why were they singled out for abuse?

a. Iraqi cab drivers / mistakenly identified as terrorists

b. Suspected Al-Qaeda Terrorists / Intel officers acting under orders from the Pentagon had carefully instructed the guards at Abu Ghraib in the effectiveness of humiliation in getting terrorists to "sing", and actively encouraged it's use.

c. "Insurgents" / High Command needed info quickly to stem the rising tide of violence during Ramadan

d. Ordinary criminals in prison for their crimes, of no intelligence value/they were brought to the high security area for fighting among themselves at another area of the prison.

-------------------

3. Throughout Fall 2003 SSg Ivan Frederick, a guard at Abu Ghraib, was continuously emailing his concerns about conditions home to his family, but higher ups ignored them.

True or False
-------------------

4. The highest ranking of the accused torturers at Abu Ghraib were Reservists, not Active Duty. What were their civilian occupations?

a. Republican precinct Chairmen

b. WalMart Stockboys

c. Postal workers

d. Prison guards

-------------------

5. Lyndie England was an administrative worker at the prison. Why was she present for the torture session?

a. Not enough "real guards" due to poor planning

b. She was celebrating her Birthday with her boyfriend, and had violated orders to be there

c. The naked pyramid was scientifically proven more effective if a female was present

d. Direct orders of Donald Rumsfeld

-------------------

6. The Army suppressed the story of Abu Ghraib until the 60 Minutes broadcast.

True or False
-------------------

7. The Army investigation began

a. After 60 Minutes aired the photos when General Taguba was sent to find out what happened

b. Shortly after the event when a fellow guard learned of the photos and reported the abuse to higher ups at Abu Ghraib

c. When Frederick alerted his family to what he was being forced to do

d. When photos began showing up on weblogs operated by the guards

-------------------

8. How were the pictures made public?

a. Discovered after months-long investigations by reporter Seymour Hersh and 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes

b. Handed to Hersh by Gary Myers, his old pal from the My-Lai court martial who was coincidentally representing SSG Ivan Frederick, the highest ranking individual charged with torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, immediately after the preliminary hearing in which they were released to the defense

c. Handed to a representative of 60 Minutes by relatives of SSG Frederick

d. Discovered posted on weblogs operated by the guards

-------------------

9. General Taguba in Senate testimony blamed events on

a. Poorly supervised individuals acting on their own

b. Unnamed Pentagon bureaucrats

c. The military culture

d. Individuals carrying out what they believed to be legal orders

-------------------

10. SSG Frederick:

a. Was given a slap on the hand

b. Was found guilty by court martial despite the valiant efforts of his top-notch defense team to identify the "real criminals"

c. Pleaded guilty at start of court martial

---------------------------------------------------------

Answers

1: B. The photos were from November 8, 2003.

Those who thought otherwise are experiencing the "success" of Seymour Hersh's early efforts. In a theme later adopted and repeated worldwide, Seymour Hersh (and others) insisted frequently that there were thousands of photos available: "This is a generation that sends stuff on CDs, sends it around. some kid right now is negotiating with some European magazine. -- You know, I can't say that for sure, but it's there. -- It's out there. And the Army knows it." As of this writing no additional pictures have surfaced.

2. D. Criminals brought to the cell block for fighting. They were not being interrogated for information, in fact they were being tortured as punishment and for "fun". At England's hearing, a government lawyer read numerous statements from England's previous sworn statements into the record. The statements are of England admitting to stepping on prisoners' toes, taking photos, posing for photos and posing prisoners for photos, and saying she participated for fun, not due to orders. Additional testimony corroborated this admission.

Another Hershism: He tried desperately to depict the Abu Ghraib torture victims as innocents swept off the streets as a result of confessions gained in earlier torture sessions: "I'll tell you how they get there. You bust the guy that doesn't have anything to do. You humiliate him. You break him down. You interrogate him. He gives up the name of you want to know who is an insurgent, who is Al Qaeda? He gives up any name he knows."

3. False. Frederick began emailing his family about the situation at Abu Ghraib after he was arrested for his part in the torture. Those who thought otherwise may have been mislead by Seymour Hersh's original New Yorker piece on the event, in which Seymour told the story without using chronological order.

4. D. Although several early stories tried to paint them as untrained individuals thrust into a job they weren't prepared to do, Ivan Frederick (38 at the time) and Charles Graner (36 at the time) were prison guards.

Key quotes:

Frederick (original 60 Minutes story linked above): Frederick told us he will plead not guilty, claiming the way the Army was running the prison led to the abuse of prisoners.

"We had no support, no training whatsoever. And I kept asking my chain of command for certain things...like rules and regulations," says Frederick. "And it just wasn't happening."

...He's a corrections officer at a Virginia prison, whose warden described Frederick to us as "one of the best."

Graner (link above): But public records indicate that Graner had troubles at work as a correctional officer in the state prison system in Greene County -- a history of disciplinary actions that culminated in his firing in 2000. He was later reinstated by an arbitrator.

A reporter who served with Graner previously: He said he was shocked to hear that Graner has been accused of mistreating prisoners, in part because of the training they and other guards received years ago. "It was drilled into our minds well before we left the continental U.S. what we were allowed to do, and not allowed to do, relative to the treatment of prisoners."

More Hersh: "Let me just say this. I believe the services have a -- look, the kids did bad things. But the notion that it's all just these kids [doing these things]... The officers are "in loco parentis" with these children. We send our children to war. And we have officers like that general, whose job is to be mother and father to these kids, to keep them out of trouble. The idea of watching these pictures, it's not only a failure of the kids, it's a failure of everybody in the command structure."

5. B. England was celebrating her 21st birthday with her boyfriend, Graner. Numerous early media versions of the story would quote her family members questioning why she was being used as a guard when that wasn't her job. (At the time it was a "not enough soldiers to do the job" story) England was in fact violating orders by being in the cell block. Later she would claim that her superiors had instructed her to pose and told her exactly what to do. If that's true, it was Frederick or Graner giving the "orders", but she never named names, or, if she did, it didn't "make the papers".

Update/more:

But England refused to give him up. In March 2003, she went with Graner and another soldier to Virginia Beach. During the trip, Graner took pictures of himself having anal sex with England. He also photographed her placing her nipple in the ear of the other soldier, who was passed out in a hotel room. Soon, it became their new game: Whenever Graner asked her to, England would strike a pose.

"Everything they did, he took a picture of," says Hardy, her lawyer. "I asked Lynndie why she let him. She said, 'Guys like that. I just wanted to make him happy.' She was like a little plaything for him. The sexual stuff, the way he put her in those positions, that was his way of saying, 'Let's see what I can make you do.'"
<...>
During that time, Graner instigated another kind of amusement: sexually charged weekly theme parties in the barracks. "Naked Chem-Light Tuesday," he called it. A Chem-Light is a light stick used by soldiers that's akin to a flashlight, containing hydrogen peroxide and a fluorescent dye packaged in a small plastic tube. Break it open, and the stuff glows for hours. One night, Graner pulled his shorts down, poured the contents of a Chem-Light onto his penis, and walked around naked.
<...>
And pose for more pictures. In a supply room, Graner takes a shot of England performing oral sex. England adds a flourish for the photos: a thumbs-up sign. In another photo, England is standing near a detainee, Hayder Sabbar Abd, a 34-year-old taxi driver, as he is being made to simulate masturbation. Again, she gives a thumbs-up.
<...>
They'd found a dead goat and a dead cat somewhere and started slicing them up. Someone took a photo of a soldier pretending to have sex with the goat's head. "Then they cut off the cat's head and shoved it on the top of a soda bottle," England says.
For several weeks, the decaying animal heads provided entertainment for the soldiers. "Someone put sunglasses on them, and put the rifle next to the heads and took a picture. Some soldiers put a cigarette in the cat's mouth," she says. The soldiers stashed the severed heads in their rooms.

"It was funny," England says. "So funny."

6. False. The story first appeared in CNN in January, with a follow up in March, to include mentions of the photographic evidence. Without the sensational photos the story didn't get much attention.

7. B. The Army began investigating as soon as a fellow guard reported the photos he had seen.

8. C. The known correct answer is "C" - Members of Frederick's family handed the photos to a 60 Minutes representative. The NY Times offers this quote from his uncle: "The Army had the opportunity for this not to come out, not to be on 60 Minutes," he said. "But the Army decided to prosecute those six G.I.'s because they thought me and my family were a bunch of poor, dirt people who could not do anything about it. But unfortunately, that was not the case." Ironically that may better describe the motive of the 60 Minutes crew.

The relationship between Hersh and Frederick's lawyer was certainly just an amazing coincidence.

If you'd heard this quote from during the time of the 60 Minutes / "Rathergate" story you might have been misled on this question: Ms. Mapes is also responsible for CBS's reporting on the Abu Ghraib pictures, a story she helped break. According to TV reporter Gail Shister, "The scoop was the result of more than two months' legwork by 60 II producer Mary Mapes." In an interview with Charlie Rose, Mapes described how hard she worked to find the incriminating pictures:

"We ended up chasing it, chasing it halfway around the world and back again. Trying not just to chase the rumors of it, but---but to find out what the reality of it. And in the beginning, a lot of it was whispered accounts of pictures that existed somewhere, an investigation that was going somewhere against someone, and we were able luckily to narrow that down and get our hands on the pictures which really gave us our first real hard proof that this was real."

9. A. The key quote from Taguba's Senate testimony: "We did not find any evidence of a policy or a direct order given to these soldiers to conduct what they did. I believe that they did it on their own volition and I believe that they collaborated with several MI (military intelligence) interrogators at the lower level." Follow the link to see the media spin on this one. The headlines screamed "Taguba blames Leadership for Prison Abuse".

10. C. Frederick entered a guilty plea at the start of his court martial. No evidence was presented, the story was not recorded. His lawyer was at his side as he called for all those other guilty parties to follow his example. He didn't clarify who he meant. After he was sentenced to eight years his lawyer called the sentence "excessive" and said he intended to appeal.

What was your score?

A discussion of torture is an ugly necessity in the world today, but those who would enter that discourse with the battle cry of "Abu Ghraib" should at least understand their position. It's a house of cards, ugly cards to be sure, and not a foundation for discussion with any intent of serious resolution.

2005-01-07 12:47:17

*****

One thing overlooked in most coverage of Abu Ghraib - the answers are as important as the questions.

MilBlogs: Penetrating

Gary Trudeau:

"Anyone who doesn't know generally what soldiers in Iraq are enduring is averting his eyes. It's available in real time in excruciating detail in a multitude of media - from CNN to milblogs. So both writer and audience today have a far more sophisticated understanding of the conflict."

That's a quote from an Associated Press interview with the creator of Doonesbury. More:

AP: What is your daily media diet?

Trudeau: About what you'd expect - New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today every morning. newsweeklies. Lots of Web surfing - Slate, Salon, milblogs - and cable news, primarily CNN.

Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires:

Los blogs son ahora el instrumento que muchos soldados norteamericanos utilizan para contar sus experiencias en el frente de batalla en Irak. Para ellos, internet es una buena herramienta para difundir lo que les pasa sin que haya de por medio censura.

Con el tí´µlo ?La guerra de Irak vista desde el frente?, el diario chileno El Mercurio da cuenta de que son má³ de 200 los soldados que apelan a esta forma moderna de comunicació®® Para ello utilizan lo que se conoce como milblogs, que se traduce en blogs militares.

In Santiago, Chile:

Si en las guerras medievales las odas y cantos 鰩cos se encargaban de retratar las odiseas de sus h鲯es, hoy -en tiempos de la guerra de Irak y de Internet- esas haza񡳠del campo de batalla se relatan a trav鳠del medio m᳠pop del momento: los blogs.

Bajo el lema "libertad de expresió® °ara aquellos que la hacen posible", má³ de 200 soldados "postean" (escriben en sus blogs) desde sus computadoras laptops en "milblogs" (blogs militares), que se han convertido en el medio ideal para tener una visió® ¥n "primera persona" de la guerra, y de paso, tratar de evitar la fé²²ea censura castrense.

Germany:

Die Blogs der US-Soldaten aber zeichnen sich h䵦ig durch mehrere Eigenschaften aus: Sie sind hochaktuell und stammen direkt von aktiven Soldaten im Irak und in Afghanistan.

Denmark:

Det 䲠inte bara journalisterna som bloggar fr宠Irak. "Milblogs", som skrivs av soldater i f䬴, sprider oro i Pentagon. Nyligen sl䰰te tv堵ppm䲫sammade milbloggare sina b?r med f?ahandsskildringar av kriget.

The American GI has always been touted as an ambassador for his country - but now there's new meaning to the phrase.

(Ironically, most of the articles also detail the Army's efforts to regulate MilBloggers, proving yet again that there's no better way to create a tenfold increase in interest in what someone says than to attempt to place limits upon it.)

Open Post

I got this from American Citizen Soldier.

I guess he wanted GI Joe watching his back.

Open Post

Yet another Bush nominee under attack

The NY Times reports that Senator Carl Levin, (D-Mi) "vowed Tuesday to defeat President Bush's choice for chief Pentagon spokesman", J. Dorrance Smith.

Here's what the Senator finds unacceptable:

Mr. Smith, a former ABC News producer who has worked as an adviser in both Bush administrations, said in an article in The Wall Street Journal on April 25 that the Arab satellite news channel Al Jazeera operated on behalf of terrorists and that American networks aided them by televising Al Jazeera's videotape.

"Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Al Qaeda have a partner in Al Jazeera and, by extension, most networks in the U.S.," Mr. Smith wrote. "This partnership is a powerful tool for the terrorists in the war in Iraq."

"Al Jazeera," he added, "has very strong partners in the U.S. - ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC. Video aired by Al Jazeera ends up on these networks, sometimes within minutes."

The Times quotes Senator Levin as saying "As far as I'm concerned that is so far over the top, it's unacceptable."

Right or wrong, it certainly won't endear you to the press. I confess that here at Mudville we had no idea that the Senate had advise and consent responsibilities in the selection process for DoD press handlers. But we certainly hope there's no truth to the rumor that the DoD may invoke something called "the nuclear option" to ensure Smith's approval.

As to qualifications, Mr. Smith spent nine months in Iraq as a media adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority. And you can read the full text of his WSJ article here, including the quotes above in their full context:

On April 11, Jeffrey Ake, an American, was taken hostage in Iraq. Video of him in captivity was shown on Al-Jazeera on April 13. A short time later six American networks -- ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC -- aired the same video, a vivid example of the ongoing relationship between terrorists, Al-Jazeera and the networks. Last week, Al-Jazeera showed video of a helicopter being shot, bursting into flames and trailing smoke as it fell to the ground. It also aired video of the lone survivor being forced to walk on a broken leg and then being shot by the terrorists, one of whom said, "We are applying God's law."

As the war continues, more hostages will be taken and acts of murderous violence committed -- leading to more videos for Al-Jazeera and the networks. Isn't it time to scrutinize the relationship among Al-Jazeera, American networks and the terrorists? What role should the U.S. government be playing?

Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and al Qaeda have a partner in Al- Jazeera and, by extension, most networks in the U.S. This partnership is a powerful tool for the terrorists in the war in Iraq. Figures show that 77% of Iraqis cite TV as their main source of information; 15% cite newspapers. Current estimates are that close to 100% of Iraqis have access to satellite TV, 18% to cell phones, and 8% to the Internet. The battle for Iraqi hearts and minds is being fought over satellite TV. It is a battle today that we are losing badly.
<...>
In addition to being subsidized by Qatar, Al-Jazeera has very strong partners in the U.S. -- ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC. Video aired by Al-Jazeera ends up on these networks, sometimes within minutes. The terrorists are aware of this access and use it -- as in the Ake case -- to further their aims. They want to reach the American audience and influence public opinion.

The arrangement between the U.S. networks and Al-Jazeera raises questions of journalistic ethics. Do the U.S. networks know the terms of the relationship that Al-Jazeera has with the terrorists? Do they want to know?

Perhaps someone in Congress could look into it.

Update: Chapomatic has more, including a link to an Army Times story that includes coverage of the hearing that the NY Times found unfit to print.

The Oct. 25 Senate confirmation hearing of the nominee to become the next senior Pentagon spokesman turned into a media brawl.

Dorrance Smith, an Emmy-award winning television news producer who worked in Baghdad as a media adviser to former Ambassador Paul Bremer, is nominated to become the new Pentagon spokesman.
<...>
But if Smith is to become the new voice of the Pentagon, at least one senator doesn?t like his tone.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, took Smith to task for a piece he wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal in which he linked major U.S. television news networks with al-Jazeera, saying the U.S. networks occasionally shared video and other feeds initially aired by the Qatar-based network.
<...>
?That?s a very serious allegation,? Levin said solemnly. ?Did you really mean that there is a relationship??

Smith responded that he had learned a great deal about the way television networks operate during his stint in Baghdad and how footage used by al-Jazeera often can be picked up by U.S. networks.

It is a ?collaborative? relationship, said Smith, who has worked at ABC?s ?Nightline? and ?This Week with David Brinkley? in his 30-year television career.

?I think that?s a serious mischaracterization,? Levin continued. ?It suggests what your approach will be to information if you are confirmed in this position.?

That was when Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., jumped in. Inhofe, who volunteered that he has probably spent more time in Iraq than anyone on the committee, said he was rankled by a discussion he had with a field-grade officer in Iraq during one trip who told him that the media is distorting the picture of what is actually going on in Iraq.

Inhofe suggested that the war in Iraq is being fought on television and in newspapers as much as on the battlefield.

?More than half this battle is in the media,? he said. ?They are winning that battle, and we have to do something about it.?

Voices From Iraq

Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, presents A Kurdish Vision Of Iraq:

In recent weeks Iraq has passed three important milestones. The constitutional referendum on Oct. 15 was a powerful demonstration of Iraqis' desire to establish democracy and save a country still recovering from its disastrous history. Two days later the remains of 500 of my kinsmen were returned from a mass grave in southern Iraq for reburial in Iraqi Kurdistan. Another 7,500 of my kin are still missing after "disappearing" from a Baathist concentration camp in 1983 in the first phase of the genocidal Anfal campaign, which caused the death of 182,000 Kurdish civilians during the 1980s. Then, on Oct. 19, Saddam Hussein finally went on trial.

None of this would have been possible without the U.S.-led liberation of Iraq, an operation in which Kurds were proud partners. After the U.S. armed forces, our pesh merga was the second-largest member of the coalition. Today the security forces of Iraqi Kurdistan remain highly capable and reliable allies of the United States. By consistently working with the United States and reaching out to our fellow Iraqis, we have been at the heart of a political process based on equality and inclusion, on consensus and compromise.
<...>
The restraint of the victims, the defiance of the millions who vote -- refusing to be drawn into the civil war fantasies of the terrorists -- vindicate the courage and vision of the United States and its coalition partners. Backing this fundamentally sound vision has been President Bush's moral understanding of the healing and dignity that democracy confers upon all men and women, an understanding that the Kurds share.

The United States has never wavered in its quest to help Iraqis build a democracy that rewards compromise and consensus. The ever-generous American people have paid a tragic price, the lives of their finest men and women, to advance the banner of freedom and democracy, a sacrifice for which we are profoundly grateful. We all know that democracy is the only solution to political problems, the only method by which grievances can be addressed. In this war and for these principles, the Kurds are true friends of the United States.

Please read the whole thing - this is a voice that speaks for many that deserve to be heard, and too seldom are.

The Fourth Rail On In Iraq

For quite some time now milblogger (veteran - not active duty) Bill Roggio has been providing outstanding commentary and invaluable analysis of military operations in Iraq at his blog The Fourth Rail. His efforts have obviously received some notice, as his latest post makes clear.

In the coming weeks I will be taking part in an opportunity that, while not risk free, is more than I can pass up. To make it happen, I will need assistance and good fortune. I'd like your assistance in sending me to Iraq.

A couple of weeks ago I received an invitation to visit and tour the operations environment I've been covering here for the last year. That invitation, from senior Marine officers with the Regimental Combat Team - 2, 2nd Marine Division, presents an opportunity for me to provide first hand reporting from Iraq, as well as to continue to provide context to the reports coming from other sources as I've done here at the Fourth Rail.

Current planning centers on leaving in mid-November, and I plan to be out of country for a month and in theater as long as possible. I will be taking an unpaid leave of absence from my current employment, and hopefully returning to find that I'm still employed. And I'll need lots of assistance to make this a reality. Foremost is a means to defer the significant cost of going.

Now would be a good time to hit Bill's tip jar - note that "unpaid leave of absence" above. This is an unprecedented event for the bogosphere - a blogger invited to cover the war. Let's make it happen.

Permission to Fire

Rofa Six points us to a disturbing quote from Stars and Stripes:

In one case last week, Lt. Col. Roger Cloutier called an Army lawyer at nearby FOB Warhorse to ask whether a man seen behaving suspiciously after curfew should be shot.

The sniper posted near the road retained radio contact with the commander through his platoon leader and tried to keep the suspicious man in his sites while the shot was approved.

The Army lawyer ultimately approved the shot, but the process took nearly 10 minutes and by that time the insurgent had disappeared from site.

Seems like arming the lawyers and posting them at the wall would be a big time saver.

Probably illegal though.

And here's a blast from the past.

Open Post

With one of my favorite photos from Iraq:

Weaving of Much Deception

Robert Kagan writing in The Washington Post reminds us of some pre-war headlines on Iraq and WMD. His list includes:

"Flight Tests Show Iraq Has Resumed a Missile Program" (July)
"U.S. Says Iraq Aided Production of Chemical Weapons in Sudan" (August)
"Iraqi Work Toward A-Bomb Reported." (September)
"Iraq Has Network of Outside Help on Arms, Experts Say" (November)
"Iraq Suspected of Secret Germ War Effort" (February)
"Signs of Iraqi Arms Buildup Bedevil U.S. Administration" (February)

From these one could make a compelling argument that the media willingly aided and abetted the Bush White House in building a case for invasion. But there's one problem, as Kagan notes. The headlines above all appeared between 1998 and 2000 - before Bush had even secured the Republican nomination.

As we've noted previously (see this examination of a rather obvious example from PBS) the current narrative of Iraq as post-9/11, WMD fear-fueled machination of the Bush administration is actually a post-invasion construct of a media heavily reliant on a public perceived as short on memory or low on attention span. Personally I don't think the public is so easily deceived, by the media or any administration, though perhaps a small percentage of that public who are willing to believe is all it takes to keep media types satisfied - with their circulation figures and their mercurial editorial positions.

Read it all. (Via Mrs G's indispensable Dawn Patrol.)

Recruiting Problems?

Here's a group that doesn't seem to have difficulty recruiting:

While most Iraqi women live in fear of terrorists and criminals, one small band of women has taken up arms and is prepared to fight back.

Employed by a private security company, the women ride in the front passenger seat posing as ordinary housewives when the company's drivers transport customers around the city in nondescript vehicles.

But their firearms are always close at hand, and they are trained to respond with force if they come under attack.

And if you're wondering, the desire to serve one's country by running to the sound of the guns is not exclusive to any nationality or gender:

"Before I got into this, I was like a normal female; when I heard bullets, I would hide," said Muna, a stocky young woman in a black T-shirt and black pants.

"Now, I feel like a man. When I hear a bullet, I want to know where it came from," she said, sitting comfortably with an AK-47 assault rifle across her legs, red toenails poking out from a pair of stacked sandals. "Now I feel equal to my husband."

If the work provides personal fulfillment for Muna, her colleague Assal -- a divorced mother -- sees it as a cause.

"I have seen a lot of innocent people die," she said, staring out with intense black eyes. "We are trying to defend ourselves and defend each other. I am doing this for my country."

The women's employer has discovered that armored and heavily-armed convoys may not be best for avoiding insurgent attacks. Instead, they've adopted a tactic of using nondescript vehicles, with women literally riding shotgun:

That impression, the companies find, is enhanced by the presence of a modestly dressed woman in the front seat next to the driver, appearing to be a housewife out for a drive with her husband.

"We are a low-profile security convoy company. We do our best not to be discovered, and part of that is using women," said Mr. Karam, a veteran of the Lebanon civil war. "We never have been hit while they were with us."

But the women are more than decoys, and insurgents foolish enough to try their luck may be in for a surprise:

"We train them all together, women and men. They are treated as equals," Mr. Karam said.

The training includes how to respond to an ambush, an attack from an overpass and a situation in which a company client is surrounded and about to be killed or kidnapped.
<...>
After several months of training, the women say they feel more self-confident and stronger. Although none ever dreamed she would be handling guns or jumping out of cars, now all want more training, especially firing range practice with the Baghdad guns of choice -- AK-47s and 9 mm pistols.

"I used to watch action movies when I was a kid, I loved them," laughed Xena, a conservative Muslim who chose her pseudonym from the film character, Xena the Warrior Princess. "My favorite actor is [Jean-Claude] Van Damme."

*****

Meanwhile, back in the USA, some academics bemoan their inability to inspire opposition to Iraq:

The deaths of five Maryland soldiers this month did little to elicit protest against the war in Iraq, and even as U.S. military fatalities climbed near 2,000 last week, military experts say they expect no public outcry. Like the death in Iraq 13 months ago of the 1,000th American soldier, this next milestone will barely register with a public easily distracted, predicts former Marine Lou Cantori.

Cantori, a political scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, likens the rising U.S. death toll to the ticking of a clock. It's so constant and familiar that eventually it goes unnoticed.

"American public opinion is the proverbial deer caught in the headlights as a [foreign] policy disaster bears down on it," said Cantori, who also taught at the U.S. Military Academy, the Air Force Academy and the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Va. "The public is doing exactly what the president is asking them to do and what the Democratic Party is asking them to do -- to hang in there."
<...>
"We looked at the market to see why people were joining the Guard," he explained. "The majority identified said they wanted to serve the greater good -- to be part of something bigger than themselves."

But Cantori says no such rousing spirit can be found to oppose the war. To explain the apparent and collective indifference, he searched for the right word. "Stultification," he said, finally. "American public opinion is stultified."

Can't recruit? Blame the media.

David Segal, a military sociologist who heads the University of Maryland's Center for Research on Military Organization, blames the news media in part for the nation's collective slow pulse. Without daily front-page and primetime TV coverage, Americans are easily distracted by other events, he said.

Given the lack of media coverage one can only wonder where exactly Segal heard about this "Iraq War" he describes in - (irony alert) - a newspaper. More despair over the good old days follows:

Also, missing from college campuses is any significant resistance to the war, said Cantori, who recently participated in a Middle East forum on the Homewood campus of the Johns Hopkins University. Compared with the Vietnam War, when young people faced a military draft and marshaled thundering protests, campuses today are quiet, according to students and faculty at some of Maryland's largest schools.
<...>
During the Middle East forum last month at Hopkins, co-sponsored by the student chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Muslim Students' Association, a panelist asked if students were optimistic about the direction Iraq was headed. Of the 50 or so students present that day in the Arellano Theater, the majority raised their hands, said Claire Edington, 21, president of Hopkins' ACLU student chapter.

"I was surprised, but I was also encouraged because most of the students there were Muslim," she said.

Cantori was sitting on the panel that day and couldn't believe "the naivete."

We'll let that comment stand on it's own merits.

But as long as we're on the subject of naivete,

Hopkins graduate student Kevan Harris, spokesman for the Hopkins Anti-War Coalition, or HAWC, believes resistance, like the polls, is rising against the war. When peace activist Cindy Sheehan spoke at Hopkins' Shriver Hall last month, she attracted a crowd, and HAWC meetings have drawn new members, he said.

For a peace march in Washington four weeks ago, HAWC filled a bus with 40 students who paid $10 each for the trip.

"Last year we wouldn't have been able to fill up a car," Harris said. "By comparison of degrees, this year [students are] qualitatively less apathetic."

Perhaps they could have done even better had the media given this Cindy Sheehan person some coverage.

*****

And since we're talking about travel, let's revisit the ladies from our first story - they've been to some of the most notorious areas in Iraq:

Their trips take them around Baghdad, as far north as Mosul and deep into the violent western province of Al Anbar.

But always, before leaving, they take down a tiny red-bound Koran, remove the white tissue wrapping and turn to the passages that evoke pro