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On February 24, as U.S. media hysteria reached it's peak in the wake of the shrine bombing in Iraq, the New York Times declared in a banner headline that More Clashes Shake Iraq; Political Talks Are in Ruins. Not jeopardized, not threatened, but ruined. All hopes dashed, over, fini, kaput. Stick a fork in it. The Iraqi Consensus Front, a key Sunni Arab political bloc, had pulled out of talks to form a government with the Shiite and Kurdish parties. According to the Times, civil war was looming - perhaps had even begun.
It had to be painful for the same reporter to file this story with the Times 48 hours later
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 26 — Leaders of the main Sunni Arab political bloc have decided to return to suspended talks over the formation of a new government, the top Sunni negotiator said Sunday. The step could help defuse the sectarian tensions that threatened to spiral into open civil war last week after the bombing of a Shiite shrine and the killings of Sunnis in reprisal.Could defuse the tensions. Maybe. Possibly. Might. Because, it's not that big a deal, I guess.
Same reporter for both stories, by the way. Ed Wong - the Times has been passing off his deeply flawed analysis as actual news for quite some time.
You'll hear a lot in the upcoming political campaigns about the Defense Department Appropriations Act of 2006. Probably several claims about how all that money is going to Iraq, Afghanistan, Halliburton, etc. etc.
Hopefully there will also be some outrage about this. According to the New York Daily News, congress also found room in the bill to fund the following:
- $25 million to a "multispecies fish hatchery" in Montana to increase stocks of pike and walleye for warm water fishing.
- $1.8 million for Los Angeles sixth-graders who are "disrespectful, have poor grades and don't obey rules."
- $500,000 for curling, dog mushing, snowboarding and a snowshoe biathlon at Alaska's Arctic Winter Games.
- $242,000 for South Carolina's National Wild Turkey Federation to show American hunters how to conserve the wildlife habitat of the turkey.
- $200,000 to a group called Weed-It-Now Taconic to rid upstate New York of the Japanese knotweed.
- $850,000 for an educational initiative at the Fort Des Moines Museum in Iowa. "The museum says that Ronald Reagan learned to ride horses at an old cavalry post on the site in 1937. The funds will create "substantive programming.""
The bill is stuffed with more pork than Mike Moore at a Biergarten Buffet. In fact, according to the Daily News, the total score for congress on this one is "a record-breaking 2,966 pork-barrel projects for their home districts at a cost of $11.1 billion".
The bill also budgets $1.7B to armor for the troops.
Porkbusters. 'Nuff said.
Lawrence Kaplan's Centripetal Force, The case for staying in Iraq is a must read. Unfortunately it's also subscription only. (But you can try a four week free trial.)
Excerpt:
For a glimpse of what Iraq would look like in the event of a precipitous U.S. withdrawal, one need look no further than Tall Afar, where there was a precipitous U.S. withdrawal. Before the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment (3rd ACR) launched its offensive to clear Tall Afar last September, the city, like Falluja before it, had become a horror show. With only 400 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division patrolling the roughly 10,000-square-mile sector around it, officers say, there simply weren't enough troops to pacify the city. During the Falluja offensive in November 2004, police stations across the province fell to insurgent attacks, and Tall Afar itself fell under guerrilla control. On the western side of the city, tension between Sunni and Shia tribes escalated into open warfare; the remnant of the Shia-dominated police force launched brutal reprisals against the population; and forces loyal to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi moved into the city, mounting their own campaign of atrocities--killing patients in the local hospital, kidnapping and beheading hostages, and forcing children to act as human shields. "I know people at home will roll their eyes," says one American officer, "but Restore Rights [the September 2005 operation to clear Tall Afar] cleansed this place of something genuinely evil."Kaplan also notes that "an army of journalists has descended on this remote corner of western Iraq." Perhaps more such stories will be forthcoming. In the meantime, here's one.Police headquarters in Tall Afar is located on the grounds of a centuries-old Ottoman castle, which sits on a large hill in the center of the city. From its parapets, one can usually see the entire city, but it is pouring rain, and even tanks slide in the mud. The castle also houses the mayor of Tall Afar, Najim Abdullah Jabouri, who, until recently, was the city's police chief as well. The mayor still operates as the city's de facto sheriff--a bullet-riddled police vest hangs on the wall of his office. The power has gone out, and it is freezing and nearly pitch-black, but the mayor seems relieved just to be here. Only a few months ago, he says, "Zarqawi was ejecting Shia from the city; and the sky--it was raining mortars. Now, we target the insurgents, not each other." Even today, 3rd ACR has Tall Afar locked down, with tanks on street corners and patrols crisscrossing the city. "The American Army is mediator and judge," the mayor says. "It is a higher authority than any institution in Iraq." So desperate, in fact, is the mayor to block 3rd ACR from leaving that he has penned a letter to President Bush, pleading for the unit to stay. "Our security forces are not well-equipped," he explains. "We are undertrained, nowhere near the situation where we can take care of our own responsibilities."
Still, the violence in Tall Afar has declined sharply. Following Operation Restore Rights, attacks on U.S. forces in Tall Afar dropped from about seven per day to one. At first, the city's Sunni leaders refused to cooperate with U.S. forces, citing the brutality of a Shia commando brigade operating in the area. But 3rd ACR had the brigade pulled back, and it released detainees whom the Sunni sheiks would vouch for. In addition, explains Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Hickey, whose Sabre Squadron operates out of the castle that houses police headquarters, "I knew I needed Sunni police to get information from the population. The Shia police were just inflaming sectarian violence." After pressing local leaders to encourage police recruits, Sunnis began to sign up, eventually swelling an exclusively Shia force of 200 into a majority Sunni force of 1,700. And, as Hickey predicted, intelligence tips began flowing in. The regiment also poured millions of dollars into the city, funding 150 water, electricity, school, and cleanup projects. At the same time, it embedded advisers with Iraqi army and police units. Today, 3rd ACR personnel live among Iraqi platoons and among the population itself, having fanned out across the city and established 29 patrol bases--including directly between the warring Sunni and Shia tribes.
Having melted into a once-hostile population center, the Americans have become an essential part of the landscape here--their own tribe, in effect. Seen from a helicopter roaring above Nineveh province, telephone wires provide the only evidence of modernity among the ancient forts, castles, and clay huts that dot the plain below. In this primitive universe, it's easy to confuse the door gunners, their aviation helmets emblazoned with Superman logos (the "S" actually stands for their unit, Stetson Troop), with actual supermen. Which many Iraqis do: Wedged between tribes of Sunnis Arabs, Turkomen, Shia, and Kurds, a regal and persecuted people--the Yazidis--call Nineveh province home. The Yazidis, who, among other things, don't wear blue, don't eat lettuce, and take a somewhat nuanced view of Satan (their Muslim neighbors have accused them, falsely, of being devil worshippers), initially confused the arrival of the Americans with the Second Coming. An officer at the forward operating base in Sinjar elaborates: "They think that, um, we're Jesus."
The Yazidis aren't the only ones. At a base in central Iraq a few days earlier, two U.S. helicopters taxi to a halt near a C-130. The crew chiefs jump out and guide two rows of detainees, handcuffed and blindfolded, away from the prop blast. A detainee's fate, as I learned last year on stumbling across a similar scene in Baghdad, depends largely on his destination. The idea of prisoners begging to get into Abu Ghraib may seem like a stretch, but, more than anything else, they fear being turned over to the Iraqi security forces. They know the Americans probably won't kill them, and that, in all likelihood, they will be released in a few days.
As for the Americans themselves, the soldiers value their roles here just as much as the local population does. Back at regimental headquarters, framed pictures of the fallen line the wall--3rd ACR has lost 42 men during its yearlong tour, and many more have been terribly wounded, including the regiment's command sergeant major. And, yet, contrary to the faux moral posturing of those who claim to speak for the troops back home, when the troops do speak, what they say is invariably some variation of "leave us alone to do our job." The soldiers' confidence in their mission derives in part from a sense of ownership that the Army has about Iraq. While Colin Powell's reported warning on the eve of the invasion--"If you break it, you own it"--applies even as the war grinds toward the end of its third year, for the Army at least, it is equally true that, when you break it, it owns you. Having bled so much here, the officer corps cannot entertain the possibility that they did so in vain. Its members truly believe that victory, even at this late date, may be within reach.
Another story of the 3rd ACR in Iraq. We join our heroes in a helicopter over Tall Afar...
When Outlaw Troop arrived in Tall Afar last spring, the city was an insurgent stronghold and Army helicopters were constantly threatened by antiaircraft weapons set up by former Iraqi army air defense officers, regimental commanders said. "Flying fast over the city, you were guaranteed to be hit by small-arms fire," said Strye.Later in the story Cpt Strye says of the Army, "I don't want it to be my entire identity. I don't want to be put on a pedestal, I just want to be Monica."One morning last summer, as dawn broke over Tall Afar's labyrinthine Sarai neighborhood, Piro and Buckhouse were watching a building for an imminent raid. They spotted lookouts on a nearby school. "You get that little tingle in the back of your neck that says something isn't right," recalled Buckhouse, of Racine, Wis.
On the ground, assaulting U.S. ground troops were ambushed from the school and began taking heavy casualties. The fire had the GIs pinned down, and medics couldn't evacuate the wounded. "Outlaw, we need a gun run south of the city," came the radio call.
With Piro at the controls, the Kiowa swooped in from the south to attack with its machine gun. The aircraft was breaking away when suddenly it was hit by a barrage of fire. "We're taking fire left," Buckhouse called out. Piro heard the popping of bullets and felt the helicopter lurch. A round had hit the fuel cell, igniting it. An alarm bell went off in the cockpit.
"We're losing fuel!" Piro said, as the Kiowa started to drop.
Read it all. (And I agree, there's a movie there. But we'll never see it.)
Prediction: Iran will blame US/UK for exploding toilets - details at 11.
Injah prepares to welcome President Bush
Hyderabad: A 'praja court' (public court) here Sunday held US President George W. Bush guilty of "perpetrating terrorism in the name of fighting terrorism and killing people including women and children".Hyderabad has a population of over five million, 30 percent of whom are Muslims. Some "joint operations" may be expected, similar to those in Denmark earlier this month. There have been significant outreach efforts between the surviving members of the Left and extremist Muslim groups worldwide - each sees the other as useful idiots in their respective wars on sanity.Bush...faced charges ranging from war mongering and mass killings to violation of all international charters and aggression against sovereign countries.
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The public hearing on "crimes of George Bush" was held by a coalition of 40 groups including Left parties and their affiliated organisations, human rights and women's groups, and trade unions.
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Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which along with other Left parties is opposing Bush's visit, launched a website on the issue.
So in many ways India is representative of the world in microcosm, where voices like this one from New Delhi are also raised:
And then came 9/11. The world changed as the towers burned, and George W. Bush was not even watching it on television. In a few flaming moments, the idyll of the post-Cold War world was shattered. From the breached Wall in Berlin to the towering inferno in Manhattan, it was, in retrospect, a short-distance journey in freedom. Fear became the state of the Union, and George W. was not supposed to be the leader with the right mojo. The illegitimacy of Florida. A weltanschauung as big as a Texas ranch. The compassionate conservative with little interest in the butchers of Baghdad or Beijing or wherever. Not even America First, it was America Alone. No Wilsonian adventure, thank you. The smirk. The syntax. After Clintonian brain power, what chance? History intervened and offered its services as George W's make-up artist. Look what we have got.Hang on. It depends on the angle from which you are looking. Peanut Marxists at home and caviar socialists elsewhere and hate-mongers in the Middle East may shudder at the imperialist in cowboy boots, slinging his gun at the last revolutionaries of the Third World. The war criminal. The oil-guzzling moralist. The empire builder. The torturer-in-chief. The prison guard. Liberty slayer. Security fanatic. Give us more Chavez, take away this war-crazy American. Those who live outside history and miss their spider-hole hero are bound to deny Bush his glory. For they have nothing at stake except the pirated editions of Chomsky and the last vestiges of a few redundant isms. Bush, a president reborn at Ground Zero, surprised himself by setting off this century's first war for the sake of an idea.
The idea is not wrapped in star and stripes alone, even India -- not the India of Prakash Karat, of course -- will accept that. We have been living through terror with the Hindu rate of stoicism. Bush made freedom a war cry, a moral rejoinder to the troglodytes of religion. If kites fly in Afghanistan today, if Saddam Hussein is a harmless hallucinator in a court-room drama, if democracy is not a one-man-all-votes farce in Mesopotamia, if Osama bin Laden is nothing more than a disembodied voice marketed by Al Jazeera, the world has to be a better place. It is, and it owes this freedom to the moral rage of the combative conservatives in power. Bush is the embodiment of that rage, and it makes him the newest entry in the list of men who contributed the most to the freedom struggle of the world after 1945. Bush joins Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan.
There was a logical progression from Reagan's Evil Empire to Bush's Axis of Evil. Bush père was not the true inheritor of Reaganism. Bill Clinton, the smartest of his generation, didn't have a historical situation to play out his mind. Bush got Evil Empire Part II, an absolute negation of all that end-of-history triumphalism of the West. Faith replaced ideology; the empire was not territorially distinctive. It was an empire of fear and terror. Bush was not scared to play moral crusader. Afghanistan was the first chapter in the just war; the Baathist psychopath invited himself to the next. The Arab street has not erupted in the name of Saddam. Rather, election rallies have gone far beyond Baghdad and deep into Palestinian ghettos. Still, an Arabian spring may be a distant dream, but Bush's idealism has given the streets a chance to dream.
He is engaged in one of history's grandest freedom projects. Everyone except those who live in the back alleys of civilization has a stake in it. For India particularly, it is a mission that incorporates some of its deepest nationalist worries. In principle, Bush's war is India's too. Rarely does one man's sense of justice become a transformative force on a global scale. That is the story of George Bush as the towering aftermath of 9/11.
Pushback from an ignored but potentially injured third-party in the port deal-the UK:
The great Indian writer Khushwant Singh once penned a poignant story called Karma, about the plight of Indian elites under British colonialism. The protagonist, Sir Mohan Lal, wants only to be accepted as a gentleman. Impeccably dressed in his Savile Row suit and Balliol tie, brandishing a copy of The Times, he proudly takes his seat in the first-class compartment of a train - only to be accosted by a couple of drunken, loutish British soldiers who fling him out, seeing only a "wog".The rest is subscription only, but here's a central point:Whether they realise it or not, most critics of the sale of P&O, the UK-based port operator that owns five terminals on the US east coast, to Dubai Ports World, owned by the United Arab Emirates government, are just replaying the scene with different accents.
The causes of the furore are actually quite simple, and ugly. "Port management" sounds like something important, especially in the post-September 11 world, and many think it cannot be left to "wogs" - a reaction that has been encouraged by shameless politicians quick to recognise a chance for cheap demagoguery.And here's the conclusion:
Given the situation's political realities, it makes sense to delay finalising the deal briefly. In fact, the crisis creates a perfect opportunity for the president to educate the Congress and the public on what globalisation means in practice, how it generally benefits Americans and the world at large, and how wrong it is to lump all Arabs, Muslims and Middle Easterners into a scary, undifferentiated mass. The administration could also take lessons about the importance of approaching homeland security seriously and the danger of playing with demagogic fire across the board.Will any of this learning occur? If you think it will, I have a fantastic port to sell you.
The Financial Times has a hard time acknowledging that Bush is the voice of reason in this one. (The key for the anti-Bush crowd in this is to note the fact that he wasn't aware of the deal until afterwards - that might help diminish the distaste of arguing on "his side".)
But that makes two allies potentially alienated by the knee-jerk reaction to the ports deal - not to mention the clear message sent to other Arab countries.
Update:
The deck has truly been shuffled on this one, the metaphors thoroughly mixed, and strange bedfellows are discovering each other on every side of the fence.
In the New York Times Nicholas Kristof says
Even if you believe in racial profiling, you have to look beyond the profile. Senators talk about Dubai in dark tones that suggest they've never been there. Dubai is the Disneyland of the Arab world — it's the place people go to relax, to shop, to drink. It is staunchly pro-American and pro-business, and its vision of the Arab future is absolutely the opposite of Osama bin Laden's. If we want to encourage Arab modernization, we should be approving this deal — not engaging in quasi-racist scaremongering.But ultimately he maintains his "D" cred:
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Suppose you were Osama bin Laden and wanted to set off a nuclear weapon or a "dirty bomb" in front of the U.S. Capitol. First you would bribe Russians with access to loosely secured nuclear materials.Then you would ship them to the U.S. — but the key step would occur in the foreign port: hiding the materials in the shipping container of a well-known and trusted exporter. If the container were shipped out of Rotterdam and seemed to contain Lego toys, for example, U.S. customs officials (who are now also based abroad) might not bother to examine it.
So even if agents of Al Qaeda infiltrate Dubai Ports World, and some manage to get U.S. visas and be stationed in Newark, it's not clear that they could help the plot.
Democrats have so many legitimate reasons to criticize President Bush — from ruining our nation's finances to despoiling American wilderness — that it's painful to see them scaremongering in just the way that Mr. Bush himself has.The Financial Times piece above also takes that jab, as have numerous other commenters struggling to come to grips with the fact that they agree with the U.S. President on this one. Sez the FT: "The irony here is that in many respects the Bush administration is reaping what it sowed, having previously played politics with homeland security and the war on terrorism, having blurred distinctions in the Muslim world by conflating the unrelated struggles against al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.."
Again, were I wanting to support the deal but not the administration, I'd repeat that the President didn't know until after the deal was done - in other words, the right decision was made because he wasn't in on it.
Because he's already on record on that other issue:
I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans, and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. (Applause.) The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them. (Applause.)I heard that right the first time. He was serious. And therein lies a clue for those who would be taken seriously on security issues: be serious.
And as for "campaigning on scare tactics", the last Presidential election was actually a referendum on gay marriage, remember?
BASRA: Explosives packed into the wash area of a Shia mosque in the southern city of Basra blew up on Sunday, causing minor injuries, police and witnesses said.But this time...
Police said they suspected three men wounded in the mosque attack were planting the bomb when it exploded prematurely.Developing...
Iraqi Bloggers Central offers an examination of the various theories on who blew up the Samarra Shrine. Detailed, well informed, and well worth a read. Includes many links to diverse Iraqi bloggers (and others) who support each of the numerous explanations.
All in all, what an unbiased media would have done days ago.
This post has become something of a phenomenon; linked by message boards and film sites it continues to draw comments, and based on the IP addresses they are authentic.
While some are disturbing and reveal deep-rooted bias and prejudice, I'm encouraged by much of the resulting communication and attempts at understanding between folks from all over the world.
A weekly look at events in Iraq, and on the home front.
This week: an examination of the propaganda war that's ongoing in the wake of the Shrine bombing. With our western reporters absent or holed up in Baghdad hotels, propaganda may be all we're hearing this week - and may in fact be the real battle.
The New York Times says More Clashes Shake Iraq; Political Talks Are In Ruins
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 23 — A groundswell of sectarian fury continued to roil Iraq on Thursday after Wednesday's bombing of a major Shiite shrine, leaving at least 138 people dead in the past two days and political negotiations over a new government in ruins.In addition to the death toll, as of Friday, there were published claims that as many as 184 Sunni mosques in Iraq had been attacked in retaliation for the bombing of the shrine of Imams Ali al-Hadi and Al-Hasan al-Askari.The threat of full-scale civil war loomed over the country as Sunni politicians lashed out at Shiite leaders on Thursday, accusing them of igniting anti-Sunni reprisals, and at the American military, charging it with standing idly by as the violence erupted. The most powerful Sunni Arab political group said it was suspending talks with Shiite and Kurdish politicians on forming a new government.
But Major General Rick Lynch, spokesman for Multi-National Forces-Iraq, described a somewhat different situation on the ground in the wake of the bombing:
It's important that you understand from our perspective the repercussions from that attack yesterday. Candidly, I'm watching the media, I'm listening to discussions about attacks across Iraq that we, the coalition, can't see, we can't confirm. So I'm going to tell you in detail what we've seen since yesterday when the attack occurred until the time of this press conference so that you understand what we have indeed seen and we can confirm.Note the General's candor - he admits that confirmation of the full extent of any damage nationwide can not be accomplished in a matter of hours. He was probably surprised when in the immediate aftermath of the attack on the Shiite shrine accounts of over 100 attacks on Sunni mosques were presented in US media as confirmed facts.In general terms, across Iraq, based on the direction of the prime minister and the Iraqi government, and religious leaders like Sistani, we're seeing peaceful demonstrations. Sistani put out three fatwas yesterday and he called for calm, and he directed peaceful demonstrations. And that's what we're seeing. We've seen peaceful demonstrations, about 20 all across Iraq over the course of the last 36 hours.
Now, there have been violent demonstrations and there have been some attacks against mosques. And let me talk to you about that in some level of detail. We've seen across Iraq seven major mosque attacks. The one that we're most concerned about happened in the vicinity of Dora here in Baghdad, which was a complex attack of both small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades that caused significant damage to two mosques.
We're also concerned about the killings that we have seen. We've seen a Sunni imam killed in Basra, and we've seen a Sunni imam killed up the vicinity of Baghdad, an we've seen a Sunni sheikh killed and his son kidnapped in the vicinity of Husiniyah (sp) here by Baghdad.
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What I've shown you is the things that I can indeed confirm, and over time, the reports will come in, the exact situation on the ground will become clear. But that takes time.Remember, we have about 160,000 coalition soldiers all around Iraq, and they report to their chain of command what they're seeing, which gives us great fidelity on operations around Iraq. In addition to that, the Iraqi security force and the Iraqi government has their reporting chains, and those reporting chains do indeed come together at the very top. So over time, as those reports come in and are confirmed, we'll ensure we share those with you.
But today, as of now, seven attacks across Iraq that resulted in damage to mosques; two Sunni imams murdered and one sheikh murdered; and then other less significant attacks. We've seen some drive-by attacks -- people driving by mosques, sticking a weapon out the window and firing rounds at the mosque, with no resulting damage. But that's where we are.
So we're not seeing civil war igniting in Iraq. We're not seeing 77, 80, 100 mosques damaged. We're not seeing death in the streets. We're seeing a confident, capable Iraqi government using their capable Iraqi security force to calm the storm that was inflamed by a horrendous, horrific terrorist attack yesterday against the Golden Mosque in Samarra.
In fact, within hours of the shrine bombing, the New York Times had reported that at least 27 Sunni mosques had been attacked in Baghdad alone
The Iraqi police, whose ranks include many followers of Shiite militias, largely stood by during the attacks on Sunni mosques on Wednesday and Thursday, as did many Iraqi soldiers.The story would also note that Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a cleric and the leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political coalition, failed to make any sort of apology for the dozens of attacks on Sunni mosques and imams — a key demand made by Sunni Arab political leaders, who withdrew in protest on Thursday from talks over forming a government.
Other Times stories would describe a "wave of killings of Sunni Arabs", and the victim's response:
The attacks, mostly by Shiite militiamen, were troubling not only because they resulted in at least 170 deaths across Iraq, but also because they showed how deeply the militias have spread inside government forces. The Iraqi police, commanded by a Shiite political party, stood by as the rampage spread.The Washington Post would claim that 120 mosques had been attacked, adding that "Shiite militias -- including the Mahdi Army, loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr -- continued to attack Sunni mosques, engaging in drive-by shootings, occupying the buildings and setting them ablaze, or detaining worshipers inside."Now, after watching helplessly as their mosques and homes burned, many Sunni Arabs say they should have the right to form their own militias.
Time Magazine would caption a photo of the demolished shrine with a claim that "a string of similar attacks to Sunni targets took place across Iraq."
And even as a government imposed curfew established calm in the region, reports of the numbers of Sunni mosques attacked would skyrocket. By Friday night published claims would reach as high as "184 Sunni mosques" that "had been damaged, some destroyed". But perhaps as an overdue admission that the claims were becoming a bit outlandish, media reports began to qualify the numbers by actually citing the sources.
The Association of Muslim Scholars claim 168 Sunni mosques were attacked, 10 imams were killed and 15 imams were kidnapped.In the US
Some 168 Sunni mosques had been attacked around the country, 10 imams killed and 15 abducted since the shrine attack, according to the Sunni Clerical Association of Muslim Scholars.In Australia, a report that
The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars said that since Wednesday, at least 168 Sunni mosques had been attacked, 10 imams killed and 15 abducted.would even explain that "Their claims could not be immediately verified."
Other versions of the story would feature the larger number. Reports from Canada and South Africa
The main Sunni religious group said 184 Sunni mosques had been damaged, some destroyed; 10 clerics had been killed and 15 abducted.This is, in fact, the modus operandi of the Association of Muslim Scholars - an Iraqi Sunni/Ba'athist group formed in the wake of the 2003 invasion. Their role in the current conflict is to fight the "information war" while others conduct the actual shooting. After any atrocity committed by Sunni "insurgents" in Iraq, the Association immediately insists a similar atrocity has been committed by American or Shi'ite forces.
In October, 2004 a suicide car bomber slaughtered three dozen children in Baghdad. The AMS immediately accused American and Iraqi troops of widespread atrocities in Samarra.
"The hospital is full of bodies, children are buried in the gardens, and there are bodies filling the streets," said Muhammad Bashar al-Faidhi, one of the members of the group in Baghdad who said he was basing his accusations on witness accounts. It was impossible to independently verify his claims."It was impossible to independently verify" - in fact, reporters actually on the scene told a very different story. But due to the quick work of the "Muslim Scholars" both accounts appeared simultaneously in the press.
That same month, an Iraqi Sunni blogger reported
Last Monday, while I was in Basra watching TV in the afternoon, Al-Fayhaa channel broadcasted a film they said it was sent to the station via e-mail. I have to say that the credibility of the film is questionable but since I found that no one in the media, whether inside or outside Iraq commented on it, I decided to tell you about it and perhaps we could together find some answers.The film was taped on July 11 this year as written on the screen and it showed six young men, all Iraqi as there looks and accent showed, and they were reading written confessions about attacks they launched against Iraqis and coalition troops.
All those six men (the youngest is 21 years old) mentioned that they were given orders from the "Association of Muslim Scholars" to perform certain operations against "Iraqi collaborators", multinational troops and some moderate She'at clerics. One of the men said that he received (350 000 ID) from a member of the association to assassinate a She'at cleric and when the first attempt failed, he was ordered to try again as he stated.
In November 2004 the BBC reported that the AMS was protesting raids on mosques in Ramadi that had discovered weapons caches:
Yesterday coalition forces raided seven mosques in Ramadi, detaining four people and seizing bomb-making materials.Note that unlike American sources the BBC is willing to acknowledge the ties between the AMS and terrorist groups in Iraq.The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni group suspected of links to rebels, condemned the mosque raids as an example of alleged American hostility toward Islam.
The US Army accused local militants of violating the mosques by using them for military purposes. A US Marine spokesman said American troops provided backup for Iraqi soldiers but did not enter the mosques.
Later the group demanded that Sunnis boycott the January, 2005 elections. (Some would interpret the demands as threats against any potential Sunni voters). After the January elections, they would condemn the new government while demanding to be included in the writing of Iraq's constitution. But within days they would announce their refusal to assist in preparring the constitution as long as the country remained under US occupation. Virtually all subsequent difficulties with developing the constitution could be traced to actions of the group.
Additional details of the relationship between the AMS and terrorist groups would be revealed following the kidnapping of Italian "journalist" Giuliana Sgrena
Giuliana Sgrena, a 56-year-old reporter for the Communist daily Il Manifesto, was kidnapped near Baghdad University.And now the group claims atrocities against Sunnis in Iraq - stories that shove the actual bombing of the Samarra shrine into the background of the daily news.A group calling itself the Islamic Jihad Organization claimed to have kidnapped the woman and gave Italy 72 hours to withdraw its troops from Iraq. But it made no threats to kill her nor said what would happen if its demands were not met.
"After the judicial committee of the Jihad Organization interrogated the Italian captive Giuliana Sgrena, it has been found that the Italian captive is not involved in spying for the infidels in Iraq," the group said in a statement posted on a website that frequently carries messages from Islamic militants.
"In response to the appeal made by the Muslim Scholars' Assn., we, in the Jihad Organization, will free the Italian captive in the next few days," the statement added.
One might wonder why American media sources decline to offer details of The Association of Muslim Scholars, opting to refer to them as simply "an influential Sunni group" or "group of influential Sunni clerics". In fact, it's worthwhile to question why early reports of the mass destruction of Sunni Mosques didn't even acknowledge the group as the source of the claims.
Just prior to the Samarra attacks, Richard Miniter offerred an intriguing suggestion that could explain much of the bias in US media coverage of Iraq:
Richard Miniter: Everyone talks about intelligence failures, no one talks about media failures. The media is the people's intelligence service, and it's failing us.In fact, in at least one case last year a CBS-employed stringer was arrested for helping "insurgents" with a car bomb.You want to talk about why it's so biased?
Remember before the war, CNN, Eason Jordan made that ridiculous thing where we had to hire the fixers from Saddam's ministry or they'd be executed. We had to cover the Iraqi dictatorship in a certain way... paid Iraqis...
Roger Simon: The blogosphere was all over that one...
Richard Miniter: Who does CNN have working for them now covering the Iraq war?
The same people, the same Iraqi fixers.
So lets see, it's 1946, it's Germany, I need to understand German. Why don't I hire some Nazis to interview some Jewish survivors and explain post-war Germany by hiring Nazis?
They're hiring Ba'athist Sunnis, that's why the coverage is so bad. They went from imbedded with the US troops and just reporting what they saw, and the effect was marvelous. It was accurate, it was up to date, it was interesting, it changed all the time.
And now it's formulaic and ideological.
Why?
Because their fixers, their intermediaries between their safe little lives in the Palestine or al Rashid Hotels and the outside world are former members of the regime.
We noted previously that the role of the AMS in the current conflict is to fight the "information war" while others conduct the actual shooting. That might not be completely accurate.
On Saturday two attacks targeted the funeral procession for Atwar Bahjat, the well-known Al Arabiya correspondent killed with two crew members Wednesday while reporting on the violence engulfing Samarra, where the Al-Askariya "Golden" Mosque was bombed.Though we are left to determine for ourselves why this last fact is important to the story.Two police officers were killed and five others wounded, as the cortege, led and guarded by Iraqi police and soldiers, entered the western Baghdad neighborhood of Abu Ghraib, Iraqi Emergency Police told CNN.
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The incident happened near the home of Harith Al-Dari, the head of the Muslim Scholars Association, and along a road that splits, linking Baghdad with Syria and Jordan.When the shots rang out, security officers ordered people in the convoy to abandon their vehicles and hide behind nearby houses.
Later, as the procession resumed toward the cemetery, a roadside bomb exploded, causing an unknown number of casualties, including deaths, said al-Nasery.
"The incident happened near the home of Harith Al-Dari, the head of the Muslim Scholars Association".
But whodunnit?
A roundup of those accused in the bombing of the shrine of Imams Ali al-Hadi and Al-Hasan al-Askari would produce an interesting line up.
Following the lead of Iran's President, Vice President, and "Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Iranian News agency reports that Friday "prayers" in Tehran were used to condemn the "agents of the Western arrogance, US leaders, Mossad, CIA and the Zionists" responsible for the mosque bombing in Iraq:
Substitute Leader of Tehran's Friday Prayers Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani here condemned the criminal act of bombing the holy shrines of Imam Hadi and Imam Hassan Asgari in Samarra, Iraq and called for unity between all Muslims of the world.Translations of the "prayers" also indicated the Ayatollah claimed that "Iran's nuclear issue, cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and bombings in Samarra were all part of a Western conspiracy to attack Islam."Addressing thousands of worshipers at Tehran University Campus, the Ayatollah said Shia and Sunni Muslims would rebuild the holy shrines but the agents of the Western arrogance, US leaders, Mossad, CIA and the Zionists would be blamed for this heinous crime forever.
The holy shrines of Imam Hadi and Imam Hassan Asgari (PBUT) were the targets of a terrorist act on Wednesday morning and were severely damaged.
Ayatollah Emami Kashani said the Muslim world is aware of the plots hatched by the enemies and calls for more unity and integrity.
The Ayatollah also stressed on Iran's certain right to have access to nuclear technology.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Thousands of protesters have rallied in Iran, voicing anger at the U.S., Israel and an attack on a holy Shiite shrine in Iraq.Meanwhile, in Iraq, the Ba'ath party claimed the Badr Corps (an Iranian-backed Shia militia in Iraq), the United States, and Iran were behind the attack. "The Badr Corps bombed the Shia shrine on behalf of Iran and with encouragement from American forces in Iraq."After prayers, protesters began marching through Tehran with posters while chanting "down with America."
Speaking at the rally was Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, who says the U.S. and Israel are to blame because they are trying to divide Shiites and Sunni Muslims.
In an amazing coincidence, in a web forum posting The Mujahidin Shura Council in Iraq (an umbrella group of several Sunni terrorist organizations) also placed blame for the bombing on Iraqi Prime Minister al Jafari, the Badr Corps, and the government of Iran. According to the statement, the bombing was an effort to distract attention from the crimes of these groups (a likely reference to recent militia killings). They further promised a strong retaliation against the Shia.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani yesterday accused the "takfiris" - those Muslims who regard other Muslims as infidels - of carrying out the bombing in order to cause sectarian sedition. (The US does too - but while fellow Muslims call them takfiri, we call them al Qaeda.)
The U.S. ambassador in Baghdad remains optimistic
In his first acknowledgment of the turmoil, Zalmay Khalilzad is asking Iraqis to resist the push toward civil war. And he says there is "an opportunity to bring people together" to defeat the promoters of sectarian attacks.And a milblogger there offers a unique perspective: "The situation remains tense here in Baghdad." But, he adds, "I’ve never heard it this quiet."Khalilzad also tells reporters he's optimistic the biggest Sunni Arab bloc in the Iraqi parliament will return to talks to forge an inclusive government. The Sunnis pulled out after reports of widespread retaliatory attacks on Sunni mosques.
Khalilzad says leaders from all sides are talking about rebuilding Shiite and Sunni mosques as a way to restore calm.
Update: Things move fast -
THE movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, alleged to have played a role in the anti-Sunni violence over the last few days, publicly made peace with political and religious Sunni leaders overnight.The union of two of the most potent anti-US groups in Iraq might be cause for concern. They've coordinated before, when Sunnis in Fallujah were battling US forces while Sadr's militia did the same in Najaf and elsewhere. But Sadr's agreement with the US ended that battle and helped clear the way for the coalition to strike Fallujah in force.Four sheikhs from the Sadr movement made a "pact of honour" with the conservative Sunni Muslim Scholars Association, and called for an end to attacks on places of worship, the shedding of blood and condemning any act leading to sedition.
But this statement, while open to interpretation, is promising:
The sheikhs condemned "those who excommunicate Muslims" a reference to the "takfireen" or Islamist extremists like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who justify killing fellow Muslims by declaring them non-Muslims.(Via CDR Salamander)
Last week's edition of Meanwhile Back at the Front can be read here.
(The author of these compilations, an Iraq war veteran, runs the web log The Mudville Gazette.)
An email I can't refuse:
Greyhawk:At her blog:
I am doing a debate in my high school debate class on females in frontline combat. My side is for the stand that females should not be in frontline combat. I know this has been a topic around milblogs on and off, but I am really looking for some strong arguments and even some people who have been directly on the front lines that are willing to let me interview them (even just a quesitonnaire through e-mail). If you know of anything it would be great. People could respond to my e-mail ( politicsofapatriot@gmail.com) or at my blog (www.politicsofapatriot.blogspot.com). Thank you so much!
Semper Fi,
I am currently eighteen years old and in my Senior year of high school. I am in the United States Marine Corps' Delayed Entry Program (DEP) and I leave for boot camp June 6, 2006. I am obsessed with politics and I love to keep up on current events.Going to boot camp on D-Day. Help her out, troops.
A roundup of those accused in the bombing of the shrine of Imams Ali al-Hadi and Al-Hasan al-Askari would produce an interesting line up.
Following the lead of Iran's President, Vice President, and "Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Iranian News agency reports that Friday "prayers" in Tehran were used to condemn the "agents of the Western arrogance, US leaders, Mossad, CIA and the Zionists" responsible for the mosque bombing in Iraq:
Substitute Leader of Tehran's Friday Prayers Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani here condemned the criminal act of bombing the holy shrines of Imam Hadi and Imam Hassan Asgari in Samarra, Iraq and called for unity between all Muslims of the world.Translations of the "prayers" also indicated the Ayatollah claimed that "Iran's nuclear issue, cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and bombings in Samarra were all part of a Western conspiracy to attack Islam."Addressing thousands of worshipers at Tehran University Campus, the Ayatollah said Shia and Sunni Muslims would rebuild the holy shrines but the agents of the Western arrogance, US leaders, Mossad, CIA and the Zionists would be blamed for this heinous crime forever.
The holy shrines of Imam Hadi and Imam Hassan Asgari (PBUT) were the targets of a terrorist act on Wednesday morning and were severely damaged.
Ayatollah Emami Kashani said the Muslim world is aware of the plots hatched by the enemies and calls for more unity and integrity.
The Ayatollah also stressed on Iran's certain right to have access to nuclear technology.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Thousands of protesters have rallied in Iran, voicing anger at the U.S., Israel and an attack on a holy Shiite shrine in Iraq.Meanwhile, in Iraq, the Ba'ath party claimed the Badr Corps (an Iranian-backed Shia militia in Iraq), the United States, and Iran were behind the attack. "The Badr Corps bombed the Shia shrine on behalf of Iran and with encouragement from American forces in Iraq."After prayers, protesters began marching through Tehran with posters while chanting "down with America."
Speaking at the rally was Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, who says the U.S. and Israel are to blame because they are trying to divide Shiites and Sunni Muslims.
In an amazing coincidence, in a web forum posting The Mujahidin Shura Council in Iraq (an umbrella group of several Sunni terrorist organizations) also placed blame for the bombing on Iraqi Prime Minister al Jafari, the Badr Corps, and the government of Iran. According to the statement, the bombing was an effort to distract attention from the crimes of these groups (a likely reference to recent militia killings). They further promised a strong retaliation against the Shia.
The US blames al Qaeda for the attack.
Susan Rescorla wrote us in January, 2005 to announce the establishment of The Richard C. Rescorla Memorial Foundation:
Our first project is to erect a life-size bronze statue of Rick at the new National Infantry Museum to be built at Ft. Benning, Georgia. We have commissioned a prominent sculptor, Edward Hlavka, to create this work. The bronze will take a year to cast and will cost approximately $100,000. We have already raised a third of the monies. We need the rest, and are appealing to all those who would like to see a true American hero have this honor.Today she writes to announce that project will soon be complete:
Greyhawk,This April 1, 2006 the unveiling of Rick's statue will take place at Ft. Benning, Ga. Eight feet tall, and the legacy will go on forever. Among my guests will be 300 Rolling Thunder bike riders who are rolling in from various states. How great is that?
It's awesome. If you don't know why, read this.
Not your typical MSM - a look at English language news reports from the Islamic world, where the Iraq Mosque bombing threatens to push the Danish cartoons from the headlines.
But the cartoons just won't budge.
India:
Bihar minister for hanging of cartoonistSome question the timing of the blasts. From Pakistan, via the Iranian News Agency
Patna, Feb 22: Close on the heels of Uttar Pradesh minister Haji Mohammed Yaqoob announcing a Rs 51 crore reward for beheading Danish cartoonist for lampooning Prophet Mohammad, Bihar minister Monazir Hassan today demanded that the Centre put pressure on the Denmark government for hanging the man."Any insult to the Prophet will not be tolerated. The Danish cartoonist who lampooned the Prophet should be immediately hanged to death," Hassan, Building Construction minister in the Nitish Kumar government, said in a statement here.
Hassan, JD(U) MLA from Munger, hailed the chief minister for ordering a ban on a school text book 'Jeevan Nirman part V' for depicting a caricature of the Prophet as it hurt the sensibilities of Muslims.
Strongly condemning the lampooning of the Prophet, he said his party favoured respecting sentiments of believers of all religions.
Samarra shrine blast a bid to divert attention from blasphemous cartoonsProtests against the cartoons continue in Pakistan, and protests against the mosque bombing are just getting started:A leading Shiite Muslim leader in Pakistan on Thursday condemned the attacks on the mausoleums of Hazrat Imam Ali Naqi and Imam Hasan Askari in Samarra (Iraq) as a ploy to divert the ummah's attention from the crisis over the blasphemous caricatures.
In a statement, faxed to IRNA's bureau here, the president of Millat-e-Jafria Pakistan, Allama Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi, said that the explosion in the shrine was carried out by the same people who supported the derogatory cartoons published in European newspapers.
"The strike is a continuation of the blasphemy on the holy family members of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) and a ploy to divert the attention of the Muslim world from the imperialist forces' diabolical designs against Islam," the cleric maintained.
He expressed condolences to Ayatollah Ali Sistani over the tragedy which has sparked a 7-day mourning period in Pakistan.
The cleric cautioned that it was also part of the imperialist forces' conspiracy to trigger differences and tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and get people of their choice to be inducted into the Iraqi government.
He called upon Muslims across the world to raise their protest against the Samarra blast as they did in the blasphemous cartoons, saying no religion could permit such attacks.
"There is a conflict between Islamists and infidels and Muslims should forge more unity in their ranks to combat the enemies," he contended.
Allama Naqvi urged Muslims, particularly Shiite Muslims, to stage rallies against the Samarra attack after their Friday prayers.
Groups of people took to the street in various localities, including Ancholi, Rizvia Society, Jaffar-i-Tayyar Society, Abbas Town and Purani Numaish, in the evening, and expressed anger over the blast at the shrine.President Bush is scheduled to visit India and Pakistan next month.The protesters burnt tyres and shouted slogans.
In Iran, the nation's leaders attempt to tie the bombing to the cartoons - and the US:
A new plot to divide MuslimsIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also makes the cartoon connection:
TEHRAN, Feb. 22 (MNA) -- The serious crime of the terrorists who bombed the holy shrines of the tenth and eleventh Shia Imams, Imam Hadi (AS) and Imam Hassan Askari (AS), on Wednesday in Iraq was an insult to the sanctities of all Muslims.Undoubtedly, it is a new plot which first of all can be considered as the continuation of the disrespectful move of the European newspapers’ that published cartoons of the Prophet of Islam.
Secondly, the offensive act was meant to create division between Iraqi Shias and Sunnis and ignite a civil war, following the failure of the plans of the occupiers of the country.
This is a critical juncture for the vigilant Islamic world. Shias certainly know that such moves are not the work of their Sunni brothers but are directed by the hands of the enemies of Islam.
Meanwhile, the Sunni brothers should also be aware that the same terrorists who carried out the criminal act in Samarra yesterday will probably attack their holy sites in the future.
In a message on Wednesday, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution noted that any emotional act carried out due to ignorance about the real enemy of Islam, including any attack against sites that are respected by Sunnis, is “haram” (forbidden in Islam) and called on Muslims to foil the enemies’ plots through awareness.
Another issue that should also not be ignored is the fact that the occupier U.S. regime, which has turned Iraq’s security to insecurity with its 150,000 troops and military equipment, is the main element responsible for these criminal acts.
Supreme Leader expresses condolences over bombings of Iraqi Shia shrines
In his message, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei expressed his condolences to Shias and all brave and aware Muslims throughout the world over the bombings earlier in the day of the holy shrines of the tenth and eleventh Shia Imams, Imam Hadi (AS) and Imam Hassan Askari (AS), in Samarra, Iraq.
The Supreme Leader pronounced a week of mourning in Iran over the catastrophic incident.
Following are excerpts of his message:
“Evil and criminal hands created a great catastrophe today, committing yet another sin by attacking Islamic religious beliefs.
“The holy shrines of Imam Hadi (AS) and Imam Hassan Askari (AS) were insulted and destroyed, delivering a heavy blow to the Shias and all other Muslims who respect the household of the Prophet Muhammad (S). This criminal act, which was probably carried out by bigoted and ignorant mercenaries, had undoubtedly been planned by conspirators with wicked and diabolical intentions.
“This is a political crime and its roots have to be traced in the intelligence organizations of the Iraqi occupiers and the Zionists. The aggressive powers that perceive the political and social conditions in Iraq as contrary to their objectives devise ominous plans in their heads, some of which to intensify insecurity and create sectarian strife.
“The holy shrines in Samarra will once again rise with even greater magnificence than before through the efforts of those who respect the holy Imams, but this criminal act has left a dark stain on the foreheads of the enemies of Islam and Muslims which will not be wiped off for a long time.
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Leading Lebanese Shia cleric Seyyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah accused the United States of deliberately stoking communal tensions in Iraq in a bid to maintain its "occupation"."The American occupation is trying to keep its grip on Iraq by benefiting from these crimes that she encourages directly or indirectly," Fadlallah said.
Iraqi Shia radical leader Moqtada Sadr, who had been in Beirut on a visit when news of the bombing broke, rushed back to Baghdad, cutting short a regional tour. Sadr has thousands of militiamen under his command in Shia areas of central and southern Iraq.
President denounces attacking Sunni mosques as work of enemiesIranian "Students" take to the streets in "spontaneous" demonstrations:President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday denounced attacking Sunni mosques in Iraq under the excuse of bombing holy shrine of Imam Hadi (AS) as identical to desecration of the Islamic sanctities.
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"Enemies of Islam and the Muslim nations think that they could cause tension between the Shia and Sunni Muslims by attacking the holy places through which they could deal a blow to both the Shia and Sunni Muslims. You are blindly wrong and the world public opinion knows that bombing holy shrine of Imam Hadi (AS) and attacking Sunni mosques are being perpetrated by you, yourselves," President Ahmadinejad said.
Mashad University Students Protest Blast At Iraq ShrineExpect larger demonstrations tomorrow.Some 400 students from different universities in Mashad, Iran's second holiest city, held a protest demonstration Wednesday evening in front of the UN representative office in the city condemning the desecration of the shrine of two of Shiite Islam's Imams (AS) in Samarra.
The protestors shouted slogans such as `Down with the USA', `Down with Israel,' `Down with Britain', `God is great', etc.
The students burned a Danish flag and condemned the tragedy in Samarra as well as the blasphemous cartoons on Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Police cordoned streets leading to the UN office in the city.
Iran/Syria:
Iran, Syria senior officials condemn Samarra blastIn conclusion, we turn to Jordan, for the "moderate" response:Visiting Iranian First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi and Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-Utri condemned the tragic explosion which damaged the holy shrines of Imam Hadi (AS) and Imam Hassan Asgari (AS) in Samarra, Iraq.
Davoudi, who is in Damscus to attend the Iran-Syria High Committee meeting, said: "Regretably, we heard that the dirty hands of the enemies have again committed a crime and violated Islamic sanctities."
The Iranian first vice-president, accompanying the Syrian prime minister at a meeting of Iranian and Syrian businessmen, said: "As the Supreme Leader has said in his message, this is a political crime which can be traced to the occupiers and Zionist regime as well as its intelligence organizations."
"This horrible crime encourages us to cooperate more closely with our Syrian brothers to neutralize the ominous plots of Islam's enemies," Davoudi added.
Al-Utri likewise condemned the inhuman crime, saying "Zionist hands and the occupiers' conspiracy are visible in this crime." He asked the Iraqi nation to maintain their national unity and vigilance in order to neutalize conspiracies.
"Independent and United"Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani's call for calm in Iraq after unknown vandals blew up the golden dome of Al Askari shrine in Samarra, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, is brave, sensible and timely. Sunni imams have also been presciently quick to call for sectarian peace.
Unfortunately, it may be too little, too late. Iraq appears to be heading irreparably towards a full-scale civil war along sectarian lines. A civil war in Iraq will be the worst possible outcome of what was already a disaster in the country.
The American-led occupation, started on false justifications and continued with spurious hindsight, was a failure from the start, regardless of the military superiority with which it was fought. It is likely to end in absolute tragedy. The struggle to resist that occupation is the right of all Iraqis. But the apparent tactic of doing so, by targeting your own people, by sowing so many seeds of hatred that with or without foreign occupation troops Iraq is doomed to bloody conflict for the foreseeable future, is abhorrent and counterproductive.
All right-thinking Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims, whether Sunni or Shiite, understand that to create a schism between Muslims at a time of such general regional turmoil is dangerous not just to this community or that, but to the Muslim community as a whole. It beggars belief that those most vocal in claiming that Islam is under attack from the rest of the world, should also, often, be very active in targeting fellow Muslims.
The breakup of Iraq will serve no one. The unavoidable turmoil and the creation of three new states in the region would cause by far outweighs any potential benefits Iran might see for itself with an independent Shiite state or Israel might imagine because of the destruction of a once-powerful Arab state.
A Kurdish state in the north will be resisted by Turkey and to lesser degrees by Syria and Iran. A poor, resourceless Sunni state in the west will pose major problems to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, while Shiite independence will cause havoc for Saudi Arabia, the Gulf region in general, not to mention the rest of the world, concerned as it is with the uninterrupted flow of oil.
In short, everyone will lose.
Only in the context of a unified Iraq does greater independence for the various communities there make sense, but that can only happen if the various communities agree to form a common front. If a common front, in opposition to foreign occupation, can be formed, there may still be hope. But time is running out.
Cindy Sheehan wants to bring her protest to the wounded at Landstuhl. This is the front page, banner headline story in today's Stars and Stripes:
On March 11, protesters plan to walk from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to a parking lot just outside Ramstein Air Base, where Sheehan will be at a “camp,” paying tribute to those who have died in the Iraq war.Until today I never heard anyone at work even discuss this woman. Today I heard a lot of unprintable comments. The area they're hoping to use to set up Camp Lookatmeimontv is a very heavily trafficked road - cars will be virtually parked there in the heavy morning "rush" inbound to the gates at Ramstein. If Cindy's handlers get their wish they'll learn a lot about what the troops think of them.
“Cindy will be with us at Camp Casey Landstuhl/Ramstein to call attention to the fact that Germany is Europe’s logistical hub for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and others threatening Iran and the Middle East,” according to an event flier. “Germany has the power to stop the further use of U.S. bases in Germany for illegal wars and criminal methods of warfare — the power and the right to just say no!”
Organizers are hoping to erect the camp — known as Camp Casey for Sheehan’s son — in a parking lot outside Ramstein Air Base’s west gate. The parking lot is under German jurisdiction, said Erin Zagursky, an Air Force spokeswoman at the base. Protest organizers are meeting with city officials in Ramstein and Landstuhl to gain permission for their event.
Sheehan’s goals are to bring the troops home and have peace on earth, she said in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes.
Her son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, 24, was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004. Sheehan said in an e-mail she was too busy for a phone interview with Stars and Stripes.
“I don’t know anything about the visit,” she wrote. “It is being arranged by some people in Germany.”
With the Kaiserslautern military community home to more than 50,000 Americans with military ties, Sheehan could face a rough welcome. When asked for comment Wednesday on Sheehan’s upcoming visit, several soldiers in Kaiserslautern asked if they could be quoted anonymously.
One soldier, who recently returned from Iraq, did give his name but didn’t have much to say about Sheehan.
“Anything I would have to say about her, you couldn’t print,” Army Staff Sgt. Mark Genthner said.
On another note, "protesters plan to walk from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to a parking lot just outside Ramstein Air Base". Just a thought, Landstuhl is on top of a hill, a few hundred feet higher in elevation then Ramstein. The downhill-only march is very indicative of the actual dedication and energy of this group.
Update: Much discussion in comments about counter-demonstrations. Truth is, most likely if this event comes to pass military members and families will be told to avoid any demonstrations or confrontations - this isn't the first such event here.
The entry road to Ramstein is secluded, and traveled only by those coming to or from the base. If Sheehan and company get permission to "camp" there that gate will likely be closed for the duration, with traffic diverted to other entrances. These measures are taken specifically to avoid any potential conflict. Their little party will go on without anyone to witness.
Except for reporters, that is.
And I doubt Cindy and Co. will be allowed to pass through the Landstuhl gate - and the wounded and their families will not see them, as both of the Fisher Houses and the hospital itself are not in view.
Make no mistake about it; this is a media event, not one for the troops. For those of you not covered by the UCMJ who might be considering arranging a counter demonstration, I urge you to follow the example of Citizen Smash and have a support the troops rally, not an anti-Cindy event.
Even better, you can join Soldier's Angels Germany, and support the troops even after Cindy goes home.
Olympic figure skater Sasha Cohen:
I also support Soldiers' Angels. I can’t imagine the danger our soldiers face at home and all over the world. How would you feel if your mom or dad were ordered overseas and you didn’t know when they would return home?Her fellow Angel Holly saysAdopting a soldier is the best way I can say to our soldiers that I support you and I don’t take for granted your personal sacrifice to make my world safe.
Sasha adopted her first soldier in the beginning of 2004. She not only looks like an angel, but she's official been one for almost 2 years.Blackfive's going to be cheering for her too.
(Soldier's Angels also mentioned here and here.)
She's in the lead after one day of competition. USA Today:
By random draw, Cohen went last among the 29 skaters. When her performance to the music of Dark Eyes was done, she got a standing ovation from the crowd of 6,001 and 66.73 points from a panel of observers who mattered most — the judges.That put her first, just 0.03 ahead of Russia's Irina Slutskaya (66.70), who was followed nearly as closely by Japan's Shizuka Arakawa (66.02).
Support Sasha as she goes for the gold on the ice - support Soldier's Angels by following her example off the ice.
By request (see yesterday's Open Post):
Anf if you live in America and can watch this program tonight, I'd appreciate any reviews you could leave here.
Watch Roger Simon's interview with Richard Miniter.
Excerpt:
Richard Miniter: Everyone talks about intelligence failures, no one talks about media failures. The media is the people's intelligence service, and it's failing us.Never thought of that myself...You want to talk about why it's so biased?
Remember before the war, CNN, Eason Jordan made that ridiculous thing where we had to hire the fixers from Saddam's ministry or they'd be executed. We had to cover the Iraqi dictatorship in a certain way... paid Iraqis...
Rger Simon: The blogosphere was all over that one...
Richard Miniter: Who does CNN have working for them now covering the Iraq war?
The same people, the same Iraqi fixers.
So lets see, it's 1946, it's Germany, I need to understand German. Why don't I hire some Nazis to interview some Jewish survivors and explain post-war Germany by hiring Nazis?
They're hiring Ba'athist Sunnis, that's why the coverage is so bad. They went from imbedded with the US troops and just reporting what they saw, and the effect was marvelous. It was accurate, it was up to date, it was interesting, it changed all the time.And now it's formulaic and idealogical.
Why?
Because their fixers, their intermediaries between their safe little lives in the Palestine or al Rashid Hotels and the outside world are former members of the regime.
Any response from CNN?
Michael M. Phillips of The Wall Street Journal profiles Marine Combat Artist/Warrant Officer Michael Fay:
While other countries, such as Australia and Britain, send civilian painters to bring home their interpretations of war, Warrant Officer Fay is a rarity because he is both front-line warrior and front-line artist. He is, as far as he knows, the only active-duty combat artist in the world today.
"If you're engaged as a landscape artist, you're expected to go look at landscapes," he says. "If you're a still-life artist, you're expected to set up a Cezanne-like setting, perhaps with some interesting fabric, some peaches and a skull or two. A combat artist is expected to go into combat."
The result is work that does in images what Ernie Pyle did in his World War II newspaper columns: Convey the experiences, both frightening and mundane, of the common man thrust into war.
Like all artists, Fay's work stirs controversy:
Christopher B. Crosman, the former director of the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, compared Warrant Officer Fay's approach to that of Winslow Homer, who painted scenes of camp life during the Civil War. "Fay puts a human face on war," Mr. Crosman wrote in the catalog for an exhibit of his paintings and drawings that the museum put on last year.Whatever may have come of that meeting is left to the reader's imagination.
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A few antiwar demonstrators peacefully protested his Farnsworth exhibit; he ran into them when he arrived for the opening in his dark green dress uniform.
Those of you who've been gracious enough to follow my journey can probably guess my politics. I've tried to stay off of that soap box. If you ever read Victor Davis Hanson you'll get a pretty good idea where I stand. When 9/11 happened I was a card carrying dyed in the wool liberal registered Democrat. The religion stamped on my dogtags was Unitarian. Progressive ideas and thinking still inform alot of my core values. So, in many ways I, like alot of you, resist being labeled. But unlike alot of you and many very liberal friends, I have had the benefit being out here on the front lines in the War on Terrorism. I'm like the brother-in-law of Ray Kinsella in the movie "Field of Dreams" who, when finally seeing the ball players, speaks out of his epiphany those immortal words, "don't sell the farm Ray". This is a good fight. It is worth our blood and treasure. Let's not sell the farm just yet.The Wall Street Journal details the journey:
A 52-year-old who wears a toothy smile, a salt-and-pepper moustache and a fleece cap with a Bohemian floppiness, Warrant Officer Fay grew up in Allentown, Pa. He snagged an art scholarship, but, as a self-described "hippie kid" in the 1960s, flailed in the confines of academia. In 1975 he dropped out of his third art school and enlisted in the Marines, "the world's finest finishing school for young men," as he calls it.A couple of points not found in the article. Michael Fay is also a blogger - his site Fire and Ice brings us his view of Iraq in words and pictures, with plenty of samples of his art and photography. And now his tour in Iraq has reached it's conclusion - he's on his way home.After serving as a mortarman, he left the Corps and finally got his degree in art education from Penn State University. But the pull of the military was strong, and the job market weak, so he soon returned to the Marines, this time repairing helicopter electronics in Desert Storm and in operations in Somalia and the former Yugoslavia, all the while doing art on the side.
With a daughter in grade school and the military shrinking, he left active duty in 1993 and kicked around Fredericksburg, Va., selling insurance, teaching school, restoring old homes and making furniture out of hickory twigs. Four years later, he met the then-Marine Corps artist, a reservist who owned a gallery in town. They hit it off, and, since she was retiring, she helped arrange for Mr. Fay to get back into the Marines and take over her job -- despite his age of 46 years.
Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Marines sent him to Afghanistan, with no orders other than to do art. He was deployed twice to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq. In the battle for Ubaydi, near the Syrian border, he was hit by shrapnel, a wound that was, to his good fortune, both light and in his left, nondrawing arm. Painting combat "is the real deal, and I consider myself a realist," he says.
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The infantrymen consider him something of a curiosity on the battlefield, but they generally like his work. "Did you go to school for that, sir?" asked Cpl. Jonhatan Covarrubias, peeking at the sketches.Warrant Officer Fay did, of course, but at the same time, he remains very much a Marine. He was eating a ready-to-eat chicken-and-noodles meal for dinner recently when the outpost came under attack, from suspected rocket launchers on one side and automatic weapons fire on the other. He hurriedly put on his helmet and flak vest and raced to the roof with his assault rifle, but not his sketchpad.
"When it's hitting the fan, you don't want to miss out on the opportunity to fire back," he said.
Enjoy your visit to his gallery, and if you can spare a moment tell him thanks.
I consider myself a liberal. A liberal in the sense of this word meaning "generous". Up until recently I was very active in a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, sometimes referred to as the far left of American religion. Many of my liberal friends are very active in protesting this war, in wanting the troops out now. Whether the original premise for this conflict was right or wrong will, in my opinion, be determined by history long after we're gone. But let's say it is as the left insists, a morally wrong intervention. For someone like myself, who has been here multiple times and has experienced the Iraqis firsthand, the thought abandoning them to what would surely be chaos is equally wrong. These two wrongs simply don't make a right. Bush and his administration will stand before the judgment of history. Those of us who stand the ground over here now, know the critical nature of our mission, and we see it everyday in the faces of the Iraqis themselves. Faces that never make it to the American press, yet are indelibly pressed into the memories of the GIs serving them.
*****
Might I suggest the full tour?
Update: Ahhh... here's what happened
Free speech clashed with free expression on a downtown street corner Saturday as artists opposed to war protested the showing of combat paintings of Marine Sgt. Michael Fay at the Farnsworth Art Museum. Sgt. Fay stood ramrod straight when confronted by the small group of protesters upset with the Farnsworth for exhibiting his paintings of combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The afternoon sun reflected off the combat ribbons pinned to his green uniform, and the red chevrons on his sleeves glinted in the finish of his spit-shined shoes as Fay listened to his challengers.That's March 27, 2005.Fay told the group he recognized their right to voice their opinion but reminded them that he had a right to express himself as well.
"I think it's great that we can have a passionate debate," Fay told the protesters. "I am not a spokesman for the war. But am I proud to be a Marine? You bet."
About a half-dozen artists carried signs and stood vigil outside the Farnsworth as the show "Fire and Ice: Marine Corps Combat Art from Afghanistan and Iraq" was previewed for museum members. Fay's paintings show soldiers carrying out their daily duties while serving on hostile ground.
Fay's paintings and drawings do not depict war, but there is no doubt as to their nature. They are set in a combat zone and include images of tanks, bombs, planes, ambulances and rifle-carrying soldiers.
The protesters objected to the show's content and what they claimed was the museum's "implicit support of war." They said a more balanced show would include images of civilian deaths and mass destruction. To represent one facet of military life in combat zones without placing it in the context of the true costs of war displayed a lack of sensitivity, they said.
"We are fighting an illegal and immoral war," Suzanne Hedrick, 73, of Nobleboro told Fay. "Without another viewpoint, without the faces of the victims and the ruining of the country, I'm deeply concerned."
In the catalog to the show, museum director Christopher Crossman compared the subject matter of Fay's work with that of Winslow Homer when he worked as an artist-journalist covering the Civil War for Harper's Weekly. Although Homer observed numerous battles, it was his paintings of everyday military encampments that were of great interest, said Crossman.
"Fay puts a human face to war," noted Crossman. "For the most part, his work consists of portraits of fellow Marines whose feelings and individuality can be read in their eyes and even in the wear and tear of their uniforms."
Crossman noted that Fay "serendipitously" stopped by the museum a few months ago to introduce his work. He said he later discovered that few of his colleagues in the museum world were aware that combat artists were still active.
The show was organized by Farnsworth curator of exhibitions Helen Ashton Fisher and Charles G. Grow, curator of the Marine Corps Combat Art Collection. It was made possible by the support of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.
The Marine Corps Combat Art Program was adopted in World War I. Using artists, war correspondents and photographers the program continued through each of the country's conflicts. Since the war in Vietnam, the collection has grown to include approximately 7,500 works by more than 350 artists. Over the years they have documented Marines in combat zones across the globe.
Fay spent two years in the Afghanistan and Iraq war zones, armed only with a pistol, camera and sketch bag. Some of his work was done in the field, other pieces created in his studio from images he brought home. Fay retired from the Marines in 2000, "but 9-11 changed everything," he said. Fay, who lives in the Washington area, joined a Reserve unit and was posted to the combat zones.
"These in no way, shape or form glorify war," said Fay. "It has nothing to do with anybody ever pulling a trigger. I'm an artist; we do art."
While critical of his subject matter, the protesters also were upset that Fay came to the show in full-dress uniform. They said it indicated that he was on official business and promoting war.
"The fact that he would come not dressed as an artist, but as a Marine is an affront," said Natasha Mayers of Whitefield. "I'm for real expression that's not paid for. This guy is paid for, he's been a Marine all his life, and this is a military point of view. The day-to-day part of war, which we can't imagine, is what we need to see. We need to see images that tell us the truth."
When asked his reaction to the protest, Fay said that he believed "most servicepeople would say, 'That's why we do what we do.' People have that right to express themselves in this country and I support that. Most are very pleasant, but some are mean-spirited and aggressive."
The show runs through March 27.
Fay's response would probably stun any of the protestors who could read:
This past February I had my first museum exhibition open at the Farnsworth Museum and Wyeth Center in Rockland, Maine. Wow, was I thrilled! I even had my own protesters! One of the many things they took exception with was my appearance, or as one of them complained to the local press, "I'm offended that he would come dressed as a Marine, and not as an artist." Regretably, I had left my black beret, ragged blue jeans, tweed jacket, black turtleneck and ear-ring at home. Actually, other than the beret, this is exactly the case. I, and many others found it quite ironic that the protesters, members of the very liberal Maine Alliance of Visual Artists, would be dictating what another artist should wear. (Little did they know that the Marine standing before them in his dress uniform had tested out on personality profile quizes as a "cultural creative".) Life never ceases to amaze! I am very aware that I stand astride two very different worlds. Carl Jung, the great Swiss psychiatrist, writes at length about a concept he calls individuation; the never ending process of becoming an authentic human being. (This topic is also taken up by Gail Sheehy in her best seller "Passages") What he has to say is particularly meaningful to men in mid-life, a club I more than belong to. There are, according to Jung, two distinct paths. Most opt for what he calls the "retrogressive restoration of the persona"; of electing to settle into a stereotypical pattern of behavior avoiding mental, spiritual or psychic challenges. On the other path we stay in the "tension of opposites", and thereby continue to grow to the end of our days, and perhaps beyond. I will allow you dear reader to decide which path yours truly is on, and whether I'm a black zebra with white stripes, or a while zebra with black stripes. I leave you with a little Emily Dickinsonish poem of mine:Read the whole thing.I am color subtle, muted, tertiary
Think not to know me with palette simple and primary.
For I am twilights November,
And gloam in February
Looks like the New York Post is not afraid to print positive Iraq News unlike some at the Washington Post.
(If you'd like to thank the NY Post reporter, his email is niles.lathem@nypost.com.)
A soldier wounded in Afghanistan and the widow of his slain comrade were awarded a $102.6 million judgment from the estate of a suspected al-Qaida financier.
This may be a tough read for some - but it's an amazing bit of work. Milblogger interviews Iraqi blogger; "Buck Sergeant" of American Citizen Soldier and "Truth Teller", A Citizen of Mosul.
Those familiar with Iraqi bloggers may recognize him as the father of Aunt Najma, the teenaged blogger A Star from Mosul.
These are people who should be working together to rebuild Iraq. I'd like to hope this is just the beginning of a longer dialog. That would represent blogging at it's finest.
The Mrs already linked this one in the Dawn Patrol, but I really wanted to single it out for those who may have missed it. Read the whole thing.
(One week of developments in Iraq - and the home front. This week: the war we’re losing edition.)
Iraq:
This isn't good news - its news that's less bad:
The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq in January fell to its lowest monthly total since the beginning of 2004, according to new Pentagon data.According to the DoD, as of 17 February 16,762 US troops have been wounded in action since the beginning of the war in Iraq. Of those, 9007 (54%) returned to duty within 72 hours. From March 19, 2003, through December 31, 2005, 3,171 service members were wounded in action severely enough to require evacuation to stateside Army medical facilities.There were 306 troops wounded in action last month, according to the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index, which tracks data pertaining to the Iraq war. Not since January 2004 -- when 146 troops were wounded -- has the monthly total been so low.
Among the reasons analysts cite are decreased capabilities of the terrorist insurgency, improved methods against improvised-explosive devices and the ongoing turnover of lead security responsibilities to Iraqi forces.
So the Brookings Institute's Iraq index does reveal a positive trend in the number of US wounded.
Oct: 618
Nov: 466
Dec: 408
Jan: 309
Likewise, the numbers of US troops killed in action has declined; 70 in October, 69 in November, and 30 in both December and January. A positive trend, but little consolation to families of the fallen.
But the "insurgents" have not been idle.
Attacks In Baghdad Kill 16, Including 5 ChildrenAccording to the Brooking's report, even though casualty numbers for American GIs have declined the numbers of Iraqis killed in insurgent attacks have not. Last October multiple fatality bombings claimed the lives of 310 Iraqi citizens, in November 415 were killed. The number dipped to 173 in December, but rose again to 305 in January - ten times the number of US servicemembers killed that month.As Iraqi politicians debated the formation of a government on Wednesday, a wave of gun and bomb attacks killed at least 16 people in the capital, including five children.
Three children were killed and two wounded when a bomb exploded outside the Karama primary school in the Saydiyah neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad, said Gen. Salman Hassan Shammari of the Iraqi police. A second roadside bomb killed two children and wounded four more in the Fadhl neighborhood, he said. It was unclear who detonated the bombs or why.
And that's just the numbers for multiple fatality bombings. Shootings, beheadings, and other acts remain less well documented. But anyone and everyone can be a target for Iraq's "insurgency", as the Arizona Daily Star reported this week:
BAGHDAD — Marwan Rassam's restaurant is a Baghdad institution, famous for its pizzas and grilled meat sandwiches wrapped in flat "saj" bread.But in spite of the disproportionate slaughter of Iraqis, the insurgency has been amazingly successful at portraying itself as "resistance to the American occupation". This week West Point's Combating Terrorism Center released previously classified information from the “Harmony” database. Compiled by the U.S. Special Operations Command, captured al-Qaeda documents reveal (among other things) a terrorist organization fully aware of the need for good PR:
Ordinary as that may seem, Rassam's diner was bombed last year by extremists who have broadened their targets beyond Americans, Iraqi police and troops to include bakers, cigarette vendors and even employees of a perfume boutique."I'm like any other Iraqi nowadays, feeling that I am vulnerable and can die at any moment," Rassam, a Christian, said Friday.
In the past two weeks, mechanics, blacksmiths, bakers and liquor dealers have been killed in drive-by shootings or roadside bombings.
Two brothers working in an exclusive cologne and perfume shop in Baghdad were gunned down Friday in the store. The killers left without taking anything, police said.
About an hour later, armed men attacked a nearby watch store. This time the staff was ready, grabbing guns from below the counter and chasing the assailants into the street.
They shot one dead, and U.S. soldiers sent in a robot to remove a grenade from the corpse.
Just why Iraqis with no clear ties to the U.S. military or Iraqi police are being killed or kidnapped in increasing numbers has become one of the most disturbing questions of the post-Saddam Hussein era.
In Rassam's case, perhaps the young couples sitting at outside tables enraged Islamic extremists. Or the diner could have been targeted by militants wanting to kill policemen who regularly eat there. Nobody knows for sure — except the bombers.
Many documents show al-Qaeda leaders discussing the need for a successful public relations strategy. In June 2000, an operative named Abu Huthaifa writes a mentor that al-Qaeda needs to fix problems in its “informational and political efforts,” failings that are “killers of the movement.”They've taken that lesson to heart. This English language propaganda video is a direct appeal to the world Left.
An excerpt:
We thank all those, including those of Britain and the US, who took to the streets in protest against this war and against globalism.Oddly enough, it also contains an exhortation to "not believe their media" - referring to the western news organizations. Odd, because few western media sources are willing to point out the real nature of the insurgency in Iraq - a nature revealed not by their propaganda efforts, but by their results. We compiled a year's worth of coverage of the Iraqi "insurgency" here. Among last year's "victories against the aggressor":We also thank France, Germany and other states for their position, which (unintelligible) to say are considered wise and valorous until now.
Today we call on you again. We do not require arms or fighters, for we have plenty. We ask you to form a worldwide front against war and sanctions. A front that is governed by the wise and knowing. A front that will bring reform and order, new institutions that would replace the now corrupt. Stop using the US dollar. Use the Euro, or a (unintelligible) of currencies. Reduce or halt your consumption of British and US products. Put an end to Zionism before it ends the world.
The suicide attack that was performed on an election center in one of Baghdad's districts (Baghdad Al-Jadeedah) last Sunday was performed using a kidnapped "Down Syndrome" patient.As difficult as it may be to remain "neutral" in a battle with such an enemy, most Western media outlets are attempting to do so. Witness the horror described this week by the mayor of Tall Afar:Eye witnesses said (and I'm quoting one of my colleagues; a dentist who lives there) "the poor victim was so scared when ordered to walk to the searching point and began to walk back to the terrorists. In response the criminals pressed the button and blew up the poor victim almost half way between their position and the voting center's entrance".
***** A Shia Muslim from the Sadr City slums of Baghdad, Ahmed had joined the new Iraqi National Guard, only to be killed in his patrol car when a bomb planted by insurgents exploded.
The next day, as his family took his coffin for burial in the holy Shia city of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, they were stopped at what purported to be a police checkpoint near the town of Iskandaria and ordered out of their minibus.
Insurgents wearing fake police uniforms shot and beheaded six of the mourners, including Ahmed's mother. Then they ripped Ahmed's body out of the coffin and decapitated him too.
***** BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden SUV killed at least 27, including an American soldier, late this morning in the deadliest insurgent attack in more than two months.
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Many, if not most of the dead were children loitering and playing near U.S. soldiers at an impromptu checkpoint in Baghdad al-Jadida, a lower-middle class residential district populated by Shiites, Sunnis and Christians.
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"We have received the bodies of 24 children aged between 10 and 13," said an official in charge of the morgue.
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"Why do they attack our children? They just destroyed one U.S. Humvee, but they killed dozens of our children," he said as women screamed, slapped their faces and beat themselves over the head."What sort of a resistance is this? It's a crime," he added.
At Kindi hospital, one distraught woman swathed in black sat cross-legged outside the operating room. "May God curse the mujahedeen and their leader," she cried as she pounded her own head in grief, reports the AP.
***** The group said in a statement posted on the Internet that it had killed the envoy, Ihab al-Sherif, but it did not say when or how. The group said "that the verdict of God has been implemented against the ambassador of the infidels, the ambassador of Egypt, thank God."
"Egypt is one of those at the forefront of the war on Islam and Muslims," the statement said. "Its jails are full of mujahedeen." It showed a video of the blindfolded diplomat identifying himself but, unlike in other kidnappings, it did not show the killing itself, according to the Associated Press.
***** A suicide attacker steered a car packed with explosives toward U.S. soldiers giving away toys to children outside a hospital in central Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 31 people. Almost all of the victims were women and children, police said.
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"It was an explosion at the gate of the hospital," a woman who had wounds on her face and legs told the AP. "My children are gone. My brother is gone."With no room left at the hospital, emergency workers rushed victims to hospitals in Baghdad, about 15 miles to the north. And when the hospital morgue was full, the workers were forced to place the dead in the hospital garden so family members could find them.
***** His head and hands were wrapped in bandages and his uncovered face looked like bubbled tar.
The young Saudi man told investigators this month that he wants revenge against the Iraqi terrorist network that sent him on the deadly mission that he survived.
Ahmed Abdullah al-Shaya, 18, told Iraqi investigators during an interrogation early this month that he was recruited to drive a car rigged with explosives to Baghdad and blow it up.
He said the objective was "to kill the Americans, policemen, national guards and the American collaborators."
But Shaya said he was injured even before he went on the mission when insurgents detonated a truck bomb he was supposed to leave at a target site.
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"They asked me to take the truck near a concrete block barrier before turning to the right and leaving it there," he says. "There, somebody will pick up the truck from you," they told him."But they blew me up in the truck," he says.
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Ahmed's truck bomb killed nine people, including a family of seven in their house nearby.***** A suicide bomber captured before he could blow himself up in a Shiite mosque late last week claimed he was kidnapped, beaten and drugged by insurgents who forced him to take on the mission. The U.S. military on Sunday said its medical tests indicated he was telling the truth.
***** To gauge US public opinion, he has become an avid watcher of satellite news channels, and never misses the White House press briefings
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To win the war against the US military and Badr, Colonel Jassam advises the Omariyun to follow two short-term goals - to cement mujahideen control over the Ramadi area, and to stage operations that will increase pressure on US opinion to withdraw troops.
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To achieve their second goal, turning Americans against the war, the mujahideen need to shape their operations "to support anti- war sentiment in the west", he says.
Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi. The city was completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city. Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young.That type of news, when it can be used to demonstrate the failure of the military in Iraq, is often reported. But the mayor's next comments will never be seen in a mainstream media outlet in America:
This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of Zarqawi’s followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists, and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.In fact, a Washington Post reporter had a copy of that letter, but elected not to publish it, explaining that "Yes, the mayor gave me a copy of the letter when I had lunch with him. But one thing Americans have done in Iraq is take things too much at face value."
While many of the citizens of Fallujah still eke out their existence in the ruins of their former homes, in Tal Afar the streets are full of building sites. New sewers have been dug and the fronts of shops, destroyed in the US assault, were replaced within weeks. Sunni police have been hired and 2,000 goats were even distributed to farmers.In a recent press conference, the commander of US troops in Tall Afar requested only one thing of US reporters:More remarkably, the approach of an American military convoy brings people out to wave and even clap, something not seen since the invasion of spring 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.
I hope you tell our troopers' families how awesome they are. I mean, I hope in some way you can communicate that to them. I know it may not fit in on whatever you're covering at this point, but they ought to know the job that their soldiers are doing, and the wide range of responsibilities they've taken on. And they ought to understand, you know, their courage, you know, how tough they are in combat, but also how compassionate and how disciplined they are. I mean, there are people in the neighborhoods where we're living who are naming their children after our soldiers, you know? And I know people don't see that. And they ought to know that their soldiers are proud of what they're accomplishing every day. They're drawing strength from seeing that, and they're drawing strength as always on each other and the cohesive team and family they're part of.This week, Newsweek answered him:
Army investigators in Iraq have cleared Apache Company's soldiers of any wrongdoing. The men did what they were trained to do under the circumstances. Yet that's small comfort to the Hassan orphans. "If it were up to me, I'd kill the Americans and drink their blood," says Jilan, 14.
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The Hassan family might have vanished into the war's statistics if Chris Hondros hadn't been at the scene that evening. The Getty Images photographer had spent the day on patrol with Apache Company. ...the story offers some insight into why Iraq remains one of the most dangerous places on earth two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and why the United States has had such difficulty winning Iraqi hearts and minds.
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Hussein Hassan was hurrying to get home. His wife, Kamila, sat beside him in the family Opel; their five youngest children, 2 to 14, were squeezed in the back seat with a 6-year-old cousin. They had been at his brother's house, but now curfew was 15 minutes away, and Tall Afar's streets are no place for a family after dark. Hussein turned off Tall Afar's main traffic circle onto Mansour Boulevard. Rakan was first to spot the soldiers in the deepening dusk. They were waving their arms and raising their assault rifles. The boy jumped up in the back seat. Before he could open his mouth to warn his father, a storm of gunfire struck the car, killing both parents and covering the children with their blood.
How we called it last November:
A real count of terrorist fighters in Iraq, if such a thing were possible, would likely reveal their numbers are small - perhaps a few thousand - and their organization above small "squad level" non-existent. Al Qaeda in Iraq, probably the most formidable component of a fractious opposition, can accomplish little beyond sporadic (admittedly sometimes spectacular) violence. Their most "successful" attacks involve suicide bombers creating large numbers of casualties - and larger numbers of enemies to their cause. And the majority of their most "highly coordinated" suicide attacks fail, insofar as the attackers invariably die short of their goals.Now, a few months later, that handover to Iraqi forces continues, and the people of Iraq are suffering an ever larger proportion of the deaths and injuries there. Americans will continue to move into the background, and the "insurgents" will have an incresingly difficult time convincing anyone they are fighting against "the occupation".
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I've been to Iraq - I've seen vulnerabilities. I know what an organized group numbering in the tens of thousands could do. That such things haven't happened can't be attributed to fear or reluctance on the part of the proven suicidal opponent in Iraq. They simply lack the numbers to carry out any truly effective tactical strike.But a small but violent insurgency will always be able to replenish it's ranks - the presence of the foreign invader will always be sufficient incentive to attract at least enough fanatics to assure the numbers in the first two charts will be maintained. The tipping point in the war in Iraq will not come from killing off insurgents - it will be achieved by replacing the Americans who are killing them with Iraqi forces capable of doing the same.
Unless the western media remains "neutral" in the same sense they are today.
The Home Front
February 18, 2006 -- Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups have poisoned the Muslim public's view of the United States through deft use of the Internet and other modern communications methods that the American government has failed to master, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday.Reuters:
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Rumsfeld sounded a theme he frequently raises as a key to eventually winning the global war on terrorism: countering anti-Western messages from Islamic extremists."Our enemies have skillfully adapted to fighting wars in today's media age, but for the most part, we — our country, our government — has not adapted," he said.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States lags dangerously behind al Qaeda and other enemies in getting out information in the digital media age and must update its old-fashioned methods, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Friday.Somewhat reminiscent of something General Peter Pace said last December:Modernization is crucial to winning the hearts and minds of Muslims worldwide who are bombarded with negative images of the West, Rumsfeld told the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Pentagon chief said today's weapons of war included e-mail, Blackberries, instant messaging, digital cameras and Web logs, or blogs.
"Our enemies have skillfully adapted to fighting wars in today's media age, but ... our country has not adapted," Rumsfeld said.
"For the most part, the U.S. government still functions as a 'five and dime' store in an eBay world," Rumsfeld said, referring to old-fashioned U.S. retail stores and the online auction house, respectively.
The top US general said the US military has not done a good enough job of explaining to the public what its forces are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military made a conscious decision when Iraq's sovereignty was restored in June 2004 to lower its media profile.
"But as a result of stepping back, I think we may have stepped back a little too far inside of our own country with regard to explaining to our own people what we were doing," he told students at the National Defense University.
Let's turn to the milbloggers for another view.
Porphyrogenitus got to Iraq late last year:
I do have one complaint with how the military, or at least our Division, has handled stuff, and it's a complaint that might be of interest to Bloggers. That is this:Later another milblogger explained to him that all he had to do was register his blog, and that he'd be okay.When we were prepping for deployment, all the leadership were given various briefings on security matters. One was on blogs, and the danger they pose. Now, I get security issues - obviously you don't want people posting sensitive information, that might affect a mission. But our leadership at least came back from the briefing with the sense that virtually nothing should be said in a Blog - "let people read about it in the news. If you want to talk about stuff, tell your family you're fine and all but don't talk about anything, they can watch the news or read it in the papers."
I'd like to hear how that worked out for him, but he hasn't blogged since.
On second thought, maybe I shouldn't link any more MilBlogs...
But you might want to watch this.
Last week's edition of Meanwhile Back at the Front can be read here
(The author of these compilations, an Iraq war veteran, runs the blog The Mudville Gazette)
One of these stories is satire. See if you can guess without checking the source.
Iranian Fatwa Approves Use Of Nuclear WeaponsThe AP says, what, me worry?Iran's hardline spiritual leaders have issued an unprecedented new fatwa, or holy order, sanctioning the use of atomic weapons against its enemies.
In yet another sign of Teheran's stiffening resolve on the nuclear issue, influential Muslim clerics have for the first time questioned the theocracy's traditional stance that Sharia law forbade the use of nuclear weapons.
Experts: Iran years away from bombElsewhere:Iran's nuclear ambitions are again being predicted. But experts say the coming of any Iranian nuclear arms looks to be years away and that the past predictions underplayed the technological challenges.
Iran, which said it has begun enriching small amounts of uranium, denies its program is intended to produce anything beyond weaker fuel for civilian nuclear power plants.
Poll reveals 40pc of Muslims want sharia law in UKAnd our fourth contestantFour out of 10 British Muslims want sharia law introduced into parts of the country, a survey reveals today.
The ICM opinion poll also indicates that a fifth have sympathy with the "feelings and motives" of the suicide bombers who attacked London last July 7, killing 52 people, although 99 per cent thought the bombers were wrong to carry out the atrocity.
Fatwa Adds Riot Duty as Sixth Pillar of IslamUpdate: More thoughts on how long it might take to build an atomic bomb.As the global death toll from protests over editorial cartoons rose to 45 yesterday, an Islamic scholar, or Mufti, issued a new fatwa adding a “Sixth Pillar” to the traditional five requirements of the religion.
If you're new here, the open post is where fellow bloggers can self-publish links to their sites. We celebrate free speech here - we have no control over the content (okay, we'll delete any overtly offensive links when we find them, but I can't remember the last time that happened) and offer this as a way for readers and other bloggers to find new "voices".
Try a few.
In late November, Hackett got a call from Sen. Harry Reid. “I hear there’s a photo of you mistreating bodies in Iraq. Is it true?” demanded the Senate minority leader.We first noted the story of Paul Hackett's "withdrawal" from the Ohio Senate campaign earlier this week. Now Mother Jones offers a peek under the rock at some of the "inside politics" involved. It ain't pretty:
Hackett was running against seven-term Akron Democrat Rep. Sherrod Brown in a May primary, with the winner going on to face two-term Republican Sen. Mike DeWine in November (assuming DeWine wins his own primary against a longshot Republican challenger). DeWine is considered one of the most vulnerable incumbent Republicans, and the national Democratic Party is pulling out the stops to defeat him.No doubt the whispers were enough to get his financial backers' attention.But first, the Democrats had to get Hackett out of the way. The weapons used in the rubout included economic sabotage, whisper campaigns, and threats.
Hackett, an Iraq War combat veteran, was hailed last summer as just the kind of “fighting Democrat” the party needed to reinvigorate its base and end its years in the congressional wilderness. After narrowly losing a race for Congress in a lopsidedly Republican district outside Cincinnati last August, the telegenic veteran—famous for dissing President Bush as a “chickenhawk” and “sonuvabitch” while on the stump—was courted heavily by Democratic leaders, including Sens. Charles Schumer and Harry Reid, to take on DeWine. But no sooner did Hackett enter the Senate race last October than Brown announced his candidacy for Senate, reversing an earlier decision he had made to stay out of the race.
<...>
In late November, Hackett got a call from Sen. Harry Reid. “I hear there’s a photo of you mistreating bodies in Iraq. Is it true?” demanded the Senate minority leader. “No sir,” replied Hackett. To drive home his point, Hackett traveled to Washington to show Reid’s staff the photo in question. Hackett declined to send me the photo, but he insists that it shows another Marine—not Hackett—unloading a sealed body bag from a truck. “There was nothing disrespectful or unprofessional,” he insists. “That was a photo of a Marine doing his job. If you don’t like what they’re doing, don’t send Marines into war.”A staffer in Reid’s office confirmed that Hackett had showed them several photos. “The ones I saw were part of a diary he kept while serving in Iraq and were in no way compromising. The one picture in question depicted Marines doing their work on what looked like a scorching day in Iraq,” said the aide.
But the whispering continued, and Hackett was troubled. “It creates doubt and suspicion,” Hackett told me, saying his close supporters were asking him privately about the rumors. “It tarnishes my very strength as a candidate, my military service. It’s like you take a handful of seeds, throw them up in the wind, and they blow all around and start growing. It really bothered me.”
Hackett backers suspected the smear was being floated by Sherrod Brown’s campaign. A senior Brown staffer angrily dismissed the charge this week as “ridiculous.”
Brown campaign spokesperson Joanna Kuebler declined to respond to the rumors. She offered this prepared statement: “This campaign has never been about Paul Hackett or about Sherrod Brown. This campaign is about the hard working people of Ohio, and what Republican corruption has done to them.”
Update: The Cleveland Plain dealer confirms the rumor stories:
In an interview with The Plain Dealer, Hackett said he knew the source of the rumors but didn't want to elaborate.The piece offers a laundry list of accusations of ineptitude within the Hackett campaign. (HT: Kevin)He referred a reporter to Clermont County Democratic chairman David Lane, who said Friday that he has "seen no proof that a Democrat" was behind the rumors.
He said Hackett might have mentioned him because he had told Hackett last fall that Dan Lucas, an aide to Brown, had said to him shortly after Brown entered the race that "there are things out there about Paul that I don't think he [Hackett] really wants to be made public."
Related:
Hackett Drops Senate Bid Under Pressure
An outstanding report from Jonathan Finer in Iraq:
Charles Thomas was wounded three times in Vietnam-- the last time by a rifle shot that shattered his ankle as he stepped off a helicopter into an ambush -- and limped home questioning whether U.S. soldiers should have been sent there in the first place. Now in Iraq, he says he is unequivocally proud of his mission.I've been critical of the Washington Post this week, but Finer has been delivering consistent, first rate, and balanced effort from the war zone for some time."What I'm doing now's the kind of thing we should have done more of in Vietnam," said Thomas, 59, from North Potomac, who manages development of Iraq's sewage and water systems. "The thing I regret most about my time [in Vietnam] was we were just plain fighters. We didn't go out and help people with their everyday lives."
<...>
Decades removed from the conflict that molded -- and, for some, scarred -- their generation, dozens of Vietnam veterans have signed up for duty in Iraq. Some are still in uniform, graying guardsmen and reservists activated as part of the largest call-up since the last time most saw combat more than 30 years ago.
Life goes on in Tall Afar
Recall that I said our maneuver elements were raiding the living snot out of the insurgents? Well, someone must have gotten some decent intel out of the guys they detained, because today 2-37 Armor raided a house they thought might be an IED manufacturer’s house. And they got it in spades. I don’t know how many people they detained, but when they started a detailed search they started finding so many explosives and IED components that they backed out, evacuated the neighborhood, and call EOD.Read the whole thing. Or start at the top and scroll scroll scroll...
Just received a copy of an email exchange between a reader and the Washington Post reporter who wrote the article about the 3rd ACR in Iraq. According to this account, The Washington Post has a copy of that letter from the mayor - and has since it was first delivered.
The original email:
Mr. Ricks,The reply:I enjoyed your article about the 3rd Armored Cavalry in Iraq. I was pleasantly surprised to see anything with a positive tinge about Iraq from a major media outlet. One note, your description of Mayor Najim Abdullah Jabouri's dissatisfaction with the 3rd Armored's rotation out of Iraq doesn't leave reader with the knowlege of overwhelming gratitude he has for our troops and what they have accomplished. A letter from the Mayor to Col. McMaster can be found here: http://powerlineblog.com/archives/013133.php#013133
and here: http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/004167.htmlI hope you will consider printing this letter as an addendum to your article so the American people can see a first hand example of the gratitude of Iraqis that have recognized the sacrifice and dedication of our troops.
Thanks for writing. I likewise found pleasure in finding something good to write about in Iraq--beleive me, I have looked.Here's the account of that lunch that appeared in the final story:
Yes, the mayor gave me a copy of the letter when I had lunch with him. But one thing Americans have done in Iraq is take things too much at face value. Read between the lines of the letter: The mayor is indeed grateful to the 3rd ACR, but he also is threatening to quit because it is leaving.
best,
Tom Ricks (in Taji)
Even now, McMaster said, he understands that his success is "fragile." The city's mayor, Najim Abdullah Jabouri, is unhappy that McMaster and his unit are leaving Iraq this month. "A surgeon doesn't leave in the middle of the operation!" the mayor said intently to McMaster over a recent lunch of lamb kabobs and bread. He waved his finger under the colonel's nose. "The doctor should finish the job he started."And here's the letter, incase you want to read between the lines:McMaster and Hickey tried to calm him down. "There's another doctor coming," Hickey ventured. "He's very good."
The mayor wasn't mollified. He said he has seen other American units here before, and they didn't coordinate with Iraqi forces like McMaster's has. "When you leave, I will leave, too," the mayor threatened. "What you are doing is an experiment, and it isn't right to experiment on people."
In the Name of God the Compassionate and MercifulIt may be true that the mayor is disappointed in the departure of the 3rd ACR - he may even be dejected to the point of despair.To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall’ Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.
To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.
To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.
Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi. The city was completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city. Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young. This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of Zarqawi’s followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists, and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.
I have met many soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment; they are not only courageous men and women, but avenging angels sent by The God Himself to fight the evil of terrorism.
The leaders of this Regiment; COL McMaster, COL Armstrong, LTC Hickey, LTC Gibson, and LTC Reilly embody courage, strength, vision and wisdom. Officers and soldiers alike bristle with the confidence and character of knights in a bygone era. The mission they have accomplished, by means of a unique military operation, stands among the finest military feats to date in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and truly deserves to be studied in military science. This military operation was clean, with little collateral damage, despite the ferocity of the enemy. With the skill and precision of surgeons they dealt with the terrorist cancers in the city without causing unnecessary damage.
God bless this brave Regiment; God bless the families who dedicated these brave men and women. From the bottom of our hearts we thank the families. They have given us something we will never forget. To the families of those who have given their holy blood for our land, we all bow to you in reverence and to the souls of your loved ones. Their sacrifice was not in vain. They are not dead, but alive, and their souls hovering around us every second of every minute. They will never be forgotten for giving their precious lives. They have sacrificed that which is most valuable. We see them in the smile of every child, and in every flower growing in this land. Let America, their families, and the world be proud of their sacrifice for humanity and life.
Finally, no matter how much I write or speak about this brave Regiment, I haven’t the words to describe the courage of its officers and soldiers. I pray to God to grant happiness and health to these legendary heroes and their brave families.
NAJIM ABDULLAH ABID AL-JIBOURI
Mayor of Tall ‘Afar, Ninewa, Iraq
But why didn't the Post print the letter?
Update:
I'm reminded of another letter the Washington Post rejected:
Few readers here will forget Robert Stokely's moving tribute to his son Mike. Shortly after we published that the Washington Post ran a piece titled "A Life, Wasted" written by the father of a Marine who was killed in Iraq.This time they had the letter first. I wonder what stopped them?At the time I recall thinking of the contrast between the two stories - and their placement. Probably nothing better defines the divide between the old guard media and the blogs - I would have published either story here. (In fact, a link to the Washington Post story was included in that day's Dawn Patrol.) But apparently the Post is a bit more choosy in what they present.
It seems Mr Stokely saw that Washington Post column too, and submitted his story to them. They rejected it, explaining "we rarely publish pieces that have been published elsewhere or have been widely circulated." That criteria having been met here, it would seem.
Update 21 Feb: The New York Post reports the story of the letter.
Michael Totten from Kurdish Iraq
The Kurds have been through decades of fascism, genocide, and war. They suffered more than any other group of Iraqis. Northern Iraq endured more recent hardship than any other place I have ever been in my life. Scratch just beneath the happy veneer of Iraqi Kurdish adults and you’ll find people with family members murdered by Baathists, who experienced unimaginable oppression by a regime that wanted to completely erase them, and who fled to the mountains during the uprising in 1991 when the cities of Iraqi Kurdistan were emptied of people. They still have no sewage system, and they still only have a few hours of electricity each day.It's not Iraq untouched by war. It's not Iraq without problems, it's not Iraq without America ("Iraqi Kurdistan is more pro-American than America", Michael writes.) And it's not Iraq without internal conflicts; in the Kurdish region two historically opposed factions (by 'opposed' I mean their members used to kill each other) are governing together.
It's Iraq without "insurgents"
Attacks In Baghdad Kill 16, Including 5 ChildrenPermit me to suggest one possibility for why: to kill and destroy. But I lack subtlety. Perhaps the writer is suggesting something deeper - that if we understood why they wanted to kill and destroy we could sympathize, or acquiesce to their needs.BAGHDAD, Feb. 15 -- As Iraqi politicians debated the formation of a government on Wednesday, a wave of gun and bomb attacks killed at least 16 people in the capital, including five children.
Three children were killed and two wounded when a bomb exploded outside the Karama primary school in the Saydiyah neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad, said Gen. Salman Hassan Shammari of the Iraqi police. A second roadside bomb killed two children and wounded four more in the Fadhl neighborhood, he said. It was unclear who detonated the bombs or why.
And perhaps some dark night in the not too distant future a surviving Baghdad child may notice the glow of electric light just over the northern horizon, and ask why.
...of our thoughts and prayers.
It is with a great sadness we report that two MilBloggers I have grown very fond of have lost a loved one. If you're a reader of the Dawn Patrol you've probably already met them, Daniel of J Barne's Coffee Shop (who is in Iraq) and his mother Military Mom at Updates of my Soldier. Daniel has lost his brother and Military Mom her son, Dave. Dave developed a blood infection apparently from a motorcycle accident back in July. It affected his heart and kidneys and he's been battling this ever since. I've been following his recovery efforts for some time now, it was thought he was winning the battle even though there were struggles, and that he was on his way to a full recovery.
My beautiful, gentle giant of a son has left this earth and has moved on to the next realm.Daniel is returning home from Iraq:He was in such pain and now he is free.
Feb 15 my big brother David moved on to the next life. I am already as of early morning the 17th sitting in Amsterdam airport waiting for a flight to Atlanta. These are the times that are hard.Godspeed David.
One must go and one be left the lonely road to tread,
There comes a day when all must face the path that lies ahead.
Knowing that the best is over with a loved one gone,
There seems no point in going on.
But time is kind, the passing years their balm of healing bring,
And like a bird at winter’s end their heart begins to sing.
We come at last to realize death breaks the earthly tie,
But love survives when grief has passed for love can never die.
(Unknown)
In the mail: an advance copy of Home of the Brave : Honoring the Unsung Heroes in the War on Terror
I've mentioned it here before, And I'm looking forward to reading it. At a glance I see some familiar names: Leigh Ann Hester, Paul Ray Smith, Rafael Peralta (who has been nominated for the Medal of Honor) - and 16 others I'll be getting to know this weekend.
They are nineteen of the most highly decorated soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines in the United States military, and yet most Americans don’t even know their names. In this riveting, intimate account, former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Wynton C. Hall tell stories of jaw-dropping heroism and hope in Afghanistan and Iraq.Another great generation.Home of the Brave takes readers beyond the bullets and battles and into the hearts and minds of the men and women who are fighting terrorists overseas so that America doesn’t have to fight them at home. These are the powerful, true-life stories of the hopes, fears, and triumphs these men and women experienced fighting the War on Terror. But more than that, these are the stories of soldiers who risked everything to save lives and defend freedom.
(Updated)
Via email from a 3rd ACR family member, a letter from the Mayor of Tall 'Afar, Iraq to the men and women of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and their families.
In the Name of God the Compassionate and MercifulMembers of the Regiment are now returning home to Ft Carson, Colorado.To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall’ Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.
To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.
To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.
Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi. The city was completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city. Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young. This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of Zarqawi’s followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists, and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.
I have met many soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment; they are not only courageous men and women, but avenging angels sent by The God Himself to fight the evil of terrorism.
The leaders of this Regiment; COL McMaster, COL Armstrong, LTC Hickey, LTC Gibson, and LTC Reilly embody courage, strength, vision and wisdom. Officers and soldiers alike bristle with the confidence and character of knights in a bygone era. The mission they have accomplished, by means of a unique military operation, stands among the finest military feats to date in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and truly deserves to be studied in military science. This military operation was clean, with little collateral damage, despite the ferocity of the enemy. With the skill and precision of surgeons they dealt with the terrorist cancers in the city without causing unnecessary damage.
God bless this brave Regiment; God bless the families who dedicated these brave men and women. From the bottom of our hearts we thank the families. They have given us something we will never forget. To the families of those who have given their holy blood for our land, we all bow to you in reverence and to the souls of your loved ones. Their sacrifice was not in vain. They are not dead, but alive, and their souls hovering around us every second of every minute. They will never be forgotten for giving their precious lives. They have sacrificed that which is most valuable. We see them in the smile of every child, and in every flower growing in this land. Let America, their families, and the world be proud of their sacrifice for humanity and life.
Finally, no matter how much I write or speak about this brave Regiment, I haven’t the words to describe the courage of its officers and soldiers. I pray to God to grant happiness and health to these legendary heroes and their brave families.
NAJIM ABDULLAH ABID AL-JIBOURI
Mayor of Tall ‘Afar, Ninewa, Iraq
Update:
The above letter was forwarded to me by Scott Ott, perhaps best known on the internet for his site ScrappleFace. Those who are familiar with his work know he's one of the finest news satirists around. But recently he put up a rare non-satire post - a tribute to his grandmother, the woman who raised him. Her name was Jessica Rachel McMaster, and if you recognize that last name it's because it's the same as the commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Her husband is his uncle.
News such as the letter above moves rather quickly among (rightfully) proud family members. Scott and I have been friends for some time. He knew that letter contained a story that needed to be told, and I'm honored he chose to forward it on to me.
As he did this picture:
That's Col McMaster in Tall Afar with (from left to right) Mayor Najim, Col Khalid (Mosul Emergency Battalion) and BG Saba (Tall Afar Police Chief), among others.
I've had a few people ask if that's the same McMaster who led the attack in the Battle of 73 Easting and wrote the book Dereliction of Duty : Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam
The answer is yes.
A few other folks have questioned the authenticity of the letter. I suppose that's to be expected. All I can offer by way of response is this, sent to me today and independent of Scott's contribution
This letter is not a fake it was given to my husband the commander of the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment. This is the second letter written .The first was written to GWB and Gen Casey asking if the 3ACR could stay and finish what they started. Why is it so hard to believe that the American soldier could have done so much for Iraq and in turn the people of Iraq? The Iraqi general who served along side our great men and women also sent a letter:I'll close by adding that one person who didn't seek to publicize this in any way is Col McMaster. But such stories need to be told.***** To the Troopers and families of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment:Bravery, strength, determination, good intentions, flexibility, knowledge, and impartiality: these were the characteristics that you displayed through partnership with the 3d Iraqi Army Division during combat operations in Western Ninewa Province. Each and every day your wise operational and successful leadership was the decisive factor in us achieving victory. Again, we recognize clearly the main reason for victory was your leadership. These necessary qualities are the same for any person, army, or nation that is looking for victory, and they were the reason why the Brave Rifles and faith in their goal along with their principles, high morals, and focus on their mission, coupled with perfect logistics support, impartiality, and sincere leadership made them the right unit for this mission. The Regiment’s ability to plan, conduct excellent coordination, supervise and choose the right decisive actions along with their great leadership helped us to develop individual Soldier skills and increase the capability of the division. It is said that piles of construction materials alone cannot build a house and a group of people cannot be considered an army. The Regiment’s leadership and devotion to duty helped us form an army. Its actions have resulted in strong friendships that will last a lifetime. The Troopers’ behavior is an example of wise leadership, which is the tree and the reputation they will leave behind is the shadow of this tree. So I offer my heartfelt thanks, appreciation, and respect to you for your sacrifices. The troopers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment will disappear from our eyes but remain in our hearts. We send our greetings to you and wish you a well deserved reunion with your families.
God Bless
MAJOR GEN. KHORSHEED SALEEM AL-DOSEKEY
3RD IA INFANTRY DIVISION COMMANDER*****
Update 2:
Now that the authenticity of the letter is less in doubt, the naysaying has taken on a different form - "Well, okay then, he was somehow forced to write it", or variations on that theme.
You can't reason anyone out of an opinon they were never reasoned into, (and if you're arguing that you know Iraq better than the people there then you are indeed without reason) but I suppose some background is in order. Here's a quick year-plus in review:
Read this Fall 2004 entry from fellow milblogger 2Slick.
Fast forward one year, to September 2005.
Then check this video update from January of this year. Watch the Colonel in the video above and you'll see a guy who isn't seeking glory; he's forthright in acknowledging the contributions of many who made the events of the past year possible, from his troops to their Iraqi allies.
It's not surprising that the letter was written.
It's disappointing, but absolutely not surprising, that many folks can't believe it. Search for Tall Afar on the New York Time web page and you'll discover the following headlines are on the only stories there this past month that mention the town:
Iraq Probing Death Squad Claims
Captors in Iraq Renew Threat To Kill 4 From Peace Group
Iraqi Group Issues Video Of 2 Germans It Abducted
2,000 MORE M.P.'S WILL HELP TRAIN THE IRAQI POLICE
U.S. Helicopter Crashes Near Mosul, Killing Two Pilots
This Washington Post piece is a bit better. It's getting accolades from the blogosphere - but it's flawed. The story attempts a bit too hard to single out Col McMaster as the primary factor in the success in Tall 'Afar.
Even now, McMaster said, he understands that his success is "fragile." The city's mayor, Najim Abdullah Jabouri, is unhappy that McMaster and his unit are leaving Iraq this month. "A surgeon doesn't leave in the middle of the operation!" the mayor said intently to McMaster over a recent lunch of lamb kabobs and bread. He waved his finger under the colonel's nose. "The doctor should finish the job he started."No word of any letter, and we're left to ponder the bitter disappointment of the mayor betrayed.McMaster and Hickey tried to calm him down. "There's another doctor coming," Hickey ventured. "He's very good."
The mayor wasn't mollified. He said he has seen other American units here before, and they didn't coordinate with Iraqi forces like McMaster's has. "When you leave, I will leave, too," the mayor threatened. "What you are doing is an experiment, and it isn't right to experiment on people."
But this will be the argument put forth in the same press that ignored the 3rd ACR this past year: They benefitted from an exceptional commander, their success can't be duplicated, or even maintained after their departure. I can save you the trouble of reading their reports in the upcoming year - they will assure us they were right.
Stop by here from time to time and you might hear different. Or not. Since we're the guys with the most to lose it behooves us to tell the truth. (Here's our latest week in review, if you're interested. And here's the latest daily roundup. And there's always something new on the front page.)
This story isn't about Col McMaster - but it's only right to give him the final word. From his January press briefing, to the reporters at the Pentagon:
MR. WHITMAN: Colonel, we've reached the end of our time, but I wanted to give you an opportunity to have the last word, if there's something you wanted to tell us.COL. MCMASTER: I think it's pretty much the same since I told you before. I hope you tell our troopers' families how awesome they are. I mean, I hope in some way you can communicate that to them. I know it may not fit in on whatever you're covering at this point, but they ought to know the job that their soldiers are doing, and the wide range of responsibilities they've taken on. And they ought to understand, you know, their courage, you know, how tough they are in combat, but also how compassionate and how disciplined they are. I mean, there are people in the neighborhoods where we're living who are naming their children after our soldiers, you know? And I know people don't see that. And they ought to know that their soldiers are proud of what they're accomplishing every day. They're drawing strength from seeing that, and they're drawing strength as always on each other and the cohesive team and family they're part of.
So anyway, I just hope you can tell people how great their soldiers are. I know the American people are grateful for their service, and it is a tremendous privilege for me to serve alongside of them.
Thanks.
Update 21 Feb: The Washington Post had the letter, but didn't report. The New York Post does.
(Original post: 2006-02-13 21:49:57)
Blackfive's got 'em. Don't miss this.
And if you're interested in how those old pictures from Abu Ghraib made the headlines, read this.
An element of Irony from the story of Janis Karpinski's accusations of rape and death in Iraq. It seems Karpinski told an earlier version of her story to David Hackworth of "Soldiers For the Truth" in a September 2004 interview. This version makes no mention of deaths by dehydration; either Karpinski added that detail later or, if it was included in her original version, Hackworth deleted it from the final version - perhaps recognizing it immediately as proof positive that Karpinski's story was beyond belief. We'll never know. Hackworth himself has moved on to that big FOB in the sky, and Karpinski's credibility leaves much to be desired.
The irony is that Hackworth's organization was in no small way responsible for the shameful and well-deserved end of Karpinski's military career - it was Soldiers for the Truth that brought the Abu Ghraib photos before the eyes of the world. Declaring to this day her complete ignorance of events at her prison, it's possible Karpinski is not aware of this fact either.
Coincidentally, the Washington Post ran a profile of Hackworth's replacement at the helm of the organization he founded just last week
Kids. That's what Roger Charles calls the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting what the Pentagon calls the Global War on Terrorism, the young grunts on their first tours of duty in combat zones. The green first-term officers who now must put theory into practice to stay alive. The cannon fodder. These kids are the reason that Charles runs an organization called Soldiers for the Truth from his unassuming home in Alexandria's Del Ray area.Hackworth, Charles and other retired military personnel launched Soldiers for the Truth in February 1997. Charles was a natural fit; after retiring from the Marine Corps in 1990 his post-military career was in journalism. He had worked with Newsweek, ABC, CNN the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, U.S. News & World Report, the New Yorker, and CBS' 60 Minutes. With those credentials he was the perfect conduit, ensuring wide mainstream media coverage for any 'scandal' that Soldiers for the Truth could expose.For the average American, the name means little. But for many soldiers in the field, the group's Web site ( http://www.sftt.org/ ) and online newsletter (DefenseWatch -- The Voice of the Grunt) have been invaluable, giving the world a glimpse of the war from their vantage point. For defense reporters, it has been a source for the unvarnished, unspun truth about what's happening on the ground. And for the Pentagon brass, at times, a thorn in the side.
"We try to short-circuit the barriers to the truth," Charles said.
In was in his capacity of consultant for 60 Minutes that he helped "break" the story that turned the course of the war in Iraq. The Army had already announced the investigation into the abuses, and CNN had reported as early as January 2004:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military's criminal investigation into potential abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers at Abu Gharib prison in Iraq now includes reports from soldiers that military police took photographs showing soldiers hitting detainees, CNN has learned.Mary Mapes (whose career with CBS 60 Minutes would ultimately end in the wake of Rathergate) picks up the story in her book Truth and Duty : The Press, the President, and the Privilege of PowerEarlier, several Pentagon officials who declined to be identified by name confirmed to CNN that investigators were looking into the reports -- all coming from fellow soldiers -- of photographs showing male and female detainees with some of their clothing removed.
Here was our original tip: American military officials were investigating reports of abuse at Abu Ghraib. We were told that a number of US soldiers were involved and that an extensive collection of photographs, taken by the soldiers, was part of the investigation.By this time someone was smiling - without those pictures CBS had nothing but an echo of the other stories - with them they could tell any story they wanted - the pictures were all that would matter.We were not told who the soldiers were, where they were from, or what they had done. All we knew was that the unit had already come back from Iraq and the soldiers under investigation were left behind in Baghdad.
We knew we could not call the Pentagon with questions because that would sound the red alert and likely end our chances of getting the story. So we turned to old fashioned, tried and true techniques to get the answers we needed. We found there had been a short, generally worded Department of Defense announcement made in Iraq about soldiers under investigation at Abu Ghraib. There were virtually no details given on the case, which was characterized as an ongoing disciplinary action.
With my less-skilled assistance, Roger Charles, our military consultant, set out to find which units had been at Abu Ghraib and when they had been there.
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In his spare time (not that he had any), Roger worked with Col. David Hackworth on his advocacy Web site, Soldiers for the Truth.
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The site advocated a number of changes in Pentagon policy regarding the war, usually on issues such as up-armoring of military vehicles in Iraq. In return, SFTT received countless e-mail messages of support and chunks of raw information from soldiers in the field, their families, and sometimes people inside the Pentagon.I wondered aloud if we might use the web site in a slightly different way. Why not use the information we had to put out an internet alert on the Abu Ghraib case?
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Within hours of our posting our alert on March 23, Roger got an e-mail from a man named Bill Lawson. He was the uncle of one of the men being held in preparation for a court martial....Lawson left a phone number where he could be reached. Roger called Lawson back so fast his fingers nearly burst into flames.
Roger listened to details of Chip Fredericks case and then asked the big questions: Had Lawson heard anything about the photographs? Lawson said that Frederick had acknowledged that pictures were part of the evidence against him. "Chip says that he is in only one of the pictures," Lawson told Roger. "I just hope he's not smiling"
The rest, as they say, is history. It's likely that few people passing information to "Soldiers for the Truth" know they are actually feeding stories to the mainstream media; SFTT presents itself as a simple grassroots advocacy group for the troops. The Washington Post quotes Charles: "That's all our agenda is, the well-being of the grunts who are on the bloody end of the spear"
But the Post article also notes another well-known motivating factor behind the organization:
Hackworth began writing missives that his supporters admire for their candor and searing criticism of the Pentagon brass he often dismissed as careerist "perfumed princes" more interested in political connections and promotions than in the troops in the field.But Soldiers for the Truth didn't hesitate to help the only true "perfumed" member of the brass they ever nailed publicize fables of widespread rape among those grunts on the bloody end of the spear. Likewise their "exposure" of the Abu Ghraib photos left no doubt as to the guilt of the defendants, and ensured the sadistic guards at Abu Ghraib - including Bill Lawson's nephew Ivan Frederick - became the faces associated with the word "torture" around the world.
Currently Soldiers for the Truth is working to get more armor to the troops. They need it. Excluding casualty figures for major combat operations, prior to the 60 Minutes broadcast of the Abu Ghraib photos US forces averaged 45 deaths per month in Iraq. Since then, only two months have seen numbers that low.
(Think you know what happened at Abu Ghraib? Take the Torture Test and find out.)
(Original post: 2006-02-08 23:07:24)
Mrs G already linked these stories in the Dawn Patrol, but I can't let them go without comment.
Michael Totten's visit to Kurdish Northern Iraq - don't miss it. We've been following his travels through the Middle East closely here, and are very much appreciative of his reports. Americans - the world, for that matter, need to see and read of this. More importantly, people in the rest of Iraq do too. I've said this here repeatedly: The Kurdish North isn't Iraq without America, it's Iraq without "insurgents".
Those who are willing to invest in the Kurdish region now stand to be well positioned in a very few years. The rebuilding of Iraq will be a monumental endeavor, and great rewards await those bold enough to move soonest.
(An earlier look at the "Dream City" here. A note on the Kurdish regional government's efforts to attract investment here, and a brief examination of the political background and future here.)
Not far from the Kurdish region you'll find Tall Afar, a city that could lead the way in recovery in Iraq. The 3rd ACR has certainly helped give them a foundation of hope - but now they are coming home.
So what's to be built on that foundation? Expect some excellent answers to that question from milblogger Sapper Sergeant. He's moving in as the 3rd moves out, and offers this honest account of his first impressions of the city (and the Army) as it is today.
I hope we can look forward to more, but given the anti-blogging attitude that seems all too common I'm a bit concerned about his comments that by command decision "there will be no internet in the hootches." (Hootches, good friends, are the living quarters of the GIs. The term pre-dates the Iraq excursion.) Like I said, I hope we can look forward to more, but the Army is it's own worst enemy in the information war.
But that's a topic for another day. For now check out both these stories. There's good news to be found in Iraq along with the bad. (But you already knew that. So tell a friend.)
Enjoy your day Holly. So close to Valentines Day no wonder she's all heart.
Today is the last day for milbloggers and members of the military community to pre-register for the MilBlogs Conference. Registration opens to the general public tomorrow.
69 have registered so far.Here's the Roster
Register Now!
If you're looking for the story about that letter to the troops, it's here.
(But scroll around a while and I think you'll find other interesting stuff too. This, for instance...)
Trying something different.
Test site only - permanent url to follow. Your feedback appreciated.
(This site isn't going away, btw. Just expanding - and that's just a start.)
This is a surprise:
CINCINNATI -- Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, who gained popularity for his staunch criticism of President George W. Bush, has dropped out of the Democratic race for U.S. Senate in Ohio, according to a published report.The move prompted this statement from the political group Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran's of AmericaHackett told The New York Times for Tuesday's editions that the same party leaders who urged him to run for Senate after his sensational political debut in a House race last year had turned on him.
"This is an extremely disappointing decision that I feel has been forced on me," Hackett said.
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Hackett captured Democrats' attention last summer by blasting Bush's war policies, raising huge sums on the Internet and capturing 48 percent of the vote in one of the country's most conservative House districts. He declared his candidacy for Republican Mike DeWine's Senate seat after it appeared Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown would not run.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Eric Schmeltzer,
February 14, 2006 eric@iavapac.org, 646-415-8429IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETS PAC STATEMENT
ON PAUL HACKETT LEAVING SENATE RACE:
"The Democratic Party loses credibility" on IraqJON SOLTZ, a 28-year old combat Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Executive Director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Political Action Committee (IAVA PAC), released the following statement upon news that Iraq Veteran Paul Hackett was leaving the Senate race in Ohio, due to internal pressure from the Democratic Party.
"It is an outrage that the Democratic Party has forced Paul Hackett out of the race for U.S. Senate. Hackett brought credibility on the number one issue facing the nation – the war in Iraq. The Democratic Party loses credibility on that issue because he is no longer running, and because they had a hand in his decision.
"The good news is that there are still a number of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans running for office around the nation. We are committed to getting these patriots the early institutional support they need, because it is becoming abundantly clear that the party leadership has no interest in them."
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America PAC (www.iavapac.org) is the only political action committee led by a Veteran of the war in Iraq, exclusively benefiting those Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans running for public office, and holding public officials accountable for their actions that affect the Troops and Veterans.
Jon Soltz served his country with distinction in the Kosovo Campaign as a Tank Platoon Leader between June and December 2000. From May to September 2003, Soltz served as a Captain during Operation Iraqi Freedom, deploying logistics convoys with the 1st Armored Division. He has been interviewed by the Associated Press, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the LA Times. He has also appeared nationally on MSNBC, PBS, and CNN. He is Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America PAC.
Hackett's full statement is here.
Excerpt
Thus ends my 11 month political career. Although it is an overused political cliche, I really will be spending more time with my family, something I wasn’t able to do because my service to country in the political realm continued after my return from Iraq. Perhaps my wonderful wife Suzi said it best after we made this decision when she said “Honey, welcome home.” I really did marry up.A related must-read (from a fellow milblogger):To my friends and supporters, I pledge that I will continue to fight and to speak out on the issues I believe in. As long as I have the microphone, I will serve as your voice.
It is with my deepest respect and humility that I thank each and every one of you for the support you extended to our campaign to take back America, and personally to me and my family. Together we made a difference. We changed the debate on the Iraq War, we inspired countless veterans to continue their service by running for office as Democrats and we made people believe again. We must continue to believe.
Remember, we must retool our party. We must do more than simply aspire to deliver greatness; we must have the commitment and will to fight for what is great about our party and our country; Peace, prosperity and the freedoms that define our democracy.
Rock on.
Paul Hackett
Democrats typically use the case study of Paul Hackett (an Iraqi war veteran who narrowly lost a Congressional special election to Jean Schmidt) as evidence that their military candidates can win elections, but only time (specifically, about nine more months) will tell whether that's actually true or not. Helen Seliverstov, a political analyst for the web-based CalRaces blog, examines the seven "Band of Brothers 2006 PAC" California candidates running in the six Congressional races (including two-- Jim Brandt for the 46th and John Graham for the 48th-- in my native Orange County) and notes one strong trend: all are running in heavily Republican districts -- the average voter registration is 46% (R) to 31% (D), a fifteen-point average margin of advantage for their opponents. Seliverstov concludes:Maybe the "anti-Bush" rhetoric didn't poll well in Ohio. For whatever reason, sacking Hackett was not a particularly savvy move by the Dems.Not a single one of those districts is held by Democrats or has any chance of switching Parties due to the registration gap. This makes every one of these veterans look like sacrificial lamb candidates. I can understand this being a strategy of draining funds from Republicans, but that’s a funny way to respect those who have served their country. In California, if Democrats really wanted to have a veteran elected to office, there are plenty of safe Democrat Congressional seats that candidates could be recruited for. This is hypocrisy at its best.
(Note: Originally posted 2006-02-03 18:14:44 - this entry is bumped to the top due to the growing content in the comment section below.)
Warnings have been sent to American military members in Europe to avoid theaters showing the latest feature film from Turkey:
In the most expensive Turkish movie ever made, American soldiers in Iraq crash a wedding and pump a little boy full of lead in front of his mother.For added reality, the movie features American actors Billy Zane as a self-professed "peacekeeper sent by God," and Gary Busey as the Jewish-American doctor. Spoiler alert - here's how things end up after a courageous group of Turkish troops enters Iraq:They kill dozens of innocent people with random machine-gun fire, shoot the groom in the head, and drag those left alive to Abu Ghraib prison -- where a Jewish doctor cuts out their organs, which he sells to rich people in New York, London and Tel Aviv.
"Valley of the Wolves Iraq" -- set to open in Turkey on Friday -- feeds off the increasingly negative feelings many Turks harbor toward their longtime NATO allies: Americans.
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Advance tickets already are selling out across Turkey for the film, which has dialogue in Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish and English. In addition to Turkey, the film is set to be shown in more than a dozen other countries -- including the United States, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Denmark, Russia, Egypt, Syria and Australia.
There they find a rogue group of U.S. soldiers led by officer Sam William Marshall -- played by Zane. In the bloodfest that ensues, the small band of Turks bonds with the people of Iraq and eventually ends American atrocities there, killing Zane and his men in the final scene.The film's English-language web site is here."The scenario is great," Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas told The Associated Press after the film was shown at a posh opening gala Tuesday night. "It was very successful.
Update: Debbie Schlussel: "The whacked out former star of failed, dumb reality show "I'm with Busey" repeats the age-old anti-Semitic blood libel, that Jews steal others' organs, blood, etc. for some ill purpose--in this case, by playing an evil Jewish doctor. We have a suggestion for all Jewish-American doctors: Since Gary Busey defamed you, refuse him as a patient."
TJ - a MilBlogger in Iraq: "So Billy Zane and Gary Busey think I am a baby killer, and they have no problem being in a movie with a blatant anti-semitic theme. That's fine. They have the right. I also have the right to never again spend my money on one of these sick bastards' movies..."
Ed Morrissey (Captain's Quarters): "People will claim that Zane and Busey are nothing worse than working actors looking for a payday as an argument in their defense. Well, everyone needs to pay the bills, and given what we've seen of Zane and Busey lately, their needs may be more acute than some."
Jim Geraghty (NRO): "At this point, movies that portray America are annoying, but common; I'm not sure the Americans in this film are much more sinister than the CIA and oil companies in the wretched Syriana...
Pardon my French, but Billy, Gary... you're whores. You will contribute to the vilest propaganda for a pile of cash."
Paul Mirengoff (Powerline): "The story is not out of line with the way the Hollywood left views this country and its military. If this is the story Hollywood was afraid to tell (as the ads for stories that Hollywood did tell used to say), it's not because Hollywood finds it implausible."
Cliff May (NRO): "Remember when American actors only went abroad to star in Spaghetti Westerns? Maybe blood libels pay better."
Michelle Malkin: "But don't question their patriotism."
Blame it on the Rain edition.
Yesterday we looked at the LA Times profile of Mike Yon. The Times seemed a bit dismissive of his efforts - his total numbers of readers being far, far below the figures for big media sites like... the LA Times.
We say they're right!
By himself, Yon represents no threat to the LA Times. He doesn't have the inside scoop on the Lakers, offers no clue as to whether his readers will need an umbrella tomorrow, and offers no advice whatsoever for the lovelorn.So it's time for our roundup of one week of developments in Iraq - and the home front. Much of this week's edition is brought to you by military bloggers. Often dismissed for their "soda straw" perspective, we think that applies to mainstream media reporters, too - but that enough such views offer a fairly complete picture.By himself, that is...
News? We got it.
Ashura is a Shi'ite Muslim holy day commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of Mohammed. Killed in battle near what is now the Iraqi city Karbala, for many years Saddam Hussein suppressed the observation of the day. Restrictions ended with the US invasion.
But in 2004 - the first year after the fall of Saddam, multiple terrorist attacks killed 180 people gathered to observe the day of mourning. Last year another 50 were killed.
The Iraqi government has worked very hard to ensure the safety of pilgrims this year. Last year, there were many coordinated attacks on celebrants. Keep your eyes on the news today - how Iraqi security forces deal with today’s events will be used by both pro and anti-war pundits as a yardstick to measure progress or lack of progress in this nation.
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Today will be an interesting day here. I hope the Iraqi security forces perform well and the world sees progress in this nation that needs rebuilding, not further tearing down.
Of course, you probably heard how it all turned out on the local news, right? If not, click here.
Weather? Check:
We've had thunderstorms and rain that have soaked much of Iraq, and most of the areas I am in are a foot deep in mud.Sports - you bet:
So, Im in my sleep coma and life is good. Then the alarm clock from hell part two sounds off at 0130 Monday morning. The Super Bowl pre game is starting and I asked myself, self why am I getting up?? The Cowboys aren’t playing, the Broncos aren’t playing (the two greatest teams that exist-in that order I might add) so why get up? Knowing I could watch the game and enjoy a cold haji Pepsi and cigar was a good enough excuse to get up and check it out.And more...
Here are a couple of long-time milbloggers enjoying a bit of good natured "one-upmanship". As a bonus, there's an Army-Navy angle too.
Over at Intel Dump, Phil describes the hierarchy of suck:
In Iraq, you define your status by where you fit in a hierarchy of suck. Paradoxically, those who have it best inhabit the bottom of the ladder -- those poor souls in Kuwait or Qatar or Bahrain who get the combat patch and tax-free income without the risk of being in Iraq. Next up on the ladder are the "Fobbits". These are soldiers who live and work on the big FOBs like Speicher, never to leave the wire nor be placed in any real danger. Although the large basecamps do occasionally take incoming rocket or mortar rounds, it's rare that those inflict any casualties. Fobbits get to live in relative luxury, whether at Speicher, LSA Anaconda or in Baghdad. In short, they earn the perquisites of a combat tour with none of the risk; the worst hardship for them is being away from home.Which has Ed at Hardtack and Havoc a bit vexed:
I Am Still A Fobbit...Aren't I?Read the whole thing - Ed's just moved in with his new Iraqi pals. I think you'll want to visit often.I was reading this article from the Intel dump and I became deeply concerned. I thought I was a Fobbit. I wanna be a Fobbit. I promised my Bride that I was the very definition of a Fobbit. Now my most closely held security blanket belief has been called into doubt. I don't live on a big Coalition base but I do live on a fairly big Iraqi one.
That discussion reminds me of this blast from the past:
All in good fun, from long before the Iraq war. (The first Iraq war, you young whippersnappers...) But I must grant the last word on Fobbits to Phil:
Nonetheless, these people don't get to see the same Iraq that other soldiers do, which in my opinion is too bad. Two of the things I like most about my job advising police are the ability to interact with Iraqis, and to see the fruits of my labor on a daily or weekly basis.
For another update on the weather, here's Sandgram:
I once wrote about the hazards you face while out here on Combat duty. You worry about the rockets and stuff, but it’s the simple things that can really hurt you around the base. Take for example the rain.Yes, take the rain... please.
Every deployment I've ever been on has seen days like that. (Korea comes to mind.) I'm sure every remote outpost through history has been the same. It's one of the reasons this blog is called Mudville.
With the FOB unsafe, it's best to go outside the wire - if you can.
I cant prove it, but Im beginning to think that about half of our time is spent waiting to get permission to go outside the wire.Funny, the things Milbloggers complain about.If it rains we can be canceled. If there is lightening we can be canceled. If there is action almost all convoys might be canceled.
I am beginning to suspect the Army is becoming obsessed with limiting casualties due to public opinion back home at the risk of the aggressiveness that saves lives and accomplishes missions.
Like the weather:
It's raining, it's pouring...Boy do I hate this place!Okay, rain or shine - here's a chance to escape the confines of the FOB:
Well, along with winter months in any region comes precipitation. Unfortunately, since Iraq doesn't get a lot of rain strewn out over a few months or a season; it all just comes down at once! The accumilation of water hear is something like that seen in New Orlean's during the first stages of it's demise, or maybe this is what Noah built the *Ark* for...days like today!
A couple days ago my squad had to take some of our replacements to another camp through the "Red Zone" as we like to call it. These guys are fresh off the plane and this is their first time outside the International Zone (or Green Zone), so it is kind of a big deal for them. You can see the slight nervousness in all of them - we all had the same thing, but my squad has run this particular route probably 30 or 40 times and we know it to be a very safe road. I am (or was) the lead driver in all of our convoys, which I enjoy and miss very much.
Okay, weather changes fast in these days of global warming. Is it still raining?
Yeah – it’s still wet here. I am down to 2 pairs of soaking boots and a pair of flip-flops...Of course, rain and the Air Force aren't the only things to complain about:
The Air Force engineers forgot about something called drainage. So, instead of a muddy road- we now have a muddy pond. And the only thing that stands between us and the XXXXX (insert truck, shower, bathroom, food, gym, flight line, internet, mail, or pretty much anything) is a 2-foot deep pond of mud, and refuge. It is really kind of a morale buster. We have all run out of dry socks, and dry boots. We think this is all a conspiracy by the Air Force to prepare us for next seasons’ Hurricane relief efforts somewhere in Louisiana.
You have to love VIP’s, those Very Important People who cause all sorts of chaos around the area as they just stop by for lunch and some “I love Me” pictures with the Marines etc. I received a call from higher headquarters somewhere out in the green zone that we had 6 congressmen arriving who just wanted to pop in say hi and then go tour another base. I said, “that’s fantastic, give them my number, I’ll say hi and they can stay there with you!” He just laughed at me “Nice try bubba, they are coming to you, I’m tired of dealing with them, and so I’m passing this monkey to your back.”Which is why some folks don't mind getting off the FOB:There was a weather system building to the south that looked pretty bad and I knew it would cause them to be stuck somewhere and by God, I was hoping not here!!
As I’ve stated many times in this blog, I am a communications officer. My job on this deployment is to keep my Battalion connected through various means. I advise the Commander and staff on all things Signal. Still, the Commander feels it is important for even his staff officers and NCOs to get out and participate in operations. This doesn’t happen all the time. We are usually highly engaged in organizing our sections, planning, and prioritizing the workload. But some days, when asked, I go out and help where I can.There's just no escaping it...I recently had a day like this. I rolled out of the FOB with a few other vehicles. We were heavily armed, locked and loaded of course, and just plain old bristly with our antennae and the gunners sticking out of the top of the Hummers with their Billy-Bad ass weapon systems. So, we rolled up on a Main Supply Route, a local highway more or less, and started driving aggressively against traffic.
The sky was a flat gray and I could almost feel its weight. I could smell rain in the air.
This is the rainy season in Iraq. When it rains it pours all the low areas fill up and the water does not soak in as fast as the soil is like clay.And you'll have to forgive me, but I've been setting up this story all the way:
Iraqi, U.S. troops aid flood victims in IraqTIKRIT, Iraq (Army News Service, Feb. 6, 2006) – Iraqi and U.S. Soldiers rescued dozens of people southeast of Mosul Saturday after powerful storms swept through northern Iraq, causing flooding along a Tigris River tributary.
Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division used small boats and braved strong currents to rescue nearly 100 people stranded on small islands in the rain-swollen Great Zab River.
Two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from the 542nd Medical Company (Air Ambulance) responded to the Ninevah governor’s request for assistance and transported two men stranded on an island that the boats couldn’t reach because of the current. The MEDEVAC crews also dropped off food and drinking water.
Two OH-58 Kiowa helicopters searched the river’s course for additional victims, but none were found, officials said.
Think milblogs are one-dimensional? Here's an interesting post from a Marine in iraq:
The two individuals whose photographs appear today, Michael Phillips of The Wall Street Journal and Hollywood documentary film maker Pat Dollard, were my battle buddies while at Ar Ramadi's Observation Post Horea. These two gentlemen, though fundamentally different creatively and politically, have fearlessly shared the common lot of the Marines here in Iraq. Mike was here on his fourth visit and Pat his third. Mike, a seasoned photo-journalist, works diligently to maintain the aloof impartiality of a judge even while enduring all the dangers and hardships faced by the Marines he covers.
The guy that wrote that is also the guy who drew this.
He explains:
"I am the artist in residence for the United States Marine Corps. I'm currently deployed in Iraq creating a body of artwork reflecting the experience of fellow Marines engaged in the War on Terrorism."Good stuff.
So far that's News, sports, weather, and an art department.
Now for our Travel section
During a delay on a recent mission, I was able to visit the ancient city of Ur. It is located just outside of the city of Nasiriyah. What a neat place. Other than it being the birthplace of Abraham (revered as a patriarch in the Bible, Torah and Koran) and the starting point of his migration westward to Palestine in about 1900 B.C., I really didn’t know much about the city . But, the tour guide there, Muhsen, gave us an informative, close up tour of this amazing place.And crime reporting, from CSI Baghdad:
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The most visible dwelling in the area is the Ziggurat. It stands about 70 feet tall. Here are pictures of the Ziggurat from afar and one with me running up its steps
Today I visited the MCU HQ in Baghdad. The MCU is equivalent to the FBI. They solve major crimes such as kidnapping, murder, terrorist attacks, and narcotics. Part of our Brigade's mission is to train these guys so that they can be more responsive and effective in solving crimes.Human Interest:
Packages for the Abu Ghraib elementary school children arrived...And personals
In the past few weeks, I have been tossing around the idea with Kristen about putting in an active duty packet under the new "seamless transfer". Basically I put in a packet to the National Guard Bureau and they let me know which jobs I hold that the Army would take me back in.Arrivals
Still not to my final destination. In fact, I now don't know what my final destination will be. I am currently doing the WAITEX at the Regional Support Unit (RSU) that supports the Garrison Support Unit (GSU) I am supposed to dispense questionable advice too. The problem is the RSU is still a BSU which is what we called GSUs last week....and departures:
Recently there have been several comments from people who do not necessarily support the troops, or who just believe we should not be here. That is fine. It was citizen soldiers like me who guarnteed you your right to speak your mind by fighting for freedom and democracy since the Revolutionary War.And that's just a few from one week.But there have been substantially more comments and emails from those of you who support me and my fellow soldiers. I thank you, as do my soldiers.
Peace Prevails In Iraq As Shiites Observe Holy DayUSA TodayFor the first time since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shiites on Thursday marked their most important religious holiday without suffering a terrorist attack.
BAGHDAD — Iraq's largest political alliance has narrowed its field of prime minister candidates to two.The London Financial Times:The top candidates are Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Adel Abdul Mahdi, one of Iraq's two vice presidents, said Basam Ridha, an al-Jaafari adviser.
In other news, Iraq's election chief started the clock Friday on the long-awaited formation of a new government, announcing final certified results for the country's Dec. 15 parliamentary polls.
Intense negotiations are underway to form a national unity government that would see dominant Shiites and Kurds welcome Sunni Arabs into powerful positions.
US Colonel Sees Cut In Fighters Coming To Iraq From Syria(Okay, so they tried to make it a bad news story. Old habits die hard.)Alleged infiltration of foreign militants into Iraq through Syria appears to have dramatically slowed down, according to US military officers on the Iraqi-Syrian border.
In spite of continued allegations from Washington officials that Damascus is continuing to support the infiltration of jihadis into Iraq, the American commander in the northern border region says that in more than 130 detentions of smugglers by his troops along the border in the past nine months, "we did not find one foreign fighter".
ON a Baghdad street last month, one of the darker visions of Iraq's future suddenly materialized.It's almost getting hard to tell these guys apart from the reporters for Stars and StripesA group of about 20 uniformed Iraqi men, with a prisoner in its possession, was halted at a checkpoint. The men were wearing the telltale camouflage outfits of the police commandos, an American-trained paramilitary force that Sunni leaders here accuse of carrying out widespread atrocities. They were carrying ID cards from the Ministry of Interior. They seemed legitimate.
But, after some checking, the Iraqis manning the checkpoint discovered that the men were not commandos after all. They were taking their prisoner to be shot.
"We believe we captured a death squad," said Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson, the American commander who oversees the training of Iraqi police forces. "They had an individual, and they were going to kill him."
TAL AFAR, Iraq — In a region conquered and shaped by a succession of history’s most fearsome armies, this centuries-old city was fast becoming an example of how not to fight a modern- day insurgency.After a sputtering offensive well over a year ago that left few U.S. troops in place to keep the peace, Tal Afar, in northwestern Iraq, soon emerged as a haven for Muslim extremists and Baath Party loyalists who held sway through a campaign of kidnappings, beheadings and assassinations.
The chaos touched off long-simmering tensions between rival tribes and religious groups, and much of the local police force fled. Those officers who remained degenerated into a sectarian hit squad. Residents feared leaving their homes as insurgents operated with near impunity. Training camps were established to teach bomb construction and guerrilla tactics.
Suicide bombers were dispatched to all areas of northwest Iraq.
“They would order car bombs like it was pizza delivery,” said Maj. Chris Kennedy, executive officer of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. “They’d just pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, we need a car bomb,’ and the car bombers would come in from Syria.”
Today, Tal Afar is a very different and, at least for now, a far more peaceful place. Residents greet U.S. soldiers with smiles and waves, and, in the most significant indication yet of progress here, more than a quarter-million residents in the region turned out for a largely peaceful Dec. 15 parliamentary election.
Sunni Tribes Turn Against JihadisThat's an act of raw courage, as these next stories make clear.Sheikh Osama al-Jadaan, head of the influential Karabila tribe in Sunni Arab-dominated western Iraq, is more politician than traditional sheikh these days. He's given up his dishdasha and Arab headdress for a pinstripe suit with a silk handkerchief in his breast pocket.
He's also turned away from supporting Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi and other foreign fighters in Iraq. "We realized that these foreign terrorists were hiding behind the veil of the noble Iraqi resistance," says Mr. Jadaan. "They claim to be striking at the US occupation, but the reality is they are killing innocent Iraqis in the markets, in mosques, in churches, and in our schools."
Sunni Leader Killed For Joining Ceasefire TalksAnd The Washington Post:A SUNNI tribal leader was murdered in the Iraqi city of Ramadi a day after taking part in talks with American and Iraqi officials aimed at curbing violence there.
Sheikh Nasser Kareem al-Fahdawi, head of the al-Bu Fahad tribe and a physics professor at Anbar University, was shot by insurgents opposed to the talks in late December.
Gunmen Kill Head Of Fallujah City CouncilA prominent Sunni Muslim cleric and civic leader who ran for a seat in Iraq's parliament and worked closely with American forces policing Fallujah was fatally shot Tuesday on his way to work in the western city. Kamal Nazzal, head of the Fallujah city council and a preacher at the city's Shakir mosque, was arriving at city hall when gunmen in two dark-colored BMWs riddled his body with bullets, police and residents said.
Iraqi Neighbors Join Together To Stay SafeAnd with each story like that, there's hope for the future.BAGHDAD, Iraq -- In a nation being pulled apart by sectarian violence, the residents of a religiously mixed neighborhood in Iraq's troubled capital are joining forces for their mutual protection.
Alarmed at an outbreak of brazen killings in their once relatively peaceful enclave of Hai al Salam, Shi'ite Muslims, Sunni Muslims and Christians have begun working side-by-side to guard their western Baghdad neighborhood.
Yet just as the fate of newly democratic Iraq depends on whether national leaders can cooperate in spite of religious and ethnic differences, Hai al Salam's remarkable unity also depends on whether residents can resist growing pressure to splinter violently along sectarian lines.
"We managed to unify," said Kamil Tahir al Bidhani, a neighborhood civic leader. "We expect the government to do the same thing: to solve its problems without resorting to force."
The Homefront
It rained in Washington this week too:
Damp In Numbers But Not In FervorBlame it on the rain.As he waited for a 30-foot-high effigy of President George W. Bush to fall, Freddy Taiefero told the story of how he ended up here. Homeless in Atlanta a day ago, he now was amid a few thousand protesters on the soggy ground by the Washington Monument.
"They were passing out these leaflets, and I picked one up at the homeless shelter," said the 56-year-old unemployed caterer. "Bush's administration causes joblessness. . . . When he got in, it was like the world was snatched up from under us."
So, Taiefero said, he boarded a bus, slept the night in his seat and yesterday bore the sticker reciting the message of all those around him: "Bush step down."
Yesterday's demonstration, which stretched through five hours of rain and ended with a march around the White House, was organized by a group called World Can't Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime. The organization helped lead a smaller rally near the Capitol during Bush's State of the Union address last week.
Yesterday's demonstrators came from as far away as Hawaii. New York alone sent 12 buses. Still, the crowd was significantly smaller than the 30,000 protesters organizers had anticipated.
Of course, I'm told the Swedes have a saying: "There's no bad weather, only bad clothes".
Like these:
Soldiers Chafe At Extra Weight Of Body ArmorBut they better not lose the pieces they don't use:Staff Sgt. Joshua Winchester, a 30-year-old Pepsi truck driver from Jesup, predicts the extra weight would become a hassle for him in his already cramped Humvee. The Georgia National Guard soldier doesn’t plan to wear the plates, citing the intense heat soldiers face in Iraq.
“You think about how much of a pain in the neck your maneuvering will be. You will feel like a robot. You will feel like R2D2 in a turret. Forget that junk,” said Winchester, a member of the Savannah-based 118th Field Artillery Regiment Task Force stationed at Al Asad Air Base.
Winchester is guarding U.S. supply convoys in the violent Al Anbar Province of western Iraq. He wears the military-issue neck and groin protectors attached to his body armor, but many other soldiers have shed them, saying they hinder mobility.
The Army is sending the new side plates to every soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan starting this month in an effort to shield body parts vulnerable to sniper fire and roadside bombs.
A former soldier injured in Iraq is getting a refund after being forced to pay for his missing body armor vest, which medics destroyed because it was soaked with his blood, officials said Wednesday.Refunded - good. But it was a non-story from the get-go. A paperwork snafu in a world where stories of GIs selling armor on ebay earlier in the war led to a program of accountability that made such an event inevitable.
In fact, Rebrook's father explains that his son just didn't want to wait for the paperwork to be completed:
Edward Rebrook said his son would have had to stay in the Army, continue to live on base at Fort Hood and wait possibly weeks while those forms were processed. Instead, he chose to pay cash for the missing items and get out of the Army.Speaking of wounded troops (and rain):
Army Sgt. Orlando Gill wasn't going to let a little rain keep him off his snowboard Friday. After all, he didn't let losing part of a leg keep him from living his life.Gill, 32, was on patrol in Iraq in 2004 when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade that shattered his right leg. Growing up in the Bronx, he'd been an athlete - track and field, soccer - and he didn't want to let that go.
"I did it before my injury. I don't see why I should stop now," he said.
For A General, A Tough Mission: Building The ArmyHis toughest opponent? Perhaps it's the US Army:From his office in the command center here, where dozens of recruiters answer questions about military life via e-mail and chat rooms, Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick is trying to retool the Army's strategy for fighting a war within a war: persuading young people and their families that the military is a good choice, even when combat duty is almost certain.
Davidson was 19 when he met with a recruiter in July 2004 to discuss joining the Army.But he's in now:At that time, recruits could not have tattoos visible above their uniform. Davidson said the recruiter told him to have his neck tattoo--two inch-high Japanese characters that mean "brothers"--removed.
Davidson, who lives in Elwood about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis, was unaware that Army policy prohibits recruiters from telling would-be recruits to have tattoos removed to improve their chances of being accepted. So he spent $1,000 on ink cover-up and laser removal sessions to erase his.
It was faded though still visible, but he got the go-ahead from five officers at the Indianapolis Recruiting Battalion to ship out. Once he got to Oklahoma's Ft. Sill, however, officers there didn't agree. They sent him home, saying his neck tattoo violated Army policy.
Since then, Davidson had been fighting to get back in, taking his story of television stations and newspapers.
A man whose tattoo led the Army to reject him as a recruit--and who spent $1,000 in an attempt to erase it--has learned he can join the service under a newly revised tattoo policy.And that's our happy ending for the week.Cory Davidson, 21, recently got a call from the Army informing him that the neck tattoo is not a problem under the revised policy.
"I had this huge smile on my face," said Davidson, who got the news Jan. 23.
(But last week's edition of Meanwhile Back at the Front can be read here)
The National Guard Association honors one of their own
The National Guard Association of the United States yesterday unveiled a bust of a young Lt. George W. Bush. The association expressed its pride in Bush, who is perhaps its most famous alumnus around today.That's from the Washington Post coverage; a four-paragraph note, two of which are devoted to re-hashing the "AWOL" canard that failed so utterly in 2004. (ahem*rathergate*ahem). Like John Kerry's "war hero" status, a miscalculation by a party that demonstrably doesn't "get it" on military issues.
But...
You'll likely be hearing a lot about this:
Military veterans as politicians are an American tradition.However,Anyone hoping to win office after World War II had to have a military background; Dwight Eisenhower won easily.
But Veterans for a Secure America, a new organization that will meet this week in Washington, D.C., to jump-start its 2006 electoral efforts, is nontraditional. Its candidates, including local congressional hopeful Jay Fawcett, are Democrats unhappy with the Iraq war, and they want to use their status to make changes.
Although the group’s candidates — 54 and growing — are members of the minority party, they are not by-the-book Democrats.
“I don’t think you’ll find within our group a whole bunch of support for the Nancy Pelosis of the party,” Fawcett said of the House minority leader. “We’re more straight-ahead, let’s-get-thingsdone guys.”
Democrats typically use the case study of Paul Hackett (an Iraqi war veteran who narrowly lost a Congressional special election to Jean Schmidt) as evidence that their military candidates can win elections, but only time (specifically, about nine more months) will tell whether that's actually true or not. Helen Seliverstov, a political analyst for the web-based CalRaces blog, examines the seven "Band of Brothers 2006 PAC" California candidates running in the six Congressional races (including two-- Jim Brandt for the 46th and John Graham for the 48th-- in my native Orange County) and notes one strong trend: all are running in heavily Republican districts -- the average voter registration is 46% (R) to 31% (D), a fifteen-point average margin of advantage for their opponents. Seliverstov concludes:That's from an excellent and comprehensive essay on the topic from milblogger Bobby Bran. Read it all.Not a single one of those districts is held by Democrats or has any chance of switching Parties due to the registration gap. This makes every one of these veterans look like sacrificial lamb candidates. I can understand this being a strategy of draining funds from Republicans, but that’s a funny way to respect those who have served their country. In California, if Democrats really wanted to have a veteran elected to office, there are plenty of safe Democrat Congressional seats that candidates could be recruited for. This is hypocrisy at its best.
Armed Liberal presents two must-reads inspired by the LA Times recent front page sneer-piece on Michael Yon.
Two.
It's only fair to note that if the mainstream media holds Yon in any contempt, the feeling is not mutual.
My thoughts on all that later. There's much to discuss.
Update one: From the LA Times piece:
But Carl Prine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a National Guardsman and former Marine, saw platitudes, thin reporting and a lack of context in Yon's work.Those comments are from several months ago - for a more in-depth examination see Chap's response."As someone who has seen a great deal of combat in my life and who earns his daily bread as a reporter," Prine opined on the Internet, "I can assure you that a lot of what Michael Yon writes is misleading, inaccurate and vapid."
Prine's real problem with Yon is that he's not a mainstream journalist - he explains in some detail why he thinks the work of the NY Times reporters is much better. But his critiques are somewhat contradictory:
He’s not a very good writer. He doesn’t understand, yet, that not every detail needs to go into a dispatch. Not everything is relevant.Is followed closely by:
He’s not a good reporter. He misses things that should immediately trick up some imagination. Here’s something he wrote the other day:In other words - too much detail I don't want, and not enough detail I want - "I" being the key word. And yes, the headlines and focus in a media story about a mission would likely be on the gear that failed, so we must credit Prine with having the "nose for news" that distinguishes today's successful mainstream journalist from guys like Yon. What he misses is that this is exactly why readers find Yon appealing.“So, of course, glitches and snags started occurring the first day. Among other things, key gear failed; but overall, the Surge was going well.”
Uhhh, what gear failed????
But this quote is even more revealing:
I’m not sure who is “raving” about Yon. Nor am I exactly sure how Yon can continue to do what he’s doing and make money. He seems to be scraping by on donations.Actually he did much better than "scraping by". Prine's "marketplace" is "what mainstream media wants" - the market Yon tapped is what people want. That those markets aren't one and the same is but one of many reasons why so many old-guard media producers are seeing plummeting ratings and sales.In the marketplace is the arbiter of value, then Yon has little. If he was so beloved, if there were so many raves, then he mgiht [sic] be a bit more successful.
Update 2: By the Numbers
More from the Times:
Although the profusion of links gives an indication of Yon's growing popularity, the blogger has yet to draw an audience as large as many traditional news outlets, which measure their traffic in millions. His blog has not hit the threshold of 360,000 distinct monthly users to be tracked by Nielsen/NetRatings.There's a reason the LA Times obsesses over this fact. Their own numbers, while significantly greater than Yon's, are disturbing. Here's a quick calendar year in review:
1Q:
Circulation revenue at The Los Angeles Times fell in the first quarter, according to Tribune Co.'s first-quarter results.2Q and 3QCirculation revenue for all newspapers under the Tribune umbrella was down 9 percent. However, Tribune said the two biggest drops occurred for the L.A. Times and Newsday in New York.
For the six months ended Sept. 30, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported a six-day Monday-Saturday average circulation of 869,819, a decline of 3.6 percent from the prior year, and Sunday circulation of 1,247,569, a decline of 3.5 percent from the prior year, according to figures filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).The fourth quarter - could they finish strong? No.
Fourth-quarter earnings tumbled 38 percent at Tribune Co....LA Times/Tribune Co. folks will acknowledge some reasons for declining circulation - one is the competition they face from their own online version of their paper - and their competitors'. Long accustomed to being the only game in town, major metropolitan newspapers now struggle to come to terms with business models shifting at the speed of thought. On the internet they now find themselves competing for a share of online readers from around the globe - a huge potential audience - but local car dealers and other businesses have little incentive to advertise to folks from the other side of the Mississippi (or the Pacific, for that matter). And local readers unhappy with the local paper are free to click elsewhere.Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dennis FitzSimons said circulation revenue from the company's 11 urban dailies are still down but cited progress and said paid circulation is stabilizing.
Wall Street was not impressed. Shares in Tribune fell 30 cents, or 1 percent, to close at $28.71 on the New York Stock Exchange after sinking as low as $28.40 - their lowest prices since March 13, 2000.
...The publishing unit, consisting of Tribune's newspapers, saw operating profit decline 26 percent... Advertising revenue fell 2 percent for the quarter, while circulation revenue were down 4 percent.
A subscription fee for reading the online version won't work with so many other options available for casual news consumers, nor will it drive those people back to the print edition. If such a fee was adopted the resulting decline in online readership will bring reduced ad revenues there, offsetting the subscription income.
And of course it's those ad revenues that support the newspaper business, not the profit from subscriptions or newsstand sales. No paper has ever been so highly regarded that it could survive purely on its sales - because never in history has a public been willing to actually consider a newspaper so indispensable that they would be willing to pay enough for it that it could be sustained independent of corporate sponsorship in the form of ads.
And if you're thinking ahead of me you've already realized the underlying reason for the Time's obsession with Mike Yon's readership numbers, and the jealousy underlying it. While the LA Times may boast a large ("millions") number of people willing to read their output as long as they don't have to pay for it (and a dwindling number of people willing to part with a few pennies a week for the actual paper) Mike Yon enjoys a smaller readership (thousands) willing to underwrite his efforts to the point that he needs no corporate sponsorship, or "success" on the terms defined by media dinosaurs.
By himself, Yon represents no threat to the LA Times. He doesn't have the inside scoop on the Lakers, offers no clue as to whether his readers will need an umbrella tomorrow, and offers no advice whatsoever for the lovelorn.
Update 3: Conservative estimates
If you're a reader here I don't need to tell you who Yon is, but the Times recognized they would have to define him for the majority of their readers:
Michael Yon may not be a household name, but he emerged last year as the reporter of choice for many conservatives and supporters of the war.But is "conservatives and supporters of the war" an apt description of his readership?
An interesting question.
Yon was working on another story when he learned that two friends had been killed in Iraq. As the Times reports,
The deaths galvanized Yon. He contacted an Army officer he'd known in high school, who in turn put Yon in touch with a commander in Iraq. That got him a ticket to Baqubah.The Times doesn't point this out, but the deaths of friends doesn’t motivate one to become a champion for an unjust war in which they died (this same fact applies to all milbloggers). And Yon did not become that champion - even if the Times would have us believe otherwise. In-country he simply reported what he saw, told the story of the war without the filter of a major corporation and a league of editors re-writing his accounts to fit available space in column inches and the box defined by their own distant view of events - shaped by whatever forces that may be.
Thus Yon's dispatches became a valuable source of information for those wanting a full picture of what was going on in Iraq - people whose quest for knowledge didn't stop with what the local paper had to say - or worse, the two-minute soundbite on the TV news. Those who do limit their knowledge to those sources comprise a large number of Americans. It's odd (Orwellian, if you give it any consideration at all) that the Times labels the rest of us - those who seek information from all possible sources - as "conservative". I'd speculate that those same people who read Yon, this site, or any other MilBlog are also familiar with the efforts of Michael Moore. That they are nonetheless "supporters of the war" speaks volumes to their ability to decide for themselves. Bottom line: "conservative supporters of the war"? The Times was half right.
I've noticed that same mislabeling phenomenon here. Whereas hundreds of thousands of visitors have found this site via links from center-to-right wing weblogs, the Left avoids this site - and other military blogs - like the plague. (Perhaps due in no small part to the fact that they can't dismiss us with the "chickenhawk" label - the most powerful - albeit lame - argument they can muster against those who support the war.) But this site thus gained a reputation as being politically "right wing" and "conservative", in spite of the fact that I don't wade into issues of Supreme Court appointments, border security, homosexual marriage, and a host of other topics unrelated to what we're about - authentic "boots on the ground" coverage of the war - from those wearing the boots.
And the double irony of the situation is that far from being cheerleaders or mouthpieces, we often have to fight the Army to make that happen.
So if you're still here, I've got some news you might not appreciate: you are probably a liberal. While others shy away and deny themselves a robust view of the state of the world today you are looking for the complete picture. An we'd like to think we offer that, or as close as we can - in our daily Dawn Patrol and in the weekly Meanwhile back at the Front. There we'll present as many sides of the story that we can, from the front-line GIs and citizens in Iraq to the editors in New York, LA, London, and all points between.
We're confident that you'll draw your own conclusions.
After all, isn't that what being liberal is all about?
Elsewhere:
Soldier's Dad, in comments below:
"...no Media organization, obsessed with advertising revenue, would hire Yon. The purpose of a newspaper, is to get people to read the Advertisements, not the news.Touché. Read this too.Yon writes stories people want to read. They'll miss the 3/4 page ad for BillyJoBob's Auto Emporium.
Print depressing news...a new car from BillyJoBob's Auto Emporium is just the cure."
(First posted: 2006-02-10 17:37:52)
...how did Holly find time to write a book?
It's been almost three years, but this was the first "support the troops" organization we linked here. Visit today.
This email was forwarded to us by the milblogger who originally received it:
Sir;Iraq vet Sgt. Marc Ficcara was killed in the Washington DC area on January 20 when he came to the aid of a woman being assaulted. Details here.
I can not begin to thank you for those kind words about my son. My heart goes out to you and all those who share your thoughts.My name is Howard (Skip) Ficarra. Marc was my son. My wife (Edie) and I are devastated at the loss of our son, and can not understand why nothing to this date has surfaced. Not one solid lead. I have talked to the local police, and the OSI, and as of yet ....NOTHING! ....I will be speaking with them again tomorrow, and hopefully they will have some information for me. Its not over till its over, and I have just begun. I need all the help I can get to help solve the murder of my son. If there is anyone out there with any information, I pray they will contact the police and the OSI. I will not rest until these punks are behind bars. Thank you Lt..Thank you for your support and prayers. Please continue to help keep this story in the headlines any way that you can.
You can forward this message to all who will listen to my plea for help.........I want as much pressure put on the D. C. Police as possible. I am hoping that thousands of people will send e-mails to the police dept., letters to the editor of the Washington Post, Washington Times, and ABC news channel 8 investigator reporters.
Again, thank you and all those wonderful people out there who want to see justice done, and to honor my son Marc who is a "hero" in every since on the word.
Sincerly
Howard Ficarra
... goes unpunished. A strange turn of events in the story of the police shooting of Air Force Security Forces Senior Airman Elio Carrion.
First, The LA Times profiles Jose Luis Valdes, the man who recorded the video of a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy shooting SrA Carrion:
Valdes released the recording to a KTLA Channel 5 news reporter Monday. The station, which is owned by Los Angeles Times parent Tribune Co., paid $5,000 for exclusive rights to the footage, Valdes said. He said he wanted the tape to be shared with other news outlets, and for KTLA to donate the money to Carrion's wife.However, shortly after that interview Valdes, who fled Cuba in the early 1990s, visited a federal immigration office to renew his immigrant registration card. There, Immigration officials discovered he had an outstanding warrant from Dade County, Fla., on charges of aggravated assault. They contacted the police, and Valdes was promptly arrested and jailed.The public should see this, Valdes said.
"The enemy didn't touch that guy" in Iraq, he said. "He was saved in Iraq only to be shot by one of his own."
Valdes said the incident was a chilly reminder of his own youth in the Cuban military: After returning home to Havana after two years of fighting in Angola, he said, police severely beat him for visiting a prohibited store.
<...>
Valdes said he and his longtime partner, Grecy Duarte, immigrated to the United States by boat in April 1993, seeking political asylum."To see what I saw, I felt like I was there," Valdes said of the altercation outside his home. "I felt like I was the guy; like I was 21 years old once again, that I had just come back from the war.
"I lived through that," Valdes said. "The same thing happened to me in my country."
And now...
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Tuesday set bail at $100,000 for fugitive Jose Luis Valdes, the Chino man who recorded images of a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy shooting an Air Force security officer Jan. 29.In a related story:Valdes had two outstanding warrants for aggravated assault in Florida, and was taken into custody Friday while visiting a federal immigration office in Pomona to renew his immigrant registration card. Valdes' arraignment on charges of being a fugitive from justice was postponed until Thursday.
If Valdes agrees to waive an extradition hearing, the fugitive charge probably will be dismissed Thursday and he will be handed over to Florida authorities, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley.
<...>
Valdes' video has been broadcast nationwide and is a primary piece of evidence in the investigation of the shooting by San Bernardino County sheriff's homicide detectives and the FBI."Without the video, the police could have said anything," Carrillo said.
The airman, Elio Carrion, was shot in the chest, leg and shoulder, said his wife, Mariela. He was released from Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton on Friday night.
The life of Valdes, 38, who sells used cars in El Monte, has turned upside down since the shooting. Now he is in jail, away from his family, including two daughters aged 11 and 4.
As San Bernardino County sheriff's detectives continued their investigation into a controversial, videotaped shooting by a sheriff's deputy last week in Chino, the district attorney's office announced that no criminal charges would be filed in a separate videotaped shooting by a deputy in August.Original post here with a follow-up here.In that incident, a store security camera showed an undercover deputy firing into an SUV at a Rialto shopping center, killing the driver, Antuan Conners, 20.
Our dear friend Bill Faith, a retired vet, has had a fire in his home. He describes here:
I woke up yesterday morning to a room full of smoke. Apparently we haven't been changing our smoke-detector batteries as often as we should have. If my nephew hadn't gotten up to use the bathroom I guess we all could have died in our sleep. As it was, the fire damage was restricted to a small area in the kitchen. We have a hole in the wall behind where the stove would normally be and a hole in the floor, partially under where the stove was and extending across to just in front of the fridge. The electrician came by this morning to check out the wiring and replace an outlet and light switch that were damaged by the fire, and now we have lights, internet service, etc again but we still don't have any heat. The working theory right now is that the fire was caused by a leak in a gas line under the house....The fire apparently burned for a while under the floor before breaking through behind the kitchen stove. I'm still trying to figure out how we got by with just a fire and not an explosion.
...Aside from not being able to get anyone to repair the lines on short notice we just learned State Farm isn't paying for the repairs
He's very lucky, seems someone's watching over him.
How bout tapping his paypal button to help him out thru this ordeal.
UPDATE: Bill would like to clarify
State Farm is paying for everything I expected them to, just not for replacing some decades-old gas lines. They covered repairing the line that cause the fire, just not some others we need to have replaced in the foreseeable future so we don't have another one. That can probably wait till Social Security admits I'm disabled -- it's unusual for them to deny a claim from someone getting a VA pension, but for now they're still stalling.
At 10:00 a.m. EST this morning, pre-registration will begin for the 2006 Milblog Conference.
Pre-registration is open to all milbloggers and members of the military community. Be sure to reserve your seat today.
Russ Vaughn on armor in The American Thinker.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Soldiers Chafe At Extra Weight Of Body Armor.
Weigh in on your weighty matters here:
Last Saturday the New York Times offered good news to the people of Darfur:
The United Nations Security Council, acknowledging the failure of the current strategy for ending the carnage in Darfur, Sudan, agreed Friday to deploy thousands of peacekeepers to the troubled province.But yesterday they corrected themselves:
Because of an editing error, an article on Saturday about a plan to send United Nations peacekeeping troops to Darfur described imprecisely the action taken by the United Nations Security Council. The council agreed to begin the planning process to send the troops, with a final decision to come later.Just hang in there a few more years - help might be on the way.
Intrepid Time magazine reporters have discovered some sizzling Pentagon PowerPoints:
The Pentagon, which is calling for the largest defense budget since the cold war, has been floating scary threats lately. TIME has obtained a copy of a PowerPoint presentation that senior officers have been showing to groups around the U.S. warning that failure to stop Osama bin Laden and his ilk would have the same "consequences" as Europe's appeasement of the Nazis before World War II. Bullet points describe possible U.S. economic depression and Washington being forced into an "accommodation" with terrorists. Skeptics question the timing of such predictions.Because it's budget time. And because anybody with any sense at all knows this whole terrorist threat business is just plain silly - and the military is just trying to get more tax dollars.
In other news, the Times of London reports that Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, is also silly:
Frau Merkel, in a blunt and pugnacious speech, attacked the Iranian Government for pressing ahead with its nuclear programme in defiance of international opinion.The same story concludes that Donald Rumsfeld is less silly:Using a rhetorical device often employed by Americans to justify pre-emptive action, she said that Adolf Hitler could have been stopped in the 1930s if the world had taken stronger action against him sooner. And she denounced the recent inflammatory remarks made about Israel by President Ahmadinejad of Iran.
Mr Rumsfeld, by contrast, was a model of diplomatic behaviour. He praised the alliance’s historic achievements and said that the United States favoured a negotiated solution to the Iranian crisis. “We must continue to seek a diplomatic solution to stopping the development of its uranium enrichment programme,” he said.But obviously they didn't know about the PowerPoints.
Elsewhere in the London Times, Richard Beeston, the paper's "diplomatic editor", writes:
IT IS the option of last resort with consequences too hideous to contemplate. And yet, with diplomacy nearly exhausted, the use of military force to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme is being actively considered by those grappling with one of the world’s most pressing security problems.Clearly over reacting - there's nothing to worry about as long as no one does anything silly.For five years the West has used every diplomatic device at its disposal to entice Iran into complying with strict conditions that would prevent its nuclear programme being diverted to produce an atomic bomb.
Those efforts, however, are now faltering. US leaders are openly discussing the looming conflict. A recent poll showed that 57 per cent of Americans favoured military intervention to stop Iran building a bomb.Tehran scoffs at threats by the West, has pledged to press on with its nuclear progamme and defend itself if attacked.
The military option may be the only means of halting a regime that has threatened to annihilate Israel from developing a bomb and triggering a regional nuclear arms race.
FOUR people were killed in a northern Afghan city overnight in an exchange of fire between police and rioters protesting about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, officials said.Update: The EU warns Iran about boycotting Danish goods.
First, Smash updates us on a fellow milblogger
Milblogger Mad Mikey's wife and daughter joined in a counter-demonstration yesterday outside Balboa Naval Hospital, where Code Pink was planning to protest.Awesome! Details here.Code Pink never showed.
Afterwards, I took the two of them out for lunch, and she gave us an update on Mikey's medical condition. He has emerged from the coma, is off the ventilator, and is talking!
Then, don't miss Debra Burlingame's first column for the New York Post
February 6, 2006 -- DO you remember Rick Rescorla? He was the Morgan Stanley security chief who persistently warned Port Authority officials before the first World Trade Center bombing that the Twin Towers were vulnerable to terrorist attack. They didn't listen.Debra Burlingame led the 9/11families charge to stop the "International Freedom Center".
Make your voice heard!
Details here.
UPDATE: For the record, Andi did invite us to the upcoming MilBlog Conference, but because of circumstances beyond our control, we regretfully had to decline. We've become quite fond of the MilBlog community members and have been looking forward to finally meeting everyone. However we are in Germany and we have a pending move. I know most of you are quite familiar with the joys of moving a household, car and animals across an ocean. Geography and timing issues are the only thing holding us back.
Andi graciously offered to have us participate in the online forum and even though It will be o'dark thirty here, it is feesible with lots of caffeine. So we're looking forward to hearing from everyone and we're looking forward to seeing everyone next year.
A Soldier's Mom, who is the only one who has met both Greyhawk and I, suggest that we show up incognito, wouldn't that be interesting?
Mrs G
UPDATE II: SMASH Joins Panelists at the Milblog Conference
The latest Iraq war urban legend:
Several female service members have died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day due to fear of being raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark.
This is absurd for countless reasons - the most obvious being that death by dehydration takes a little longer than a couple hours without fluids, even in the hottest conditions.
But this fabrication has an interesting source: Col. Janis Karpinski, former commander of the unit responsible for torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. And she's found a sympathetic forum in which to tell the story: The "Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration" - a mock trial sponsored by "Not in Our Name", a group originally founded by members of the Revolutionary Communist Party to protest the US-led war in Afghanistan.
Last week, Col. Janis Karpinski told a panel of judges at the Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration in New York that several women had died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day. They were afraid of being assaulted or even raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark.If you're still reading, that's good - you didn't smash your computer screen in anger. Now let's take this apart.
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It was there that male soldiers assaulted and raped women soldiers. So the women took matters into their own hands. They didn't drink in the late afternoon so they wouldn't have to urinate at night. They didn't get raped. But some died of dehydration in the desert heat, Karpinski said.Karpinski testified that a surgeon for the coalition's joint task force said in a briefing that "women in fear of getting up in the hours of darkness to go out to the port-a-lets or the latrines were not drinking liquids after 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and in 120 degree heat or warmer, because there was no air-conditioning at most of the facilities, they were dying from dehydration in their sleep."
Like any other urban legend, this one has it's basis in truth.
Dark? Few lights? - True. Light tends to help terrorists aim mortars.
Latrines are located away from sleeping quarters - also true. In 120 degree heat you don't want to sleep next to the latrine. And there are health concerns beyond the unpleasant (to all but the flies) smell. But this means that when nature calls, you must walk. And if nature calls in the middle of the night, you get out of your bunk, don all your gear (including Kevlar and armor, depending on the threat level) and take a moonlight stroll.
There are a couple ways to avoid this. One is the (forbidden) empty widemouth Gatorade bottle by the bed (hopefully capped and disposed of daily. This solution doesn't work as well for females. The other is one I used myself - stop drinking after a certain hour, depending on sleep cycle and workload. Having used this method myself I can testify that I never once died of dehydration in my sleep while I was in Iraq.
But Colonel Karpinski testifies that not only did this happen, but that it was covered up by the Army:
For example, Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, Sanchez's top deputy in Iraq, saw "dehydration" listed as the cause of death on the death certificate of a female master sergeant in September 2003. Under orders from Sanchez, he directed that the cause of death no longer be listed, Karpinski stated. The official explanation for this was to protect the women's privacy rights.Note that a plausible cause of death - heat stroke - is not cited here. The very specific "dehydration" is. According to this rather grim article in the Annals of Internal Medicine, it takes "several days to a few weeks for death to occur by this means" - if no liquid is ingested at all. At some point prior to that time, someone would have noticed the individual's deteriorating condition and complete inability to function.
Note also the victim described above. A Master Sergeant is an E8 - one rank short of the highest possible rank an enlisted member can achieve. To reach that requires skill, intelligence, desire, ability, and knowledge of "the system" - plus significant time in service. Further, those grades are limited by law to just 3% of the entire enlisted force - the "top 3 percent". To believe Karpinski's account you must accept that a mature individual who had achieved a place of great significance and responsibility in the US military had foregone all fluids for several days without anyone noticing her failing health before her death - because she was afraid of being raped on her way to the latrine at night.
And oh by the way, she also had either an M16 or a 9mm at her disposal.
Which brings us to allegations of rape. Let's establish this point right now: rape is serious business. But Karpinski's account diminishes this to absurdity and robs legitimate victims of credibility. Fortunately, the Department of Defense has a very determined and aggressive policy against sexual assault, and a zero tolerance policy for predators. No military unit could maintain cohesion and be able to function with a "see no evil" approach to such crime within the ranks. We are talking about people who often must depend on one another completely in order to have any chance to survive. While individual predators can indeed exist within this society - as they can in any - for obvious reasons those discovered are dealt with quickly and severely within the confines of the law.
But therein lies yet another element of truth in this myth. There has been at least one unit where discipline had broken down to the point where stories of such behavior become plausible - and that unit was commanded by then-General Janis Karpinski, the highest ranking individual to be punished for the crimes at Abu Ghraib. Relieved of command and reduced in rank, her own defense in the subsequent months has been that while everyone above her in rank knew what everyone below her in rank was doing, she had been kept in the dark.
She launched her strongest assaults on those above her - and this case is no different:
Sanchez's attitude was: "The women asked to be here, so now let them take what comes with the territory," Karpinski quoted him as saying. Karpinski told me that Sanchez, who was her boss, was very sensitive to the political ramifications of everything he did. She thinks it likely that when the information about the cause of these women's deaths was passed to the Pentagon, Donald Rumsfeld ordered that the details not be released. "That's how Rumsfeld works," she said.One could almost feel pity for someone who has fallen this low. But her accusations have now sunk to a level of absurdity that bring additional discredit to any previous actions, statements, or accusations she's ever made - not to mention a tremendous discredit to the United States military. And while no one capable of a few minutes of coherent thought could possibly consider such fables as truth, we live in a world where cartoons spark riots and a hit film describes how US soldiers bring prisoners to a Jewish doctor to harvest their organs at Abu Ghraib.
And even in the US considerable numbers of people desperately want to "believe".
Update Tony B notes another small problem with Karpinski's story: No female master sergeants have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Why it matters: Because the Left believes what they're told to believe. Random Lefty blog response via technorati:
Female soldiers in Iraq are having to make an impossible choice: Risk being raped , or risk dying of dehydration. Many of them have ended up dead.
Nicole in London: Tales of Los Angeles Expat
If I get one comment from ANYONE saying that this proves that women don't belong in the army. . . Grrrrrr.The "American Constitution Society" blog:
Female soldiers' fear of being raped is not a new phenomenon; indeed, the problem has become so severe that the Army has established its own sexual assault website.supercrisp (who lists his Industry as "Education"):
Having said all that, Sanchez has a point. If women want to join the army, let them. But it’s like joining a gang. You’re always going to be someone’s bitch, doubly so if you’re a woman. I mean, what do you expect from an organization of killers? Murder is something society works hard to eliminate in all of us, except in certain sanctioned areas of killing. There, with the loosening of stricture against slaughter, all mores are loosened. And, remember, we’re talking about people who haven not been well acculturated in the first place because they find the army their best alternative. Rape and pillage do not follow armies; they are of the nature of armies, despite America’s fantasies about its greatest generations.Kathy Kattenburg ("a future New York City English teacher"):
The only functional option for a woman at Camp Victory would be to get together with a few friends and arrange to frag several of these rapists.
So the attitude of the senior military commander for U.S. forces in Iraq about the rape of female American soldiers by men who are supposed to be their comrades, their buddies, their fellow soldiers, on the same side of this ghastly war, is no different from the attitude of the Taliban toward women: They wanted to cast off the burka [go to Iraq]; they wanted to go outside unaccompanied by a man [fight alongside men], go to school, have a job [go where they don't belong] -- now let them take what comes with the territory."L-Girl" is "american by birth, canadian by choice":
Of all the hypocrisy and lies perpetrated by the US government, for me the worst, the absolute lowest, is the shameful treatment of the armed forces. Lie to these people, betray their trust, cut off their options so the military is one of the only ways to get an education, use them for propaganda - then spit them out. Cut funding for the ongoing medical treatment they'll need long after their dues have been paid, give their families only partial benefits because they were reservists, deny them even proper protection in combat - it's a long list.Guess she never used the military "to get an education".Within that context, what could be worse than this?
Naturally, the US government is doing everything it can to cover it up.It's hard to treat a human being more like a piece of shit than the US government treats the members of its military (and, sadly, that has been the case since the founding of the republic).
I guess "General Washington" must be military:
How the hell do you allow the cover-up of something like this? What rationale do you use to cover-up women soldiers not drinking fluids - and dying from dehydration - just so they don't have to risk being raped? Who the hell would allow such a cover-up to go forward?Or maybe not.Could it be the Commander in Chief?
Now, considering that (a) most soldiers don't have reliable access to a phone, and that (b) statistics have shown that only one in ten rapes gets reported, one could easily extrapolate that there over 1,500 rapes per year being forced upon our female soldiers.It doesn't take much mathematical knowledge to figure out that our female soldiers are at a FAR GREATER risk of being raped by their colleagues than of being killed by the enemy insurgency.
This is the last straw.
I'm tired of supporting our troops.
There, I've said it.
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But it's time more people wake up to the fact that a significant portion of our "brave, fighting men and women" are social miscreants and degenerates who would, more likely than not, be serving prison time if they hadn't joined the military and been given almost blanket immunity from being punished for gross misdeeds.
I propose the following theory: Regardless of the number of individuals in the group, the combined IQ of people who believe this story will never exceed 10.
With that, I'll close by stealing the closing line used on every post from Iraq by fellow milblogger/Iraq vet Phil: "Be safe - drink water"
The London Daily Telegraph on another result of toonrage:
Denmark's troops in Iraq have gone on a charm offensive to explain that they respect the Prophet Mohammed, as one insurgent group called on followers to capture Danish soldiers and "cut them into as many pieces as the number of newspapers that printed the cartoons".Denmark currently has about 500 troops in Iraq.The Islamic Army in Iraq also named France, Holland, Norway and Spain - where last week newspapers published the cartoons - as enemies of Islam whose citizens should be targeted.
In Ramadi another group issued leaflets demanding retribution against Danes.
The latest threats came after thousands of Iraqis took to the streets across the country to demonstrate against the publication of the cartoons. Demonstrators burnt the Danish flag and an effigy representing Danish journalists.Seems like a good time to buy Danish.More than 500 people gathered in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah chanting pro-Islamic slogans and burning Danish dairy products.
The transport ministry, which is run by a Shia fundamentalist, announced that all contracts with Danish firms would be cancelled and there would be little chance for any other tenders.
Background: here
(Origianlly posted 2006-02-04 18:00:41 - bumped for the Moday crowd)
One week of developments in Iraq - and the home front.
Last week ended with a major operation for Iraqi troops. The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Iraqi Troops Hit A Stronghold Of InsurgentsBut before the weekend was over the news had turned grim:Iraqi forces clashed yesterday with insurgents near the notorious airport road and in other districts of western Baghdad, arresting nearly 60 people as the sounds of a rousing song, "Where are the terrorists now?" blared from police car loudspeakers.
Woodruff, Vogt, and their four-man team were in the lead vehicle traveling in a convoy with Iraqi security forces. They were standing up in the back hatch of their vehicle taping a video log of the patrol at the time of the attack.Such an IED was likely detonated by an observer - and it's equally likely the visible news team was deliberately targeted by the attackers.
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The ambush of the convoy was complex. The explosions was followed by small arms fire from three different directions. Iraqi security forces spread out looking for the triggermen while U.S. troops tended to Woodruff and Vogt.
From web-based terrorist training on target selection:
(Shoot)... the reporter carrying the camera. First because the camera can be used as binoculars; second, it is the most difficult thing to hide the death of a reporter in Iraq.
In other news, Al Jazeera television broadcast a second videotape of the kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll, and the captors of four members of "Christian Peacemaker Teams" abducted in November renewed their threat to kill the hostages if all Iraqi prisoners were not set free.
In Britain, citizens held protests and candlelight vigils Wednesday to express anger over their country's involvement in the Iraq war.
Protests Mark Britain's 100th Fatality In IraqAnd in TV News news, CNN's Christiane Amanpour declared that: a) "The War in Iraq has turned out basically to be a disaster" and b) "journalists have paid for it."The demonstrations came a day after the death of the 100th British servicemember in Iraq. Cpl. Gordon Pritchard, 31, of Scotland, was killed Tuesday by a roadside bomb in the southern town of Um Qasr.
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Foreign Minister Jack Straw said Wednesday that there are "active discussions about how we draw down our troops on a province-by-province basis," contingent on the security situation. "I think we'll see, over the next 12 months, some good news in that respect," he told BBC Radio.
That second point might be contended on relative terms by coalition military members, their families, and citizens of Iraq, but the first bit deserves consideration.
And that's why we're here.
Lets start with some raw numbers, from that USA Today coverage of the 100th British death in Iraq:
Britain's 8,000 troops comprise the second-largest contingent in the Iraq coalition. The United States, which has about 138,000 troops in Iraq, has suffered 2,236 fatalities since the March 2003 invasion.That's almost right. Actually, Britain ranks third in number of troops in the coalition. The US, with 138,000 (down from a peak of 161,000 in October and nearly that level in December) is second, and Iraq has the most, with 227,000 trained security personnel. Ignoring Iraq as a member of the coalition is a key element in denying the reality of the situation there - and this slight is accomplished without a second thought in virtually every media report on the subject. Expect casualty figures this year to reflect those numbers, but thus far (and it's way too early to draw conclusions) attacks in Iraq have declined.
One reason for that reduction may be that last year's numbers were unsustainably high. But...
- While the number of attacks on coalition and Iraqi forces, as well as on Iraqi civilians, rose by 29 percent in 2005, the "success rate" of the attacks - those that caused casualties or damage - has held relatively constant at 24 percent.More on that report later. First, some observations from on the ground.- The total number of roadside bomb, or "improvised explosive device," attacks nearly doubled from 5,607 in 2004 to 10,953 last year. But the success rate tumbled from about 30 percent in 2004 to just 10 percent in 2005.
Reporter Joe Galloway, whose experience in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam led to the book "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young", is no friend of the US administration, nor is he a "supporter" of the Iraq war. But this week he too took the risk of reporting from Iraq:
In some places the news was bad: The insurgents had surged back into rural areas of the Triangle when a unit responsible for the area hunkered down in their outposts and left it to the enemy. Now a successor unit was fighting hard to take the countryside back and was suffering casualties almost every day.Read it all.In other areas, the news was good: In less than six months Marines of the 2nd Regimental Combat Team in al-Asad and soldiers of the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment have taken back the towns and cities along a broad swath of the western part of Iraq, along the Syrian border. The ability of insurgents to smuggle weapons and foreign fighters through a once unguarded border and mount attacks has fallen.
More than 50 new Iraq border police forts, each with at least two dozen troops, have opened along the border with Syria. With good communications and rapid reaction forces ready to come to their aid, the border police have become more aggressive, the American commanders told me.
In the ancient city of Tal Afar, where insurgents last summer blew up all the Iraqi police stations and drove the police out of town, there is almost an air of peace. New police stations have been built. More than 1,500 policemen are back on duty.
The Washington Post offers a look at Mosul, where violence is still common, but the number of reported attacks is down 57% from last year's peak. The handover of security there to Iraqi forces is ongoing:
So far, two Iraqi battalions, roughly 1,500 men, have been given authority over sectors of the city formerly patrolled by American units. U.S. commanders plan to put a third battalion in charge of another area soon. If all goes as planned, Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province will be in the hands of 24,000 Iraqi troops by November.A notable (perhaps stunning) point is made at the end of the story:
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Although ethnic rivalry in Mosul has been a problem in the past -- many Arabs were upset in 2003 when, during the U.S. invasion, Kurdish militiamen entered the city -- the Iraqi soldiers, both Kurds and Arabs, say they have put aside their differences."What I have told my soldiers is that it does not matter who are or where you're from, as long as you protect this city," Lt. Col. Amar Abdullah, the Arab commander of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade of the Iraqi army's 2nd Division, said after his unit formally took control of a sector of Mosul in a ceremony last week.
Abdulahmed's daughter-in-law, Laela Shaikhow, was watching an episode of "Melrose Place" as soldiers entered the house. She didn't need the Arabic subtitles; born in Manchester, England, she spoke perfect English.Now lets take the highway from Mosul to Baghdad. Via email, Haider Ajina sends his translation of a story from the January 31st edition of “Sot al-Iraq”:Shaikhow, 26, returned to Britain for six months last year, but came back to Iraq in October because she found it difficult to adapt to life in the West, especially as a religious Sunni Muslim. Despite the violence in Mosul, she said she intended to stay.
"I still prefer it here to over there," she said. "Even over there, the crime is terrible."
”Iraqi forces receive security responsibility of Major Highway”Haider comments:‘Iraqi forces receive full securest responsibility for the main highway between Mousul & Baghdad. Iraqi army third Brigade received today Tuesday the responsibility for securing the main highway between Mousul and the capital Baghdad from the U.S. Army’s 172nd Striker Brigade.
‘The official announcement from the multi national forces said that the 1st battalion 3rd brigade 2nd division of the Iraqi army is the most recent unit to receive its area of responsibility in Mousul. Battalion Commander Ali Almola confirmed his and his men’s preparedness to perform all their security and military responsibilities in their area of responsibility’.
More evidence almost daily now that Iraqis are taking back the control of their country province by province area by area. Every time we graduate a brigade they get assigned their area of responsibility for which they were trained. This type of fundamental and methodical training and deployment of well trained competent Iraqi troops will assure the survival of the fledgling Iraqi democracy and the defeat of terrorism.Arriving in Baghdad, we find Haider offers news from that city as well:
Greetings,CENTOM offers additional details:The following is my translation of a headline and news published by the Iraqi Arabic newspaper “Nina” on January 31st.
“Iraqi forces receive security responsibility in the Green Zone”
‘Iraqi army 5th Brigade, of the 6th Division received security responsibility for the green zone and surrounding areas and has taken over camp ‘Honor’ as their base.
‘Iraqi general ‘Mubdir’ commander of the Iraqi army 6th division (the division responsible for Baghdad’s security) said; “Receiving responsibility for the green zone is the first step to receiving the responsibility for many other areas of Baghdad, we will receive the security responsibility for the rest of Baghdad in the next few days. The defense department has put together a new plan for Baghdad access points. This plan will stop the infiltration of armed groups from other areas”. He added;” The number of foreign fighters in Baghdad is small since most of them have run away to other areas”.
‘Colonel Mohammad Wasif, commander, of the 5th brigade said; “We have an agreement with the multi national forces to deploy most of the men of the Iraqi army 5th Brigade at access points rather than deploy them at the interior of the green zone and that the U.S. and British embassies and other sensitive building will still fall under multi national forces”.
BAGHDAD, Iraq –Even more from Jonathan Finer, reporting from Iraq for the Washington Post:
The Iraqi Army’s 5th Brigade, 6th Division, assumed control of Forward Operating Base Honor from the 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team during a transfer of authority ceremony Jan. 31.
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“This brigade is responsible for protecting Iraq’s new government here in the International Zone,” said Col. Mohammad Wasif, commander, 5th Bde., 6th Iraqi Army Div. “The brigade consists of three battalions. We will work day and night to achieve our mission for the new government of Iraq.”FOB Honor is located in the palace district in central Baghdad and housed the former Baathist regime prior to the war.
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“The turnover of FOB Honor demonstrates the increased capability of Col. Mohammed’s brigade to assume greater responsibility and security of Baghdad,” said Col. Michael Beech, commander 4th BCT, 4th Inf. Div. “The 5th Brigade has earned a reputation of being a tough, well-trained and well-led unit,” he said.The Iraqi 5th brigade’s 3rd Battalion will occupy the area in South FOB Honor and 1st and 2nd Battalions will occupy the area in North FOB Honor.
“Today is another great step forward for the future of Iraq,” said Maj. Gen. Mubdar Hatim Hazya Al-Duleimi, commanding general, 6th Iraqi Army Div. “Today we lay a new brick in the building of our Army,” he said. “We are committed to the citizens of this country and this army and will defend our homes from the threats of the terrorists as we bring freedom back to this country.”
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“With the seating of the new government and the increased capability of Iraqi security forces, I’m very optimistic,” said Beech. “I think 2006 is going to be a great year for Iraq.”
The ceremony was more than a month behind schedule, and the area transferred to Iraqi control significantly smaller than originally planned: 20 buildings inside Baghdad's Green Zone instead of the fortified complex's entire perimeter.Stories like Finer's demonstrate the depth of coverage that can be provided by dedicated journalists willing to spend months in Iraq to present unvarnished truth. While the transfer of authority may not be moving as fast as many would prefer, progress is being made - and not at the convenience of the bring them home now crowd.But for Iraqi Col. Muhammed Wasif Taha, commander of the Iraqi army's 5th Brigade, 6th Division, which assumed responsibility for Forward Operating Base Honor from U.S. forces Tuesday, it was cause for celebration.
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In December, Iraq's Defense Ministry balked at confirming Taha and put forward its own nominee, a more senior officer from the predominantly Shiite city of Kut, southeast of Baghdad. As a result, the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which policed the capital for a year before rotating out of Iraq this month, lowered the Iraqi unit's readiness rating and indefinitely postponed the Green Zone transfer, which had been slated for Dec. 27."The handover was contingent upon their leadership remaining where it was," Col. Ed Cardon, commander of the 3rd Infantry's 4th Brigade, said at the time.
In the end, both sides blinked, though neither capitulated.
By giving the Iraqis the base, the Americans took a step toward handing over much of central Baghdad, and commanders said Tuesday that more territory would likely be transferred in the next few weeks, as the Iraqi unit's final evaluation is completed. Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry authorized Taha's appointment, while reserving the right to replace him at a later date, according to a ministry spokesman who spoke on the condition that he not be named.
But quickly enough that at least one US unit finds itself in "limbo" - sitting in Kuwait until it can be determined if they're needed in Iraq at all.
And if these efforts are successful they won't be - Newsweek reports that American officials in Iraq are in face-to-face talks with high-level Iraqi Sunni insurgents. Although "back door" diplomatic efforts have been reported before,
This marks the first time either Americans or insurgents have admitted that "senior leaders" have met at the negotiating table for planning purposes. "Those who are coming to work with [the U.S.] or come to an understanding with [the U.S.], even if they worked with Al Qaeda in a tactical sense in the past—and I don't know that—they are willing to fight Al Qaeda now," says a Western diplomat in Baghdad who has close knowledge of the discussions.Although the overall mission remains the same, more subtle changes in the US approach in Iraq will likely become evident in the coming months:
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — With a new general in charge, the plan to fight Iraq’s insurgents is expected to emphasize improvements in Iraqis’ quality of life, rather than killing or capturing guerrillas.Which brings us back to the insurgents - and that report we referenced earlier.Army Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, who became commander of Multi-National Corps Iraq last week, said he would employ across Iraq many of the strategies he used to quell uprisings in Baghdad when he led the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division in 2003 and 2004.
“It was not uncommon for the 1st Cavalry Division to be engaged in intense urban combat in one part of the city, while just a few blocks away we had units replacing damaged infrastructure, helping to foster small business growth, or facilitating the development of local government,” Chiarelli told The Associated Press in an e-mail.
The goal, he said, is to “deprive insurgents and terrorists of their support base” among disaffected Iraqis — part of a strategy that parallels U.S. political overtures to the Sunni Arabs.
Iraqi and foreign guerrillas have proven themselves masters of political and psychological warfare, but remain far from prevailing in the bomb-and-run war they continue to conduct.In addition to the findings we cited above, Cordesman's study also notes thatThat is the conclusion of an exhaustive study of the insurgency in Iraq just concluded by one of the most respected U.S. military experts, Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
A frequent Pentagon critic who has made repeated research trips to Iraq to analyze the war, Cordesman contends in an analysis released Thursday that victory remains very much up for grabs.
While "insurgents continue to carry out a large number of successful killings, assassinations, kidnappings, extortions and expulsions," Cordesman wrote, the anti-U.S. forces are "not able to increase (their) success rate, establish sanctuaries, win larger-scale military clashes, or dominate the field."
- Attacks have ebbed and flowed, with marked acceleration evident before elections and other important moments. Before the Oct. 15 referendum last year on the new constitution, attacks peaked at about 700 a week. By last month, however, they had dropped by almost half, to about 430 weekly.Further, he concludes that only a strong Iraqi government - and security force - can bring stability. And he delivers what should be a wake up call to the media - and it's consumers:
But Cordesman also depicts an insurgency especially skilled at morphing as necessary to counter advances by its enemies, and consistently successful in exploiting the Arab and foreign media, pushing assorted symbolic "hot buttons," and fostering conspiracy theories that U.S. forces have trouble debunking.We reached the same conclusion last year.The insurgents have learned that media reporting on their attacks serves as an indicator of their success and has taught them which high-profile targets to go after in the future. Cordesman calls these attacks "weapons of mass media."
They also are adept at exaggerating the number of casualties caused by U.S. attacks and know that, if they take shelter in mosques, shrines or other "high-value" sites, they can twist any American assault into an "anti-Muslim" act.
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Even so, Cordesman wrote, the insurgency has little of permanence to show for its efforts."Much of its activity consists of bombings of soft civilian targets, designed largely to provoke a more intense civil war or halt the development of an effective Iraqi government, rather than progress towards control at even the local level," he wrote.
Iraqi Shiite Militia Blames U.S. As Car Bombs Kill At Least 11Major Charles Moore, an Army officer serving in Baghdad, writes in the Washington TimesBAGHDAD, Feb. 2 -- Black-clad members of a Shiite Muslim militia that battled U.S. forces nearly two years ago took to the streets of an eastern Baghdad neighborhood Thursday evening following a pair of car bombings that killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens.
The blasts -- the first of which erupted near a fuel truck, sending a billowing fireball skyward -- came minutes apart in the capital's Amin district. Along with several residents, members of the Mahdi Army, which staged two violent uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004, blamed American troops for the attacks, claiming they had not permitted the militia to police the area on its own.
"We formed two committees to protect the neighborhood because neither the Americans nor the Iraqis are able to do it," said Abu Zahra, 40, a fighter in the Mahdi Army, which is loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr. "They did not allow us and said they would arrest us if they saw us in the streets. And now, this is the result."
New Year's resolutions are hard to keep. I am already struggling to keep this year's resolution. I promised myself I'd give the headlines more than a scant passing as I rush about my daily activities. This year I vowed to look beyond the black clouds of death and destruction rising over Baghdad and other parts of Iraq and seek their meaning before passing judgment.Read the whole thing.Thucydides, the renowned historian of the war between Athens and Sparta, warned us long ago that "little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." It is no easy task to avoid adopting that vulgar simplicity while watching the seemingly endless bombings in Iraq. My resolution attempts to focus my attention; in part I do this to honor the sacrifice of the fallen, but also to discern meaning from the endless flurry of the 24-hour news cycle.
On Jan. 5, during the vetting of Iraqi police volunteers, a suicide bomber exploded his vest, killing 76 and wounding over 100. The major news agencies instantly carried the update showing the obligatory frenetic hospital scenes and bewildered victims. The story was soon eclipsed by the death of 11 Americans, and almost as quickly as the blast itself, the story was relegated to the back pages. But there is so much more to this story than just wailing mourners and confused emergency rooms — if only we had time.
This bombing occurred in Ramadi, a former insurgent stronghold. The victims were mostly Sunni men applying to join the Iraqi police. The attacker was most likely a Sunni extremist demented by a virulent Islamist ideology. After the evacuation of the wounded and the dead something truly newsworthy took place. Unfortunately, the cameras were long gone by then. What happened was that the stunned volunteers got back in line. Standing among the scarred concrete blast barriers on a blood-strewn street, the predominantly Sunni men of the city of Ramadi got back in line.
Now some will instantly discount this act as a stark symptom of poverty in a country that averages 30 percent unemployment. Others, however, may see a different story. Sunni Arab men waded through the charred remains of their friends to continue their petition for service in the police at the start of what most consider the critical year for Iraq: a year in which the success or failure of the new government will rest increasingly upon the police. These Iraqis — mercilessly reminded of the dangers they will face — got back in line and refused to be cowed by the insidious act of a lone bomber.
The week - and the Iraq portion of this roundup - began with a report of Iraqi troops capturing large numbers of insurgents. It concludes with more of the same, from today's LA Times:
Iraqi police and soldiers rounded up 59 people Friday in crackdowns in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra.And so it goes.At least 22 people were detained and weapons were seized in raids before dawn Friday in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, the Iraqi army said.
An additional 37 people, including five Palestinians and a Syrian, were arrested in Baghdad's Dora district, the Interior Ministry said. The neighborhood is mostly Sunni Arab and has seen frequent bombings, ambushes and assassinations.
The home front - support the troops edition:
One result of the wounding of ABC newsmen Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt has been some exceptional overage of the medical teams providing care to the wounded in Iraq. Here's a profile of two neurosurgeons serving at Balad Air Base. And here's a story of the care given on the medevac flight to Germany.
None of that stopped the Washington Post from running a cartoon implying that the military treats wounded troops as little more than administrative annoyances. This prompted a response from several GIs - including these guys
A Reprehensible CartoonWe were extremely disappointed to see the Jan. 29 editorial cartoon by Tom Toles.
Using the likeness of a service member who has lost his arms and legs in war as the central theme of a cartoon was beyond tasteless. Editorial cartoons are often designed to exaggerate issues, and The Post is obviously free to address any topic, including the state of readiness of the armed forces. However, The Post and Mr. Toles have done a disservice to readers and to The Post's reputation by using such a callous depiction of those who volunteered to defend this nation and, as a result, suffered traumatic and life-altering wounds.
Those who visit wounded veterans in hospitals have found lives profoundly changed by pain and loss. They also have found brave men and women with a sense of purpose and selfless commitment that causes battle-hardened warriors to pause.
While The Post and some of its readers may not agree with the war or its conduct, these men and women and their families are owed the decency of not having a cartoon make light of their tremendous physical sacrifices.
As the joint chiefs, we rarely put our hand to one letter, but we cannot let this reprehensible cartoon go unanswered.
PETER PACE, General, U.S. Marine Corps, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
EDMUND P. GIAMBASTIANI JR., Admiral, U.S. Navy, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
MICHAEL W. HAGEE, General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps
PETER J. SCHOOMAKER, General, U.S. Army, Chief of Staff
MICHAEL G. MULLEN, Admiral, U.S. Navy, Chief of Naval Operations
T. MICHAEL MOSELEY, General, U.S. Air Force, Chief of Staff
Washington
In his response, the Post's editor explained that the cartoon was intended as an insult to the Army, not the troops.
This week's edition of headlines we thought we'd never see:
Turnaround In Recruiting Puts Guard On Path For ExpansionIn other Guard news,The National Guard Bureau, the Pentagon office that administers the Guard, issued a statement outlining a turnaround in recruiting and predicting that it would continue to rise this year. In the last quarter of 2005, the Guard signed up 13,466 recruits, above its goal of 12,605. It was the first time since 1993 that the Guard exceeded its goal in that period.
SACRAMENTO — A year after it was launched to help activated National Guard families suffering financial hardships, the California Military Family Relief Fund has been a major disappointment to its sponsors.California Lt Governor Cruz Bustamante blamed the National Guard for not developing awareness of the program, which grants up to $2,000 emergency relief to needy military families. But the program requires 30% loss of income between the soldier's civilian and military income, and in most cases that doesn't occur.In 2005, the fund paid out only $7,687 to just three families from among the 7,000 soldiers activated for federal duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and other postings that year.
The emergency fund was designed to help National Guard families facing unexpected bills, such as food, housing, child care, utilities, medical services and insurance.
Col. Lawrence Cooper, the Guard's director of personnel and human resources, said "we had 18 applications and were able to grant only three."
Other programs that offer significant help to mostly fictional soldiers include the congressionally mandated payback for armor purchased by individuals because the military wouldn't issue it:
So far, however, the official who oversees the processing of such claims for the Army said, only 30 soldiers have requested reimbursement for equipment, primarily for tactical body armor, at a cost of about $22,000.Like Bustamante, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and sponsor of the program, is hopping mad:"We were gamed for a high volume of claims," said the Army claims official, Maj. Paul J. Cucuzzella. "And to date, it has not been what we planned for."
A Navy spokesman said that 34 service members had asked to be paid for gear, mostly protective eyewear, hydration products and other equipment. The Navy has paid claims of about $5,000.
The Marines have received four reimbursement requests, and the Air Force has not received any, officials said.
"Our troops' welfare should be a top priority," Mr. Dodd said on Friday. "The Pentagon fought this initiative, and they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to implement its important provisions."Meanwhile,Mr. Dodd added, "Clearly the foot-dragging appears to continue, and that is unacceptable."
A week ago, Pfc. Anthony Calla became the proud owner of the only metallic blue Ford Mustang at Ft. Benning.The story offers no word on whether the Senate has verified the safety features of the vehicles."There are other Mustangs," said Calla, 24, of Modesto, Calif., as he polished the chrome rims of his very first car. "But I got the only blue."
In the last month, as more than 3,500 troops of the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division have returned to Ft. Benning from a yearlong deployment in Iraq, the military base's parking lots have filled with muscle cars, Hummers, Lexuses, Dodge Rams and BMWs.
Speaking of the latest safety features...
Top Army and Marine Corps officers said Wednesday that they are buying and sending the latest body armor to troops in Iraq as fast as possible, including ceramic plates to protect against bullets or shrapnel from the side.Elsewhere:"We are looking at everything today that is possible or available," said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, the Army's deputy chief for acquisition. Published reports last month that said troops weren't getting the armor were "at best inaccurate," Sorenson said.
Several members of Congress, including Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., pushed the Pentagon to speed the body armor to troops after newspaper accounts said the military had delayed buying the armor despite evidence it would save lives.
In testimony Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee, senior officers from the Army and Marines denied there had been any intentional delays.
Only days after receiving a $70 million order from the Army, Ceradyne of Costa Mesa this week sent its first shipment of ceramic armor side plates to U.S troops in Iraq.The side plates, which augment chest and back plates worn by many soldiers and Marines in Iraq, were ordered by the Army on a no-bid, “urgent and compelling” basis after a report surfaced in early January that Americans were dying from side torso wounds.
Unfortunately, the troops may also need the armor at home. Senior Airman (Air Force E4) Elio Carrion is a USAF Security Police troop who recently returned from Iraq. On leave in San Bernadino County, California, his welcome home included three rounds from a sheriff's deputy - but we don't mean free drinks. The event was caught on video:
At one point, a voice on the recording appears to say "stay on the ground." Seconds later, however, the deputy appears to tell Carrion: "Get up, get up." As Carrion rises, the deputy, who is standing several feet away, shoots him three times.No comment yet from Cruz Bustamante.
We conclude with a salute. Maj. Michael Jason and his team from the 4th Infantry Division evacuated ABC News' Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt from the danger zone just minutes after the roadside bombing in Iraq. They were honored Friday by ABC's World News Tonight" as their "persons of the week"
Last week's edition of Meanwhile Back at the Front can be read here
(The author of these compilations, an Iraq war veteran, runs the blog The Mudville Gazette)
Interesting comments here, and with over 100 visitors from Turkey this weekend they appear to be legitimate.
Love the Doner Kebap, by the way. Good stuff.
Glenn and Helen Reynolds latest podcast:
We are talking yet again to military sleuths, Austin Bay and Jim Dunnigan, about recent world events. We also hear from Roger Stern of Johns Hopkins and Lynn Kiesling of Northwestern University on the rising price of oil. Surprisingly, Glenn got a call from Michael Yon today, and we added him to the podcast on the spur of the moment to discuss the taking of this photo and why he was not credited with its release. He also talks about how the blogosphere supported him in his work in Iraq and continues to help now that he is back in the US.Don't miss it.
Bryce Fisher, Seattle Seahawk's defensive end:
His nine sacks lead a 50-sack defense that was first in the NFL, a sometimes-overlooked factor in Seattle's path to Super Bowl XL on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers...is also Capt Bryce Fisher, Air National Guard:
As an academy graduate, he would have been required to serve a five-year stint.More here.But as a graduate of the school's elite athlete program, he could serve two years of duty and then revert to reserve or guard duty if employed by a professional sports team (with approval from the Air Force). Fisher agreed to spend nine years of duty in the reserves or the guard after his official two-year gig.
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"As a military man, you have to expect the best from everyone around you. You just learn to," Fisher says. "That carries into football, too, and I think it's beneficial."
Update: Be that as it may, - Go Steelers!
Time to put up or shut up:
(I know, usually you list the winning score first, but I'm unconventional)
Make your Superbowl predictions below. Winner gets a kiss.
Update: Okay, I'll live blog the game. A couple things I've noticed right off - the Colts uniforms look different, and they're playing the Steelers. Both teams are in the NFC, so I'm not sure how that's possible. Also, all the players have their shirt size on the front of their jerseys. That's odd too.
Update: Too much ball kicking. Also, it's the Seahawks, not the Colts. My bad. I'm going to see what else is on.
Update: I hear the Stones are playing at halftime. That should be good. I hope they do Brown Sugar.
Update: Good book.
Update: This is a great idea:
Actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are all set to take on the roles made famous by Paul Newman and Robert Redford, in the 1969 classic Butch Cassidy And The Sundane Kid.I don't know if it's in the script or not, but now that "Brokeback Mountain" has paved the way I think a lot of classic westerns could be redone with modern themes.Damon will reportedly play the Sundance Kid, while Affleck will recreate Newman's role as Butch Cassidy in the remake of George Roy Hills' classic Western movie.
Update: The "XL" on the jerseys is the roman numeral "40" for Superbowl 40 - not the size.
Update: Just realized I need to change my pick. I'm going with Pittsburgh, 21-10.
Update: I hope the guy with the hair gets MVP. That is terrific hair!
Update: Well, it;s over, but if you're like me, you really couildn't enjoy the game because of concerns about domestic spying. During every play I was asking myself "I wonder if the government is monitoring my TV viewing today?" It's not hard to imagine them invading our privacy like that. I hope congress gets up the nerve to finally end the Patriot Act, so we can all stop living in fear. If the Superbowl taught us anything, it taught us that if we all play togather as a team we can win. I see the Pittsburgh Steelers as representative of the Democratic Party in 2006 - underdogs who will ultimately claim the Vince Lombarty trophy called the White House and finally stop the war.
(More Bambi here, here, and here.)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs holds a crisis meeting Saturday night after demonstrators set fire to Denmark's embassy in SyriaMost major news media are crediting the cartoons of Mohamed as the cause for the rage. Although true, that's a slight over-simplification. The story has since been expanded to include the more significant allegations of planned Koran burnings.
Demonstrators in Damascus stormed Denmark's embassy in Syria and burned it to the ground Saturday afternoon after rumours that copies of Muslims' holy book, the Koran, were going to be burned in Copenhagen.Demonstrators who had gathered in front of the embassy in protest over the action went 'out of control' and set fire to the complex, according to embassy counsellor Hans Schou.
Allegations that have the Danish government scrambling to perform rumor control:
No Korans or other Islamic symbols were burnt in Copenhagen on Saturday as a counter-reaction to Muslim demonstrations against Denmark during the past week, said Copenhagen Police.It's not likely that the fact that the event never took place will restore any calm. Allegations of a plan (following the publication of cartoons) were sufficient to achieve a result. And thus far Muslim reports (in the form of threats of retaliation) remain the only source of the "planned Koran burning" story. This version credits a "statement issued by Fatah and Islamic Jihad armed militants":The police made their statement after the Danish embassy in Damascus had been sacked and burnt to the ground as rumours of the opposite spread.
'We would like to make this very clear: There has not been any defilement or burning of religious icons such as the Koran, flags, or other items,' said Copenhagen Police Department spokesman Flemming Steen Munch.
Yesterday one of the leading Christian Palestinian clerics in Gaza, Father Manuel Mussallam, said that "Mohamed is a high Arab personality".Other reports cite telephone text messages:He said that the Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar had met him and Christian nuns on Thursday within an hour of complaints about a statement issued by Fatah and Islamic Jihad armed militants. These warned that churches in Gaza, along with the EU office, would be "bombarded" if plans for a Koran-burning protest in Denmark went ahead.
Telephone text messages had been circulating in Damascus claiming that Danes were going to be gathering in one of Copenhagen's main squares on Saturday to burn copies of the Koran. People were urged to gather at the embassy to protest.And Islam Online credits "Danish Muslim leaders" for the heads-up:These were similar to messages being sent in Egypt earlier this week.
"Denmark wants to burn the sacred Koran on Saturday in Copenhagen in response to the Muslim boycott (of Danish products)," the message in Egypt said, calling on Muslims to curse the Danish.
"Send (this message on) and you will be rewarded," the text said.
Danish Muslim leaders warned on Saturday, February 4, of grave consequences if copies of the Noble Qur’an were burnt in a rally planned by Danish extremists to protest Muslim anger over cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).Halil in turn claims his source is "A female member of a racist party":"All hell will break loose, if those extremists burn the Qur’an," Raed Halil, the head of the European Committee for Defending Prophet Muhammad, told IslamOnline.net over the phone from the Danish capital Copenhagen.
"A female member of a racist party circulated a message calling for burning copies of the Noble Qur’an in Saturday’s march," he said.We can assume that Korans are more widely available in Denmark than say, Danish flags in the Middle East, and we can't rule out that a female member of a racist party circulated a message (though we wonder why only young Danes were encouraged to burn the Koran - setting an age limit seems counter-productive to achieving such a result) but it should be noted that the only things burned yesterday were Danish flags and the embassies in Damascus and Beirut.Halil said the message incited young Danes to burn the Muslim holy book in retaliation for the burning of Danish flags by angry Muslims across the world and the boycotting of Danish products.
Note also Jeff Goldstein's analysis
...the Danish protesters are “extremists” from the “extreme-right”—many of them members of a “racist party”—while those Muslims outraged by the publishing of the cartoons in the first place (who “protested” by burning flags, firebombing embassies, and—even here, through a spokesman, issuing active threats of “grave consequences” and promises that “All hell will break lose” should counterprotests seek to address “Muslim anger") are mere victims of some minor misunderstanding in the “new cultural battle over freedom of speech and respect of religions.”No surprise - you'll find a bit more of that in Al Jazeera's coverage of the marches in Denmark:
Danes on the far left and extreme right have taken to the streets, adding a political dimension to a blistering row over cartoons of Prophet Muhammad first published in a Danish newspaper.Keep that last comment in mind - along with the quote from an apparent member of the youth wing of the Socialist People's party: "Freedom of expression does not mean hurting others." - as we return to coverage of the protests in DenmarkBoth far-left and extreme-right marches took place in Hilleroed, 30km northeast of Copenhagen.
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The left-wing marchers, many of them clad in black and bearing banners urging people to "Crush the Nazis", were protesting against an anti-Muslim march by the extreme-right Danish Front.Daniel Savi, a local secretary of the youth wing of the Socialist People's party, which organised the left-wing march, told AFP: "We say no to the racist and ignorant Danish Front demonstration against Muslims in Denmark and in the world."
Helle Mortensen, a 17-year-old protestor, said: "This affair has gone much too far and it's clearly the fault of the Danish government.
"Freedom of expression does not mean hurting others."
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Many stores had removed their shop window display after police had warned that the left-wing demonstration could include "troublemakers" but there was no violence beyond an occasional call of "Nazi pig" addressed to the far-right marchers, who were clearly outnumbered by their rivals.About 100 Danish Muslims joined the left-wing demonstration "because we want to show the world that Muslims are not terrorists", Bassen, a 20-year-old demonstrator, said.
Throughout the day, police forces patrolled streets in number and sought to prevent confrontations as Muslim, nationalist, and leftist groups planned demonstrations.While demonstrations in the Nørrebro and Frederiksberg districts were peacefully conducted, one protest in the city of Hillerød, 30 km north of Copenhagen, resulted in 162 arrests, said police inspector Mogens Lauridsen.
About 30 members of the nationalist group, Danish Front, organised the Hillerød protest in response to what it considered 'Muslim aggression'. Leftist political groups organised a counter-demonstration and were joined by a number of people with an immigrant background.
Police officers armed with tear gas and batons struggled to maintain distance between the antagonistic groups.
'We feel it's best that people be allowed to express their opinions separated,' said police spokesman Flemming Munch.
The groups yelled slogans at each other for about two hours in sub-zero temperatures, but no physical confrontation took place. As the leftist political groups headed back to the train station, however, they began throwing bottles and other projectiles at police.
Police arrested about 110 leftists, as well as about 50 people with an immigrant background.
Something rotten in Denmark
Last year, when a Danish author couldn't find an artist to illustrate his upcoming book about Mohammed, the newspaper Jyllands-Posten called for submissions, and eventually published 12 images - all cartoonish depictions of the prophet.
It's well worth taking a moment to look at how cartoons in a Danish newspaper led to an incident of global significance. London Telegraph reporter David Rennie recently interviewed Ahmed Akkari, spokesman for the European Committee for Honouring the Prophet, a group comprised of 27 European Muslim organizations. Akkari was also a member of a Danish Muslim delegation that made repeated trips to the Middle East late last year. They carried with them a 43-page dossier on "Danish racism and Islamophobia" that included the now infamous 12 cartoon images of Mohammed.
The group met with "scholars, officials of the Arab League and senior clerics in Cairo and Beirut" including Amur Musa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, and the mufti of Egypt. Akkari describes how the outrage spread from there:
I think why there is a strong attention on the case now is there has been the pilgrimage, there has been the Hajj to Mecca, you know the Hajj is where 2.5 million Muslims meet, there are conferences and small talks here and there, and I think that it was just in the Hajj that for example Saudi and other countries may have heard about the case, and thought it was very, very bad, and they began to react.He also carefully explains why he considers the Muslim response appropriate
Q: What do you think about the current reaction in the Muslim world? Is it excessive, or appropriate?But nonetheless Akkari expresses surprise at the impact of his visits - claiming that even the consumer boycott was an unforeseen result:A: I think it is natural, actually, because you know Jyllands-Posten has stepped on the feelings of one billion Muslims in the world, by drawing their prophet with a bomb in his head, and by making him ugly and a criminal with one eye.
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The most calm and cultural Muslim cannot accept that I am accused of following a man who has a bomb in his head that is going to blow up in a second, this is what makes the reactions, believe me.
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Here in Denmark we have a debate right now about freedom of speech, we have a debate about drawing Mohammed or not. But I have seen some history books in the library, where they have some drawings of Mohammed, from Iranian and Persian ancient times.Why didn't Muslims protest on those, if the problem was drawings? The problem was the way he has been drawn, and the negative attitude it leaves in the eyes of the viewer.
Q: So do you support the right of Western authors to use respectful drawings of Mohammed?
A: I actually think we should take this debate later. This has been a debate between Muslim scholars for many hundred years and so on.
Q: Do you support the consumer boycott?Having succeeded in inflaming the Muslim world, Akkari is now focused on ensuring that the West sees Muslims as victims...A: I was surprised it got so far.
But we never understood that you should try to test the freedom of speech on one of the most exhausted, and discriminated against and weak communities in Europe, everybody knows that about the Muslim community. We have criminal youngsters, we have fanatics, we have social and economic problems, we have a large number of people who are illiterate and have low qualifications....while emphasizing the real threat comes from European "Right Wing extremists"Trying to test the freedom of speech against a group like that? And using the character of someone like Mohammed who is a worldwide character, that is very well respected by many non-Muslims, as a person who had great influence in history. They can criticise, but to put a bomb in his head, like that, it was very bad.
You know in Denmark we have some right wing extremists, and we have in the Muslim world also average people who maybe do not have a reasonable mind.Recall that Raed Halil, identified as the head of the European Committee for Defending Prophet Muhammad, is quoted by Islam Online above warning "All hell will break loose, if those extremists burn the Qur’an".Q: Is there a danger of violence?
A: For four months, we have been trying to take this conflict in hand politically, through the legal system, so we should not see any case, any scenario like Holland.
Q: Like the killing of Theo van Gogh?
A: Yes. I can tell you, if just one person does anything wrong in Denmark, I think our mosques, our institutions, our women, our girls will be a target for some right-wing extremists here in Denmark. It isn't in any Muslims' interests that this case will escalate.
Q: Do you think it will happen?
A: I am afraid, we had a meeting with the Danish intelligence service two days ago, we came out with a common press release, and other Muslims and imams. At that meeting, they said that the situation is very, very tense, and they asked that we should participate, to talk to people, we said we would.
Right now we have an SMS going round between our contacts, telling people not to react to provocations from right-wing extremists, like burning the Koran, but I know some Muslims will not listen to our message.
The collusion of the Left in the events in Europe is also notable. Back to Akkari, and more details of the threat posed by European Right Wing extremists:
Q: Do you feel some violence is more likely than not?This is a rather amazing statement - "rather cheeky" as the Brits might say. The evidence above makes it increasingly apparent that the events surrounding "toonrage" have been carefully orchestrated, well planned and coordinated.A: It is more likely. I have actually received threats on my phone. Also, one of the other leaders of a delegation, some people came to his home and asked his neighbours which was his home.
It is more likely right now, here and now, any minute that we will hear of violence, unless the police can keep an eye on it, and God protects us.
Q: Do you think the violence will come from one side, or either side?
A: I am sure it could come from both sides, because many Europeans are not so well aware about the dangers from right-wing extremists. They are just as dangerous as Muslim extremists. But they are very organised, and working under the table, so you cannot see them.
Update: related - with additional background.
More: Michael Totten from Beirut.
This week the US military in Europe has advised its members of possible violent demonstrations. Troops are urged to "remain vigilant to their surroundings and to move away from anything that looks like a protest or civil disobedience."
Such warnings are all too common here - similar cautions were issued during the French riots last Fall. This latest admonition is based on anticipation of possible response by Muslim communities throughout Europe to rumors that Danish right wing groups may stage a Koran burning in Copenhagen.
This is the latest turn of events initiated with the publication of cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. For background Die Welt has a chronological (English-language) compilation of reports from the European media.
If your first reaction is to declare the while thing absurd, congratulations - you are sane. And condolences - you live in psychotic times.
Tens of thousands took to the streets in Gaza and the West Bank in some of the biggest Palestinian demonstrations in a decade. In Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, anger boiled over as up to 300 hardline Islamist activists went on the rampage in the lobby of a Jakarta building housing the Danish embassy.But there are also voices of reason:
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In Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf condemned the cartoons. "I have been hurt, grieved and I am angry," he said, describing European papers reprinting the cartoons as "vicious, outrageous and provocative". He said the cartoons would escalate the "clash of civilisations" between the West and the Islamic world, and that the newspapers that printed them were "oblivious of what is happening in the world".In Gaza, Danish flags were burned after 10,000 protesters marched along the main Omar al-Muktar Street to a rally organised by the Islamic group Hamas, which won last week's Palestinian elections. And while some imams urged restraint in their Friday prayers, others were outspoken. At the Omari mosque in Gaza City, 9,000 worshippers were told those behind the cartoons should have their heads cut off. In the West Bank city of Nablus, Imam Hassan Sharif said: "If they want a war of religion, we are ready."
The clashes in Indonesia underlined Denmark's unwanted role as a focal point for Muslim anger at perceived Western blasphemy. Demonstrators outside the embassy in Jakarta pelted the Danish coat of arms with eggs, tore down the flag and set it on fire.
They pushed their way past security guards into the building housing the embassy, but were stopped by their leaders before they could reach the offices on the 25th floor.
In Bangladesh, some 4,000 people demonstrated against the cartoons in the capital, Dhaka, chanting: "Apologise to Muslims." Many joined the protest after Friday prayers at the city's main mosque.
"Put a brake on your so-called unlimited freedom of expression, otherwise you will not be spared," Moulana Kazi Morshed al-Haq, leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic organisation, said at the otherwise peaceful rally.
In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai said: "As much as we condemn this, we must have, as Muslims, the courage to forgive and to not make an issue of dispute between religions or cultures."Given the current noise level, that may be hard to hear.
Meanwhile, the European/World Left sees opportunity, and fans the flames:
The decision of the right-wing Danish government to defend the newspaper that initially published the cartoons, and of newspapers in Norway, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland and Hungary, both conservative and liberal, to reprint them has nothing to do with freedom of the press or the defense of secularism. Such claims make a mockery of these democratic principles.They are correct that it's not really about cartoons - and their support of repression over freedom is genuine. But they see themselves as the ultimate victor in a clash between two other factions, and therein lies their motivation. They might be surprised to discover most in the Islamic World consider them not at all, while others may find them little more than useful idiots - temporary allies at best. This blind spot can be attributed to the fact that this is exactly how the Left views view the Muslim population. Both ideologies are based on a presumption of ultimate world domination - one faction convinced the sweep of history is on their side, the other supported by the will of Allah.The promulgation of such bigoted filth is, rather, bound up with a shift by the European ruling elites to line up more squarely behind the neo-colonial interventions of US imperialism in the Middle East and Central Asia. It is no accident that it occurs in the midst of the ongoing slaughter in Iraq, new threats against the Palestinian masses, and the preparations to launch sanctions, and eventual military aggression, against Iran.
It is, moreover, a continuation and escalation of a deliberate policy in Europe, spearheaded by the political right and aided and abetted by the nominal “left” parties, to demonize the growing Muslim population, isolate it, and use it as a scapegoat for the growing social misery affecting broad layers of the working class.
Bear in mind the above reactions are to cartoons - any ill-advised Koran burning will be followed by escalation well beyond that. And US troops aren't the only ones who've been advised about it:
Yesterday one of the leading Christian Palestinian clerics in Gaza, Father Manuel Mussallam, said that "Mohamed is a high Arab personality".Note that Fatah and Islamic Jihad are cited as sources of the Koran burning story. The warning issued to US military personnel in Europe does not specify what press reports were used as basis for concern, but notes (rightly - given last year's Koran flushing stories) that mere allegations of such an event could spark violence.He said that the Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar had met him and Christian nuns on Thursday within an hour of complaints about a statement issued by Fatah and Islamic Jihad armed militants. These warned that churches in Gaza, along with the EU office, would be "bombarded" if plans for a Koran-burning protest in Denmark went ahead.
In fact, allegations that such an event was planned is all it took:
DAMASCUS - Angry crowds stormed the buildings housing the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday, setting fire to both in protest over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, an AFP correspondent said.It should be noted that response from the European Muslim community has been relatively quiet thus far.
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Telephone text messages had been circulating in Damascus claiming that Danes were going to be gathering in one of Copenhagen's main squares on Saturday to burn copies of the Koran. People were urged to gather at the embassy to protest.These were similar to messages being sent in Egypt earlier this week.
"Denmark wants to burn the sacred Koran on Saturday in Copenhagen in response to the Muslim boycott (of Danish products)," the message in Egypt said, calling on Muslims to curse the Danish.
"Send (this message on) and you will be rewarded," the text said.
Let's ignore for the moment the miscalculating (and marginally significant) Left - the Islamic world sees them as part of the decadent West anyway - and encapsulate this "clash of civilizations" as it stands today. One group has a large percentage of members quite willing to die in large numbers to defend their faith. Their perceived opponents are perfectly capable of making this happen, but thus far reluctant to oblige. The tipping point comes when actions reduce that reluctance sufficiently to allow reaction. (Think 9/11 - and the results of that represent a very small percentage of the destructive ability of a modern superpower - because destruction was not the goal).
Thus far in this case the element of absurdity (westerners aren't going to war over cartoons) is prohibitive. No doubt most are hoping that as with the Newsweek-engineered "Koran flushing" outrage last year this tempest will ultimately recede, cool heads prevail, and an uneasy calm will be restored. This will most likely be the case (I certainly hope so) but while such a result may keep the peace for some undetermined period of time there is an element of civilized self deception involved. While those in the West may like to perceive such events as discrete flare ups, those on the "other side" most disposed to achieving that goal of dying for the cause view this very much as an ongoing conflict - and the next chapter will most likely not involve cartoons.
Until then, here's a second, and equally accurate description of the current state of affairs: They are perfectly willing to use cartoons to justify killing us, and we are incapable of believing it.
Update: More on the origin of the "cartoon wars" here -don't miss it.
Or this must-read from Jeff Goldstein.
The Washington Post takes us on a tour of a US base in Iraq:
BALAD, Iraq -- Staff Sgt. Chad Twigg is on a one-year tour of duty in the middle of the Sunni Triangle. But on a recent winter morning, he wasn't digging a foxhole or tracking an enemy sniper or trying to grab some sleep between firefights.I passed through Balad briefly - didn't get to see much, though in my half hour there I did experience one attack.Instead, the Army mechanic was checking out iPod accessories in one of the two post exchanges here at the biggest American base in Iraq. He worries about the lure of the PX, with its walls of shiny electronic devices and racks of new CDs. "I try to stay away from it to save money," Twigg said. But on average, 15 soldiers a day succumb and buy a television, said John Burk, the PX manager.
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Balad is scheduled to be one of the last four U.S. bases in Iraq and probably will be the very last, officials say. "Balad will be here, I believe, to the very end," said Brig. Gen. Frank Gorenc, the Slovenian-born F-15 pilot who commands the Air Force side of the operation.
But what's all this about a schedule?
More updates on the shooting of Senior Airman Elio Carrion. The San Bernardino Sheriff released the name of the deputy who shot Airman Carrion, and the victim's family wonders why the shooter isn't in jail.
I do too.
(Original story here)
From comments on our previous story
Dear General Brooks,No doubt that wasn't the only letter sent. But the above comment was followed swiftly by this from the same source:First off, let me establish some bona fides: I am a 1982 DMG RA Commission in Armor/Cavalry from University of Florida, graduate US Army Ranger School Class 3/4-83, 9 year veteran with cavalry platoon, armor company command, battalion staff, Brigade S3, etc. Father: USMA '46, both Grandfathers USMA '19, 20, Great Grandfather, USMA 1897, Uncles, cousins,etc., all USMA. "Beat Navy" were my first publicly spoken words at age 2 in the Catholic chapel at West Point (right in the middle of Father McCormick's homily!). I am as dyed-in-the-wool pro-military, pro-soldier and pro-US Army as you wiill ever find. I say this to alert you to the fact that this letter comes from an old soldier speaking to a fellow soldier, though I have been a civilian for 15 years. I know that you have placed your sons in harm's way and I value your sacrifice. I still love our soldiers, and I am so proud of them and the work they are doing on behalf of me and mine and our republic. I know, as you do, that their story is never told well, if at all, and that those who both love the soldier AND speak on their behalf in the media are rare and should be treasured.
I have been privileged to have read Michael Yon's work, seen his stunning photographs and am proud to have even corresponded with him from time to time (mainly about our shared alma mater and the Florida Gators). I am flabbergasted that the US Army has chosen to make Michael Yon a target for both maltreatment regarding his excellent and award-winning photgraph of Major Dave Bieger and Farah, as well as placing obstacles to his return to the Iraqi theater. I am unsure if you have followed Michael's work, but you will not find a more clear and unambiguous supporter of the soldiers and Marines on duty in Iraq in any publication or mediume extant. Michael is an ex-operator, so he doesn't punch out jingo-istic propaganda, but paints stunningly accurate portraits of the type of men and women you and I both know comprise our armed forces, but whose stories are seldom, if ever, told. His sories of the Deuce-Four were told with such beuty and realism that I found my palms sweating, I was so engrossed.
Sir, I know that I only see this issue from the perspective of those who love and appreciate Michael's work. There may be another side, but it certainly seems as if the US Army position as I have seen it directly quoted seems very narrowly constructed and gives little acknowledgment to the powerful impact Michael has had praising our armed forces. Frankly, it seems like it was drawn up by some JAG "Garrit-trooper" and endorsed by others of that ilk. Michael has smelled the cordite and camo-stick, on duty and even more amazingly, as a civilian. Why does he undertake such hazardous duty? Because he loves soldiers and wants the world to see them in their powerful glory and in their tender humanity. His picture of Major Bieger was the most moving picture I think I have ever seen. It captures everything that you and I know about the Army, and the story of the people who are in it. Do not deny him the credit for having taken such risks to himself and his family, just to tell that story.
I hope the US Army will reconsider it;s stance on the matter at hand, acknowledge the work as Michael's and further allow him to return to doing the job few others have the temerity or the talent to do.
Sincerely,
DWP
Knoxville, TNPosted by G8rRanger at February 3, 2006 01:57 AM
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS (EDITED BY ME) REPLY BELOW FROM BG VINCE BROOKS, WHO RESPONDED TO MY MESSAGE (ABOVE) WITHIN 1 HOUR OF MY SENDING IT.And today at Michael Yon's:His reply.
Thanks for the note. Thanks for your service and the service of your family. [PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS FOR ME OMITTED]
It is an important issue to address and as you might imagine it is complicated. Keep up your support of Michael Yon because he has performed a great service, to be sure. But keep up your support of the Army you're a part of too. We'll sort this out.
END OF BG BROOKS REPLY
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I replied again to him. I told him the military has NOT been big supporters of blogs and it's not in their nature to be fans of undisciplined press in a combat zone, even if they are soldiers or ex-soldiers like Michael. I understand that, but Mike is one of the good guys. And he's a Florida Gator, so what else is there?
Still, you ought to know that Vince has the ball, knows Mike is a good guy and will sort it out.
G8rRanger
Knoxville, TNPosted by G8rRanger at February 3, 2006 03:56 AM
The dispute over the unattributed and unauthorized distribution of my photographs has been resolved in principle to the satisfaction of the involved parties. The dispute had been exacerbated by Army lawyers, but once the matter was brought forefront and examined by Brigadier General Brooks, Chief of Public Affairs, it was resolved by another more senior Army attorney. At the end of the day, the Army did the right thing. I greatly appreciate the efforts of those involved, including the blogosphere and Brigadier General Brooks, whose determined attention and immediate action removed the obstacle.Good to see this resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned.
Pundit Review has a list of the numerous blogs that were on this issue.
And a tip of the hat to commenters on our story of Yon's submission for a Pulitzer Prize for bringing the story to the blogosphere.
But above all, I agree with Chap's bottom line.
More accusations of police brutality in San Bernadino County:
This is so typical of this department that is known for its obfuscation and outright manipulations of the system to protect their rogue cops. And how do I know this? A hint, first hand experience. I have both a state and federal case pending against this department and the county that protects them. In March it will be five years that they have jerked us around in court with delay after delay. One of the plaintiffs in the case, one who nearly died of fright the day of our incident, has, in fact, now died at the age of 94. Yes, you read right, these no good bastards broke into a 90 year old woman's home and frightened her so badly she stopped breathing and had to be revived.Rest here, with an update here.
A former Air Force Public Affairs Officer:
Back in the Spring of 1987, a group of really active anti-nuclear protesters caused some excitement for me. For several weekends in a row, they rallied outside the two main entrance gates at McConnell Air Force base in Wichita. Now, this was during the Cold War, you remember and McConnell was part of Strategic Air Command – the guys capable of delivering nukes anywhere in the world faster than FedEx.I'd like to see that done today.Rather than have their protests continue forever, I convinced the people in charge – not including the colonel who retired in the middle of the night by the way – that we should stage a little public relations effort by inviting the protesters to get to know us better by playing a little game of softball on the base.
A great story - I'm not revealing the final score, you'll have to read it all. (And that bit about the Colonel was a real "public affair".)
Last year the photo was all over the web, credited to AP/US Army: Major Dave Bieger cradling Farah, the young girl killed by terrorists. But the photographer was Mike Yon, and he didn't authorize the release. Now, according to the Chicago-area Daily Southtown, Mike Yon is preparing a copyright infringement lawsuit:
The Army's decision to release the photo has Yon, widely considered one of the most pro-military voices covering the war, readying a copyright infringement lawsuit.I'm no expert, but that defense doesn't seem fully armored.In an Oct. 13 letter to Yon denying his request for compensation for the alleged infringement, Army intellectual property lawyer Alan Klein wrote that Yon had given up his right for compensation when he signed the standard liability form all embedded journalists must sign.
The form states that Yon agreed to "release the (military) of any liability from and hold them harmless for any injuries I may suffer or any equipment that may be damaged as a result of my covering combat."
In his letter, Klein argues that an injury to Yon's copyright is the same as an injury to his leg or his camera.
The release frees the Army "from any liability for any injury he may suffer," Klein wrote. "The claimant asserts he was injured by the distribution of his copyrighted works to the news media. This release absolves the Army of any liability for that injury."
Update: Pundit Review is calling on bloggers to support Mike Yon.
The Boston Herald reports that Yon (a Massachusetts resident) is appealing to Senator Ted Kennedy for help:
“I never authorized this distribution and immediately asked the Army to stop it,” Yon recently wrote Kennedy, the senior Massachusetts senator and a member of the U.S. Senate’s Armed Services Committee.This is just one reason why the Army will probably lose the information war on Iraq.
<...>
A spokesman for Kennedy said the senator’s office is reviewing the matter. A lawyer for the Army could not be reached.
Yon, who paid his own way to cover events in Iraq, said the irony is that his reporting was meant to counter what he considered inaccurate mainstream-media coverage of the war.
He said the Army is now making it difficult for him to return to Iraq.
Update 4 Feb: Well, that settles that.
Senior Airman (Air Force E4) Elio Carrion is a USAF Security Police troop who recently returned from Iraq. On leave in San Bernadino County, California, his welcome home included three rounds from a sheriff's deputy - but we don't mean free drinks.
The shooting, which occurred on a residential street in Chino, was recorded by a bystander and shows Carrion crouching on the ground telling the deputy that he was "on your side" and meant him "no harm."Caught on video. I haven't seen it yet, but I heard the audio today, and it's pretty damning.At one point, a voice on the recording appears to say "stay on the ground." Seconds later, however, the deputy appears to tell Carrion: "Get up, get up." As Carrion rises, the deputy, who is standing several feet away, shoots him three times.
Carrion remains hospitalized in good condition.
Carrion was the passenger in a blue Corvette that had led the deputy on a brief high-speed chase Sunday night. The chase ended when the driver crashed into a fence on a residential street. Neither Carrion nor the driver had any weapons, sheriff's officials said.
Update: Video here, better video here and a feeble attempt to defend the shooter here.
The LA Times says they've ID'd the shooter
A source close to the investigation confirmed the identity of the deputy as Ivory J. Webb IV, 45.Update 2:Answering the front door of Webb's home, a woman said the deputy, currently on paid administrative leave, was not willing to discuss the shooting.
"We have nothing to say," the woman said. "Please leave our property."
Webb was named as one of seven co-defendants in a 2004 federal civil lawsuit against San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies that alleged excessive use of force by another deputy. Jurors in that case ruled for the officers and cleared Webb, who had been accused of failing to stop his colleague from misconduct.
Webb is believed to be the son of a former Compton chief of police, also named Ivory Webb.
This is so typical of this department that is known for its obfuscation and outright manipulations of the system to protect their rogue cops. And how do I know this? A hint, first hand experience. I have both a state and federal case pending against this department and the county that protects them.Rest here.
4 Feb update: The San Bernardino Sheriff confirms the name of the deputy who shot Airman Carrion, and the victim's family wonders why the shooter isn't in jail.
I do too.
Behold - the power of the open post. ;)
Join the Army of Davids below.
There's a movie here somewhere:
They had worked together for three years — Air Force Tech Sergeant Jamie Dana and her bomb sniffing dog, Rex — when, last June in Iraq, a roadside bomb exploded under their Humvee.He was alive, of course. And TSgt Dana wanted him by her side as she recovered.Sgt. Dana, with massive internal bleeding, a fractured spine and collapsed lungs, had one question for the doctors.
“I said, ‘Is my dog dead?’ And they said, ‘Yes.’ And that just breaks your heart,” she recalls.
In a letter, a military official said letting Dana have Rex "would not be a legal or advisable use of Air Force assets despite the sentimental value and potential healing effects it might produce."Skipping the middle of the story, here's the endTop Air Force officials later relented, but they originally insisted that there was nothing they can do to make it happen because the law forbids giving away a trained military dog while it's still useful. Rex is 5 years old and the German shepherd owed the military the remaining five years of his useful life.
Tech. Sgt. Jamie Dana and her dog, Rex, both wounded by an improvised explosive device in June in Iraq, capped a tour of Capitol Hill on Tuesday with an appearance in the House of Representatives during the president’s State of the Union message.More of that middle here and here and here.
Here's hoping they live happily ever after.
Interesting passage in David Ignatius' Washington Post column:
The French Connection's impact is clear from some examples. Let's start with a secret trip to Damascus by Gourdault-Montagne in November 2003 to see Syrian President Bashar Assad. At the time, French-American relations were still in the deep freeze because of Chirac's refusal to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but the French were doing some early damage control. Gourdault-Montagne brought the Syrian leader a message from Chirac and two other critics of the Iraq war, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin.It's a dangerous, complex world indeed.The message to Assad was: The war has changed things in the Middle East, and you have to show you have changed, too -- by visiting Jerusalem or taking some other bold step for peace with Israel. The French were probably hoping to gain diplomatic leverage with Washington by acting as a peace broker, but that's not how Assad took it. "Are you the spokesman of the Americans?" he asked Gourdault-Montagne. Worried that France, Germany and Russia were joining a U.S. pressure campaign, a nervous Assad soon began trying to consolidate his control over Lebanon. He forced the reelection of Lebanon's pliant pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, and began squeezing Syria's nemesis, Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. That process culminated in Hariri's murder in February 2005.
Elements of the 1st Armored Division might not make it all the way to Iraq this year. While they wait, the troops seek "console" - ation:
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — Ernest Gentry, a 21-year-old Texas native, was staring wide-eyed at a video game, mesmerized by the images of a futuristic gun battle designed to kill alien religious zealots trying to destroy the human race.If "waiting to watch a copy of the movie “Roadhouse”" doesn't define boredom I don't know what does. (And if you're that bored, try memorizing some Chuck Norris Facts. Not only are they useful conversation starters, they look great on annual performance reports.)“Whoa. … That was violent. That was pretty cool,” Gentry, a private first class, said as he and several others watched and played the video game, called Halo, at the recreation tent here on a training base south of the Iraqi border.
The shoot-’em-up video game could be as close as Gentry gets to combat this year. As one of the nearly 3,500 troops with the Baumholder, Germany-based 1st Armored Division’s 2nd Brigade, Gentry has been here for nearly two months while his unit, originally expected to go into Iraq, has been in a holding pattern — deployed and away from home, but outside Iraq with no enemy nearby.
As a result, video games are just one of many nonmilitary activities that the soldiers here devise to help pass the time between their ongoing training drills and maintenance programs.
“Our biggest challenge here is just trying to fight boredom,” said Spc. John Holt, a 27-year-old medic, as he was waiting to watch a copy of the movie “Roadhouse” on one of the televisions at the newly expanded facility for Morale, Welfare and Recreation.
But don't misunderstand, that's what the soldiers are doing in their off-duty time (and they'd likely be doing he same in Iraq). On duty, they train and prepare.
[Lt. Col. Rich] Anderson said the commanders continue to plan for a range of possible missions that may include bringing the entire brigade or a portion of it into Iraq later this year. Formally, Army officials say the 2nd Brigade should expect to stay in Kuwait for an entire year, serving as a rapid response force for any regional crisis in Iraq.The Brigade's position is a result of the cautious, methodical approach to drawdown in Iraq. Hopefully they won't be needed there anytime soon, and boredom and the Covenant will be the toughest enemies they face.
Relatively good news from Reuters - attacks (and subsequent US deaths) in Iraq have declined:
The death toll among U.S. troops in Iraq dropped back to average levels in December and January after a bloody autumn, and U.S. officials said on Tuesday insurgent attacks have been waning since October.US deaths in Iraq tend to vary widely from month to month. One significant factor not included in this story (or most others) are that the peaks occur when the US is involved in the larger scale offensive operations. As for lulls, Iraq does have a winter - and that's now, with cold rain and temperatures near freezing. This sort of weather tends to keep insurgent activity down.The number of attacks conducted by insurgents has dwindled from more than 700 per week in the first week of October, just before the October 15 referendum on a new Iraqi constitution, to the current level of about 430 per week, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.
This counts all attacks against U.S. and other foreign troops, Iraqi government security forces, civilians and infrastructure targets, Col. Johnson said. Attacks that cause damage or casualties are considered ``effective.''
``They've had a fairly consistent effectiveness rate of about 24 percent throughout that period,'' he said.
But down is good. And with Sunnis turning against al Qaeda foreigners, US and Iraqi Forces conducting operations designed to decrease infiltration along the Syrian border, and a new government offering some hope for progress, perhaps this is the beginning of a trend. (The Washington Times notes that a decrease in suicide bombings in January may further reflect that.)
I'm hopeful, but also inclined to agree with the quoted experts on this one:
``We've seen these cycles of ebb and flow half a dozen times or more since the war began. One can hope that this is a permanent decline, but it's still much too early to reach that conclusion,'' said defense analyst Ted Carpenter of the Cato Institute think tank.Other information given in the story includes current troop strength levels:
<...>
``As we continue to progress and as the new government gets settled in, I think we're in a position for this trend to continue. But whether that will be the case, who knows?'' Col. Johnson said.
Trained Iraqi security personnel: 227,000
United States: 138,000 (down from a peak of 161,000 in October and nearly that level in December)
Other coalition forces (British, South Korean, Italian, Polish, etc.) 20,000
AFGHANISTAN: VILLAGERS ATTACK TALIBAN OVER MUSICFour years after liberation and they still don't have mp3 players!
Villagers attacked Taliban rebels who had blockaded a road and were confiscating music cassettes from passing cars in southern Spin Boldak and saying music is forbidden by Islam, officials said. Two militants and a villager were killed. Ten militants had seized dozens of cassettes from travelers before the villagers attacked, said Abdul Wasai, the government chief in the district.
BECAUSE OF BUSH!
< /sarcasm >
