Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf Coast

At first it did not look so bad- then 24 hours later the levees began to fail and New Orleans was filled with water. Then the looters began their craven raids, and those in Biloxi are not able to get back to the most affected areas. It is bad now. I am trying to find a way to get down there to help, but of course the military does not really have the system set up to allow for officers to join deployments. At least now we don't have to listen to moon-bat Cindy blather on...

OpSec in the Milblog world..

I did not want to post the WARNOR from General Schoomaker, detailing the potential vulnerabilities of open source information. All military bloggers need to be very careful in disclosing tactics and equipment.

LTC Kurilla back home...

Storied Iraq soldier recuperating By Alex Fryer Seattle Times staff reporter JIM MACMILLAN / AP Army Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, of the Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade, held an Iraqi man for questioning in Mosul in December, a day after an insurgent attack nearby. Erik Kurilla, right, and an Iraqi interpreter questioned Iraqi men in a trucking yard while searching for insurgents after a four-hour running gunbattle in Mosul on Feb. 12. Nine insurgents were killed after attacking U.S. troops. Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla is out of Iraq, recovering from gunshot wounds in a Tacoma hospital.Although not well-known, Kurilla — the highest ranking soldier from the Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade to be seriously wounded in battle — has a dedicated following on the Internet. For more than eight months, a blog written by independent journalist Michael Yon has chronicled the battles, strategies and sorrows of Kurilla's unit, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry ("Deuce Four"). Yon's periodic dispatches often describe details and tactics of the Iraq war not found in the mainstream media. Kurilla is portrayed as tough, dedicated and possessed with an uncanny ability to avoid enemy bullets. That changed last Friday when Kurilla was shot during close combat. To see pictures and read dispatches about Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla : http://michaelyon.blogspot.com In a harrowing series of photographs, Yon captures the moment Kurilla fell. The images along with Yon's narrative are posted on his Web site: http://michaelyon.blogspot.com. Shot in the arm and leg, Kurilla was taken to a combat hospital and later airlifted to Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma. Yesterday, he declined to release the status of his condition.Military-related sites on the Internet lighted up with news of Kurilla's injuries, indicating national interest in the fate of the 49-year-old Tacoma resident.A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, Kurilla received his commission as a second lieutenant in May 1988. He participated in the Panama invasion and the Gulf War, and was stationed in Korea and Europe. Last fall, Kurilla deployed with the 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which patrols Mosul, a mostly Sunni Arab city of 2 million. His 700-soldier battalion experienced some of the fiercest fighting of the war. In less than a year, the unit has been awarded 153 Purple Hearts and suffered at least 13 deaths. Kurilla is known both by locals and visiting journalists in Mosul. Reporters from The Associated Press, Chicago Tribune and other organizations quoted Kurilla as he explained the insurgency and efforts to train Iraqi forces. Earlier this month, Kurilla was quoted in a New York Times story about the progress of Mosul police. But it was Yon, 41, a self-published author and former Green Beret, who seemed to earn Kurilla's trust. A self-described "independent, informed observer chronicling the monumentally important events in the efforts to stabilize Iraq," Yon solicits donations on his Web site to buy equipment and defray expenses. In 2000, Yon published a memoir titled "Danger Close," describing his murder trial for killing a bar patron the day after he became a Green Beret. He was acquitted. In his blog, Iraqi insurgents are "terrorists" and the United States is making progress in its nation-building efforts. In the violent, unpredictable world that Yon chronicles, Kurilla is cast as unafraid of the enemy and deeply committed to his men. Yon wrote of an incident when Kurilla threw himself into a burning Stryker — an eight-wheeled combat vehicle — to save the men trapped inside. Of the Deuce Four, Yon noted: "One young soldier told me, 'This is my family. Colonel Kurilla is like my dad. He would die for me.' "Last week, Kurilla and his men chased a black car through Mosul.W hen an Army marksman in a helicopter disabled the car, the men inside fled, and opened fire.

101 Ways of the Officer...

ONE HUNDRED and ONE SOLDIERLY THOUGHTS By Major Mark A. Smith Sr. (ret) Note: SOME DECADES AGO, A FRIEND IN THE PENTAGON ASKED ME TO JOT DOWN A FEW SOLDIERLY THOUGHTS. DOWN THROUGH THE YEARS I ADDED A COUPLE, BUT DELETED NONE OF THE ORIGINALS. THEY MAY NOT BE MODERN OR POLITICALLY CORRECT, BUT THEY DID MAKE THE ROUNDS. I STAND BY THEM TODAY. MARK 1. Never accept an officer as competent based on his source of commission. 2. Your right to influence the battlefield is diminished in ratio to the distance you are from the actual arena of action. 3. The battlefield selects its own Generals. No school or board can replace it. 4. Never call fire on your own troops, unless you stand among them. 5. Leaders are indeed born and no military school can provide what God did not. 6. Equipment procurement will always be compromised by not only being made by the lowest bidder, but by attempting to make it multi-functional. 7. Attempting to lighten the soldier’s load by diminishing the weight of any given weapon, will always result in shorter range and less firepower. 8. Excellent staff officers rarely make good battlefield commanders. 9. Outstanding commanders will surround themselves with excellent staff officers. 10. Never make command a reward for good staff work. 11. Discipline began its decline with the demise of the swagger stick and centralized promotion boards. 12. Outstanding NCO’s may make good officers. But, rarely will a riffed officer make a good NCO. 13. Atheists will never be trusted by their troops on the battlefield. 14. Women can do many things men do, except for a few days every month. 15. Going through the change, has nothing to do with the female senior officer’s uniform. 16. Sexual harassment is a two-lane road. 17. Soldiers tell the truth about good and bad commanders. Their opinion is the ultimate evaluation of an officer. 18. No commander was ever hated for being too hard. But, many are detested for trying to cultivate that image, without substance. 19. The maximum effective range of any weapon is that range at which the individual soldier can hit his target and not an inch further. 20. Pretty females rarely feel harassed by male counterparts. 21. Plain-looking female soldiers are usually the best performers and fit in. 22. Endurance should be judged on the bayonet assault course and not on a marathon run. 23. How far soldiers can run in shorts is unimportant, compared to how far they can speed march with full equipment. 24. Pregnant females are overweight soldiers. Thus, the US Army Weight Control program is not based on equal enforcement of the rules. 25. Tears on the cheeks of any soldier, regardless of gender, are only acceptable on the death of a relative or comrade and when “Old Glory” passes by. 26. Pregnancy is self-inflicted, thus abortions should be paid for by the soldier, as a non line of duty procedure. 27. Soldiers are not ‘sent into combat,” they are led. 28. Your worth as an officer should never be judged on how well you ran with a football in college. 29. West Point is a place of learning, as is any college. Both produce two types of officer; Good and Bad. 30. The computer will never be able to judge the content of a soldier’s spirit, as his Sergeant can. 31. Esprit De Corps cannot be attained at the Battalion picnic or Sports Day. It must be instilled by good leadership and belief in one’s fellow soldiers. 32. No new weapon or tactic will ever instill the same fear in the enemy that one Infantryman with a bayonet can. 33. He who drinks at lunch is a drunken soldier in the afternoon. 34. No soldier is so smart that his physical deficiencies can be overlooked in the Infantry. 35. Painting rocks and serving drinks to officers, have never been soldierly functions. And golf is not a required skill for officers. 36. Consolidation of all administrative personnel at battalion level has eroded accountability and proper reporting. 37. Anyone who thinks that future battlefields will not contain Infantrymen knows nothing about war. 38. Indecision kills more soldiers than any wrong decision. One can command his way out of a wrong decision. 39. The only mission of the Infantry Soldier is to kill the enemy. “Humanitarian Missions" are someone else’s job. 40. Only the Infantry and Armor can gain ground. Only the Infantry can hold it alone. 41. Special Forces are not Rangers or Light Infantry and should never be employed as such. 42. Rangers are light infantry and are not Special Forces. 43. Victory is not a limited objective. There is no other reason to engage an enemy, except victory. 44. Never shower or apply after-shave and cologne, forty eight hours prior to a night attack. 45. Sweat is the true lubricant of the Infantry fighting machine. 46. No American Soldier can be managed to victory. He must be led. 47. The only color in the U.S. Army is green. 48. Use of chemical weapons and biological weapons are a crime against humanity. 49. Not training your soldiers to protect themselves from them is a crime against your own troops. 50. Any tactic written in a book is known to your enemies. 51. If short hair is truly a matter of hygiene and discipline, then all soldiers must have it. 52. No member of a soldier’s family is more important than the mission. 53. No soldier can accomplish his mission if the Army neglects his family. 54. Any soldier who sleeps with another soldier’s wife or lover cannot be trusted on the battlefield and should be shunned. 55. Officers are more likely to wear unauthorized awards than any NCO or Private. 56. Any officer who claims he is accepting an individual award for the entire unit should allow his soldiers to wear it. 57. There can be no quota for awards. 58. Any award for Valor is of more value to the Army than any school diploma or certification. 59. Heroism cannot be taught. But, cowardice is a communicable disease. 60. The machine gun is too important a weapon to be used as a tool for punishing poor soldiers. 61. Precision weapons will jam, if the Commander demands communal cleaning. 62. No officer should be given a command, because, he needs one for his career. 63. No officer should be denied a command, because, he already had one. 64. The state of the Army can be evaluated by how its soldiers look in uniform, at any airport in the world. 65. No reporter can be trusted with operational plans. A reporter who reveals operational plans is a traitor to his country. 66. A combat veteran of any war should be respected by soldiers. 67. American soldiers do not lose wars. Leaders lose wars. 68. What a soldier saw with his own eyes, cannot be ignored or changed by higher headquarters. 69. If Special Forces are not assigned strategic missions, they are being misused. 70. The “Hummer” is a vehicle and is the only thing of that name allowed in the Infantry. 71. If you wish to learn about guerrilla warfare, study Francis Marion and not Westmoreland or Giap. 72. The one night you don’t dig in, will bring mortars on your position. 73. Taking the easy way will always get you killed. 74. Blank ammunition has no place in Infantry training. 75. The more you restrict Infantrymen possessing live ammunition, the more accidents you will have. 76. The Air Force and Navy are supporting arms. 77. Intelligence Officer is usually a contradiction in terms. 78. Inclement weather is the true Infantryman’s ally. 79. There is no special duty so important, that it takes the Infantry Soldier away from his squad. 80. Commanders who use the “Off Limits” authority to deny sex to combat soldiers will have a high V.D. rate. 81. A Commander’s morals are his own and cannot be imposed on his soldiers. 82. Chaplains must present themselves when the soldier has time, not because they have a schedule. 83. An officer must be judged on his ability and not on how many coffees his wife has attended. 84. Senior officers who allow discussions about a brother officer, not present, are not honorable men. 85. A Commander who bad-mouths his predecessor will never be truly respected. 86. Equal opportunity is guaranteed by the law and does not require a separate staff. 87. If a Sergeant Major suggests a unit watch, he is the supplier. 88. The quality of food went down, with the initiation of the consolidated mess. 89. No NCO or Warrant Officer outranks a Second Lieutenant. 90. Any officer who does not listen to NCO’s and Warrant Officers is a fool. 91. If you wish your subordinates to call you by your first name, go sell shoes. There is no place for you in the Army. 92. Any Army man who sneers at a Marine for being sharp and well turned out is no soldier. 93. Any Infantryman who must call higher headquarters before engaging the enemy has a fool for a commander. 94. Soldiers respect leaders worth emulating. They cannot be “ordered” to respect anyone. 95. No man who refused to serve his country in war should be elected or appointed over men and women being sent to fight. 96. The soldier must obey the orders of all those elected or appointed over him. 97. The “leadership genes” in famous American military families usually become weaker as the generations roll by. 98. A soldier should not be denied the right to wear his uniform anywhere in America, including The White House. 99. The only truly unique headgear is the one the Army was forced to authorize. All others are cheap copies. 100. There is only one reason to join the Army and that is to serve the Country. 101. If a soldier says he hates combat, he is in the wrong profession. ABOVE ALL, IF YOU ARE NOT INFANTRY, YOU ARE SUPPORT!

Leftists protest against our wounded troops...

I have been volunteering at Walter Reed for awhile now, looks like I will have to drop by and say "hello" to these losers..

I made it into the National Review...

From David Frum's blog on the NR Online site.. AUG. 24, 2005: AND STILL MORE ... In response to my Tuesday morning post: From a reader in the Air Force: (that is ME!) "Great article on the President's inability to enunciate a proper strategy and tactical speech. For a year I have bemoaned this fact with my friends. I was a Bush/Cheney precinct captain, and joined the Air Force AFTER we went to war against Saddam. No one believes in the mission more than I do. "However, why is the President seemingly incapable of stating anything more than superfluous fluff? Why can he not mention, 'We have built 1,340 schools, 27 hospitals, we have captured 22 senior Al-Queda terrorists, we are shepherding democracy'?!! "I am so frustrated with a seeming detachment from reality that the White House possesses. "Every half-way intelligent person realizes there is a huge news vacuum in August. So the White House decides to announce a "vacation" which brings 200 bored journalists to Crawford with nothing to do other than cover Cindy?!! She has gotten more press coverage than any administration figure in the last few weeks. They need to get SPECIFIC- this is how many units we have trained, this is how many weapons dumps we have discovered and destroyed, this is how many terrorists we have taken out, this is how many police and National Guard are on patrol, this is how many toys we have handed out. It is not brain surgery here- you need to give some hope to the people that progress is being made." 12:09 PM

Army recruiting doing much better..

RALPH PETERS ON IRAQ COVERAGE: What should have made headlines? It would've been nice to see more attention devoted to the complexity and importance of drafting a new constitution for Iraq. But my nomination for the "Greatest Story Never Told" is a quieter one: Locked in a difficult war, the U.S. Army is exceeding its re-enlistment and first-time enlistment goals. Has anybody mentioned that to you? Remember last spring, when the Army's recruitment efforts fell short for a few months? The media's glee would have made you confuse the New York Times and Air America. When the Army attempted to explain that enlistments are cyclical and numbers dip at certain times of the year, the media ignored it. All that mattered was the wonderful news that the Army couldn't find enough soldiers. We were warned, in oh-so-solemn tones, that our military was headed for a train wreck. Now, as the fiscal year nears an end, the Army's numbers look great. Especially in combat units and Iraq, soldiers are re-enlisting at record levels. And you don't hear a whisper about it from the "mainstream media." It's as if they're biased or something.

The Great Raid: A Great Movie

Able Danger: what did they know?

Two items of interest from reader DL. The first from AP news: WASHINGTON (AP) - An Army intelligence officer says his unit was blocked in 2000 and 2001 from giving the FBI information about a U.S.-based terrorist cell that included Mohamed Atta, the future leader of the Sept. 11 attacks. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer said the small intelligence unit, called "Able Danger," had identified Atta and three of the other future Sept. 11 hijackers as al-Qaida members by mid-2000. He said military lawyers stopped the unit from sharing the information with the FBI. The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks left the Able Danger claims out of its official report. The second is from the New York Times. WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 - A military intelligence team repeatedly contacted the F.B.I. in 2000 to warn about the existence of an American-based terrorist cell that included the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a veteran Army intelligence officer who said he had now decided to risk his career by discussing the information publicly. ... "I was at the point of near insubordination over the fact that this was something important, that this was something that should have been pursued," Colonel Shaffer said of his efforts to get the evidence from the intelligence program to the F.B.I. in 2000 and early 2001. He said he learned later that lawyers associated with the Special Operations Command of the Defense Department had canceled the F.B.I. meetings because they feared controversy if Able Danger was portrayed as a military operation that had violated the privacy of civilians who were legally in the United States.

Al-Queda Strategy

The Seven Phases of The Base By Bill Roggio With the fourth anniversay of the hot war between al Qaeda and the West approaching, it is interesting to see how al Qaeda's strategy and objectives have evolved since the United States committed to engaging in open warfare. The Word Unheard points us to an article in Spiegel Online by a Jordanian journalist Fouad Hussein, who is believed to be a reliable source of information on al Qaeda. His main source for this article on al Qaeda strategy is none other than Saif al-Adel, al Qaeda's military commander who is currently operating from Iran. al Qaeda's purported strategy can be broken down into seven "phases" which span from 2000 until 2020, at which time they believe the global Islamist Caliphate will be established and they will acheive "definitive victory." Here are the phases, which are followed by commentary when appropriate. The First Phase Known as "the awakening" -- this has already been carried out and was supposed to have lasted from 2000 to 2003, or more precisely from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington to the fall of Baghdad in 2003. The aim of the attacks of 9/11 was to provoke the US into declaring war on the Islamic world and thereby "awakening" Muslims. "The first phase was judged by the strategists and masterminds behind al-Qaida as very successful," writes Hussein. "The battle field was opened up and the Americans and their allies became a closer and easier target." The terrorist network is also reported as being satisfied that its message can now be heard "everywhere." al Qaeda can claim some success in the First Phase, as the organization is now the preeminent terrorist organization on the planet. The attacks of September 11 were cheered throughout the Islamic world. The global media disseminates Al Qaeda commander's speeches. Each and every terrorist attack is followed by suspicious of al Qaeda involvement. And the US did indeed bring the war to the Islamic world in Afghanistan and Iraq, however not against Islam itself. But this came at a price, as Islamist Afghanistan and friendly Saddam-governed Iraq were lost. The Second Phase "Opening Eyes" is, according to Hussein's definition, the period we are now in and should last until 2006. Hussein says the terrorists hope to make the western conspiracy aware of the "Islamic community." Hussein believes this is a phase in which al-Qaida wants an organization to develop into a movement. The network is banking on recruiting young men during this period. Iraq should become the center for all global operations, with an "army" set up there and bases established in other Arabic states. So far, the Second Phase has been a failure. The Arab and greater Islamic Street has been essentially silent in its support of al Qaeda. The perception that al Qaeda's cause is popular as hundreds of Islamists enter Iraq monthly is overshadowed by the tens of thousands of Islamic fighters who enter Afghanistan during the war with the Soviet Union. al Qaeda has generated new recruits, but not nearly enough to replace the experienced operators and managers that have been lost under the American onslaught in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Winning the Second Phase is important from a ideological standpoint. Defeat in Iraq would seriously harm the credibility of al Qaeda and weaken their mystique. They would possess a losing ideology that could not stand up to the Great Satan. Allah would have abandoned them to the privations of the infidel. The Third Phase This is described as "Arising and Standing Up" and should last from 2007 to 2010. "There will be a focus on Syria," prophesies Hussein, based on what his sources told him. The fighting cadres are supposedly already prepared and some are in Iraq. Attacks on Turkey and -- even more explosive -- in Israel are predicted. Al-Qaida's masterminds hope that attacks on Israel will help the terrorist group become a recognized organization. The author also believes that countries neighboring Iraq, such as Jordan, are also in danger. The Fourth Phase Between 2010 and 2013, Hussein writes that al-Qaida will aim to bring about the collapse of the hated Arabic governments. The estimate is that "the creeping loss of the regimes' power will lead to a steady growth in strength within al-Qaida." At the same time attacks will be carried out against oil suppliers and the US economy will be targeted using cyber terrorism. The Third and Fourth Phases can essentially be condensed. The potential spread of jihad and instability to Iraq's neighbors of Turkey, Syria, (and while not mentioned, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait) as well as Israel highlights the importance of an American victory in Iraq. Iraq, as a failed state, would provide al Qaeda a base to create instability in bordering countries, setting the stage for overthrow by the Islamists. It should be noted that Syria is playing a dangerous game by allowing al Qaeda to use its soil to conduct operations in Iraq. The jihadis are developing contacts, networks and obtaining recruits, which can eventually by turned against the Asad regime. For the record, it seems al Qaeda has already laid the groundwork for the Third and Fourth Phases. There are reports al Qaeda seeks to establish itself in Gaza to strike Israel, and Turkish vacation spots, including cruise ships are believed to have been the target of a just-foiled al Qaeda plot. Islamic countries have been the target of numerous al Qaeda attacks {see flash presentation, 2M download), and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have been in open war with al Qaeda for several years. Saudi oil facilities have been a target throughout. The United States will not allow another Islamic state to fall to al Qaeda's ideologues. The lesson of September 11 serves as a reminder of what happened when Afghanistan became a sanctuary and de facto al Qaeda state. The Fifth Phase This will be the point at which an Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared. The plan is that by this time, between 2013 and 2016, Western influence in the Islamic world will be so reduced and Israel weakened so much, that resistance will not be feared. Al-Qaida hopes that by then the Islamic state will be able to bring about a new world order. The Sixth Phase Hussein believes that from 2016 onwards there will a period of "total confrontation." As soon as the caliphate has been declared the "Islamic army" it will instigate the "fight between the believers and the non-believers" which has so often been predicted by Osama bin Laden. The Seventh Phase This final stage is described as "definitive victory." Hussein writes that in the terrorists' eyes, because the rest of the world will be so beaten down by the "one-and-a-half million Muslims," the caliphate will undoubtedly succeed. This phase should be completed by 2020, although the war shouldn't last longer than two years. Phases Five, Six and Seven are merely the dreams of al Qaeda, as the prospects for al Qaeda's success in phases One thru Fourth are looking grim at the moment. Despite media portrayal of defeat in Iraq, the Iraqi people are fighting the insurgency and the Anbar region is set to be reduced as an al Qaeda rear area. The jewel of al Qaeda, Afghanistan, fell almost four years ago, and al Qaeda and its Taliban allies have not come even close to retaining control. There are rumors of a serious rift between al Qaeda and the Taliban, as the Taliban believes its woes were created by closely allying themselves with Osama's cause. However, in the event of the United State loses its political will and pursues a policy of isolation from the Muslim world, an inevitable showdown with al Qaeda would ensue. Open confrontation with the West, as well as the possibility of a nuclear armed Caliphate, would bring the full military might of the Western World (those who value their freedom). The current operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, Southeast and Central Asia and within the borders of Western nations would be tame in comparison to what would come. The Japanese, Germans and Italians discovered in World War II the price of wakening the American military psyche. The West would basically have two options: (1) blitzkrieg 21st Century style - the full mobilization of its military and an accompanying sweep of the Islamic crescent, without regards for Politically Correct warfare; (2) nuclear war. Both campaigns would be designed to fully eliminate the Islamist threat, and the Muslim infrastructure, which allowed for the rise of al Qaeda's ideology.

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Computers for our wounded heroes..

Operation Quick Strike

The Great Raid..

This looks like an awesome movie. Hollywood actually talking about "honor and duty"?

Let's get Syria...

From the Austin Bay Blog: "I just spotted this story in An-Nahar. It reports that the US have pulled a Bashar and stopped 700 Syrian trucks on the Syrian-Iraqi border from entering into Syria. Obviously, I don't know the reasoning behind this, but I'd say it serves as a reminder that if Syria thinks it can use geography and economic pressure to muscle Lebanon, two can play at that game: on the eastern front. This may be a reminder of what the US and the EU can do to Syria's economy. For more on that, read Peter Schweizer's piece in USA Today. The Syrian papers went nuts. And, on a seperate note, the story notes how Syrian papers are continuing to harp on the "Syrians missing in Lebanon" (before and after Hariri's murder) issue. Again, that's fine. But until the Syrians start taking seriously the plight of the parents of the missing Lebanese, many still languishing in Syrian prisons, there's very little to talk about. Hazem Saghieh had a piece last week that while lamenting the ugly way in which Syrian and Lebanese issues are being played out, actually embraces the move away from all the "brotherly" talk to actual sovereign state to sovereign state relations. Maybe the US move on the Syria-Iraq border will help speed up that process and take away the bullying blockade card away from Bashar, and force him to deal properly with Lebanon (no intelligence services, no blockade, no car bombs); even perhaps encourage him to do something he and Farouq Sharaa hate like poison: open up an embassy in Beirut! Well, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's see how this plays out."

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Props to Mustang 23...

So, looks like I have hit the big time in the last week. Links to my site from two of the best milblogs, that of Castle Aargh from Jonah's guys, and from Assumption of Command. Definitely check out their sites listed on my blogroll. Only by reading the milblogs can one even remotely glean the truth as to what is happening in Iraq. Which is really a sad state of affairs, because if some of the good news got out the American public would not be so skittish, we would have a larger army, and the burden would not be so great on the brave men like Mustang 23 and those in his company. What gives me a bit of cold comfort, and unfortunately not that much, is how dire the situation was in the Revolution, the Civil War, and even in WWII. We have always had challenges, I just wish our domestic political leadership would be able to harness the power of the country in a more favorable way.

Steven Vincent: martyr for our cause...

I was likewise shocked and terribly upset as I read his blog nearly every day. You could tell how bad things have been in the Shia south, and this pretty much shows that we are in deep and troubling times.. Steven Vincent Murdered in Basra I'm sitting here completely in shock. I just read the news that one of our web blogger journalists, Steven Vincent, was found murdered in Basra, Iraq. If you never read his blog, In the Red Zone, you should have because he had the low down about the Shia Islamists having taken over the city. He interviewed them. He drank tea with them. But he always wrote the truth about it. The good and the bad. And it was bad. The reports about prostitutes and other "undesirables" being murdered came from him. But he also took time to meet with some of the interesting people, such as the woman who proclaimed there would be women's rights, but insisted that it came from Islam while she wore a full abaya when she met him, only her eyes showing. He brought a part of Iraq to the outside world that the rest of the media ignored. Now he's been murdered by some would be tyrant and his goons because they didn't like him reporting the truth. The truth that there was widespread corruption. The truth that there were murderers running around in uniform acting like police. The fact that many of these men owed their allegiance to Iran. The truth that these men were creating petty kingdoms in the guise of religious purity in the sad, run down environs of Basra. In Basra where students on a picnic were beaten. In Basra where girls were turned away from university because they were not "dressed right" and those turning them away were nobody except self appointed guardians of "virtue". This is their virtue. This is what they believe in. They do not believe in freedom. They do not believe that anyone should question them. They are murderers and that is their "virtue". These self appointed sheikhs who cannot bare criticism to their sickly pride. They don't tell you in the press report, but Steven was married and he was only able to post to his website by sending her emails of his "dispatches". Steven had been embedded with the military on the drive to Baghdad in OIF I and wrote, "In the Red Zone", the definitive book, in my mind, about the war up to that time. In his book, the truth about the firing on the Palestine Hotel was printed, utterly refuting Jason Eason and so many other "reporters'" stories that it was deliberately targeted or done without care knowing that "reporters" were there. Steven was a great man. At times like these, I really have to wonder why we didn't flatten the place. At least, as my grandfather always said, if you are going to be hung for a lamb, you might as well steal the whole sheep and, the good Lord knows that we've had to suck up enough accusations that we did do such a thing. In the mean time, a nation has paid and paid dearly in our mercy, graciousness and respect for human life by shedding the blood of our best and emptying our coffers. So many have said that this war was for some sort of profit, some sort of blood fued. They have never known of what they speak. Where is the profit in this? It has cost us much more than it would have to load up MOABs and Daisy Cutters, leveling the place. It has cost us dearly to do "the right thing". The "right thing" has always been the hardest, the most costly and it doesn't always mean that the outcome is to our liking. There, in Iraq, the right thing meant sparing as many as possible while securing our safety and securing a future for Iraqis. And this is how they have repaid us, time and time again. Their payment to us has been blood of our soldiers and hands out like the worst ragamuffins with their hands out in the street for a penny and then, when you turn your back, they signal to their thuggish friends to rob you blind and steal your life. I'm sure that, in Basra, no one will know anything. They won't speak because that is what they have always done. A man who was worried about what might be happening there and what was happening to Basrawi (Basra citizens) was cut down for speaking as they never would. Speaking for those that couldn't in the best tradition of real journalists who had no political agenda but did care. And they shot his female translater after they had she and Steven kidnapped. I am afraid to hear if they did anything else since Steven recently reported ugly remarks made to her for wearing only a simple hijab (scarf). That is the honor and virtue of such men that live in Basra. The scum sucking boot lickers of Tehran or the beard pulling psychopaths that followed a fat no account cleric who could never be his father and so he rules like a petty tyrant in a slum inside Baghdad having retreated there to avoid arrest for conspiring to murder a fellow cleric and to avoid prosecution for stirring revolt in an Najaf and Nasariyah. Make no mistake, evil men walk this earth. But, it was through the eyes of people like Steven Vincent that I saw the people of Basra as something more than just anonymous faces and a region disappeared from the media that reminded me that real people lived there and we should be worried for their future. It was through his eyes that I realized the depth and breadth of the Shia Islamists control of Iraq. I had always thought that we owed the Shia for not coming to their rescue in '91 when they were being massacred by Saddam. I think we have paid enough. I think now I understand why we did not support the Shia revolt, above the question of the ceasefire agreement or air assetts for "no fly" zones. This was the worry we had to know all along. That the Iranian Islamists had the allegiance of these people and, if they had succeeded in their revolt, Iraq would have been Iran light or Iran's twin. Here we are, watching a constitution process with a Shia majority. Those we put in power by the sheer fact they were a majority in the new Democracy. This is how it is repaid. Now I wait to see if Basrawis have any real honor or if they are all going to be like thieves and sneaks and cowards, hiding their faces and claiming to know nothing from either complicitness or cowardess. That is the legacy of Basra. Cursed souls and murderers. Update: I am already disgusted because it barely took a few minutes for the news to be out and some scum bags are on his website saying ugly things including "oh, well, stuff happens, isn't that what Rumsfeld said". I see that sick, disgusting creeps aren't only in Basra, Iraq. I want to repeat here my gratitude and sincere condolences to the Vincent family. Many prayers for them. Don't forget our other blogging free lance journalists in Iraq, Michael Yon and MOAB who, embedded or not, surely need our prayers for their safety and gratitude for reporting as it is on the ground. I remember recently that Michael, all the way up in Mosul, had reported rumors that a Journalist was going to be killed. He thought it was him. Maybe it is a coincidence and people all over Iraq think it's a good idea to kill journalists? Fayrouz on Steven Vincent (we both knew as soon as we saw the title of the AP report "American Journalist Killed in Basra - he was the only one there) Iraq The Model on Steven Vincent Mudville reports (this is where the Palestine Hotel story was debunked with some help from Steven's book) Chrechoff on Vincent (interviewed him last year) Malkin on Vincent Poli-Pundit on Vincent Roger Simon on Vincent Michael Yon on Vincent: Final Dispatch Iraqi Blogger Central on Vincent Free Iraqi reported two weeks ago that Basra was stinking Powerline on Vincent Belmont Club on Vincent LGF on Vincent Shape of Days Interview Dec 2004 Times Online Reports Cao on Vincent Ogre on Vincent Castle Argghh linked Kender linked and will be discussing at 12 PM PST/2 PM CST on xradio.biz NIF Linked Euphoric Reality linked Instapundit with more links Tigerhawk Bloggledgook

Not a good day in Centcom..

lost 20 Marines from the same unit in the last few days. We have to pray that the new Constitution will be unveiled by the 15th of August and that it does not lay the groundwork for theocracy or rule of the hijab. G-d bless our warriors..

Bolton is in!!

Another good day, with Ambassador Bolton being recess appointed to the United Nations. Hopefully he can get on the Iranian case quickly and we can stop playing footsie with the Mullahs in Teheran. Also today King Fahd finally passed from the scene, joining Hafez Assad, Kim Il-Sung, Gamal Nasser and Yasser Arafat in the "Dead Dictators Club." Interesting times we live in for sure..