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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.
Intercepted Letter: Al Qaeda Weakened in Iraq -- [FOX News]
U.S. General David Perkins told FOX News Wednesday that the military has intercepted a letter in which senior Al Qaeda operatives reveal their fury over militants' failure to keep up with the campaign against U.S.-led forces in Iraq.
The letter, dated March 6, 2008, has been reproduced with select quotes in Eng More..lish.
It was found on the body of Abu Nizar, believed to be the go-between between Al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Abu Ayyub al-Masri, his leader in Iraq.
Iraqi President Praises Bush as Liberator of Iraq -- [Defense Link]
The Iraqi people look upon President Bush as a liberator who delivered them from a brutal despot, Iraq’s chief executive told reporters at the White House today.
Bush is a hero who saved Iraq “from the worst kind of dictatorship” under Saddam Hussein, More.. President Jalal Talabani said.
And Iraq has “no stronger defender” for its people than Talabani, Bush told reporters after meeting with the Iraqi president. Talabani has served as Iraq’s president since 2005.
Safer Iraq draws foreign investors -- [USA Today]
BAGHDAD — Iraq is poised to receive a flood of foreign investment, thanks to improved security. More than $74 billion in projects have been submitted for government approval in just the past five months, according to Iraq's state investment regulator.
The investors include companies from the U.S., Europe, and Gulf Arab states.
Pentagon chief cites caution on U.S. troop pullout -- [USA Today]
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Congress Wednesday that the United States has entered the "end game" in Iraq, but cautioned that the next president should expect to be in Iraq "for years to come."
Voices of the Awakening: Transfer of Anbar Security and Other News -- [Counterterrorism Blog]
Today FDD's Center for Terrorism Research brings you the second installment of our Voices of the Awakening project, authored by Sterling Jensen, which is designed to provide Westerners a better understanding of ongoing developments in Iraq's Awakening movement. This regular feature includes critical translations of Awakening news and documents, Jensen's observations and analysis, and occasional interviews with the movement's leaders.
Day 82, Morale -- [Rocinante's Burdens - in Iraq]
Military commanders have long believed that morale is important to the performance of soldiers in combat. There are many factors in this and psychologists have filled libraries with studies on the topic.
Sad, Grumpy and Reaching for Perspective -- [Miserable Donuts - in Iraq]
Then we had the September 11th rememberance ceremony this morning. That didn't help my mood any. I'm already grumpy, and then I added sad to the mix. Maybe a little bit pissed off too - I'm still not real happy that I have been sent, twice now, far from my family and home to go fight 7th Century minded savages who seem to do naught but kill the innocent. I wish they would bloody well mind their own business and stop trying to impose their crude vision of how the world should work on everyone else. Blowing up the innocent, all for the Greater Glory of the Almighty... bah.
Split Personality -- [Big Tobacco - in Iraq]
...Doc hands me a new bag of Hextend. An IV solution that is used as a blood plazma expander. This solution is given to patients who have lost so much blood that death is imminent. Hextend looks like any other IV solution, and in the heat of the moment, can be confused with standard saline or Lactate Ringers. Accidentally giving a patient Hextend will double the volume of their blood and cause a stroke. The solution is to mark Hextend bags with red electrical tape. I mark the bag.
I spent six months of my life working on C# .NET Compact Framework versions of drivers for Printech and Extech mobile thermal printers. Those printers are now used at circuses and fares around the nation to print admission tickets and receipts at the concession stand. My reward for a successful project was my replacement by a contractor and a ticket to the unemployment line. Good thing I have a knack for landing on my feet.
It rained today -- [Fobbits need ice cream too - in Iraq]
It was 63% humidity all day @ 142 degrees around midday. It's been humid lately at night, but not during the day; it was pretty brutal. We sat at the staging lot for 5 hours; it turns out we were not supposed to push all along, something about a Ramadan ritual with a boy who walks through the streets beating a drum. It's holy to Muslims and we are respecting the day; the word never got down to us.
Attention Please -- [Kaboom! - in Iraq]
The time has come: CPT G has left the Gravediggers. They said their good byes and held a farewell party on Saturday night. He got to drive a stryker around and they had a chem-light party on the roof of the outpost. There were near beers and there were real tears (poetic, right?). In all seriousness, he has already expressed to me how much he misses the guys and the rush that comes with being on the line. Mama G and I can breath a sigh of relief because he is now in a much safer place, stationed at the FOB (Forward Operating Base) and is in charge of Information Operations.
To Protect & Serve -- [Matel - in Iraq]
We made an office call to the IP chief in Hadithah, and were fortunate to also meet the IP chief from Baghdadi, who was visiting his colleague. This is the third IP office I have visited recently. In all cases, the facilities were clean and well ordered and the individual IP officers in uniform, neat and professional looking.
A question of gratefulness -- [Armed and Curious - in Iraq]
Well, I have enjoyed my leave immensely. I have managed to be lazy yet productive on the home front while even squeezing in some running again to whip my broken old body into some kind of shape other than that of a pear. I can say with no reservations that it is very good to be home. I will let you know how if I feel the same way after I start commuting back up to DC Monday.
Al-Qaida figure: Death to Iraqi Sunni leaders -- [AP]
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — The purported leader of an al-Qaida-dominated insurgent umbrella group in Iraq has called for the murder of all members of the country's main Sunni Arab political party, in an audio message posted Tuesday on militant Web sites.
Raw Video: Pentagon 9/11 Memorial - [AP]
View sick comments
Top Military Officer Urges Major Change in Afghanistan Strategy -- [WaPo]
The nation's top military officer issued a blunt assessment yesterday of the war in Afghanistan and called for an overhaul in U.S. strategy there, warning that thousands more U.S. troops as well as greater U.S. military involvement across the border in Pakistan's tribal areas are needed to battle an intensifying insurgency.
9/11 Remembrance Ceremony at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan
The Overt War in Pakistan -- [Abu Muqawama]
Kip thinks the apparent decision to overtly undertake commando operations in Pakistan is a positive step. There is simply no way to win in Afghanistan without going after sanctuaries in Pakistan.
That said, our focus has to be on defeating the underlying social, economic, and governance issues that allow these sanctuaries to exist, including urgent repair of the Frontier Corps.
Haqqani Network Getting Hammered; Counterattacks in N. Waziristan -- [A Battlefield Tourist]
Over the past two weeks, the Haqqani terrorist network has been under a daily assault, in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, causing heavy fighting to erupt in North Waziristan. It comes on the heels of a US missile strike against the network’s top madrassa facility and now militant fighters loyal to the family are counterattacking.
Pakistan: The Heart of Terror -- [LT Nixon Rants]
President Bush announced today that more Marines (a battallion's worth which is ~500-1000) and more soldiers (a combat brigade which is ~2000-4000) are headed to Afghanistan later in the year as opposed to Iraq. This is a good strategy, as violence has been increasing in Afghanistan and declining in Iraq. But the prez sez that the major battlefield with Al-Qaeda is in Iraq
The Ugly of War:
FDNY operating in the South Tower on 9/11 -- [9/11 Families]
At 9:03 a.m., on 9/11, terrorists crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the World Trade Center’s South Tower. Four minutes later, the FDNY’s Battalion 7 Chief, his aide, and five firefighters from Ladder 15 — led by my wife’s brother — arrived in that tower’s lobby. While a FDNY City-Wide Tour Commander set up the command post there, a Deputy Chief (4 Bravo) moved from there to Tower 2’s staging area at West and Liberty Streets and the Battalion 7 Chief attempted to establish communications with the Battalion 1 Chief at the command post in the North Tower.
Battalion 7, his aide, and the five members of Ladder 15 then used a working service elevator that they had found and proceeded to the 40th floor.
American Families, Seven Years Later -- [FSM]
...My husband volunteered for the New York Guard seven years ago. He and his fellow soldiers back up the National Guard, so many of whom are in Iraq and Afghanistan.
My young boys know that the soldiers who fight the war on terror here and abroad are doing a good thing.
My daughter has emergency instructions should there be a blizzard, train strike, or terrorist attack.
The attacks on our country changed the way families do things – but not who we are.
James Hookers War -- [James Hooker]
a songwriters weapons
Generally, people like my song/videos. That’s good. A few people, usually bloggers who can’t compose, perform, or do anything other than copy and paste deep insights they find on Drudge, accuse me of being overly corny, sappy, maudlin, simplistic, yadda yadda. A hale and hearty, sans lube, you know what in the you know what from me to them. I don’t care.
The several songs of mine that were spawned that September morning had to go somewhere other than a shoe-box under my bed. I was pissed off. Still am. Not only at the islamofacists who perpetrated these acts of barbarism, but Father Time himself - I wanted so much, on September 12, to do as my forefathers did - ‘Jine up! But, at 53, I would have made a for one half-assed infantryman
Seven Years On..... -- [BlackFive - Deebow]
I wanted everyone to see that this is the most important photo to me from the attack on our country 7 years ago.
Not the towers collapsing. Not the airplanes crashing into towers. I prefer to remember this day with this photo.
Moments of silence mark 9/11 terrorist attacks -- [CITIZEN-TIMES]
Relatives of victims killed at the World Trade Center are observing moments of silence to mark the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The ceremony at ground zero included moments of silence at 8:46 a.m. and 9:03 a.m. - the times that two hijacked jets slammed into the twin towers. Two more moments of silence were to be held at the times the towers fell.
Teddy Bears -- [Soldiers' Anfels Germany]
September, 2001.
We finally summon the courage and do what we’ve come here to do. We ask the taxi driver to take us to Ground Zero.
...I am shaken by the fact that I can’t remember which building used to stand where, exactly.
. . .
The smell.
Like jet fuel and burning and burnt hair. But all wet, from the millions and millions of gallons of water they poured on it.
New York's 9/11 memorial plagued by delays -- [Chicago Tribune]
NEW YORK — Although memorials are opening in time for Thursday's seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the first of the steel girders that will support the largest memorial to the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history were only recently lowered into place here, marking the long-delayed beginning of construction at the World Trade Center site.
Pentagon 9/11 memorial honors victims in symbols, concrete -- [CNN]
The grooved, gray concrete wall rising from a few inches to a few feet seems to be solely for blocking the noise from the nearby highway, but like many parts of the new Pentagon memorial, there is more to the wall than meets the eye.
Seven years after the September 11 attack on the Pentagon, the wall is designed to remind visitors of the youngest and oldest victims, wrapping the memorial in symbolic imagery.
It stands 3 inches tall at its beginning, representing the youngest person killed there -- 3-year-old Dana Falkenberg -- and continues to a height of 71 inches, corresponding to the oldest victim, retired U.S. Navy Capt. John D. Yamnicky Sr.
New Al-Qaeda Video for 9/11/08: "The Harvest of Seven Years Since 9/11" -- [MEMRI]
From the MEMRI TV Archives: Clips This Year About 9/11 -- [MEMRI]
The MEMRI TV Project has so far produced over 1,800 clips, totaling more than 14,200 hours of footage - the largest archives in the world. MEMRI TV is viewed in 197 countries around the world, and to date over 20 million visitors have accessed the website. The MEMRI TV Monitor Project monitors over 90 channels from Iran and the Arab world, around the clock. MEMRI is the only organization making such content available worldwide.
Where We've Come since 9/11 -- [Counterterrorism Blog]
My colleague Matt Levitt and I wrote two op-eds this week taking stock of the US counterterrorism efforts as we approach the seventh anniversary of 9/11. We also assess what the terrorist threat is likely to look like and what counterterrorism environment the next administration will inherit in January 2009. As we noted in one of the pieces, despite the steps that has been made, this area is still very much a work in progress.
Firefighters' Developing Role in Counterterrorism -- [Counterterrorism Blog]
Seven years ago, the 9/11 attacks sounded an alarm in fire departments across the country: suddenly, they would need to decide whether they had a role to play in preparing for, and preventing, terrorist attacks. A growing number of fire departments concluded that they did, and are now leveraging their existing capabilities to enhance the effectiveness of local counterterrorism operations.
Remembering 9/11 - “The Evil That Men Do Lives After Them” -- [Counterterrorism Blog]
It has become customary for commentators on terrorism to mark the anniversary of Al Qaeda’s 9/11 attack against the United States as an occasion to review and assess the progress we have made in combating terrorism. Our government and other governments around the world have expended enormous efforts to isolate Al Qaeda’s senior leaders, reduce their appeal, and to better secure our safety. Much of our confidence has been restored as we go about our normal daily business; although we have had to acclimate ourselves to new restrictions, airport inspections, a diminution of our civil liberties, and a massive invasion of our privacy. But,
Text your support to 9-11 family members and our troops -- [Soldiers Angels Network]
Text your support to 9-11 family members and our troops
Freedom Walk Rolling support!
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
- TEXT 89279 -
Letters from the front -- [Soldier's Angels - Medical Support]
Had to share some of these with you because I just like how they show the spirit of our guys and gals over there:
roger,
i just got the package with coffee mugs and snacks with misc items, in wednesdays mail. mail was not running yesterday and i have no clue if there is anything there yet today. thank you so much. PFC Rickman's stomach also thanks you as well. lolol.
as you may or may not know, Ramadan is right around the corner here in September. aside from all the hooplah about how things are all roses and daisies during this timeframe, i have better sense than to accept the politically correct standpoint of this holiday being peaceful. past experience has told me to not let my guard down.
What does September 11th mean? -- [A Major Perspective]
As I sit here this morning in my classroom, not far from the one I was in seven years ago, I find myself reflecting on what does September 11th mean. Seven years ago I was also here at Fort Leavenworth TDY (temporary duty) for the CAS3 course.
BlogWorld & New Media Expo Assembles Superstar Line-up of More Than 150 Speakers
Largest Blogging Conference in the World Brings Together New Media Mavericks and Experts to Inform, Share Experiences and Inspire
As the only industry-wide tradeshow, conference and media event dedicated to promoting blogging and new media, BlogWorld includes more than 50 seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from industry luminaries iconic personalities, and world-renowned blogging and new media experts.
...Other speakers in BlogWorld's all-star line-up for 2008 include:
-- Leading Milblogger (military blogger) voices including: Matt Burden (Black Five), Greyhawk (Mudville Gazette), General George William Casey, Jr. (the 36th and current Chief of Staff of the United States Army), Bill Roggio, and Pam Spaulding.
September 11, Not In Memoriam But In Resolve -- [Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler]
Earlier this morning at work, I was nauseated to have to listen [not by choice] to an NBC Commentator attack the administration, the McCain Campaign and real Americans for using 9/11 as a “Cheap” political stunt to terrorize the electorate into supporting the GOP ticket. The bastard using the same old worn-out narrative, blaming Bush and even Rudy for the 9/11 disaster, and now saying we are using this tactic to win the election. The lying prick even insisted that it was pressure from the administration that the footage and photos from that terrible day were generally taken off the “news cycle” only to be brought back out now, for votes.
More Biden and the Helicopter -- [Media Blog - Greg Pollowitz]
How being "forced down" near the "gates of Hell" was reported at the time:
A helicopter with three U.S. senators aboard — including former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry of Massachusetts — has made an emergency landing in Afghanistan, the Associated Press is reporting.
Terrorism Fades as Issue in 2008 Campaign-- [WaPo]
But Both Obama and McCain Use National Security to Frame Larger Themes
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Analysts say the absence of an attack on U.S. soil since 2001 has left many thinking the threat has diminished.
The joint appearance at Ground Zero today by Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama will not only commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks but also will mark a rare moment in the campaign when both candidates focus on terrorism, an issue that has lost prominence for American voters as the deadly attacks recede in the public memory.
Joe Cook -- [MilBlogs]
I put this here not as an endorsement of the content, but because I checked the back story and I think reporting that is worthwhile - one thing we've learned in these parts is not to trust everyone who says they're an Iraq veteran.
Before proceeding, let's acknowledge there are plenty of wounded troops who support Barack Obama. (Tammy Duckworth might be the best known of these.)
The young man in the video is Joe Cook, and is indeed an Iraq veteran - one of three brothers from a Chicago suburb who served there. Cook was wounded in Baghdad during "surge" operations. The Chicago ABC affiliate did a story on Cook's homecoming in October, 2007.
Call To Arms: Defending Honor -- [Steve Schippert]
There are a lot of positions John McCain holds that warrant debate and even criticism. But his honor - the core of his character - is decidely not among them. Period.
Barack Obama's press secretary has stepped where he ought not have gone, questioning John McCain's honor. And when it comes to defending the honor of honorable men, American veterans don't circle the wagons, we circle tanks and load the turrets. Mindless smear will not stand. Not now, not ever.
The Discrete Charm of the Frontier Woman -- [The Daily Brief - Sgt Mom]
I understand that some of our foreign observers generally are having a bit of trouble grokking the attraction of Sarah Palin amongst the blue-collar electorate in a variety of American locales not known for exhibiting that Olde Worlde Cosmopolitan Charm. Lord knows our very own dear political and media elite are having much the same kind of problem. Kind of fun to watch them twist and squirm in the icy cold wind, as they slowly realize that the rest of the ’08 campaign will not be a walk in the park for the Fresh Prince of Chicago
Foreign policy questions for Sarah Palin, and suggested responses -- [TigerHawk]
FP Passport blogger Rebecca Frankel proposes twenty foreign policy questions for Sarah Palin, who is apparently boning up on the issues with the help of Joe Lieberman and other advisors. The proposed questions are set forth below, and I have taken the liberty of supplying the answers that I would give. Note that my answers are not necessarily the best for somebody trying to win an election so I certainly hope that Governor Palin runs them through the campaign team before using them, but I suspect they are the answers that most national security Republicans would wish to hear. My proposed answers are offset and in italics.
(Need more? Dawn Patrols Archives are here.)
