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When my son deployed, I wrote him a letter in which I told him the following:
I know that our country has a mission in Iraq; I know that the Army and your unit also have their missions… Just don’t confuse those missions with YOUR principle mission – which is to come home safe to us. Your job is to do whatever it takes to accomplish YOUR mission. If it's you or them -- make it them.
Of course, I wasn't suggesting that he engage in illegal activity, just if he thought he was going to be killed, to act first... Of course, you assume that no one is going to be judging soldiers' actions from the offices of Time Magazine and by people who never stood a day in combat. Or by those that are "seasoned" veterans and should know better.
And I wrote about one of my son's buddies who told me while home on R&R in June LAST year:
What was mildly distressing was to hear my Guy tell us all that it's a bit demoralizing trying to fight what he calls "a pc war". He said we are so busy at times trying not to anger or upset the Iraqis that we compromise the task. The example he gave was that when they have good, solid intel that a house has weapons or a "bad guy" we should be kicking in the door and grabbing what we came for (his words). Instead, it has gotten to the point that at times (not always) our soldiers are reduced to almost politely knocking on the door and announcing, "Hello... it's the US and Iraqi Army. May we come in?" while the scurrying inside reaches audible proportions through the door.
It seems that the ROE are getting bastardized by some in the military more worried about their careers than the lives of their men... a complaint we have all heard from many combat theatres before... and I second that "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" response... Wonder what ROE the Iraqis will set for themselves when the Coalition is gone? What worries me even more is how soldiers and marines might hesitate in their response because they fear what the CO or chain of command will say or whether the response is "justified"
Iraq Safer than Washington, DC
Despite media coverage purporting to show that escalating violence in Iraq has the country spiraling out of control, civilian death statistics complied by Rep. Steve King, R-IA, indicate that Iraq actually has a lower civilian violent death rate than Washington, D.C. Appearing with Westwood One radio host Monica Crowley on Saturday, King said that the incessantly negative coverage of the Iraq war prompted him to research the actual death numbers."I began to ask myself the question, if you were a civilian in Iraq, how could you tolerate that level of violence," he said. "What really is the level of violence?"
Easy enough to digest if you've ever been to Southeast.
He's Batman!
Just trying to, you know: Lighten things up a little bit.
I can't download it solo - but if you go to FoxNews website and get to their "Today's Features" to Michael Moore's pudgey face and right where it says "Video: Mad Vet" there is a video of and interview by Neil Cavuto of Sgt. Damon.
Complementing the clarity offered by Grim and SMASH, who each posted below earlier today, Mark Davis (Via RealClearPolitics) writes of the Ghosts of Haditha.
Rep. John Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, spent part of his Memorial Day weekend saying that an alleged Iraq war atrocity may hurt America's war effort.Well, what do you know? Maybe wishes do come true.
As you are about to discover, I have about had it with Mr. Murtha, who likes to flaunt his military record while abandoning the toughness such experience is supposed to bestow.
Go. Discover.
...of Iraq, from Iraq.
Main complaint? Overly restrictive ROE, too much second guessing from the FOB, etc. I've heard much the same from the wounded guys passing through this part of the world.
This guy's the real deal - not an IVAW phony. But that also means real grunt language used - the overly sensitive should be forewarned.
(Hat tip to Mrs G, who compiles this stuff daily.)
I haven't said anything about this business, precisely because it is so important to let the process work. If there prove to be good reasons for what happened there, these Marines deserve a fair trial and a presumption of innocence -- they deserve it far more than many who get those things every day in our criminal courts. If the worst is true -- which is very far from proven -- men who would do such things do not deserve to have the "out" of claiming that they couldn't get a fair trial, because certain Congressmen (who vote on military appropriations) and other political figures felt they needed to talk a lot about the issue before the trial. Too much talk among such officials could easily open an appeal that would allow the guilty -- if there are guilty -- to escape what would then be a righteous punishment.
Whether guilty or innocent, or guilty but of some lesser offense than the charges being bandied about in the press and by certain Congressmen, it is proper for us to keep our peace.
But, in the runup to the trial, there has begun to appear two unified positions among antiwar and antimilitary thinkers that demand an answer.
SMASH has answered the first -- the idea of collective guilt. Everywhere people are trying to talk about this business, I see people rushing to say that this "proves" that the war is criminal (so naturally bad fruit came of a bad tree) or that the administration is criminal. It proves nothing of the sort. The honor of our military is unquestionable. They would not serve in an evil cause, and if there has been evil done among them, they will correct it.
Events will bear that out.
The second idea is the notion that those of us who won't join in the ready condemnation are trying to find a way to excuse or justify "what happened." The opposite is true, twice: First, because we are simply not sure what did happen, and wish to know for certain before we condemn Marines.
Second, because what we are doing is preparing ourselves to hold our own accountable. Yes, we hope very much that some new evidence comes out that will serve as a defense. We ought to hope for that. These men are like us. They volunteered to serve. They lost friends -- American servicemen -- in our common cause. It is not that we would excuse them if they did commit evil. It is not (as I saw a commenter at Cassandra's "Villanous Company" say today) that we do not care about the Iraqis. It is about brotherhood among Americans and volunteers in her service. Of course we hope for them.
If it comes to it, and the charges are proven, we will support what must be done. Discipline is the soul of the army -- and it protects the souls of her men, and their lives, by restraining the natural wrath that can arise in these hard times.
But we will not, and should not, rush to condemn. We will hope as long as there is reason for hope. And we will not look kindly on those Americans who feel no such sense of brotherhood with our Marines, nor on those who seem so eager for an evil to appear.
I submitted the following comment in response to Swaraaj Chauhan's post on the Haditha incident, "Is it fair to blame the Marines Alone?"
As a veteran, I really don't like where you're going with this.First, let us acknowledge that there are two official investigations underway, the results of which have not yet been released to the public. If any charges are to come out of this (as appears likely from all the leaked reports), there will be a legal process that must be followed according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. There will be Article 32 hearings (the military equivalent of grand jury indictments), after which the accused will be formally charged by a military judge, and face courts martial.
Just like in the civilian world, the accused will have certain rights, including the presumption of innocence. Let us not assume that we know everything, or that the Marines (who have yet to be formally charged) are automatically guilty.
Having said that, if they are eventually declared guilty by a jury of their peers, they will have nobody to blame but themselves. Hundreds of thousands of military personnel (including myself) have served in the Iraq theater since March 2003. Most of us managed to escape with our lives, bodies, and honor intact.
Don't you dare paint us all with the same broad brush. Don't you dare excuse dishonorable and murderous behavior by blaming it on "the system."
We are all adults. We all know the rules of warfare. And we are all accountable for our own actions.
Let justice be done, the innocent be exonerated, and the guilty be punished.
They're already calling Haditha, "the My Lai of Iraq." I won't defend the indefensible, but neither will I stand by quietly while my honor is under attack. We can't allow the alleged crimes of a handful of men stain the reputation of the entire United States Military.
After Riots End, Kabul's Residents Begin To Point FingersThe Associated Press:KABUL, Afghanistan, May 30 — As they swept up broken glass and boarded up windows and doors on Tuesday, Kabul residents placed blame for Monday's rioting on young hoodlums and criminal gangs who seized on a fatal accident involving an American military convoy to spark a citywide conflagration.
Brakes Blamed For Crash That Triggered Kabul Riots"It" happens.KABUL, Afghanistan — A road crash that sparked the worst riot in Kabul in years occurred because brakes on a U.S. military truck failed as the vehicle came down a hill, leading it to plow into a line of cars, the military said Tuesday.
HUSAYBAH, Iraq – Despite two recent suicide bombings on a new police station here, one Iraqi police officer in this Iraq-Syria border town says his men are undeterred in their duties and are ready to work on their own.
Via email, this thesaurus entry for murderer:
Main Entry: murderer
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: killer
Synonyms: assassin, butcher, criminal, cutthroat, enforcer, gunman, hit man, homicide, killer, piece pan, slaughterer, slayer, soldier, trigger manSource: Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.2.1)
Copyright © 2006 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Armed Liberal at Winds of Change links to a recent post by Greg Djerejian of Belgravia Dispatch. AL laments Djerejian’s disappointing evolution from reluctant Iraqi War supporter to harsh critic, as do I. AL follows his critique of Djerejian’s latest comments with a reflection on timetables and the messiness of history.
AL echoes my sentiments. Whenever I (only occasionally) stray back to Belgravia Dispatch, if only to see if Greg Djerejian has regained any optimism. I am always, of late, disappointed. That as reasoned an intellect as his has turned against our purpose causes me no small discomfort; not that I waver in the rightness of our effort, but that the support of rational, middle grounders is essential for us to maintain national resolve, and national commitment.
The politicians who led us into Iraq may not hold the reins of power for long, let alone for the duration of this multi-generational struggle. We shall need friends in the middle, and even in the opposition, for that is where we may be, before long.
Don't forget to enter the contest, win the book, and send the message.
Here's what happened to Peter Damon that day at Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq:
A helicopter mechanic, he was assigned to inspect for corrosion, cracks, and assorted damage. Army helicopters required scheduled phase maintenance every 250 hours, Damon said, and he and a crew would disassemble each part -- the transmission, blades, landing gear, and more -- then reassemble that component of the aircraft.Bueche was hit by the rim and killed, Damon lost his left hand and most of his right arm.''For three weeks, we were doing unscheduled maintenance," Damon said. ''We were waiting for a phase."
A UH-60 Black Hawk finally arrived for phase maintenance Oct. 21, 2003.
''A UH-60 has three wheels, two in the front, one in the back," Damon said. ''We put a jack in each point. Me and another kid, Specialist Paul Bueche, were working on the right side of the landing gear, changing the brakes out.
''This is where I don't remember much."
Damon was filling a tire with high-pressure nitrogen, and while inflating the wheel, ''it exploded," he said. ''What actually exploded was the rim. When that blew up, it severed the hose. The nitrogen was spraying around like a wild snake. It was blowing dust everywhere, because there's dust everywhere."
A tragic accident in a combat zone, but not a result of combat. This in no way reflects negatively on Peter Damon, just demonstrates that Moore's use of the man in his propaganda film was fraudulent on multiple levels.
Peter Damon suing Michael Moore to the tune of 85 million?
Good to hear it, and I hope Damon and his lawyers aren't inclined to settle out of court - and I hope the whole thing is televised. With his strong appeal to the same sorts of people that believed Jesse MacBeth, few people have made as much money from the Iraq war as Michael Moore.
It could easily become a class-action suit too. Here's our first report on Peter Damon from back in the summer of 2004 - and it includes links to stories of numerous other GIs who were used by Moore.
And here's a must-read follow-up from last year, that includes a comment left by the man himself. (That being Damon, I wouldn't use that description for Michael Moore.)
In the extended section, some collected quotes from GIs and their families on the topic of the fraudulent filmaker. These facts weren't too widely publicized when they were made known two years ago, as the media was a bit too enthralled by Moore at the time. Maybe the lawsuit will help bring out the real truth.
Precisely, Major John. Just How Spontaneous was the Kabul 'Riot'?
Consider that the Afghani Parliament now wants to prosecute the American drivers for the accident but not the 'spontaneous' rioters who murdered 20 and injured 160. Roggio's e-mail dispatch from Kabul reveals a consensus (his word) among observers there that it was all staged.
Perhaps we should get out of Afghanistan because of this - just as those currently say similarly about Iraq because of Haditha (and before this, WMD, then Abu Gharib, then phosphorus, then...)
Perhaps we should just stop this nonsensical supposed 'War on Terror' and bring them all back home for a big happy BBQ. Perhaps we should return to our skyscraper offices and board our planes, mind our own business and just give peace a chance.
If you’ve seen Fahrenheit 9-11, you may remember Peter Damon. He’s the soldier whose pain Moore used to make a point about supporting wounded veterans. Damon was interviewed by NBC in a military hospital specifically about how well the VA was supporting him and his family; Moore obtained that footage and turned Damon’s words inside-out so that it seemed the wounded soldier was criticizing the Bush administration.Well. Damon is now suing Michael Moore.
But... but... but doesn't Damon know that Michael Moore is a saint?
Until recently, the British sector of southern Iraq has been relatively quiet. But lately...
Foreign terrorists, led by fighters from Saudi Arabia, are behind an upsurge in attacks against British troops in Basra, military sources said yesterday.
Ninewa appears to be the good news story, 6th in per capita atacks and 5th in total attacks.
McQ has the scoop, from Steve Oatney of AMVETS:
I received a call from a VA employee at the American Lake hospital. He had asked me to "verify" the 214. Now this is the first time I had any knowledge of Mr. MacBeth. I pulled his hard file out and reviewed it. As soon as I saw the DD214 (the fake one) I informed the VA employee that Mr. Macbeth had a fraudulent 214...And yes, the VA will soon have a Federal Warrant on him and yep, they will prosecute him for fraud.
D'oh!
As far as I'm concerned, as long as what you're beating on is violent criminals, you're welcome to use anything that comes to hand.
GHARMAH, Iraq -- Some days in Iraq feel like nothing happens at all. Those are the days Sgt. Levi R. Aherns looks forward to.
Marines with B Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment are constantly in the mix here in this small city north of Fallujah. Insurgents still battle against Marines and the growing Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army. It’s a slow, steady progress that isn’t measured in yards or miles, but in immeasurable and often unnoticed victories – like days when insurgents don’t feel safe enough to attack.
That tipping balance against the insurgents comes through the long, sweaty, back-breaking hours Marines spend pounding the pavement. Marines keep the streets of Gharmah in check by conducting security patrols, vehicle check points and providing overwatch.
“We are making the streets safer by providing a presence in the community,” said Ahrens, a 23-year-old infantryman from Marengo, Ill. “We go out on constant patrols to ensure insurgents don’t get strongholds within the city.”
Marines stepped from the perimeter of their forward operating base May 23, ready for kids wanting candy or insurgents wanting to fight. It’s a continuous rotation Marines perform day and night, in baking heat and dust-filled skies.
They have to. Keeping ahead of insurgent attackers requires constant vigilance.
“We have seen a lot of activity in this area throughout the deployment,” Ahrens said. “What we try to do is come out on these patrols so the people know we are here to help and if possible, stop insurgents before they have the opportunity to attack.”
Marines here have been hardest hit in their battalion since they arrived in January. Four Marines from the company have been killed in attacks by insurgents.
FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Insurgents are finding out Marines are a “Force In Readiness,” whether the insurgents are adequately prepared or not.
Darkhorse Marines of 2nd Platoon, L Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment battled insurgents in a 20-minute firefight at their patrol post in the town of Halabisah, May 24.
The first sign of the attack came only moments before the first round was fired.
“Our guys on post saw a couple of the stores across the street shut down and a couple of cars dropped people off,” said Lance Cpl. Adam Wood, a grenadier. “That’s when the shooting started.”
The attack began with a rocket-propelled grenade to the second floor balcony of the Marine outpost. Every Marine in the house was alert and participating in the fight within moments of the first blast.
“I was awakened by an RPG round exploding and small arms fire,” said Lance Cpl. Christopher Michon, a rifleman. The 19-year-old from Houston said he ran upstairs for his first firefight dressed in PT shorts, shower sandals and his body armor. It was there he noticed the insurgents were shooting from all directions.
“You could see we were being sprayed from every side,” he said. “We returned fire as best we could.”
No Marines were injured in the attack. Two squads immediately searched the area and found no sign of the gunmen.
Congressman Murtha,
This is your book. There are many like it, but this one is yours.
Your book is my best friend. It is their lives. You must master it as they have mastered their lives.
Your book, without them, is useless. Without your book, you are useless. You must read your book true. You must stop spewing more effectively than their enemy who is trying to kill them. They must shoot him before you shoot them. They will …
Your book and yourself know that what counts in this war is not the interviews you fire off, the noise of your burst, nor the smoke you make. You know that it is the hits that count. Who will you hit?
Your book is human, even as you, because it is their lives. Thus, you will learn of them as brothers. You will learn their weaknesses, their strengths, their loyalty, their units, their fear and their courage. You will ever guard them against the ravages of premature judgment and damage as you will ever guard your own legs, your own arms, your own eyes and your own heart against damage. You will keep your book clean and ready. You will become part of each other. You will …
Before God, you shall swear this creed. Your book and these men are the defenders of my country. They are the masters of our enemy. Perhaps one day you will join them. Until then, they are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but peace!!
If anything untoward happened at Haditha, it was at worst a small exception. If anything untoward did not happen at Haditha, it is not an exception to the typical coverage provided by our major hysterical media. In either case, tell it to the Marines who bravely and honorably serve that you don't have the guts and patience to hear the facts, and would rather allow premature ignorance to besmirch their reputation and morale.
Perhaps then consider Mary Katherine Ham's effort.
Judith Klinghoffer of the History News Network will be appearing on CN8 Wednesday night to discuss the issue. She offers publicly her talking points and says "I would be grateful for any additional help." Take her up on it, gentlemen. Now. Click her name at the top of her page and oblige her with an insightful e-mail to help her. Dr. Klinghoffer is as good a person as you will meet, and one who I happen to owe a cup of coffee to.
Today I attended the traditional Memorial Day Observance in our town.
The 2006 Memorial Day service honored 22-year-old Sgt. Kenneth Schall who was killed in Iraq in May 2005 and buried on Memorial Day last year.
Terri said people often asked her if she thought we should be in Iraq. (I’m wondering how you ask a mother in not so many words -- so do you think your son died for “nothing”?). She told us that Kenny believed in the mission, in the good he was doing, in the hope he brought to the Iraqi people… how he had told her that he felt he had helped bring freedom to these people. She said that if anyone wanted proof of the commitment to the mission in Iraq, you only needed to look at her son: he had left his family, friends and home -- everything he loved and cherished -- to go to Iraq and Kenny’s commitment could never be wrong. She was honored to be his mother.Of course, from the moment she began speaking, tears filled my eyes and quickly spilled down my cheeks. It was hard to control the sobs when she told us that the last time she had spoken to her son was on Mother’s Day 2005 and how he had told her he loved her and she had told him that she loved him, too, and that she was so proud of him. The Vietnam vet next to me that I met just minutes before borrowed a tissue, and we stood arm in arm as Mrs. Schall spoke. I watched Kenny’s father, sister Jessica and brother Matthew, aunts, uncles and cousins weep as Terri thanked them and the military community for their support this past year.
More, with pictures... HERE
I always preferred a 24" baseball bat. Beats a knife ever time. (As well as the idiot dumb enough to flash a knife)
Longtime readers of Grim's Hall know it's always been my assertion that a knife is better than a gun at that range. It's amazing how few people believe it: I think it's just that people have, certain honorable exceptions aside, lost the art. That's too bad, because it's as American an art as can be imagined. We talk about knives and knife-fighting just from time to time; I have a set of links for "gunfighting and bladework."
I think I'm going to open a school to teach knife-fighting, and a few other things. I'll call it, "Grim Bowie's Academy for American Gentlemen."
I received another e-mail today from a reader whose father is memorialized at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
Thank you very much for the photo essay of Fort Rosecrans. My father's memorial marker is there; when he died several years ago, we scattered his ashes out at sea, near his beloved Coronado Islands, where he used to go deep-sea fishing. After all the fish he had caught out there and eaten, he felt that it was only fair to return the favor.
Also, my work took me back to Point Loma this morning, so I had an opportunity at lunch time to go back to the cemetery. I took this post-Memorial Day shot of Sgt. Rafael Peralta's final resting place with my camera phone:
There were so many flags and flowers at his grave, I had to re-arrange them to get them all in frame.
See the rest of the photos here.
..no worse enemy.
ATLANTA -- A former Marine used a pocket knife to fend off a group of would-be robbers, killing one and wounding another, police said.One of the attackers had a pistol, another a shotgun.
They made the mistake of bringing guns to a knife-fight.
Honestly folks, you cannot make this stuff up. The Air Farce is naming names....
The Air Force chief of staff will name the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by June 30, choosing from six monikers ... The Air Force and Navy both proposed Lightning II, ... Marine Corps ... Spitfire II, ... The Air Force also submitted .. Cyclone and Reaper, ... The finalists also include – Black Mamba and Piasa.... and I thought the unimaginitive, comic book sounding "Super Hornet" was bad.
Of the 1st Milbloggers Shootout! Francis Marion is recruiting.
Maggie claims she doesn't shoot, and what sort of entertainment will we provide her?
I say - she runs the butts.
Now, who will be first to explain why *that* is simply perfect?
Events conspire to keep me humble.
Filmaker admits Jesse's a fraud? Apologizes for distracting from the horrors of Haditha? Interesting.
Of course, the original purpose of the MacBeth video was to "prove" the Marines were acting under "orders from above".
But elsewhere folks are now claiming he was part of what they call a right-wing "psyop". While the Jesse train was derailed before it gained steam in the lefty blogs (thanks to our own bubblehead), there's one fly in that (already foul) ointment, and that fly is Randy Rowland. Randy's the founder of Pepperspray, and it was he who introduced Jesse MacBeth to the world. But Randy's not just a new media movie mogul, he's also an actual Army veteran, and probably (like every other veteran on earth) knew MacBeth was a fraud from the get go.
Still, in an early response to the original destruction of the Jesse MacBeth story, Randy was described as steadfastly standing by his "discovery":
Terry now informs me that Randy Rowland -- a Vietnam veteran and peace activist who produced the Macbeth interview -- is "100% behind Jessie," and that Randy's "reputation is on the line and he is not wavering one bit."(Here's the google cache, should that link - like so many others cheering Jesse, "disappear" from the web)
Jesse was an obvious fake - that took all of 15 seconds to determine. There was nothing whatsoever convincing about his performance. So there are two possibilities here - either Randy is extremely naive and gullible on military-related issues (a "victim" in newspeak), or he assumed his target audience was too stupid and gullible to ever question his product - especially since he was giving them what they wanted.
Randy's not really a Vietnam veteran by the way. Although active duty he "resisted" deployment in what became something of a notorious case in it's day. Here's his own account on a Vietnam Veterans Against War site - read it for some insight as to why so many seemingly unlikely people are in favor of a draft today. And now Randy, along with other "heroes of the movement" (including the one and only Jane Fonda) are featured in the new "anti-war" film "Sir no Sir", designed to encourage a resurgence in GI "resistance".
Now that's a well run, deep-cover right wing psyop, kiddos.
Seriously, that ought to be the end of the "Jesse as right-wing psyop" talk - but it won't. Jesse was indeed a "psyop" - and certain people are willing and eager dupes for the stuff these guys dish out - from Vietnam Veterans Against War to their modern progeny the Iraq Veterans Against War to all their other "fellow travelers" young and old still seeking converts to The Cause.
Randy's "reputation is on the line and he is not wavering one bit."? Hardly. Even with his credibility is in shambles after having been caught perpetrating a fraud, you can bet that the next time he (or some other of his group) pulls another such stunt they will be eagerly accepted again.
Had I been one of his victims I'd do a bit of self examination to attempt to discover the root of my gullibility. Denial in this instance is not the first step down a path to a bright, shiny future.
Sean Hannity just added Home of the Brave to his website and plans to discuss it on-air today during his radio program, which airs 3-6PM EST and can be streamed live.
Also, Rush just posted this about Home of the Brave.
We're gathering momentum, gang. Thanks to all those who are helping spread the word.
More to come....
Now even the filmmaker admits he's a fraud:
PepperSpray Productions' Retraction Statement for our Video "Jesse Macbeth: An Iraq Veteran Speaks Out"PepperSpray Productions recently created a video entitled "Jesse Macbeth: An Iraq Veteran Speaks Out." Jesse Macbeth misrepresented to PepperSpray Productions and others his military service and was never deployed in Iraq. When we learned that Macbeth's service records were fraudulent, we immediately pulled the video and are no longer distributing it. We remain committed to creating high quality independent media and deeply regret that the Macbeth video distracted attention from the military investigation of a Marines massacre of 24 civilians in Haditha and accounts from actual Iraq Veterans.
Goodbye, Jesse.
Our daily roundup of news from Milbloggers in Iraq and Afghanistan can be found here
As the Haditha story unfolds, expect a lot of hand-wringing by the press about how the military "refused to believe" the media's initial reports of the incident.
There are also questions about why the military took so long to investigate the details of the Haditha incident. Soon after the killings, the mayor of Haditha, Emad Jawad Hamza, led an angry delegation of elders up to the Marine camp beside a dam on the Euphrates River. Hamza says, "The captain admitted that his men had made a mistake. He said that his men thought there were terrorists near the houses, and he didn't give any other reason."Maybe the reason they weren't initially believed is that essentially all of their wild charges of American atrocities before this were completely made up.
I curse the day you were born, 'Phibian! Yer gonna bust my sweet deal (I'm *just about* to close on that sweet house in the mountains, and the one in the South Pacific) - by outing us filthy rich, supping at the trough Beltway Bandits!
Bad enough I'm sweating that budget problem! Now I've got to contend with people like you agitating to keep me and those like me from these lucrative jobs...
Fie! Fie, I say!
There was a skunk at the Memorial Day BBQ - served up by the Washington Post.
After more than 30 years in politics, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen was saddled with credit card debt.You need to read the whole thing. If this stuff is accurate, and it looks like it is, I don't think former SECDEF Cohen will be giving many lectures on "Ethics in Government"The baker's son from Bangor, Maine, was never wealthy, and his government salary went only so far. When the motorcades and military escorts ended in January 2001, his final financial disclosure form listed tens of thousands of dollars of charge-account debts at interest rates as high as about 25 percent.
Within weeks of leaving office, he was living in a $3.5 million McLean mansion with a swimming pool, a cabana and a carriage house.
Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET, the author is going to be online to discuss this well researched article. That is why I am giving this some weight. If work allows, I'm going to be there. This isn't a shocker to many here, I know, but the fact that, at last, someone from a major outlet is showing the nasty bits that goes on behind the Beltway curtain - I consider very important to those concerned about clarity, transparency, and fairness in how our defense budget is spent.
A phrase that could have been used in this case:
AN Australian military commander has tried to ensure truth does not become a casualty of conflict in East Timor, but has embarrassed a TV network in the process.Selling a story is what it's all about.Australian commander in East Timor Brigadier Michael Slater appeared this morning in a live cross from Dili to Channel 9's Today show, with helmeted and heavily armed Australian soldiers standing behind him.
He was pressed by Today host Jessica Rowe about whether Dili really was as safe as the Australian military claimed, given the presence of armed soldiers at his shoulder.
Pausing briefly, Brig Slater replied: "Jessica I feel quite safe, yes, but not because I've got these armed soldiers behind me that were put there by your stage manager here to make it look good.
"I don't need these guys here.
"It is not safe on the streets, as it is back home in Sydney or Brisbane – no it's not, if it was we wouldn't be here. But things are getting better every day."
It should be noted, however, that safe or not the UN has evac'd its personnel from the country.
A small rant, here. We lost a chance to free Belarus...this time. Iran's in protests now; if the folks in Iran can kick out the evil mullahs then we have a chance to avoid war.
And not reporting this as Big News snuffs out support as surely as snuffing a candle. Maybe the flame will catch, maybe not; but ignoring the protests in our press Does Not Help.
Just guessing, but I doubt Michael would be happy about this. (Scroll down)
An insurgent , rebel or militant attacks GOVERNMENT forces and institutions.
A car bomb does not detonate itself. A TERRORIST detonated it.
You want to keep referring to people who attack government forces and instituitions as insurgents, okay, it is technically correct.
Most of the folks that died in Baghdad today had nothing to do with the government. They weren't killed by insurgents or rebels or sectarian violence, they were killed by TERRORISTS WHOSE BARBARISM KNOWS NO BOUNDS.
Marine reservist Owen West's (I hope you're familiar with the name) NY Times piece today is brillaint. I offer two brief excerpts, one:
Somehow Operation Iraqi Freedom, not a large war by America's historical standards, has blossomed into a crisis of expectations that threatens our ability to react to future threats with a fist instead of five fingers. Instead of rallying we are squabbling, even as the slow fuse burns.And two:
...America's conscience is one of its greatest strengths. But self-flagellation, especially in the early stages of a war against an enemy whose worldview is uncompromising, is absolutely hazardous. Three years gone and Iraq's most famous soldiers are Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England, a victim and a criminal, respectively. Abu Ghraib remains the most famous battle of the war.But there's much more - don't miss it. And thanks to Owen's partner (in Vets for Freedom) Wade Zirkle for the tip.Soldiers are sick of apologizing for a sliver of malcontents who are not at all representative of the new breed. But they are also sick of being pitied. Our warriors are the hunters, not the hunted, and we should celebrate them as we did in the past, for while our tastes have changed, warfare — and the need to cultivate national guardians — has not.
U.S. military authorities did not identify the soldier and the translator who were killed. Six other soldiers were wounded
Who was honored, in particular, at the ceremony at Bluff City Cemetery.
I hope that wasn't a deliberate omission on Google's part. They change their logo for the obscurest of the obscure events. To think that Google would snub Memorial Day on purpose is disheartening.
Glenn Reynolds suggests an alternative - at least for today.
A story with a little more info, including that one U.S. Soldier was also killed in the attack. Story also has a round up of other violence... and a video story on the news crew... Ms Dozier has apparently now been transferred after surgery to Balad...
Story and video HERE
Christopher Hitchens has caused me to cringe on topics funereal. Here he makes an exception and writes on Memorial Day with a thoughtful, informative Wall Street Journal column.
Well worth a read.
Commenter at Smash's decides to take a political dump at a memorial post. Shameful.
CBN’s “700 Club” featured a seven minute TV segment today on HM3 Luis Fonseca Jr., and Home of the Brave: Honoring the Unsung Heroes in the War on Terror. I was so pleased with the job CBN did in presenting HM3 Fonseca's story and giving him the respect and admiration he is due. During the writing of Home of the Brave , Cap and I never ceased to be amazed by the humility these men and women displayed during interviews. That humility comes through in this TV segment.
To view the video segment, simply click HERE and then click “Watch it Now”
May all those who have served and their families have a blessed Memorial Day.
...the war goes on in Iraq.
And two CBS employees, cameraman Paul Douglas, 48, and soundman James Brolan, 42, were killed, and reporter Kimberly Dozier, 39, is in critical condition at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad after undergoing surgery after an IED detonated near their vehicle while in a convoy with the 4th BCT of the 4th Infantry Divsion.
Our condolences to the families of the slain, and our best wishes for survival and recovery for Dozier.
The story is here. Give them credit for not reporting from their hotel, but getting out at the sharp end.
That from Robert Stokely. Today is a difficult day for the Stokely family. Robert was up early this morning, no doubt reflecting on the life and sacrifice of his son, SGT Michael Stokely. Robert sends his thoughts, and thanks, on this Memorial Day.
Vietnam-era Marine deuddersun (he always spells his name in lower case) sends this warning about a MySpace page. It poses as a tribute to Marines, but is embedded with malware designed to wreck your system.
Be warned, and on guard.
At Castle Argghhh! we conclude our Memorial Day series with "Memorial Day 2006 - Taking Back the Holiday"
And in keeping with Smash's project, we remember a different 29 May. In 1944. In Italy. We Remember Captain William Wylie Galt.
... this Memorial Day, please permit me to offer the use of my latrine.
Email from Tim Sumner:
Greyhawk:
Hard to believe this story appeared where it did and the ending of it was written the way it was:"Who are you masked men?" asked an old-timer in the red garrison cap of the Marine Corps League.-- Tim"Patriot Guard Riders," Mr. Deale explained.
"Well, it's impressive," the old-timer said. "Very impressive."
Then the dead man's mother walked the line of riders and, with her son's flag tucked beneath her arm, shook each and every hand.
Noted, quoted:
It's kind of sad. They change their homepage logo for all sorts of holidays and occasions. Just last week they paid tribute to Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday. But Memorial Day doesn't seem to rate anything at all.Silly Jonah, doesn't he realize they've all got the day off? That's what it's all about, after all.
Yo, pass me a beer.
From "Remarks delivered on Saturday evening in Arlington, Virginia, at the Memorial Day weekend seminar and grief camp of TAPS -- the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. " Published at The American Spectator here:
...The sacrifice your loved ones made, the sacrifice you made, that your kids made, is what makes the whole American world safe from terror.Your loved ones' lives had what we all want: meaning. The knowledge you were doing something big for others. That is EVERYTHING in life.
Wall Street does not have it. Hollywood does not have it. They're just in it for the fame and the money.
Your loved ones were in it for unselfishness, for kindness, for love of one's fellow man. There is no higher meaning on this earth.
The media try to rob your husbands' and wives' and kids' lives of meaning saying this war is not about anything.
They're wrong and they say what they say because they don't see the truth. They print a story on the front page about Marines killing civilians in a town in Iraq and if they did, it was wrong. But the big media never report a MARINE throwing himself on a bomb to protect an Iraqi child, or a Marine giving his life to rid a town of murderers or a Marine or an Army man or woman or a Navy Seal or a Coast Guardsman offering up his life so that Iraqi human beings can have the same freedoms and rights we take for granted here in America.
The media are like grave robbers, robbing you of the certain knowledge that your spouses gave their lives for something deeply worthwhile: human dignity.
Your loved ones' lives and deaths had as much meaning at the lives and deaths of every American who died for freedom from Valley Forge to the Battle of the Bulge to Cho-Sin Reservoir to the Cu Chi tunnels to the Balkans to Kabul, Afghanistan, to Falluja, Iraq.
And if the media doesn't know it, every other American does. This is a very difficult fight, but the ordinary American knows what your loved ones have done and respects them.
When it comes to the war on terror, Dobbs is on our side. Take a look at the topic lines in these transcripts and you'll see what I mean. Where others highlight the number of deaths, Dobbs headlines "U.S. Forces in Fierce Fighting With Taliban in Afghanistan".
And his weekly "Heroes" segments shouldn't be missed - they're an exception to the national media blackout on such stories. I put a couple examples from this month in the extended section.
Victor Davis Hanson talks about the War in Iraq this Memorial Day:
There may be a lot to regret about the past policy of the United States in the Middle East, but the removal of Saddam Hussein and the effort to birth democracy in his place is surely not one of them. And we should remember that this Memorial Day.
A geography more uninviting for our soldiers than Iraq cannot be imagined — 7,000 miles away, surrounded by Baathist Syria, Wahhabist Saudi Arabia, and theocratic Iran. The harsh landscape rivals the worst of past battlefields — blazing temperatures, wind, and dust. The host culture that our soldiers faced was Orwellian — a society terrorized by a mass murderer for 30 years, who ruled by alternately promising Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish collaborationists that cooperation meant only that fewer of their own would die.
The timing was equally awful — in an era of easy anti-Americanism in Europe, and endemic ingratitude in the Muslim world that asks nothing of itself, everything of us, and blissfully forgets the thousands of Muslims saved by Americans in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Somalia, and the billions more lavished on Jordanians, Palestinians, and Egyptians.
And here at home? There are few Ernie Pyles in Iraq to record the heroism of our soldiers; no John Fords to film their valor — but legions to write ad nauseam of Abu Ghraib, and to make up stories of flushed Korans and Americans terrorizing Iraqi women and children.
Yet here we are with an elected government in place, an Iraqi security force growing, and an autocratic Middle East dealing with the aftershocks of the democratic concussion unleashed by American soldiers in Iraq.
Reading about Gettysburg, Okinawa, Choisun, Hue, and Mogadishu is often to wonder how such soldiers did what they did. Yet never has America asked its youth to fight under such a cultural, political, and tactical paradox as in Iraq, as bizarre a mission as it is lethal. And never has the American military — especially the U.S. Army and Marines — in this, the supposedly most cynical and affluent age of our nation, performed so well.
We should remember the achievement this Memorial Day of those in the field who alone crushed the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, stayed on to offer a new alternative other than autocracy and theocracy, and kept a targeted United States safe from attack for over four years.
Thank you, Victor. Some of us remember.
