 |
|
 |
| Monthly Archives | [−] |
Prev | List | Random | Next |
Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and other sources around the world. If you're a blogger, you can join the conversation. If you link to any of these stories, add a link to the Dawn Patrol too and your trackback will be added to the list. Hat Tips to the Dawn Patrol are greatly appreciated.
An Act of Kindness from Iraq -- [Michael Totten - in Iraq]
Sending a thousand dollars to California will be about as helpful as throwing a glass of water into the firestorm. It’s the thought that counts here. And what surprising thought it is. How many Americans expect charity from Iraq?
As Lowry points out, “most Americans do not consider Iraqis as people.” He’s right. Most of us only know them from sensational media reports about masked insurgents, wailing widows, and death squads. Most of us may instinctively understand that the majority of Iraqis are just regular people, but it’s hard to keep that in mind when the only thing we get Stateside is war coverage. I’ve met hundreds of Iraqis myself during trips to their country as a reporter, so it’s a bit easier for me to see them as just people. I’m still surprised that anyone in that broken impoverished land would even consider donating hard-earned money to Californians.
Baghdad's Doura Neighborhood
Street and trash improvement
Ramadi parade celebrates unity, security -- [MNF-I]
RAMADI — The last parade held in downtown Ramadi was by insurgent forces in the fall of 2006 when the city was gripped in daily violence.
Times have changed now as government officials and city locals recently held a parade down Route Michigan here. Capt. Aaron Southard, Information Operations officer for 1st Brigade Combat Team, said the parade speaks volumes when considering the former violence that plagued Ramadi.
Iraqi citizens take stand against insurgents; aid National Police to discover cache -- [MNF-I]
BAGHDAD – Iraqi National Police, with the 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st National Police Division discovered a weapons cache based off a resident’s tip in the southeast district of New Baghdad in the Iraqi capital Oct. 28.
The tip led the policemen to discover eight 80mm mortar rockets, seven 60mm mortar rockets, nine rocket propelled grenade rounds with three launchers, one explosively formed projectile, three grenades, one mortar tube with base plate and tripod, 300 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, two sets of body armor and copper wire.
IED Emplacement Insurgents Team get caught by US soldiers in Iraq
Watch what the US soldiers found in insurgent's car.
Coalition Forces Free Hostage from al Qaeda -- [Jawa Report]
BAQUBAH, Iraq – A 19 year-old man was rescued from an al Qaeda-in-Iraq prison in the village of al Hammadi, 10 miles southwest of Baqubah, by 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, during an air assault Oct. 28.
Airing Now: Mike Moseley’s “Our Enemy” -- [Pat Dollard]
...The enemy has attack our soldiers with words that are met to wound his pride, damage his honor, and question his integrity. Our men of honor have volunteered to cross the world to fight an enemy that is viscous and hides behind women and children. Al-Qaeda doesn’t have a uniform and never will. Al-Qaeda knows in a fair fight they do not stand a chance. The most dangerous enemy to the American soldier doesn’t where a uniform, fire a AK-47, plant IED, live in Iraq or Afghanistan. The most dangerous enemies are the one’s that ambush their own. America’s finest have taken wounds not from the front, the known enemy Al-Qaeda, but from the ones that have sent them to fight half a world away. The enemies have said that “the war is lost”calling for defeat. They have called our soldiers “Soviet gulag guards”, the butcher “Pol Pot’s finest.” A great cheer is raised from the camp of Al-Qaeda, and their brothers in terror as America’s men of honor have been betrayed by a fellow marine, that fool called our soldiers “cold blooded murders”. America’s enemies have called Gen David Petreous dishonorable, and Gen. Peter Pace ” incompetent”. To call these men dishonorable and incompetent is without reason and thought. For it is the liberal’s attack on the battlefield soldiers that bring Al-Qaeda and the left together as allies in the war on terror.
Iraq is looking better month by month. But at the current rate, surely we shall fail in Afghanistan:-- [Michael Yon]
A great deal of flak came in for my 2006 reporting from Afghanistan. Unfortunately, that on-the-ground reporting is proving correct nearly to the letter. The following three-part report summarizing my observations and experiences in Afghanistan more than a year ago, warned of the growing threat of a narco-fueled Taliban increasingly able to challenge a national government overgrown with incompetency and choked with corruption.
12 Mechanized Brigade:They Beat The Taliban And They Beat Them Well.
Six months ago the town of Sangin was controlled by the Taliban and the small ISAF unit there was under siege. But as 12 Mechanized Brigade’s six month deployment to Afghanistan came to an end yesterday, the town is thriving once again with a Governor and Chief of Police, and throughout Helmand the Taliban have been put on the back foot.
BOOM! -- [Yellowhammering Afghanistan - in Afghansitan]
We don't get to see many of them in the nation-building missions we're doing today. So when one of our district teams made arrangements to destroy some mortar and rocket rounds taken from the Taliban and the Afghan National Police, I exercised my rank and made sure I was along for the ride.
We attended our first shura today -- [Yellowhammering Afghanistan - in Afghansitan]
Actually, it was the second one for me, but the last time I was working with the police on perimeter security and never got to go into the actual shura itself, so this was the first one I attended.
Many schoolboys brought Afghan flags to the shura.The shura is like a town hall meeting in which everyone - every male anyway - in a given area attends. This shura was in Dih Yak, one of our districts in Ghazni province.
173D brave Taliban, rugged terrain in Afghanistan -- [Soldiers' Angels Germany]
...Last week, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment descended a mountain peak well over 7,000 feet tall after spending six days encamped along a ridgeline.
They had been on the offensive against Taliban militants holed up in the Pech River Valley, which meanders and winds throughout the volatile Kunar province.
They had all of their gear, guns and ammo — and water. Each man’s backpack was between 60 to 100 pounds.
Suicide bomber kills seven outside military headquarters in Rawalpindi -- [LWJ]
...The attack was confirmed as a suicide bombing, as his head of the bomber was recovered at the scene. Two senior Pakistani government officials are downplaying the attack as an attempt on Musharraf and other Pakistani political and military leaders.
"It was a suicide attack. The area is sensitive -- we don't know what the exact target was," said Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid. "It appears to be an attack targeting police," said Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Cheema.
The chief of police for Rawalpindi said otherwise. "He wanted to get past our security cordon but we were successful in stopping him," said Saud Aziz.
Somalia: Captured ship crew "overpowers" pirates, sailing to safety -- [EagleSpeak]
The crew of a captured ship fights back and gains their freedom, it is reported here:A group of pirates that hijacked a cargo ship in the waters off Somalia have been overpowered by the ship's crew, according to one official. ...
Did Syria Have Visible WMD Program Prior to US Invasion of Iraq?-- [Counterterrorism Blog]
The New York Times has published a remarkable piece on October 27 suggesting that satellite imagery which is now available commercially showed the construction of a nuclear facility in Syria that was well-developed as early as the summer of 2003, and which had been initiated as early as 2001.
A Disturbing Pattern that Benefits Terrorists -- [Counterterrorism Blog]
There is a disturbing story in today's Washington Post on the role the U.S. weapons market plays in arming Mexican drug cartels.
"You're looking at the same firepower here on the border that our soldiers are facing in Iraq and Afghanistan," Thomas Mangan, a spokesman in Phoenix for the ATF.
The army of "ants" described in the story, carrying weapons south through the same routes they use to bring drugs north, is not new. What appears to be new is ...
Target: Jamal al-Badawi -- [The Captain’s Journal]
The mastermind behind the USS Cole bombing has either been released by authorities in Yemen, or is soon to be released.
...It is a truism that the best developed plans will come to naught at times when the predicate for the plans is the honor of other men and nations. The U.S. must negotiate and purchase and obtain agreement and all of the things that the State Department works at, but in the end, we must be prepared to be alone in the pursuit of our own national security interests.
Pissing Contest -- [Exile in Portales]
I find the following exchange hard to believe, Gentle Reader. Just as background, Lori (my Good Friend of 30 years) asked in comments yesterday if I would send my VALOUR-IT post to the USAF Radar Sites Veterans and the Fortuna Air Force Station Vets groups on Yahoo! (I’m a member of both). A great idea, that, so I did as she suggested. Well, the Fortuna AFS group put the post up with no questions asked. The USAFRSV group was an entirely different story. And it isn’t a good story either. Here, for your amusement bemusement and amazement, is the sum total of my correspondence with one of the group's moderators:
Talking With Heroes In Baghdad, Iraq - Clip 1
Combat Paratrooper, Physician Tapped to Head VA -- [The Tank - W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
President Bush will today announce his nomination of Lt. Gen. James B. Peake, former Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, to become the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Lastovicas Welcome Home Troops
Career Army man to challenge Murtha -- [The Tribune-Democrat]
After nearly three decades in the military, William T. Russell’s latest mission has brought him to Johnstown.
The career Army man, just two years short of retirement, has left the service and moved to the Flood City in order to mount a political campaign against veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha.
As a Republican and first-time candidate facing a powerful congressman in the sprawling, Democrat-dominated 12th Congressional District, Russell faces a tough challenge.
Both CNN and the WaPo Play Up ‘Bitter’ Soldier’s Words on Iraq -- [NewsBusters]
The mainstream media’s long march against the Iraq War continues unabated. On October 27, the Washington Post ran a front-page story with an attention-grabbing headline taken from a quote by an American soldier serving in Iraq: "I don’t think this place is worth another soldier’s life." Two days later on October 29, CNN’s Jack Cafferty on "The Situation Room" used the same quote in his "Question of the Hour:" "What does it say about the conflict in Iraq when troops there are saying things like, 'I don't think this place is worth another soldier's life.' Our soldiers are saying that stuff."
'60 Minutes:' U.S. Military as Bad as Taliban -- [NewsBusters]
In a segment on Sunday’s "60 Minutes," anchor Scott Pelley described how "The enemy has killed hundreds of civilians this year, but surprisingly, almost the same number of civilians have been killed by American and allied forces." Pelley focused on U.S. air strikes citing a statistic from the liberal group Human Rights Watch: "So far this year, 17 air strikes have killed more than 270 civilians, according to the humanitarian organization Human Rights Watch."
Whereforartthou Bruce Willis?? -- [Charlie Foxtrot]
It has been two years since I read with great anticipation, Michael Yon's ongoing saga of embededment (Hey, new word!) with the "Deuce Four" in Mosul, Iraq. Better vivid depictions of men and battle cannot be found in any other media source, IMHO.
...Alas, two years have passed and doing a brief search I can find no evidence that any "Deuce Four" movie project is on Willis' radar scope.
Instead, I read today that one thing that Willis will be doing is starring in an Oliver Stone picture called 'Pinkville', a 'drama' about My Lai.
(Need more? The previous Dawn Patrol is here.)
