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The Mehdi army is not responding to the raids with fire, but they are trying to undermine the security plan by spreading rumors about alleged crimes committed by US soldiers, specifically against the Shia. The latest of these rumors was a ridiculous one I heard yesterday from a taxi driver from Sadr city. His story, quite similar to one told by a Sadr city council member, is that US soldiers are raiding Shia homes, arresting innocent civilians, and then dumping them at night near strongholds of Sunni insurgents, blindfolded and handcuffed so that the insurgents would find them defenseless and slaughter them!The race to the tipping point is certainly on.
Iraqi security forces are reporting that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of al-Qaeda's political front organization the Islamic State of Iraq, has been captured in the northern city of Duluiya in Salahadin province
Usual caveats on first reports are frequently wrong apply.
This is War Machine:
These are the Daffodil Princesses:
I don't think War Machine has made any direct threat to the princesses yet. (In fact, according to Wikipedia, he's a good guy with an unfortunate name.) But if he does, perhaps the Daffodil Proncesses will win via sheer numbers. If not, you'll be sorry for ridiculing the heroes who stand ready to join the fray.
I'm going to link to these folks because I find them so completely out of touch with reality that they are humorous
Mar 03, 2007 19:22 Poeple are meeting at the Port of Tacoma at 9:30 tonight to disrupt the war machine.It was decided at the meeting held today in Tacoma that people should meet at the Port of Tacoma at 9:30 tonight to disrupt the war machine.
It's not only possible but quite probabale we can delay or even stop the shipments from coming through Tacoma. All we need is a large presence. That was perhaps the most frustrating thing last year during the Port of Olympia protests: people were not there when we needed them the most. All we needed at one point was 100 people total to take non-violent direct action to stop the military convoys. We should really take advantage of the privaledge we have - if this were Iraq, we'd got shot from being even a mile away from a large US military presence.
"Before the United States came here, no one cared who was Sunni or Shia," Muhammad says, responding with candor to my query about his religious sect. "Everyone was Iraqi." He smile respectuflly, but his twitching facial muscles betray the bitterness in his heart and the tragedy he has endured.Well, yes.
<...>
Pardon Murdoc for his civilian middle-class whiteness, but isn't this just a bit like a Southern plantation owner saying, in 1866, that no one had cared if you were white or black in South Carolina until the Union came and messed everything up?
... as soon as we get rocks from Vermont. Surely someone knows someone in Vermont who can collect two grapefruit-sized rocks and send them to this Gold Star Mother.
Okay, maybe I won't "go away," but at least I'll quit rock-blogging.
Considering the progress made thus far, it's worth remembering that up to now only one of the five American "surge" brigades has been operating in Baghdad.
That's about to change: 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division begins mission in Iraq
BAGHDAD – Soldiers from the Fort Riley based 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division completed their movement into Iraq this week. The arrival of this Brigade from Kuwait will assist Iraqi Security Forces in stemming sectarian violence and protecting its citizens.Although technically part of "the surge", the brigade is actually deploying as scheduled last year.The brigade includes approximately 3,100 Soldiers.
Their mission will be to assist Iraqi Security Forces to clear, control and retain key areas of the capital city in order to reduce violence and to set the conditions for a transition to full Iraqi control of security in the city. This Brigade closed in country Feb.
28.“The brigade will play an important role in increasing the amount of pressure applied to insurgent groups conducting violent activity in Baghdad,” said Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multi-National Corps-Iraq. “The additional Soldiers will also allow the Iraqi’s to train their security forces to a level that will enable them to maintain security. It will allow their government to continue to mature.”
...goes to Charlie Rangell:
He called the war “morally wrong” and said “it goes even beyond the brutality of slavery and the lynchings.” At the same time, he said, Democratic leaders must be careful to carve out a consensus path.Rangell has been arguing for conscription of American men and women since the war began.
Runner-up:
Thursday's battle in the village of Amiriya, just south of Fallujah, highlights the ongoing battle between the Sunni tribes and al-Qaeda in Anbar province. At least 50 al-Qaeda were killed and 80 captured in the largest battles between al-Qaeda and Iraqi police, Army and the Anbar Salvation Council in Anbar province this year.Read it all. Bill says (via email) "The media is barely scratching the surface on what is going on in Anbar."
<...>
But the full story, according to an American military officer and an American intelligence source, is that al-Qaeda in Iraq, under the banner of the Islamic State of Iraq, assembled several hundred fighters to attack a prominent leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, the grouping of local tribes and Baathists, and former insurgents who now oppose al-Qaeda in Iraqi. The leader of the Anbar Salvation Council was to attend the funeral of one of those killed in last week's suicide bombing in Habbaniyah.
Coalition forces were setting up camp in Sadr City.
Under the agreement, the U.S. will open one of the joint security stations that are a prominent feature of the new Baghdad security plan, with American soldiers living alongside Iraqi forces in a police station just inside the impoverished neighborhood, said Rahim al-Daraji, one of Sadr City's two mayors.
While I understand the (misguided) sentiments behind it, this is wrong in about 20 different ways.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Andrew Carroll -- author and editor of War Letters and Behind the Lines while he was editing Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan & the Home Front for the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Carroll has done much to preserve and publish the words of those who serve and -- in addition to his Project Legacy which is promoting the preservation of letters from our military as integral parts of the country's history and fiber -- he provides our military with copies of not only his works but many others through publishers. I have become aware that Andy Carroll has a new book out this week: Grace Under Fire: Letters of Faith in Times of War -- a collection of letters from service members from the Revolutionary War to the present War on Terrorism... And I know we usually talk about rough, tough hard core stuff (and occasionally various animals) here... but appropriately for this Sunday morning, I'm talking about Faith in Time of War...
I cannot imagine that there are more heartfelt professions of Faith -- or a time of greater need of Faith -- than in time of war. In my own experience, after I cried me a river when Noah deployed, “I cried and begged God, His Mother and all the saints in Heaven to protect my son… and his new brothers.” And after my son would communicate with us, I would exuberantly "thank the Good Lord for the call and our son's continued safety.” Just hours after we heard from the Army that Noah had been wounded, I asked the blogsphere to "Please pray for my son." And the next day I told of how I busied myself the previous night and said, “Although this seems like a logical string of actions, in reality they are herky-jerky tasks strung together by time and episodes of gasping sobs and crying... and praying to God to please, please let our son be OK. I'm not really praying, I'm begging God to please spare my son. I'm bartering... I'm badgering...” Many hundreds of people left comments on that post principally with messages of prayers and Faith.And when Noah’s friends Matt and then Jason Benford, and then Tommy, Tim, Jeff, Rich and Vince Summers were all killed within weeks of each other, I wrote about one of my many conversations with Noah while he tried to make sense of why them and not him, “I tried to gently talk with Noah about how there must be some greater Plan set in motion by God in all this -- that while he has been wounded, he is about the lone survivor of his original Bradley crew and perhaps he was spared because there is a task he has been chosen for ‑‑ even if he can not see it at this moment... He says he knows that God has both a left and a right hand and says he's pretty tired of the Left hand..."
More... and excerpts from Grace Under Fire at Some Soldier's Mom
I say we issue our wounded soldiers and their families the same benefits members of Congress get... and treat them at the same facilities... a daily reminder to our Congress of those who are TRULY important to America... a little humility never hurt any member of either house of congress...Lessons in REAL courage wouldn't hurt our elected members either...
Why don't we just issue our returning Soldiers the same Health Insurance Card and Disability benefits that a Microsoft or Boeing employee would get. No saisfaction at Walter Reed...hike out to the Mayo Clinic and flash that Platinum Health Insurance Card.
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