More Rocks

Anyone from North Dakota who can send a rock? If so, let me know.

The other side of the surge

Some go early, some stay late. SSG Dave Thul, writes the Minneapolis Star Tribune from Al Asad, Iraq:

American troops may miss home, but many want Congress to stop calling for retreat.

As the debate over the war in Iraq rages, it is easy for many to forget what a big stake Minnesota has in the war right now. As we close out the fourth year since the invasion, another milestone is here that hits very close to home.

March is the month that many of the almost 3,000 Minnesota National Guardsmen were scheduled to come home. But after 12 months in Iraq, and a year and a half since we left home, our deployment has been extended by up to another four months. This also puts us right in the middle of the debate of the day, the surge plan to secure Baghdad. As Congress consumes itself with nonbinding resolutions and appropriations bills with just the right mix of carrots and sticks, one of the most important opinions is being overlooked -- that of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines serving here in Iraq.

I won't pretend to speak for everyone in uniform over here, and in fact no one ever could. There are as many opinions in the military as there are in the civilian world. But I can tell you that a majority of U.S. troops want to stay in Iraq and finish the mission. How do I know this? Two ways.

Pelting You With Rocks....Again!

Some of you graciously agreed to help a Gold Star Mother compile a Rock Garden in memory of her fallen son, PFC Kenneth "Aaron" Kincaid.

We're fast approaching the dedication ceremony, which will be held on Aaron's birthday - April 1, and Robert Stokely hasn't received all of the rocks. If you haven't sent yours, please send quickly. We don't want to disappoint Mrs. Kincaid. This is a very small way to thank her son for his service. If you're unable to send a rock from the state that you committed, please let me know ASAP so that I can help Robert find a replacement. I don't want to let this family down. They are really looking forward to the dedication of the Rock Garden, which will include rocks from all fifty states.

Thanks.

Re: AlQueda in Iraq?

The New York Times may have finally noticed AlQueda in Iraq but the enlightened Humanitarians at the Washington Post felt it necessary to weigh in.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is the United States' most formidable enemy in that country. But unlike Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization in Pakistan, U.S. intelligence officials and outside experts believe, the Iraqi branch poses little danger to the security of the U.S. homeland.

That maniac that was running Germany in '36 didn't pose any danger either, or so the proponents of the various Neutrality Acts said, in any case...the Maniac who ran Germany was simply killing people who didn't belong to our tribe.

NASCAR and the military

Two reasons for posting:

1. Some cool stuff in the video

2. Short of WalMart sponsoring the whole thing, is there any other combination that could possibly spaz the Left even more?

Like I said, sometimes you just gotta.

Iraqi Poll Numbers

...that we won't see John Murtha quoting any time soon.

John Howard in Baghdad

Other than that, sir, how was the trip?

PRIME Minister John Howard's plane was forced into an emergency landing in war-torn Iraq when the cabin of his C130 Hercules plane filled with thick smoke during a visit to Baghdad.

The plane was forced to make an emergency landing when the cabin filled with thick smoke during a top-secret visit to Baghdad.

As the smoking transport plane landed at an army base 300km southeast of Baghdad, troops rushed Mr Howard from the tarmac fearing the aircraft could explode. The interior of the plane, carrying 30 people including military personnel and media, filled with smoke soon after take-off at Ali air base at Tallil.

IRAQ'S Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has urged Prime Minister John Howard to keep Australian troops in the country's south as long as necessary, contradicting Labor suggestions they are no longer needed.

Mr Maliki said the Iraqi Government wanted Australia to continue its support until terrorists no longer posed a threat.
<...>
Appearing later with Mr Maliki, Mr Howard said great progress was being achieved in Iraq but there was still work to be done. He refused to set a timetable for the withdrawal of Australian troops.

"I don't set speculative dates. There is nothing to be achieved by that," he said.

PAO on Pace

The very cool LTC Mike Lawhorn (Kosovo Dad...he'll be at the Conference) has some notes on the General Pace "immorality" comment:

I discussed why you should stay, “in your lane” during interviews, when it’s okay to go “off the record” despite what we learn at PAO school (you’re never “off the record”), and why this all changes the higher up the chain of command you move.

Yup.

Now, if he'd just get back to me about that autographed picture of Brit Hume. Not for me, mind you, ''I'm a Jane Skinner guy myself, but for a liberal friend who is a HUGE Brit Hume fan. I know....weird right? I asked my buddy "why Brit? and he responded "he's just such a mean old bastard. How can you not love him?"

More Convergence

Here's what they're protesting:

U.S. Military Opens Ad-Hoc Medical Clinic In Sadr City

BAGHDAD — Ailing Iraqis waited behind concertina wire at an abandoned schoolhouse Saturday in the capital's Shiite stronghold of Sadr City where U.S. Army medics had set up a surprise medical clinic.

A child whose legs were stiff with disease hobbled toward U.S. Army medics. Another man held his head where a gash swelled with infection, according to AP Television News footage.

The ad-hoc clinic was part of a growing military outreach under the month-old Baghdad security plan. In most cases, such clinics close within hours, to avoid attacks.

In Sadr City, medical services historically were provided by Shiite militias such as the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's powerful Mahdi Army. The military hopes providing treatment themselves will turn support in U.S. favor.

The man seeking treatment for the infected gash to his forehead said he came for American help because it had become too hard to get quality treatment in Baghdad.

Since the war began, medications had become almost impossible to find, he said.

"If we go to an Iraqi hospital, we don't get the medicines we need," he said. "We come here so maybe we can get some help."

al Qaeda in Iraq?

The New York Times discovers al Qaeda in Iraq:

In particular, the threat posed by the Sunni group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia was underscored when American troops seized a laptop computer from a senior operative in the group who was killed in late December.

Information from captured materials indicates that the group’s leadership sees “the sectarian war for Baghdad as the necessary main focus of its operations,” according to an intelligence report that was described by American officials.
<...>
According to American intelligence analysts, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia’s Baghdad strategy has gone through several changes. The overwhelming majority of the group’s members are believed to be Iraqi. But some senior commanders are foreigners, including Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian who became the leader of the organization last year after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist who founded the organization.

The group has been active in the Sunni-dominated Anbar Province in western Iraq. But it has also long operated in the Sunni areas on the outskirts of the capital. Mr. Hussein encouraged the settlement of Sunnis in these areas in the hope that it would protect his government, and some towns and rural communities there have emerged as havens for Sunni militants.

In the summer and fall of 2006, the group’s leaders saw an opportunity to step up the fight in Baghdad against Shiite militias, American troops and the nascent Iraqi security forces, according to captured documents. Some of the insight into the group’s strategy was obtained from the laptop computer seized when a senior Iraqi adviser to Mr. Masri was killed by troops of the American-led forces in late December at a traffic checkpoint.

The adviser, who among other aliases used the name Abu Hasan, was detained by the multinational troops in January 2005 but inadvertently released because his role in Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia was not well understood at the time.

As outlined in the captured documents and other material that was seized, the group’s initial strategy was to push Shiites out of western Baghdad. As part of the sectarian battle for the capital, the strategy also called for attacking Shiites in parts of nearby provinces, specifically southern Salahuddin, western Diyala and eastern Anbar, attacks that the group’s leaders also calculated would put American and Iraqi troops on the defensive. (The documents, American officials say, also reflected a continued interest in obtaining chemical weapons.)

But Shiite militias, particularly Mahdi Army operatives, responded with their own offensive, forcing the Sunni militants to retreat. A Pentagon report to Congress noted in November that the main Shiite militia group, the Mahdi Army, had replaced Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia “as the most dangerous accelerant of potentially self-sustaining sectarian violence in Iraq.” American forces, instead of withdrawing from the capital as the Sunni insurgents had hoped, prepared plans to reinforce their troops there.

Re:Re Convergence

I noted that the "anti-war" folks pretty much dissappeared after not very long.

The "Gathering of Eagles" was a good message...it is quite possible to be against war and also for finishing the job.

The peanut farmer(James Earl Carter) was against war...but a whole boatload of them sprung up on his watch.
(Yes,yes...I know...but the people who were killed belonged to someone elses tribe)

The most powerful message from the Gatheringof Eagles was the purple finger Iraqi woman marked for death.

She is a symbol..if US Forces leave too early...she will be tracked down and slaughtered. Anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes in the middle east knows this.

We are still struggling as a nation distinguishing between wanting to stop the barbaric violence...and ending US involvement.

Ending US involvement does not stop the barbaric violence.

Re: Convergence

Michelle Malkin is back - and reporting on the event.

Lots of pics.

All Aboard... (Updated)

Registration for the 2007 MilBlog Conference is now open to the general public. To register, click here.

Update: A sneak peek at the registration list can be found here.