At the beginning of the month, the Iraqi police captured almost 9,000 pieces of ordinance, thus preventing more than 200 possible vehicle-borne-improvised-explosive-device attacks:
Through the help of local Iraqi citizens looking out for the safety and well being of their community, the police received information on the location of the cache.
"The Iraqi Police are 100 percent responsible for finding this cache," said Staff Sgt. Robert Fertal, 26, platoon sergeant with 2nd. Plt., Co. E. "Their hard work and sacrifice has created an environment where Iraqi nationals freely offer information. This information has led to several smaller caches and explosive remnants of war (ERW) finds, as well as the large one." . . .
"This find demonstrates the post PIC (Provincial Iraqi Control) capabilities of an Iraqi Police force in the lead, using its own intelligence to take the fight to the enemy by depriving him of a significant supply of ammunition," said Lt. Col. Steven J. Grass, the battalion commander of TF 2nd Bn., 2nd Marines. "It was a big win."
Didn't see that reported by the MSM, did you?
Washington Post's Peter Carlson starts off by telling us how great it is in Ramadi. I mean, how really, really great it is:
When David J. Morris returned to Ramadi in October, he was mobbed by Iraqis. But this time they weren't trying to kill him, they were trying to sell him bars of Dove soap.
Street vendors in Ramadi? It blew his mind. For years, Ramadi vied with Fallujah as the toughest, deadliest hellhole in Iraq and now, Morris writes in a brilliant piece in the Virginia Quarterly Review, you can walk the streets like a tourist, fearing only "the platoons of vendors assaulting you."
Of course, Carlson's real purpose for the entire article is to praise a fellow journalist and direct readers to peruse the Virginia Quarterly Review. He even goes as far to try and question the "surge" (scare quotes included):
The Bush administration and its supporters tout the turnaround of Ramadi as proof that the "surge" is working. Antiwar critics wonder how long the sheiks will remain friendly.
Still, you can't come away from the article without feeling that things are going well in Iraq. And the thoughtful reader will know that whatever the reason, it certainly isn't due to Democrat's forced withdrawal deadlines.
Holy cow, the situation must actually be proving in Iraq because even the Associated Press admits that the first signs of hope are appearing in Iraq:
Thousands of Iraqis who fled the country are now returning. Areas of Baghdad that were ghost towns only a few months ago are reviving. Shoppers stroll the streets with their children.
"I think next year will be better because the situation is improving every day," said Firas Adel, a Shiite clothing merchant. "More people are returning to their homes and businesses. There is sense of safety and stability, and this will boost the economy."
The AP article even credits success to President's Bush's decision to implement the surge. How times have changed!
Changing times indeed in Iraq, as the NY Sun reports the other Iraqi surge:
According to the not-quite-closed record book for 2007, Iraqi sovereign bonds, the Iraqi currency, and the Iraqi stock market have each logged astounding, not to mention politically provocative, gains.
General Petraeus penned a letter (reproduced in totality by the IBD) that was distributed to the men and women under his command. In it he congratulates them for their successes and cautions that the fight will continue to be one fought on a daily basis for some time.
In places like Ramadi, Baqubah, Arab Jabour and Baghdad, you and our Iraqi brothers fought — often house by house, block by block, and neighborhood by neighborhood — to wrest sanctuaries away from al-Qaida-Iraq, to disrupt extremist militia elements and to rid the streets of mafialike criminals.
Having cleared areas, you worked with Iraqis to retain them — establishing outposts in the areas we were securing, developing Iraqi security forces and empowering locals to help our efforts. . . .
As you and your Iraqi partners turn concepts into reality, additional progress will emerge slowly and fitfully. Over time, we will gradually see fewer bad days and accumulate more good days, good weeks and good months.
Oliver North tells us that we should be thankful for the Christmas present that our fighting troops have delivered to us:
So, your Christmas present — the triumph we now witness in Iraq — is not quite finished, but the troops are sending it to you anyway. This country's neighbors are less than enthusiastic about a democracy next door. We have seen the sophisticated IEDs and rockets that Iran builds and sends into Iraq to kill and maim. Though Iraqi oil production now exceeds pre-2003 levels, the democratically elected government in Baghdad isn't doing enough to rebuild the country's crumbling infrastructure. From the ground up, this country is being transformed more rapidly than anyone believed possible and America is gaining a new ally in the struggle against radical Islamic terror.
Is North's assessment accurate? Will democracy prevail in Iraq? To answer that, I offer an article penned by one in academia:
For the past two years, I have taught a course on the Iraq war -- first at the graduate level at The New School university in New York, and now at the undergraduate level at my new home at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. . . .
And while my students are usually skeptical about the prospects of success, my own view is more positive: Iraqi democracy is on the right track. As it continues to develop in the decades to come, George W. Bush's war will be vindicated.
I highly recommend the analysis that the professor goes on to lay out.
As for the soldiers that are fighting "Bush's war", some will soon have two bowling lanes laid out on Iraqi sands:
Doyle Claxton owns United Bowling Center in Yulee. "We were approached a couple months ago by email by a soldier in Iraq and he asked us how he could get some bowling lanes."
Not only is Claxton sending two lanes to Iraq from his warehouse, he's doing it for free.
"When I heard they were going to put plywood on the sand to bowl, it broke my heart."
As for me this Christmas season, I am proud of my country for deposing a bloodthirsty tyrant, and grateful for the men and women who volunteer to give their all for their country. I'm also more than a little pleased that people like Doyle Claxton exist, taking the time to bring a little bit of home to those so far away during this time of year, usually reserved for families.
Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard points out that the 2007 Man of the Year should have been General David Petraeus.
Time ludicrously chose to make Russia's ex-KGB agent-turned president Vladimir Putin its cover boy. They just couldn't make Petraeus man--oops--person of the year. Our liberal elites are so invested in a narrative of defeat and disaster in Iraq that to acknowledge the prospect of victory would be too head-wrenching and heart-rending. It would mean giving credit to George W. Bush, for one. And it would mean acknowledging American success in a war Time, and the Democratic party, and the liberal elites, had proclaimed lost. . . .
The reality is also this: The counterinsurgency campaign that Petraeus and Odierno conceived and executed in 2007 was as comprehensive a counterinsurgency strategy as has ever been executed. The heart of the strategy was a brilliant series of coordinated military operations throughout the entire theater. Petraeus and Odierno used conventional U.S. forces, Iraqi military and police, and Iraqi and U.S. Special Operations forces to strike enemy strongholds throughout Iraq simultaneously, while also working to protect the local populations from enemy responses. Successive operations across the theater knocked the enemy--both al Qaeda and Sunni militias, and Shia extremists--off balance and then prevented them from recovering. U.S. and Iraqi forces, supported by local citizens, chased the enemy from area to area, never allowing them the breathing space to reestablish safe havens, much less new bases. It wasn't "whack-a-mole" or "squeezing the water balloon" as some feared (and initially claimed)--it was the relentless pursuit of an increasingly defeated enemy.
The latest proof of progress in Iraq comes from al Qaeda itself:
The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq called on militants in a new audiotape Saturday to kill Sunnis who have joined forces with the U.S. to battle extremists in the war-torn country.
When Muslims call on Muslims to kill Muslims and not readily available Americans, you know things have changed.
And by the way, the radical terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq has posted a confirmation of Abu Maysara's death on their web site. Maysara is just one of the nine senior al Qaeda members that the US military killed in Iraq during November.
Finally in today's news from Iraq, Christians are returning to celebrate Christmas in a section of Baghdad that was recently a self-declared al-Qaeda caliphate.
Now, in a significant success for the US troop surge, al-Qaeda has been rooted out of Doura and the hundreds of Christian families who left the area are returning. On Christmas Day, they will congregate in battle-scarred St Mary's Church, where part of the crucifix on its tower is still missing after being shot at by terrorists. . . .
Major Kirk Luedeke, a spokesman for the US Army's 1st Infantry Division, confirmed that Christian families were returning. "What is more important is that the Muslim tribal leaders are openly showing support for their Christian neighbours," he added.
As time goes on, tales like this will become the norm. And in turn, Iraq will become every bit a symbol of progress and freedom in the Middle East as is Israel.
It may have taken Bush three long years to find his general, but find him he did. And Petraeus is indeed the 2007 Man of the Year. No matter what Time says.
Mona Charen writing at NRO tells us about Magdi Khalil, an Egyptian political pundit that argues for America in the Middle East media. She includes a few quotes from a debate he participated in on Al Jazeera. When the moderator stated that the US was only interested in stopping the genocide taking place in Dufar because of the oil, Khalil responds:
That’s all nonsense. That deceiving propaganda is all around you — oil and all that. Do you know how much was spent on Iraq? Even if America were to take Iraq’s oil for the next 200 years, it would not compensate for what it has spent on Iraq. You are used to spreading delusions, lies and deceiving propaganda. Give us one example when you supported human rights in any country?
Well put!
A detailed look at how the military has attempted to rise to the challenge of the deadliest component modern urban warfare. For once, WaPo impresses.
Liberals often like to say that "violence is senseless."
That’s wrong.
Violence isn't senseless. Senseless violence is senseless. And I should know. Before being awarded the Navy Cross and having the privilege of becoming a Marine, I was a gang member. Sometimes it takes having used violence for both evil as well as good to know that there's a profound moral difference between the two.
Read it all, straight through to the money quote.
Fredrick Kagan writes about the tide turning in Iraq and GW's visit today, calling it the Gettysburg of This War:
Instead of flying into Baghdad and surrounding himself with his generals and the Iraqi government, Bush flew to al Asad airfield, west of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province. He brought with him his secretaries of State and Defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the commander of U.S. Central Command. He was met at al Asad by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kemal al Maliki, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and Vice Presidents Adel Abdul Mehdi and Tariq al Hashemi. In other words, Bush called together all of the leading political and military figures in his administration and the Iraqi government in the heart of Anbar Province. If ever there was a sign that we have turned a corner in the fight against both al Qaeda in Iraq and the Sunni insurgency, this was it.
In writing this article, Kagan hints at a comparison between Lincoln and GW Bush. Given that our nation is bitterly divided, as it was during the civil war, and given the number of souls freed by each man, the comparison may be more apt than most will admit.
One of the truly reasonable, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, says the surge is working:
Thanks to Gen. David Petraeus's new counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, and the strength and skill of the American soldiers fighting there, al Qaeda in Iraq is now being routed from its former strongholds in Anbar and Diyala provinces. Many of Iraq's Sunni Arabs, meanwhile, are uniting with us against al Qaeda, alienated by the barbarism and brutality of their erstwhile allies.
As Gen. Petraeus recently said of al Qaeda in Iraq: "We have them off plan."
Even oft-barking moonbat Sen. Levin joins with Sen. John Warner in praising the surge upon their return from a fact-finding mission in Iraq:
"We have seen indications that the surge of additional brigades to Baghdad and its immediate vicinity and the revitalized counter-insurgency strategy being employed have produced tangible results in making several areas of the capital more secure. We are also encouraged by continuing positive results — in al-Anbar Province, from the recent decisions of some of the Sunni tribes to turn against Al Qaeda and cooperate with coalition force efforts to kill or capture its adherents," the two said in a statement issued after leaving the country.
But don't look for the left to embrace this viewpoint. Or even to acknowledge it.
CBS is "framing the argument" against Gen. Petraeus, and the UK Times boldly prints a Democrat think tank quote in the headline, calling him ‘General Betraeus’.
Meanwhile a Reuters headline scream, U.S. foreign policy experts oppose Bush's surge and we are told:
More than half of top U.S. foreign policy experts oppose President George W. Bush's troop increase as a strategy for stabilizing Baghdad, saying the plan has harmed U.S. national security, according to a new survey.
Upon closer inspection, we see that the "survey" was conducted by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy magazine. For the uninitiated, CAP is the brainchild of socialist George Soros and Clintonista John Podesta. And Foreign Policy magazine is financed by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, another lefty think tank that maintains offices in Beijing, Beirut, Brussels, Moscow and Washington and was once headed up by Soviet spy Alger Hiss.
Finally, courtesy of the limousine liberals of Hollywood, will be a deluge of propaganda aimed at the American voter:
Encouraged by widespread opposition to the conflict in Iraq, Hollywood filmmakers are preparing to unleash an unprecedented wave of war movies on cinemagoers.
That should, of course, read "wave of anti-war movies".
So to counter the left, please go read The Surge in Action. Money quote:
"People ask me, 'Is the surge working?'," Colonel Wayne Grigsby, 3rd Brigade commander, said to me. "And I say, 'How can it not be?' We're in these areas that no soldiers have been for months and years, we've got al Qaeda , JAM , and JAI discombobulated, and we're showing the people there--people who might not have seen an American soldier in years--a sustained presence, catching bad guys, building checkpoints, and making life safer for them."
"Again, I say, 'How can it not be working?'"
Precisely.
Precursor to the Terminator series? Who's to say? But what was once saving lives as a bomb disposal robot has been retooled to 
carry weapons for combat. Pictured is a SWORDS* bot, 3 of which have been deployed to Iraq. None have fired a shot to date, but expect that to change.
They are designed to be used in high-risk situations, like scouting narrow streets infested with snipers before a foot patrol is sent in. Major Saitta, a consultant for the program, nails it when he says:
Anytime you utilize technology to take a U.S. service member out of harm’s way, it is worth every penny.
Although these metal soldiers were ready to go in 2004, they had a tendency to spin out of control from time to time. As this isn't exactly desirable during a firefight, they were kept at home while work continued. But now, according to Danger Room:
So the radio-controlled robots were retooled, for greater safety. In the past, weak signals would keep the robots from getting orders for as much as eight seconds -- a significant lag during combat. Now, the SWORDS won't act on a command, unless it's received right away. A three-part arming process -- with both physical and electronic safeties -- is required before firing. Most importantly, the machines now come with kill switches, in case there's any odd behavior. "So now we can kill the unit if it goes crazy," Zecca says.
Danger Room also has a video from Future Weapons, while Gizmodo has additional pictures. Via Digg.
* special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action system
J.R. Dunn, writing in American Thinker, says that even if the legacy media is ignoring it, there is no denying that the surge is working. Read at least the first half of the article (students of military history will want to read the whole thing), but here's a taste:
It appears that Gen. David Petreaus has discovered the correct strategy for Iraq: engaging the Jihadis all over the map as close to simultaneously as possible. Keeping them on the run constantly, giving them no place to stand, rest or refit. Increasing operational tempo to an extent that they cannot match ("Getting inside their decision cycle", as the 4th generation warfare school would call it), leaving them harried, uncertain, and apt to make mistakes.
The surge is more of a refinement than a novelty. Earlier Coalition efforts were not in error as much as they were incomplete. American troops would clean out an area, turn it over to an Iraqi unit, and depart. The Jihadis would then push out the unseasoned Iraqis and return to business. This occurred in Fallujah, Tall Afar, and endless times in Ramadi.
Now U.S. troops are remaining on site, which reassures the locals and encourages cooperation.
Now if you want some news from the actual front (not a hotel room in Baghdad), read In the Wake of the Surge from Michael J. Totten. Read it all, but again, here's a taste:
“This is not what I expected in Baghdad,” I said.
“Most of what we’re doing doesn’t get reported in the media,” he said. “We’re not fighting a war here anymore, not in this area. We’ve moved way beyond that stage. We built a soccer field for the kids, bought all kinds of equipment, bought them school books and even chalk. Soon we’re installing 1,500 solar street lamps so they have light at night and can take some of the load off the power grid. The media only covers the gruesome stuff. We go to the sheiks and say hey man, what kind of projects do you want in this area? They give us a list and we submit the paperwork. When the projects get approved, we give them the money and help them buy stuff.”
Not everything they do is humanitarian work, unless you consider counter-terrorism humanitarian work. In my view, you should. Few Westerners think of personal security as a human right, but if you show up in Baghdad I’ll bet you will. Personal security may, in fact, be the most important human right. Without it the others mean little. People aren’t free if they have to hide in their homes from death squads and car bombs.
That last paragraph speaks to me, what with me being a Second Amendment freak and all.
. . . have never been spoken. Kathryn Jean Lopez says severed heads beat report cards to the truth:
Nailing down a clear picture of the war in Iraq is a work in progress in Washington, D.C. Making it harder is the national media, which is misrepresenting what is happening at boot level, softening the face of the enemy.
If the public cannot get a true view of the brutality and horror the enemy is capable of, then how can it be expected to reasonably assess our involvement?
The Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom has released the early results of their upcoming Religious Freedom in the World 2007. Some highlights:
Marshall also pointed out that some tyrannies, and their apologists in the West, prioritize "economic rights" and supposed "Asian" and "Islamic" values over religious freedom for individuals. But non-Western and historically poor countries such as Mongolia, Thailand, Mali and Senegal have achieved relative religious freedom, without sacrificing their culture or their religion. "It is a moral travesty of the highest order to maintain that because people are hungry or cold it is legitimate to repress their beliefs as well," Marshall riposted.
So who did the best? The top "free countries" were:
| Country | Religious Freedom | Political Rights (PR) | Civil Liberties (CL) |
| Estonia | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Hungary | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ireland | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| United States | 1 | 1 | 1 |
And the most repressive places on Earth:
| Country | Religious Freedom | Political Rights (PR) | Civil Liberties (CL) |
| Belarus | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| China | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| Iran | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Iraq | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Libya | 5 | 7 | 7 |
| Cuba | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| Eritrea | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Saudi Arabia | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Burma | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| China-Tibet | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| North Korea | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Sudan | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Turkmenistan | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Uzbekistan | 7 | 7 | 7 |
The real debate over Iraq is between those who think the fight is lost -- or not worth the cost -- and those who believe the fight can be won and as difficult as the fight is, the cost of defeat would be far higher.
— President Bush, 12 July 2007
As to what to do about it, I think I'll wait for General Petraeus' presentation to Congress this September. Dems, on the other hand, are locked in to their "rush to surrender".
Four days ago, Michael Yon covered an al Qaeda massacre in a small village in Iraq:
Soldiers from 5th IA [Iraqi Army] said al Qaeda had cut the heads off the children. Had al Qaeda murdered the children in front of their parents? Maybe it had been the other way around: maybe they had murdered the parents in front of the children. Maybe they had forced the father to dig the graves of his children.
Yon's latest dispatch addresses the fact that the MSM has studiously avoided reporting the tragedy:
But for those publications who actually had people embedded in Baqubah when the story first broke and still failed to cover it, their malaise is inexplicable. I do not know why all failed to report the murders and booby-trapped village: apparently no reporters bothered to go out there, even though it’s only about 3.5 miles from this base. Any one of the reporters currently in Baqubah could still go to these coordinates and follow his or her nose and find the gravesites. . . .
If much of mainstream media does not recognize barbarity, clearly their readers can and do. Readers throughout the world might consider contacting their local papers and favorite websites with the link to this update. The story is very important in that it is well-documented with photos and video, and the Iraqi and American soldiers who were present are named and easily reachable. Those mainstream reporters currently in Baqubah could readily take up the baton.
The UK Daily Mail prints an article written by a Muslim that was at one time an actual member of the network that planned and attempted to execute the recent bombings in London and Glasgow:
When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the British Jihadi Network - a series of British Muslim terrorist groups linked by a single ideology - I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy.
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair's bombs" line did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
As we celebrate our freedom in this country, it is important to remember that there is evil in this world whose objective is to destroy us, that we have young men and women fighting that evil as they help rebuild a nation that is experiencing that evil every day.
Support Michael Yon as he brings us the truth.
Support those who sacrifice by giving to these charities rated A+ by the American Institute of Philanthropy:
Memorial Day grew out of the horror of the great Civil War which ripped this nation asunder. It is a day that has been set aside that we may remember our fallen heroes, those that have died while defending our noble experiment, the greatest nation in the history of Man.
This is the sixth Memorial Day in a row in which we find our nation confronting a great evil. While liberals moan about keeping Islamofascists locked up on a Caribbean island, our soldiers are kicking down doors in Iraq to find torture chambers.
A recent raid on an al-Qaeda safe house turned up crude instruments of torture and an instruction manual that graphically depicts how they are to be applied, such as using a power drill to drill through a hand or applying a hot iron or even a blowtorch to the skin. The instructions do not tell captors to provide religious materials, legal counsel or cultural-specific meals. They do show how to break limbs and gouge an eye from its socket.A month ago five people were rescued from just such a torture house, one of them a mere boy and all of them beaten daily with chains and cables. This is the evil that the enemy brought to our shores.
Makes "waterboarding" look like a walk in the park, doesn't it? Makes getting your picture taken with a collar on and girl holding the end of a leash a little tame, doesn't it. The media is virtually ignoring the story of the al-Qaeda torture manual and victims rescued. It does not fit their agenda the way that months of Abu Ghraib coverage furthered their cause.
Similarly, the media is under-reporting the freeing of 42 Iraqis, one as young as 14, from an al-Qaeda prison. Some had been held as long as four months, suspended from ceilings, beaten and tortured. Some had broken bones.
Our troops are doing good things in Iraq.
On this Memorial Day we should remember all our soldiers, active and retired, alive and deceased. We should be grateful to those who have given their all and support those currently facing the horrors of war.
I encourage you to fly an American flag in memory of soldiers no longer with us, and open your hearts and wallets to support today's soldiers and their families. Some suggestions:
Disabled American Vets
Operation Gratitude (Read a news story about Operation Gratitude)
Adopt a Platoon
Treats for Troops
Operation Top Knot
Fisher House
Operation Hero Miles
Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund
USO
Alternatively (or in addition to), you can support former Green Beret and current photojournalist Michael Yon as he publishes the most unbiased truth about the situation in Iraq.
After months of chest beating and talking tough, Democrats are withdrawing the entire timetable requirement from the Iraq funding legislation:
War opponents had hoped that Democratic control of Congress would force a swift end to the Iraq conflict. But the package requires Bush to surrender virtually none of his war authority. Instead of withdrawal dates, Democrats accepted a GOP plan to establish 18 benchmarks for the Iraqi government and to require Bush to report on progress starting in late July. If the Iraqis fall short, they could forfeit U.S. reconstruction aid.
In the finest of French traditions, Democrat Harry Reid tries to claim victory:
"For heaven's sake, look where we've come," Reid said. "It's a lot more than the president ever expected he'd have to agree to."
Yeah, way to throw your weight around now that your party controls both houses of congress. Such behavior makes Bill Frist look like John Wayne!
Bob Kerry, the former Democrat Senator from Nebraska writes an op/ed about The Left's Iraq Muddle, stating "yes, it is central to the fight against Islamic radicalism":
The U.S. led an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein because Iraq was rightly seen as a threat following Sept. 11, 2001. For two decades we had suffered attacks by radical Islamic groups but were lulled into a false sense of complacency because all previous attacks were "over there." It was our nation and our people who had been identified by Osama bin Laden as the "head of the snake." But suddenly Middle Eastern radicals had demonstrated extraordinary capacity to reach our shores.
Hat Tip to non-blogging Advised by Wolves.
President Bush has vetoed the shameless Democrat surrender monkey legislation that would let the terrorists know when they can safely take over Iraq.
Or, at least, Mary Katharine Ham puts her answer to Reid's "the war is lost" defeatism to poetry ala "Green Eggs and Ham".
You will remember that when CNN's Dana Bash asked Harry Reid if he would believe General Petraeus if he testified that progress is being made in Iraq, the Majority Leader answered:
No, I don’t believe him, because it’s not happening.
In the face of blind arrogance, it seems to me that Seussian prose is exactly the way to frame this debate. Good job Mary Katharine!
From a long but fascinating interview over at RedState with Colonel Michael Everett:
If Osama bin Laden stood up and said "Here's my timetable for withdrawing from Iraq" it would be of significant benefit to us both tactically and strategically.
Indeed, just imagine how successful we'd be if we knew the enemy's plan ahead of time. Why can't Democrats see what they are doing to our soldiers?
... because of verbiage like this in posts called cool things like Sweeeet! Democrats Declare Peace:
I haven’t heard of a plan this crystal clear since my seven-year-old told me we should ask all the bad people to be nicer. ...
Oh, and by the way, only a nation of douchebag pussies would dare call Iraq a “disaster”, or even “going badly.” Going badly? The Battle of the Bulge was “going badly”, and even there, there was really no chance we wouldn’t finally turn it around and kick ass. It was– and is– absolutely inevitable. Unstoppable.
Michael Yon's latest post is the first of a two part series: Desires of the Human Heart
Combat soldiers can sleep anywhere: leaning curled in hallway steps, with bricks as pillows. With practically nobody here to tell the stories of their hard work, sacrifice and heartening professionalism, we have left our soldiers behind in this war.
How did I miss this? Tabula Rasa from Michael Yon, the unvarnished truth in a world that is, sadly, short on unbiased reporting.
Hat Tip to non-blogging Fourth Horseman who says, "Long, but worth it."
Al Quida terrorists used children to bait a trap, and murdered them when the trap was sprung.
US soldiers let a vehicle through a checkpoint when they saw two children sitting in the back. The vehicle then parked next to a market, across the street from a school:
"And the two adults were seen to get out of the vehicle, and run from the vehicle, and then followed by the detonation of the vehicle," the official said.
"It killed the two children inside as well as three other civilians in the vicinity. So, a total of five killed, seven injured," the official said. . . .
"The brutality and the ruthlessness of this enemy hasn't changed," said Barbero, deputy director of regional operations of the Joint Staff. "They are just interested in slaughtering Iraqi civilians, to be very honest."
What does the enemy have to do before the AFP stops calling them "insurgents"?
Hat Tip to Power Line, via non-blogging Advised by Wolves.
From Vanderleun:
Four years into the most gentle war ever fought, a war fought on the cheap at every level, a war fought to avoid civilian harm rather than maximize it. Picnic on the grass at Shiloh. Walk the Western Front. Speak to the smoke of Dresden. Kneel down and peek into the ovens of Auschwitz. Sit on the stones near ground zero at Hiroshima and converse with the shadows singed into the wall. Listen to those ghost whisperers of war.
Four years in and the people of the Perfect World ramble through the avenues of Washington, stamping their feet and holding their breath, having their tantrums, and telling all who cannot avoid listening that "War is bad for children and other living things." They have flowers painted on their cheeks. For emphasis. Just in case you thought that war was good for children and other living things.
There were children and other living things on the planes that flew into the towers. They all went into the fire and the ash just the same. But they, now, are not important. Nor is the message their deaths still send us when we listen. That message is to be silenced. The rising brand new message is "All we are say-ing is give...." And it is always off-key.
Read it all. Hat Tip to Dissecting Leftism.
.
Iraq the Model wonders if Iran’s honeymoon in Iraq over:
But a number of interesting developments in Iraq in the last few weeks may mark the beginning of failure for Iran’s plan. The developments listed here were collected from both large and small stories in local Iraq newspapers. Perhaps none of them are significant alone, but putting the pieces together allows one to sense that a sea change is underway in this country and the tide is moving against Iran.
An interesting read, especially when he theorizes that militias loyal to Iran will soon escalate their activities, especially outside Baghdad, as Iran tries to recover the dream of a satellite Islamic state in Iraq.
Hat Tip to non-blogging Advised by Wolves.
Courtesy of the office of Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, a rather nice montage of clips showing the Right side of the debate about the meaningless "non-binding resolution" on Iraq:
I like the inclusion of Kennedy in there. Nice job.
So now al-Qaeda is bombing Muslims in Iran, taking out 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.
Al-Sadr has fled to Iran and al-Qaeda has withdrawn from Baghdad. Seems "the surge" is already working. Hmmm, wouldn't it be cool if al-Sadr was assassinated while in Iran? That would shake up the "Arab street"!
France's leading anti-terrorism judge is warning that the risk of terror attacks in Europe is high and is increasing.
That must be why Jacques Chirac is readying the white flag of surrender:
French President Jacque Chirac has announced his support for lessening pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program, for fear Hezbollah will strike at French troops serving in Lebanon, according to information recently received in Jerusalem. According to reports, Chirac proposed sending a special envoy to Tehran to reach understandings that would protect the French soldiers serving in in the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Chirac, always ready to coddle tyrants and terrorists, especially if it undermines America.
I wonder what he is going to do about the death threats to many of the 15,000 French Muslims per year that are converting to Christianity? Gotta love the "religion of peace".
You know Homeland Security must be doing something right with al-Qaeda starts targeting neighboring countries in order to deal a blow to the Great Satan. The Saudi branch of al-Qaeda is calling for terrorist strikes on Canada's oil and natural gas facilities to "choke the U.S. economy."
Speaking of the War on Islamofacism, the Sydney Morning Herald informs us that a new secret US base will be built on defense land at Geraldton. "Secret new US spy base to get green light" screams the headline. Oh wait, the article says that the negotiations are the "secret" part. Does "secret" mean something else in Australian?
A Fox opinion poll finds that 77% of American voters believe that what happens in Iraq affects our security here, a plurality of 44% believe that the military should be more aggressive in responding to insurgents, yet only 35% support sending more troops.
Raw data here.
Jonah Goldberg pens an op-ed in today's LATimes in which he follows the rhetoric of a freshman Democrat to it's logical conclusion. It begins:
'AS I LOOK AT Iraq, I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be-President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. 'When comes the end?' … And as soon as he became president, he brought the Korean War to an end." This was part of freshman Virginia Sen. Jim Webb's stentorian Democratic response to President Bush's State of the Union address.
One wonders if the untold millions of North Koreans who've starved, bled and died since then would similarly applaud Eisenhower's courage and wisdom. For more than half a century, North Korea has been a prison-camp society beyond the imagining of George Orwell, where public executions for stealing food are familiar events. The man-made famine of the 1990s alone claimed the lives of up to 1 million people (hard data from Stalinist regimes are difficult to come by).
One also wonders when our troops are going to come home. Technically, the Korean War isn't really even over. We're merely enjoying a cease-fire — much like the one we had with Iraq in the 1990s.
In other LATimes news:
According to a Gallup Poll, 41 percent of Americans believe that the mainstream media's reporting of Iraq is accurate. Stunning.
This is why the Fourth Estate is so successful in undermining our war effort. Again.
The always insightful Victor Davis Hanson writes about our military successes, throws in a little history, and calls on a military leader to step forward with a plan. Read it all, but I couldn't resist extracting this:
What then is the problem since we are still fighting in both Afghanistan and Iraq after brilliant victories over the Taliban and Saddam Hussein?
Most obvious is the inability of our conventional forces to translate amazing tactical success in Afghanistan and Iraq into rapid strategic victory, a transition of establishing a stable postbellum government that requires everything from winning hearts and minds to inspired counter-insurgency. These questions about the transition from conventional to asymmetrical warfare always have nagged—why did the armies of Sherman and Grant who crushed nearly half-a-million Confederate soldiers in a little over a year from summer 1864 to spring 1865, not secure Reconstruction in 12 miserable years of failure, in the face of a few thousands Klansmen, and assorted night riders?
Hat Tip to InstaPundit.
He murdered thousands and buried them in unmarked mass graves in the desert. He used chemical weapons on entire Kurd villages. He made war on his neighbors and left more than a million dead. He was a destabilizing force in the region. His country sat on top of rich oil reserves, yet he starved his people and kept them in poverty.
Saddam Hussein went to meet his ultimate judge a few hours ago.
Reactions:
As for me, I remain opposed to the death penalty in all but a few special cases. This is a very special case.
This was a vile creature that begat even more loathsome offspring. He was clearly guilty of the most reprehensible of crimes against humanity. His continued existence brought nothing good. His death gives closure to tens of thousands of those affected by his evil and ends all possibility of his return to power.
So this is a death sentence that I approve of. That I would have executed myself if given that task.
Yet the only things that runs through my mind as I think about this animal is the image of the statue falling, the pictures of him being dragged from a rat hole, and, bizarrely, I keep hearing Patterns, a song by Simon and Garfunkel:
The night sets softly
With the hush of falling leaves,
Casting shivering shadows
On the houses through the trees,
And the light from a street lamp
Paints a pattern on my wall,
Like the pieces of a puzzle
Or a child's uneven scrawl.Up a narrow flight of stairs
In a narrow little room,
As I lie upon my bed
In the early evening gloom.
Impaled on my wall
My eyes can dimly see
The pattern of my life
And the puzzle that is me.From the moment of my birth
To the instant of my death,
There are patterns I must follow
Just as I must breathe each breath.
Like a rat in a maze
The path before me lies,
And the pattern never alters
Until the rat dies.And the pattern still remains
On the wall where darkness fell,
And it's fitting that it should,
For in darkness I must dwell.
Like the color of my skin,
Or the day that I grow old,
My life is made of patterns
That can scarcely be controlled.
The rat is dead, but the pattern of darkness still remains. Still, killing the rat is a good beginning.
NRO prints a report from a marine stationed in Iraq. He covers a variety of topics, including technology and tactics. Here's a taste:
Morale: [M]orale among our guys is very high. They not only believe that they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see shit like "Are we losing in Iraq" on TV and the print media.
Read it all.
The job hasn't even been posted, but hundreds of Iraqis have already inquired about the job as Hussein's hangman.
Bassam al-Husseiny said he receives eight to 10 phone calls a day, and 20 to 30 e-mails by those who want the assignment. The interested Iraqis, he said, come from all three of the country's major religions and ethnicities and from high-level government officials to "the tea boy."
Saddam Hussein, a name that will live in infamy forever.
One of those stories you just don't hear enough about: the fact that in 80% of Iraq there is an economic boom going on that is essential to that country's recovery:
The boom in Um Qasr is part of a broader picture that also includes Basra (the sprawling metropolis of southern Iraq), the Shi'ite "holy" cities of Najaf and Karbala, Mandali on the Iranian border and much of Baghdad.
When the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank reported two years ago that the Iraqi economy was heading for a boom, skeptics dismissed it as misplaced optimism. Now, however, even some of those who opposed the toppling of Saddam Hussein admit that many Iraqis share that optimism.
Newsweek has just hailed the emergence of a booming market economy in Iraq as "the mother of all surprises," noting that "Iraqis are more optimistic about the future than most Americans are." The reason, of course, is that Iraqis know what is going on in their country while Americans are fed a diet of exclusively negative reporting from Iraq.
Some facts sprinkled throughout the article:
Capitalism and freedom go hand in hand. Don't believe the liberal media: we are going to win this thing.
The Iraqi High Tribunal's appellate chamber has upheld Hussein's sentence to die by hanging in his role in the 1982 massacre of 148 people in Dujail.
Iraqi law holds that a death sentence upheld by the appellate chamber must be carried out within 30 days.
Buh-bye, despot.
Today's must read comes from Iraq the Model: The Battle for the Middle East. Pithiest observation:
One of our biggest problems here is that many of us and of our politicians in particular seem to have lost the ability to strategic vision and allowed themselves to indulge in details and are satisfied by looking at only one corner of the image that they are no longer able to comprehend the magnitude of this critical conflict of our time.
Hat tip to Dean's World.
So says Defense Tech:
Despite what you might have heard from other media, the Iraqi Army does not suck. In fact, by regional standards, it's a fine little army: well-armed, well-led and capable of defeating terrorists and insurgents in a stand-up fight. It wasn't always that way, but the coalition's clean-sheet approach and years of hard work by training teams has really paid off.
But the Iraqi Army has two major weaknesses.
Go read for the whole story.
Another surprise bit of information from Saddam's intelligence documents captured after the liberation. The American Thinker provides a partial translation of a report from an Iraqi Intelligence officer to "The Presidency of the Republic", dated 25 July 2000.
In part:
We were informed from one of our sources (the degree of trust in him is good) who works in the American Associated Press Agency [emphasis added] that the agency broadcasted to through computer to its branches worldwide the following:
The AP traitor gave information about the training, movements and plans of the UN weapons inspectors under the bumbling leadership of Inspector Clouseau Hans Blix.
Technorati tags: Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column, Journalistic Anti-Americanism, Liberals Supporting Tyrants, Iraq, Saddam, Iraqi Intelligence, Foreign Military Studies Office.
Stacy Campfield has a short post composed by a friend who recently returned from military service in Iraq . . . again. In part:
As you know I just got back from my second trip to Iraq. Fortunately, this last one was short. Despite all the negative media reports from Iraq, I'm very happy to report the amount of progress going on. I spent the duration of my time in Baghdad, most of which I was working with the IA (Iraqi Army).
When I first arrived in theater I was told I would be doing joint patrols with the IA. My thought drifted back to my observations from my first tour and the competency level of the IA. Needless to say my first though was OH SH#$. After the first mission my reservations were gone. I can honestly say that the IA (or at least the ones I was working with) are 100 times better than what I recalled from my first Iraq deployment. At the troop level they were/are doing good things. In the area, although their still is the occasional violence, it isn't quite as bad as people are led to believe.
Once again, we hear a different story from that told by "news" reporters. We will be able to withdraw when the job is done and the Iraqis can take care of themselves. And that time is coming faster than I thought it would (I figured about ten years would be need to rebuild the nation that suffered decades under Saddam and Sons boot).
He called the new Iraqi Defense Minister an "interesting cat" and Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the deceased al-Qaeda leader, "a dangerous dude." Bush had reason, finally, to strut. The al-Zarqawi raid had netted valuable intelligence data that were enabling U.S. and Iraqi forces to roll up al-Qaeda cells-the best haul since the capture of Saddam Hussein, which made it possible for U.S. forces to disable much of the dictator's inner circle in early 2004. What's more, the first elected Iraqi government was finally fully in place. Back home, Karl Rove was officially unindicted in the cia [sic] leak case, and the Democrats were busy being Democrats-divided, defensive and confused about the war, with Bush's favorite punching bag, Senator John Kerry, leading the charge.Ah, but then the spin begins as the author spends the remaining paragraphs telling Democrats that they have to stop "embracing defeat" and give the Iraqi government "one more chance to succeed". Of course, the author also sets up the scenario that if Baghdad cannot be stabilized during "Operation Forward Together" the "the war is lost".Kerry gave an eloquent speech to a group of left-liberal activists on the day of Bush's Baghdad trip. "It is not enough to argue with the logistics [of the war] ... or the manner of the conflict's execution or the failures of competence, as great as they are," Kerry said, to wild cheers. "It's essential to acknowledge that the war itself was a mistake." It was an appropriate act of contrition, but then-as is his awkward wont-Kerry overreacted and called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of the year. It was a proposition that garnered all of six votes on the Senate floor when Senate Republicans gleefully submitted Kerry's idea to a vote later in the week.
So Kerry's "cut and run" was bad because America is rejecting it, but if we don't succeed in the next few months (before the fall election) then we've lost the war and should call it quits.
How incredibly predictable.
Technorati Tags: Media Spin, Traitor John Kerry, Cut and Run Democrats, Terrorism, War on Terror, War on Islamofacism, Fourth Estate, Fifth Column, George W. Bush, Winning the War, Operation Forward Together, Liberals Suck.
“Out of 389 military operations conducted this past week, Iraqi Security Forces only -- with no Coalition support -- conducted almost 40 percent of them.”
The strike was the result of a combined US - Jordanian operation. Jordan was al-Zarqawi's birthplace. And apparently, the tip came from someone inside al-Zarqawi's own organization.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was first to announce the death, saying, "Whenever there is a new Zarqawi, we will kill him, [too]." He then announced candidates for three key positions: Iraqi Army Gen. Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim al-Mifarji (a Sunni Arab) for the defense ministry and Shiites Jawad al-Bolani for interior and Sherwan al-Waili for national security. But the real news is this:
Parliament promptly approved the names -- a far cry from its earlier reluctance to even meet to consider al-Maliki's proposals to run the army and national police. That stalemate had dragged on for weeks because of a Shi'ite-Sunni-Kurdish inability to agree on who was acceptable.The press, of course, is already throwing cold water on the news of Zarqawi's death. While it is true that killing Zarqawi will not stop the violence, the mastermind's death is a blow to the insurgency both militarily and psychologically.
Besides, oil prices dropped on the news of his death, and that's always good news.
Excerpt from Tony Blair's comments:
For three years, Al Qaida have sought to murder innocent people, promote sectarian killing and wreck the democratic process in Iraq. But this terrorism is a global movement. Their attack in Iraq has only ever been part of a wider attack that they've carried into conflicts and countries the world over. Indeed, there's barely a major nation in the world that has not felt the outreach of their evil.Excerpt from George W. Bush's comments:So defeat them in Iraq, and we will defeat them everywhere.
We need to do so armed, of course, with weapons, but also with one simple idea: that where people want to live in freedom and be governed by democracy, they should be able to do so and the world should stand united behind them. In Iraq today that idea has shown its worth.
Now Zarqawi has met his end, and this violent man will never murder again. Iraqis can be justly proud of their new government and its early steps to improve their security. And Americans can be enormously proud of the men and women of our armed forces, who worked tirelessly with their Iraqi counterparts to track down this brutal terrorist and put him out of business.Timeline of Zarqawi's lifeThe operation against Zarqawi was conducted with courage and professionalism by the finest military in the world. Coalition and Iraqi forces persevered through years of near misses and false leads, and they never gave up. Last night their persistence and determination were rewarded. On behalf of all Americans, I congratulate our troops on this remarkable achievement. ...
Zarqawi's death is a severe blow to al-Qaida. It's a victory in the global war on terror, and it is an opportunity for Iraq's new government to turn the tide of this struggle.
A recounting of Zarqawi's grisely life from Dan Darling of the Weekly Standard.
Technorati Tags: al-Zarqawi, War on Islamofacism, Iraq.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, War on Islamofacism.
Retired Iraqi Gen. Georges Sada, a former fighter pilot-turned-Christian evangelist, says Kurds are converting to Christianity "by the hundreds" in northern Iraq.I receive a newsletter from a missionary that has been in northern Iraq since before the war, so I would like to make a couple of observations.Gen. Sada earlier reported that he had been told that Iraqi pilots, flying private planes, took weapons of mass destruction to undisclosed locations in Syria in 2002.
The "good news" from Iraq's turbulent religious scene, consisting mainly of Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim militias battling each other, is from the Kurds, he said. Kurds are creating a constitution that does away with Shariah, or Islamic law, a move counter to trends in other Muslim countries such as Afghanistan and Iran, where leaving Islam is a capital offense and Christian converts are often killed.
First, the newsletters I receive do not indicate massive conversions. Instead, they paint a picture of a man and his family struggling with the day to day problems that one would expect in a turbulent country. Problems with officials that are far away and a gradual building of trust with local officials. A series of small victories that take weeks to arrange, yet add up to make a real impact on the lives of those in the communities served. And always, faith and prayer serving at the center of the people involved in the effort.
Second, there seems to be little proselytizing going on. Instead, the missionaries are concentrating on making lives better. If conversion results, then that is a good thing. But that does not seem to be why they are there. They are building schools. Securing books and supplies. Getting computers donated and shipped in to set up an internet cafe.
The life of a missionary is very different from that portrayed by Hollywood. God bless missionary Rick and his family.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, War on Islamofacism, Missionaries.
Even if Post reporters missed the section in the 230-page report on terror training camps operated by the Fedayeen Saddam, the militia of soldiers most loyal to the ruthless ruler, that issue was raised again in Congressional hearings last month. The camps, which were started in 1994, trained some 7,200 Iraqis in the art of terrorism in the first year alone. “Beginning in 1998,” according to the full report, “these camps began hosting ‘Arab volunteers from Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, ‘the Gulf,’ and Syria.’”The author rightly berates the White House for not mentioning this report to get it in front of at least some of the American public. Perhaps Tony Snow will convince the administration to do a better job of public relations.So in the late 1990’s and beyond, during which time conventional wisdom tells us that Saddam was “contained,” Iraq was training thousands of terrorists from across the Arab world. Saddam was not slowing down. “The training activity of the groups were increasing both internal and apparently external. It was increasing over time,” testified Lt. Col. Kevin Woods (retired), the report’s chief author.
Technorati Tags: Saddam Hussein, Iraq, War on Terror, War on Islamofacism, Terrorist Training Camps, Fifth Column, Media Spin, Leftwing Media.
CENTCOM announced today that they had captured al-Qaeda correspondence in Iraq that discusses the state of the insurgency, especially around Baghdad but also around the entire country. Far from optimistic, the documents captured in an April 16th raid reveal frustration and desperation, as the terrorists acknowledge the superior position of American and free Iraqi forces and their ability to quickly adapt to new tactics.Read it all.
I especially love the part about the insurgency in Baghdad being a "media oriented policy", i.e., a sensationalist battle designed to manipulate public opinion via the fifth column fourth estate:
... the significance of the strategy of their work is to show in the media that the American and the government do not control the situation and there is resistance against them.Don't look for in depth analysis of this point or any subsequent soul searching on the part of the NYTimes.
Technorati Tags: al-Qaeda, Iraq, War on Terror, War on Islamofacism, Zarqawi.
Give Zarqawi his due — adapting fighting tactics to match the tactical situation is the mark of a good general. On the other hand, our military has trained to fight guerillas for decades.
Zarqawi's days are numbered.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, War on Islamofacism, al-Zarqawi.
In the intervening three years our young men and women have stayed to rebuild a shattered nation and give hope to a downtrodden people.
In the intervening three years we have seen the downfall of a monstrous despot, the formation of a free government, the writing of a constitution, the jubilation of Iraqis voting in free elections, the incredible bravery of Iraqis as they lined up to take the dangerous job of fighting those who would keep them from being free and the formation of an increasingly independent Iraqi security force.
Now, of course, the Left attempts to disuade us from our course by asking, "Has it been worth it?" The best answer I've seen comes from an email sent to Bill Bennett, titled On the Selfishness of Time, from a guy named Joe in Abilene. In part:
FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ-FREEDOMMost importantly, on this, the three year anniversary of the start of the liberation of Iraq, let us give thanks to our troops for volunteering to put themselves in harms way to protect the innocent.How thoughtlessly, how selfishly we measure time and sacrifice.
Build a country in three years? ...
If 1776 were 3 years ago, it would be 10 more years until we have a constitution!
If 1860, and we walked off the battle fields in 1863, a black slave would be preparing my breakfast right now! ...
NOT IN 3 YEARS
NOT IN 10 TIMES 3 YEARS, NOT UNTIL THEY GET THEIR CHANCE AT FREEDOM!
Technorati Tags: War on Islamofascism, War on Terror, Liberation of Iraq, Iraqi Freedom, Iraqi Liberation, Iraq.
First, he noted that that it has been Iraqi security forces that are taking the lead in quelling the violence with U.S. forces operating as support. He then talked about the steps that the Iraqi government took to take control of the situation. And then this:
From what I've seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation, according to General Casey. The number of attacks on mosques, as he pointed out, had been exaggerated. The number of Iraqi deaths had been exaggerated. The behavior of the Iraqi security forces had been mischaracterized in some instances. And I guess that is to say nothing of the apparently inaccurate and harmful reports of U.S. military conduct in connection with a bus filled with passengers in Iraq.Well said!Interestingly, all of the exaggerations seem to be on one side. It isn't as though there simply have been a series of random errors on both sides of issues. On the contrary, the steady stream of errors all seem to be of a nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq.
And then I notice today that there's been a public opinion poll reporting that the readers of these exaggerations believe Iraq is in a civil war -- a majority do, which I suppose is little wonder that the reports we've seen have had that effect on the American people. ...
Nearly 56 years ago, in 1950, the Truman administration issued what would become a framework for America's Cold War strategy for four decades. In a formerly classified document called NSC 68, the Truman administration said, quote, "Our fundamental purpose is more likely to be defeated from lack of will to maintain it than from any mistakes we may make or assault we may undergo because of asserting that will," unquote. Today our nation is again in a long struggle. And again, the toughest challenge will be to maintain our national will to persevere and to prevail.
Technorati Tags: Iraq, War on Islamofascism, Lefty Lies, Media Spin, Fifth Column, Sapping Americas Will Through False Reporting.
Several new sources have come to light to indicate that Saddam probably did have WMD, at least chemical and biological weapons, and that a nuclear program had not been entirely discontinued. And they also suggest a substantial relationship between Saddam and al Qaeda.What follows is a great roundup of recent news stories and ongoing investigations.
I wonder, after the "Bush Lied" myth is exposed for what it is (a lie), will anyone utter an apology?
Technorati Tags: WMD, Iraq, Saddam Hussain.
He detailed the transfers in an interview yesterday with The New York Sun.Of course, it is a Democrat lie that the war of liberation was really all about WMD and "immanent threat", but it is a lie that has been repeated long enough and loud enough that it has entered the American consciousness and is accepted as truth. I've never really minded this because have always been and remain confident that Saddam had an active WMD program and that they will eventually be found. See these posts:"There are weapons of mass destruction gone out from Iraq to Syria, and they must be found and returned to safe hands," Mr. Sada said. "I am confident they were taken over."
Mr. Sada's comments come just more than a month after Israel's top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon, told the Sun that Saddam "transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria."
Technorati Tags: War on Islamofacism, War on Terror, Saddam's WMD, Iraq WMD, Syria, Iraq, Homeland Security.
But the plain fact is that in Kashmir, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Israel, the prospects are all a great deal more promising than they were at the beginning of this year. It is no longer fanciful to dismiss as wholly unrealistic President George W. Bush's grand strategy to modernize and bring democracy to the Middle East. And at this time of year, it is important to recognize that the rosy scenario now exists.Hmmm, it seems to me that given the apparent results it was never unrealistic to believe in the Bush Doctrine.
Meanwhile, the Arab News lists some of the accomplishments made in Iraq:
Money quote:
- The Baathist regime has been toppled and its apparatus of repression dismantled. ...
- The sapling of democracy has been planted in Iraqi soil and seems to be flourishing after several local elections, a constitutional referendum, and two general elections. ...
- A one party system has been replaced with a pluralist one with more than 200 political groups and parties representing every imaginable strand of ideology and opinion. ...
- Baghdad, which once hosted the headquarters of some 30 international terror organizations, is now one of the few capitals in the Middle East in which terrorists are no longer welcome, let alone protected.
- Iraq’s economy, modeled on Soviet-style central planning and control under Saddam, has been opened up with over 18,000 new small and medium companies registered across the country during the past three years. Iraqi agriculture, moribund in the last years of Saddam, has been revived and is now providing the bulk of the nation’s food for the first time since the 1950s.
The US-led coalition came to Iraq not to impose democracy by force but to use force to remove impediments to Iraq’s democratization. That task has been achieved in record time.Nicely put.
While Iraqis all over the world joyfully showed their ink-stained fingers by holding up their digit or by making a peace sign, this Iraqi soldier is clearly making a "W" sign.He couldn't be making a political statement, could he?
After so much suffering, there is so much hope:
Nori Abdul Hadi and his wife walked the 500 meters of dirt road from the black gate of their home in the Shiite spiritual city of Najaf to the school where they could vote on Thursday. ...
They dipped their fingers in blue ink and carefully slipped the precious sheets of paper into the plastic ballot box - casting votes they hoped would finally protect them and Iraq's other Shiites after centuries of oppression. ...
So he voted on Thursday with hope for the future and fear of the past.
He voted for a new Iraq that will keep Saddam away.
He voted to be represented as a Shiite.
He voted so jobs will come to his city and his family won't live on his wife's $70-a-month salary.
He voted to ask the Americans to stay until he's sure the suffering is over.
He voted to secure his future.
He voted to remedy his past.
"No one said I'm sorry that you suffered, that you lost your brother, that you lost your home," he said. "I hope the government will be better and unite. I'm relieved."
Anybody who doesn’t appreciate what America has done and President Bush, let them go to hell!More at Lifelike Pundits
— Iraqi Citizen, voter Betty Dawisha
When today's patrol ended, one of the soldiers said to me, "Sorry it wasn't more exciting for you." I told him I wasn't looking for excitement, and in fact, I was glad the day unfolded as it did.It reminded me that life in Iraq is never what you expect it to be. The situation here is far more complex and the fight far more nuanced than it is often portrayed.
As Iraqis nationwide prepare to go to the polls for the third time this year on Dec. 15 -- this time for a new parliament -- candidates and political parties of all stripes are embracing politics, Iraqi style, as never before and showing increasing sophistication about the electoral process, according to campaign specialists, party officials and candidates here.But of course, WaPo has to get in a shot at America:
Even the arrival of American-style negative campaigning is evidence of a growing political sophistication, the election trainers said. In recent days posters have started to appear in Sadr City, the vast Shiite slum in north Baghdad, bearing the slogan "vote for the Baathist slate," along with a composite photograph of a face -- half Allawi's and half Hussein's. Allawi was a member of Hussein's Baath Party until the mid-1970s, when he joined Iraq's opposition.Nice. But has WaPo never heard the rhetoric surrounding the Liberals and Tories in the UK? "American-style negative campaigning" indeed.
First, the White House released an unclassified version of the strategy for winning in Iraq, National Strategy for Victory in Iraq (also available in original PDF format). The document clearly outlines why we are fighting in Iraq and how we are going to win: by pursuing a three-pronged strategy consisting of a political track, a security track and an economic track.
Second, the president gave a speech to Naval Academy students at Annapolis, noting that this is the first year that the entire student body consisted of those who volunteered to serve their nation in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
In the speech, the president promised to continue laying out his strategy and identify the progress that we are making. But today was reserved for one area: training Iraqis to take the place of our soldiers so our men and women can come home:
In the days ahead, I'll be discussing the various pillars of our strategy in Iraq. Today I want to speak in depth about one aspect of this strategy that will be critical to the victory in Iraq, and that's the training of Iraq security forces.I encourage everyone to go read his entire speech, but here are a few highlights that spoke to me:
He told us why we are fighting in Iraq:
Yet the terrorists have made it clear that Iraq is the central front in their war against humanity. And so we must recognize Iraq as the central front in the war on terror. ...He outlined the progress and success of training Iraqis to hold onto their new democracy:The terrorists in Iraq share the same ideology as the terrorists who struck the United States on September the 11th. Those terrorists share the same ideology with those who blew up commuters in London and Madrid, murdered tourists in Bali, workers in Riyadh and guests at a wedding in Amman, Jordan. Just last week they massacred Iraqi children and their parents at a toy giveaway outside an Iraqi hospital.
This is an enemy without conscience, and they cannot be appeased. If we're not fighting and destroying this enemy in Iraq, they would not be idle. They would be plotting and killing Americans across the world and within our own borders. By fighting these terrorists in Iraq, Americans in uniform are defeating a direct threat to the American people.
Against this adversary there is only one effective response: We will never back down, we will never give in, and we will never accept anything less than complete victory.
In Fallujah, the assault was led by nine coalition battalions, made up primarily of United States Marines and Army, with six Iraqi battalions supporting them.He made a backhand swipe at some naysayers:The Iraqis fought and sustained casualties, yet in most situations the Iraqi role was limited to protecting the flanks of coalition forces and securing ground that had already been cleared out by our troops.
This year in Tal Afar it was a very different story. The assault was primarily led by Iraqi security forces, 11 Iraqi battalions backed by five coalition battalions providing support.
Many Iraqi units conducted their own anti-terrorist operations and controlled their own battlespace, hunting for enemy fighters and securing neighborhoods, block by block.
To consolidate their military success, Iraqi units stayed behind to help maintain law and order. And reconstruction projects have been started to improve infrastructure and create jobs and provide hope. ...
Iraqi forces not only cleared the city, they held it. And because of the skill and courage of the Iraqi forces, the citizens of Tal Afar were able to vote in October's constitutional referendum.
Some critics dismiss this progress and point to the fact that only one Iraqi battalion has achieved complete independence from the coalition.He addressed the "exit strategy" issue:To achieve complete independence, an Iraqi battalion must do more than fight the enemy on its own. It must also have the ability to provide its own support elements, including logistics, airlift, intelligence, and command and control through their ministries.
Not every Iraqi unit has to meet this level of capability in order for the Iraqi security forces to take the lead in the fight against the enemy.
As a matter of fact, there are some battalions from NATO militaries that would not be able to meet this standard.
The facts are that Iraqi units are growing more independent and more capable. They are defending their new democracy with courage and determination. They're in the fight today and they will be in the fight for freedom tomorrow.
And as the Iraqi security forces stand up, coalition forces can stand down. And when our mission of defeating the terrorists in Iraq is complete, our troops will return home to a proud nation.He supplied a more direct response to his attackers:
Some are calling for a deadline for withdrawal. Many advocating an artificial timetable for withdrawing our troops are sincere, but I believe they're sincerely wrong.He even had something to make those in or associated with the Axis of Evil uneasy:Pulling our troops out before they've achieved their purpose is not a plan for victory. As Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman said recently, "Setting an artificial timetable would discourage our troops because it seems to be heading for the door. It will encourage the terrorists. It will confuse the Iraqi people."
Senator Lieberman is right: Setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would send a message across the world that America is weak and an unreliable ally.
Setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would send a signal to our enemies that if they wait long enough, America will cut and run and abandon its friends.
And setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would vindicate the terrorist tactics of beheadings and suicide bombings and mass murder and invite new attacks on America.
To all who wear the uniform, I make you this pledge: America will not run in the face of car bombers and assassins so long as I am your commander in chief.
Advancing the cause of freedom and democracy in the Middle East begins with ensuring the success of a free Iraq. Freedom's victory in that country will inspire democratic reformers from Damascus to Tehran and spread hope across a troubled region, and lift a terrible threat from the lives of our citizens.Critics were quick to come out of the woodwork on this one. In fact, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid issued a response to the president's speech even before the president finished speaking.
The main criticism is that there's nothing new here, that we are still "staying the course". This may play to those that either didn't hear the speech or don't read the transcript, but I thought the president did a good job of showing how our strategy had changed to meet the realities presented on the ground.
The most important point, however, is that the White House silence has been broken. The president has a clear, multilevel strategy, our forces are altering mission posture when conditions call for it, and there is are documented goals for defining success.
Overall, I believe the president did a good job. His intent was not to restructure policy or lay out an "exit strategy". His intent was to "sell" the war to the American people. This was a marketing job made necessary by the loud voice of the left.
And when viewed as a marketing speech that is the first in a series of marketing speeches, I judge it a success. That is, it is a very good start. If followed up by a series of speeches that address other strategies and documents other successes, then the American people will turn their backs on the fifth column and the hysterical rantings of Democrat extremists.
Of course, choosing the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas (when most of the public is distracted by more base and selfish pursuits) for launching this counteroffensive is somewhat questionable.
Yet 10 years after the signing of the Dayton accords and five years after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, fully 25,000 NATO troops remain stationed in Bosnia and Kosovo. ...Damn straight.What the peace-making efforts in Bosnia and Kosovo should have taught us is that the reconstruction of nations fractured by ethnic and sectarian divides is not about overnight miracles. Progress is patchy, with as many setbacks as advances, until local actors commit to the principles of a rules-based society. ...
The 1992-95 conflicts in Bosnia between Serbs, Croats and Muslims cost more than 200,000 lives and forced 2 million people to flee their homes and villages. ...
Ten years after the Dayton accords, the collapse of the state-dominated economy, compounded by wartime destruction, has ruined most of Bosnia's industry. Only after billions of dollars of aid has the economy recovered to pre-war levels of per capita production.
Foreign investment is growing but Bosnia imports three times as much as it exports. The unemployment rate is almost 40 per cent. ...
In his recent book, Not Quite the Diplomat, former European external affairs commissioner Chris Patten puts starkly the importance of success, especially in Bosnia-Herzegovina: "If it were to break apart, the fall-out for the whole region would be catastrophic."
Almost exactly the same words could just as easily describe the challenge in Iraq, as well as the implications of failing to meet that challenge.
Update: Captain's Quarters has this to say about a similar article:
Let's make clear what happened here. We occupied a primarily Muslim state for the last ten years, trying to separate three different ethnic factions from each other. We initially went into Bosnia to quell a civil war and a genocide in progress, and then waited ten years for the kind of political progress that would make our presence unnecessary. Despite this quagmire, we kept our troops in the country and continued to work on a political construct based on democracy -- and we gave it ten years without loud demands for precipitous withdrawal prior to an effective resolution.Commenters are quick to point out that we have neither the same troop strength nor steady string of casualties, so a comparison is invalid. Captain Ed is quick to respond:
So once again, we have to evaluate the mission based on the body count. Stopping genocide is only worth it when it costs 12 American lives, but if it costs 18 (Mogadishu), or 2,000 to liberate 25 million Iraqis, then it's obviously not worth it. That sound right to you?HT to Bob KrummThat's not how missions get evaluated, Monkei. Using your formulation, World War II was our biggest military failure, while bombing Yugoslavia was the greatest moment in our military history.
9) The Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle: Thumbs way up. Spectacular range and accuracy and hits like a freight train. Used frequently to take out vehicle suicide bombers ( we actually stop a lot of them) and barricaded enemy. Definitely here to stay. ...There's more on who we are fighting and the bad guys tactics. Money quote:Bad guy weapons: ...
2) The RPG: Probably the infantry weapon most feared by our guys. Simple, reliable and as common as dogshit. The enemy responded to our up-armored humvees by aiming at the windshields, often at point blank range. Still killing a lot of our guys.
According to Jordan, morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see shit like "Are we losing in Iraq?" on TV and the print media. For the most part, they are satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership. Bottom line though, and they all say this, there are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren't enough troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syrians just can't stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally (with, of course, permanent US bases there).
The women carried banners which read: "The cries of martyrs echo still, we demand the death of Saddam Hussein," as well as photos of victims of his regime.MSM didn't cover the story and there are no pictures.
It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark.Read the whole thing. Follow the links.
The NYTimes has sunk to a new low in a series of lows and so I felt compelled to write the ombudsman, for whatever good it will do:
Mr. Calame, I have never written your paper before, but I feel that the NYTimes article 2,000 Dead has reached a new low in biased reporting.Thanks to journalists like Michelle Malkin, the public can see the half-truths which you spin your reporting to paint a grim picture of the fight to liberate Iraq and strike another blow against Islamofacism, a sick culture that has repeatedly attacked the United States and continues acts of barbarity like the beheading of school girls.
Your paper does a disservice to its readers. But worse, it demeans and demoralizes our troops, hiding the good they do and accentuating the dangers they face.
Furthermore, your paper supports the terrorists just as it did in 1932 when it supported Stalin's pogrom against Ukrainians in which seven million people died and the breadbasket of Europe was destroyed. To remind you, Times reporter Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer for defending Stalin with the now infamous phrase, "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." The NY Times still refuses to give back the Pulitzer that Duranty won even though the passage of time has revealed that his articles were filled with lies.
And now your paper twists the words of our heroes, who fight to give Iraqis the freedoms that you enjoy. It is my prayer that they never misuse their rights the way your paper does.
There was a day that I forwarded articles from the NYTimes to friends and colleagues. Your paper has sunk so low in my opinion that I would sooner forward an article from the National Enquirer. At least they are honest about their dishonesty and it is much more entertaining. It should be a sad day when a segment of the population believes that the NYTimes has sunk to the level of yellow journalism.
But even as the violence shuts down many avenues to a normal life, for Rana, 35, Xena 31, Muna, 26 and Assal, 24, it has created the possibility of a good paying job and living on equal terms with Iraqi men.Who said these people don't have what it takes to democratically rule themselves?"Before I got into this, I was like a normal female; when I heard bullets, I would hide," said Muna, a stocky young woman in a black T-shirt and black pants.
"Now, I feel like a man. When I hear a bullet, I want to know where it came from," she said, sitting comfortably with an AK-47 assault rifle across her legs, red toenails poking out from a pair of stacked sandals. "Now I feel equal to my husband."
If the work provides personal fulfillment for Muna, her colleague Assal -- a divorced mother -- sees it as a cause.
"I have seen a lot of innocent people die," she said, staring out with intense black eyes. "We are trying to defend ourselves and defend each other. I am doing this for my country."
Was he a Baathist who is scowling because he believes the constitution will be approved and his country will eventually fragment, leaving his Sunni brethren destitute? Did he suffer in Saddam's torture chambers, and is grimacing in pain because he has just forced his mangled body to walk the miles so that he might vote "yes", thrusting a stake in the heart of Saddam's sadistic legacy? Did he lose his family to American helicopters or to terrorist bombs? Does his heart hold hope or pain? Are his eyes filled with sorrow or triumph? Is his jaw set anguish or exultation?
Whatever his story, today he walked the miles through quiet streets that he might participate in a constitutional referendum that will shape his country's future, and reverberate throughout the Middle East in the decades to come. With a quiet dignity he holds up his ink-stained finger, a testament to the pride of an entire people.
Such a simple thing, yet it was a day of trepidation, of hope, of immense symbolism and of surprises.
In the 19 days before the vote terrorists killed almost 450 Iraqis and promised more bloodshed to keep citizens away from the polls. On the eve of the vote there were widespread power outages in Baghdad when terrorists blew up power lines.
But power was restored in short order and the ten hours from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. today were largely peaceful. It is estimated that 61% of the 15.5 million registered voters participated today, meaning that well over nine million Iraqis braved the threats to make their voice heard.
A day that U.S. and Iraqi leaders feared could turn bloody turned out to be the most peaceful in months.Peaceful because of soldiers like these. Iraqi soldiers guarding against a terrorist minority inspirited by foreign influences. Iraqi soldiers guarding Iraqi polls so Iraqi citizens could vote on an Iraqi constitution formulated by Iraqis.
A day of pride and hope for all of Iraq, no matter what the outcome of the vote.
A day in which Iraq the Model (who is photoblogging the day) could vote yes. A day in which Healing Iraq could break a seven-month silence on his blog to post a single sentence: I voted against.
Because in the end, it is not whether the constitution passes or not, it is that the people have a voice. If it passes, the struggle for democracy will not end for there are many challenges ahead. If it fails, the struggle for democracy will not end because the ministers will gather once again to construct another (and hopefully better) version, and the people's voice will again be heard.
The constitution is not perfect; no document of this import authored by man can be. Ibn Alrafidain explores some of the problems in a post but in the end decides to vote yes.
This picture of a policeman holding up his ink-stained finger after voting was posted by Iraqi blogger Sooni, who also blogged about his struggle with how to vote.
Many were proud to be able to participate:
“It is my duty and pleasure to participate in democracy,” said Hamed Humadi, a 61-year-old retired shopkeeper, as he dipped his right index finger in the bottle of blue ink, signifying the fact he voted. “All Iraqis should take part on this great day.”
Turnout was mixed:
Only about 20 people had voted in the Sunni town of Haditha, northwest of Baghdad, after three hours. Said Ahmad Fliha walked up the hill to the fortified polling station with the help of a relative and Iraqi soldier."I'm 75 years old. Everything is finished for me. But I'm going to vote because I want a good future for my children," Fliha said. ...
"I am an Iraqi citizen. Of course, I voted 'yes,"' said Abid Ali Hussein, an elderly man with a white beard, as he left the area. "God willing, there will be no terrorism."...
"I voted 'no' because the new government says if there is trouble in the future, Iraq could be split. I say there should be one nation," said voter Obeidi Amir Nasser, 30.
Aljazeera, mouthpiece of terrorists, is covering the Sunnis' dissatisfaction with the constitution and many "no" votes that would be cast in central Baghdad:
"This constitution was made by the Americans and Israelis and Iran and their friends in the Iraqi government," said a teenager as his friends nodded in agreement. ..."I don't know anything about it. Nobody told us. But I said 'No'. After all, it was drawn up by the Americans," said Ahmad Abu Zahra.
But it wasn't drawn up by Americans. It was hammered out between the ethnic groups of Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni officials elected by Iraqis for just that purpose. There are those who believe the three groups cannot form a unified country, there are those who believe otherwise:
Most Sunni Arabs, the politically dominant community under Saddam, oppose the constitution, saying it provides too much power and influence to the Shi'ites and Kurds, giving them control over Iraq's rich oil reserves in the north and south.Of course, we were told that the many tribes of Afghanistan couldn't be united, and yet . . .Others argue the constitution could bring the nation closer together, if more Sunni Arabs can be brought on board. One major Sunni party broke ranks last week in return for a promise that the charter would be fully reviewed after a December election.
Just as in Afghanistan (and unlike most Arab governments), women are allowed to vote in Iraq.
"Today, I came to vote because I am tired of terrorists, and I want the country to be safe again," said Zeinab Sahib, a 30-year-old mother of three, one of the first voters at a school in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Karrada in Baghdad. "This constitution means unity and hope."
And vote they did. A ban on vehicular traffic was imposed to cut down on car bombs (and looking back, it seems that the ban was effective) so people had to walk to the polls.
In the central Baghdad area of Khulani, where Sunnis and Shiites both live, a steady stream of voters entered a large polling station after being searched three times.They included old men and women who could barely walk with canes, and young mothers wearing chadors and carrying infants. Other voters wore baggy traditional Kurdish dresses, and some youths were dressed in jeans.
Within three hours of voting starting, at least a quarter of registered voters cast ballots in Baghdad's biggest Sunni Arab district, Azamiyah, where in January hardly a soul was seen in the January vote.
Pictured is a woman in traditional Kurdish dress casting her ballot. Kurds turned out in large numbers, most to support the constitution because it restores theirs rights and may serve as a stepping stone to one day establishing an independent Kurdistan.
Many women voted too, some dressed for the occasion in traditional full and brightly colored, embroidered costumes."I am taking part in the referendum to say 'yes' to a constitution that consecrates federalism and autonomy for our region," said 20-year-old Nihayat Karim.
Among the few who admitted they would vote against the constitution was Yasin Wahhab, a 27-year-old teacher.
"I am not optimistic because I think the project carries the stamp of Shiite religious forces that want to control Iraq," he said.
Now comes the tedious task of counting ballots, an effort that will take three or four days.In Baghdad, celebratory gunfire rung out as poll workers began counting ballots across Iraq's 18 provinces.
In Baghdad, men counted votes by lanterns because the electricity was out. Results were written on a chalkboard. Outside, Iraqi soldiers huddled in a courtyard, breaking their fast.
But no matter what the results of the referendum, one thing is clear: the Iraqi people are taking control of their destiny.
May God watch over them and grant them peace, prosperity and wisdom.
Reaching this landmark is especially significant given that Iraq’s military and police forces will be taking the lead in providing security for the Oct. 15 referendum, officials said. There are now more than 60,000 additional Iraqi security forces available than there were for the highly-successful January election held earlier this year.Just another building block in the master plan.Since the effort to rebuild the country’s forces began about 15 months ago, more than 115 special police and army combat battalions have been formed as well as regular police, border enforcement and highway patrol for the Ministry of Interior and motor transport regiments, Navy, Air Forces and numerous training organizations for the Ministry of Defense.
The difference of a "timeline" vs. a "plan" is vitally important. Dean and his liberal cronies want to know, right now, exactly when our last troops will be pulled away from protecting the fledgling democracy in the heart of the Middle East.
The president, of course, has a "plan" which sets out a series of events that take place, one building on the other, until the country has a good chance of standing on its own. Unlike the frequently fickle and factious left, the president put his plan into place way back in 2003 and is still following it today. Iraq is getting quite close to completing step 5 (write a constitution) and step 6 (ratification) is scheduled for Saturday.
If the constitution is not ratified, then the Iraqi people must return to step 5 and do it again until step 6 is successful. A plan allows for that — a timeline would become nonsensical in that event.
Meanwhile, al-Qaida is hoping that Dean is successful and the United States cuts and runs according to a timeline rather than a plan:
In a letter to his top deputy in Iraq, al-Qaida's No. 2 leader says the U.S. "ran and left" in Vietnam and the jihadists must have a plan ready to fill the void if the Americans suddenly leave Iraq.The similarity to Vietnam is of paramount importance in this debate. In Vietnam, the press waged a sociopolitical war on the war effort and the military and forced the withdrawal from an engagement that we were winning. They are attempting to do the same in Iraq. To allow them to succeed will be to show the United States is a paper tiger after all, to be dismissed as a gutless adversary in the drive to establish a Muslim state."Things may develop faster than we imagine," Ayman al-Zawahri wrote in a letter to his top deputy in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam - and how they ran and left their agents - is noteworthy. ... We must be ready starting now."
Further, al-Zawahri's letter shows the geopolitical importance of Iraq:
"It has always been my belief that the victory of Islam will never take place until a Muslim state is established ... in the heart of the Islamic world," al-Zawahri writes.Replace a few words and you will see an eerie echo of the president's vision. It would be perfectly natural for the president to say,: It has always been my belief that the victory of freedom will never take place until a democratic state is established ... in the heart of the Islamic world. This is our long-term plan: expel the terrorists from Iraq, establish an democratically elected authority and take the gift of freedom to Iraq's despotic neighbors, including Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.The letter lays out his long-term plan: expel the Americans from Iraq, establish an Islamic authority and take the war to Iraq's secular neighbors, including Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Thankfully, the president will remain president long enough to see the first fruits of his plan — before the left and their media mouthpieces can make the American public "go all wobbly" on the war on Islamofacism.
Update: The Director of National Intelligence has published al-Zarqawi's letter in its entirety.
Update: Powerline weighs in on the letter from al-Zawahiri.
"We got hold of a very important letter from Abu Azzam to Zarqawi asking him to begin to move a number of Arab fighters to the countries they came from to transfer their experience in car bombings in Iraq," [Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan] Jabor told Reuters in an interview in Amman.If true, then either Zarqawi is confident that the "insurgency" in Iraq will be successful even with reduced resources, or he is trying to inflame the region by spreading his terror elsewhere. If the former, then Zarqawi is delusional. If the latter, then he is desperate."So you will see insurgencies in other countries," said Jabor, a member of the Shi'ite Islamist SCIRI party, a key component of the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led coalition government. ...
Jabor said intelligence indicated some Arab militants had already left Iraq after losing ground during last month's assault by U.S. and Iraqi forces on the northern town of Tal Afar, where more than 1,500 insurgents were captured.
"They are leaving Iraq to transfer their training skills in car bombings to their original countries," he said.
Iraq's president said Tuesday that Saddam Hussein had confessed to killings and other "crimes" committed during his regime, including the massacre of thousands of Kurds in the late 1980s.Hussein family legal consultant Abdel Haq Alani says that Saddam didn't say anything to him about this when he met with Saddam yesterday.President Jalal Talabani (search) told Iraqi television that he had been informed by an investigating judge that "he was able to extract confessions from Saddam's mouth" about crimes "such as executions" which the ousted leader had personally ordered.
Asked about specific examples, Talabani, a Kurd, replied "Anfal," the codename for the 1987-88 campaign which his Patriotic Union of Kurdistan maintains led to the deaths of about 182,000 Kurds and the destruction of "dozens of Kurdish villages."
Among the many unresolved issues of the former Iraqi regime's support for terrorism, few are more potentially important than the activities throughout the mid to late 1990s of Iraqi military officials and chemical weapons specialists in Sudan.The Clinton Administration, along with a host of Sudanese opposition groups and nonproliferation experts, alleged that Iraqi chemical weapons experts were advising Sudanese military and intelligence officials on the development and production of chemical weapons. This is significant for two reasons, one obvious and one less obvious. First, any Iraqi activity on chemical weapons development inside or outside of Iraq would have constituted a serious violation of U.N. resolutions. Second, throughout much of the 1990s, the Sudanese Military Industrial Corporation (MIC) and Sudanese intelligence were virtually inseparable from al Qaeda. If the Iraqis were providing WMD technology to these elements of the corrupt Sudanese regime--led by Hasan al Turabi, who was openly sympathetic to Osama bin Laden--they were effectively providing it to al Qaeda. Even the most determined skeptics of an Iraq-al Qaeda connection concede this point.
Operation Scimitar- named after a curved sword - started Thursday with targeted raids in the village of Zaidan, 30 kilometres southeast of Fallujah. So far, 22 suspected insurgents have been detained.The three previous operations launched during the last month were named Operations Spear, Dagger and Sword. This operation was launched last Thursday and has already resulted in the arrest of 22 suspects.The offensive includes 500 Marines from the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team-8, a highly trained infantry unit stationed in Okinawa, Japan, the military said.
The military said it did not announce the offensive earlier because commanders did not want to tip off insurgents that a major operation had begun.Hopefully, CNN will be the last to know. As of this hour ABC, CBS, (MS)NBC, Fox, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and even Aljazeera have posted stories on Operation Scimitar. CNN remains clueless.
Elections were held in January, on schedule. Three months later the Transitional National Assembly endorsed the transitional government. The dominant parties have begun inclusive negotiations, in which outreach to Sunni Arabs is a major theme. A large number of Sunni groups and parties are now working to make sure that their voices are fully heard in the process of drafting a new constitution, and that they participate fully in the referendum to approve it and the elections slated for December.Indeed, just last week an agreement was achieved to expand the committee drafting the constitution to ensure full participation by the Sunni Arab community. This agreement, which the United Nations helped to facilitate, should encourage all Iraqis to press ahead with the drafting of the constitution by the Aug. 15 deadline.
As the process moves forward, there will no doubt be frustrating delays and difficult setbacks. But let us not lose sight of the fact that all over Iraq today, Iraqis are debating nearly every aspect of their political future.
U.N. satellite imagery experts have determined that material that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons and banned long-range missiles has been removed from 109 sites in Iraq, U.N. weapons inspectors said in a report obtained Thursday.A Hundred and Nine Sites!
What's missing?
Before the first Gulf War in 1991, those facilities played a major part in the production of precursors for Iraq's chemical warfare program.I interviewed a random liberal who had this to say:
Astonishing! You mean Iraq had a chemical warfare program? Wait . . . I feel dizzy . . . This can't be right . . . I'm going to go watch Fahrenheit 9/11 again to get my head straight.Meanwhile, Lance in Iraq (who head is already straight) has this to say:
I don't look for this to get much play on the "Bush lied about WMD" news outlets. But make no mistake - this is merely a portion of the evidence that will prove Colin Powell and President Bush correct on WMD.No doubt. And I still want to see what's buried under the poppies in Bekka Valley.
Never mind that the alternative to the massive assault on the city backed by artillery, tanks, and aircraft would either be a huge loss of American lives or simply allowing the al Qaeda cut-throat Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to keep it as the terrorist headquarters. Forget that the city was already crumbling from the neglect of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Today Fallujah is on the mend and then some, a symbol of renewal and American-Iraqi cooperation. ...As I traveled through the slowly repopulating city — about half of the original 250,000 are believed to have returned — I saw awesome scenes of destruction. But I also saw thriving markets, stores selling candy and ice cream, and scores of children delighted to see Americans. I did more waving than the beauty queen in the 4th of July parade and the kids squealed with delight when I took their picture.
Brent Batten: Iraq elections through the eyes of a U.S. soldier:
"The Iraqi soldiers in the picture with me were very proud of what they were doing. They kept telling me that the people at the polling site they were guarding did not have to worry because 'I shoot Ali Baba!' (They call all bad guys and the enemy 'Ali Baba.') They were proud to show me their well-maintained weapons and proud they were there to help secure their people's vote.Iraq situation better than painted is about Spc. Andrew Mackey who has a website full of pictures showing the good deeds American soldiers are doing:"It was a great experience to be out on the streets on election day in one of the most dangerous towns in the First Infantry Division's sector and see that the Iraqi people were not intimidated, that they were going to vote, even if they had to go to other neighborhoods to do it. I am proud to have helped make that happen."
"Most of the locals there appreciate us being there. My main job there is to interact with the locals and see that they get what they need – food and water, mainly," he said, estimating that about 85 percent of Iraqis welcome the presence of troops and appreciate their freedom from dictatorship.News from the front -- online Guardsmen Mark Miner keeps a web log of his experiences in Iraq is about Mark Miner who operates Boots in Baghdad:
Even so, Miner has been so inspired by the progress there so far that he's thinking of staying over for another year after his scheduled September release."Some of my friends are shocked when they hear me say that, but I just tell them I've got the best job in the world," said Miner. "I'm on the front lines of the war on terror. It's very fulfilling."
Iraq's defense minister announced a massive security operation on Thursday that will see more than 40,000 Iraqi troops deployed in the capital to hunt down insurgents and their weapons.God speed, guys.Sadoun al-Dulaimi said the force would include troops from the interior and defense ministries. It would be by far the largest anti-insurgent operation carried out in Baghdad by Iraqi security forces. ...
"We will also impose a concrete blockade around Baghdad, like a bracelet around an arm, God willing, and God be with us in our crackdown on the terrorists' infrastructure. No one will be able to penetrate this blockade," Dulaimi said.
"You will witness unprecedentedly strict security measures." ...
"These operations will aim at turning the government's role from defensive to offensive," he said.
Haditha, a town of about 100,000 people 200km northwest of Baghdad in the Euphrates valley, sits on a major supply route between Syria and the rebel stronghold of Ramadi and has long been suspected of being a militant haven.Here's an exchange you won't read in the MSM:
The American troops killed at least 10 suspected militants in Haditha, a Euphrates River city of 90,000 people _ one of whom told the Marines that insurgents had recently killed her husband.Speaking inside her home through a military interpreter, the woman moved her finger across her throat as she begged that her name not be used, indicating she could be killed for talking to U.S. forces. She later helped cook a breakfast of eggs and bread for the handful of Iraqi soldiers helping guard the street.
People have always been nice to us. But you can tell the (insurgents) have been doing some damage because people are real scared," said Marine Capt. Christopher Toland, of Austin, Texas, a platoon commander in the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment.
Who are the suicide bombers of Iraq? By the radicals' account, they are an internationalist brigade of Arabs, with the largest share in the online lists from Saudi Arabia and a significant minority from other countries on Iraq's borders, such as Syria and Kuwait. The roster of the dead on just one extremist Web site reviewed by The Washington Post runs to nearly 250 names, ranging from a 13-year-old Syrian boy said to have died fighting the Americans in Fallujah to the reigning kung fu champion of Jordan, who sneaked off to wage war by telling his family he was going to a tournament.Among the dead are students of engineering and English, the son of a Moroccan restaurateur and a smattering of Europeanized Arabs. There are also long lists of names about whom nothing more is recorded than a country of origin and the word "martyr." ...
"Many are students or from wealthy families -- the same sociological characteristics as the Sept. 11 hijackers," he said.
Set in 1980s Kurdistan during Iraq's war with Iran, "Kilometre Zero" is a road trip movie about a Kurd and an Arab asked to return the body of a fallen soldier to his family. It touches on some of the hardships of the Kurdish people, who were oppressed, often brutally, under Saddam's regime.What? A film that truthfully portrays life under a tyrant? I'm betting he won't be winning any awards whilst in France.
He had a few difficulties in completing the shoot, including the failure to find any statues of Saddam:
The crew spent two weeks searching for a sculptor willing to make a statue of the ousted dictator. One finally accepted and went to work in a walled garden, but then a security agent glimpsed the top of the towering statue over the wall.That's show business!The statue was confiscated, and the sculptor was thrown in jail. Saleem said he had some explaining to do before the sculptor was released.
The Kuwaiti charges include allegations that Saddam's regime kidnapped 605 Kuwaitis and nationals of other countries who lived in the oil-rich state at the time of the 1990-91 occupation, al-Othman said. The remains of 147 of them were found in mass graves in Iraq after Saddam was toppled in April 2003.Another 5,733 were tortured by electric shock, beaten, starved and sexually abused, and 139 were seriously injured by shooting or by land mines planted by Iraqis, he added.
Major Mark Bieger found this little girl after the car bomb that attacked our guys while kids were crowding around. The soldiers here have been angry and sad for two days. They are angry because the terrorists could just as easily have waited a block or two and attacked the patrol away from the kids. Instead, the suicide bomber drove his car and hit the Stryker when about twenty children were jumping up and down and waving at the soldiers.Read it all, as well as this post from John of Castle Argghhh!.
"Morale is weakening and there is (exhaustion or confusion) among the ranks on the mujahedeen, and some of the brother emirs are discriminating among them. God does not accept such actions," the writer says, according to an Associated Press translation of the copy provided by the military. "We have found emirs who are not fit for leadership."Update: The text of the entire letter is available here.He appears to give his side of a particular incident, saying his fighters got confused orders over whether to carry out suicide operations or go home and were abused by their superiors. "This came after humiliation and rude treatment and many other things. Who can tolerate all this?"
But Syria’s decision to re-establish ties after 23 years of severance could be key to easing the insurgency in Iraq and boosting regional security, given Syria’s 310-mile (499-kilometer) shared border with Iraq and its strong ties with Iraq’s Sunni tribes, analysts said.In related news, Iraq expects foreign troops to start pulling out mid-2006.
The former minister of human rights in the US-backed Iraqi administration, Baktiar Amin, said that, based on the AK-47 bullet casings and bullet holes left in the bones, gunmen opened fire on civilians, mostly women and children, killing them as they stood in open trenches."It was terrifying," Mr Amin said. "They came and basically sprayed them with bullets." ...
More than 290 mass graves found since Saddam was overthrown by US-led forces in April 2003 contained the bodies of at least 300,000 people believed to have been killed by the regime, Mr Amin said.
He believes the total number missing could be close to 1million.
Lawyers have interviewed more than 1000 witnesses in connection with the Anfal campaign, said judge Raid Jubi, chief investigator in the case. At least 14 tons of documents were collected.
Hat tip to Jeff Blogworthy.
Under Saddam Hussein, police and military forces were regarded with fear. They were not there to help but rather as instruments of a repressive state. On Jan. 30, however, police and military forces secured more than 5,600 polling sites. There were some 300 attacks by insurgents, according to U.S. officials, but none penetrated the inner cordon of polling sites manned by Iraqi police.There is no doubt that the growing force is becoming increasingly effective:"The Iraqi people saw incontrovertible evidence they were here to protect them," DeLuca said. "The atmosphere has changed dramatically. We have had ten to 12 days since the election where we've had 8,000 to 10,000 volunteers show up when we are recruiting."
Iraqi soldiers backed by U.S. helicopters have killed several suspected insurgents and seized 131 more in a dawn raid, capturing tons of explosives earmarked for attacks on the holy city of Kerbala, officials say. ...Seized along with the suspects were three tonnes of TNT explosive, at least three ready-made car bombs, hundreds of rocket-propelled grenades, several Katyusha rockets, more than 250,000 rounds of ammunition and other equipment.
In terms of the number of people detained and the amount of weaponry seized, it marks one of the most successful Iraqi-run operations in the past two years.
"Now if you tell a joke about a Sunni or a Kurd, you wonder whether you're hurting their feelings," said Joudi, 42, who's a Shiite. "People are just not relaxed about that stuff anymore." ...Perhaps there should be a PC Scale of Freedom — the PC the population the higher the freedom index."I don't want them to misunderstand me, thinking I'm a racist or something," said Ali Razak, 25, a Shiite college student who gave up ethnic jokes after bumping heads with classmates. ...
"All our old jokes were about the Kurds, and they were just as bad about the Arabs, but it was always OK," al Qassab said. "But now who dares to tell a joke about the Kurds? There are sensitivities now, and even when we don't talk about it, we can feel it."
But still, a few jokes go on:
Those who still tell ethnic or sectarian jokes have tailored them to the new circumstances. The new Shiite stereotype is an Iran-loving, doctrinaire believer who wants to outlaw anything that's fun. Kurds are portrayed as demanding, wily strangers who don't really want to be part of Iraq.And with Sunnis the backbone of the insurgency, the proverbial Dulaimi tribesman is blamed for all of Iraq's ills. One joke tells of a Dulaimi blowing himself up in an empty field because he'd heard that the grass was imported from America.
Another popular joke concerns two Dulaimi friends who visit a Shiite mosque and hear worshipers crying for men named Hussein and Ali. The two Sunnis don't know that the mourning is for the two most important Shiite saints, who died centuries ago. One Dulaimi turns to the other and says, "Hey, they're looking for the people who killed these Hussein and Ali guys. Let's get out of here before they blame us!"
In Baghdad, hundreds of power workers marched through the streets shouting "No, no to terror!" to protest terrorist attacks that have been targeting those rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure.
Even Reuters is forced to report some successes:
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid spent Tuesday in Iraq, talking to the country’s leaders, U.S. soldiers and looking at everyday life on the streets, where one image stood out.Good Lord, how could he be surprised at this? In a country filled with terrorists and criminals, why would a citizen go unarmed? How else could the good people of Baghdad defend themselves like this:“The guns,” he said. “Every place you went, there were people with guns. Men, women, young people and middle-aged people. It was remarkable.”
Shopkeepers and residents on one of Baghdad's main streets pulled out their own guns Tuesday and killed three insurgents when hooded men began shooting at passers-by, giving a rare victory to civilians increasingly frustrated by the violence bleeding Iraq. ...HT to Carpe BonumA forceful citizen response is rare, but not unheard of in a country where conflict has become commonplace and the law allows each home to have a weapon. Early this month, police said townsmen in Wihda, 25 miles south of Baghdad, attacked a group of militants believed planning to raid the town and killed seven.
A 240-strong Iraqi commando unit engaged in heavy fighting before seizing the camp, 160km (100 miles) north-west of Baghdad, on Tuesday.Inside the camp they found passports from Morocco, Algeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, as well as an Egyptian casualty.Iraqi officials confirmed that at least seven Iraqi commandos died, alongside insurgents from a number of countries. ...
After encountering heavy fire from an estimated 100 insurgents, they called in US ground and air reinforcements.
Also:
In a separate operation on Tuesday in the northern city of Mosul, the US military said, 70 suspected insurgents were arrested by Iraqi forces.
To may outsiders, like those who protested last year, who will protest today. This was a fools errand, it brought nothing but death and destruction. I am sheltered in Iraq, but I know how the world feels, how people have come to either love or hate Bush, as though heis the emobdiement of this war. As though this war is part of Bush, they forget the over twenty million Iraqis, they forget the Middle Easterners, they forget the average person on the street, the average man with the average dream. ...Our cities are smoking, our graveyards full, and terrorists in our midst. But we are not defeated. We are not down, we are not regretful. We are not going to surrender. For all that the two years have brought, the greatest thign they have given us is a future, and a view of the finish line.
More than 2,000 people demonstrated Tuesday at the site of a car bombing south of Baghdad that killed 125 people, chanting "No to terrorism!"Imagine that.
"Iraq," he says, "is a museum of crimes."The layout of the museum is a work in progress. Amin is assembling a data base that will list all the dictator's murders; a delegation is being sent to Bosnia and to Kosovo to learn how to organize the data. "We are working with bones, with teeth," he says. "It's hard work to identify victims."
How many are there? Amin does not know. He says his ministry was sifting through 150,000 files and 60 kilograms, or 130 pounds, of material recently delivered by the Red Cross. Perhaps half a million Kurds were killed, he suggested, and hundreds of thousands of Shiites. "For the total numbers, we need time" he says. ...
"We owe our freedom to Americans," the minister says.
"The real occupation is not theirs, but the one we suffered for 35 years by the group of thugs who brutalized my nation."It is hard to argue with Amin. He wields the weapon of truth with directness....
How many such stories are there? Too many for the Germans and the French to be so comfortable in their conviction that the war was wrong. This war was falsely portrayed, poorly planned, and hurt by hubris. But it was the right war.
Some people in Europe should have the courage to tell that to George W. Bush this week.
The United Iraqi Alliance will have to form coalitions with other parties to govern, as a two-thirds majority of delegates is needed to pass legislation in the new parliament.This will mean weeks, perhaps months, of negotiations before a new Iraqi government is confirmed in office, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Baghdad.
MPs' first job will be to appoint a presidential council, made up of a president and two vice-presidents.
They will in turn appoint a prime minister - the most important position in the new government - and a cabinet.
Members of the alliance party - which is made up of a coalition of Shia parties - have been meeting this week to discuss their candidate for prime minister.
The current interim Vice-President, Ibrahim Jaafari, is seen as a favourite although he is being challenged by Ahmed Chalabi, who once had close ties with the Pentagon but has since lost US support.
The key question for coalition commanders is how well the inexperienced Iraqi units will fare against a committed and professional insurgent force in the centre of the capital. The handover plan is bold. Within a week the 1,600 men of the Iraqi 302nd and 303rd battalions will have assumed responsibility for an area within a 2.5-mile radius of Haifa Street. By the summer a 25 sq km (9.6 square mile) swath of Central Baghdad is due to be handed over to the Baghdad Division, comprising three brigades of Iraqi troops.That is an exit strategy -- baby steps to get these people back on their feet, not abandoning them the way Ted Kennedy left Mary Jo to drown in Chappaquiddick.
In the week since national elections, police and Iraqi National Guardsmen say that they have received more tips from the public, resulting in more arrests and greater effectiveness in their efforts to weaken the violent insurgency rocking the country.Read it all, especially the part about a new national hero in the person of Abdul Amir. The end result:None of the officials said they believed the violence was over....
Reports from Iraqis reflect a similar shift in attitudes in large areas of the north and south, although authorities acknowledged that in some parts of the country, people remain hostile to the emerging Iraqi authority and supportive, to varying degrees, of the insurgents. ...
"You can feel the situation has changed," said Haider Abdul Hussein, 30, a pharmacy owner. "People seem to linger on the street longer. You can feel the momentum, the sense of optimism."
On a board at the Yarmouk police station, the daily shift notices are penciled in next to a handwritten list of funerals: Patrolman Bilal Jassim, shot; Patrolman Mushtaq Talib, ambushed in patrol car; Patrolman Luay Ubaid, killed by roadside bomb. The list has now grown to nine names, including Amir's."But if we opened up the recruiting right now, we would be swamped," Latif said.
A day or so after the elections, guards at an Iraqi training base watched as a crowd of more than 2,000 gathered outside their gates.Read it all.I have been a guard on duty, and I can tell you from personal experience, when a crowd begins to gather it is unsettling. In Germany once, thousands of protesters gathered at the entrance to our post on a peace march.
So just days after the elections here, the crowd gathered around the entrance to this military base. What did the masses -- with fingers freshly stained from the elections -- want? They wanted to join the Iraqi security forces.
Sights and sounds of millions of Iraqis marching toward voting stations to choose a government at home in Basra, Mosul, Baghdad and abroad in Syria, in Jordan, in Iran and in cities of the Arabian Gulf, were filmed, photographed, recorded and absorbed by vast swaths of populations deprived of any choice. This cannot pass without consequences....The Lebanese are openly demanding an end to Syrian occupation. Egyptians are raising their voice in objection to a perennial presidency by one man. Moroccans were aghast at the costs of the top family -- $120 million per year -- recently revealed by newspapers at home.
Interestingly, the autocratic governments of Syria, Egypt, Libya and many other countries are all talking loudly about reforms to escape a heat that is not going away soon.
If anything, Iraqi's successful elections will raise the temperature.
Before making the three-mile walk to the polling station with her husband and two oldest sons, Sabria sent her youngest, Youssef, 16, to fill the urn at the communal pump. Within minutes he lay dead, the victim of a mortar bomb.Sabria washed her son's body, covered it with a white burial shroud and arranged for it to be taken to the nearby cemetery. Then, remarkably, she went off to vote.
Holding a Kurdish flag and wailing in grief, she entered the polling station in the northern Shorjah district, crying: "I will never put this flag down. Saddam threw me out of my house and home and now he's killed my son. Voting won't bring my Youssef back, but it must stop Saddam from coming back."
"We will build a statue for Bush," said Ali Fadel, the former provincial council chairman. "He is the symbol of freedom."
Overwhelmingly, Arab channels and newspapers greeted the elections as a critical event with major implications for the region, and many put significant resources into reporting on the voting, providing blanket coverage throughout the country that started about a week ago. Newspapers kept wide swaths of their pages open, and the satellite channels dedicated most of the day to coverage of the polls....Far from the almost nightly barrage of blood and tears, Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera, the kings of Arab news, on Sunday barely showed the aftermath of insurgent attacks....
"Things used to be a negotiation between political parties where you scratch my back and I scratch your back," noted one commentator, Abas al-Bayati, on Al Jazeera. "Now, this new government will approach all the parties as having the backing of the people. It will have legitimacy." And that legitimacy should allow the government to face down the insurgents, he added.
If you look at these elections, they are a step in the path that I laid out with the Iraqi leadership 15 months ago. And everybody's been saying at every one of these steps that we'd never do it.Keep this in mind while people like "blonde in the pond" Kennedy are accusing the president of not having a plan and of needing to cement an "exit strategy".
- They said we'd never write a constitution. We wrote a constitution on time.
- Then they said we'd never appoint the interim government by the end of May. We appointed it on June first.
- They said you'll never give up soverignty on June 30th. We did it two days early.
- Then everybody said we'll never have these elections. We've had these elections.
Forbidden to drive their cars to the polls for fear of car bombs, the Iraqi people walked to make their voice heard.
Some walked many miles in order make their voice heard.
Undaunted by long lines, they waited patiently to make their voice heard.
The terrorists promised rivers of blood and some were hurt. Reports at this time say 9 bombers murderers killed 35 voters. Yet still the Iraqi people lined up to make their voice heard.
Even after a promised attack stained the streets with the blood of patriots, the Iraqi people lined up to make their voice heard.
The Iraqi people lined up to make their voice heard even though it had to be done under the protective eye of the Iraqi Police.
Even though they had to submit to searches of their persons, the Iraqi people lined up to make their voice heard.
No hardship was too great from keeping the Iraqi people from lining up to make their voice heard.
They did not complain about having to show proof that they are who they say they are.
This soldier crawled to the polling station in an act of respect as he went to make his voice heard.
After they acted to make their voice heard, many celebrated in the streets.
With unbelieving joy, they made their voice heard.
With pride and incredible bravery, the Iraqi people made their voice heard.
With joy in their hearts, the Iraqi people made their voice heard.
From one free people to another, welcome.
The right-wing blogosphere, like President Bush, considers the elections a triumph for democracy. The top liberal bloggers, Daily Kos, Atrios, Josh Marshall, knowing better, are either ignoring the elections or have moved on.Yet if the vote was a failure, is there any doubt that the lefty bloggers would have been all over it?
Ah well, for both sides of the issue Jeralyn Merritt from TalkLeft and Jeff Jarvis from BuzzMachine will be on MSNBC between 5:30 and 6 today.
Behold the Iraqi people; now you know their true metal.From Free Iraqi:
This is my Eid and I felt like a king walking in his own kingdom. I saw the same look of confidence and satisfaction in the eyes of all people I met. As I left one of the gurads said to me as he handed me back my cellular phone,"God bless you and your beloved ones. We don't know how to thank you. Please excuse any inconvinience on our part. We wish we didn't have to search you or limit your freedom. You are heroes" I was struck with surprise and felt ashamed. This man was risking his life all these hours in what has become the utmost target for all terrorists in Iraq and yet he's apologizing and calling us heroes. I thanked him back and told him that he and his comrads are the true heroes and that we can never be grateful enough for their services.From Iraq the Model:
I walked forward to my station, cast my vote and then headed to the box, where I wanted to stand as long as I could, then I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants.Blogger Democracy in Iraq has changed the name -- to Democracy in Iraq (is Here!):I put the paper in the box and with it, there were tears that I couldn't hold; I was trembling with joy and I felt like I wanted to hug the box but the supervisor smiled at me and said "brother, would you please move ahead, the people are waiting for their turn".
Yes brothers, proceed and fill the box!
These are stories that will be written on the brightest pages of history.
I am very tired, but I am at peace, something I havn't felt in this regard before. I am happy to report that I found very few people during my post-voting trip through Baghdad who had not voted. I even got a few to "convert" and go out and vote. When confronted with the fact that staying away from voting was futile, some who had opposed the election relented, and went and made their mark.From Hammorabi:Even now, I have no idea who is going to win, but it really isn't important. It is enough for me to know that our new government won't be the result of a sham election, that it will be the will of the people.
Today we hit back in the heart of the terrorists and the tyrants!Today is the day in which the souls of our martyrs comforted!
Today those who were killed in Iraq or wounded among our friends from the USA and other allies, who helped us to reach this day, are with us again to inscribe their names with Gold for ever!
Today we challenged the killers and terrorists and foot on them with our shoes!...
God bless Iraq and America.
I am happy to report...no I am honored to report that I have cast my ballot in our election. It is such an amazing feeling to be able to have some control over the destiny of my nation, a feeling I have not known before! I was one of the first ones to report to our local voting station, and I placed my vote, my stained finger is proof...
More than one would think, I bet, as I whisper, "Go with God. Be brave. Be safe."
From Iraq the Model:
On Sunday, the sun will rise on the land of Mesopotamia. I can't wait, the dream is becoming true and I will stand in front of the box to put my heart in it.From Free Iraqi:
Now, and thanks to other humans, not from my area, religion and who don't even speak my language, I and all Iraqis have the real chance to make the change. Now I OWN my home and I can decide who's going to run things in it and how and I won't waste that chance. Tomorrow as I cast my vote, I'll regain my home. I'll regain my humanity and my dignity, as I stand and fulfill part of my responsibilities to this part of the large brotherhood of humanity.From Democracy in Iraq:
Those of us in Iraq are gathering up our will and are ready and willing to serve our nation. I will be among the first, and I hope to continue my efforts at encouraging people to partake in this miracle.From Loser's Blog:
Yesterday I've seen on TV hope and smile return to Iraq faces even tears in there eyes, a thing we even couldn't dream about it finally come true…From Life From Dallas:Iraqis at different countries along the world decided there future by voting :)
I'm full of hope and fear. I know the terrorists will try to disturb this historical day. I know people will vote with their lives. This is when my fears overshadow my hopes.Still, I hope many Iraqis make it to the polls. Today, Iraq needs the brave hearts of its people.
Absentee polls will open again in 14 countries for the last day of voting on Sunday. In Australia, almost 8,000 expats have cast their ballots.Kurdistan Bloggers Union posted pictures taken from the polling area in Manchester, and there are more Brit pics from Daily Life of a London Kurd.
Across the Unitied States, nearly 26,000 people are expected to vote with some driving as much as 14 hours to do so.
These are members of the Assyrian Democratic Movement celebrating after voting in California.
This man is wearing buttons urging people to vote in the southern city of Basra.
Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar proudly displays his stained finger, indicating that he cast his vote.
From Hammorabi:
Let them bomb and kill us. It will not deter us!
Let them send their dogs to suck our bones. We care not!
Let them bark. It will not frighten us.
Let them see how civilised to be free and democratic!
Let them die by our vote tomorrow! It is the magic bullet which will kill them!Welcome New Iraq.
Welcome freedom and democracy.
Welcome peace and prosperity for all nations with out exception but terrorists!
For instance, he tracked down a comprehensive guide to the Iraqi political parties at Chrenkoff's place.
As if that isn't enough, in the same post he points to a compilation of Iraqi television ads compiled and translated by MEMRI. These are very moving and well worth the view (I've seen them three times so far!).
This time it is Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, who was captured by Iraqi forces:
Al-Jaaf was responsible for 32 car bombings that killed hundreds of Iraqis, the statement said. The suspect "confessed to building approximately 75 percent of the car bombs used in attacks in Baghdad since March 2003," Allawi spokesman Thaer al-Naqib said in the statement.There were more arrests made, and taken together it seems that this must be a severe blow to al-Zarqawi's organization:Al-Jaaf was "the most lethal of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's lieutenants," the statement said. He "claims responsibility for some of the most ruthless attacks on Iraqi police forces and police stations."
Two other militants linked to al-Zarqawi's terror group also have been arrested, authorities said - a man described as the chief of al-Zarqawi's propaganda operations and one of the group's weapons suppliers.It is also rather important to note that these arrests were made by Iraqi forces, not coalition. High profile, high impact arrests made by Iraqis as they tighten the noose around al-Zarqawi as national elections draw close.
According to the latest poll conducted in Baghdad, Mosul and Basra by Women for Women International, "94% of women surveyed want to secure legal rights for women; 84% of women want the right to vote on the final constitution; [and] nearly 80% of women believe that their participation in local and national councils should not be limited... despite increasing violence, particularly against women, 90.6% of Iraqi women reported that they are hopeful about their future".And what do the Feminists for Iraq have to say? Oh wait -- there aren't any.
Last Wednesday, USA Today covered the story with a decidedly negative spin. Headlined Lengthy ballots, ad blitzes contribute to confusion, the story concentrated on the confusion among the newly-liberated citizenry and states:
Iraqis have no experience with free elections. The last ballot, in 2002, had one choice: Saddam Hussein. On Jan. 30, they'll confront a lengthy and potentially mystifying ballot. Violence and security concerns have added to the confusion. Most voters seem to have a muddled view of how to vote.Yes, "potentially mystifying" is the news here, with violence somehow equating to voter confusion. USA Today seems to be trying to make the Iraqi citizen seem like a caricature of a thick-skulled red-stater.
Compare and contrast the reporting by the Washington Times last Thursday, in a story headlined 80 percent say they plan to vote:
A clear majority of Iraqis said they plan to vote in the Jan. 30 elections and remain hopeful about their country's future despite a murderous insurgency, according to a poll to be released today.While the USA Today ignored most of the pesky facts in the poll results, the Washington Times published quite a number. I, of course, went to the source (requires Microsoft Powerpoint to view) and pulled some results of my own:The countrywide survey, conducted by the Washington-based International Republican Institute (IRI), also found increased popular awareness of the election, closer identification with political parties and a growing level of trust in Iraqi institutions such as the interim government, the police and the election commission.
Also, while USA Today cited one statistic and filled a column with dour predictions and gloomy prognostications, the Washington Times cited actual results of the survey. Nor can I find any other story in the USA Today that covers this poll.
USA Today should be ashamed but I doubt that shame is to be found anywhere in those offices.
The officials said Wednesday that final arrangements for the voting had not been worked out, including where polling places will be set up in the five U.S. cities: Detroit; Los Angeles; Nashville, Tennessee; New York; and Washington.Iraq's interim government will also allow its citizens to vote in Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
"Going to the polling stations is a victory for the Iraqi people," said Ali Danif, a 45-year-old writer.Concerning the car-bombs and other acts of terrorism:"The elections are more important than the candidates," insisted Jamal Karim, his garrulous friend.
Not to be outdone, a smiling Suheil Yassin jumped in. "It's one of my wishes to die at the gate of the polling station," he said, a gesture that was self-consciously dramatic. "I want to be a martyr for the ballot box."
"A country will not find progress without making sacrifices," Mohammed said.He pointed to the Iran-Iraq war and the battle in 1988 to retake the Faw peninsula on the Persian Gulf. Thousands were lost, he said, "for Saddam's moment of madness. If we lose 100 or 200 people as martyrs in the election, the sacrifice is worth it."
"This is the tax that we have to pay," added Mohammed Thamer, a poet. "We have no other option, no other solution."
The Kurds, as the petition notes, are different "ethnically, culturally, and philosophically from the Iraqi Arabs" and are "a distinctive nation." For 80 years, according to the petition, the Kurds "have been subjected by the Iraqi Arab state to repression, enslavement, and genocide."The Turks are, understandably, not happy about this development.
After spending much of the year as a battlefield between militiamen and U.S. forces, Baghdad's Sadr City district is now embracing peace and reconstruction.Anticipation is high for what the residents of the mainly Shiite district say is their overdue empowerment through elections Jan. 30.
The outdoor markets are busy again and the gridlocked traffic is back. The bands of excited children who walked behind local militiamen heading to battle in the fall now clamor around machinery laying down new water pipes.
Workers in orange jumpsuits are laying asphalt in dozens of potholes dug by the fighters to conceal roadside bombs meant to kill American soldiers. The clerics who replaced their turbans and robes with track suits to join the fight are back in mosques and seminaries.
No apology from the Senator has been forthcoming.
Back in June a cooperative Abu Musab was captured. Our men killed another "key lieutenant" in Fallujah a couple of weeks ago.
Al-Zarqawi is beginning to feel the pressure. He bet everything on stopping the juggernaut of democracy but finds himself losing. Why else has he been trying to communicate with bin Laden? Why else would he release a tape on which he harshly criticizes Sunni clerics in Iraq:
Addressing the Muslim "ulema," an Arabic term for Islamic clerics and scholars, the tape drew a grim picture of the consequences of what it described as their failure to step in to help the Falluja rebels against the Americans.Al-Zarqawi will not flee the field of battle and hide out like UBL did. He will not be captured, dragged from some spider hole like Saddam. He will be killed fighting."You made peace with the tyranny and handed over the country and its people to the Jews and Crusaders, by resorting to silence on their crimes and preventing our youth from heading to the battlefields in order to defend our religion," it said.
That day cannot come too soon.
| Total Number | |
| Mosques in Fallujah | 100 |
| Mosques used as Fighting Positions / Weapons Caches | 60 |
| Hospitals used as Defensive Positions | 3 |
| IED Factories | 11 |
| Slaughter House / Torture Chambers | 3 |
| Number of Major Weapons Storage Areas in the City | 203 |
| Evidence of Foreign Fighter involvement | 2 |
| Examples of Intimidation | |
| Execution of Iraqis | Working |
| Kidnapping / Hostages | Working |
And from slide 3:
What about the LOW violations on the other side? Such as using protected areas for weapons storage, IED production, fighting positions, etc?Update: LGF finds an article that says the Fallujah terrorists had enough weapons amassed to take over the entire country of Iraq.The Slaughterhouses? The abuse not just of the western hostages, but the locals, as well - in far greater numbers.
Yeah, right. I expect this to happen a lot — next thing you know he’ll be seen hanging out with Elvis on a Mississippi steamboat.
I often wonder, what is the average degree of separation between a civilian and a soldier stationed in Iraq? For me, it is 2.5. I am connected, however tenuously, to two soldiers in Iraq and their stories could not be more different.
My first cousin’s daughter (FYI, that makes her my first cousin once removed) is finishing up her second tour over there and will be home safe and sound just in time for Christmas. A lot of prayer time has been spent on this special young lady, I assure you.
After her first tour was completed, she came home for a bit and then decided to put in for a nice billet in Germany. It would give her a chance to relax and still see something of the world. Mom, Dad, friends and family were relieved that she was no longer in a combat situation. But within a couple of weeks after transferring to Germany her new unit was called up, one and all. Sweet irony!
I also know a woman who knows a woman whose son is over there. Was, that is, as this particular soldier’s mother now sits at the bedside of her son as he is trying to come out of a coma.
While on a patrol, his unit was ambushed. An IED took out most of his mates in his vehicle and he ended up with a bullet wound to the head. After the firefight he was put into an ambulance for transport to a medical facility. During transport the ambulance was virtually destroyed by an IED. Three of the four patients being transported died in the blast.
Terrorists targeted an ambulance filled with wounded.
Feigning death, only to jump up and kill. Feigning surrender, only to draw our troops in and kill them. Attacking ambulances.
Where’s the outrage?
Leaders meeting on Iraq's future plan to give strong backing to the interim government's war against insurgents, but won't set a deadline for withdrawing U.S.-led forces from Iraq - despite a push by France and some Arab countries….
The meeting brought together Iraq's six neighbors - Iran, Syria, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia - as well as Egypt and several other Arab countries, China and regional bodies such as the Group of Eight, the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Syria's foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, had tried to seek support for setting a deadline for the withdrawal of foreign forces in Iraq. But the draft communique - which the Egyptian foreign minister said late Monday had been endorsed by the conference - allows the Iraqi government to decide when the U.S.-led troops should depart. It does remind them that their mandate is "not open-ended."
Let’s not hold our breath while waiting for the NYTimes or Newsqueak to pick up on this story.
Saddam Hussein diverted money from the U.N. oil-for-food program to pay millions of dollars to families of Palestinian suicide bombers who carried out attacks on Israel, say congressional investigators who uncovered evidence of the money trail.What is being learned is that the scale is much larger than we thought. But it was well known before the liberation that Saddam gave money to the families of homicide bombers, so I've never understood the "no known connection to terrorism" angle.
There are beheading chambers and bomb-making factories. But more disturbing are the posters declaring Islamofundamentalist tyranny and the bodies of those who did not obey:
Another poster in the ruins of the souk bears testament to the strict brand of Sunni Islam imposed by the council, fronted by hardline cleric Abdullah Junabi. The decree warns all women that they must cover up from head to toe outdoors, or face execution by the armed militants who controlled the streets.There is ample evidence that the "insurgents" are targeting people of all faiths, including moderate Muslims. The city was under siege by Islamofascists, but not all were home-grown:Two female bodies found yesterday suggest such threats were far from idle. An Arab woman, in a violet nightdress, lay in a post-mortem embrace with a male corpse in the middle of the street. Both bodies had died from bullets to the head.
Just six metres away on the same street lay the decomposing corpse of a blonde-haired white woman, too disfigured for swift identification but presumed to be the body of one of the many foreign hostages kidnapped by the rebels.
So far U.S. troops have only found two hostages, one Iraqi and one Syrian. Marines last week found the Iraqi in a room with a black banner bearing the logo of one of Iraq's extremist groups. He was chained to the wall, shackled hand and foot in front of a video camera. The floor was covered with blood....The usually-readable Kevin over at Lean Left says that we are losing Iraq because of the heroic measures we are taking to keep from leveling the city -- because Kevin sees only the destruction that is taking place and the misery that warfare brings. There is no appreciation for the fact that we are not doing a Dresden or for the fact that the people were sick of being oppressed and living in fear. They just want it over with:The Iraqi hostage, who had been beaten on the back with steel cables, said his tormentors were Syrian and that he thought he was in Syria until the Marines found him, the Marine said. Other militants came and went, but "The Syrians were always in charge," the Marine said.
Such is the fear that the heavily armed militants held over Fallujah that many of the residents who emerged from the ruins welcomed the US marines, despite the massive destruction their firepower had inflicted on their city.There are also anecdotal stories that people who fled Fallujah begged the coalition to do whatever it takes to rid their city of the "insurgents", even if it meant destroying their home and all their possessions. Because living under the "insurgents" was worse:A man in his sixties, half-naked and his underwear stained with blood from shrapnel wounds from a US munition, cursed the insurgents as he greeted the advancing marines on Saturday night.
"I wish the Americans had come here the very first day and not waited eight months," he said, trembling. Nearby, a mosque courtyard had been used as a weapons store by the militants.
Another elderly man, who did not want his name used for fear the rebels would one day return and restore their draconian rule, said he was detained by the militants last Tuesday and held for four days before being freed. He described how he had then sought refuge in a friend's house where they had huddled together clutching Korans in silent prayer for their lives as the massive US bombardment put the insurgents to flight.
"It was horrible," he told an AFP reporter."We suffered from the bombings. Innocent people died or were wounded by the bombings.
"But we were happy you did what you did because Fallujah had been suffocated by the Mujahidin. Anyone considered suspicious would be slaughtered. We would see unknown corpses around the city all the time."
The same story of arbitrary executions was told by another resident, found by US troops cowering in his home with his brother and his family.
"They would wear black masks, carry rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikovs, and search streets and alleys," said Iyad Assam, 24. "I would hear stories, about how they executed five men one day and seven another for collaborating with the Americans. They made checkpoints on the roads. They put announcements on walls banning music and telling women to wear the veil from head to toe."
It was not just pedlars of alcohol or Western videos and women deemed improperly dressed who faced the militants' wrath. Even residents who regard themselves as observant Muslims lived in fear because they did not share the puritan brand of Sunni Islam that the insurgents enforced.
One devotee of a Sufi sect, followers of a mystical form of worship deemed herectical by the hardliners, told how he and other members of his order had lived in terror inside their homes for fear of retribution.
"It was a very hard life. We couldn't move. We could not work," said the man sporting the white robe and skullcap prescribed by his faith. "If they had any issue with a person, they would kill him or throw him in jail."
Over the rubble-strewn streets of Fallujah the voice from the loudspeaker on the minaret is no longer a call to jihad, destruction or death.While Kevin cites a story of an AP photographer trapped in the city, Kevin (like so many on the left) ignores the patriotism and heroism exhibited by Iraqi nationals:As the fighting tapers off to isolated pockets in the southern fringes of the city, the broadcast is an offer of help by the Iraqi Army to the traumatised people of this former rebel bastion.
For Mustafa, one of 2,000 Iraqi soldiers fighting alongside U.S. troops for control of this insurgent-occupied city, the battle for Fallujah was personal. If the fighters continue to control Iraqi cities, there will be no future for him, his children or his wife of 10 weeks.Mustafa discovered what Lean Left remains ignorant of: taking a house of people willing to die without destroying the house is only possible at the cost of the lives of people on the good side."She has to know I am doing this for her," Mustafa said Sunday from an Iraqi base camp near Fallujah. "I want my wife to go shopping without fear. This is the goal of this operation, to help the Iraqis get rid of fear. It is worth it to be away from home." ...
When the Iraqi soldiers entered the city, they found the fighters hiding in houses and other buildings, even in mosques. Like their American counterparts, the soldiers discovered that the insurgents had laid traps for them. "This was new to us," Mustafa said. "Afterwards, we discovered this trick" and started to bomb the houses where the insurgents were found.
The deputy PM of Iraq notes that every effort was made to negotiate a peaceful end to the occupation by Islamofascists:
From this city, they have terrorised the local population and spread murder across the country. They have blown up women and children and executed in cold blood fellow Iraqis trying to end the lawlessness in our country. No civilised person can stand by and allow this to continue. No civilised person should support those behind this campaign of murder."These are the tactics of desperation," Kevin charges. Yet Kevin doesn't offer any advice as to how to complete the liberation of Iraq without taking on the "insurgents" in our current manner. (I suppose he is taking lessons from MSM; criticize, criticize, criticize!)The people of Falluja do not support these men of violence. They want rid of them and have been pleading for the interim government to free them. It would have been better for everyone if this could have been done peacefully. So for many months, the prime minister, Ayad Allawi, and my colleagues in the interim government have made repeated efforts to negotiate a peaceful resolution.
So I ask, what would Kevin have us do? Leave, and allow Iraq to be crushed under the rule of foreign Islamofascists and reenforce the belief of Islamofascist terrorists everywhere that America is a paper tiger? Adopt U.N. tactics of retreating to safe zones and allowing the bad guys to take over everywhere else, raping, murdering, beheading and terrorizing? Go house to house taking care to protect the property of the citizens of Fallujah at the cost of hundreds of American lives?
I think not. Our soldiers are doing exactly what is necessary. Give negotiation a chance. Then give it another chance to satisfy everyone except Californians and the French. Then attack the problem at the source using the depth and breadth of our awesome arsenal in precision strikes and kill as many as possible without destroying the entire city.
And once the infestation is gone, rebuild. As The Big Picture says, Liberals Can Count Costs, But Rarely Seem Able to Count Benefits.
BTW, take a look at the amusing exchange in the comments of Kevin's post -- Say Uncle had (unsurprisingly) something to say.
Marines from 40 Commando
attached to Britain's Black Watch fire mortars to light up the night sky from their forward operating base 'Springfield' on the east bank of the Euphrates, near Camp Dogwood, 30 miles southwest of Baghdad, November 10, 2004.[Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division] said troops had found an arms cache in "almost every single mosque in Fallujah."Yet we're still being careful. Deadly, but careful:
American troops scored one of their biggest successes in the battle for Fallujah when an estimated 70 foreign fighters were killed in a massive precision artillery strike on a building in a mosque complex.Word is that among the dead is "a key lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi". This guy seems to have a lot of lieutenants. It'll be nice when we hear we actually put al-Zarqawi out of commission. But I digress.
The constraints of firing into another AOR, where US marines might be operating, and the danger of damaging the mosque, which would have provoked outrage in the Arab world, meant attacking the building had to be authorised at a very senior level.Screw the mosque, screw the Arab street, get the bad guys. They violated the sanctity of thier mosques when they started using them as weapons caches.
A Humvee from Phantom troop fitted with a Long Range Acquisition System (LRAS) was moved to within two kilometres of the mosque, well inside its maximum range of 15km, to get a second opinion on what was happening. "The strike was so sensitive that it took more than an hour to approve it," said Maj John Reynolds, operations officer for 2-2. "Normally it happens in minutes."Evidently the fighters gathered to try and figure out a way out of town. They didn't get the chance.Lt Prakash was asked to provide a grid co-ordinate, accurate to within a metre, to minimise the chance of hitting the mosque, about 50 metres from the building.
Mobile phone intercepts and reports from Iraqi informants suggested there were 70 gunmen in the building and indicated that the very senior Zarqawi lieutenant had perished.But even better news:
"We are hearing reports saying that the enemy is withdrawing to a central place for a final stand," said Maj Reynolds. "It's like a Gettysburg. We have surrounded the whole area."Hopefully not quite like Gettysburg. I don't recall anyone being surrounded at Gettysburg and there were over 3,000 killed on each side not to mention that casualties were in the tens of thousands. Maybe it will be more like the Battle of Great Bridge. </nit-picking>
For more on Fallujah, see Airborne Combat Engineer's post on our use of white phosphorous rounds and visit the Command Post Your Comprehensive Briefing (v2.4).
Still, the indoctrination of the region's youth doesn't seem to be in any danger:
"They don't deserve this to happen to them, they are just defending their country," said Khadija Ammar, a 20-year-old graphics student, who like many young Jordanian women wears a Muslim headscarf with her Western-style clothes. "Of course we don't believe the Americans. It's not just terrorists they're targeting, it's everyone else, the civilians."I've got news for these misinformed students. If we weren't taking extreme caution to avoid killing civilians then Fallujah, as well as a few other towns, would look a lot more like this:
Outside, in the bomb-blasted streets, up to 5,000 die-hard insurgents were out to kill. Inside, on a screen accurate enough to show rats scavenging on the rubbish piles, the battle between luminous green tanks and luminous green gunmen seemed almost abstract.Ya gotta love the perspective of those "bluffed veterans".Only the shock of the explosions and the occasional back blast of dust when a gunner opened fire reminded us we were in the midst of the most desperate urban battle since the fall of Baghdad. That, and the shrapnel which went right through my arm later in the morning. ...
Then, as the column lumbered down a main road, the guerrillas appeared.
They emerged from gates, alleyways and rooftops, alone or in small groups. Wherever they faced an armoured vehicle, they died where they stood.
'I think there are committed fighters out there who want to die in Fallujah. We are in the process of allowing them to self-actualise,' said Lieutenant-Colonel Rainey, a bluffed veteran.
One other quote from the article because I love a great turn of phrase:
Then, in a surreal turn, the US Army's psychological warfare team drove in from the desert, Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries blaring from loudspeakers: war imitating the movies, imitating war.Nice.
Someone should tell the A.P. that while a small tactical nuke would take care of the whole thing in a few seconds (and quite permanently, too), this business of taking extreme care to spare innocent civilians takes time (and costs American lives). A few days to take a city in which thousands of willing-to-die-for-virgins fanatical terrorist-jihadists (aka Jerms) are concentrated is bound to take some time if you can't just flatten the whole thing.
Meanwhile, for those of us in the real world, I recommend the Command Post's Iraq page for keeping up with the latest headlines and the Belmont Club for the best commentary on the assualt.
The first is that we are bringing freedom to so many; that we are helping two nations to rebuild; that our men and women are doing more than just repairing infrastructure; that they are rebuilding lives while constructing relationships.
The Truth About Iraq is a website dedicated to getting this aspect of our military effort out:
Pictures of Iraq You Won't See in Main Stream Media:
This is Chief Wiggles who did so much in bringing planeloads of toys to children in Iraq. There are more pictures on his site.
One of the many pictures of anti-terrorism deomonstrations in Healing Iraq's photo blogs.
One of the softer photos among many military shots in a post at FreeRepublic.
A picture from the blogosphere, this one from Dean's World.
Just one of the more than 250 pictures from the 101st Airborne gallary.
One of the many pictures collected by Glenn Beck.
Joe's Military Picture Pages has literally thousands of pics.
News Radio WBTM collected some nice pictures.
Over 140 pictures are available at this site, and every single one is a feel-good pic.
A soldier arm wrestles with kids, just one the over 4,500 images available from Stryker Brigade News Photo Gallery.
An Iraqi man gives a female soldier a flower. This and 92 others are on the Rock 103 (Memphis radio) website.
This is from the afore-mentioned Truth About Iraq
But that is just one side of our military. The other is the side painted to look ugly by the Left and liberal media. It is the part of a soldier that led to decades of anti-military movies like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. It is the part that makes idiots mouth phrases like "war never solves anything".
This is best illustrated by a poem from Russ Vaughn, a paratrooper who was inspired by a post by Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman on BlackFive. Russ sent his poem to several bloggers, and I was priviledged to be among them:
The Sheepdogs
Most humans truly are like sheep
Wanting nothing more than peace to keep
To graze, grow fat and raise their young,
Sweet taste of clover on the tongue.
Their lives serene upon Life's farm,
They sense no threat nor fear no harm.
On verdant meadows, they forage free
With naught to fear, with naught to flee.
They pay their sheepdogs little heed
For there is no threat; there is no need.
To the flock, sheepdog's are mysteries,
Roaming watchful round the peripheries.
These fang-toothed creatures bark, they roar
With the fetid reek of the carnivore,
Too like the wolf of legends told,
To be amongst our docile fold.
Who needs sheepdogs? What good are they?
They have no use, not in this day.
Lock them away, out of our sight
We have no need of their fierce might.
But sudden in their midst a beast
Has come to kill, has come to feast
The wolves attack; they give no warning
Upon that calm September morning
They slash and kill with frenzied glee
Their passive helpless enemy
Who had no clue the wolves were there
Far roaming from their Eastern lair.
Then from the carnage, from the rout,
Comes the cry, "Turn the sheepdogs out!"
Thus is our nature but too our plight
To keep our dogs on leashes tight
And live a life of illusive bliss
Hearing not the beast, his growl, his hiss.
Until he has us by the throat,
We pay no heed; we take no note.
Not until he strikes us at our core
Will we unleash the Dogs of War
Only having felt the wolf pack's wrath
Do we loose the sheepdogs on its path.
And the wolves will learn what we've shown before;
We love our sheep, we Dogs of War.
Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66
Simple and elequent, it reminds us why we are in this fight.
Now remember that our military was degraded and demorlized when Bush took the helm. Yet when we were attacked our Dogs of War rose to the challenge and achieved the impossible: they routed the Taliban from the stoney strongholds and secret caves, achieving in months what the Russians could not do in years, and freeing a nation of oppressed people.
Free elections have already taken place. What Leftist would have admitted that this would be possible on that fateful day of 9/11?
Then remember the predictions of the Left as we took down a tyrant in Iraq:
Knowing what we know today, who do you trust to command our troops, both as they give aid and as they kill wolves? A man that restored pride, or a man who spent his entire career trying to destroy our military might?
Iraq these days is a land of queues. People line up to pass through checkpoints, to enter a school or hospital, and even to buy food.Some of the longest queues are formed by men, aged between 18 and 40, who want to join the Iraq National Defense Force (INDF), the country’s renascent army. Here and there one can even spot young women in the queues. Often tempted by wages of $40 a month, thousands have enrolled in the past eight months.
The recent series of massacres of which over 800 recruits to the new Iraqi Army and police have been victims, does not seem to have affected the length of the queues. Nor do fears that some of the new army’s units may have been infiltrated by unrepentant Baathists undermined the resolve of the new leadership in Baghdad to build a new national military machine.
This bolsters the claims of the Pentagon that Russia was helping Iraq prepare for the war, including moving weapons out of the country.
Iraq’s principal Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has informed the interim Iraqi government of his “full support” for elections scheduled for January.Add the clear victory by Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and it looks like the doom-and-gloom prophecies of the left have failed to materialize. Again.“The grand ayatollah’s message is that elections should be held as scheduled and that he will advise the faithful to take active part,” Sistani’s spokesman Ahmad Safi told Arab News yesterday.
Intelligence sources said the man captured was previously thought to be a relatively minor member of the terror network. But because so many of al-Zarqawi's associates have been captured or killed, he moved up to take a more important role.Next step: October surprise of al-Zarqawi in a pine box.
With nationwide elections three months away, the senior United Nations official here says his office and the interim Iraqi government have assembled a list of nearly 14 million Iraqi voters, set up 550 voter registration sites around the country and hired 6,000 people to staff them.
Iraqi children follow a British Army soldier on foot patrol in the southern city of Basra.
But they hate us, right?
Investigators have conducted their first scientific exhumation of Iraqs killing fields, discovering hundreds of bodies that they hope will help convict Saddam Hussein of crimes against humanity.They say nine trenches in a dry, dusty riverbed at the Hatra site in northern Iraq contain at least 300 bodies, and possibly thousands, including unborn babies and toddlers still clutching toys....
Ive been doing gravesites for a long time, but Ive never seen anything like this, women and children executed for no apparent reason, added Kehoe, who spent five years in the Balkans. Its a perfect place for execution....
Kehoe said the women and children had been taken from their villages with their belongings, including pots and pans, shot often in the back of the head then bulldozed into the trench.
Some of the mothers died still holding their children. One young boy still held a ball in his tiny arms. A thick stench hangs over the site, as well as at a makeshift morgue nearby....
International organizations estimate more than 300,000 people died under Saddams 24-year rule, and Iraqs Human Rights Ministry has identified 40 possible mass graves countrywide.
Authorities hope careful investigations of the sites will provide enough evidence to convict Saddam and other senior members of his regime, now in U.S. detention, of crimes against humanity.
"Saddam sought to sustain the requisite knowledge base to restart the program eventually and, to the extent it did not threaten the Iraqi efforts to get out from under sanctions, to sustain the inherent capability to produce such weapons as circumstances permitted in the future."...Duelfer also reported that Saddam asked subordinates how long it would take to develop chemical weapons once sanctions ended. One Iraqi chemical weapons expert said it would require only a few days to develop mustard gas. Former Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz said that Iraq could have had a WMD capacity within two years after the end of sanctions.
"Saddam did not abandon his nuclear ambitions. . . . Those around Saddam seemed quite convinced that once sanctions were ended, and all other things being equal, Saddam would renew his efforts in this field."
Moreover, Duelfer concluded that Saddam in his missile program was developing missiles that exceeded the range limits set in U.N. Security Council Resolution 687.
If the weapons inspectors had been given more time to conduct inspections, as John Kerry has on occasion advocated, we now know they would not have found any WMDs. Nor does it seem possible that they would have uncovered Saddam's attempts to maintain WMD capability. There would have been heavy pressure then from France, Russia, and China—whose companies were given kickbacks and windfall profits from the Saddam-administered U.N. Oil for Food program, Duelfer reports—to disband U.S. military forces in the Middle East and to end sanctions. And once sanctions were gone, there would have been nothing to stop Saddam from developing WMDs.In other words, we were facing a brutal dictator with the capability to develop WMDs and the proven willingness to use them. A dictator whose regime had had, as the 9/11 Commission has documented, frequent contacts with al Qaeda. We have no conclusive evidence that he collaborated with al Qaeda on 9/11—but also no conclusive evidence that he did not. Under those circumstances, George W. Bush acted prudently in deciding to remove this regime. He would have been imprudent not to have done so.
Intelligence is an inexact business. It deals with things that cannot be known for sure. In this case, it dealt with something that even an ideal intelligence agency could not determine for certain. Our intelligence agencies and those of other countries that concluded that Saddam had WMDs turned out to have erred, but they erred on the proper side, on the side of pessimism, as they had to—because the man had a record of developing WMDs and using them. And he had a record, we now know thanks to Charles Duelfer, of maintaining the capability of using WMDs again.
Update: Right on Red gets around to posting the results of all his effort in researching this story. Good job, guys.
Before Iraq's liberation, Ahood al-Fadhal spent her days preoccupied with how she and her husband would feed their three children.The rice and flour they could get was buggy. Three brothers were killed by the regime of Saddam Hussein, and her husband was imprisoned for three years. In her lifetime, she never expected to see a free Iraq.
Since Saddam's overthrow, al-Fadhal finds life moving in directions previously unimaginable. She teaches literacy classes and writes a biweekly newsletter for women; she was elected to a district council seat in Basra as an advocate for women's rights.
Al-Fadhal sat at Cafe Bernardo in Sacramento on Monday morning, describing how her life has changed since the war in Iraq began in March 2003.
"You (Americans) see (television images of) a lot of violence" in Iraq, and there is violence, she said. "But a lot of good things are happening to us. ... Under Saddam, we had no rights, especially women. Women could not speak openly, even to their children, not even in their own homes."
Vice President Dick Cheney was holding a town-hall meeting with about 350 supporters in this southeastern Iowa town when a 19-year-old in a wheelchair took the microphone and told the hushed audience that he'd been wounded in Iraq in June."I left supporting you guys, and after being there, I support you guys even more, after seeing what those people had to go through and how they lived," Army Spc. Branden Zahnle told Cheney. "I truly understand what we're doing over there. And I thank you for doing what you did."
Cheney, no backslapper but a canny politician, replied simply, "Well, thank you very much for doing what you did." Then he let a thunderous wave of applause sweep through the dim airport hangar, drowning out any stray discordant thoughts about the violence in Iraq.
More than half of Iraqi localities will be generally managing their own security and government by the end of the year, a senior general at the Pentagon predicted Monday. But Iraq's new military and police forces remain short on the training and equipment the Americans say they need to keep the entire country secure, according to figures provided by the military.The bad news is that foreign support of the "insurgency" continues, including from Iran:A recent review by American and Iraqi officials has led to a decision to increase the size of the Iraqi police and border patrol, but many of the new officers have yet to be recruited, trained or equipped.
Still, generals believe that more than half of Iraq - in terms of land area as well as population - will be under what the Pentagon calls "local control" - defined as a locality assuming management over its own security and government, with limited or no oversight from U.S. forces. Only places that are deemed both fairly safe and sufficiently rebuilt will be turned over to Iraqi authorities.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have raised sharp complaints in recent days that Iran is providing support for the insurgency in Iraq, expressing concerns over what they say are Iran's attempt to shape Iraq's future.Pentagon, State Department and military officials, describing intelligence reports that are fueling those concerns, say money, weapons and even a small number of fighters are flowing over the border from Iran to assist Shiite insurgents commanded by Moktada al-Sadr, a rebel cleric. But there is no consensus on the exact scale of Iranian activities.
Maj. Buczak spent the greater part of last year in Iraq and he had a message: this election is about leadership and there is only one man to vote for. His story tells why he feels that way.
Jeff graduated from West Point in 1987 and went on to a successful career in the elite forces. Airborne qualified and Ranger trained, Jeff served with an Airborne Infantry (paratrooper) unit in Panama and later commanded a company in the 101st Airborne Air Assault Division. He finished his active career assigned to Special Operations Command.
The major related how proud he was to be in the service back when it accomplished good things, like removing Manuel Noriega from power in Panama and putting him a jail cell (where he still resides today) as part of Operation Just Cause.
But then something happened: there was a change in leadership under the new administration in the 90s and it affected the entire military machine, from the top down. Moral began to decline, equipment was no longer a priority: our fighting force was no longer operating at its peak efficiency.
The situation came to a head during the third undertaking in Somalia -- Operation Continue Hope. Although Maj. Buczak was not assigned there, his comrades did and the story they told was not one to be proud of: the mission was murky, our soldiers did not receive the equipment and supplies that they needed, but worst of all, our nose was bloodied and we ran. The bottom line was that those men died for absolutely nothing: their lives were thrown away. They fought bravely and well, but because of decisions made at the top of the chain their lives were wasted.
Military moral was seemingly irreparably damaged and continued to deteriorate. After a stint in Bosnia Jeff decided to end his active service and did so in '97, although he stayed in the reserves.
A little over a year ago he got a letter asking if he would return to active status. He threw it away. A while letter he got a call, asking the same question. Jeff had every excuse not to go -- he had gained 30 pounds, his wife had recently given birth to their second child, he had recently moved to Memphis and had a new job, he had a bum knee -- the list goes on. But he thought about it and came to the conclusion that the right thing to do would be to salute and charge up the hill. His country needed him and Maj. Buczak responded.
Predictably, Jeff was sent to Iraq. He was a Civil Affairs officer assigned to work with the 1st Marine Division. Their mission was to perform reconstruction by restoring government and basic services in the region in and around Nasaria.
Jeff said that after the initial fighting in Nasaria, the mostly Shiite population welcomed them with open arms. He would go out with 2 Humvees and 8 or 9 people to visit the villages. When they pulled into town the local guards would pull out their AKs and voluntarily pull guard duty to protect them.
When the people were asked what they thought of the Americans being there they said they didn't like it -- but were terrified that we would leave. Americans were occupiers, but we brought order and stability that would disintegrate if we left.
After a time Jeff was transferred to Bakuba, a place where the Sunni, Shiite and Kurd sections of the country all come together. Even here, in this very troubled place, the average Iraqi felt the same way about the American presence. Others wanted to return to the way it used to be: these were mainly leftovers from the old regime who had lost their power and privileged status.
Every time a unit left the gate there was a possibility that something would happen. There were roadside bombs where a chunk of curb had been taken out, a mold made of the hole, a bomb fashioned to fit the hole, then the bomb was set and new concrete poured to hide it. This was a multi-stage process resulting in a IED that was almost impossible to detect. American patrols took losses.
Inside the compound it was different. There were occasional mortar attacks and drive-by shootings (only the drive-by was done with an RPG, Jeff said with a wry grin), but on the whole it was fairly safe.
Jeff spent some time talking about the Iraqi National Guard, which is made up of some of the toughest and bravest individuals on the planet. The major said that he would be willing to fight side-by-side these men (high praise coming from one of our military elite). These, he said, are true patriots. In spite of attacks on them as they wait in line to sign up or as they walk around town they continue to enlist. They are the same as patriots in this country -- willing to give their all to bring freedom to their country. After all, would you do any less if you had to fight for freedom in America? Why would they be any different, especially after two decades of brutal oppression under Saddam and his sons?
Do not believe that the Iraqi people do not want freedom: they thirst for freedom. The farmer just wants to be able to grow his crops, the goat herder just wants to raise his herd, the businessman just wants to send his kids to a good school. These people are not unlike us.
But the people that worked with the Americans were known in the town and had to go home every night to their neighborhoods. People get shot just because they work with Americans (Jeff personally knew an Iraqi woman who was shot in the face because she worked in the compound), yet they are willing to take that chance because they know they are working for something better -- a free Iraq.
It is true that they had more reliable electricity and water under Saddam, but they still say that things are better now. Ask them why and they will tell you, "Now we have hope."
Hope of a free Iraq. Hope of being prosperous like their neighbors in Kuwait. Hope of being free to live life without the fear of saying the wrong thing or being in the wrong place and suddenly earning Saddam's disfavor.
Jeff said that the amount of ordinance over there was "mind-boggling". But the discipline of our troops is amazing, even among truck drivers who rarely get to the range. We go to great lengths not to kill civilians -- but the Iraqi and foreign insurgents don't care.
But we are making a difference: the guys we train have a different attitude. Jeff related how he saw fistfight between an Iraqi army soldier (who we trained) and an Iraqi policeman (who we didn't train) because soldier thought that the cop was being too careless with his weapon.
We are teaching more than just procedure and tactics.
The American soldiers are incredible. Every day they put on their flak vests and go outside the compound on missions. It's Russian roulette, but they get out there and get it done.
Jeff told a story of one young American soldier who drove a Humvee on a particular logistics mission to pick up supplies from a nearby airfield. They asked for volunteers and she put her hand up. She was killed driving the truck that day; she was 19-years-old and she won't be going home. The next morning they said that anyone who didn't want to go out on a mission that day would be excused. No one stayed. "We're all going out," was the expressed sentiment. When they asked for a volunteer to drive on the next supply mission, all hands went up in the air.
The moral exhibited by these troops, Jeff said, was "awe-inspiring". He came from elite-type units and it was the first time he worked this closely with regular troops, but he found them to be tough as nails and having astonishing bravery.
Although this is not reflected in the news, working with these men and women made him proud to be an American and proud to be a soldier.
"We have it," Jeff said. "We are in control of the field. Yes, we are getting hit and taking losses, but the worst thing would be to cut and run, and abandoning those people would be wrong -- the next thing will be worse."
It is true that whatever government is finally established in Iraq will almost certainly not be an American-style democracy, but they will have freedom. There are people who have a vested interest in keeping Iraq in the Stone Age and we must stop them.
Jeff said that there were a lot of issues in this campaign, including what happened 30 years ago. He briefly went off track to say that as far as his reserve records go, he is still assigned to New York even though he has lived in Tennessee for two years (when he wasn't in Iraq) because they can't get the paperwork straight. It's not that they are inefficient or ineffective; they are working with the major to keep him on the rolls while they find an appropriate unit down here (similar to how it appears that the Texas Air Guard was working with G. W. Bush). If he misses a drill for some reason or another he makes up for it when he can and everything is done verbally. His point was that from his perspective, Lt. Bush wasn't getting any more "special privileges" than Maj. Buczak or 100's or so other Reservist and Guardsmen get when they relocate.
But that, he stressed, doesn't really matter. There is one overriding issue that this election hinges upon: leadership.
We must have a president that has the backbone to stand behind the troops. We must have a president that has the resolve to honor the commitment we made to the people of Iraq and signed in blood. To back away from that commitment would be a shameful day for this country.
President Bush can be depended upon to honor our promise to the Iraqi people for a free Iraq. President Bush can be depended on to show the resolve necessary to see us through difficult times.
President Bush must be reelected.
Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment. Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom -- the great achievement of our time, and the great hope of every time -- now depends on us. Our nation -- this generation -- will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.
-- President George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, September 2002.
My very sincere thanks to Maj. Buczak for speaking, to all of our soldiers for serving, and to all of the military families that put aside worry and fear to offer love and support to their loved ones who are in harms way so very far away.
One thing I noticed about being home was that the news media sure botches the stories about Iraq and makes them pretty one sided. It ticks me off because they dont tell the good stories that happen out here of the great partnerships between us and the new Iraqi Army, of the friendships between American Soldiers that have formed between the two nations. It doesnt say that most all of the attacks on American Soldiers are from insurgents from other countries besides Iraq. They dont tell you of the courage the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police Force show by fighting along side of us, despite poor equipment and ammo shortages. A vehicular bomb went off at a checkpoint and as I arrived on the scene I saw that 90% of the guards were nothing more than burning meat on the pavement. One soldier escaped the blast because he was under the Overpass taking a piss, inly to hear the explosion and arrive to see that his father, uncle and three brothers were killed. The news didnt show him picking up there remains and putting them in trash bags because thats all he had, as we arrived or us helping him. It didnt show him returning to his post to stand proudly near his nations flag, with tears comming down his cheeks did it? No, the story wasn't even covered.Sure the news arrived, I saw them. CNN and a few others came, but all they reported was that another bomb exploded in Iraq and how many it killed. What about this man? So I will carry his story out and tell others of his courage. The people of Iraq for the most part want so desperatly to be free, and they want us to stay for the most part to show them HOW to be free. That is our mission here, to earn there hearts and minds and show them through example what it means to have freedom of your own and truely be free from oppression to worship your god how you want to worship, and go to school without the threat of being blown up or killed for some political tyrrants wicked ideas. Most of the soldiers here want to stay and fight.
DNA analysis is being performed to confirm the man's identity, but all signs point to yes. He was surrounded by 150 gunmen who clashed with the U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Izzat al-Douri was the most-wanted figure from the deck of cards. Time for Patio Pundit to update his deck 'o evil playing cards.
Talks to disarm hundreds of insurgents in the roiling Sadr City ghetto in Baghdad collapsed Tuesday, after a tentative peace pact was abruptly canceled by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.Leaders of the Mahdi Army, the rebel force led by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, and two well-placed Iraqi sources said an agreement had been reached late Monday that called for the disarming of the rebel force and a halt in American military operations in Sadr City.
Surood Ahmed Falih fought back tears, describing how Saddam Hussein's followers gunned down her mother, sister and aunt during a 1991 uprising in Iraq. Falih was shot twice, her father three times, as the family tried to flee their hometown of Kirkuk.Now, for the first time, "I can say I'm Kurdish in Kirkuk. I'm proud. I'm not afraid," the 33-year-old told two generals Wednesday over coffee at MacDill Air Force Base's Central Command, the nerve center for the war in Iraq.
Falih and Taghreed Al-Qaraghuli are touring the country as part of the Iraq-America Freedom Alliance, a non-partisan coalition of American and Iraqi organizations and individuals that aims to promote goodwill between the two nations....
Watching American soldiers drop from helicopters during the war in Iraq "was like angels coming from heaven," Falih said.
I couldn't agree more. I think we should go back to a tried and true method of fighting now innocent civilians have been told to leave the city: carpet bombing.
What's that, you say? Najaf is a holy city?
Hell, every city over there seems to be holy for one reason or another. It's not like we'd be taking out Mecca (yet).
OK, tongue removed from cheek, I can tell you that the military is trying something else: we are giving the Iraqi troops another crack at taking over:
"The army will be deployed now" to the city, where U.S. forces have been fighting the militia, said Sabah Kadhim, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Units of the new Iraqi army would immediately prepare for an offensive aimed at evicting Sadr's Mahdi Army from the shrine of Imam Ali, a sacred site the militia has used as a refuge, he said.The Iraqi troops have something to fight about: al-Sadr went on Aljazeera and said that the interim Iraqi government's policies are worse than those of Saddam Hussein.News of the deployment -- the first since sovereignty was restored to Iraq on June 28 -- reached U.S. forces just as scores of tanks, armored troop carriers and Humvees lined up inside the gate of the main U.S. military base in Najaf, apparently preparing for significant combat operations just hours after a two-day truce had been called off. They then turned around and went back into camp.
"Sayyed Moqtada was wounded in American bombing. He suffered three injuries to his body. We don't know his exact condition or to where he was taken," spokesman Ahmad al-Shinabi told Reuters. Another spokesman confirmed the report.It sounds like he just missed his opportunity to die for his cause, but I'm sure our Marines will give him another chance.
It took an American invasion to get Arabiaa Hatifs neighborhood a sewer system.That is in a section of Baghdad.For 35 years, there has been no sewer system, said Hatif through an interpreter on Monday. Power is now better than it was in the past and water pressure is, too....
[Lt. Col.] Dosa said that a nearby electric plant is receiving a $20 million overhaul, having not received maintenance for decades.
When coalition forces came in, I dont think we appreciated how bad the power generating plants were, he said. Instead of minor renovations, were having to do full overhauls.
Because of the neglect, Dosa said, some were operating at 20 percent to 25 percent efficiency....
You can see the streets lined with sewage, he said, watching groups of barefoot children who were themselves watching the soldiers. Its like living in Venice, but only with sewage instead of water....
In a few months, engineers and residents alike hope Zafraniyas streets will be cleared of sewage, the waste pumped to a water treatment plant about six miles away.
Its electrical distribution system, damaged by coalition bombing and looting, is nearly completed, and clean water will soon be flowing from its taps and hoses.
We didnt find anything good with the last regime, said Hatif.
Because of family ties his wife and mother-in-law are Iranian and his fathers three-year prison sentence for being a leading member of the communist party, Hatif had never expected to have even these basic services.
All we got was oppression, he said. Now, the people of this neighborhood are happy.
Information found in Iraq led federal investigators to become suspicious of an Albany, N.Y., mosque leader, FOX News has learned....Ah, but there was no connection between Saddam and terrorists. And there is no reason to fight the war in Iraq -- it gives us nothing. The flypaper theory is all smoke and mirrors, you know? What's to find way over there? Let's bring our troops home, so we'll all be safe.Last summer, U.S. troops discovered Yassin Muhhiddin Aref's (search) name, telephone number and address in a book left behind in a vacated terrorist training camp, a U.S. official told FOX News. The book also revealed that Ansar al-Islam, the group running the camp, had given Aref a title: "the commander."
For an excellent summary of the war to date, go visit Fishkite.
There was reports of a buncha people, wearing all black armed with AK's hanging out there. Our job was to locate and kill them. We were driving there on that main street, when all of the sudden all hell came down all around on us, all these guys wearing all black (Black pants, and a black t-shirts tucked in), a couple dozen on each side of the street, on rooftops, alleys, edge of buildings, out of windows, everywhere just came out of fucking nowhere and started firing RPG's and AK47's at us....And they did. There's much more. Read it all.Bullets were pinging off our armor all over our vehicle, and you could hear multiple RPG's being fired and flying through the air and impacting all around us. All sorts of crazy insane Hollywood explosions bullshit going on all around us. I've never felt fear like this. I was like, this is it, I'm going to die. I cannot put into words how scared I was. The vehicle in front of us got hit 3 times by RPG's....
My PLT was stuck right smack dab in the middle of the ambush and we were in the kill zone. We shot our way out of it and drove right through the ambush....
Then we were told to load up and go back to where we got ambushed. I'm not going to lie, I didn't want to go back. Fuck that shit, I don't want to get killed. That was the last place on earth I wanted to be. I was scared to death. But we had to go back, and we did.
A very grateful hat tip to pawigoview..
Kerry has started the last leg of the race to the White House by angering our largest Middle Eastern ally, Saudi Arabia, during his nomination acceptance speech:
Saudi Arabia on Friday criticized Democratic presidential challenger Sen. John Kerry for "bashing" the kingdom when he called on the United States to cut its dependence on the Middle East nation's oil.Way to reach out and build those relationships, Johnnie-boy."Saudi bashing is not an energy policy," an official with the Saudi Embassy in Washington said.
Meanwhile, on Bush's watch Friday, NATO agreed to train Iraqi forces:
... an agreement was reached but did not explain how it resolved a dispute between France and the United States over command and control.Is there any doubt that had Kerry been in charge, this dispute would have been been resolved by Kerry caving and allowing our troops -- the most advanced and effective fighting force in the world today -- to be placed under the command of European commanders?Paris had objected to an American general heading the mission.
In addition, the coalition force stands an excellent chance at growing even larger: Saudi Arabia (yes, the country Kerry slammed during his speech) proposed an Arab force to help stabilize the situation in Iraq. In deference to Iraq's request that troops only come from non-contiguous nations, possible sources of troops include Bahrein, Pakistan, Malaysia, Algeria, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Indonesia and Morocco.
Yet truth be told, the existing coalition includes more countries than were formally united in fighting the evil of WWII (I'm excluding the insurgents in occupied nations):
| Coalition of World War II (The Allies) | Coalition Members Currently in Iraq |
| United Kingdom | United Kingdom |
| France | Italy |
| China | Poland |
| Soviet Union | Ukraine |
| United States | United States |
| Australia | Australia |
| Canada | Netherlands |
| India | South Korea |
| New Zealand | Romania |
| South Africa | Japan |
| Bulgaria | |
| Denmark | |
| Thailand | |
| El Salvador | |
| Hungary | |
| Singapore | |
| Mongolia | |
| Azerbaijan | |
| Norway | |
| Latvia | |
| Portugal | |
| Lithuania | |
| Slovakia | |
| Czech Republic | |
| Albania | |
| Georgia | |
| New Zealand | |
| Estonia | |
| Kazakhstan | |
| Macedonia | |
| Moldova | |
| Tonga |
As to how world leaders are reacting to Kerry, even Kerry's campaign aides say that Ariel Sharon treats Bush warmly, while turning a cold shoulder to Kerry.
One final point: Kerry is making a big show of his Vietnam experience and the fact that the handful of men that served under his command support him (well, most of them do). They stood next to him on the stage in Boston. On the other hand, nearly two hundred men who served on Swift Boats in Vietnam have signed an open letter to Kerry that very much does not support him. Two hundred. That's too many to stand on a stage.
Bottom line: Kerry is a politician -- long on talk who comes up short on delivery. I'll trust my safety to the cowboy president, thank you.
The picture is of something rare in the Middle East: women filling out ballots.
The New York Times says: Early Steps, Maybe, Toward a Democracy in Iraq.
Yes, the Times runs an Iraq story without the "Q" word! Read it -- it's actually worth it.
It is a chilling reminder of the fate that once awaited Iraq's athletes if they disappointed Uday Hussein, Saddam's brutal sports-mad son.As 31 Iraqis prepare for the Athens Games in less than three weeks, the devices used to torture some of their predecessors have been unveiled by Iraq's new Olympic officials.
This is what was called an Iron Maiden during Medieval times, reportedly first used on August 14, 1515 when a German counterfeiter was placed in one. The doors are equipped with spikes and are slowly shut, forcing the spikes into the body just far enough to cause excruciating agony, but not kill. The German counterfeiter reportedly took two days to die.500 years later, Saddam's son Uday owned and used just such a device:
Around 7 feet tall, three feet across and deep enough to house a grown man, the sarcophagus-shaped device is essentially a large, metal closet with long spikes on the inside door that closes to impale its victim. Its name derives from its mummy shape and the beatific woman's face depicted on its headpiece. The one found in Baghdad was clearly worn from use, its nails having lost some of their sharpness.
This is a finger vice, a machine only slightly more modern than many of his imaginative tortures:
Uday allegedly tortures athletes when they fail to perform up to expectations. He has beaten them with iron bars. Caned the soles of their feet. Dragged them on pavements until their backs are bloody, then dunked them in sewage to ensure the wounds become infected. If Uday stops by a player's jail cell, he might urinate on his bowed, shaven head to further humiliate him. As you might expect, Uday's unique motivational tactics are not proving an incentive for Iraq's athletes to put themselves in a position where they might fail and be punished.
There were also chain whips with steel barbs the size of tennis balls attached to the end."During the old regime, Uday was looking for results and he wanted winners. He didn't like second place," Talib Mutan, an Iraqi Olympics Committee official, told Associated Press Television News.
"If the athletes didn't come in first, they were punished. And he would punish the people around the athletes, their managers and coaches included."
This device is a ... metal framework designed to clamp over a prisoner's body, with footrests at the bottom, rings at the shoulders and attachment points for power cables, so the victim could be hoisted and subjected to electric shocks.
Look at the condition of the leather straps. These are well-worn tools of torture, having seen many hours of use.A bad day on the field for a player on the national soccer squad could result in savage retribution: Players had their feet scalded and toenails ripped off for failing to win tournaments. Allegations of torture had even resulted in investigations by international sports governing bodies, most notably soccer's FIFA, but these had failed to produce conclusive evidence hardly surprising, since no player would dare admit to suffering such abuse, for fear of even worse.
Hamad's boys no longer answer to Uday Hussein, the psychotic son of the toppled ruler, known to beat the soles of their feet or lock them up for days over slip-ups on the pitch.As if freeing a nation and needing a securable place to store the tools of freedom are morally equivalent to beatings.Nor to the American military, who after overthrowing Saddam converted the national mecca of football, Al-Shaab stadium in Baghdad, into a base to park their tanks.
Reuters continues:
Indeed, the demise of the country has spelled as much for its football.I'm please to see that Reuters has its priorities straight. Obviously, the coalition should get things stabilized as quickly as possible so professional athletes can bring joy to the nation.Stadiums were damaged in the U.S.-led invasion, fields turned to hospitals and burial grounds. In the ensuing chaos, all of Iraq's professional and incubator leagues were disbanded.
Most of the premier players ran off to neighboring countries to draw a salary, while Team Iraq was forced to slog the long road to Jordan -- to play home games.
As for me, I'm just happy that this monster is dead:
Goodbye Uday, may you rot in the lowest depths of hell for all eternity.
Iraq is ready to retaliate against countries it accuses of supporting violence wracking the country, the country's defense minister warned Tuesday.So much for stability in the Middle East. Of course, the fledgling democracy's main target is ours as well:Hazim al-Shaalan mentioned no countries by name but accused old foe Iran of "blatant interference." Iraq has also complained in the past about guerrilla fighters entering the country from Syria.
Iraq blames a wave of bombings and assassinations, which has claimed hundreds of lives including senior Iraqi politicians, on remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime as well as foreign Islamic militants who have entered from neighboring countries.The mullahs of Iran are painting themselves into a corner. They have an unhappy populace clamoring for democracy, a historical enemy getting pissed and ready to surge across the border, and the most powerful nation in the world wanting to take them down for a number of reasons."They (Iranians) confess to the presence of their spies in Iraq who have a mission to shake up the social and political situation," the defense minister said.
"Iranian intrusion has been vast and unprecedented since the establishment of the Iraqi state."
Yet another reason the terrorists want Bush out of the White House this fall.
The list of ambassadors took six months to compile and was created with an eye toward competency and political considerations, he said, a difficult task in a country with deep ethnic and religious divides.The list contains only one woman, yet that woman represents a leap of centuries in the Middle Eastern backwater. Do not hold your breath waiting to hear applause from American feminists.
As happens so often, the money quote is at the end:
At the news conference, Zebari also criticized the United Nations, saying it was not living up to its commitment to help Iraq hold a national conference scheduled for this month and elections scheduled to be held by January.Imagine that."In these two areas, organizing a national conference and holding elections, we do need the support of the U.N.," he said. "We are a bit frustrated by the lack of speed by the United Nations in coming come to our aid and helping us in organizing and facilitating the convening of the national conference."
Gradually, ever so imperceptibly, the ground is beginning to shift.The legions of American soldiers who not so long ago erected checkpoints and roared across the capital, guns pointed out of their Humvees, have diminished.
In their place, Iraqi officers are manning checkpoints and swooping down on suspected criminal gangs. Led by their American counterparts, Iraqi soldiers are combing through palm groves in search of weapons caches. One vanguard unit of the new Iraqi Army, known as the Iraqi Intervention Force, is allowed to patrol the streets without Americans.
More and more, the public face of security here is Iraqi.
Demetrius Perricos told the Council, "The removal of these materials from Iraq raises concerns with regard to proliferation risks," and said inspectors found Iraqi WMD and missile components shipped abroad that still contained UN inspection tags.Finally, the U.N. admits what the rest of the world (minus the loony left) has known for a year. Prohibited missiles, equipment that would make a bio-terrorist's heart leap, and yellow cake. Tons of yellowcake.The World Tribune reported on Perricos's briefing. "He said the Iraqi facilities were dismantled and sent both to Europe and around the Middle East at the rate of about 1,000 tons of metal a month... The Baghdad missile site contained a range of WMD and dual-use components, UN officials said. They included missile components, reactor vessel and fermenters ... required for the production of chemical and biological warheads. 'It raises the question of what happened to the dual-use equipment, where is it now and what is it being used for,' Perricos's spokesman, said. 'You can make all kinds of pharmaceutical and medicinal products with a fermenter. You can also use it to breed anthrax.'"
Summing up:
This equipment included fermenters, a freeze drier, distillation columns, parts of missiles and a reactor vessel - all tools suitable for making biological or chemical weapons.
"It raises the question of what happened to the dual-use equipment, where is it now and what is it being used for," Mr. Buchanan said. He said that a fermenter was a good example of a dual-use item that was potentially dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. "You can make all kinds of pharmaceutical and medicinal products with a fermenter," he said. "You can also use it to breed anthrax." [That's right -- undisclosed, hidden equipment capable of breeding anthrax!]
Once again, although the mainstream media is reporting this story in bits and pieces, it refuses to connect the dots.
Too busy connecting dots to show that Kerry's foul-mouthed Hollywood friends are "the heart and soul of America". Or that polls show a nation more divided than ever (which is bull -- study up on Rosevelt. Or the Civil War.).
Just like they are too busy showing the bad in Iraq and ignoring the many successes.
And strangely enough, this briefing is not on the UNMOVIC web site. Huh! I wonder why? Afraid it will be one more proof that America was right and that the U.N. was protecting the largest corruption ring in history?
One last point. Many on the left are no doubt lambasting the U.S. for not protecting this geographically dispersed nuclear compounds, missile sites and ammo dumps. Yet no one seems to be lambasting the U.N. for not stepping up and helping us out by providing troops that didn't have to do anything except sit on their butts protecting these sites [the one duty they seem to do well] while coalition solders were off quelling hot-spots and hunting foreign terrorists.
Iraqis hung Saddam in effigy to symbolize the desire of Iraqi citizens to see Saddam hung for real after he is tried and found guilty in a fair trial.
The fake execution of the ousted Iraqi leader took place in al-Tahrir, or liberation, Square in the heart of the Iraqi capital as the protesters carried banners slamming the former dictator and demanding his death for crimes he committed against the Iraqi people."LIberation Square". How appropriate.Demonstrations have taken place in several Iraqi cities in the past few days to protest offers and demands by Arab lawyers to travel to Baghdad to defend Saddam, whose trial kicked off last week with the official announcement of charges ranging from crimes against humanity to genocide.
In case you are wondering, the signs say:
"Well asshole, you just hooked up with the most dangerous squad in Baghdad," he says without looking up from his weapon, which is now trained on a small group of men several blocks away who are certainly not ING. Just what might be ordinary bravado from a young soldier echoes across the cement rooftop, his squad-mate clarifies.Read it."No really we are," he says. "Out of the 11 of us, only two haven't won the Purple Heart in the last four months. It sucks to be us."
When most people think of missionaries, they think bible classes and converting the heathen. What they don't think of is digging wells, building schools, teaching computers, advising village elders and building a combined "internet caf/coffee house/student center". But that is what this family has accomplished.
The latest newsletter says that they are coming home until November, when they will return to Iraq. There is a bittersweet poignancy to this letter: regret at leaving work undone and eager anticipation of seeing friends and family again. Yet coming home will not be a vacation: I count 17 states in their 5-month itinerary -- New York to California and Texas to North Dakota. No surprise, knowing these wonderfully energetic people.
I am taking a liberty in publishing a paragraph from the latest letter (I've removed names because I don't have permission to pass them on):
And so we had a pretty profitable year here with the Kurdish people. Still it was sad to see how things were reported by the news media and know the way things actually had happened. It could have been so much better had the media not poisoned the efforts of the coalition at every turn. Nevertheless, besides my renovating schools in areas where no American, and possibly no Christian had ever been before, our daughter was like a bee buzzing around the neighborhood, playing basketball with the kids on our block and visiting the neighbors almost every night. [Our son] also began to engage the culture as he went downtown everyday to a local gym to lift weights where he made good friends with several of the guys. It was a bit of a risk in coming to Iraq but we are all glad that we did. It really forced [our son] and [daughter] to mature in ways we hadn't forseen. God is good.And that is the tone of the regular stream of letters. No thought of taking credit for working with the military to cut through the red tape to get permission to bring 400 computers into the country. No pride in getting a new well completely financed by a departing organization that had some extra funds. No expressions of vanity for miraculously obtaining land for the internet caf/coffee house/student center.
God is good, and through Him these things are provided.
And as long as we have people like these humble missionaries in the world, He will continue to provide -- through them.
The Iraq-America Freedom Alliance took out a full page ad in today's USA Today to publish a letter of thanks to the American People:
Click to see the entire ad (154K popup).
Does anyone wonder why they didn't choose to publish in the NY Times?
Hail our true friends, the Great People of the United States of America; The Freedom giving Republic, the nation of Liberators. Never has the world known such a nation, willing to spill the blood of her children and spend the treasure of her land even for the sake of the freedom and well being of erstwhile enemies. The tree of friendship is going to grow and grow and bear fruit as sure as day follows night. And the people deep down at the bottom of their hearts, they appreciate. Make no mistake about that. The people have voted today, the pulse of the street is clear, without any hesitation I would give 90% of all Iraqis are hopeful and supportive of the new government, and this is a tacit indirect yes to the U.S. which has been the prime mover of all these events. This is what the foolish fail to understand. Why is this a different situation from that for example of a Vietnam? The answer is very simple: Because, the U.S. has achieved something very popular around here; which is the removal of the Saddam regime. Those who are really against the U.S. from amongst the Iraqis have been and remain a small minority; all other forms of resentment are simply disappointment and disgruntlement resulting from the discomfiture of the present situation and will simply disappear with progress and gradual improvement.As for the enemy, he will not reap but failure and the bitter taste of defeat.
Update: Aaron of Aaron's Rantblog fame directs you to see Allah's version of the note. (Caution: don't be drinking anything when you click the link!)
Turns out, the yellow cake from Niger story was true after all. It must be true because this time it's European intelligence saying so:
Illicit sales of uranium from Niger were being negotiated with five states including Iraq at least three years before the US-led invasion, senior European intelligence officials have told the Financial Times.That's what they know. They still don't know if any deals were actually made or if any deliveries took place.Intelligence officers learned between 1999 and 2001 that uranium smugglers planned to sell illicitly mined Nigerien uranium ore, or refined ore called yellow cake, to Iran, Libya, China, North Korea and Iraq.
These claims support the assertion made in the British government dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme in September 2002 that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from an African country, confirmed later as Niger. George W. Bush, US president, referred to the issue in his State of the Union address in January 2003....
But European intelligence officials have for the first time confirmed that information provided by human intelligence sources during an operation mounted in Europe and Africa produced sufficient evidence for them to believe that Niger was the centre of a clandestine international trade in uranium.
Maybe another year or two of intelligence gathering will fill in the gaps. These things take time.
"I think I was arrested about 10 or 15 times by Uday," says Salim, 43, a wan-looking chain smoker, with an easy laugh that belies his harrowing journalistic past. In late 2002, he was jailed for three days after airing a caller's complaints about corruption in the provincial government north of Baghdad. "That time I was beaten 50 times," he says.Dijla is named after the original term for the river Tigris, which snakes through Baghdad. It seems to hark back to the long-forgotten past, before Hussein's iron rule muzzled free speech, and when residents aired complaints.Transparency is essential to freedom. Talk on!To Dijla's founder, however, the station is the country's future."This is a golden moment, a time when we can build institutions that will keep an eye on the government and question authority," says Ahmad Al-Rikaby, 34, who was born in Prague of emigrated Iraqi parents, and raised in Sweden and Britain.
The final 11 of 25 coalition-run ministries relinquished include some of the most sensitive, including the defense, interior and justice ministries.[For those who didn't get it, the title of this post is a takeoff of a Rush song from 2112. But if you didn't get it you probably don't care. Oh well.]Iraqi ministers now oversee more than 1 million government workers. About 200 mainly American and British advisers will stay on as consultants.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is to formally take control of the country next Wednesday from U.S. occupation chief L. Paul Bremer, although a U.S.-led multinational force will remain for security reasons. ...
The 11 ministries turned over Thursday were: communications; defense; electricity; finance; higher education; housing and construction; human rights; interior; justice; labor and social affairs; and trade.
But more rewarding to him is the reaction from the hospital's doctors and staff.Once again it is up to a small town paper to carry the real story of Iraq:"When we delivered the equipment, the deputy medical officer was so happy," he said. "She kept explaining to us that the new equipment would help them service their people better. This, in turn, really had an impact on me."
But Hassig's favorite projects are the ones that deal with the children. He said that Blountstown residents have sent donations to Baghdad since his arrival in January and that everything he receives from them goes to the schools.
"My favorite thing is being around the children and hearing them say, 'Thanks, mister,' " he said.
Hassig acknowledged that there are some who are not satisfied with what they are doing. But it is only 10 percent of the population, he said.
"I think 90 percent or more are absolute wonderful, good people. They want their children to grow up and be secure just like you and I, and they love ice cream," he said. "That's why I refuse to let the little bit of problems with bombers affect our job," he said. "We have to do our job and do the best that we can and make an impact every day."
"Today's news is about today's bombing," Matson said Friday from Tampa. "No one is covering how there is an enormous effort to get this country on its feet. There are a million stories, such as those represented by Maj. Hassig, and the average American doesn't know it. A great country is going to emerge and people are going to wonder, 'How did that happen?'"
"I'm optimistic that things will be better for the people there," said Sinha, 29, a reservist who returned home in March and now works as a civilian engineer at the Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County, N.J.Another engineer relates his experience, but the money quote is at the end:"About 80 percent of the Iraqis are very happy Americans are there. They were glad to see me because they know I was trying to improve their lives."
Sinha said he had helped increase the flow of the long-neglected water and sewer systems in Kirkuk from about 50 percent capacity to nearly 80 percent and in the surrounding villages from about 15 percent to 50 percent. He also worked on systems in Baghdad, helping to improve their flow from 70 percent to up to 90 percent.
"There wasn't a lot of media coverage in the places like Kirkuk because the risks were higher," said Sinha, a doctoral student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark who has degrees in chemical engineering and industrial hygiene as well as occupational safety. "The needs were greater in the villages."
Lindoerfer said reporters were missing the good news in Iraq. "It's unfortunate that all we read about are the attacks. There are a lot of people there doing a lot of good."
"Before the war, the children's parents paid for many of the schools' costs, including printing of exam papers and all the supplies for the children," Gharibawi said, but with U.S. government funds, the Iraqi Education Ministry has been able to finance school operations centrally for the first time in years...."I am optimistic," said Gharibawi, "not because education now is easy or because we have the things we need," but "simply because we have a chance." Under Hussein, "the government pretended to support the schools, but really it was the enemy of education, because education was a threat to it," Gharibawi said. "Saddam's regime needed uneducated people to support it."
Iraq's interim prime minister on Sunday defended a U.S. missile attack on the city of Fallouja that left 22 people dead and said he planned to restructure Iraqi security forces to help battle a stubborn insurgency...."We know that a house which had been used by terrorists has been hit," Allawi told reporters. "We welcome this hit on terrorism anywhere in Iraq."
The United Nations has determined that Saddam Hussein shipped weapons of mass destruction components as well as medium-range ballistic missiles before, during and after the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003.Hmmm, haven't really seen that in the "mainstream media". Shocking.The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council on new findings that could help trace the whereabouts of Saddam's missile and WMD program.
Gunmen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took control of the Ghari police station just 250 yards from the Imam Ali Shrine, witness Mohammed Hussein said. The station was looted and police cars were burned.Some question the commitment of Iraqi's to the idea of democracy and the security of their streets. Imagine becoming a policeman in a nation in which that automatically makes you a target for every disgruntled terrorist (and there are a lot of them). Heroism takes many forms."We sent a quick-reaction unit to assist the policemen defending the station, but they were overwhelmed by al-Sadr fighters," Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi said. "We will solve this problem as soon as possible. We will ask for the help of the Americans, if necessary."
*The United States is the second-largest security force in Iraq.
Three Italians kidnapped in Iraq almost two months ago have been rescued in a mission by military special forces.A Polish man abducted a week ago was also released. All four men are said to be in good health. ...
The US military commander in Iraq, Ricardo Sanchez, said some of the kidnappers had been captured.
Iraqi police have captured a close aide to al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the captive is cooperating with investigators, the U.S. military said Friday.
But above all, Leidinger worked as a healer, in a tent on the barren base (there was one tree on the base besides a Christmas tree made of coat hangers), performing routine, as well as life-saving, surgery on accident victims, people with shrapnel wounds, as well as men and women with everyday medical problems. He treated US military, Iraqi civilians, Iraqi police, as well as EPWs (enemy prisoners of war).Read the whole thing.Calm under stress, Leidinger said its necessary to control your fear. I knew I could get killed, but I felt why Im here is to help the people, to try and maybe make a little bit of difference. And ultimately what its for is to make a safer world for our kids. So our kids dont ever have to witness some of the things weve seen. Ultimately, thats what its about.
He believes the war is absolutely worthwhile, and that the continuing violence is a result of the growing pains of a free society. Adding that freedom is not free, Leidinger believes that if the U.S. and its allies can establish a democratic Iraq, it will stabilize the Middle East.
Another soldier is home and talking a little:
He admitted he was concerned about the American media reports from Iraq. "I try not to watch the news right now," he said. "I get too angry."
On the subject of the degree of democracy in the new government:
The new 33-member cabinet announced today reflects new leadership drawn from a broad cross-section of Iraqis. Five are regional officials, six are women, and the vast majority of government ministries will have new ministers.Does this sound like a cowboy who can't be diplomatic?
Earlier today, I spoke to Secretary General Kofi Annan. I congratulated him on the U.N.'s role in forming this new government.On why the liberation of Iraq was necessary:
The killers know that Iraq is the central front in the war on terror. The return of tyranny to Iraq would embolden the terrorists, leading to more bombings, more beheadings and more murders of the innocent around the world.On the criticism of how the liberation was handled:The rise of a free and self-governing Iraqi will deny terrorists a base of operation, discredit their narrow ideology and give momentum to reformers across the region.
A free Iraq will be a decisive blow to terrorism at the heart of its power and a victory for the civilized world and for the security of America.
Let me step back and remind you that going into Iraq we had a belief that certain things -- that we had to plan for certain courses of action. One, that the oil production -- the Iraqi oil production, would be disrupted, through sabotage or Saddam's own whims. It didn't happen. We also thought there would be major refugee flows. That didn't happen. Or a lot of hunger; didn't happen.And a bit of humor:What did happen was as a result of us storming through the country many of Saddam's elite guard saw what was happening, laid down -- well, didn't lay down their arms -- stored their arms, and hid and then regrouped.
As well as what happened was that some of the foreign fighters there were encouraged and bolstered by a foreign fighter that had been there during the period, Mr. Zarqawi.
And it's been tough fighting. I fully recognize that.
However, I just want to remind you that the mission of the enemy is to get us to retreat from Iraq -- is to say, "Well, it's been tough enough, now it's time to go home." Which we are not going to do. We will stand with this Iraqi government. Today the reason I'm out here is because this is a major step toward a -- toward the emergence of a free Iraq. This is a very hopeful day for the Iraqi people and a hopeful day for the American people, because the American people want to see a free Iraq as well. They understand what I know: A free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East is going to be a game changer, an agent of change. It's going to send a clear signal that the terrorists can't win and that a free society is a better way to lift the hopes and aspirations of the average person.
Again, I think it's instructive that Mr. Brahimi picked leaders who are willing to speak their mind. Which is fine with me. I fully understand a leader willing to speak their mind. Kind of like doing it myself, you know?
The new Prime Minister Iyad Al- Allawi said Iraqis "are starting our march toward sovereignty and democracy," but the march looked more like a headlong dash as the current Governing Council voluntarily disbanded in favor of the new government rather than wait until the scheduled transfer of sovereignty.
"We Iraqis look forward to being granted full sovereignty through a Security Council resolution to enable us to rebuild a free, independent, democratic and federal unified homeland," new President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer told a press conference.President Bush is pushing hard to get Security Council support for the fledgling democracy:
Facing resistance from key countries, President Bush is trying to line up support for a U.N. resolution seeking to set the stage for stability in Iraq.Meanwhile, France does what France does best: vacillate and delay:
The resolution draft drawn by the United States and Britain on the power transfer to Iraqi people should be improved, the French president affirmed Friday at a news conference held at the summit between the European Union (EU) and Latin America in Mexico. He believed there will be finally a positive and hopeful resolution in the end.Meanwhile, the UN isAccording to Chirac, the text must be "seriously improved", the future Iraqi government "must have a decision-making capacity on the commitment of its own forces and on major operations of the international force there," for the mandate of this force had been limited in the past, and the Iraqi people feel really something change and they will recover their sovereignty.
U.N. troops are coming back to Haiti, but after a decade of failed missions many in the traumatized nation wonder whether the peacekeepers -- cobbled together from countries ranging from Argentina to Zimbabwe -- are up to the task.Although the handover is today, only a few dozen of the U.N. force have arrived.
Brightly colored flags of about two dozen participating nations dot empty barracks at the airport. Only samples of the blue U.N. hats and berets have arrived.
And it is still unclear where the U.N. mission's headquarters will be located, said Adama Guindo, a U.N. representative who will head the six-month mission until a permanent leader is appointed.
There is very little doubt that this soldier standing with a pair of Iraqi kids is an Aggie. Maybe the kids want to be Aggies too.
Click to see the full picture (66KB).
Heh!
In spite of the best efforts to drag out the prison scandal for as long as possible, America's support for the liberation of Iraq has stabilized:
Unsurprisingly, party affiliation is indicative of attitude:
Views on the war are sharply divided according to one's partisan affiliation -- 82% of Republicans say it was worth it; 78% of Democrats say it was not. Among political independents, 36% say the war was worth it and 61% say it was not.What I find absolutely amazing is that the numbers are as high as they are in light of this:
Americans are not much more optimistic about conditions in Iraq in five years -- 62% do not believe Iraq will be secure in the next five years, and 52% do not believe that a democratic form of government will be established there within that time frame.This is incredible, especially in light of all that has been achieved in a mere 14 months. In five years, democracy will be firmly established in Iraq, the Iraqi economy will be growing at an incredible rate and the surrounding despotic regiemes will be in very serious trouble. This is the why of the war!
Americans can be so short sighted.
"If they consider my participation essential, I'll try to convince them otherwise," said Shahristani, 62, who was educated in London and Toronto. "But if they're not convinced and they ask me to take a role . . . I cannot refuse. I must serve my people."He attracted the attention of the UN envoy when he wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that was critical of the U.S.Shahristani has little political experience. Unlike many other Iraqis who lived in exile, he was not active in opposition political parties, choosing instead to focus his energies on humanitarian aid projects. But he does possess an important connection on Iraq's new political scene: He is close to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's most-powerful Shiite cleric, whose support is essential for the viability of an interim government.
Titled "Election Fever," the piece criticized the U.S. occupation authority for failing to prepare for elections sooner and for promulgating an interim constitution that was drawn up behind closed doors. He called for the government taking power on June 30 to have limited powers aimed at preparing the country for elections -- a position advocated by Sistani."The new provisional government should only be a caretaker government to prepare for elections," he wrote. "It should not indulge in negotiating military, economic or political treaties or agreements that will bind legitimately elected governments in the future."
But what if the White House does start trumpeting these important successes? What would be the Dem response?
And so on, ad nauseum. Never mind, Mr. President. Just make sure there are democratic elections and no bombers in a Kansas Walmart. I'll keep my political strategy opinions to myself. [Well, for a day or two anyway.]
The determination, made by a laboratory in the United States that the official would not identify, verifies what earlier, less-thorough field tests had found: the bomb was made from an artillery shell designed to disperse the deadly nerve agent on the battlefield.Note that the shell was specifically designed for the delivery of a chemical agent:
[Emphasis added]
The shell was a binary type, which has two chambers containing relatively safe chemicals. When the round is fired from an artillery gun, its rotation mixes the chemicals to create sarin, which is supposed to disperse when the shell strikes its target.Also note that there was nothing on the shell to indicate what it contained:
Military officials have said the shell bore no labels to indicate it was anything except a normal explosive shell . . .In other words, there could be thousands of these mixed in with the stacks of conventional ordnance that we've already found. Who knows.
On the other hand, who cares? The point of the liberation was never about current stockpiles of WMD.
Today's absolute must read is on this very subject, written by one of those that raced across the desert to the heart of Iraq last year (has it only been 14 months?). Go read, and then add A Collection of Thoughts to your blogroll.
The president's plan:
There are five steps in our plan to help Iraq achieve democracy and freedom: We will hand over authority to a sovereign Iraqi government; help establish security; continue rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure; encourage more international support; and move toward a national election that will bring forward new leaders empowered by the Iraqi people.Compare and contrast to the plan laid out last September and you will see that the first and last points were sustained from the original plan. The other three are of the "Well, duh!" variety.
Bottom line, rebuilding a country rarely goes as expected, especially when it sits in the middle of a hostile region that prays for our failure (literally prays!). Yet we will succeed. Wait and see.
But if you want to hear the president, you'd better tune in to one of the all-news channels -- the White House did not ask the major networks to broadcast the speech and they are not interrupting sweeps week to do so. The speech will be shown on Fox News and on MSNBC.
But CNN's website contains no indication that they will broadcast the speech.
Indeed, a review of the CNN site shows a singular obsession with the current topic of conversation on a number of Dem and Lefty boards -- the president's bike spill. CNN has a double entendre on it's front page when referring to a "bruised Bush":
With critics roundly questioning his ability to do everything from lead Iraq to ride a bicycle, Bush begins a five-week push Monday to convince Americans that he has a workable plan for Iraq and to persuade foreign leaders to contribute more to the U.S. mission.Their front page for Inside Politics still carries the bike story (as the top story after the speech), and even the only picture for the story about tonights speech is a closeup of Bush's face with scraped chin and nose and the caption, "President Bush received minor scrapes from a bicycle accident two days before his speech," in addition to a paragraph on the subject in the story itself.
Which brings me to ask, why the focus on a man's spill on mile 16 of a 17-mile trail ride when another certain someone fell off his bike in suburbia Taxachusetts? (And it occurred just weeks after he fell off his skis. What a missed opportunity for mirth!)
Speaking of a certain someone, Kerry was captured on camera as saying this about Bush's accident:
Did the training wheels fall off?On camera! Yet nary a peep from the press. I wonder why?
A month after hundreds were killed in fierce clashes between U.S. Marines and guerrillas, Falluja's leaders said Thursday the city is the safest in Iraq and invited U.S. contractors back to rebuild it.
A former Saddam Hussein-era general appointed by the Americans to lead an Iraqi security force in the rebellious Sunni stronghold of Fallujah urged tribal elders and sheiks Sunday to support U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq. ...Perhaps we should bring the general over here to talk to a gathering of our journalists."We can make them (Americans) use their rifles against us or we can make them build our country, it's your choice," Latif told a gathering of more than 40 sheiks, city council members and imams in an eastern Fallujah suburb. ...
"They were brought here by the acts of one coward who was hunted out of a rathole Saddam who disgraced us all," Latif said. "Let us tell our children that these men (U.S. troops) came here to protect us.
"As President Bush (news - web sites) said, they did not come here to occupy our land but to get rid of Saddam. We can help them leave by helping them do their job, or we can make them stay ten years and more by keeping fighting." ...
"Our country is precious, stop allowing the bad guys to come from outside Iraq to destroy our country."
On the road to the residents house we passed near the coalition base in Samawa; the striking and ugly feature of this base, like any other one is, the concrete wall that surrounds it. These walls initiate a sensation of fear in the hearts and a feeling that theres a huge block between the people and the coalition. I understand the security necessity of these walls but they still form an unpleasant sight for everyone, except this particular one. The coalition forces here invited all the kids-and their parents-in the neighborhood for a special festival, the kids were given paints and brushes and a definite area of the wall was assigned for each kid to paint on whatever he likes and to sign his painting with his/her name. I leave it for you to imagine how this hateful wall looked like after this festival. It became a fascinating huge painting that gives a feeling of brotherhood and friendship. These paintings eliminated all the psychological walls between the folks and the coalition here.There is much more -- read the whole thing. But I can't resist quoting another bit:At the end of the festival, gifts were given to each kid; toys, clothes, candies
... I was watching Al-Samawa local TV (now they have their own local station) and it was broadcasting one of the sessions of the districts council when a woman stood up wearing the traditional costume and behind her was a group of women, she started to yell in the face of the chairman of the council saying Listen to me! You cant ignore our voice anymore. These women elected me and put their trust in me and I demand authorities like those of men. My voice will not stay low from now on and I have to give those who elected me what they need. I dont think you can realize the meaning of this picture. It simply means that we have moved tens of years forward in a matter of months and we have broken the chains of a long dark past. The cry of this woman was enough to awaken me to the great progress that happened.Great progress indeed.
Hat tip to Roger L. Simon.
The Special Forces soldiers appeared impressed by the weapons caches found in the area. Those included powerful 155-millimeter artillery shells, Italian land mines and sniper rifles. In all, the munitions were the equivalent of more than 100 roadside bombs, one of the most effective killers of American soldiers in Iraq, a military intelligence analyst said. Sappers wired the caches with plastic explosives and detonated them as most of the American troops left the area.How big does a supply dump have to be to yield two hours worth of secondary explosions? And this was in a Mosque?A huge cache in a storage shed at the rear of the mosque compound had been detonated at the start of the battle, resulting in thunderous explosions that continued for more than two hours.
The man has a supply of modern weapons and hundreds of devoted followers willing to die for him. Moreover, he is willing to do the same:
Mr. Sadr urged his fighters in Karbala to fight on and indicated that he was willing to go down fighting.At least he says he's willing to die. The rat will probably go all contrite and grovelly when caught between a Bradley and an Apache."My desire is to die a martyr in this country," he said.
But we really shouldn't give him a chance to back out. We should just respect his wishes and send him to hell to be tormented by 72 demons.
While all of the soldiers interviewed said they were relieved to be home and out of the harrowing dangers of serving in Iraq, most of them -- even some originally opposed to the war -- also expressed regret over Zapatero's decision. They said they were forced to abandon what they felt was a useful humanitarian mission. During their time on the ground, they said, they saw a profound need for international troops to stabilize the chaos and violence of postwar Iraq."We should have stayed and finished our mission," said Jose Francisco Casteneda, 29, who was among four sergeants who gathered at a local restaurant Thursday -- sharing newly developed snapshots of their time in Iraq. Each image rekindled all of the intensity and emotion of what they saw during their mission. ...
Cesar Royo, 29, a communications specialist for the brigade who had just returned to his new bride, said he was among more than 90 percent of Spaniards who surveys suggest were against the US-led invasion and Aznar's decision to send troops to support the effort. But Royo also said he came away from his experience with a sense that the Spanish troops had something important to contribute, and he felt their mission was cut short in a way that smells of retreat and feels less than noble.
"America's reason for going to war was cynical," he said. "But when you are there on the ground, you see the poverty and people living in mud houses next to Saddam's palaces, [and] the work we were doing seems justified. It had valor."
What the American people want to hear from Bush or Kerry or anyone who can tell them is not that well stay the course, but that we can see the finish line. Maybe Im wrong about this, you tell me at Shadowland@Newsweek.com, but I think what folks really want is a plan for getting out of Iraq, putting it behind us, and making the world safer for Americans in the process.Perhaps it is just me, but Mr. Dickey's column seems to lean a little to the left. I suppose this is the reason that I just had to respond to Mr. Dickey's request for opinions:
I believe that when the president says he will stay the course that he means the course that he laid out in the very beginning: ridding Iraq of a sadistic despot, ridding the Middle East of a destabilizing force, ridding the world of a supporter of terrorism, and bringing democracy to a country in the heart of Arab corruption and autocratic rule and thus bringing hope of reform to the hearts and minds of all Middle Eastern peoples (most notably Iranians).The president clearly laid out his "exit strategy" last September:
While the above steps play out, the military is to train an Iraqi police force, build schools, repair roads, and get water and electricity to regions that never had dependable sources before.
- Creation of a 25-member Governing Council broadly representative of Iraqi. (complete)
- Governing Council named a preparatory committee to devise a way to write a constitution. (complete)
- Put day-to-day operation of Iraqi government in the hands of Iraqis. (complete)
- Write Iraq's new constitution. (complete)
- Popular ratification of the constitution.
- Election of a government, according to the constitution.
- Dissolve the coalition authority.
I am proud of my president that has the sagacity to "stay the course".
In 1988, Saddam Hussein's soldiers swept through dozens of villages in northern Iraq, rounding up men, women and children whose only crime was being Kurdish.Imagine not knowing where your sister is. Your aunt. Your daughter. Imagine being in a place so dark that you say, "We will be satisfied to get their bones."Among those captured was Ismet Qadir. ...
But now a startling document has surfaced, purportedly written by the Mukhabarat, Hussein's secret intelligence service. It reveals yet another dark side of the regime, but suggests Ismet Qadir and 17 other Kurdish women might still be alive.
They were, the document says, sent to Egypt to work as prostitutes. ...
As the pesh merga retreated to the mountains, Iraqi soldiers moved into Kurdish villages in the desert east of Kirkuk and arrested those left behind - mostly women, children and old men. Among those taken were Qadir's widowed father and the rest of his family - sister Ismet and two brothers. Then the soldiers destroyed the villages.
Six months later, the elder Qadir was released because of age, and he returned to northern Iraq with a tale of horror. He and his children, along with thousands of others, had been beaten and tortured, shunted from one crowded detention center to another, denied food and water. Eventually, the men were separated from the women, and the women further separated into groups of young and old.
Abdul Qadir never again saw his sister or brothers. Their father died in 1996, grieving to the end.
Update: Dave from Opinari points out that Snopes has done the research and validated the email's origin.
Ray Reynolds, SFC
Iowa Army National Guard
234th Signal Battalion
"CNN only airs what they want you to see," said Jacobsen. "I finally told my mom to stop watching, because it wasn't true."At the end:Neice said the reality of a soldier's life in Iraq is quite the opposite from what is seen on the evening news.
"When we go through town, the crowds are cheering, crying, thanking us, giving us all thumbs up," Neice said.
Neice said the support from the locals in Baghdad was "at least 95 percent." He said the media is "wrong" and that the picture they are depicting for Americans is inaccurate.
"Americans need to know the truth. They (Iraqis) want us there. The support we got from locals was unreal," said Neice. "Sure, there are small pockets of resistance, but it's rare."
Vada Neice said her son found a new pride in his country while in Baghdad. She said, "When he got back to the states, he called me and said 'Mom! Mom! I love the USA!' I thought that was so cool."
During a morning ceremony earlier this week, 20 marines received the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat. Those injuries resulted from some of the toughest battles and firefights we've seen in over a year when Marines were marching to Baghdad. More than 116 Marines in this unit have received the Purple Heart so far and over 70 of them have decided to stay in Iraq, fight with their units and accomplish the mission rather than return home, even though, by consequence of their wounds, they can do so.
Meanwhile, Britain is determining if they can send another 1,700 troops to beef up their presence. Denmark is also planning to expand their role. Poland, which has been consistently taking a larger role in the rebuilding effort, now says that they want to keep their forces in Iraq into 2005, but only if the new Iraqi government wants them there. New Zealand has confirmed their commitment to stay the course.
Even tiny El Salvador said that their troops will remain as promised.
Now doctors are working to repair the damage, both physical and psychological, by performing plastic surgery that creates a new ear from cartilage taken from the rib cage:
Nimer's was one of the first. After his operation this time, the 33-year-old awoke to see his parents and two brothers standing around his hospital bed. The entire family broke down in tears.If that doesn't make you well up a little then you just aren't human.Weak and groggy, Nimer struggled to lift his bandaged head, as if to whisper something to the surgeon. When the doctor leaned in, Nimer kissed his cheek.
"I'm reborn," he said.
There are other stories of attempting to repair the horrors of Saddam's reign of terror, like this one:
In many ways, Mr. Kadim's story is one more in a file of torture, rape, and mass-murder stories that have trickled out of Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. But it's also a story of redemption and compassion. One that will end, the participants hope, in lives restored.That's all you get here -- go read the whole thing.
"Al-Sadr is a criminal. ... I want him out. We want peace and quiet. We don't deserve another Saddam"Thought-provoking article, highly recommended.
The Tet Offensive of 1968 was a military disaster for the North Vietnamese, costing them 50,000 soldiers and the destruction of their command structure in the south.
Today the Fallujah insurrection is costing the insurgents hundreds of casualties. More importantly, they are revealing themselves to military intelligence. Once the insurrection has been quelled, the first order of business should be to round them up and shoot incarcerate them.
Thankfully, our military is promising to kill or capture the ringleader, Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Let's hope it doesn't end there. We made the mistake of leaving these scum on the streets once before -- we need to make certain that we take out the trash once and for all (even the 'American street' agrees).
So this similarity will probably hold true; the insurgents are expending all of their resources in one all-out attack and we are handling it. Not that our cost is negligable. The death of any coallition soldier or civilian worker is one too many, but in the end this is a war and we are being presented with an opportunity to deal a substantial blow to the resistence movement. That blow is being dealt.
The most striking similarity between Tet and the current Iraq situation is the fifth column and other useful idiots the media and the anti-war crowd. Just as it was mis-reported that Tet was a disaster for American troops, today's reporting on Iraq continues to be shockingly skewed. Of course, there are a few exceptions:
Even as battles rage, for example, U.S. contractors and their far more numerous Iraqi employees go to work each day at dozens of power stations across Iraq, laboring to repair the electrical grid. I visited two of them recently and was struck by how much work had been done, largely outside of the public eye.The simple truth is that most of the nation is peaceful, with millions of citizens and pilgrims avoiding the rebellion. The economy of Iraq is strengthening, perhaps even "poised for an economic renaissance", and the rebuilding of the nation is progressing surprisingly well.
Hell, Hyundai even opened a dealership in Baghdad this week.
Differences from Tet are, of course, enormous. The rebels do not have a strategist of General Vo Nguyen Giap's caliber leading them, nor are they a single organization with the backing of the general population and a large foreign power (although there are some very deep pockets funding the terrorists that are joining in the rebellion).
But what is most curious is the total lack of understanding on the media's part of the "big picture"; and because the American public is talked to like morons they tend to become just as single-minded as the press. It's damn silly to ignore what is really going on.
Take, for instance, the fact that terrorists throughout Europe are actively pursuing chemical weapons:
"We have underestimated the terrorists' willingness and capacity to develop chemical weapons," the French official told the Financial Times. He said a recent wave of arrests in Britain and France has revealed how far they had developed their plans.Imagine a world in which Saddam was still in place, a man who hated America and was actively pursuing a chemical weapons program? Would a man who gave millions of dollars to the families of Palestinian homicide bombers not also want to supply terrorists with chemical and biological weapons?
This was the thinking before the war and remains true today.
Turning the discussion to solid ROI, what has been the effect of Saddam's removal (besides, of course, the freeing of children from prisons and stopping the horrors of rape rooms, mass graves and people fed to plastic shredders)?
Well, there's Libya. There's the discovery of the massive corruption in the U.N.'s Oil for Palaces Food program. And there's the ripple effect that comes from America's determination combined with having another democracy in the heart of the Middle East.
For instance, women voting in Saudi Arabia. Iraqi women rallying to demand more rights. The establishment of a Human Rights commission in an Arab nation. Sweeping changes to marriage laws in Morrocco. Continuing unrest in Iran as demonstrations sweep across the country as a frustrated populace seeks the overthrow of tyranny and establishment of democracy.
It is doubtful that any of these would be happening with the intensity that they are were it not for the determination of President Bush and the military power of our brave service men and women.
Another important factor of the Iraqi unrest is that it is happening in April, allowing us to kill many of the troublemakers now and giving us a chance to root out the rest in the coming months. The handover of sovernty in June will be mostly symbolic, but an important symbol nevertheless. And by election day in November democracy in Iraq will seem much more plausable, perhaps even probable.
And that will be good for the re-election campaign. Because the stock market is up, production is up, machinery is being ordered to increase production even more, employment is up, and "in-sourcing" is outpacing out-sourcing. Even rising gas prices are not influencing election decisions.
Make no mistake about it -- this election will be about the war.
Therin lies the most important facts of all: every dollar spent in funding extremists in Iraq is a dollar that doesn't go towards funding a terrorist in America, and every America-hating extremist that heads for the flypaper of Iraq is one that is not trying to get into America.
Have you read about a bomber taking out a Walmart in Kansas? No? Well then, envision the big picture and go thank a soldier.
Thus far, the only thing spinning out of control is the media coverage of events in Iraq.Panic reigns in the network newsrooms. It is tempered only by the commentators' thinly disguised exultation at the prospect that the deaths of American soldiers might aid the campaign of presidential candidate John Kerry.
President Bush remains in command, and expresses resolve to finish the job and turn Iraq over to the Iraqi people.
No one thought the task would be easy, least of all the left. Its armchair generals had, in fact, predicted a bloodbath, with huge coalition casualties. Every death is regrettable, but they happen in battle, and so far the death toll is far below the predictions of the anti-war faction.
Mistakes also happen in war. They occurred frequently during World War II and in Korea and in Vietnam.
In this case, criticism of the delay in taking action against the Muslim cleric fomenting the uprising is warranted, but what is happening in the liberal media simply is a continuation of criticism of the effort to liberate Iraq that began on day one.
Contrary to assertions, Iraq is not a quagmire. However, the Sunni Triangle is a swamp. It contains a few militant Shiites who will do anything to prevent democracy from being introduced in the country.
Once the U.S. forces quell this disturbance, the coalition must turn its attention to helping peaceful Iraqis form a new government before the June deadline for turning over control.
In a closed session before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier Tuesday, Duelfer said U.S. weapons hunters in Iraq have found more evidence Saddam's regime had civilian - or ``dual use'' - factories able to quickly produce biological and chemical weapons.More came out on Sunday:And, according to declassified testimony shared with reporters, Duelfer said the survey group has found new evidence that Iraqi scientists flight tested long-range ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that ``easily exceeded'' U.N. limits of 93 miles.
SADDAM Hussein had the ability to unleash biological and chemical weapons "at short notice" on foreign nations, according to a potentially explosive new report by inspectors.Ah, but we should have waited while more children died and the mass graves continued to be filled.The leaked document, written by Charles Duelfer, the new director of the Iraq Survey group, concludes that hard evidence does exist that Saddam had the ability to wreak terror with the weaponry.
Furthermore, there was evidence that he was plotting to expand his facilities last year, prior to the invasion of British and American troops.
In a closed session before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier Tuesday, Duelfer said U.S. weapons hunters in Iraq have found more evidence Saddam's regime had civilian - or "dual use" - factories able to quickly produce biological and chemical weapons.And, according to declassified testimony, Duelfer said the survey group has found new evidence that Iraqi scientists flight- tested long-range ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that "easily exceeded" U.N. limits of 93 miles.
It matters that Bush is not a Clintonian president, shaping and reshaping policy according to the public's mood swings. More important, though, we Americans are a different people. We have had the chilling opportunity to think through the years-long series of attacks--foreign and domestic--that are encapsulated by the brief phrase "Sept. 11." We appreciate, in ways we did not in 1993, that this nation and the freedoms it seeks to promulgate elsewhere have enemies. Many of those enemies are desperate enough to kill for their survival--and no doubt frustrated that, particularly in Iraq, Americans are not as feckless, as fickle, as they'd like us to be.Well said. Read it all -- it's short.In short, even a day as horrific as Wednesday won't tempt the current president to pull troops out of Iraq. What's more, in survey after survey, solid majorities of Americans have said that they support his decisions and commitment.
In the 12 months since the American and British troops arrived, not one body has been added to a secret mass grave. Not one woman has been raped on government orders. Not one dissident has been mauled to death by trained killer dogs. Not one Kurdish village has been gassed.
When the war to liberate Iraq started a year ago today, few hoped to be able to return home soon. In fact, the United Nations' High Commission for Refugees had prepared plans to receive 1.8 million new refugees from Iraq.There is so much more. Go read.HISTORY, however, was written in a different way: Saddam's regime collapsed in 20 days (two weeks shorter that this writer predicted at the time). No new refugees poured out. Instead, refuges in neighboring countries began to return, first by the dozen, then in thousands - even before major combat had ceased.
No one quite knows how many Iraqis have returned home. But some estimates put the number at 1.2 million. In most cases, they simply walked back or hired buses to take them home, ignoring U.N.-imposed procedures. . . .
Liberation has also given a new life to an estimated 1.2 million Marsh Arabs, whose villages Saddam wiped out in the 1980s and 1990s. Saddam built a canal to drain the marshes, which were recognized as one of the wonders of nature, so that his tanks could reach the villages unhindered. That criminal scheme is now being scrapped, allowing the marshes to regain at least part of their pristine beauty. Tens of thousands of marshlanders have returned to rebuild their homes, thus helping repair one of the worst environmental disasters of the last century.
"He's turned out (to be) a pretty wily guy who seems to be enjoying the give-and-take with his interlocutors. He sure thinks he's smarter than everyone else, that's for sure," U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in an interview.Things will start coming out this summer -- in time to humiliate Kerry in November.The No. 2 State Department official said earlier this week Saddam was giving up little information but on Thursday he explained there were also leads from the interrogation that could be analyzed to produce evidence.
"I've seen some of the results of these debriefs and we've got a lot of dots to connect before we throw these out publicly," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The former chief weapons inspector for the United Nations said Wednesday night that, with more time, he and his team might have been able to affect the decision to go to war against Iraq.We went to war to prevent Saddam from getting weapons of mass destruction, whether he currently had them or not.
No, we didn't find weapons of mass destruction. What we found was far worse.
300,000 people in mass graves. Over 25 years that works out to nearly 33 people a day.
Now include the 250 people a day who were dying as a result of the UN's corrupt Oil for Palaces program -- mostly children under five who were starving or didn't have basic medical care.
Now add in the millions killed by Saddam in his whimsical wars. Who knew when he would decide to attack someone else? The man was mad and totally unpredictable.
We went to stop a despot, and found that Saddam was a weapon of mass destruction.
More time, Hans? How many more children had to starve to death before you had "enough time"?
Several members of the Iraqi Governing Council, which clamored for United Nations help on elections weeks ago, now say they are reluctant to give the organization a big role either in helping to prepare the Iraqi government to stand on its own or in readying the country for nationwide elections to take place as early as December.Some choice quotes:
A single week in this restive town illuminated the triumphs and setbacks in Iraq's journey toward democracy.And a bang-up ending:Under threat by anti-American insurgents, the mayor resigned. Another man suspected of cooperating with the Americans was gunned down in front of his home. A sheik elected to the new provincial council was attacked by a suicide bomber. The American adviser survived a bomb attack on his car. And on Saturday, attackers stormed a police station, freeing dozens of prisoners in a raid that left more than 20 people dead and at least 40 others wounded.
Yet for all of that, when the Americans held a caucus here to choose a new provincial council, more than 1,000 people turned out to vote, crowding into a youth center and debating well into the night. The next day, the new council members attended an inauguration ceremony that went off without a hitch. Even when interrupted by a gun battle on Thursday, the Falluja Town Council refused to give up.
In Falluja, as in any fragile democracy, the system will probably survive only if the losers accept the results. One powerful sheik spent much of the week trying to do just that. Sheik Ghazi Sami al-Abid emerged triumphant from an early caucus that was set up without the approval of the Americans. When the Americans approved the second one, Ghazi lost. He contested the election, but his appeal failed both before the Iraqis and Americans.I reckon it is, sheik. Welcome to freedom."I am a wealthy man, a rich man, I deserve to be elected," the sheik said over lunch at his sprawling estate at the end of the week. "And some little money-changer comes along and beats me."
He paused, and then smiled as if a revelation had come to him.
"I guess that's American-style democracy, isn't it?"
For 9 months Ive thought that things were OK, that America did the right thing, we got rid of S.H. and his killing machine, that Im happy, free and dreaming of a better future.Read the whole thing. Really.Thanks to all the true friends of the Iraqi people, I began to have some doubts and began asking myself real questions and day by day my doubts grew bigger and bigger then I tried to do what I was afraid of during these 9 months. I decided to re-evaluate everything I see and compare it with what it was before the war.
Hat tip to Bushtit.
"Saddam is in Iraq now, and yes he will be tried publicly by a special Iraqi court when the prerequisites for setting up such a court are completed," Mr Bremer told the Arabic-language daily Asharq Al-Awsat."The Governing Council has started setting up the special court and we have spent some funds on that and he (Saddam) will be tried publicly after bringing charges of mass killing and invading neighbouring countries against him."
"Saddam will be handed over to the Governing Council after it finishes setting up the court."
It is expected that about 70% of Iraq's debt will be forgiven, which means that an estimated debt of $116 billion will be reduced to about $35 billion.
All in all, the Baker creditors tour looks to be a victory for U.S. diplomacy, and for the future of Iraq.Not bad for a bumbling president who doesn't know the first thing about foreign policy.
Improvements in telephone service are helping Iraq reintegrate into the international community and paving the way for the new economy. Today, mobile telephones are available in Iraq for the first time, and by April 2004, there could be more than half-million Iraqi cell phone subscribers. New technology is also making it possible for Iraq to establish its first emergency call network.For those who think we can just turn things over and walk away, try coming up with a detailed task list that contains items as such this, and then decide how long it takes:
Check clearing agreement between state-owned banks & private banks implemented. Previously, banks did not honor checks drawn on other banks
Howard "No Safer Today" Dean has been strangely silent on the issue.
John Galt blogs A Typical "Day in the Life" at the CPA
Prayer call over the speakers of Baghdad's ancient mosques at 5:45 a.m. usually wakes me up a little earlier than I'd prefer to get up. I'm a light sleeper so I stay awake. The faintest fingers of the sunrise begin to wiggle through the window. [SNIP]Read the whole thing -- there's more.The palace is as huge as a Hollywood set and it's pretty but without function--pure fantasy. Inside it is huge empty non-functional halls of polished marble and vaulted ceilings.
The CPA has been forced to build anther maze of plywood offices inside the palace to try to make it functional. Solid construction, but carefully crafted so it doesn't damage the building. Only a few holes were drilled into remote places in the walls, away from the art work, for the communication cables.
And the palace is cold. Someone once asked what's made of marble, dark and cold? A mausoleum. Gee, thanks. We needed that. (But it was funny.) [SNIP]
About 1,500 people work in the palace. That may seem like a large group, but it is pitifully small given the task of repairing the entire country after so much neglect, building the infrastructure, and creating policy and procedure, all while trying to stay safe. As with any headquarters, we have many special conferences, meetings and other shenanigans. Wires run all around the building--down the halls, across the ceilings and under the floors. You trip on them, pull at them and tangle with them. The computers that we never seem to have enough and the wires that seem to multiply supernaturally leverage the work of our small work force. [SNIP]
Around 6 p.m. you check in with those at home. It's now 9 a.m. at home. Read the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and even catch some morning shows on Armed Forces TV via your computer. Staying connected--that's what helps keep us sane. [SNIP]
The work day doesn't end as it continues well past 7 p.m., with dinner in the mess hall squeezed in at some point during the evening. I suspect the majority of us work at least twelve hours a day, six or 7 days a week. My office has been working until 9 p.m. recently on the budget. It's going to get worse too before it gets better.
Hat tip to Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine.
First came word that he was giving the names of accounts, companies and personnel that he used to stash some $40 billion in Japan, German, Switzerland, Syria and other countries.
Next we learn that he was giving up the names of the people fighting in his name -- those launching attacks on coalition forces in Iraq. And as a result, hundreds of Iraqis have surrendered -- Iraqis that know where weapons stashes are kept.
On Monday, US forces operating at the nexus of Saddam support -- the Sunni Triangle -- made a significant find. Hidden in a false wall were al Qaeda literature and training videos. Also on hand were nearly 8,000 rounds of ammunition; 160 mortar rounds and six mortar tubes; 43 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and 79 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs); 19 AK-47 assault rifles, as well as dozens of other weapons; a significant amount of C4 and TNT explosives; and material to make improvised explosive devices.
Why would al Qaeda materials make it into Iraq if Saddam had no connection with terrorists?
The dictator's arrest was a direct result of a change in tactics by the U.S. military, and an indirect result of a change of heart by administration decision-makers about the strategy for terminating an occupation that seemed to be bogging down only a few months ago.Hat tip to Advised by Wolves.The change in tactics was visible. Saddam was tracked down as part of an escalating military roundup of his kin and other Baathist fugitives who had previously moved with impunity in the Sunni heartland around Baghdad. The get-tougher tactics replaced CIA-inspired efforts to buy off or otherwise co-opt Sunni influentials and tribes, who took the money but never delivered.
The Sunni Arabs make up less than 20 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, but they have for a millennium monopolized privilege and power in the territory of Mesopotamia, lording it over a Shiite Arab majority based in the south and a Kurdish Sunni minority in the north.
Less apparent was the dawning realization in Washington that the Sunni strategy favored by the intelligence and diplomatic bureaucracies was bringing no results but was increasingly alienating the Shiite majority, which had acquiesced to or supported the coalition occupation.
"In the summer it became clear that if we lost the Shiites we would lose the country," says one U.S. official. "The priority became understanding and trying to respond to their political needs rather than winning hearts and minds in the Sunni Triangle. That's important. But this was important and urgent."
Democrats who before the war discounted the possibility of any connection between Iraq and al Qaeda have largely fallen silent. And in recent days, two prowar Democrats have spoken openly about the relationship. Evan Bayh, a Democrat from Indiana who sits on the Intelligence Committee, told THE WEEKLY STANDARD, "the relationship seemed to have its roots in mutual exploitation. Saddam Hussein used terrorism for his own ends, and Osama bin Laden used a nation-state for the things that only a nation-state can provide."And Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut Democrat and presidential candidate, discussed the connections in an appearance last week on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews." Said Lieberman: "I want to be real clear about the connection with terrorists. I've seen a lot of evidence on this. There are extensive contacts between Saddam Hussein's government and al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. I never could reach the conclusion that [Saddam] was part of September 11. Don't get me wrong about that. But there was so much smoke there that it made me worry. And you know, some people say with a great facility, al Qaeda and Saddam could never get together. He is secular and they're theological. But there's something that tied them together. It's their hatred of us."
I spoke to one man whose daughter was about 7 or 8 years old. He had tears in his eyes because he was so thankful that she would now have an education. His son was a few years younger and was ``all smiles'' when he pointed to the American flag pin on his shirt.While touring a woefully outdated hospital, I spoke to doctors and nurses there. The doctors told me that they desperately wanted access to medical seminars and training to update their skills. Saddam had barred their travel, even for training purposes, for fear that once outside the country, the doctors would never return.
The hospital I visited lacked current technology and was without many of what we would consider absolutely necessary medical technologies. However, the entire staff expressed gratitude that Americans and our allies had liberated the Iraqi people. Their freedom and our presence meant the hope for better lives and the possibility of improvements to the care offered at the hospital.
