Wednesday, May 31, 2006

My Memorial Day Part II

After we visited Leavenworth National Cemetary, we drove over to Fort Leavenworth where another ceremony was being held at the Fort Leavenworth. This cemetary is the old fort cemetary and contains the graves of many interesting people since the fort's inception in 1827.

When we arrived at the fort, there was a long line of civilian cars waiting to get in. If you don't have a military ID and/or sticker on your car, you have to pass through a different line for the gate. We had to get out of our vehicle, turn off the engine, open the trunk and hood to have the vehicle searched. They also took down our license plate and driver's license. Unfortunately, this put us behind for the ceremony at the fort cemetary. It had started drizzling when we arrived. Once we were on base, I got lost and finally had to turn around and stop at the gas station near the PX to get directions. There was a long line of young people buying cases of beer (none were in uniform) and one older gentleman that was picking up a bottle of scotch.

By the time we got to the cemetary, the ceremony was over and I missed Gen. Petreaus's speech. I saw many officers and veterans walking back to the parking area. We parked and decided to walk around anyway. It was raining steadily, though lightly and we had no umbrella's (I swear the weatherman had not predicted rain). But it was still warm, so we decided to walk in the rain. We walked among the headstones again. This time the boys were even more interested because there were several headstones that you could tell the soldiers had died during war or in combat based on the date of death and the medals listed, particularly the Purple Heart. There were several Vietnam KIA, some Korean War and many WWII. Some of the headstones gave enough information that I could tell a little story by it and the boys were very attentive. One of the headstones was a large grey granite headstone that listed the occupant as a Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. He died in 1944, shot down over Germany according to the inscription. He earned an Air Medal for his efforts.

As we looked at the headstone, a reporter from Fox WDAF TV in Kansas City approached us and asked if we were the soldier's family and could she interview us. I had to demure and explained we were simply looking at the headstones (she called it "social history"), but I directed her to a family that I had spoke with briefly shortly before. They had asked me if I knew how to locate certain graves. They had three they had located at the kiosk, but couldn't find in the cemetary. I pointed out the row and section markers and then pointed to the serial numbers on the back of the headstones. They were very near the first marker they were looking for. I saw them a few minutes later holding hands and praying together. The family appeared on the evening news.

Another headstone listed the names of five men in the same grave. The inscription and date indicated they were members of the Army Air Corp and had "crashed" in 1943. The boys wanted to know why there were several names on the headstone instead of one like the others and I explained that it was probably because the crash was so terrible that they could not tell who was who (not having DNA testing back then), so they buried them together.

Even my niece got into it by going from grave to grave and looking at the carvings. Again we were straigtening a few flags and flowers and there were many people walking among the graves. Fiinally, we made it to the administrative building where a kiosk was set up and and obelisk with an interactive map pointed out historically important people buried there. The original ceremony we were going to attend was the wreath laying at the site of Brig. General Henry Leavenworth. We listened to the brief history of the establishment of the fort in 1827 and the re-internment of his body at Leavenworth on Memorial Day 1902, nearly 70 years after his death.

According to this history page, Frontier Forts were often named after the serving officer that established them:

Perhaps the war department at that time felt remiss in permitting another officer's name to be used for the post established in Minnesota and sought to right the situation by giving Leavenworth the temporary task of proceeding up the Missouri River to erect a cantonment somewhere near the mouth of the Little Platte. His instructions were to select a site on the east bank of the Missouri within twenty miles, on either side, of the confluence of the Platte with the larger stream. Four companies of infantry were the troops of the command.

Colonel Leavenworth, after exploring the country, decided the east bank was not suitable, being perhaps unhealthy and subjected to floods, so without waiting for permission he chose a sightly eminence on the west bank and it was there that "Cantonment Leavenworth" was established. The change was approved by the war department. At first, the new post proved to be very unhealthy, despite its location high above the river bank, and it very nearly was abandoned two years later.


Several of the oldest headstones indicated deaths of men, women and children in the early 1830's, all within a short time of each other.

However, the coming of troubles with the plains Indians led to its retention and it was garrisoned again with troops under command of Maj. Bennett Riley (ed...founder of Fort Riley), later brigadier general and close adviser of General Scott in the war with Mexico, and whose fame is commemorated by the other Kansas military post at the junction of the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers.


We then saw the grave of the oldest settler at the fort and many young men in their teens and early twenties, just as in any war. We saw the grave of Col. Edward Hatch, leader of the 9th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers). On his obelesque are engraved the names of the 53 separate engagements he was involved in as well as a brief message from his officers and troops that indicated that he was not only a good leader, but truly loved and respected by his men.

THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF STAFF AND LINE WITH PORTRAITS OF GENERALS-IN-CHIEF printed in 1896 had this to say about the 9th Cavalry and Col. Hatch:

During the winter of 1866-67, every effort was made to bring about an efficient state of drill, discipline and organization. The orders regarding stables and the performance of that duty were especially strict. Few officers had as yet joined, and the number on duty with the regiment was so small, that a scheme of squadron organization was resorted to so that at least one officer might be present with each squadron for every drill or other duty. The entire enlisted strength was woefully ignorant, entirely helpless, and though willing enough to learn, was difficult to teach. By assiduous labor and constant drilling much headway was made, however, and by the end of March, 1867, a change of station was determined upon. The middle of this month found the regiment with nearly its full strength, the return at that time showing a total of 885 enlisted men, or an average of over 70 to a troop.


Reading that and several other comments about establishing the regiment made me think about our current efforts in Iraq. Col. Hatch joined the regiment in 1867.

It is difficult now-a-days fully to appreciate all the work and labor devolving upon the officers in those early days. The men knew nothing, and the non-commissioned officers but little more. From the very circumstances of their preceding life it could not be otherwise. They had no independence, no self-reliance, not a thought except for the present, and were filled with superstition. To make soldiers of, such material was, at that time, considered more of an experiment than as a fixed principle. The Government depended upon the officers of those early days to solve the problem of the colored soldier.

The colonel of the regiment was Edward Hatch, a young man full of energy and enthusiasm. He went right manfully to work, determined to succeed, and in this he was ably seconded by his officers. They were all equally enthusiastic in proving the wisdom of the experiment of colored soldiers, and in forcing the issue to a successful solution were compelled, not only to attend to the duties that naturally attach to the office of a troop commander and his lieutenants, but, in the endeavor to make finished individual soldiers of the negro and to feel that the troop, taken as a unit, was an independent fighting force, well drilled, well clothed, well fed, suitably armed and equipped, and thoroughly able to take care of itself in garrison or campaign, they were forced to enter into the minutest details of military administration, and personally to assume nearly all the duties of the non-commissioned officer. For some years the latter, from lack of education, were such only in name, and the process of moulding them into a responsible and self-reliant class was a slow one. Troop officers were in fact squad commanders, and it took both time and patience to teach the men how to care for themselves.


I bet our men in Iraq and Afghanistan can fully appreciate the difficulties Col. Hatch and the other officers experienced. The 9th Cavalry was also involved in the charge up San Juan Hill (sans horses contrary to the popular painting on the subject).

We went on to view other headstones including Thomas Custer, brother of General George Armstrong Custer, who died with him at Little Big Horn, was buried at the site with his brother and later re-interred at Fort Leavenworth. He received two Medals of Honor for capturing two Confederate Battle flags:

He was one of only four soldiers or sailors to receive the dual honor during the Civil War, and one of just nineteen in history. His second citation includes, "Custer crossed the line of temporary works on the flank of the road, where his unit was confronted by a supporting battle-line. In the second line he wrested the colors from an enemy color bearer. Advancing on another standard he received a shot in the face which knocked him back on his horse. Despite his wounds, he continued his assault on the color bearer who began to fall from wounds he had also received. As he fell, the wounded Lieutenant Custer reached out to grasp this second standard of colors, bearing both off in triumph."


For those who may think that receiving a Medal of Honor for capturing the enemy's flag, it would behoove us to remember what battle lines and fighting during the Civil War was like. The flag was the honor of the regiment. It gave a rallying point during battle before things like squad radios were even invented. It directed them to the line of battle, whether moving forward or retreating, wheeling left or right or, finally, when it was surrendered, battle was over. The flag was typically at the center of the line and well protected. Men gave their lives to save it and keep it from touching the ground. Capturing it during battle was above and beyond the call of duty.

I noted during our walk how often soldiers were buried as "unknown" before the advent of dog tags and DNA testing. By the time we had walked to one end of the cemetary, it was steadily raining and we were soaked. Lightening was striking around the base and the thunder was echoing. It's funny how, at the other cemetary when the cannons were being fired, I likened it to rolling thunder. At the Fort, the thunder sounded like booming cannon. I wondered if the sound was comforting to those lying a rest; like a modern Valhalla where the warriors were reliving their battles and exploits.

We decided to leave because the lightening was striking very near and there were many trees so it seemed smart to egress the area. As we walked back, the kids splashed in the puddles in and around the gutter. Towards the end of the upper section, I noticed two graves that were decorated with many fresh flowers and wreaths. The first was a soldier from World War II who had died in 1971. Several of the wreaths said "Dad" or "Daddy". It was touching to know that 35 years later, this man was not forgotten by his family that must have been many.

The second headstone made me stop for a few moments and contemplate. It was the grave of Captain Christopher B. Johnson, killed in Iraq October 17, 2004 when two Kiowa Helicopters collided during a mission. Of all the things we did and saw that day, that grave with all its flowers touched me the most. Here was our war dead. OUR war dead, my generation. This, above all other things, above the wreaths, the speakers, the taps and the cannon, truly made me realize the importance of Memorial Day. I felt my heart squeeze and a tear touch my eye because I realized that this man's family had come that day and placed flowers upon his grave. It was still new to them and now Memorial Day was new to me.

I went home and searched for information on Captain Johnson. According to the Army Times, the crash was caused due to poor communications. Several messages on his "guest book" that told a little story about Captain Johnson:

My husband Tim was stationed with Chris at Ft. Campbell. Tim came in as the new Lt. taking over as the other platoon leader so Chris showed him the ropes. Their interests in the same things such as working on their big trucks and being from the same home state quickly made them friends. Chris came over a few times for dinner and his friendly, playful manner caught the eye of my daughter, Caitlyn, who was then 5. She still remembered him even though we hadn't seen Chris for years and was very sad to hear that he was no longer with us. Like many other family members of service men, I know how devoted Chris was to his country and the pride that he carried putting on the uniform. I also know how heartwrenching it was knowing he was in harms way. We will mourn Chris and the rest of the men who leave us doing their job honorably, making us proud of their selfless service. Our prayers are with you and Chris will always hold a place in our hearts.


And the other:

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson,
I am so very sorry for your loss. I would have posted a note sooner, but I just found out about Chris last night. My heart is heavy with the loss of such a wonderful person. Chris was my escort at the NKCHS Winter Invitational assembly. I'll never forget walking across the field house floor, and Chris laughing at me as I tripped over the cords. Even an embarrassing moment like that one, became a fabulous memory that I have taken out, dusted off, and enjoyed over the years. I will miss Chris dearly, even though we were unable to stay in touch after graduation. My thoughts are with you, and my best wishes to you and your family. May his memory be the lighthouse to our stormy seas. Nicole Frazier[snip]

To the Johnson family,
I consider myself fortunate to have been under the command of Captain Johnson. He was a wonderful, honest man with a sincere devotion to duty and country. I was also fortunate to have been his co-pilot while in Iraq, and I am thankful that I got to know him better as a result of it. His sacrifice for all of us will never be forgotten. Rest in peace Outlaw 6. Michael Spalsbury (Puyallup, WA )


Finally, the one that touched me the most, was so simple and was posted recently, almost two years after his death:

GOOD FRIEND, ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU. JUAN LEBRONVAZQUEZ (WHEELER, HI )


The rest of the story: Chief Warrant Officer William Brennan

From the time William Brennan was a boy, he wanted nothing more than to fly.

He achieved his dream as pilot of an Army helicopter. He died in the cockpit, when his helicopter went down Saturday over Baghdad.

His brothers and sisters Monday remembered Brennan as an outgoing, friendly, somewhat wacky guy who was proud of his Army service.

“He was very adamant that he was doing the right thing,” said his sister-in-law, T.J. Brennan. [snip]

In an Easter letter to his sister, Briana Wall, Brennan spoke more privately of his fears, but he wanted to keep those feelings secret from his wife, so she would not worry, his sister said.

“I say a hell of a lot of prayers before getting into the aircraft, and after getting down,” he wrote. “It is not the fear of death that weighs me down, it is the feeling of not being there for my three girls.”

“There is a very real chance that something bad could happen and they would never know me,” he wrote.

Brennan met his wife at a Super Bowl party, his brother recalled. Kathy Brennan was in the infantry. They were both stationed at Ft. Drum and shipped out together for Bosnia. While overseas, she learned she was pregnant with their first daughter and was discharged.

In addition to his work in Bosnia and Iraq, Brennan also flew surveillance helicopters around New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He brought a camera with him on every flight and took amazing pictures of the Statue of Liberty and other landmarks, T.J. Brennan said.

“I am so glad I keep a journal,” he wrote to his family in September. “I think it might make a good book someday.”


On the day of the crash, the two other pilots involved in the crash were later rescued.

Capt. Ryan Welch, an AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter pilot, and his gunner, Chief Warrant Officer Justin Taylor, were on a reconnaissance mission over southern Baghdad for the 1st Cavalry Division when they received a cry for help over the radio.

The second call for help said two other pilots had been killed in action; Beck and Crow were both injured and trying to make their way to a defensible position.

When the Apache flew over the crash site, Welch spotted a fire that turned out to be the OH-58 Kiowa. Welch landed his Apache about 330 feet from the crash site. Armed with his 9 mm pistol and an M4 carbine rifle, he set out to collect the downed pilots.

One of the pilots could no longer walk, and both were cut up. It took about 10 minutes for Welch and the two pilots to make their way back to the Apache. Now there were four personnel to get out and only two seats in the Apache.

Welch decided that the injured Crow would take the seat, while he and Beck attached themselves to the outside of the helicopter. They took nylon straps hanging from their flight vests, attached to a carabiner and secured the straps to handholds on the copter. The aircraft then flew off with the two attached to the outside.

At 90 mph, the helicopter flew 12 miles to Forward Operating Base Falcon, the closest base with a combat support hospital.


Both Brennan and Johnson were awarded Hawaii's first Medal of Honor. He was stationed at Wheeler, HI. Captain Johnson's mother attended last years Troops Rally countering the Sheehan anti-war protest:

Margaret Johnson, 54, came to the District yesterday to remember her 29-year-old son and honor his sacrifice.

Clutching a photograph of Army Capt. Christopher Johnson, the American Gold Star Mother said she couldn't be more proud of him.

"He did make a difference in this world; I don't care what anyone says," said Mrs. Johnson, of Excelsior Springs, Mo. "I am here to speak for my son. I am here to support him. He knew the cost of freedom and that it was not free, and he volunteered to go to Iraq anyway."

A member of the 25th Infantry Division (Light), Capt. Johnson was killed in a midair helicopter collision Oct. 16 in Iraq. He spent 10 months in Iraq and was getting ready to come home, Mrs. Johnson said.

"He was good at what he did, and he loved it," she said as she wiped tears from her face. "This photo is a self-portrait. He was so happy."






I wanted to say that, almost two years later, Captain Johnson was still making a difference.

Thank you.

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Posted by Kat at 11:04 AM 0 comments Links to this post

My Memorial Day

This year I had resolved to attend one of the many Memorial day celebrations in our area. There were many to choose from including the celebration at Liberty Memorial downtown that would include the VFW Band and a parade of color guards. However, I chose to attend the much smaller ceremony in at the Leavenworth National Cemetary. I have three four family members buried there and a close friend of my mom along with her husband.

My youngest brother is currently in the hospital due to multiple complications from a surgery he had several weeks ago so I have been taking care of his three children, two boys, ages 13 and 12, and one girl, age 4. While I knew that the four year old would only be interested in all the "pretty" things, I thought the boys might like to see the military pagentry. I also wanted to take the opportunity to instill in them whatever little understanding I could of the importance of the day beyond our usual family get togethers and barbecues this time of year.

We woke up at 7 AM Monday morning to make the drive to the cemetary. My mom came over to the house and drove with us. We took Highway 45, the historical Lewis and Clark trail, over to 92 before crossing the bridge into Kansas. It was a beautiful morning with blue skies and about 78*F, though the humidity was high. I wish I had a camera so that you could see the Missouri/Kansas country side as I did on the drive. Though it was hazy from the humidity and heat, it was beautiful, rolling green hills in the distance with green leafy trees above the flat farm fields to the right and left of the highway near the river. Maybe I was just feeling a little too emotionally conscious at the moment, but the fields reminded me of the line from "America the Beautiful" "O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,". If you could have seen what I did, you would know why Lewis and Clark (as well as several members of the corps) wrote in their journals from June 28 and July 4 as they traveled through the area that it was "one of the most beautiful places I ever saw in my life".

When we arrived at the cemetary, we had to park some distance from the ceremony at the chapel and wait for a shuttle. There were several veterans waiting for the shuttle along with their wives along with family members of those who were buried at Leavenworth National Cemetary. I had made a mental note and was prepared to shake hands and thank veterans personally this year, something I had done rarely in the past though I knew many. As we walked up to the shuttle area, I could see the men in their VFW and American Legion hats. The bus arrived immediately precluding any discussion as everyone made immediately for the seats. I made the kids stand back and wait for everyone else to get on. As we walked down the aisle, the vets all smiled and offered us each a "good morning" "how are you", etc as we passed. All of these vets were WWII and Korean War veterans. I was happy to respond and to note that the boys were not complete heathens, but also responded politely.

A woman about my mom's age, walking with a cane and her daughter, both wearing "USA" T-shirts, hats and pins arrived late to the shuttle as we were being seated. The boys had each taken an empty bench for themselves, leaving only two open seats on different benches, so I poked the eldest nephew in the arm and pointed to the ladies so he would give up his seat.

Once we were there, we stood at the left of the stage near the salute battery and heard several speakers noted in the Leavenworth times (registration required).

“Bravery is not being unafraid,” said Ernie Cooper, state commander of the American Legion of Kansas. “Brave people are those who are afraid to put themselves in harm’s way and do it anyway.”


I believe there were over 15 wreaths laid that day from many organizations. Besides the numerous VFW and American Legion posts, there were several motorcycle organization including the American Legion Riders who often join the Patriot Guard to honor fallen soldiers and protect their families from protesters. There were women vets as well, each pair of presenters saluted the wreaths they laid. I noted that the VFW and American Legion vets would salute, then smartly turn and salute the flags of the color guard before returning to their places. One in particular caught my eye as he did a specific route that took him by the color guard (made up of all the branches of the services) and held the salute until he had completely passed. After seeing several groups salute, the boys thought they should salute, too.

Unfortunately, by the end of the ceremony, the boys and my niece were getting a little restless and started picking at each other. When they started playing taps I had everyone stand up and the boys started pushing at each other. I finally turned around and gave them the "look". They both looked around and noted people saluting and put their hands over their hearts.
(Leavenworth Times) However, before I could turn back to face the salute battery, Taps had ended and the commander of the battery gave the first order to fire. As the first round went off, I ducked my head as I slewed around to face the cannons. Now I know how the newly returned vets feel when they hear loud bangs. After that, facing the battery and watching the commands being given, it was not so startling. Three cannon fired seven shots each with precision, the shots echoing across the rolling hills of the cemetary like rolling thunder.

My niece insisted that I hold my hands over her ears while they fired. When it was over, the color guard retired the colors and the ceremony broke up. The 12 year old wanted to go over to the cannon and look at it. The oldest was having a pouty moment because I had given him the "look" during the ceremony and decided he was going to sit on the curb while we looked. Children rarely understand "cutting your nose off to spite your face". A young woman, Spc. Vineyard, was very kind and took the time to explain things about the cannon to my nephew. It was a 75mm Howitzer "Mountain Gun". She explained that it was heavily used during WWII and Korea. My nephew noted the odd smell that was still lingering and Spc. Vineyard explained that it was the sulfur inside the shells and proceeded to show him an unused round (blank). She saw that he kept looking at the cannon and told him he could touch it. He was very excited. I thanked Spc Vineyard as the squad leader came over and directed the soldiers to start "policing up the ammunition". My oldest nephew finally joined us and wanted to talk to her, but we needed to get going to the gravesites we were going to visit. He was very disappointed and said he wanted to talk to her because "she was very pretty".

I want to say a big "thank you" to her again for being so patient and answering all of his questions. She was also very knowledgable, polite and professional; an excellent representative of the US Army and a fine example of the young men and women we are fortunate to have serving.

We walked along the headstones near the chapel on the way to our first desitination and I pointed out the different markers, some with the words "Sp Am War", "Unknown" and other interesting information. We visted the gravesite of Charles and Rosa Lee Winters. Rosa Lee was an elderly lady my mom had been very fond of. Her husband had proceeded her by nearly twenty years and they now shared a grave at Leavenworth. Charles had been a POW during WWII. Then we went to the newest section where my Uncle Donald was buried last year. It was sad to say that there were over 80 new graves and a line of sites that were being prepared for new internments. Most of these were WWII and Korean War Vets with a few new Vietnam Vets. I noted two headstones that listed the men as "Persian Gulf" (Gulf WarI; Desert Storm). The men were barely in their early thirties when they died. One of the headstones read, "Friend and beloved husband; Scouts Out". Many headstones listed medals received such as "PH" (Purple Heart), BSM (bronze star medal) and many others. One medal that I could not remember the designation for was marked "OLC" on the headstone. I presumed it was a commendation of some sort, but had no clue if that was correct. (If anyone knows what "OLC" on a military headstone means, please leave a comment).

We went on to visit by Great Uncle Fred and his wife Melba's grave; then to my grandfather's brother, Uncle Leon, who got permission and began to serve in the Navy on the same ship as my grandfather had during the war. The cemetary was very busy. I don't think anyone can say they are "glad" that it was so busy with family members and friends, but it did warm my heart to see how many families and friends had come to pay their respects. As we walked along the headstones and I read some of the information when the boys asked, "what does this mean?", I noted that some of the flowers and flags had fallen over, so, as I read I put them back in place. The boys and my niece must have decided that it would be a good thing to do so they followed suit. My niece was four and couldn't push some of the flower holders back into the ground so I had her help me when I did it.

While we were walking along looking at the headstones, the sky turned an ominous grey and sprinkles began to fall so I herded the children back into the car. We had 20 minutes to make it to our next destination: Fort Leavenworth Cemetary, to hear General Petraeus speak and, if the wheather cooperated, look at some historical monuments on the fort proper.

Getting on the fort was an experience all by itself.

To be continued...

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Posted by Kat at 2:22 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Women in Combat: 'Fighting Deuce' MPs Patrol Afghan Mountains - DefendAmerica News Article

TOWR KHAM FIRE BASE, Afghanistan, May 26, 2006 — The “Fighting Deuce” rolled into eastern Afghanistan a little more than two months ago to try its hand at intercepting insurgents in some of the most rugged terrain the country offers.

More than 30 U.S. soldiers from the 272nd Military Police Company “Fighting Deuce,” based in Mannheim, Germany, are joined by a platoon from the 1st Battalion/188th Air Defense Artillery of the North Dakota National Guard at Towr Kham Fire Base, a remote outpost just minutes from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border crossing at Towr Kham.[snip]


The challenge is daunting, according to U.S. Army 1st Lt. Renee Ramsey, 272nd Military Police Company platoon commander. The more than 170 miles of border under the Afghan Border Police 1st Brigade’s watch has few vehicle crossing points, yet hundreds of foot and animal trails used for hundreds of years by locals and caravans.

Ramsey said the soldiers’ missions often involve grueling mountain ascents to spend several nights at listening and observation posts near the border.[snip]

U.S. Army Spc. Rachel Carey, a 21-year-old native of Aurora, Ill., who joined the military to better herself as a person, said this deployment is no 9-to-5 job.

“You better know what you’re doing over here,” said the mother who takes pictures of daughter Madison on every mission. “It’s not only your life on the line, but everyone else in your truck.”


Read more about the 272nd Fighting Deuce:

'Fighting Deuce' MPs Patrol Afghan Mountains - DefendAmerica News Article

The 272nd Military Police Company soldiers, working under leadership of the 10th Mountain Division, support Task Force Vigilant, a combined border operations and police tactical training mission in conjunction with the Afghan Border Patrol.

A U.S. Army tradition allows soldiers to wear the “patch” or insignia of a unit they serve with in combat operations, even if they’re not permanently assigned to the unit.

“Our soldiers truly embody their platoon motto of ‘Stay Hard,’” said Ramsey, a Buffalo native. “They have definitely earned their ‘Mountain’ patch.”

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Posted by Kat at 5:24 AM 0 comments

Monday, May 29, 2006

Why Memorial Day Matters

I am reprinting this in whole because it seems a shame to simply parse and link with such a great piece that everyone should read:

Memorial Day was born in the still-bloody and emotional years immediately after the Civil War, when families were torn asunder and the nation split down a jagged line on titanic questions of American values and survival.

John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Republic Army, issued the order for marking the graves of Civil War soldiers on May 5, 1868. Here is the decree:

"The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

"We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, 'of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion.' What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes?

"Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders.

"Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

"If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us.

"Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude, the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.

"It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to lend its friendly aid in bringing to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith."

As a nation, we have periodically forgotten these beautiful and earnest words during times of turmoil. The worst was during the Vietnam War when a segment among us confused the roles of soldier and diplomat and blamed the fight on the fighter, not the policy that set the battle.

As a society we have learned, I think, our lesson and we now honor and love the sacrifice of the men and women who stand guard even while we debate the policies that caused that sacrifice. None among us should be too confused, too frightened or too lazy to lift a salute of gratitude and honor to those who died wearing the uniform of soldier, sailor or marine, those who wielded weapons of death in order to preserve life.

This is the ideal of the American military, and it is realized every day in the hot sand, regardless of politics, mistakes, right and wrong. This is worth honoring, and taking a moment, perhaps, to hear the "reveille of freedom" that still rings.


Also see Castle Argghhh! Taking Back the Holiday

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Posted by Kat at 3:58 AM 0 comments Links to this post

One Son Comes Home, One Son Earns Medal of Honor

This is an expanded story of Sgt Paul R. Smith, Medal of Honor Recipient:

Janice Pvirre will be at Arlington in person. She will join the other "Gold Star Mothers," those who have lost children in combat, to lay a wreath and to say a prayer at a white marker engraved with the emblem of this nation's highest military honor.

Her son, Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, died in a dusty courtyard outside Baghdad, fatally wounded in a furious firefight while showing "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity ... above and beyond the call of duty" _ a sacrifice that made him the only service member awarded the Medal of Honor in the Iraq war.

Among those Sgt. Smith's actions saved: Dan Richardson, who has recently married and himself been promoted to sergeant.

That knowledge is both a blessing and a burden, for one mother to know that any milestone she will celebrate with her son _ a birthday, a holiday, the birth of a child _ was made possible by another mother's loss.

"We have been drawn together for some reason, and we're both intrigued about that reason," Richardson [Dan's Mother] says. "There is a destiny behind all of this. And it's not over. It's not played out yet. We don't know where it's going from here."[snip]

Smith, who had married shortly after that war in 1992 and had become a stepfather, then a father, told his wife that he feared he hadn't seen the last of Iraq. Making sure his men were ready became a priority, Birgit Smith says.

"He said, `We are not done. We're going back. We didn't finish,'" the young widow says. "It was just a matter of time."

That time came in March 2003. And Smith was ready.

"There are two ways to come home, stepping off the plane and being carried off the plane," he wrote in a letter to his parents. "It doesn't matter how I come home because I am prepared to give all that I am to ensure that all my boys make it home."

One of those "boys" was Dan Richardson.[snip]


Go over and read more about the fight, Sgt Smith's heroism and how the men he fought with and for honor him.

In the four-page letter from Dan afterward, Rita Richardson learned the harrowing tale of gunfire and confusion, and of the sergeant who held them all together.

"It is because of him that I'm not dead ..." her son wrote. "He gave his life defending us."[snip]

Letters and e-mails from the families of others who served with Smith still come to his mother and widow, thanking them for his sacrifice.

Some display his picture in a place of honor among their own family photos. Somewhere, there is a baby boy named Paul, in his memory.

Medic Michelle Chavez held Smith's hand as he died under the hot Iraqi sun. In her pocket, she carries a .50-caliber machine gun bullet from the battle.

Because of Smith, she is alive to pursue her dream of becoming a physician's assistant, says her mother, Pam Shorb.

"I really don't know how to put it into words," says Shorb. "I'll always be grateful to him for what he did and what he sacrificed. Without our daughter, we don't know what we'd be."

Janice Pvirre says it hurts to know that because of those same actions, Paul was not there last October to give stepdaughter Jessica away in marriage. When 12-year-old David enters seventh grade this fall, it will be in a middle school building named for a father who is no longer there.

If anyone owes her anything, she says, it is to live as good a life as possible, so that Paul's death was not in vain.


Sgt Paul R. Smith

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Remembering Memorial Day 2006

Searching through local papers, I found a number of veterans remembering friends and actions from their time in service from WWII to today and stories of local heroes going back to the Civil War. I wanted to bring these to you so you can remember, too; that men and women have always sacrificed, always done their duty and always, at the end, loved their brothers and sisters in arms.

The Chosin Few

Not many people can find North Korea on a map these days and even fewer could find the spot in that tiny nation where Albert Walton's life changed, but this time of year brings a lot of memories to the mind of the Carthage veteran.

Walton is a member of the Jasper County Chapter 821 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, based in Joplin.

He was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he suffered in an epic battle that went in the books as a defeat for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, but will always be remembered for the heroic way soldiers handled themselves as they retreated from a frozen hell known as the Chosin Reservoir.

“It brings back a lot of memories, mostly sad memories, when ever you talk about Memorial Day,” Walton said. “I had a medic that was wounded the same time I was, and my staff sergeant, who was a World War II veteran, and squad leader, bled to death lying across my legs. The medic was captured by the North Koreans trying to walk out to get help for me. The last I saw him, he was marching up a hill at the point of a bayonet.

“You remember those guys and you think about them all the time, but especially on Memorial Day.”

Walton and the other soldiers who survived the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir are called then “Chosin Few.”


Please read the rest; it's a story only the survivors can tell and he tells many more about that battle.

Walton recalled the most traumatic experiences of his time in the 2nd Platoon, Company B, 7th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division as the division helped cover the U.S. Marine Corps retreat from the reservoir.

All of these incidents happened between Dec. 3 and Dec. 15, 1950.

He survived the first uninjured as his platoon, acting as rearguard, was ambushed by Chinese soldiers at a roadblock.

Walton recalled that his unit was ordered to fix bayonets and charge a hill to clear the roadblock for the rest of his column, which was approaching.

“We got about up to where the Chinese were when a Chinese threw back a snow over it right in front of me and behind the other people in my squad,” Walton said. “He didn't see me, but was getting his rifle ready to shoot when I jumped at him, he swung the gun around and I had to knock it to one side, striking him in the throat with my bayonet. About this time, I realized that he wasn't over 15 years old. This was the closest I had been to a Chinese that I had killed. I have had many nightmares from seeing that young Chinese face pop up out of a snow bank, and even now it is quite vivid.


Someday, I expect we'll hear similar stories from our men and women serving today (sometimes we do on blogs).

Mutts Fly Boy Dream

GRAVOIS MILLS — Mutt Williams recalled he dreamed of being a fly-boy while growing up at the lake, which prompted him to enlist in the Air Force.

He was ordered to report Dec. 8, 1942, a year and a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

No one knew Mutt by his given name, Lige Williams. He had always been called Mutt from the Mutt and Jeff cartoon. After enlisting in the Air Force, he actually had to sign a disclaimer stating he was Lige (AKA “Mutt”) Williams because the Air Force background check revealed the “alias” from his school records.[snip]

Williams served as navigator in the 8th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress, flying 35 missions from England over Europe.

“We flew over Germany and let them shoot at us,” Williams said. “We were 22 to 23 years old, young and foolish and didn’t know any better.”

Williams was the leader of 13 planes and he said it wasn’t unusual for 13 to go out and his plane might be the only one that returned to England.[snip]

“There were heroes in the war and there were other guys they wouldn’t let be heroes,” Williams said. “The Tuskegee, Ala., Air Force pilots were experts of getting those German fighters out of the sky. They were top-notch fighter pilots, and the Air Force wanted them out, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt kept them in the service... the Air Force finally gave them good planes and the Tuskegee pilots showed them they were the best.”

And it’s a good thing they did. Had it not been for one of those fighter pilots, Williams’ crew would not have been considered one of the lucky ones. They were taking heavy fire when they saw a red-tailed fighter drop out of the clouds. The German plane that had been attacking them disintegrated in front of them.

“He saved our lives. The German FW190 was going to take us out,” Williams said. “After he shot down the German plane, he flew nearby and waved his wings and saluted.

Although he never learned the name of the pilot, he will never forget what he did for them.


Read more about "Mutt" Williams, Member of the Lucky Bastard Club.

When he returned home by way of Liverpool, Williams was presented with a certificate naming him as a member of the Lucky Bastards Club for coming home uninjured throughout all his missions.

“There aren’t very many who have earned that,” he said.

For a while after the war, Williams took a variety of jobs before retiring. Memories of those days are seen on the walls of his room at Kidwell Home. Williams is the only surviving member of his crew, but the photographs hung in his room show a group of young, smiling men wearing bomber jackets, posing in front of their aircraft. It was a time when young men, like Williams, dreamed of being fly-boys and jumping into the fray.


An Army of One: One Family, One Father, One Soldier

In memory of "Butch":

Before you read his biography, I wanted to just say that the first time I met Butch was while the unit was in Ft. Benning during their homeland duty on their first deployment. The thing that stuck out about him was his youth and he was so polite to me. He showed me a lot of respect as Josh's wife and I never forgot that. I thought he was such a nice boy. At the time I had no idea that in seven short months they would be deployed to Afghanistan and that he and Josh would become so close. Josh misses Butch a great deal and his picture sits on our fireplace mantle.We visit his grave and Mo's grave every Memorial Day (this year I'll be going without him). I'll never forget the first one after Josh returned from Afghanistan. Butch's mom Donna took us to the gravesite. At the time Josh was still wearing his desert combat boots (it took about 3 months for him to shed those things) and I'll never forget the sight of my husband kneeling down at his grave and those boots sticking out behind him. I feel so bad for our troops who lose their friends. I know it happens every day but I don't think any of us comprehend how much they become family and how they are forever impacted by that loss.


St Francois Medal Of Honor Recipients

St. Francois County has two Medal of Honor recipients. Platt Pearsall, a veteran of the Civil War, and Darrell S. Cole, killed in World War II are both buried here.

Pearsall, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for the same storming party that Henry Frizzell fought in at Vicksburg, is buried in Pendleton Cemetery.

He served as a Corporal with Company C, 30th Ohio Infantry at Vicksburg and died June 18, 1931.

Cole received the Medal of Honor posthumously for action against the Japanese forces during the assault on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945.

His citation reads: “Assailed by a tremendous volume of small-arms, mortar and artillery fire as he advanced with one squad of his section in the initial assault wave, Sgt. Cole boldly led his men up the sloping beach toward Airfield No. 1 despite the blanketing curtain of flying shrapnel and, personally destroying with hand grenades two hostile emplacements which menaced the progress of his unit, continued to move forward until a merciless barrage of fire emanating from three Japanese pillboxes halted the advance. Instantly placing his one remaining machine gun in action, he delivered a shattering fusillade and succeeded in silencing the nearest and most threatening emplacement before his weapon jammed and the enemy, reopening fire with knee mortars and grenades, pinned down his unit for the second time.


Please read the rest of this fine soldier's citation. He represents "common men with uncommon valor".

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Sunday, May 28, 2006

Heroes in Action: Marine Corps Sgt Jeremiah Workman

Sgt. Jeremiah Workman, a drill instructor with Delta Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, and native of Richwood, Va., received the Navy Cross, second in prestige only to the Medal of Honor, during the recruit graduation ceremony at Peatross Parade Deck May 12, for actions while on deployment in Fallujah, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004.

According to the citation, he was awarded for extraordinary heroism, while serving as a squad leader for the Mortar Platoon, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, 1st Marine Division, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Workman, exemplifying the old adage "no man left behind," repeatedly exposed himself to a hail of enemy fire to retrieve isolated Marines trapped inside an insurgent-infested building.

Ignoring heavy enemy fire and a storm of grenades raining down on his position, Workman fearlessly laid down enough cover fire to allow the trapped Marines to escape.

After seeing the first group of wounded Marines safely to a neighboring yard, Workman rallied additional Marines to his side and provided more cover fire for an attack into the building to rescue other Marines still trapped. He continued to fire even after receiving numerous shrapnel wounds to his arms and legs after a grenade exploded in front of him, stated his citation.

Workman's efforts did not stop after the second rescue attack.


Read the rest at Iraq War News

Checkout Hometown Heroes Spc Lucas Frantz and Sgt Jake Butler.

Also see Hometown Support Basehor, Kansas rallies around family of deployed soldier and supports him and his troops.

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Hometown Support the Troops: Cookies from the heart of Basehor

As of Monday, Captain Jay Scrivener had not received his first "Treats for the Troops" package. But, the 38-year-old Scrivener, who is stationed with the Army National Guard in Baghdad, knows the package is on its way.

And he told his wife, Gina Scrivener, he plans to share the cookies and other treats with his unit.

Gina, who lives east of Basehor with their 9-month-old son, Gunnar, knows there's nothing like home-baked goodies. Her husband has been in Iraq since November.

"That seems to be that the biggest thing that they were wanting is homemade items," Scrivener said. "There are a lot of things that you can get over there at the PX, but homemade cookies are what they miss."

So she's started a mission to send, on the first week of each month, cookies and other homemade treats, to Baghdad where her husband will distribute them to other military personnel.

Gina Scrivener said she started her project by writing a letter that was printed in the Basehor First Baptist Church's newsletter.

In her letter, Scrivener said if people would bake cookies, she would pick them up on the first Sunday of the month at church.

Then, at her home, she vacuum-seals bags of cookies and packs them in boxes to mail. And, Scrivener said, she will pay the postage.

This is still a fledgling program, with the first box shipped to an APO New York address earlier this month.

It's a project Scrivener hopes will take flight.

She noted the first month's shipment included more than cookies. Included among the goodies were beef jerky, chewing gum and bags of microwavable popcorn.[snip]

While Gina has gotten her church involved in the project, other area residents are helping, as well.

Betty Scheller, who lives across the road from Gina, heard about the project, and is helping.

"I thought, ‘Now that's something I'd like to do' and I asked her if I could help," Scheller said.

Since then, Scheller has baked several batches of cookies and brownies for the project.

And, Scheller writes a note to include with each pack of cookies. Last week her notes read, "We are so pleased what you are doing for our country. You are in our prayers every day!"

Fred Box, commander of Basehor's VFW Post 11499, said the chapter has adopted Scrivener.

"We just keep in touch with him through e-mail and we paid for his first year of membership to the VFW," Box said.

Box said the VFW members have told Jay that if he needs assistance with anything they'll do whatever it takes to help.[snip]

"I can't stress how much support Gunnar and I have received from our church," Gina said. "They have been lifesavers. ... The church has been extremely helpful while Jay's been gone -- they've been my second family."



The Tonganoxie Mirror: Cookies from the heart of Basehor

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Home Town Heroes: Tonganoxie mourns loss of Frantz | LJWorld.com

He was a high school football star turned husband, and on Oct. 18, 2005, Lucas Frantz was an American soldier who was killed in combat in Iraq.

Sometime later this year, when his Army unit returns to their home base at Fort Wainwright, near Fairbanks, Alaska, Frantz’ 24-year-old widow will be there to welcome the soldiers with whom her husband served.

“It’s something I’ve got to do for myself and for Lucas,” Kelly Frantz said. “As much as Lucas was a brother to them, I am their sister. We are a family.”

The Tonganoxie man’s dedication to serving his country led him to join the Army Reserves at age 17. Three years later, in May 2003, Frantz requested and was granted active duty status. The United States had conquered Baghdad but the death toll from insurgent attacks was starting to add up.

Lucas Frantz was assigned to Fort Wainwright’s First Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The battalion deployed to Iraq in August 2005.

Only two months later — on his 22nd birthday — vehicle commander Spec. Lucas Frantz was killed in a sniper attack in the city of Mosul. He was the first member of his unit killed in action.

Kelly Frantz also won’t forget the torn emotions she experienced the day of her husband’s memorial service as his body was laid to rest in Tonganoxie’s Maple Grove Cemetery. A crowd estimated at 400 attended the service. More than 300 American flags lined the procession route to the cemetery.


Read more about Spc Lucas Frantz:


Tonganoxie mourns loss of Frantz | LJWorld.com

Another Home Town Hero: Lance Cpl Christopher Wasser

Kevin Honeycutt remembers Christopher as a “spunky little boy” enrolled in summer art classes Honeycutt taught, a young man so full of patriotism that he signed up to serve in the Marines on his 18th birthday.

Whatever the activity was, Honeycutt said, Chris was at the front of the line, ready to work on any project Honeycutt assigned.

“He was full of life in a way that’s hard to describe,” Honeycutt said.

As the years went on, Chris began coming back to the art camp to volunteer, leading other children, helping in any way he could. Honeycutt described him as a “storm of energy.”

“When I found out (Chris had died) it was just the hardest thing in the world,” Honeycutt said. “Everyone that knew Chris just hit the floor.”

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Home Town Heroes: Wellsville dad visits site of son�s death | LJWorld.com

Wellsville — Jim Butler heard the car pull onto a gravel lot next to his house just off Highway 33, about a mile and a half north of Wellsville.

“It was about 10:40 p.m. I was sitting here, watching TV,” he said, patting the gray-blue sectional in front of a big-screen television.

He was alone. His wife, Cindy, and Jim Jr., the oldest of their five grown sons, had gone to bed.

“I heard two car doors slam,” Butler said. “So I turned on the outside light and pretty soon there were these two uniformed officers — a lady chaplain and a gentleman — standing there.”

Butler, whose son Jake, a twin, was stationed in Iraq, opened the sliding glass patio door.

“Before they could say anything, I said, ‘Just tell me, is he hurt bad or is he dead?’” said Butler, who’s not known for mincing words.

“The lady chaplain sort of hung her head and said, ‘Is your wife here?’”

Army Sgt. Jake Butler, 24, was the first Kansas soldier killed in Iraq.

“The war started March 19,” Butler said. “He died April 1, 2003[snip]

A calvary scout, Jake was sent to Kuwait in 1999, 2002 and again on March 2, 2003. Three weeks later, U.S. troops moved into Iraq. He was there.

“On the news, they said he was killed by an RPG — a rocket-propelled grenade,” Butler said. “But I had guys who were there tell me that’s not what happened.”

Butler said Jake’s unit had been sent to find out whether a bridge on the Euphrates River in As Samawa was sturdy enough for armored vehicles to drive across.

When they got there, Butler said, the lead Humvee was hit with an RPG fired from across the river. Jake’s Humvee pulled up beside the lead vehicle in an attempt to defend and rescue the wounded. At that point, Butler said, 25 Iraqi soldiers who had been hiding behind nearby berms opened fire on Jake’s vehicle.

“Basically, it was an ambush,” he said. “They had him on three sides.”

Army records — Butler insisted on seeing them — showed the door on Jake’s side of the Humvee was hit 14 times.

“Jake only got hit once, right here,” he said, pointing to a spot about an inch above and a little in front of his right ear.

“It came out here.” He pointed to a spot by his left ear.

“You can get the Internet still today and find stories that say Jake was killed by an RPG,” Butler said. “But that’s not what happened.”

Posthumously, Jake received Silver Star and Bronze Star medals and a Purple Heart. All three, along with Jake’s dress uniform, a dozen framed commendations, and the American flag that adorned his coffin, are displayed on a wall in the Butlers’ living room.


Mr. Butler made a promise to his son the last time he saw him that he would go to Iraq if his son was killed. He went October 10, 2003 to pay tribute.

You can read the rest of the story about his son, the Sergeant who brought his son's last letter and the tribute he paid to him on the bridge where he was killed by following this link:

Wellsville dad visits site of son�s death | LJWorld.com

He had a few words about Cindy Sheehan and the government, but his final words speak for many of our men and women who have ever paid the final price for service to their country:

“That’s what people don’t understand,” Butler said. “Jake didn’t die for the government or the politicians, he died fighting for something he believed in — he believed in freedom. Those are two different things.”

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Saturday, May 27, 2006

Analysis: Iraq, Vietnam have parallels - Yahoo! News

Bruce Oliver served three tours in Vietnam, a 20-year-old Marine when he landed there, now a 58-year-old Army National Guard sergeant who just returned home to Georgia after a year's duty in Iraq.

"It's not like Vietnam. When you came home from there people asked you, 'How many people did you kill?'" Oliver recalled. "They treated you like second-class citizens."

For him and other soldiers, the shadow of war is a personal thing, whether old or new, Danang or Diyala, Fallujah or Phu Bai. Budnick turns bitter at the memory.

"We were 'baby killers,' 'drug addicts,' et cetera," the Baghdad-based accountant told a reporter.

Now if things drag on in Iraq, if "negative press" persists, if "push comes to shove," then "it wouldn't take much to turn against the soldiers," he said.

"Like Vietnam."


Analysis: Iraq, Vietnam have parallels - Yahoo! News

Which is why I'm a little angry about the Marine incident(s) (just heard a third supposed "cold blooded murder" charge against another Marine besides the 27 dead, there is an implication of three more who were killed in such a manner). I'm not judging. I don't know if anyone is innocent or guilty. I don't know if insurgents were really in the house and the Marines in question did not take the right course of action (which according to Kilcullen, means letting even a big fish go if an operation might mean destroying what little support our troops have from the local populace.

That makes me mad. Innocent or guilty, it's already out there. It's a done deal in the information world. Marine's kill innocent people. True or false, it makes no difference, it has damaged the war effort.

Second thing that makes me mad? The possibility of that last comment when a few bad leaders and their immediate reports tarnish the image of the marines and, by proxy, the entire US service.

I would take it that the local commander does not have information war and the importance of actions against influence in this kind of war, as a significant part of his battle space strategy.

While the UN world body might see mass murders and say "never again", we must mean it when it comes to the honor and acceptance of our soldiers.

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Posted by Kat at 5:28 AM 0 comments Links to this post

This is freedom, say courageous women risking all for democracy

Two weeks ago inside the new national assembly in Kabul, turbaned parliamentarians hurled water bottles and bloody threats at Malalai Joya, a firebrand female deputy who dared criticised the country's mujahideen fighters. Now Ms Joya changes safe house every night and travels with three bodyguards.
The dangers are equally potent in Helmand province, 350 miles to the south. As 3,300 British troops deploy amid the worst Taliban violence in years, a small number of courageous women are leading their own campaign, armed with nothing but their voices.

Salima Sharifi was an 18-year-old pupil when she started campaigning for the provincial elections last summer. Months later she won 2,114 votes - and a place in history as Afghanistan's youngest female politician.

"I just wanted to make a difference," said the bookish young woman, sipping tea in a carpeted room adorned with Persian poetry. Her proud father, Muhammad Zahir, sat nearby. "I warned her it would be risky but she just smiled," he said.


Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | This is freedom, say courageous women risking all for democracy

Just thought I'd make a quick note, not to take away from this piece, but one should note that Afghanistan is the "good war" with humanitarian principles though it is certain not as many perished during the Taliban occupation as perished in Iraq under Saddam. In the "good war", everything is heroic. In the "bad war" (Iraq), there is nothing heroic. Not the voters, who go in the millions in direct opposition to the terrorists, nor the soldiers who routinely save the lives of men, women and children or their own friends or the wounded or who charge into a ditch to attack against overwhelming force and win.

"Good Wars" are heroic and there are heroic people. "Bad Wars", no matter how self sacrificing the soldier or the people who struggle there to make a difference, are never heroic and never produce heroic people.

That's what you see in the press and why a left wing London rag will happily print about heroic women in Afhanistan while routinely denoucing the struggles of Iraqis as just short of "collaborationist".

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Iraq: You Know the Jihadists Are Scared...

When you raid, raid, raid and they issue orders to cease using internet and cell phones.

My guess would be that during a raid based on humint (human intel) we wrapped up some computers that had a lot of email addresses and other important information on them as well as some cell phones with phone numbers on them that the jihadis suspect are being used against them. Reminds me of the Jihad Darwin Awards where, during a raid on a house (where the suspect was gone, but not his cell phone) a cell phone rang and the interpreter answered it. He continued to talk to the insurgent until he had info on where they were. They were subsequently raided and arrested.

Of course, this is neither here nor there since every raid also captures documents and people that offers plenty of information to move on.

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Friday, May 26, 2006

Information War: Massive Failure of Culture and Policy

I've been reading and digesting a prodigious amount of information on "information warfare" in order to write something intelligent and informative on the subject. As noted in my earlier post, I have been reading Jean Francois Revel's "The Flight From Truth" and found it very interesting, particularly where he talks about the sheer magnitude of information, the struggle between "truth" and "lies", the infiltration and acceptance of ideas that we would or should find repugnant into our society, and finally, the inability for truth and democracy to take advantage of this ever increasing flow and techonology to spread the message about totalitarianism.

At the same time, several interesting programs have been on Discovery Times cable channel. Thursday evening the program was called "Media Jihad" and it discussed Al Qaeda and other extremist groups' increasing use of the internet to organize, recruit, train and spread their "message" via videos, forums, websites and other internet based services.

This program is on Friday May 26, 6 AM, 9 AM, 2 PM and 5 PM. If you're able and have the channel, I highly recomment it. It will be repeated in June and the schedule is at this link where you can click and button and get a reminder emailed to you for future viewing.

In the end, a few things are very apparent: the Islamists are not coy about using all types of media to their advantage. They have no qualms about propagandizing their own supporters, the "tacit appovers", outside neutrals or our own civilization. We, on the otherhand, have taken a rather lacadasical approach. Our information programs into these countries that support, even rudimentally, the terrorists and the Islamist ideology, are rather half-measure. Our VOA does not speak their language. When I say "language", I don't mean the native tongue. I mean, we don't speak to their concerns, their culture or their idealism. We don't know it or understand it. Worse than Communism because at least with them we felt we had some sort of commonality of semi-European Culture and Communists routinely used the language of democracy and equality, so we could piggy back onto those concepts.

Not that the Islamists don't say the same things and use them in the same manner as the Communist and other totalitarian regimes do. They insist that information that comes from our Western Civiliazations, Culture and Ideology is damaging their "cultural identity". The guilt and self flagellation that Jean Francois Revel spoke of in "The Flight From Truth", allows this language and idea, that concepts of democracy, freedom, capitalism and information are actually oppressing people and destroying "ancient cultures" is readily accepted, is regurgitated and espoused by every sort of person as if there is something equal about all of these cultures. How one could equate the repression and depression of Mugabe's regime, or the Sudanese Khartoum genocidal regime or even the repressive, authoritarian Saudi Regime with a culture of freedom and democracy, is one of those "simple lies" that continues to see our inability to press forth the freedom of man.

As noted, last week Osama Bin Laden actually talked about the "freedom" of the Muslim Ummah from Western Oppression (he and his co-horts regularly use this language). How many people in this nation, much less in Middle East, nodded their heads in agreement? What we failed to hear from our representatives is, if not an actual "reply" to the statement (would that imply we are considering the words of the Islamists? as opposed to countering it?), a response that used their own words against them as they attempt to use the concept of "liberty" and "freedom" (all be it, mightily distorted and deranged) against us? Where are the spokespeople who should or would counter that freedom requires the freedom to speak without fear of reprisals, yet any person that speaks about Islam or terrorism or rejects the Islamists are routinely and quite bloodily dispatched (if not tortured before hand)? Freedom of religion that demands every man and woman be able to worship who and how they please, but in areas controlled by Islamists or Islamic governments, minority religions are persecuted, prosecuted, terrorized, often tortured and killed? What of their usual practice of killing or running out of town anyone that does not adhere to their strict ideology even if they share the same faith?

Where is the discussions about freedom of information, intellect and discovery that allows people to dream, imagine and create? Where are the discussions about protection of minorities in politics, law and person? Where are the discussions that point to the very fallibility of these claims of "freedom"?

What about the opposite? Where are the commenters, speakers, representatives, think tanks or other that will look inside these nations where Islamist Jihad has yet to take hold of a significant part of the population, but wriggles its way in, where we have identified parts of their culture or idealism that have similar values (family, trust, faith, etc) that we have pointed to and shown the inconsistency, if not lies, from the Islamists about our relationship with people of these nations? Have we ever talked about individual rights and responsibilities? The ability to maintain cultural identity, how our own immigrants of similar background or from other nations have been able to keep or add their identities to the American Identity?

What I've seen to date of our speaking, our media, our representatives is that they spend a lot of time talking about either nonsense or our "policies" which, to be certain, concern people of other nations that are not as strong as we are economically, politically or militarily, but, when it gets down to the "hearts and minds" of individuals who are the ones, after all, that are supporting (tacit or overt) or deciding to join Islamist movements, talks about nation to nation policies are barely the tip of the iceburg. We should be talking to the people about people and ideas. We should be talking around and over the governments and these other movements.

Instead, we have limited media outlets in these nations. Our radio and television have limited broadcasting and they do not speak the "language" of people.

Why do we not do this? Because, post collapse of the Soviet Union and, in previous years, the Vietnam War which was finally represented as a "lie" by the government and stays that way, not only do our "left" (extreme or otherwise) declare the words of our nation as "propaganda" (even as they themselves indulge in the worst sort of "disinformation" propaganda to our people), but it has become commonly accepted in our culture that politicians, thus the government, lies. So does the media. So does everyone else. We saw, during the cold war, an immense "propganda" campaign against Communism and it's evils. Now, since the Bear died and other "Communist States" are in shambles, we have the luxury to look back on those days and pretend they were not as perilous as we thought. After all, our major nemesis collapsed without firing a direct shot. Never mind those proxy wars to fend off Soviet and general Communist expansion. Because we now know that these nations were a wreck and they collapsed, we can now pretend they were no danger to us. Or, just as bad, some who claimed for decades that there really was no Communist Threat, can pretend they were right as evidenced by it's collapse.

Thus, not only do the proxy wars begin to be redefined as "American Imperialism" (still the language of the Communists and Socialists, even after the Soviet Collapse; which indicates the pervasiveness their propaganda into our culture), but the information war that we fought is now considered "bad propaganda" that, in reality, not only affected the Communists, but had been used against our own people: the US and other Western Democracies. According to the pervasive myth that has now entered our post Cold World consciousness, all of this information about the terribleness of Communism and the Soviet Empire was "fear mongering" and "scare tactics" or, worse, "disinformation" aimed at our own people in order to hide this "shadow governments" real agenda to "take over the world" and spread "economic and military hegemony" in order to "pillage world resources".

This is not something that is simply a product of or believed by extreme leftists [dare I say "Stalinists"] of this nation or other Western democracies. It has literally infiltrated our every thought. Even the most common man on the street who probably knows little about history, has done no research into the era and never watched any documentary or read books on the subject, knows about our "propaganda" (information) war and believes that he has been routinely duped by his own government and politicians. He or she believes that even rhetoric that espouses democracy, equality and freedom, is simply a ruse to convince the rest of the poor schlubs to go along with whatever policy the government is espousing today.

This is why, even if people don't totally buy it, the "Bush lied, people died" meme was able to make it into maintstream politics and, has had a subconscious effect on people's support for the war. It's Vietnam, isn't it? The Islamist terrorists [who, by the way actually attacked and killed 2987 of our people on one day, has killed many hundreds of our people and our allies on many other days and has certainly killed tens of thousands of Muslims] even espouse the same propaganda as the North Vietnamese: freedom and liberty from colonial oppression.

It all sounds too ridiculously familiar.

There is a deep seated fear that governments lie and can make their citizens do things that they would not normally do. We know this because we know what the Nazis did and we know what the Soviets did. We've seen Baghdad Bob. Of course, Vietnam was a lie and, even if we sometimes look fondly back at the media and posters of World War II (Rosie the Riveter, Loose Lips Sink Ships, etc), the "good war", we know that propaganda was part of and parcel of our participation, so we have decided that we must look upon statements or other information from the government or any entity/branch of it (including and particularly the military) as propaganda to effect our opinions and potentially make us do things that "we don't want to".

The problem with this is many fold. The first of which is the assumption that, before the advent of Hitler, no one in Germany was an anti-semite. It was all one big happy, Jazz playing, swing dancing, intellectually diverse, loving culture before Hitler stepped up and took control of the state information apparatus. Most people forget that the post WWI Germany was economically depressed, had a large Communist and Socialist movment, had plenty of people who already blamed the German version of the "military/industrial complex" or, in their world, Jewish Bankers trying to take over Europe and exterminate the pure, ancient, native people. Many people assume that Hitler simply came to power during a time of deep financial and poltical crisis and was then able to use the state apparatus to impose a nationalistic, anti-semitic, violent ideology on an otherwise cosmopolitan and liberal country. As if he had waved a magic wand and turned normal people into racist haters.

I find Revel to have an extremely excellent point in "The Flight From Truth" and that is that information is out there, the truth is out there, but most people don't take the time to know it. They like the sound bite version of information which leaves a lot to be desired when trying to decide important issues.

In the case of Nazi Germany and even the citizens of other nations that actually formed Nazi parties and joined Nazi regiments, the Vichy Government of France, for instance, anti-semitic ultra nationalism was not new or forced on these people. They were not so over inundated with propaganda that they were simply brainwashed. Anti-semitism was rife in those nations for centuries. It had, in fact, experienced a "racist spring" if you will during the turn of the century. Old writers and new had written books on the subject. Eugenics was the new scientific rage in Europe and the United States. There was much more going on than political and economic crisis in Europe or Germany in particular.

Hitler was accepted because people not only wanted a strong leader, he played into their existing biases.

That's what people fear here. They believe that the people of this nation or other Western democratic, free nations are so weak that we would do the same, easily and with little qualms. So, we must protect ourselves from the same possibility by limiting our governments' information activities, lest we become those unsuspecting, duped Germans and French who bought into all that horrible propaganda.

Accept, of course, it was already a predominant theme in Europe long before Hitler was even born. Some of it had even snuck into the American psyche and stayed there until long after the war. But, no one can talk about it because then they would have to admit to their own prejudices and the possibility of evil actions without the control or direction of "the state" or the rise of some purely evil man who can "dupe" them. We're a free nation with equality, multi-cultural acceptance of others: we can't have that.

At the same time, because we are so pre-occupied with the existence of state propaganda and its effect on us, we believe that we can know the "enemy's" propaganda when we see and here it, thus we are immune. Most people are blissfully unaware of how the interconnectivity of our world insures that, even if we think we know blatant propaganda when we see it, the subtle and even direct propaganda of the Islamist enemy is often swallowed "hook, line and sinker". Or, at least, brushes up against our own preconceived ideas about our nation, our freedoms and our past actions (which we have duely negated and redefined as "terrible acts that never should have happened" since the threat that existed then is "gone"), that people who say they are angry with Osama bin Laden and other perpetrators of 9/11, subconsciously, they accept that Osama Bin Laden is right. Somewhere in the past or current geopolitical structure, some action of the United States and other Western nations, was so repressive against Islam that they may have a real grievance and we can "understand" why they want to kill.

People, subconsiously and sometimes consciously, buy the propaganda. Somewhere, in the back of their minds, they think that these people are justified in their actions and our response, while necessary, might not be as clearly justified. Understand, we're not talking about leftist extremists who have embibed too much Chomsky and Cheese during grad school. We're talking about people on the street who have been inundated with the subtle "revised" history of the United States and their own cultures which has so routinely addressed the "ills" of our society that it has some how surpassed the very real and extreme ills in the world today or in history. Not the least of which is the growing strength of Islamist Salafist ideology in nations around the globe. An ideology that is totalitarian by nature and dresses itself in the rhetoric of "freedom" and protection of "identity".

In our own nation, we have become so sensitive to the possibility of our own failings and past that we have become unable and unwilling to promote our virtues and decry the evils of other ideologies and states. It's taboo to speak ill of others when we are not pure as if our actions now or in the past equal the mass murders and total repression of Communist Russia, Ba'athist Iraq, Islamist Iran or the equally repugnant Salafist Islamists who behead, torture and kill for nothing more than not believing as they do, much less dressing as they want, growing beards, playing music, reading books: all of the things that are truly antithetical to the "freedom" they keep talking about. Instead, we spend most of our time talking about our own failings and tying ourselves up in knots about it.

The Islamists and other totalitarian nations love that. It gives them ready made propaganda. They don't even have to say much, just let us do the talking so that we convince ourselves that they are right. Every once in awhile, bin Laden, Zawahiri, Qadawri or some other Islamist will simply pick up on our existing cultural angst and re-enforces something that is already in the public conscious and information net. For instance, a recent commentary emerged from bin Laden regarding the weakness of our army due to increased drug abuse and suicide as well as alleged recruiting problems. These were from reports that had been issued in the US press on these subjects and had gained wide spread coverage. This was not information or intelligence that he gleaned on his own nor is it really indicative of the quality of our forces.

Yet, we know the reason why the reports had gained such interest setting off much self examination here, thus ringing the "media jihad" bells and working its way into bin Laden's speech. Mainly because, since Vietnam, we have had a deep seated fear (and real belief?) that our armed forces who are sent to fight in war are all in danger of becoming addicts and self-destructing because we force them to do terrible things without just cause. Most normal people understand that war is not normal and can affect people deeply on the emotional psyche level, but, along with this knowledge brought to us by the advancement of psychological sciences (almost an oxymoron), has come the concept that no war is worth this cost. It's the Vietnam anti-war cry that has been transposed over and over again to our society and now infiltrates even the common man's ideas on war who would by no means describe himself as a leftist, but has been instructed quite roundly by our new post Vietnam, post Cold War world that all war is futile and is too damaging to ourselves (and many, many innocents) to undertake.

It's brought home by images and words that largely focus death and destruction without true context of the personal or overall struggle. When a soldier is killed or injured, he is simply dead from an attack. No discussion about the efforts to bring freedom and democracy, to stop the spread of extremist ideology or defend the United States. No one talks about whether he (or she) died fighting off three to one odds of jihadists/insurgents on their patrol while trying to defend their wounded friends. No one talks about the living heroes who defend their friends and nation. they are all heroic, but you already know that, according to our culture so instead we must tell you that this heroism is worthless and damaging, thus should not be undertaken.

That is the message. Sometimes its not even that subtle.

And the Islamists love it. At the same time, the media and other information entities (music, movies, etc) want to tell you that the use of this information by Al Qaeda and other Islamists is totally incidental to the purpose of their program, reporting or ideology. Yet it is there and that is what has infected and affected our culture.

This infliction, this failure of culture and ideology, has resulted in our current, massive failure of policy in the information war. It is not simply the government's inability to be creative. They could be very creative if the every creative attempt was not shot down as fascist state propaganda. What we have created is a society that now believes that the free flow of information is so prevalent in our modern world that we should not have to indulge in an information war. As the commenter from my post "Virtual Leader" indicated, we should simply have a clear and consistent message; everything else would some how take care of itself.

After all, we have access to free media, the internet and any number of print, television and satellite capabilities. This message should simply convey itself without actually tailoring it to the specifics of the Islamist rhetoric, the cutlural and political realities of people in the region or any attacks. We should not seek out specific venues like forums and websites of moderates or extremists to discuss the issues or our political objectives. We should not try to engineer the availability of stories or information. We should not use any of the methods we used to fight Communism or Nazism. It's a brave new world and we should simply be able to speak and we will be heard.

We have put laws in place to govern the kinds of information and where it will be available, seen or heard. But, because of the affect of international media where stories in Beijing or Lahore or Baghdad media are on the internet or picked up by other international news agencies around the globe (including our own), this presents a unique problem to information strategies. Laws currently on our books prohibit information from any program aimed outside of our borders, to be reproduced at will by that agency in the United States. Since the fall of the USSR, we have interpreted that very stringently. If there is a coordinated information strategy above and beyond our arabic television and radio (that does not play 24/7; does not provide enough news in some cases, does not reflect the issues of the populace it is aimed at, etc) it is one of the weakest efforts we've put forward in decades. Our own free media is supposed to somehow take up the slack.

Considering the effects of collective, subjective truth on the media, that is down right insane to leave the fate and the future of information warfare to people who believe that their main duty is to be the watchdog of OUR government.

It's a massive failure. Watch "media Jihad" and tell me that I am wrong.


During the story, both Peter Bergen and Former Under Sec. for public diplomacy Charlotte Beers indicated that, in order to combat extremism in the ME, we would need an informatin program on the scale of the Cold War. Charlotte Beers made the most telling comment:

This is something that our government is not comfortable doing.

She's right. Now we need to figure out how we will work through this "uncomfortable" feelings and get on with saving our our country and our people.

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Posted by Kat at 2:35 AM 1 comments Links to this post

Jean Francois Revel: The Flight From Truth

Jean Francois Revel wrote in his 1991 book, "The Flight From Truth":

Chapter 1 On Our Resistance to Information, page 3&4 -

The foremost of all the forces that drive the world is falsehood. More than any before it, twentieth-century civilization has depended on information, teaching, science, culture - in short, on knowledge as well as on a system of government which, by its very definition, seeks to make knowledge availabe to all: democracy. [snip]Those who act have better data on which to base their actions, and those on the receiving end are much better informed about what those who act are doing.

It is therefore interesting to inquire whether this preponderance of available knowledge - with its detail, its abundance, its ever broader and swifter disseminiation - has enabled humanity to guide itself more judiciously than in the past. The question is all the more inportant since the perfecting and accelerating of the techniques of transmission and the steady increase in the number of individuals who benefit from them will make the twenty-first century an age in which, even more than in the twentieth, information will be a central element of civilization.


Chapter 2, page 12 -
No matter how diverse, all civilizations today coexist in some form of perpetual interaction, the combined effects of which affect them more in the long run than their individual particularities. The existence of this interactionin the economic, geopolitical and geostrategic fields is now taken for granted. On the other hand, despite all the loose talk on the subject few persons seem to realize to what extent information has become the principal instrument, the permanent agent and mirror of the plantet's omnipresence for all those who inhabit it, not through the provision of accurate information - there precisely is the problem - but thanks to a continuous torrent of messages, which begins by submerging individual minds from early schooling on... Man has an image of the world and of his own society in that world. He acts and reacts with reference to that image. He accepts its implications willingly, passively, or grudgingly, or revolts against them. The more twisted and distorted the picture, the more dangerous his actions and reactions can become, both for himself and others.


Chapter 3 "On Simple Lies", page 26 -

News agency dispatches, newspapers, radio broadcasts, and even television programs have been bringing to the various publics of the totalitarian and underdeveloped world news and commentaries their governments [ed...and other would be oppressors like Islamists[ would prefer to deny them. However, we should not overlook movements in the opposite direction: increasingly, for example, the propaganda and propagandists of totalitarian countries [ed...and now ecentralized totalitarian, terrorist movements] penetrate without hindrance into the Free World, where they are often accorded a favorable reception


Chapter 3 "On Simple lies", page 28-29

Democracy cannot live without the truth; totalitarianism cannot live without falsehood. Democracy commits suicide if it lets itself be invaded by falsehood, totalitarianism if it lets itself be invaded by truth. With mankind now moving ever further into civilization dominated by information, a civilization that would not be viable if it were nourished and sustained by regularly falsified information. I regard it as indispensible that democracy be universalized and, furthermore, improved. But present customs and habits being what they are, I think it more likely that false hood will triumph, along with its political corollary, totalitarianism


Considering the line of thought I am developing on "information war", this book is extremely timely. I can't believe it's taken me so long to find and read it. I'm sure I will find other books by Revel quite interesting though, 15 years later, I find one or two comments he made that I would disagree with, for the most part, what he writes is true today.

For instance, he mentions the demonization of "neo-cons" and the constant attempts to link them to Neo-Fascism; the great taboo where one is never to mention that Communism and its various alcolytes are just as reprehensible and murderous (if not worse) than Nazis and other Fascist movements have ever been; American Imperialism (but don't dare mention that the USSR was conducting an equal if not more aggressive imperial outreach in developing client nations, invading or providing support troops for communist governments or movements, or involved in some serious subjugation and murder of a lot of "other nationals" and the US was trying to counter it with their own geo-political moves; the USSR and communism is the victim); journalistic dishonesty - a tendency to accept statements from "other" governments and people (particularly, non democratic nations or speokesman for movements) without ready research or verification or cynicism in the face of continued disprovement by facts, but they will imply or directly accuse their own governments, spokespeople or citizens of being liars.

On and on and on. If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it. I'm only in the fifth chapter and I know that it has brought together some thoughts for me. He even talks about the impending clash with militant Islam. He discusses Russia's collapse and "reform". Particularly that Communism dies very hard. In fact, the "regime" may fall, but the ideology, the people and the government systems often stick around and get called something else. Today, for instance, in Russia they have a "democracy". Of course, Putin is busy shutting down any democratic opposition and NGOs for human rights, democracy advocation and information awareness. We are talking about a state that still owns and controls its television broadcast systems.

Probably the most interesting commentary is about Western self flagellation over perceived ills, how our own angst has created an illusion that Western Democracies have committed acts on par with Nazi Germany or Global Communism, and how falsehoods or "simple lies" can echo throughout our political and cultural awareness for decades and even centuries, effecting our decisions on politics, economy and security for a very long time.

Vietnam. Winter Soldier. Communism in Asia not a threat to US security. It's a war of "independence from colonialism" (the eternal cry of all leftists and the newest charge against the US of neo-colonialism). Iraq. Afghanistan. Imperial America. War for Oil. Baby killers. Mass Murderers. Soldiers dying for nothing.

1991...you can't beat it.

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Posted by Kat at 2:34 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Private Prewitt

But thinking of "From Here to Eternity" has me thinking of the old American Army of the 20th century, the Depression era, peacetime army that Jones captured as no one else ever had. It was an unspectacular thing, that Army, or seemed so until December 1941. Jones's Pvt. Prewitt was a lost Southern boy who found a home in that Army. He and his friend Angelo Maggio of New York "could live better Inside."

They came from little, had no money, had received indifferent public educations, and the 1930s Army they joined was neither racially integrated, gender-neutral nor adequately funded. The great divide, the caste system, was between officers and enlisted men. The latter were given training and discipline and were left with a passionate and passionately mixed attitude toward the institution that made them part of something as it chipped away at their individuality, that employed them and enslaved them, that made them men and often treated them like children.

When James Jones himself joined the Army, in 1937, a young man whose options seemed limited, he wrote back home, "This place is hell. They herd you around like cattle; they order you around like dogs; they work you like horses; and they feed you like hogs." In the 1953 film of the novel, directed by Fred Zinnemann, the first shot after the credits is of men marching in brisk formation. But all you can see are their boots on a dusty field, perfect but anonymous.

They were not, the men of the peacetime, Depression-era Army, especially respected by the public they served.


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Posted by Kat at 10:13 AM 0 comments Links to this post

More Suggest Reading: A little Civil War Journalist History

And you thought it was only modern journalists...

Despite the Tribune's militancy on the Kansas question, Greeley, often away from the office, displayed a tendency toward appeasement. He was constantly complaining about Dana's "radicalism," fearing that a strong anti-slavery position toward Kansas risked losing the Southerners among the Tribune's national readership. Mr. Williams quotes Greeley writing from Washington in 1856 to warn Dana against "plotting treason and inciting insurrection." There was a maddening inconsistency about Greeley, who had sided with Stephen Douglas in the late 1850s but sat approvingly with Lincoln on the platform at Cooper Union in New York when Lincoln gave his famous 1860 speech against slavery and dividing the nation.

Before Fort Sumter, Greeley's newspaper was prepared to accept the secession of Southern states, on the grounds that it was disinclined to war. Once war was declared, though, Greeley became an "instant supporter," as Mr. Williams puts it. "When President Lincoln called up seventy-five thousand state militiamen, Greeley called for five hundred thousand." Yet when the fighting proved rough, Greeley began wringing his hands like a veritable John Kerry. Mr. Williams thinks it "fairly likely" that, after the rout of Union forces at the first battle of Bull Run, Greeley suffered a nervous breakdown.[snip]

By the summer of 1864, Mr. Williams writes, "the time was right for a peace settlement to become a national political issue, to divide the Republican Party, and perhaps to overturn the Lincoln administration." When a political schemer named George Sanders beckoned the hapless editor of the Tribune to help arrange safe passage for Confederate agents to Washington, Greeley "took the bait." It was Greeley at his most despicable. At one point Lincoln likened Greeley to "an old shoe--good for nothing new, whatever he has been."

Greeley's reputation never really recovered from what some saw as a flirtation with treason. In mid-April 1865, with the war all but over, Greeley nonetheless wrote an anti-Lincoln editorial and was preparing to run it, Mr. Williams writes, "on the very night that Lincoln was shot." The editorial was never printed.

In the war's aftermath, Greeley, acting out of what Mr. Williams labels a "sense of Christian charity and fairness," spent a good bit of his dwindling political capital trying to raise bail for Jefferson Davis. Mr. Williams quotes President Johnson, Lincoln's successor, as calling Greeley "a sublime child . . . heart and no head . . . like a whale ashore."


Read the rest

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Posted by Kat at 10:07 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Suggested Reading on the Middle East

Egypt

From the CSM, a report on extremism on the rise in Egyptian Bedouin tribes.

EL-ARISH, EGYPT - As Egypt's security forces complete their massive manhunt for suspects in three suicide bombings in the Sinai resort of Dahab last month, experts and residents say it's clear that this city and the sprawling desert and craggy mountains around North Sinai have become a new breeding ground for violent Islamic extremism in Egypt.


One issue with this statement: this is not "new". The bedouin of the Sinai have always been more conservative in their practices and religion than the rest of Egypt. In fact, the Sinai Bedouin have harbored members of the Muslim Brotherhood back before the Sadat assassination. They have smuggled weapons and people for the Palestinian terrorist groups. They've done a lot of things. The difference is, now their activities are directed back at the government of Egypt in full.

Not "NEW".

It is here in this vast and isolated region, traditionally known for smuggling, that extremists have planned high-profile attacks on nearby resorts, officials say.

But experts and residents agree that the reason behind growing Islamic extremism is not only Sinai's expanse and isolation. Also responsible are the desperate living conditions among many of North Sinai's residents, which have made young men angry enough to commit recent terrorist attacks, including three at tourist resorts and two against international peacekeepers since October 2004, killing about 120 people in all.


The Sinai Bedouin have always been nomadic and "desperate", but blaming terrorist actions on this condition is, as usual, the least likely; a "desparate" attempt to explain something people don't want to understand. At least this "desparation" has a solution: give them jobs and money. The Bedouin have been paid off before and they may be bribed again to limit their continued activity with "extremist terrorists". However, "desparate explanations" will not help resolve the real issues of "growing extremism".

The statement also said that Palestinians helped finance and train this group, the first time Egyptian authorities have so specifically linked Gaza militants to the Sinai bombings. El-Arish is just 30 miles from the Gaza border.

Interior Ministry officials say that most of the Dahab bombing suspects are Bedouins, formerly nomadic tribes with distinct tribal laws and traditions. Security forces have also suspected North Sinai's Bedouin and non-Bedouin residents in other Sinai attacks, including bombings at the Sinai resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh last summer, and Taba in 2004.

Residents and experts say that Egypt's new generation of Islamic militants is drawn mostly from 18- to 30-year-old men; some are educated, some not; many are unemployed. Living in and around El-Arish, North Sinai's capital, and the surrounding mountains, many become isolated from their families, shunning the community of "nonbelievers" or being disowned by them first.


Read the rest.

In the meantime, the secular and the MB may be coming together in Egypt to press for further reform on the part of the government. Sandmonkey is reporting the details. He reported yesterday that the air in Egypt seems very tense and it's not just about the bombings. One thing about authoritarian or totalitarian governments: they get most of their power because of the perception that they are strong and invincible. So, when a group comes along and bombs them several times and protesters are in the street, the government is shown to be less than invincible and this often leads to quick collapse. The Egyptian government may have been trying to avoid this total destruction by recent concessions to the MB in the last elections, but it's likely that was barely enough to purge the steam that has been gathering.

Sandmonkey also reports that our friends the bloggers are still under arrest though a few more have been released. He says over 600 protesters have been arrested in the past month. I bet most Americans don't have any idea how many protesters this number means have been on the streets of Egypt.

Finally, Sandmonkey says the Egyptian stockmarket is reacting very badly to the situation or may even be a foretelling of the collapse to come (maybe wishful thinking, but bad economy has been a major problem in Egypt for awhile).

Iran

While everyone has been busy watching Almond Head declare the destruction of Israel, write silly letters full of overblown religious rhetoric to the President of the US (like some cult leader that AJ is) and threaten the development of nuclear weapons, you've probably missed reports that riots are continuing against the government. Round up of the news on the Spirity of Man including images and reports from several groups on the situation.

Iraq

Not in the habit of quoting Al Jazeera, but I was interested to see this article at the top of the "yahoo" list and that it is quoting Iraqi bloggers. Even Al Jazeera is figuring out that, with danger to their reporters by every force, some info from bloggers on the ground can give an interesting view of the populace and situation.

Speaking of operations against different groups, here is a report about a raid on the Ramadi "Prince of IEDs". Video is available on the right.

Coalition forces located and killed six terrorists, detained three, destroyed a safe house and multiple weapons caches during a Ramadi search May 17.

The troops were looking for the “Prince of IEDs,” a wanted terrorist.

They began taking fire immediately upon their arrival at the site where the al-Qaida leader and his associates were allegedly building improvised explosive devices.


The report talks about rescuing an 8 year old boy from the compound:

The troops also discovered an unharmed 8-year-old boy inside the safe house. The child told the Soldiers he was being held against his will by these terrorists who abused and made him conduct minor tasks. They took the boy to their base, provided him care, and then arranged for transportation for the boy’s return to his residence.


The days have been busy for our troops, rescuing young children from the depravity of the terrorists and criminals of Iraq. Here, Centcom reports the rescue of a two year old boy is at Centcom:

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces saved a young boy from imminent danger during significant fighting that resulted in the deaths of over 25 terrorists May 14th in Yusifiyah. In one incident during the course of the hours-long operation, several terrorists abandoned a two-year-old boy in an attempt to save themselves.

Upon initiating the attack, the troops immediately killed two terrorists in response to hostile activity emanating from a suspected safe house and an associated vehicle.

Only trying to preserve their own lives, escaping terrorists literally threw a toddler inside a vehicle near a burning van filled with ammunition and anti-aircraft rockets (the safe house and vehicle were previously struck by Coalition forces to neutralize the threat). The troops made the choice to save the child in lieu of pursuing the terrorists, rescuing the boy just before the rockets exploded


Words, words, words. This is what happens when every death in a war zone is considered "bad" and the fault of the occupiers. The subtle imaging is brought forth in the title "Explosions Kill 3 in Baghdad".

Our immediate peripheral response? One more car bomb or IED or suicide bomber kills 3 more innocent civilians or police or troops or somebody who "should not be killed". Even the first parapgraph puts it out there and you don't get the real story until the next paragraph or further.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen wounded an Iraqi general Thursday in southeast Baghdad and a blast killed three people in the heart of the capital as President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared for a meeting on Iraq strategy now that a new government is in place.


Now you know who you are supposed to blame. Although, the editor very likely thinks or pretends that he is simply trying to give you a round up of the latest news in the first paragraph (knowing also that, if anyone got past the title of the piece, that may be as far as they read). Deliberate or accidental placing still changes the entire gist of the report.

That's if you did more than glance past the title of the story. Something few will dane to do and yet they will consider themselves "informed" of the morning's news.
Had they read further, they would find out that the "3 killed" were indeed three terrorists vying for the Darwin awards:

The blast in central Baghdad occurred in a building on Tahrir Square, killing three and wounding 11, police Lt. Ali Mitaab said. Police suspect the building housed a bomb-making factory.


Of course, journalists see every death in war as a tragedy and hope you see it that way, too. We who enjoy a little schadenfreud over three terrorists blowing themselves up are barbarians.

I would also recommend Iraqi Bloggers Central for ongoing round up of Iraqi bloggers and the current situation. They currently have a series on why the Iraq Bloggers are "blue" over their prospects and a very interesting look at the two Iraqi views of sectarianism in Iraq.

Jordan

Two reports about an al Qaeda "leader" arrested by Jordan and whose confession has been broadcast on Jordanian TV.

I put "leader" in quotation marks because this fellow is simply a low level cell leader, not a "lieutenant" or anwhere close to the top of the chain of command. He is, in fact, a sub-contractor of sorts.

The man who identified himself as Iraqi national Ziad Khalaf al-Karbuli said during the 15-minute tape that he shot to death Khalid Dassuki "with my personal revolver" in September inside Iraq.

"I fired two shots at his head," Karbuli said.

He also claimed responsibility for the abduction of the two Moroccans in October and said they were later handed over to the Al-Qaeda group in Iraq run by Jordanian-born Islamist fugitive Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.


This makes him a member of the criminal "psuedo-militant" groups that operate along the borders smuggling, kidnapping and generally causing havoc for whatever money it can get and from whomever is willing to pay, not an "Al Qaeda leader". This is the difficulty with even those who are close on the ground working through the situation. What is "criminal" activity, what is "terrorist" activity. Of course, criminal activity that workds with or in tandem of terrorist activity could be considered "terrorism" by proxy or conspiring with, but I would still hesitate to call these guys "al qaeda".

One thought, though: since these groups work together and need each other to exist, infiltrating the criminal gangs with undercover officers or informants is one way to work up and through the chain to the actual terrorist organizations.

Saudi Arabia

Free Muslims Against Terrorism sends along this commentary from Kamal Nawash, the leading founder of the organization, about the role of Saudi Arabia in American Mosques.

Since it was discovered that 15 out of the 19 September 11 hijackers were Saudis, every aspect of Saudi Arabia has come under scrutiny by members of the U.S. government, advocacy organizations and members of the media. Ironically, the increased scrutiny of Saudi Arabia has not brought America any closer to understanding Saudi Arabia.

The confusion about Saudi Arabia is in part due to the credibility of the parties who have made irreconcilable conclusions about whether Saudi Arabia is an ally in the war on terror. On one hand, President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz have argued that Saudi Arabia is a strong ally in the war on terror and a great friend to the United States. On the other hand, certain members of congress, various think tanks and other non-profit organizations have argued passionately that Saudi Arabia is no friend of the United States and a major supporter of extremist ideologies and groups.

Most recently a Washington Post article written by Nina Shea of the Center for Religious Freedom at Freedom House revealed language from Saudi text books that encourage an ideology of hatred towards Christians, Jews and Muslims who don’t follow the Saudi version of Islam (Wahabism). Nina Shea argued that the disturbing material found in Select Saudi text books “are shaping the views of the next generation of Saudis and Muslims world wide. Unchanged, they will only harden and deepen hatred, intolerance and violence toward other faiths ad cultures.”

So is the Saudi Arabian government a friend of the United States or does Saudi Arabia propagate hate and intolerance among American Muslims and Muslims world wide? The answer to both of these questions is yes.


Please read the rest because he makes some great suggestions:

In the mean time, neither the United States nor any other country has to wait on Saudi Arabia to figure out how to reform 30 years of shortsighted policies. The Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism makes the following recommendations to protect the United States and American Muslims from the propagation of intolerant material from radical elements in Saudi Arabia:

1. THAT U.S government officials reach an unofficial secret agreement with the Saudi government so that neither the Saudi government nor individual Saudis may build Islamic schools or mosques in the United States.
2. THAT the Saudi government immediately stop the distributing of religious books to American Muslims and American Muslim institutions.
3. THAT The Saudi government terminate the payment of salaries for Imams and other religious figures in the United States.
4. THAT the Saudi government prevent Saudi charities and religious organizations from sending books, building mosques, schools or paying the salaries of Imams in the United States or otherwise operate in the United States.
5. THAT the United States impress upon other nations to implement the steps mentioned above.

In conclusion, the Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism believes that the building of mosques, Islamic schools and production of religious books must be financed exclusively by American Muslims. By funding their own religious institutions, American Muslims can better protect themselves from the influences of radical groups from abroad.


In reality, out of all these suggestions, the last one regarding American Muslims financing their own institutions and materials is probably the most viable in terms of legal moves (I'm not sure the US government can legally stop religious funding even from outside nations), but the least likely in terms acceptance from the Muslim community in the US.

The religious policeman reports on new "welfare reforms" that are being put forth by King Abdullah; the religious police raid a snuff factory (and no one knows if it is actually prohibited by religious law but is sounds good, not to mention RP suspects some higher up wants to take over the illegal racket).

Cross Roads Arabia reports on what he sees as a postive move in the Saudi judicial system. The only problem I see, while the movement of family violence into "secular" courts is an exceleent move, the real eye opener is the movement of "security courts" under "security courts" which means the direct guidance of the Saudi Rulers. This can be good or bad. For instance, one of the biggest issues with these security courts that are under the "sharia law" system is that they routinely pardon hardened "criminals" and terrorists for "converting" or "re-affirming" their religious beliefs and disavowing their previous behavior. This has led to the release of any number of terrorists who, holding somewhat to their vows, have left Saudi (and a few other nations) to come to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir or any other place where there is fundamentalist struggling against anyone else. There they can do what they want to their hearts content and never be considered breaking the terms of their parole.

I imagine that the Sauds are going to attempt to make this "religious parole" a little harder to obtain. On the otherhand, look out opponents of the regime, secular or otherwise, because you will now be subject to even worse possibilities of eternal imprisonment or execution.

Cross Roads reports that the government is reigning in the religious police [muttawah], or at least making a good appearance of it. This could be window dressing or at least a little warning to the right wing conservative branch of the Saudi government to back off a little (there is always a power struggle between the much more secular Sauds and the more conservative Wahab tribes in government).

I really recommend keeping tabs on John's site, Cross Roads Arabia, if you want good info on the internal workings of Saudi Arabia.

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Wednesday, May 24, 2006

This Day in Military History


On this day, May 24, 1939 the German Battleship Bismarck sank the HMS Hood.



Hood was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in July 1936. In June 1939, she joined the Home Fleet's Battle Cruiser Squadron at Scapa Flow; when war broke out later that year, she was employed principally in patrolling the vicinity of Iceland and the Faroes to protect convoys and intercept German raiders attempting to break out into the Atlantic. In September 1939, she was hit by a 250 kg (550-lb) aircraft bomb with minor damage. As the flagship of Force H, she took part in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir in July 1940. In August, she rejoined the Battle Cruiser Squadron and resumed patrolling against German raiders. From 13 January to 18 March 1941, she underwent a refit at Rosyth. Even after the refit she was still in poor condition, but the threat from the German capital ships was such that she could not be taken into dock for a major overhaul until more of the King George V-class battleships came into service.

When the German battleship Bismarck sailed in May, Hood was sent out under the flag of Admiral Holland, together with the newly-commissioned Prince of Wales, to intercept the German ships before they could break into the Atlantic and attack the Allied convoys. Holland's ships caught up with Bismarck and her consort, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, in the straits between Greenland and Iceland on May 24.

During the subsequent Battle of the Denmark Strait on 24 May 1941, Hood suffered from a series of unfortunate events which culminated in her destruction. She first engaged Prinz Eugen instead of Bismarck. When the German ships found the range of the Hood, she was hit first by an 8-inch (204 mm) shell from Prinz Eugen on the boat deck which ignited 4-inch (102 mm) ammunition and UP rockets, causing a fire to burn out of control endangering the ship. Shortly after this, the Prinz Eugen shifted her aim to the Prince of Wales, in accordance with a semaphore order from Bismarck (Reference 7). At about 0600 (0601 in German reckoning), as Hood was turning to bring all her guns to bear onto the Bismarck, she emitted a huge jet of flame, reaching skyward from the vicinity of the mainmast. This was immediately followed by an explosion that destroyed the after part of the ship. The stern rose and sank rapidly, while the bows rose clear of the sea as the forepart also sank. Of the 1,418 aboard, only three men (Ted Briggs, Bob Tilburn and Bill Dundas) survived and were rescued about two hours after the sinking by the destroyer HMS Electra (it has been claimed that there was a fourth survivor named Frank Lambourne [citation needed]).

The dramatic loss of such a well-known symbol of British naval power had a great effect on many people; some later remembered the news as the most shocking of World War II. Enraged, the Royal Navy sent multiple warships to pursue the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen; the Bismarck was sunk in 27 May 1941.


Additional images of the Battle of Denmark Straits and the sinking of the Hood.

Personal account of the sinking.

Johnny Horton released The Sinking of the Bismark in 1960:

In May of nineteen forty-one the war had just begun
The Germans had the biggest ship that had the biggest guns
The Bismarck was the fastest ship that ever sailed the seas
On her deck were guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees

Out of the cold and foggy night came the British ship the Hood
And ev'ry British seaman, he knew and understood
They had to sink the Bismarck, the terror of the sea
Stop those guns as big as steers and those shells as big as trees

We'll find that German battleship that's makin' such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismarck cause the world depends on us
Hit the decks a-runnin' boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismark we gotta cut her down

The Hood found the Bismarck and on that fatal day
The Bismarck started firin' fifteen miles away
"We gotta sink the Bismarck" was the battle sound
But when the smoke had cleared away, the mighty Hood went down

For six long days and weary nights they tried to find her trail
Churchill told the people "Put ev'ry ship a-sail
'Cause somewhere on that ocean I know she's gotta be
We gotta sink the Bismarck to the bottom of the sea"

We'll find that German battleship that's makin' such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismarck cause the world depends on us
Hit the decks a-runnin' boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismarck we gotta cut her down

The fog was gone the seventh day and they saw the mornin' sun
Ten hours away from homeland the Bismarck made its run
The admiral of the British fleet said "Turn those bows around
We found that German battleship and we're gonna cut her down"

The British guns were aimed and the shells were comin' fast
The first shell hit the Bismarck, they knew she couldn't last
That mighty German battleship is just a memory
"Sink the Bismarck" was the battle cry that shook the seven seas

We found that German battleship was makin' such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismarck 'cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a-runnin' and we spun those guns around
Yeah, we found the mighty Bismarck and then we cut her down

We found that German battleship was makin' such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismarck 'cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a-runnin' and we spun those guns around
We found the mighty Bismarck and then we cut her down


This song was inspired by the movie Sink the Bismark in 1960.

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Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Information War: The Bigger Picture and the Mushy Middle

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Those who count the increasing number of American soldiers killed in Iraq are missing the bigger picture, retired Gen. Tommy Franks said Saturday night.

"What we're talking about is neither 2,400, 24,000 or 240,000 lives," Franks said at the National Rifle Association's annual banquet. "Terrorism is a thing that threatens our way of life. It doesn't have anything to do with politics."


The other day, some fellow stopped by on "Virtual Leader of Information War" in the comments and said:

There shouldn't be a need for propaganda. "Our" side (if there is such a thing) should broadcast clear, consistant messages as any marketing agency would do. Period, end of discussion.

As for the war online, there isn't on. Go on about your life and spread ideals and values you cherish, instead of idling away your short life hating some other group you've been told are homogenous.


I'll respond publically by first asking who this fellow thinks the homogenous group is I hate?

I think we know that he means "Muslims". Maybe he knows something about me I don't? Or, most likely, he knows nothing and assumes. A problem most people have. I was looking at the list of people under the 101st Keyboardists. I think there are certainly people there I disagree with. I don't imagine any threat comes from Islam or Muslims as a whole and some of these folks do. Interestingly, I could care less about someone's religion. What I care about is whether specific people, an organization or state(s) have not only professed a hatred for my country, my people and my way of life, but threaten to or have acted out violence. What I care about is whether specific people, organizations or state(s) actively attempt to proliferate their ideas, recruit and organize followers who would do the same or at their behest.

I didn't make up the story about jihad websites. Only a fool thinks they don't exist or are not used in such a manner. Only a fool believes that there are not "ordinary" people in Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Egypt or Saudi Arabia (to name a few) that are sitting on the fence or who, at least, mentally, if not materially, support the same people who would organize, recruit and act against our country, our people and our allies. I say a "fool" because only a fool chooses to believe that 1993 Twin Towers bombing, Khobar Towers, African Embassy bombings, USS Cole, 9/11, Two Bali bombings, and London 7/7 bombings are not related (to name a few) or that these were simply tempests in a teapot; individual acts by individual crackpots or whatever it is that this person (man?) believes in the comments.

There is a "war" on line. The waging of this war is not physical. It isn't even just about "jihad websites" that do exist. Ever visit "Islamonline.com"? Some of the English speaking forums there are very interesting. I can't read Arabic, but I imagine by the content of the English forums that the Arabic forums are even more interesting. However, one does not have to visit the "extremist" sites to fight this war. You can go to any simple Middle East website that talks politics and meet all sorts of people from all walks of life. Even (or particularly) "pro-American" sties. Many speak and write English (fortunately for me). Because there you meet what we call in the US the "Mushy Middle". Those who don't like "terrorism", but "understand" why someone would resort in it and sometimes say directly that they won't condemn it because they believe in the idea that "weaker" groups that do not have the same military power as their adversary "must" resort in this tactic to fight any war.

This "Mushy Middle" is the group that every group fighting an "ideological war" must reach and turn in one way or the other, just as in any political fight. In the current war, this Middle East or Muslim person does not have to strongly agree with the idea of an "Islamist state", nor send money, food, clothing, or their sons directly to actually provide support or facilitate groups' abilities to to recruit, organize and act. It only takes the "tacit approval" or "nod of the head" or someone simply saying nothing.

It is these people I wish to engage; this Mushy Muslim Middle.

You may ask why or is it really important. I'll get to that momentarily. This commenter states: "Go on about your life and spread ideals and values you cherish." Exactly. I can and do do that in person, but I also do that here and in other forums. The values I cherish are not compatable with certain concepts in Islamist doctrine. Mainly I believe in freedom, democracy and equal justice. An Islamist such as Bin Laden and Zawahiri pay lip service to the idea of freedom. They demand freedom, but it is the freedom from our interference in their ability to oppress their people (many of which already live in repressive police states and the installation of Islamist authoritarian government does not make it "free"). How do we know? Because, as is completely ignored by many people, THEY SAY SO!

Not me. I never even thought about Islam or the faith being oppressive. I believe it is too strict for me and doesn't gel with my own ideas on spirituality, so I won't be converting. But, until I read such Islamist doctrine as Zawahiri's books, Qutb, Tamimya and many others, I never imagined that anyone practicing Islam actually believed that it is their duty to take away people's freedom because freedom leads to temptation and temptation leads people away from worshipping God (Allah) as was intended and it is a good Muslim's responsibility to make sure that his fellow Muslims do not go astray from the path. Now, many religions (even Christian groups; though I call them "cults") and political movements have the same ideas. This group goes that one step further and believe (like all totalitarians before or after), that it is not only their job to tell people that and help "guide" them, but that it is their duty to FORCE people to behave in this sacred manner. They believe this force includes not only arresting people who think or act different, torturing them, trying them or killing them, but that the very existence of freedom anywhere else, the very thought of it, the very image, it's products; all of these things present a danger so it must be destroyed. Including you and me. If not destroyed, we must be made incapable of interacting or subordinate to their own ideology and hopefully state.

This is what an Islamist Salafist believes. Not because I said so, but because THEY SAY SO. I keep saying it and I wonder why people don't believe it? It is very clear that this gentleman does not believe it. Or, he believes with all sincerity that this group is too small to act in any significant, continuous way against us. Yes, they may have done 9/11 and numerous other mass attacks, but they can't really harm us, can they? This small group cannot make the United States or democracy and freedom simply disappear, can they?

The answer is "no"; at least not today. That must be very comforting for some. But it is not about today. It is about tomorrow when some person or group has decided that this ideology, these ideas and these tactics of killing hundreds and thousands of people in mass murdering explosions is the right idea. It is about the many tomorrows when we do not confront this ideology through all means necessary; when we have sat back and pretended not to notice it; when we have crossed our fingers and hoped that it simply goes away; when we wake up to find that these groups are no longer a few dozen here or a couple hundred in Djibouti or several thousand in Indonesia or tens of thousands (dare I say hundreds of thousands?) in Pakistan or any place else have coalesced this ideology beyond groups that may or may not be attacking us every day and killing civilians, but is, in fact a state or many states with all of the abilities, revenues and powers of a state to actually harm us in just such a way that people say cannot exist.

I dislike invoking Nazism or Communism as sole examples of this problem, but they do point to our never ending attempts to simply "understand" and "get along" that usually results in something worse than had we confronted these ideologies when they were simply that: small groups with ideas that are antithetical to the ideas of freedom and democracy, if not down right hostile?

Even if we were simply talking about tomorrow or next year, the fact that these groups do exist, espouse the same ideology, organize and recruit, support and maintain each other through various legitimate and illegitimate means, have and will again kill the citizens of this country and many others, is enough, even without the threat of possible mass destruction or a future nation state, is enough to warrant our attention, organization and action through all means available and necessary. Wars of ideas are not simply fought by sending out armies to take a country, or special forces to kill this leader or that or even leaving it up to the government to develop a state policy and program to combat them on the ideological level. It is not cold state organizations by themselves that convince others that another idea is wrong. It is the people who live, believe and represent the opposing ideology that convinces others of the right and wrong. This is done through human connection: one on one.

the people we need to convince are not the men who are already standing with a Quran in one hand, an AK47 in another, screaming "Allahu Akbar" as he fires into a crowd or pushes the button that will destroy so many lives who have little or no understanding why they must be the target. That man maybe too late to save or to stop. But, there will be others who come after him (or her) and they get there through several means. We're not simply talking about the physical or material, though those are equally important. We are talking about the psychological, the moral and the spiritual ability to "get there". The material and psychological work in tandem, just as it works in any society where morals and beliefs break down or and idea or behavior becomes predominant. It is blissfully ignored, tacitly approved or actively supported; usually all three. It is facilitated when societies do not actively condemn or work against the proliferation of these ideas.

Which brings me to the "Mushy Muslim Middle" and the "virtual war".

Martin Luther King, Jr wrote in his letter from Birmingham Jail; addressing the white Christian and Jewish leaders or "moderates":

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.


He was paraphrasing a concept in Revelations 3:16:

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.


Martin Luther King, Jr went on to talk about the "white moderate" who preferred "peace and order" over "justice". Simply put, ignorance, neutrality or tacit acceptance does not help. It actually either facilitates the ability and proliferation of the "other" or it hinders our ability to end it. The "other" is not Islam as a whole nor is it necessary that Islam is destroyed. Thus, I profess no hate for it. The "other" is Salafist Islamist ideology coupled with fanatic, fascistic concepts of oppression, possession and domination. However, it feeds off the the low end of these social behaviors within the Islamic "ummah": approval or tacit acceptance. It gains strength because it is not confronted by the "neutral" and it is happy to accept outright ignorance or denial on the part of others because it gives them room to manouver with little friction and the ability to work towards expanding the first two: approval and tacit acceptance.

It is through these means that they can recruit, obtain funding and receive assistance to buy weapons, move between nations, hide out in society, plan and carry out attacks. This is true whether we speak about the James Gang from Liberty, Missouri, the IRA of Ireland, Sandanistas, or Salafist Islamist Facsists anywhere within twenty or more Islamic nations or regions.

There are two choices: combat it or ignore it while we take the hits. Half measures, as in the "lukewarm" simply do nothing at best and, at worse, facilitate it. From there, you have two choices again: declare the entire believe system of "Islam" as an evil ideology and anyone that believes in it as the "enemy" because they can and do facilitate it (even and especially through the "lukewarm" "moderates"), thus act against the people as a whole (world war?); or, act to separate the "lukewarm" from the "other". You must be able to convince them that even neutrality, but especially approval or tacit acceptance of their ideology, of terroristic acts against innocent civilians is not only wrong in the moral sense, but is a danger to them as well. To do so in a "virtual war" where every forum, from personal websites to political, is a site to contact the "lukewarm" and discuss; to move and to act. This is not like physical warfare where the goal is to physically or psychologically destroy the enemy. Those that we reach with words even in the virtual world, still provide an opportunity for one less "neutral", one less "tacit" approval or acceptance and one less place for the ideology to hide out.

That requires much more than "flame wars" where someone tells a Muslim that their religion is evil and must be destroyed or at least renounced. It requires finesse and ability to connect. It requires the ability to see, accept and value the life of the person that we are speaking with while convincing them at the same time that our own lives have worth and meaning, that there is a better ideology and violence will not solve the issue. It requires the ability, not to hate, but to love. This is virtual warfare in one of its connotations.

As my erstwhile commenter put it:

"Our" side (if there is such a thing) should broadcast clear, consistant messages as any marketing agency would do.


Whether you want to call it "propaganda", "information war" or "the truth" (whatever makes you more comfortable), that is the one thing that must happen. Calling for destruction of those who even simply share the same religion works to the advantage of the "others", not us.

For the record "our side" does exist. It is made up of people who would prefer not to go to war with every person of a specific religion on the say so of that 1% group who does want war. It even includes the "mushy middle" living in freedom and democracy or, at least not living under totalitarian Islamist Fascism. Those who are also "lukewarm" because they do not want war and do not want to confront the existence or actions of the "others" because it would mean changing their views, making sacrifices, or acting in ways that are, while still relatively "easy" compared to actual war, rather uncomfortable. It includes even people such as my erstwhile commenter, "Romerica", who deny the existence.

This "mushy middle" here and the deniers such as "Romerica" who, like the Mushy Muslim Middle, actually strengthen or provide cover for these groups because they believe that it is nothing or it is easier. These people also present a danger in the struggle, though I believe none would call them the "enemy" nor believe that they should be destroyed (at least, not sane rational people). In which case, we should be able to translate that to our activities that interact with both the "Mushy Muslim Middle" and the "Mushy Middle of the West".

That is the virtual warfare that I speak of. There are many other forms that it takes. This includes videos, songs, poems, and original writings on the subject of freedom, democracy, ability of our forces, political, material and financial strength, etc. It includes the immediate addressing of news articles, speeches or other items that are detrimental to the cause and can be accessed world wide via the net. This refution of articles from "our side" is not a matter of "lies" or, in the belief of Romerica, Pravda Propaganda as seen in the USSR. It is a matter of placing them in context, of adding missing information, refuting outright inaccuracies (or lies) and generally standing watch over the ideas, concepts and conveyance of those "value and ideas" we cherish: freedom and democracy.

Other articles/sites of interest:

What Extremists Are Saying

Understanding Al Qaeda

Al Qaeda Statements and Evolving Ideology (pdf)

Al Qaeda's Revolutionary Model

Cross Posted at the Castle

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Monday, May 22, 2006

Things Military in the Heartland

Soldier Returns for R&R, Buffalo, Missouri (registration required):


BUFFALO-Sergeant Danon Weatherd is happy to be back in Dallas County, even if it's only for 15 days. The Iraqi War veteran arrived at the Springfield Airport Saturday afternoon, and he and his wife Rachel and two children have been staying at the Comfort Inn in Buffalo since that time.

Danon, a 1994 graduate of Buffalo High School, is shop foreman for the 584th maintenance company, which repairs and tows vehicles that have either broken down or have been damaged by enemy fire, particularly improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

"We're the AAA of the military," said Weatherd, who has been in Iraq since October.

In Iraq, there are two maintenance teams at Danon's location, and his team is on call every other day for 24 hours.

"Some days nothing happens, and other days we may handle two or three missions," he said.

When the call comes, his unit, which always has protection by gun trucks called quick reaction teams, drives to the area where a certain vehicle has broken down or has been hit by enemy fire. Sometimes they repair the vehicle right on the spot while other times they tow the vehicle back to headquarters.

He has 11 soldiers in his squad and shop, and the unit includes a tow truck, Hemmit wrecker and a Het trailer, which is used to haul large and heavy disabled vehicles, such as tanks.

He said there has been only one time for sure when his truck and unit came under enemy fire.

"There have been other times when we heard shots," he said, "but it's so loud inside the truck, it's hard to know where the sounds came from."

Danon is confident in his crew and believes in the mission.

"We have a good game plan and know how to respond," he said.


His wife added:

Rachel, a homemaker, obviously thinks about the danger involved with his job, but takes the approach, "If it wasn't my husband doing it, it would be somebody else's husband."


The Phelps group protests in a ditch:

Shumway, Ill. — Five anti-gay demonstrators stood in a small roped-off piece of ditch here Friday in their group’s first gathering at a fallen soldier’s funeral since Illinois’ new “Let Them Rest in Peace” law was signed earlier this week.

The demonstrators are followers of the Rev. Fred Phelps, who claims soldiers have died because they fought for a country that condones homosexuality.

The group obeyed the law by staying more than 200 feet from Faith Lutheran Church, where the funeral of Army pilot Christopher Donaldson was held. Donaldson was killed while serving in Afghanistan.

Across Illinois Route 33 stood a crowd of more than 200 flag-waving supporters of Donaldson, many representing motorcycle groups that included the American Legion Riders, Patriot Guard and the Christian Motorcyclists Assn. That group turned its back on the anti-gay demonstrators, and no words were exchanged between the two groups.[snip]

“They’re kind of disgusting,” said Cherie Ryan, of Beecher City, a friend of Donaldson’s family, before she entered the church. “It’s extremely disrespectful.”

Johnathan Phelps said he had no intention of breaking the law during his protest and was not concerned that his group was outnumbered 40 to 1. He said his group would work to change the law governing protests at funerals “because if that soldier died for any righteous cause, it was for the First Amendment.”


The only thing intelligent that any Phelps has said.

In the mean time, they get a rougher reception down near Dodge City:

SEAFORD, Del. — Five people face criminal charges after a weekend confrontation with members of a Kansas group that believes U.S. casualties in Iraq are God's retribution for America's support of homosexuality, authorities said Monday.

Members of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., protested in Seaford Sunday for a protest in conjunction with the funeral of Marine Cpl. Cory Palmer, who died earlier this month from injuries suffered in Iraq.

The Kansas group, carrying signs reading "God Hates Fags," "Fags Doom Nations" and "Vengeance is Mine, Sayeth the Lord," was met by a crowd of about 1,000 angry counter-demonstrators shouting "USA! USA!" as well as various taunts and obscenities.

Passing motorists honked their horns and hundreds of motorcycle riders revved their engines in an attempt to drown out the church members' shouts. Some counter-demonstrators hurled eggs, stones and water bottles.

State troopers and Seaford police officers were between the two factions, but authorities say a Bridgeville man broke through the police line and began assaulting two of the Westboro protesters before the demonstration ended.[snip]

A 16-year-old Seaford boy was charged with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct after a tire on the Westboro group's rented van was slashed. He was being held at a detention center Monday in lieu of $1,000 bond.

Christopher Daudt, 19; Stephen Carson, 19; and Allen Dunn, 56, all of Seaford, also were charged with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct after several counter-demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at a fire department vehicle carrying the Westboro protesters away from the scene, breaking several windows. Each was released on $1,000 bond.

"Tempers got very high," said Stephanie Hansen, an attorney for the city. "The city provided plenty of police protection and did everything in its power to protect the members of Westboro Baptist Church as they exercised their First Amendment rights."

Despite the violence, police department spokesman Capt. Gary Flood said he believed area residents showed "good restraint."

Church members plan to return to Seaford on Wednesday to picket the funeral of Lance Cpl. Richard James.


Teaching the blind to be patriotic (now if it was only that easy with everyone):

Wichita — How do you explain the “Stars and Stripes” to children who cannot distinguish one from the other, or talk about the “Red, White and Blue” to someone whose world has always been black?

That’s the challenge facing the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Kansas Braille Transcription Institute, a nonprofit group based in Wichita.

The two organizations are teaming to help blind and visually impaired children across the country learn more about the American flag, its meaning and its history.

The Braille Transcription Institute plans to produce nearly 1 million posters featuring an embossed U.S. flag that children will be able to feel with their fingers, president Randolph Cabral said. The posters, which will also include the Pledge of Allegiance in large print and Braille, will be distributed to DAR chapters nationwide.


PFC Leland Taylor Krich graduates from Marine boot camp May 17 and goes on to infantry school.

Hutchinson News, Kansas says "Kansas Loses an American 'Hero'":

LIBERAL - Lance Cpl. Jose Marin-Dominguez left Kansas to serve his country, and the U.S. Marine, killed a week ago in Iraq, received accolades Sunday back on his home turf for making the ultimate sacrifice.

"Jose Marin died, died like a hero," said Jorge Gutierrez, pastor of the Maranatha Church of Christ here, which Marin-Dominguez attended. "We are standing before a hero. That's the truth."

The exclamation, made at Marin-Dominguez's funeral ceremony, generated thunderous applause among the 400 or so friends, family and others in attendance. Outside on North Pershing Avenue, many more, including hundreds of members of the pro-military Patriot Guard Riders motorcycle group, waved U.S. flags and lined a stretch of the roadway to pay homage.

"This is honoring a fallen soldier," said Joe Enterkin, a tattooed former U.S. Army soldier who was on hand. "He's just one of our children who gave his life for our country."[snip]

Perhaps more significantly, Gutierrez recalled a young man who was deeply moved by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Though born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Marin-Dominguez, a naturalized U.S citizen, grew up in Liberal and felt passionately about the United States.

"He felt strongly about what happened to the Twin Towers," Gutierrez said. "He felt his own home was being attacked."[snip]

The ceremony at Restlawn Cemetery, north of Liberal, was more subdued. Friends and family released colored balloons into the air while U.S. Marine Col. Greg Boyle presented Marin-Dominguez's family with the Purple Heart the Marine earned posthumously. Boyle, regimental commander at the Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, base that Marin-Dominguez served out of, traveled here for Sunday's ceremonies.

"Jose is a great young man, he's a great Marine," Boyle said. "He's a great American and, as the pastor said, he's a great American hero."


Terrorists see Iraq as "one front in a global war they hope to provoke" says US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad:

In an interview with the Associated Press one day after the seating of the new leadership, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad outlined the immediate challenges facing the government of national unity and said the next six months will be "truly critical."

Al-Maliki was meeting Sunday with the security chiefs of the police and military to underline his immediate priorities, Khalilzad said.

The government "will be faced immediately with challenges because the terrorists are not going to go away, they are going to persist in the effort to promote sectarian conflict," Khalilzad said. "They want Iraq to fail, but Iraq in itself is not important for them. Iraq is one theater in a global war that they want to provoke, a war of civilization."


Soldier's remains recovered 63 years later:

ST. JOSEPH — Finally, the son can bury the father he never knew.

More than 60 years after going missing in action in World War II, David Bauman’s father will be put to rest in Missouri soil. With the burial of the serviceman’s remains, many old anxieties will be set away even as the event stirs some thoughts anew.

“It’s not happy or sad,” Bauman said. “It just is.”

Bauman’s mother was pregnant with him in 1943 when her husband, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps, disappeared on a mission in the South Pacific.

When the war was over and the crew from the missing B-24 hadn’t been found, the Army stopped sending paychecks to their families and cashed out insurance packages. The government declared the men dead in January 1946 and pronounced their remains “unrecoverable.”

Then, in 2000, a hunter in Papua New Guinea wandered upon some plane wreckage and walked out of the jungle with a few bones and the dog tags of Lt. David R. Eppright — Bauman’s father.

Two years went by before the hunter passed that evidence on to the U.S. embassy. Another year would pass before Bauman’s wife, Peggy, would stumble across something on the Internet suggesting the military might have found the long-lost plane. It took yet another year to find a relative on the maternal side of Eppright’s family who could give a DNA sample.


60 Missouri Guard Prepare for Deployment to Iraq

The Missouri Army National Guard is planning a deployment ceremony for about 60 soldiers deploying to support Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The ceremony will be Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the University Plaza Hotel and Convention Center.

Members of Headquarters Supply Company of the 935th Aviation Support Battalion will deploy and support the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade located at Fort Hood, Texas.

The soldiers are reporting to their home station in Springfield today to continue preparations for the deployment.


Boeing unveils new light-weight bomb fit for urban combat (ie, Air Force wants to be part of the new "war paradigm" of guerilla urban warfare, not just invasion bombing and individual augmentee)

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) -- Boeing Co. on Monday unveiled a line of small, lightweight bombs that the U.S. Air Force will use in urban combat situations like the war in Iraq.

The small-diameter bombs weigh 250 pounds and can be used by all Air Force bombers, according to Boeing. By using the smaller bombs, planes can carry about four times as many of these weapons and fire them from farther away. A B-2 Stealth bomber can carry as many as 80 of the small-diameter bombs.

The bombs will also help limit civilian casualties during airstrikes in urban areas, according to the military news Web site GlobalSecurity.org. Boeing said its own tests show the bombs hit within 4 feet of their target.

"Our crews will be at less risk while defeating more targets with less collateral damage," Air Force Col. Richard Justice said.



It's almost Memorial Day and the Eugora VFW offers some flag ettiquette reminders:

Memorial Day is May 29. Guidelines from the Veterans of Foreign Wars for displaying the United States flag are as follows:
• A flag displayed on a car should be fastened to the right side bumper, antenna or to the window.
• If displaying a flag on a wall, the blue field should be in the upper left corner, and it should never touch the ground.
• When displaying an all-weather flag outdoors 24 hours a day, there should be a light near it at night so it is not in complete darkness.
• When the flag becomes worn, replace it.
For additional flag etiquette information, visit the VFW Web site at www.vfw.org or contact a local post commander.


Cross Posted at the Castle

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Saturday, May 20, 2006

Information War: The Hidden Leader of Virtual War

Al-Qaida's media strategy continues to gain in sophistication. Videos and DVDs, often portraying mujahideen attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan or beheadings of "apostates", have become common currency in the souks of the Middle East. A more recent phenomenon has been the emergence of 150 FM radio stations in the Afghan-Pakistan border areas. A Peshawar source said: "They're spewing out an unalloyed message of hatred and jihad against the west."

But this was only the tip of a wider problem, Peter Rodman, a US assistant secretary of defence, told Congress this month. Pentagon teams were monitoring more than 5,000 internet sites around the world that were being used to create propaganda speeches, graphics, posters, training manuals, slides, blogs, and web-casts, he said.

Al-Qaida, its affiliates and supporters were also targeting specific countries, much as western marketing organisations might do, Pentagon officials said. This included translating internet products into Russian and Turkish. The state department said that the internet now topped its list of "terrorist safe havens" because it "empowered the enemy to produce and sustain its own public media outlets".


Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The hidden leader of a virtual war

And people are worried about "placing" stories in Iraqi newspapers.

ON top of that, our over seas state sponsored magazines stink, we don't spend enough money to broadcast US sponsored television and radio 24 hours a day, we don't do enough period. Why? Because we have a terrible fear of "propaganda" and it is rightly worrisome, in an internet, globalization age that what ever we do in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq or Iran (media wise) it is going to get picked up by our domestic news sources reporting from theater.

And, when it doesn't turn out to be exactly "true" or whatever (it is propaganda aimed at the "other"), then we will get DOD or government "lied" to us.

This is a problem that has to be resolved quickly. You can't resolve global media markets, but you can insist on getting on your side of the story faster and more accurate. You can do it 24/7 if you put enough effort into it (if you understand that "half the battle is in the media"). You can create entire corps of internet nerds, enlisted or volunteer, who will "get the message out".

This is why I am a member of the 101st Keyboardists. Not to fight for this administration or the next be they Republican or Democrat, but to fight this war in the place that I can: the internet.

What are you willing to do?

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Friday, May 19, 2006

Baghdad ER: The New Survivor

BAGHDAD, May 19, 2006 – Traumatic injuries are a tragic fact of life in war. But thanks to the efforts of military medical personnel here, wounded servicemembers have the best chance of surviving their injuries than in any previous conflict.

"It's like the TV show 'Survivor,'" said Army Dr. (Lt. Col.) Mark Smith. "The characters change each season, but the premise remains the same."

Smith is part of the 10th Combat Support Hospital based at Ibn Sina Hospital in the International Zone here. The previous unit at Ibn Sina - the 86th Combat Support Hospital - is featured in an HBO documentary "Baghdad ER," which premiers on the cable network May 21. The show depicts the way Army medics care for, treat and save servicemembers wounded in Iraq.


Volunteers only please. Read the rest about the New Survivor.

Read the original article on Baghdad ER.

The new HBO documentary film "Baghdad ER" is much more than just a series of gruesome images flickering across a screen. It is a poignant testament to the sacrifice of American troops and the dedication of military medical personnel.


And don't forget to read Tough Mothers from the 47th CSH.

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Women at War: Civil War Service


One of the great things about the internet is that you can be looking up a specific subject matter and see a little link; click on that link and find out things you never would have thought about before.

For instance, did you know a woman invented "night signals" used by the US Navy and life saving (coast) guard until the 1930s? And, that the chemicals used for the pyrotechniques of these signals are the base of modern flares?

Me neither, but you can read all about it here.

. Franklin Coston was a scientist from Boston, employed by the Dept. of the Navy prior to the Civil War. He died an untimely death at a young age, some believing his work on gaslighting to have had toxic effects. He left Martha, his young wife, and three young children nearly destitute. Although virtually unknown historically, Martha Coston performed one of the most crucial roles in the Civil War, developing a night signals communications system for the Navy. As one peruses navy records of the war, one finds references to signals being used prior to battles to give instructions and operational orders during them. After the war, the Coston Night Signal was heavily relied upon by the U. S. Lifesaving Service and after its integration, the Coast Guard. It remained the main naval night signaling device utilized into the 1930s. The pyrotechnic formula developed is still the basis for flares used today.]


Read the entire memoirs because it has some interesting commentary about trying to deal with the military.

Then there is an open letter written in 1863 by Mary Abigail Dodge that appeared in the Monthly Atlantic: A Call to My Country Women, that virtually speaks through the ages.

O women, stand here in the breach,--for here you may stand powerful, invincible, I had almost said omnipotent. Rise now to the heights of a sublime courage,--for the hour has need of you. When the first ball smote the rocky sides of Sumter, the rebound thrilled from shore to shore, and [illegible] the slumbering hero in every human soul. Then every eye flamed, every lip was touched with a live coal from the sacred altar, every form dilated to the stature of the Golden Age. Then we felt in our veins the pulse of immortal youth. Then all the chivalry of the ancient days, all the heroism, all the self-sacrifice that shaped itself into noble living, came back to us, poured over us, swept away the dross of selfishness and deception and petty scheming, and Patriotism rose from the swelling wave stately as a goddess. Patriotism that had been to us but a dingy and meaningless antiquity, took on a new form, a new mien, a countenance divinely fair and forever young, and received once more the homage of our hearts. Was that a childish outburst of excitement, or the glow of an aroused principle? Was it a puerile anger, or a manly indignation? Did we spring up startled pigmies, or girded giants? If the former, let us veil our faces, and march swiftly (and silently) to merciful forgetfulness. If the latter, shall we not lay aside ever weight, and this besetting sin of despondency, and run with patience the race set before us?

A true philosophy and a true religion make the way possible to us. The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever He will; and He never yet willed that a nation strong in means and battling for the right should be given over to a nation weak and battling for the wrong. Nations have their future--reward and penalty--in this world; and it is as certain as God lives that Providence and the heaviest battalions will prevail. We have had reverses, but no misfortune hath happened unto us but such as is common unto nations. Country has been sacrificed to partisanship. Early love has fallen away, and lukewarmness has taken its place. Unlimited enthusiasm has given place to limited stolidity. Disloyalty, overawed at first into quietude has lifted its head among us, and waxes wroth and ravening. There are dissensions at home worse than the guns of our foes. Some that did run well have faltered; some signal-lights have gone shamefully out, and some are lurid with a baleful glare. But unto this end were we born, and for this cause came we into the world. When shall greatness of soul stand forth, if not in evil times?[snip]

Let us show now what manner of people we are. Let us be clear-sighted and far-sighted to see how great is the issue that hangs upon the occasion. It is not a mere military reputation that is at stake, not the decay of a generation’s commerce, not the determination of this or that party to power. It is the question of the world that we have been set to answer. In the great conflict of ages, the long strife between right and wrong, between progress and sluggardy, through the providence of God we are placed in the vanguard. Three hundred years ago a world was unfolded for the battle-ground. Choice spirits came hither to level and intrench. Swords clashed and blood flowed, and the great reconnaissance was successfully made. Since then both sides have been gathering strength, marshalling forces, planting batteries, and to-day we are in the thick of the fray. Shall we fail? Men and women of America, will you fail? Shall the cause go by default? When a great Idea, that has been uplifted on the shoulders of generations, comes now to its Thermopylae, its glory-gate, and needs only stout hearts for its strong hands,--when the eyes of a great multitude are turned upon you, and the fates of dumb millions in the silent future rest with you,--when the suffering and sorrowful, the lowly, whose immortal hunger for justice gnaws at their hearts, who blindly see, but keenly feel, by their God-given instincts, that somehow you are working out their salvation, and the high-born, monarchs in the domain of the mind, who standing far off, see with prophetic eye the two courses that lie before you, one to the Uplands of vindicated Right, one to the Valley of the Shadow of Death, alike fasten upon you their hopes, their prayers, their tears,--will you, for a moment’s bodily comfort and rest and repose, grind all these expectations and hopes between the upper and nether millstone? Will you fail the world in this fateful hour by your faint-heartedness? Will you fail yourself, and put the knife to your own throat? For the peace which you so dearly buy shall bring to you neither ease nor rest.


Please read the rest. It is much the same today as in every war before.

Read other interesting stories about women in the Civil War.

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Monday, May 15, 2006

Season of the Wolf: A Case for Conspiracy Theorists? - Newsweek Politics - MSNBC.com

But then Thompson went on. “You sort of wonder when something like that happens, well, whooo [he stretched out the ‘o’] stands to benefit?” Right there and right then, I realized this would be one of those movies that reveled in conspiracy and revealed little in the way of fact. But I went on watching, because this fantasy begun in France that the United States government actually carried out the 9/11 attacks, ugly as it is, fits neatly with the world’s image of the United States as a land that’s been run by power-mad, supersecretive, hypocritical scofflaw servants of narrow corporate interests ever since the Bush administration came to power.

Russian President Vladimir Putin played on that theme in his annual state of the union speech earlier this week, referring to the United States, none-too-obliquely, as “Comrade Wolf,” and in the same breath, announcing what could soon become a new arms race on a scale not seen since the days of the cold war.


This is a must read. Dickey: A Case for Conspiracy Theorists? - Newsweek Politics - MSNBC.com

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Women at War: Standing Tall with Tears in My Eyes

The mutated stick figures on the paper were cheerful. They held hands and stood among flowers. For a brief moment I smiled, then a tear ran down my cheek -- I missed my kids.

Deploying has never been easy, especially as a single mom of 6-year-old twin boys, but this time seemed to be the most difficult yet.

I sat in my 10x10 room in the middle of the desert and wondered what they were doing at that moment.

Their soccer game was today. [snip]

remember the day I left.

Damon told me before I got on the plane, “Mommy, don’t get dead.” In his dramatic tone Kaden told me, “If the bad guys chase you, run faster! OK?”

In their innocence, they see me as a G.I. Joe, going off to battle to protect the babies and the puppies.

They don’t understand the cruel reality of our world.

We are engaged in a war on terror that affects the safety and security of every American, including my little angels. We face dangerous enemies who want to harm our people and destroy our way of life.

All of this whirled around in my mind, and I wondered why I hadn’t put up a fight when the deployment orders were dropped on my desk. I could have tried to get out of it -- gotten a waiver, kicked and screamed, but I didn’t.

How could I?

The love I have for them and the desire I have for their safe and happy future is precisely the reason I wear the uniform, and I know I am not alone.
Commentary - Standing tall with teary eyes

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Saturday, May 13, 2006

Defining War: Baghdad Center of Jihad

I explained in "Choosing War", that we are not the only people that choose the battlefield or define it's significance to whole war. For sometime now, people have insisted on separating Iraq from Afghanistan. To many, they are not two battlefields of one war, but two different wars completely. While the US may have had many reasons to go to Iraq that are controversial, the fight for Iraq in the mind of the Islamists has only two reasons, parallel and joint to their one mission, for being in Iraq:

1) To cause a serious defeat to US and US forces militarily and politically in Iraq.

2) To establish Iraq, Baghdad specifically, as the center of the new "kalifate".

I've mentioned before why it is important to them. But, I missed the recent speech by bin Laden that confirms exactly what I have said in the past about their purposes. Bill Roggio at Counter Terrorism Blog pointed it out on April 24.

(bin Laden) The epicentre of these wars is Baghdad, the seat of the khalifate rule. They keep reiterating that success in Baghdad will be success for the US, failure in Iraq the failure of the US.


Once we have engaged in the war, regardless of being a military or economic super power, we don't get to define or choose every battle in the war. If one reads the rest of bin Laden's statements and puts it together with other statements from bin Laden, Zawahiri or even Zarqawi, whatever our original purposes of Iraq, it has certainly become the second front in the war on terror. It exists just as surely as any sectarian struggle that may be occuring in Iraq. It has caused the Islamists to have to focus on what WE do, not just their own plans for attacks or their own choices of battlefields, that, based on past activities and planning documents would be in the US, Europe and other weak nations outside of their own proclaimed "territory". It did force the Islamist organizations to split their efforts and place more significance on the battle for Iraq than they may have wanted. That is the purpose of "offense": to make the enemy fight you on your terms, not theirs; your choice of battlefield, not theirs.

It is clear in Afghanistan that the mujihadeen and taliban are attempting to regroup and press more operations in Afghanistan. Without the battlefield of Iraq, drawing in would be mujihadeen to a second place, Afghanistan, with it's much more complicated geography and established cave complexes, would have attracted many if not all of these fighters to that location. Iraq has forced them to split their material, financial and human resources.

When we attrited their forces and resources, when we forced them to fight for a symbolic and historical center of the "caliphate", we also forced them to re-align their over all plans and re-define their priorities. The fact is, Baghdad is the historical and symbolic center of the caliphate. We did not define it as that, they did. We did not say they wanted this caliphate, they did. As soon as they had established this as a primary goal for themselves, it is our responsibility to plan, to counter, to attack to insure failure of that plan.

While it may be difficult to comprehend, in a very real sense we have forced them to speed up operations. I'm sure they would have preferred to only have Afghanistan as a battlefield and used their other resources to attack in other theaters with a bomb here and a hi-jacking there. Death by a thousand cuts. By forcing them to fight, we haven't just forced them to use their resources in a fashion faster than they might have wanted, but also forced the development and acceptance of their ideology to be experienced and evaluated by other Muslims who might otherwise have been content to sit back and support the movement with little cost to themselves.

The outcome of this effort can be evaluated based on letters and videos from Zawahiri and Bin Laden. Zawahiri requesting money from Zarqawi ($100,000) and bin Laden saying:

It is a duty for the Umma with all its categories, men, women and youths, to give away themselves, their money, experiences and all types of material support, enough to establish jihad in the fields of jihad particularly in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kashmir and Chechnya. Jihad today is an imperative for every Muslim. The Umma will commit sin if it did not provide adequate material support for jihad.


Note the last sentence "The Umma will commit sin if it did not". In otherwords, it is not providing "adequate material support" right now and he is hoping to use the fear of sin and guilt for not supporting the mujihadeen.

This war is not the same as the Afghan/Russo war. As much as many people have tried to compare and use their experience of other wars to try to define Iraq and have been unsuccessful; bin Laden and Zawahiri have made the mistake of trying to use the same definition and paradigm to fight the United States. However, they made the very first mistake. The fight for Afghanistan was considered a "defensive fight". The Russians invaded first. As opposed to the fact that the Islamists attacked the United States first. Even if many in the middle east consider the US to have been complicit in supporting Israel against other Arabs (Palestinians) and having forces in the region, we had previously only had direct war with Saddam after he invaded Kuwait, which many considered an unjust war on Kuwait. That war also included many Arab nations in the coalition.

So, first blood was, by an large, considered to be drawn by the Islamists.

Not every Middle Eastern National or Muslim agrees with that. Some were happy that the United States was hit. But, many rejected it and others were just fearful of what the response would be. Thus, the complete support and the expected influx of thousands of mujihadeen to the Islamist battle flag did not occur. Another issue was that the mujihadeen were damaged and driven out so fast, their usual draw was ameliorated.

The attack on Iraq had an equal cognitive dissonnance in the Arab world. Saddam was not loved among the Arabs. He did generate quite a bit of fear. He was also known to have killed many Arab Muslims. His demise as a leader and war was not wanted, but his demise was not rejected either. While the Arab world spent much time condemning the war, with the quick defeat, the question did not create the amount of angst needed to cause the masses to rise up against US forces. Further, with the sectarian struggle between Shia and Sunni becoming prominent, a further dissonance arose.

In the Arab world, while there are mujihadeen who want to go on jihad against the Americans, they must understand now, and by Zarqawi's own words, that it is also war against their fellow Muslims. The daily killings of civilians has helped to discredit the movement more than any act the US could have done. It hasn't totally destroyed the appeal to young men searching for a "cause" or trying to fulfill expected jihad for Islam. But, the reality of this war has even infiltrated the Muslim world and it has turned in our favor; if nothing else, at least to slow down their ability to recruit and collect money.

But, most of all, the concepts of Islamic Caliiphate as espoused by the Islamists does not have anymore draw or ability than the once signal movement of Pan Arabists.

In the end, however, the battle for Iraq and Baghdad is not just about our expectations of taking out a criminal regime, stopping the proliferation of WMD, stopping the colusion and support with terrorists from Palestine to Afghanistan, or even his continued defiance of UN sanctions. It is not solely our battle to define. It is now the battle for the center of the caliphate, for the capitol.

Bin Laden said so. Zawahiri said so. Zarqawi said so.

Of all things that we must do now, however much we want to choose the battlefield and the definition of the war, at this stage we now fight on their terms, against their definition. Mainly because, when it is that important to them, we understand that it is not just our defeat in Iraq that will have far reaching impact, but their defeat, the defeat physically and ideologically, that will impact the speed and length of the war.

As I've said before, don't take my word for it, take theirs:

Zarqawi Letter 2004

As you know, God favored the [Islamic] nation with jihad on His behalf in the land of Mesopotamia. It is known to you that the arena here is not like the rest. It has positive elements not found in others, and it also has negative elements not found in others. Among the greatest positive elements of this arena is that it is jihad in the Arab heartland. It is a stone’s throw from the lands of the two Holy Precincts and the al-Aqsa [Mosque]. We know from God’s religion that the true, decisive battle between infidelity and Islam is in this land, i.e., in [Greater] Syria and its surroundings. [snip]

All that we hope is that we will be the spearhead, the enabling vanguard, and the bridge on which the [Islamic] nation crosses over to the victory that is promised and the tomorrow to which we aspire. This is our vision, and we have explained it. This is our path, and we have made it clear.


Zawahiri Letter to Zarqawi:

If our intended goal in this age is the establishment of a caliphate[snip]

Second Stage: Establish and Islamic authority or amirate, then develop it and support it until it achieves the level of caliphate- over as much territory as you can spread it's power in Iraq[snip]

to put it in a state of constant preoccupation with defending itself, to make it impossible for it to establish a stable state which could proclaim a caliphate,[snip]

If we look at the two short-term goals, which are removing the Americans and establishing an Islamic amirate in Iraq, or a caliphate if possible[snip]

If we are in agreement that the victory of Islam and the establishment of a caliphate in the manner of the Prophet


bin Laden pointed it out on April 24:

The epicentre of these wars is Baghdad, the seat of the khalifate rule

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Our Allies: The British

Saturday and it's time to remember those who share the burden with our men and women to bring down the Islamist terrorists and bring peace, stability and even democracy.

United Kingdom

Good work behind the scenes

UK Military doctors have been involved in a ground breaking initiative to train Iraqi doctors in British controlled south east Iraq.

14 Iraqi GP's have been learning the latest trauma techniques used in British hospitals in a series of lectures and practical sessions at the British Military Field Hospital at Shaibah Logistics Base, South East Iraq. British military doctors set up the two day trauma course for the Iraqi doctors working with the Marsh arabs of Basra.


Just like in the US, the defense ministry is working hard to provide services to the soldiers and their families back home:

7 Armoured Brigade The Desert Rats, recently returned from operational duty in Iraq, demonstrated their new "HOME RAT" welfare system to the Armed Forces Minister, Adam Ingram, when he visited them on Tuesday 9 May 2006 in Hohne, Germany.

HOME RAT, the brainchild of Brigade Commander Brigadier Patrick Marriott, brought together separate unit welfare provisions into one, centralised welfare system for the brigade and their families. It was adopted during Operation TELIC.

A HOME RAT website established through ArmyNET – the secure, password protected website for Army personnel – provided a platform for sharing messages, photographs and news between soldiers and their families. In addition, a comprehensive leaflet and DVD outlined the full range of welfare services.

Commenting on the HOME RAT system, Mr Ingram said:

“Our Armed Forces and their families, who provide invaluable support for our soldiers on operations, deserve the highest standards of welfare available.

"I can see that HOME RAT offered excellent two-way communication to ensure that families received regular updates on life in Iraq and vice-versa. It also ensured soldiers and their families were aware of the comprehensive welfare services available to them.”

During his visit to 7 Armoured Brigade in Hohne, Germany, Mr Ingram also presented Op TELIC medals to 400 soldiers from 9/12 Lancers.


And they are paying a price, men and women, often unremarked in our own media but for a few words on the latest casualties. The MOD provided brief biographies of the five soldiers who died in Basra.

It is with very great sadness and regret that the Ministry of Defence has confirmed the names of five British personnel missing presumed dead following the crash of a Lynx helicopter in Basra City on Saturday 6 May 2006.

They are Wing Commander John Coxen RAF; Lieutenant Commander Darren Chapman RN; Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill RAF; Captain David Dobson AAC and Marine Paul Collins.


They are heroes as much as ours, may God bless and comfort their families.

Wing Commander John Coxen, from Royal Air Force Benson, was born in 1959. Originally from Liverpool, he joined the Royal Air Force, upon completion of Initial Officer Training, in January 1983.

Throughout his years in the Air Force, John flew a number of helicopter types on a range of operations, including the Puma, Merlin and Chinook, on 7 Squadron at RAF Odiham and 18 Squadron at RAF Guterslöh. He also commanded 1 Squadron at No. 2 Flying Training School at RAF Shawbury. Well known for his high standards, he had a gift for developing his students to their full potential; indeed many of today’s front-line Royal Air Force helicopter pilots owe their achievements to his dedication and skill.[snip]

The family of Lieutenant Commander Chapman have issued the following statement:

"We are deeply shocked and devastated at the untimely and tragic loss of Darren. He was a fantastic father, husband, son and friend who was deeply committed to family life; always there for those who needed him, nothing was ever too much trouble.[snip]


Captain David Ian Dobson, Army Air Corps, aged 27, was serving as a pilot with 847 Naval Air Squadron, based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton. He was single.

Dave, or Dobbo as he was known in the Squadron, joined the Army in January 2001 and on completion of his officer training at Sandhurst was commissioned into the Army Air Corps. He completed his flying training and qualified as a Lynx helicopter pilot in December 2003. He then served with 5 Regiment Army Air Corps in Northern Ireland as a Lynx pilot, receiving the General Service Medal (NI). [snip]

Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill, aged 32, served as a Flight Operations Officer at Royal Air Force Benson.

Born in Canterbury, Sarah-Jayne joined the Royal Air Force as an airwoman in May 1997 and on completion of her basic training was posted to RAF Coningsby in October 1997.

An ambitious and extremely competent airwoman, her potential was quickly recognised and she was selected for Initial Officer Training in October 2001.[...]

Group Captain Duncan Welham, Station Commander Royal Air Force Benson, said of her:

"Sarah-Jayne was one of the Royal Air Force’s finest: courageous, upbeat and unselfish. She was a dedicated officer who will be missed by us all.[...]

Her husband, Lee, released the following statement:

"Sarah was my best friend and my most beloved wife. She was also an adored daughter and sister, highly loved and respected by all who had the pleasure of knowing her.

"Her love of sport and outdoor activities was only outshone by her commitment to the Royal Air Force, of which she and I are extremely proud to be part.

"Her loss has greatly affected and impacted on more people than anyone can comprehend.[snip]

Marine Paul M Collins, aged 21, served as an Air Door Gunner with 847 Naval Air Squadron. He was single and based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton.

His parents have given the following tribute:

"Paul was a wonderful young man and so full of potential and zest for life. He was physically and mentally strong, though this was tempered by an intelligent, thoughtful and caring nature.

"He loved outdoor pursuits and from an early age of ten had wanted to be a Royal Marine. This dream was nearly spoilt due to injuries sustained in a motor cycle accident; however he fought back, recovered and fulfilled his dream passing out from Commando Training Centre on 13 February 2004. Though his time with the Corps was only short he made many good friends and was never happier than being with his ‘brothers in arms’.


Please remember them in your thoughts and know that they are bleeding along with our men and women, doing the hard "work of generations".

Brittain has sustained 109 KIA in Iraq and 7 in Afghanistan.

A very interesting read from Rory Higgins (anyone else hear a cockney accent?) who is a editor for the BFBS (British Service Radio) for the MOD.

BFBS has stations in many of the areas where the forces operate, but not all. In Afghanistan, for example, we do not yet have a station. We hope to change that soon, but in the meantime, people like me and my colleagues from TV go out there and try to explain to everyone else what it is like on the ground.

I was one of the embedded journalists on Op Telic, and that has to have been one of the high points of my career. To be involved in a very small way was an enormous privilege. I found that as more adrenaline was pumping, the people around me and the business of surviving became much more important than reporting.[snip]

On the outskirts of Basra I met some Irish Guardsmen, and I thought I would record some messages from them for the families back home. They couldn’t believe it was us: “BFBS? You’re here with us? Blimey, that’s great!” Then some mortar rounds started to come in, so we just jumped in the back of a Warrior and carried on recording the messages.


And the heroes that serve that you never hear of, ours or theirs:

Captain Peter Norton, an Ammunition Technical Officer, has been awarded the George Cross for an act of 'the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger' in the Al Bayaa district near Baghdad, Iraq.[snip]

"Captain Norton was the second-in-command of the US Combined Explosives Exploitation Cell (CEXC) based in the outskirts of Baghdad. The unit has been in the forefront of counter Improvised Explosive Device (IED) operations and is plays a vital role in the collection and analysis of weapons intelligence.

"At 1917 hours on 24 July 2005, a three vehicle patrol from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 121st Regiment of the Georgia National Guard was attacked by a massive command initiated IED in the Al Bayaa district near Baghdad.[snip]

A short while later he was briefed that a possible command wire had been spotted in the vicinity of the explosion site. With a complete understanding of the potential hazard to himself and knowing that the insurgents had used secondary devices before in the particularly dangerous part of Iraq, Captain Norton instructed his team and the US forces present in the area to remain with their vehicle while he alone went forward to confirm whether a command wire IED was present.

"A short while later, an explosion occurred and Captain Norton sustained a traumatic amputation of his left leg and suffered serious blast and fragmentation injuries to his right leg, arms and lower abdomen. When his team came forward to render first aid, he was conscious, lucid and most concerned regarding their safety. He had correctly deduced that he had stepped on a victim operated IED and there was a high probability that further devices were present. Before allowing them to render first aid, he instructed his team on which areas were safe and where they could move. Despite having sustained grievous injuries he remained in command and coolly directed the follow-up actions


This is typical "British Stiff Upper Lip" because I'm sure there was quite a bit of angst, adrenalin, rage and fear going on along with a very serious need to secure the area against additional attacks as the insurgents are want to do. According to the George Cross site, the award is given for:

"The highest award for acts of conspicuous gallantry performed by men or women when not in the face of the enemy"

The George Cross was instituted in September 1940 to recognise civilian heroism. King George VI created the award for the men and women of the Commonwealth whose courage could not be marked by any other honour. The silver cross, bearing an image of St George slaying the dragon and the words "FOR GALLANTRY", was designed by Percy Metcalfe and is struck at the Royal Mint.

To date, there have been 401 awards of the George Cross including the latest to Trooper Christopher Finney of the Blues & Royals for his outstanding bravery in a 'friendly fire' incident in Iraq. Bomb disposal experts, Miners, Lifeboatmen, Railwaymen, Policemen and Special Operations Executive Agents all feature prominently, as do men and women from the three armed services.


More on another British hero:

Colour Sergeant (CSgt) Matthew Tomlinson receives the next highest award in this list, the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. CSgt Tomlinson was commanding a US Marine Corps assault force on the Euphrates River near Fallujah in November 2004 when they came under fire from a numerically superior and well-defended enemy position. His decision to turn his lead craft towards the attack created an element of surprise, which unhinged the enemy. He was first on the river bank and he engaged in close quarter battle, enabling his men to encircle the enemy. When it became clear the insurgents were reinforcing themselves, CSgt Tomlinson called for fire support on the enemy Rocket Propelled Grenade position and he planned and led a decisive assault on the key enemy position. On realising his force was running low on ammunition, CSgt Tomlinson executed a safe withdrawal to the river bank where he personally provided cover fire to ensure his men safely boarded the boats. He also marked his position so that air support could counter strike at the enemy force.


I bet most everyone thought that the "blocking" positin of the British forces in Fallujah was their only contribution. One day, I'd like to have the whole story.

HOOAH! Royal Marines!

Thank the British Service Members for their service.

God Save the Queen!



More information on significant awards to those serving in the Queen's military.


Britain takes over NATO led Rapid Reaction Force in Afghanistan.

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Friday, May 12, 2006

Battle for Baghdad II: Zarqawi on the Offense

Another blogger notes other documents found during the raids on Yusufiyah that oulines Zarqawi's plan for a new offensive. He has finally determined that fighting inside Sunni areas and killing Sunni would erode the support they need and he is desperate to get it back.

3- Reduce the attacks on Sunni areas (Adhamiya, Mansour, Rusafah-mixed) – in proportion to the area - and areas where the people are calm, in order to reduce the pressure on the Sunni so as to leave them as restful and progressive, and to be dedicated to cleansing them, calmly, of spies and of Shi’ahs.

This will be done in the following ways:

A) Refrain from attacking moving patrols and concentrate on stationary patrols by using snipers without provoking the matter.

B) Drive away the Shi’ahs and expel their businesses and workplaces from our areas.[ed...been happening; reason for kidnappings on businesses in Baghdad are not simply for ransom money]

C) Move the battle to the Shi’ah depths and cut off the paths from them by any means necessary to put pressure on them to leave their areas.

D) Our areas are considered strategic areas according to the Americans because the primary roadways, as well as transportation and financial pathways, are near them, therefore, we will leave or reduce our operations against them in our areas for the near future, and will perform our work against them in the areas of Baghdad itself, as well as the surrounding areas.


And, here he is overly optimistic about the success of his plans:

therefore it is necessary to leave the Americans to feel safe at this time in our areas and attack them on the exterior roads or in the Shi’ah areas. Then we will have control over our areas in a month, God willing, and we will open the door once again with the Americans.


Later he talks about another phase of his operations that will be over in 3 to 4 months and result in victory. However, what I thought was the most telling and, shall I say "interesting" piece was this:

What is the strategy of the Commander of Al-Rasafah – for example- for the next six months, instead of the next year, two years or twenty years?


One, it says they are looking at long term battle even though they talk earlier about the "quick" victories. Two, if any of you have been through business planning or management strategy sessions or even "career planning", this comment comes right off the list of things you could be sure to hear. So, whoever wrote this little outline is not some schmuck mujihadeen from a sheep farm in western Iraq or a laborer from Saudi or Syria. As usual, the people running the mujihadeen are not "disaffected poor", but educated middle class or wealthy. This fellow has definitely been to management classes or worked in a business field as at least a low to mid-level executive. Three, the outline format with brief discussion points also shows someone that has been "in business" and knows that the only way to keep his leader's attention and the worker bees below him is to be brief (make your points in five bullet points or less).

As far as that goes, my military brother and other military power point rangers have probably seen this outline before, although I don't know how prevalent it was in the Iraqi or other regioinal military, it smacks either of military college and officer corp background or, as noted, business management. I'd even lay odds that the writer of this memo was far away already when the US troops came. He's not mujihadeen cannon fodder. Would be nice if any of the countries around about there had any idea or gave up any "missing" officer corp members' names from a branch of their military just to see and compare.

Odds are also that he young and not long out of university. Thirty or less. I doubt this was written by Zarqawi. It's the language, the tone and the references to certain "management" concepts that strike me.


Read the rest. It is very detailed about his plans. I hope he wasn't really planning to use this one though.

The road to the airport [ed..blue SW Baghdad] is very strategic for them, as well as the new International Abu-Ghurayb Highway[ed...green W Baghdad]. These roads are very important to the Americans, and the Americans are more susceptible to be attacked than the government forces, as they may use these roads to mobilize government forces against us with ease and extensive pressure (as the government wants only the opportunity and the authority to put pressure on our Sunni areas [ed...adhamiya, Rusafah, Mansour and al Karkh]) therefore it is necessary to leave the Americans to feel safe at this time in our areas and attack them on the exterior roads or in the Shi’ah areas[Thawra-Sadr City].


Note he is talking about not striking at targets that are moving on the Abi Talib Street. This is the red line that runs through the heart of Baghdad through Adhamiya, Rusafah and al Karkh. He wants to strike on the outer ring to reduce the ability to push forces into Baghdad proper either on operations or in support of other facilities that might be under attack later in the plan. He wants to isolate every facility inside Baghdad. Classic warfare: surround and cause implosion from the inside.


Striking and Sabotaging the Centers,
which the patrols dispatch from, or possibly use them. Make this one of the priorities, because they will not be able to compensate for their losses in this manner even if there was continued dispatching. According to the plan, continue these operations on this faction. However, the centers from which no patrols operate are much less important.


Most likely targets are the police center east of Ali Talib St, the parade grounds with it's forces moving back and forth on the Abu Graihb Highway and the forces from the industrial center in the south on Ad Dawrah. Possibly the two airports as well. Most interesting, what they want to do appears to be to move away from strikes in al Karkh. This is probably also because that is the heart of the Green Zone and, as previously noted, the al Karkh commander is very restricted in movement and he has been ratted out (which is the only conclusion considering they have "voice print" and possibly pictures - he's probably holed up somewhere and can't even leave the house, much less organize good attacks or "lead by face").

Other interesting comments:

It is best to say that there must be booby trapped cars also, consistent with our vision and strategy.


Notice that he says "booby trapped" and makes no mention of "martyrs". As noted in the previous post, he says they only have about 30 to 40 mujihadeen in the two main commands, al Karkh and Rusafah. With those limited numbers, even though he talks about increasing them, using the remaining forces as suicide fodder is pretty wasteful. Part of a counter insurgency is to attrit forces and resources while simultaneously cutting off ability to resupply. That has been the actions in the Al Anbar provence, particularly up and down the Tigris in places like Al Qaim, Haditha, etc as Bill Roggio points out in this presentation. At this point, he can't afford to use men up. So, what we're talking about are cars on the side of the road or in parking lots that are rigged to explode, probably by remote trigger. Most likely attacks will also be IEDs. He also mentions using "snipers" to attack and then leave.

He is thinking small units and tactics because of his limitations. He needs to preserve his resources. Not to say that there won't be more suicide attacks as young Muslims trickle in without any training and get sent to do what they can do best, but, as the recent reports have shown, these numbers are going down.

Then he goes on to say:

– It is known, by the rank and file of the Mujahidin in Baghdad, that their leadership do not operate according to a broad view, or a well-knit plan, and that the operations are based upon mere reactions, or on a media strategy by researching through daily news bulletins looking for feed back, and this has led to strategic losses for us.


Again, the reference to the media. The are looking for the attacks that get the most print and angst response.

The Commanders [except those that God has mercy on] demand from everyone continuous daily operation with the most force possible, with the intention of exhausting the enemy, but in reality, the Mujahidin are the ones who are exhausted.


Again, the leadership is limited in capabilities and are using up their forces with no territory to show for it. The exhaustion felt is both spiritually (because they make no headway), physically (because they are limited in men and must all carry out double or triple duty on a continuous basis - little relief) and materially (men, materials and money must travel through perilous areas patrolled by coalition forces, with routine check points, on a regular basis; suicide bombings mean more duty spread among less men or less well trained men)

So, Zarqawi is on the Offensive, but reducing it down to even smaller units, fewer targets and tactics designed to preserve his forces while trying to cut off the center and continue to press the civil war issue.

His only problem now is, we've got his plan and probably a lot more where that came from.

It looks like we are not going to take the pressure off the Sunni strongholds.

FOB LOYALTY, Iraq – Elements of the 6th Brigade, 2nd National Police Division, and 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, seized a large cache of deadly explosives in a residence in eastern Baghdad at approximately 4 p.m. May 10.

The search in the New Baghdad neighborhood by the national police and Soldiers resulted in the discovery of 142 land mines, 58 blocks of C4 explosives, approximately 8,000 feet of detonation cord, 107 fuses, 22 rocket-propelled grenades, a launcher, 59 mortars, 40 pounds of mortar propellant, four shape charges, 43 blasting caps, explosive-formed projectile materials, two gas masks, six two-way radios, multiple mortar launching tubes, maps of Baghdad and Iraq, and anti-Iraqi force literature.

The precision operation took place with no rounds fired and no injuries.

Three men were detained in connection with the cache. One female was detained and then released to a local leader under house arrest. A group of more than 300 residents gathered in the area. A local Imam and civic leaders ensured that the group demonstrating did not turn violent.


New Baghdad I believe is in the Ahmadiya district previously noted as a problem with Sunni rejectionists and Saddamists.

And, to support Zarqawi's plan:

Elsewhere, three U.S. Army soldiers were killed Thursday when roadside bombs hit two U.S. convoys southwest of Baghdad, the military said. The U.S. command also announced that an American soldier died Tuesday from wounds not suffered in combat.


Southwest Baghdad: Airport Expressway

Checkpoint killings for "fixed detachments" and clearing roadways.

An Iraqi soldier died at a checkpoint in a shooting in western Baghdad on


Another report indicates a "booby trapped" car (VBIED) went off at the office of Al Maliki's al Dawa party. No one was injured. Military indicating they believed it was aimed at US and Iraqi forces, but more likely a direct attempt on the "Shia centers". No link yet.

Hat tip Mudville Gazette

Cross posted at the Castle

Battle for Baghdad II: Zarqawi's Alamo

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Posted by Kat at 5:30 AM 0 comments Links to this post

If You Stand For Nothing Else...

Part II


Alaa is still in jail. He "blogged from prison", by sending a note out with a friend and having it posted. It reminded me of King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", though Alaa was much shorter in words. So, I wanted to share some thoughts with you and ask you to participate in the petition to free him and the many others being held unjustly in Egypt.

There was a protest on Thursday and Sandmonkey has the story with pictures. He says there were 2000 protesters. Aside from pro-government and anti-terror protests, I don't know if I've seen one this big in awhile for freedom and democracy. I think we will see more. Here is one in Chicago. And the State Dept. responds.

Below is my letter to Alaa and his friends:

It is easy for me to be so far away in a free nation where I can hang any sign I want out and have few problems (certainly, as long as I do not advocate violence, no police will come for me and certainly not beat me) to give you support and say you are doing the right thing. Someone early on was giving people grief about that in the comments.

But, this is not about me or the easy. The right thing is not always easy to know and is often not easy to do. Certainly, the first few days will seem easy to you, but it will be much harder as time goes on. Yet, I believe in you because you have always believed in yourself and believed in a different Egypt. We may have some different views on how exactly it will come about or what socio/politic/economic solution will be the best. But, there are a few things that we can agree on and they are the big ones. Freedom, equality before the law, free speech and fair political processes and elections.

These seem so simple, yet they are far away in many respects. Except today. Today, they were that much closer. Today, they mean more than any of the other slogans. They mean something because you have made them mean something. Until today, I never knew a man who would stand for his convictions in the face of arrest and incarceration. You have proven that these things do mean something more than mere slogans.

Seeing your words and the title "blogging from prison" reminded me of Martin Luther King, Jr in his letter from Birmingham Jail.

http://www.thekingcenter.org/prog/non/Letter.pdf

"While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here I am here because I have organizational ties here.

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here."
*****************
I am here because injustice is here. Those are some very powerful words. He goes on to say:

"Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. ***Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.*** We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. ***Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.*** Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."
**************************
You see, even a man we now consider a great American who changed our society was considered an "outsider" and an "agitator". Someone who had other purposes than simply trying to change his local situation.
I think this is significant because so many protesters in Egypt who ask for democracy and basic freedoms are often considered to be agents of Israel or the United States. Martin Luther King Jr was accused in a similar manner of being from the outside; not part of the local community and people feared that his interference would cause a much greater physical struggle. You are an Egyptian. You cannot be from the "outside". You have the right as an Egyptian to demand a change in your society.

I often think, when I read the letter, that, while MLK had great vision, while sitting in Birmingham jail, he must have wondered how much and how far it would all go. While he had a dream, even at his greatest moment, he wondered how long it would take. Most people know some of his most famous speeches. The last being before he was assassinated he spoke about getting to the river Jordan and looking into the promise land, but that he might not get there with everyone. Whether it was a premonition or if he was simply talking about what he thought would be the length of the struggle, it was still a significant comment. He understood that this would be more than a few marches and a few speeches. It would be the long war and he had to be prepared and needed to prepare people around him to "fight it".

That is where you are. You must decided how much you will give and for what purpose. Is it for you and Manala or the children you might have? Is it for a dream? How much is it worth to you and what would you give? Is this moment the most that you are willing to give for it?

Only you can decide. But, even if you choose to stop hereafter, I will not think less of you. You will have inspired the next and the next even if you don't realize it.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

You may not feel that you are important to this movement or that it is beyond you. Maybe you are not the "leader". Maybe the idea of being the next MLK or other Egyptian great dissenters is difficult to believe or imagine. But it is not about all the moments past nor completely about you. It is about all the others, too and they, like you, have put a value on their freedom, on their dreams and that is why they are there. You say that you would feel better if another with more experienced was there, yet they are not. Just you and a few younger ones.

I would bet that some words of strength and comfort from you would go a long way. I recall that MLK had not been in jail before. He had to decide on his role at that point. What was he doing to his family? What was he doing for them? Was it worth it? He had some assistants with him in jail and they were afraid as well, but he gave them strength. Knowing you from your blog and comments, I know that you have a reserve to share.

Well, MLKs dream took a long time and even now there is no perfection, yet, his dream has come to fruition.

I don't always think about it. A few weekends ago, we had a barbecue with friends and family. White, black, hispanic and American Indian. Honestly, until this moment seeing this post and being reminded about MLKs letter, I gave no thought to the struggle it took to get there. Now I am reminded that one man made the difference and behind him were the many who also believed.
*************************8
"In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. We have gone through these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts."[snip]

"As in so many past experiences, our hopes bad been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self-purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves : "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?""
*******************************
That is the question and one you and others may need to ask yourselves many times in the course of the struggle. If you cannot commit, you may not be able to see this through.
**************************
"You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth"[snip]

"The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue"[snip]

"*****My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. *****

****We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant 'Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." ****"
********************

I would like to say, at this moment, those that think that the democratic movements demanding their rights, their place in the political process or justice before the law should "wait" for the right time; for the time when the worry of a potential Islamic rule in Egypt (the potential for less freedom) by the MB to be "past", they should read MLK. and I ask at this moment, "When will the time be right?" as MLK said, the time is never right for those who are in power, those who fear and those without a dream. In order to make change, the fear must be seen through, walked through and the dream must take its place. To do otherwise would be to continue, "justice too long delayed is justice denied".

MLK said you should keep your eye on the prize. Don't look down or back, but always forward.
*************************
"Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society...when you no forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. "[snip]

"The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the Brat to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all"

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust."
*******************
There is injustice in Egypt. Laws that can permit a man to be arrested for simply saying the laws of the land should be just and equal are not "moral laws". Laws that deny him the right to speak out against it are not moral and are injust.
*************************

"Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

I hope you are able to ace the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law. "
***************8
Remember that. YOu have indeed expressed the "highest respect for the law" when you have challenged the injustice of a law that is against the best principles of man. The question for you and others with you is "Are you prepared to pay the price?"
*****************************
"I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.[snip]

You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At fist I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible "devil."

I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do-nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. [snip]

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that an men are created equal ..." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we viii be. We we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremist for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? "
***********************
this is hard from so far away. I am sure you are thinking, if you read this at all, that this is all good and well, but it is you in the cell and not me and not MLK. I think only, as I read this, that so many things he said almost 50 years ago still stand true today and resonate in your situation. You can replace the word "negro" and "white moderate" with any race, minority or politically oppressed group as well as the name of the "moderate" and find that it is the same.

What his words will mean to you, I don't know. I only hope they will give you strength in knowing that you are fighting the same fight, the same hate, the same injustice. another has been in the cell before you and he had to reason it out with himself and others as well. Don't let them tell you that it is not "time". "Time" he says, "is not neutral." Or in otherwords, time waits for no man and it certainly will not resolve the question in Egypt as to the resolution of the injustice against you and other freedom minded people.

As to the police officers who arrested you, MLK speaks:
************************8
"Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if .you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.

It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handing the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in pubic. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."

I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face Jeering, and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two-year-old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My fleets is tired, but my soul is at rest." "
************************************
As to the lenght of this comment, Mr. King writes for me:
**********************************
"Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?

If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood, "

Signed Martin Luther King, Jr
******************************************
Thank you for doing the hard work. I will pray for you and yours and ask for you to receive guidance on the matter. In the end, only you can decide. I just wanted to let you know that you are not the first, nor the last, nor are you really alone. You are walking with giants. I can say, with certainty, that it may be long and you may not be able to continue, but someone will and you have taken their first step for them.

I will continue to write letters to our State Dept and the Egyptian Embassy as well as sign the petition.

I just want to ask all those who say "wait", "how long"?

For all those who have time, I suggest reading MLK's entire letter. I have barely touched on all the things that resemble your current situation.

If you stand for nothing else in this lifetime, let it be this moment, this time: freedom and justice.

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Thursday, May 11, 2006

Battle for Baghdad II: Zarqawi's Alamo

Multiple raids in the town Yousifiyah and other Baghdad areas have resulted in intelligence regarding Zarqawi's next phase of attacks and explaining some of the situation of the Islamist insurgents in Baghdad. This included some footage of the Zarqawi tape that did not make it into the final cut aired on al Jazeera and other Middle East news stations.

There are other documents that have not been released at this time. However, the basis of the main document is to point to Zarqawi's change in strategy to focus on Baghdad and move away from areas where he may be forced to attack and kill Sunni police or military units. He needs to avoid this because his base of support is solely among the Sunni in Iraq; loss of support means complete death for al Qaeda in Iraq.

During his press briefing, General Lynch provided some slides to accompany his comments and point Zarqawi's staging area in Yousifiyah:




We believe that his primary, main effort right now is in the vicinity of Baghdad. And knowing that his capabilities are these foreign fighters, we're planning and conducting operations to take away that capability.

So let me walk you through these. Intelligence that we received led us to believe that Yusufiya, south of Baghdad, was a staging area for these suicide bombers. Remember, we're in this most vulnerable period with the government of Iraq as they form the national unity government. And if they form this national unity government, Zarqawi is indeed a failure. Remember, democracy equals failure for Zarqawi, so he's going to pull out all stops and he's going to use these suicide bombers, and we need to take away that capability.


In fact, there has been an increase in VBIEDs and IEDs in the Baghdad area over the last 30 days or more even though the Yusufiya cells have been rolled up to some extent and many foreign fighters detained or killed. By the time of the Yusufiya operations Zarqawi most likely had already began the move to consolidate his Baghdad activities.

General Lynch made very clear the main reason for Zarqawi's focus on Baghdad was due to it's significance as a center of power for the new Iraqi government. This was make clear in the Baghdad Strategy Document found at a Yusufiya safe house:

It has been proven that the Shiites have a power and influence in Baghdad that cannot be taken lightly, particularly when the power of the Ministries of Interior and Defense is given to them, compared with the power of the mujahidin in Baghdad.[snip]

Thus, what is fixed in the minds of the Shiite and Sunni population is that the Shiites are stronger in Baghdad and closer to controlling it while the mujahidin (who represent the backbone of the Sunni people) are not considered more than a daily annoyance to the Shiite government.


This is not only a matter of modern government and power, but is also a symbolic seat of power in the Old Caliphate. Every group wishing to control the caliphate that attacked and captured Baghdad would end up controlling the empire; from the Persians to the Seljuk Turks to the Mongols to eventually the Ottomans. It is absolutely true today that Iraqis will most likely follow the Iraqi government and continue to believe that the government can "win the fight" as long as it controls Baghdad. It's the largest city in Iraq from square miles to population. It has the most mosques and controls police, military, oil and money from the center. Further, as long as the parliament continues to sit in Baghdad and even acts like it is governing, Zarqawi's dream of an emirate in Iraq cannot exist.

Further, he's been run out of just about every area he has tried to hold from Fallujah to Mosul to Husaybah to al Qaid to Tal Afar and any other city the mujihadeen have tried to develop permanent, large scale bases. All of his cells continue to be small and incapable of holding any territory or growing beyond a certain size before they become unable to maintain their security among the population.

The document outlines several other problems:

2) The strength of the brothers in Baghdad is built mainly on booby trapped cars, and most of the mujahidin groups in Baghdad are generally groups of assassin without any organized military capabilities.

3) There is a clear absence of organization among the groups of the brothers in Baghdad, whether at the leadership level in Baghdad, the brigade leaders, or their groups therein. Coordination among them is very difficult, which appears clearly when the group undertake a joint operations.


For any insurgency, this is a major problem. Maqo wrote in "On Guerilla Warfare":

During the progress of hostilities, guerrillas gradually develop into orthodox forces that operate in conjunction with other units of the regular army. Thus the regularly organized troops, those guerrillas who have attained that status, and those who have not reached that level of development combine to form the military power of a national revolutionary war. There can be no doubt that the ultimate result of this will be victory.


Conversely, if they cannot organize into conventional forces large enough to hold territory, then they will be defeated. The problems that create failing organization are many according to Mao.

What is the relationship of guerrilla warfare to the people? Without a political goal, guerrilla warfare must fail, as it must, if its political objectives do not coincide with the aspirations of the people and their sympathy, co-operation, and assistance cannot be gained. [snip]

Unorganized guerrilla warfare cannot contribute to victory...[snip]

...in spite of the most complete preparation, there can be no victory if mistakes are made in the matter of command.


Zarqawi's Al Qaeda operations fail on all three of these issues. Multiple letters and other documents support the problem Zarqawi suffers in Baghdad as a microcosm of the whole problem with the insurgency.

Their main success has been in the media:

The policy followed by the brothers in Baghdad is a media oriented policy without a clear comprehensive plan to capture an area or an enemy center. Other word, 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. This policy dragged us to the type of operations that are attracted to the media, and we go to the streets from time to time for more possible noisy operations which follow the same direction.

This direction has large positive effects; however, being preoccupied with it alone delays more important operations such as taking control of some areas, preserving it and assuming power in Baghdad (for example, taking control of a university, a hospital, or a Sunni religious site).


However, Zarqawi's physical losses of territory controlled, money and leadership in other areas has resulted in the appearance of failure on all fronts accept in Baghdad. Mudville Gazette covers the phenomenon. This success is fairly simple and, contrary to popular opinion, does not require a "genius" or "mastermind" to use this strategy. Most of the American media is holed up in Baghdad. They make heavy use of local stringers. With bombs going off in the city, they barely need to travel to any other town and they don't. All "peaceful" cities get just about no coverage in the international media. Even Fallujah has dropped off the radar. This leaves the "last redoubt"; the area with the "most success" that Zarqawi hopes to capitalize on.

He needs this victory or at least an appearance of a strong showing in Baghdad for many reasons; one such reason is to increase recruiting that has fallen off in the last year. He also needs to improve his "face" value since he was recently demoted as the head of the insurgency to it's military chief, bringing forward the leadership (at least on the face of it) of the Iraqi insurgency groups to form the Mujihadeen Shura Council. In the world that Zarqawi operates in, appearances, legends and myths of invincibility take on half the war effort and determine whether someone is a leader or cannon fodder. He needs to turn Baghdad inside out or the Islamist insurgency will fail.

He indicates two more problems that Baghdad represents:

First, their media power is presented by their special radio and TV stations as the sole Sunni information source, coupled with our weak media which is confined mainly to the Internet, without a flyer or newspaper to present these events.

Second, in the course of their control of the majority of the speakers at mosques who convert right into wrong and wrong into right, and present Islam in a sinful manner and sins in a Muslim manner. At the same time we did not have any positive impact or benefits from our operations.


Based on these comments and the comments that he made earlier in the document about taking over specific locations, it would be easy to surmise that he will be increasingly targeting media outlets including TV stations, radio and newspapers; particularly those that are not sympathetic to the mujihadeen. These have been targets off and on during the past, but largely left alone after the failed attack on the Palestine Hotel last year. That attack did not need to be successful in terms of killing people so much as it was the opening salvo from the new Baghdad Commander that had taken over after the capture of the previous one in mid 2005.

I expect that certain locations around Baghdad will have their security checked and hardened in the coming weeks. The potential targets are endless, but there are some probabilities based on additional information contained in the strategy document:

the military commander of Baghdad (he used to be the commander of the Rassafah County and still is) is a courageous young man with a good determination but he has little and simple experience in the military field and does not have a clear vision about the current stage and how to deal with it Most of his work at al-Rassafah County is to take cars to the Jubur Arab Tribes, convert them into booby traps and take them back inside Baghdad for explosion.




Rusafa (blue) (al Rassafah; ar Rasafah) district contains the Police Headquarters and Acadamy and several ministries. It's been the target of on going bombings and frontal attacks. Haifa street runs parallel to the Dijla (Tigris) river down the lower south west side. Haifa street has been relatively calm since after the elections in January 2005 when several election workers were gunned down in the street.



The Jubar (Jubbar, Jabar, Jibur) [yellow] tribe controls parts of Mosul, all of Tikrit and parts of Samarra. The al Qaeda leader in Baghdad is most likely getting his VBIEDs from Samarra and Tikrit; Samarra being the closest as well as a city that has suffered from recent insurgent activities and suicide attacks. The most infamous was the attack on the Shia al Askari Mosque by two suicide bombers that nearly drove Iraq into civil war. Several other Shia Mosque bombings took place after that, killing and wounding hundreds of Shia.

The Strategy Document goes on to talk about another district:

The current commander of Northern al-Karkh (Abu-Huda) is very concerned because of his deteriorating security situation caused by being pursued by the Americans, since they have his picture and voice print. Therefore, his movement is very restricted and he is unable to do anything here. We should remove him from Baghdad to a location where he can work easier; otherwise he is closer to become totally ineffective. I know nothing about his past military experience or organizational skills.


Al Karkh is circled in green. This is the "green zone" or "international zone". It contains: two Saddam Palaces, one still occupied by US forces; Parade grounds (crossed swords, tomb of the unknown Iraqi soldier, large training facility for Iraqi soldiers); Parliament building, hotels and a many more ministries. There have been several bombings inside the green zone over the last few years, largely perpetrated by "infiltraters". One particularly spectacular attack on the Palestine Hotel against the media there was barely stopped. This was likely carried out by the al Karkh commander. It was also very costly considering the actual number of fighters this group has mustered.

Northern al-Karkh groups are estimated at 40 mujahid, so is the Southern Karkh. They could double that number if necessary.


The problem is that they are operating within a heavily fortified area with many police and other security patrols on a regular basis. My best guess of his strategy would be to focus on Rusafa and take out the police headquarters and acadamy first. He needs to establish control of the area and to cause enough chaos in the security aparatus to weaken the green zone. It's also in the center of Baghdad with access to several crossing points into al Karkh.

Another area that might be immediately targeted would be Baghdad University [yellow circle], directly across from the al Karkh district. Several smaller schools are in the Rusafah district including a technical college.

Finally, there is Adhamiya. Iraq the Model and several other bloggers are reporting continuing gun fights in the district. For some who don't live in the area, the stories are confusing.

Azzaman Newspaper:

Adahmiya repels an attack for death squads.

Azzaman reporter in Baghdad said that militia men in police uniforms riding vehicles with no registration plates tried to raid parts of Adhamiya in an attempt to kidnap some of the locals but the residents of Adhamiya fought back and forced the assailants to withdraw from the district. This was the second attempt within 24 hours, in the first incident armed men driving a vehicle and dressed in interior ministry uniforms opened fire on homes and pedestrians but also fled the district when residents raised to chase them.


al Sabah notes:

An interior ministry source announced that fierce clashes erupted between terrorists and Iraqi security forces in Adhamiya district.
The source who did not give details on whether there had been casualties said that security forces are "encircling the district in its entirety".


Where they can actually "encircle" and shut it down completely is the question. These battles have been going on since April and several other papers in the US are acting equally confused about the situation.

Why the confusion is simply a matter of the American newspapers being caught between the information war being fought out between the pro-government and pro-insurgency papers as well as the probably tendencies of their stringers. As far back as the beginning invasion of Iraq and following months in 2003, it was reported that the Adhamiya district was pro-Saddam and continuously attacks US and Iraqi government forces.

As for the Baghdad papers, Azzaman is reported by another Iraqi reader to be the voice of the Sunni Islamic Iraqi Party that also has ties with insurgent groups; largely referred to as "rejectionists" and likely made up of ex-Ba'athists and Sunni Islamists with loose ties to al Qaeda for the most part. Jill Carroll was kidnapped within 300 yards of al Dulaimi's (prominent Sunni politician and part of the Dulaimi Sunni tribe in the triangle) office and released within 100 yards of the Islamic Iraqi Party in al Amiryah, a section of Baghdad in the south west Mansour district (prominent district also known to be Sunni Ba'athist stronghold where Saddam made his last public appearance before going underground at the beginning of the war) near the Baghdad Airport Expressway.

To complicate matters, al Dulaimi's convoy was attacked last year in the al Adl district of Mansour, most likely by either Sadrist "al Mahdi" because of his opposition to Jafari or al Qaeda in Baghdad because his Sunni tribe and parts of the insurgency have been participating in government as well as making truces with Coalition forces in order to join the process.

Al Adhamiya district also contains the al Hanifa mosque that has been raided many times. It is widely known to spread anti-American and anti-government information via sermons as well as the use of their external PA system. Also suspected of providing sanctuary to insurgents and storing weapons.

The purpose of the raid was not immediately clear but some worshippers, gathered outside the mosque, said the security forces had arrested the mosque's imam, Shaikh Muayid al-Adhami.


According to the US Commander of the district, in 2004, he had warned Adhami several times about mosque activities and finally had him arrested when he continued his activities. Adhamiya is largely Sunni rejectionist and Ba'athists. Zarqawi tries to make common cause with them to prepare the way for his arrival and operations in Rusafah. He may even be hoping for "joint operations".

After the curfew was lifted on Tuesday afternoon, residents gingerly came out onto the street once more. Meanwhile, a statement issued by al-Qaeda in Iraq, the country's most prominent insurgent organization, promised more fighting on Wednesday.

"Al-Qaeda in Iraq is announcing a new raid to avenge the Sunnis at Adhamiyah and the other areas, and the raid will start with the dawn of Wednesday, if God wishes," the statement said. "The Shiite areas will be an open battlefield for us. We will strike anything we face."


Breakdown of districts:

Mansour: mixed, majority Sunni, previously Ba'athist loyalists and likely government rejectionists.

Adhamiya: Sunni majority; Ba'athist/rejectionist.

Rusafah: Sunni Islamist and al Qaida

Al Karhk: mixed, largely Sunni; rejectionists but mainly AQ supporters

Thawra: Shia; Mahdi Army

Zarqawi is in Baghdad to make his "last stand" his "Alamo". Without Baghdad, he holds nothing. Without Baghdad, the government stays in place and wins.

Iraq the Model on current security in Baghdad and a conversation in the Barber Shop: Zarqawi American Agent.

Update Follow Up on New Documents: Battle for Baghdad II: Zarqawi on the Offense
Also linked at the Castle

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Posted by Kat at 9:18 AM 0 comments Links to this post

They Called Her Amanda

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Coalition medical providers performed an emergency Cesarean-section delivering a healthy baby girl and preserving the 22-year-old Afghan mother’s life at the Tarin Khowt Provincial Reconstruction Team clinic April 23.

“We received a phone call from a U.S. Special Forces medic saying there was a young woman who was in the late stages of her pregnancy with preeclampsia,” said Army Lt. Col. Kevin Johnson, the PRT’s chief surgeon. “They called and asked if I could treat this.”

Preeclampsia, a syndrome which may cause seizures and requires immediate delivery of a baby during the second or third trimester of pregnancy, threatened the mother’s life and the health of the unborn child, the surgeon said.

A C-section was the mother’s only option for delivery.

During the flight from Char Chineh, the woman’s condition worsened as she began having seizures. The medical team on the ground at the Tarin Kwot PRT acted quickly. Johnson credited the successful delivery of the baby girl to the actions of Army Cpt. John Murphy, a nurse anesthetist, and Army Maj. Scott Shawen, an orthopedic surgeon.

“It was a stroke of brilliance that Dr. Shawen pulled us all together right away so everyone could share what they knew,” Johnson said. “Everybody had a little bit of experience in this; none of us had a lot.”

No one at the Tarin Kowt PRT had any previous experience performing a C-section. Johnson said he used the internet to watch a short video on the surgery while waiting for a helicopter to transport the expectant mother and father to the clinic.

“It was definitely a ‘see one, do one’ operation,” said Johnson, who used the University of Michigan’s Web site to familiarize himself with the procedure. “I must say that I was quite nervous. We started and finished delivering the baby in less than five minutes.”[snip]

Wahida and her husband, Dr. Mujieb, medical providers themselves, named their newborn, Amanda, after discussing possible names with an Army nurse, Murphy said.

“I don’t know why they chose that name, but she’ll probably be the only kid on the block named, ‘Amanda,’ here,” he said.


It's not all blood and guts out there, or at least not the kind that you expect. Read the rest.

Coalition doctors deliver Afghan baby girl at PRT

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Wednesday, May 10, 2006


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Women at War

I often focus on the efforts of our men in uniform, so today is about the women.

Camp Chef Goes Outside the Wire

Managing dining facility operations is just one of many important jobs Soldier-chefs do here at Forward Operating Base Gabe, Baqubah, Iraq.

There are both male and female Soldiers serving as food service specialists in Fox Company, 4th Infantry Division’s 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion, however, the female Soldiers’ role plays a unique part in cultural awareness and communications with the Iraqi people.

Female Soldier-chefs are called on when male Soldiers encounter an Iraqi female that needs to be searched or questioned. It is culturally unacceptable for males to speak directly to Iraqi women. These troops are at times attached with infantry and other tactical elements that take part in patrols outside of “the wire.”


Every bit helps and this is just as dangerous as any "combat patrol" by the men. Last year around this time, three women marines were killed and 11 injured when their convoy was struck by a suicide bomber when returning from such a mission in Fallujah. Blackfive reminds us with a follow up report on these women and the complete story of that day as covered in Glamour magazine.

The convoy had been rolling down the highway for only a few minutes when Harding heard a fast exchange between her truck's driver and the gunner; it was something like "Are you going to shoot it or what?" An Iraqi car had pulled up alongside them. The marines in the lead Humvee had seen the car approaching and waved it off to the side of the road, but the car came barreling back toward the convoy.

Harding barely had time to process the driver's words when she heard the sound she'd feared since the moment she arrived in Iraq: the menacing hiss of a bomb about to go off.


The injuries some of these women suffered were terrible including second and third degree burns over 13% or more of the body. But, showing that these women are no wilting flowers, as soon as Cpl Salmaan got up she was yelling for a weapon:

Just as Padmore reached the scene, he saw Saalman staggering toward him, her charred, flayed hands held up before her, her eyes vacant in a blackened face. She'd lost her rifle during the explosion. "Sally, pull yourself together," he said. "You are not going to die. I promise: You are not going to die. But we need some leadership." He watched her expression change instantly from shock to rage. "Somebody give me a fucking weapon!" she screamed. "I need a fucking weapon!" The adrenaline pumping through her body obviously masked her pain. Padmore handed her his own M16 and headed off to find other wounded marines, with the sound of Saalman firing her gun toward the insurgents ringing in his ears.


Later, when the women were awared purple hearts, Gen. O'Dell began to weep.

It turns out that Jimenez misinterpreted O'Dell's sentiments: He was moved, he says, not by special sympathy for the women, but because he saw standing before him an unprecedented display of equality of the sexes. That day in Fallujah had been a "crystallizing moment," he says. Military leaders had always believed women marines would conduct themselves just as bravely as the men under deadly attack, he explains, but they'd never before had an opportunity quite like this one to prove themselves. "It's the difference between believing in a miracle," he says, "and then seeing one."


No miracle, it's happened before. The night of the attack, the women marines at base stepped up:

On the evening of June 23, as word of the disaster spread, a freckle-faced young female marine stationed in Ramadi, a city near Fallujah, had approached Colonel Robert Chase, who was helping run crisis control at the command center, to say she urgently needed to talk to him. He told her the timing wasn't good, but she insisted. Reluctantly, Chase stepped outside his office to meet with her—and in the hallway, he encountered about 10 more female marines. "Sir, we know we've had women killed," said the marine who'd first approached him. "We have to replace them—we want to go." Chase was stunned. "I'll be candid, it was one of the most emotional and profound moments for me," he says. "I don't often work with women as an infantry officer, but at that moment, there were no women there—there were just marines."


Blackfive links to stories about Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester who received the silver star for her actions in combat.


More from "outside the wire":

Inside an Afghan village, her unit was conducting random searches for Taliban fighters and weapons caches - then they heard what sounded like a cell phone.

That didn't sound right to Marine Sgt. Christine Griego.

"It's a poor country, and, if someone has a cell phone, it means they're doing something they probably shouldn't be," said Griego, an aviations mechanic with Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Air Wing. [snip]

On this particular search, there were two women who looked suspicious to Griego. Searchers cannot hold a weapon while they work because it might go off by accident - or worse, the enemy might get a hold of it.

"One woman had an infant (in one arm) and a bundle of something in another," Greigo said. "She had her arms under her burka which was unusual."

Reciting phrases from the Poshtun language, Griego asked the woman to raise her arms.

The woman didn't move.

"So I lifted her arms and saw the muzzle of an AK-47 begin to slip out," she said. "I slapped the gun down."

All the while, the Marine next to her kept his gun aimed at the Afghan woman. But when Griego slapped the gun down, the woman tried to run, she said.

Griego used her martial arts training to tackle her. The team found not only the gun, but several AK-47 magazines.


Women serve in a variety of capacities, both in theaters of operations, bases abroad and at home. Some have reached the pinnacle of leadership, like Brig. Gen. Shiela Baxter, Commanding General at Madigan in Tacoma, Washington. Brig. Gen. Baxter is the first female general in the Medical Corps:

I majored in physical education at Virginia State College but I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I graduated. My cousin Sandra Baxter was married to a captain at Fort Bragg. We went to visit him and the lightbulb came on. I loved the atmosphere and decided to join ROTC. It was an unusual choice because there were only a few women in the program. Col. Jona McKee, the professor in charge, was a Vietnam vet, so he actually knew what it took to be an officer. He didn't cut us any slack, and I thank him today.

When I first entered the Army, I was a lieutenant stationed at Fort Meade, Md. My battalion commander was Lt. Col. Robert Bowles. He called me in one day and he said, "Lieutenant Baxter, I want you to give me your 20-year plan." And I said, "Sir, I don't even know what I want to do in 20 minutes." But it focused me. I came back to him and I said, "Sir, I want to be like you. You are a battalion commander in a medical unit and that's my goal."


Women in the Air Force and other branches of service fly combat missions. One such pilot is Capt. Kim "Killer Chick" Campbell. Her A-10 "Warthog" tank killer was shot up while flying close air support over Baghdad:

Capt. Campbell didn’t win her laurels in court, though. She won them in the skies over hostile territory, Baghdad, giving air support to ground troops, when her Warthog took a crippling ground fire hit.

She told Staff Sgt. Jason Haag, who is with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Public Affairs office in Iraq (she flew with the 332nd). “I lost all hydraulics instantaneously (an aircraft’s hydraulic system controls many of the plane’s key functions), so I immediately lost control of the jet. It rolled left and pointed toward the ground, which was an uncomfortable feeling over Baghdad. The entire caution panel lit up and the jet wasn’t responding to any of my control inputs.”

She changed her control methods to allow her to fly her plane without hydraulics.

"The jet started climbing away from the ground, which was a good feeling because there was no way I wanted to eject over Baghdad.”


More ladies flying to support the men on the ground and the mission. A fellow blogger recently joined to become a CWO and fly helicopters. She graduated from basic and is in between waiting for her technical school.

I can't recommend this site enough. This page continues to track women in the military and has a long list of the women who have given their last full measure in Iraq and Afghanistan. The latest has been a young immigrant woman from California: Lance Cpl Juana Navarro Arelleno.

Marine Lance Cpl. Juana Navarro was killed Saturday in Iraq, leaving her Ceres family in mourning and the community feeling the loss of another one of its own.[snip]

The 24-year-old lance corporal died Saturday when she was struck in the head by a small-arms round as she was in a defensive position approximately 300 meters behind her vehicle as she guarded fellow soldiers. The mission was in the Anbar province of Iraq.


Women at War gallery:



See more picures in the "read more" section of this post.













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Posted by Kat at 2:03 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Local Soldiers

Missouri National Guardsman Helps Children in Mosul

this is back from March of this year, but I think it's important to remember those who serve that are from close at home:

Missouri National Guard Soldier Maj. Dan Crouch serves with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mosul, Iraq.

When Crouch arrived in Mosul, his University of Missouri Health Care co-workers from Columbia, Mo., asked, “What do you need? What can we send to you?” Crouch responded that he personally needed nothing; however, he saw the Iraqi children had a need. School supplies were scarce and he knew the positive affect school supplies would have on Iraqi students.

Lists were made, collection stations were set up for donations and the word was sent throughout UMHC. Boxes began to arrive loaded with pencils, paper, notebooks and other school supplies as well as candy. From Missouri to Mosul -- boxes were addressed and mailed.

Crouch, along with other U.S. Army Corps of Engineer employees, traveled to two schools located in the northern Iraq province of Dohuk to deliver the goods. With anxious looks that soon turned to wonder, children who were playing outside of the school surrounded the vehicles as Crouch and the others began unloading the supplies


Well, you know, go read the rest. Our men and women are doing good things in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Posted by Kat at 1:58 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

If You Stand For Nothing Else...


We are in a real fight today against tyranny. The tyranny that still exists in many nations and the rise of an ideology that has waxed and waned over centuries, but has discovered a new vigour with the ability of mass media, distribution and proliferation of weapons of all kinds. They use the internet, videos, press releases, video games, books, cell phones and all other sorts of mass communication devices to propagate their fascist ideology.

It shares with many other tyrannical states, the idea that free thought, free speech, free association, the freedom of religion and equality of citizens within and before the law, is anathema to its existence.

Within nations across the oceans and around the globe, the message of freedom and democracy exists. Sometimes in small dark corners where it is only whispered and sometimes in places where there is just enough access to open forums for it to be shouted. Unfortunately, it usually results in immediate arrest, harrassment, oft times torture and just as often, death.

In these places, the idea of freedom and democracy does not always reflect our exacting ideas, honed over centuries of "enlightenment" and bare knuckles struggle to define that "perfection". "Democracy advocates" may not be Republican or Democrat clones. They may not be Socialists, Trotskyite or otherwise.

In other democratic nations such as India, democracy exists, yet Communism is a main stream party. In some places, nearer and dearer to home, Socialism is the main political and economic structure. Yet, in all of these places, there are fundamental concepts which we understand, we can agree with and under which we can work, whether a Democrat, Socialist or even Communist, to have our voices heard, our ideas debated and the possibility that some will hear and agree. There is protection from persecution. There is the right to free association. There is the right to freedom of religion. There is a right to equality before the law. There are free elections and campaigns, open debates, free press and all the other trappings of a socio-political order that believes the rights of the individuals supercede the rights of the state.

Here we are free. We shout our ideas across public forums, in marches, across the internet, in political houses and even on bumper stickers. I fear no one will arrest me for advocating either liberal or conservative ideas. I do not believe that I need the protection of one political party or the other that is in power to state these ideas. I can read what I want. I can write it. I have the luxury, we have the luxury, of security and a stable political environment to choose to argue over the specifics of running a government, the extent of freedom, the viability of laws, the actions of our government and the general practicing of democracy. I can vote Republican one year and Democrat the next. Or, I could vote for an independent or the libertarians. I can whittle my positions down and organize them by priority in order to decide what party I believe will best support my ideas.

I have choices. Not always the ones I want or the best, but choices none the less.

In many countries, this is not the case. The very basic concepts of democracy do not exist or only have lip service paid to them. In those places, the simple existence of an advocate for democracy, whatever their political position on the left or right, is a miracle of perseverence. They are rare gems in a coal mine. In those places, the luxury of socialism v. capitalism, conservative v. liberal, matter little in the bigger scheme of things. The fact that democracy does not exist in any form that we recognize makes the details less important than the grand idea of democracy.

In many cases, what has kept democracy advocates from gaining strength and power in some semi-open nations is the failure to unite behind the one big idea first with all its intended basic fundamentals, such as free speech, free press, protection of individuals, equality before the law, etc, before trying to hash out the details of taxes, workers rights, state funded programs, economics, etc.

In fact, this is a basic failure of nations, political parties and individuals who live on the outside and pretend to support democracy movements in tyrannical nations. We want to debate who is a good "democrat" before democracy has even been established in order to establish who we will support or not support.

In such countries as Egypt, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, etc it does little good only to speak up on behalf of a Free Market Democrat. Power is in numbers. So long as we pick and choose what numbers we will support or not support, we will leave all democracy advocates powerless.

I have noted this tendency among many on the right and on the left of our political debates here in the United States as well as in European nations. An example is the debate over Iraqi democracy. I don't mean the debate over the war, per se, but those who supported the war in the beginning now have second thoughts because those who came to power through democratic processes do not resemble our own enlightened and liberal government. These believe that all is lost for a "true" democratic Iraq or at least democracy as we define it. the truth is, there are four parts to our democracy.

The first is the ability to achieve governance by the ballot box or the will of the people. An ability to receive majority vote thus ruling by the majority. The second requires that, once in power, the majority is inclined to protect the rights of the minority; particularly, the rights of individuals, even against some of the majorities more vociferous and demanding followers. The third is to be able to maintain the fundamentals of liberty. Pure democracy simply means that the majority rules. Liberty means that the rights of the individuals, in general, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", but specifically, free speech, free association, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, etc are always protected regardless of who is in charge. The fourth is the basis of all good society where one can assume, regardless of who rules, that we are relatively secure from harm from both our individual neighbors and the government. Should this basis of social good be compromised, we have the ability to receive redress and justice under the law.

These are the simple aspects of "democracy" as we see it. Can a Shia led government with Islamic tendencies adhere to these principles? The answer is yes. They are also influenced by our own actions. Certainly, one would hope in the support of democracy that we have provided more resources, training and funds to secular parties who resemble and believe in liberal policies such as we do. However, to reject Shia oriented political parties in total, when it represents a large block of people supporting democracy to the best of their ability and understanding, would mean that we should reject the possibility of democracy at all in Iraq.

I completely disagree with that approach. While we may wish that we did not have to compromise, what we need most is to support the fundamentals of liberty and democracy. Once that is in place we can work on the details. Particularly if a group is still reliant on monetary, material and political support. We have leverage to move it, but we had no ability to do so when there was no democracy and only an autocratic state.

In fact, I read a recent speech by Madeleine Albright that totally disregarded this concept when discussing the funding that was being put in place for Iraq.

It is surprising, therefore, that the Bush Administration is on the verge of abandoning democratic institution building in Iraq.

The President's request for funding in this area for all of next year has been reduced to what it would take to support U.S. military operations in Iraq for about six hours.


This is, in her own words, a gross distortion. The fact is, the executive is required to give a report to congress at least every 6 months if not more and funding for these activities are required by law to be reviewed and requested every two years by the constitution, but are regularly reviewed within the same time frames that reporting to congress and continued authorization from that body is required.. That is the matter of funding and organizing the ability for the military to function in Iraq.

What was truly misleading is the assumption that money must be in the military budget to support democracy in Iraq. In fact, in December of 2005, with little fanfare, the money for democratic support and reconstruction was removed from the military budget. This had a specific purpose. Mainly to take the money from the military spending where officers were more intent on building infrastructure and less concerned with the political aspects of who they were potentially supporting as well as to take this money away as an obligation of "war efforts". This put it firmly back into the hands of the State through USAID programs and other agencies or programs where the political and diplomatic demands of the US would not conflict with the necessity to conduct war. In other words, leverage over the political aspects of the democratic movements in Iraq that can, without guilt, be used to push these less than "pure" political groups to comply with the basics of democracy.

With few, if no other donors in the wings, this makes even the Shia have to keep toeing the line. Some folks are unhappy about this economic "hegemony" and believe that it is completely opposite of true support for ground up democracy. In fact, these people would have it that it creates a "puppet state" and interferes with the real sovreignty of Iraq. In some ways, they are correct, however, it does not mean that Iraq and the governing Shia do not have a choice. They can choose to receive the necessary funds and comply with at least the minimal requirements, or they can find another way.

This use of money and diplomacy is in fact the way that most democrats would accept "supporting democracy" in lieu of military action.

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Social Democrats,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Social Democrat.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew,
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.


In Egypt, we have a similar power. The United States provides over 2 billion in aid every year to the state. There are specific purposes for this money. The first of which is to bolster a, all be it, mediocre ally in the region. The country of Egypt has limited natural resources. It's economy is completely state controlled and exists on subsidies as well as tariffs from its main geographic, strategic point: the Suez Canal. This Canal allows millions of tons of raw goods, finished products and energy resources to be transported to Europe and the Americas as well as transporting exported goods from these nations. It cuts nearly ten days from the transport if it had to take the Horn of Africa and Cape Hope route. This is just one strategic point among many in the relationship with Egypt.

This agreement has allowed the Mubarek regime to flourish by using this economic power internally to develop security apparatus, to rig laws and control the populace economically in order to stay in power. To this end they suppressed all opposition for years. The Islamic movements were brutally suppressed, but were able to organize through student movements and the mosque. These movements turned violent and eventually assassinated Anwar Sadat in 1981. Mubarek became the President and continues to this day. After additional crackdowns on dissidents, particularly the Muslim radicals, an agreement was reached with the Muslim Brotherhood. If they foreswore violence, nominal political acceptance would be given.

Mubarek's regime still had the power and could arrest and imprison members of the movement whenever it began to present a too viable front. The violent actions of the Islamists is still remembered and allows Mubarek an opposition that it can continue to present as a danger to the secularists as well as to Egypt's allies as a reason to continue laws and oppressive practices that keep the NDP and Mubarek in power. In the meantime, Mubarek continues to suppress other democratic movements. Everything from Nasserites, to Social Democrats, to Liberals and Communists.

The reason for this suppression is very simple. The Mubarek regime continues to pretend at democracy with all its necessary facade, but uses the power of emergency laws to annoint "legal parties" to participate in elections. Through its power sharing arrangement with the Muslim Brotherhood as well as control of election polls, the NDP continues to keep control of the Egyptian Parliament. If it legalized any other democratic party, having provided cover for the MB and given it a certain presence in the parliament, the seats that the new Democratic movement would most likely take NDP seats, not Muslim Brotherhood seats. This would give the MB a majority in parliament and the power to form the government of Egypt.

This of course can be troubling for US policy and strategic interest. On the other hand, with a new focus on supporting democracy, it is not in the interest of the United States to be seen supporting a regime that arrests and persecutes democracy advocates practicing the very basic fundamentals of free speech and peaceful organization.

The Kifiyah movement began when many different democratic secular movements determined that there was power in numbers and that they would best be able to make inroads on the closed political process if the differing movements joined forces to press for the fundamentals of democracy and provide the basis to achieve the numbers required to be considered a "legitimate party" that can stand for elections and get any democratic party member elected. They want a legitimate face in Egyptian politics and they can only get that by political and media exposure. At this time, most of their protests and demands are blacked out or severely damaged by state controlled media.

The most recent problems revolve around the arrest of Ayman Nour, the arrest of 49 Kifiyah Democracy advocates who were protesting along with judges and lawyers for a free and independent judiciary. At this time, the state can and does interfere with the administration of justice. There is no equality before the law, be ye petty criminal or political activist. Another protest was organized to protest the arrest and continued holding of these activists by the state. Eleven were arrested and eight still remain in custody. The state has insisted that it can hold these people up to 15 days without action and could even submit (and easily obtain) additional 15 day extensions. The charges range from failure to have a permit to "insulting the state" and other such non-sensical charges.

Now many have organized across the internet and in public to bring this to the attention of the US and other governments as well as express displeasure with the Egyptian government. People are ready to organize boycotts.

In the meantime, Mr. El Fatah's fate and those of the other 56 protesters was brought to the attention of Glenn Reynolds on Instapundit who also put the word out on Comment is Free at the Guardian (registration is required for commenting, but not for viewing). What was the immediate response?

Out of eight comments, four focused on the fact that Glenn Reynolds wrote it and determined, with all due process and speed, that the support of Glenn Reynolds meant that these democracy advocates were "right wing Bushites", or whatever the popular phrase is, and dismissed the call to arms out of hand. The basic sentiment was that he should rot in jail because of the perceived idea that any democracy advocate that may derive support from a "right wing nutcase" is not worth supporting.

As if there is a surfit of Liberal, secular democracy in Egypt and there is a need or ability to pick and choose those we will support in their fight for free speech, free association and the protection of individual rights when the real fight is to first get some representation of real democracy first.

When I first reproted on Alaa's arrest along with the other protestors, I made it clear that Alaa's democratic political persuasion did not matter to me. He is a Pan Arab Socialist. We have disagreed on US foreign policy, the war in Iraq, Palestine and Israel; just to name a few. But, Alaa and I agree on a few things. Namely free elections, free speech, free organization and freedom of religion just to name a few. I don't see Alaa as an enemy. I see him as a fellow idealist and a democracy advocate. His other politics matter little in the larger scheme of things. With the arrest of the other protesters, of whom I know little besides their names, he is but a symbol in some respects because he and his plight represents the entire problem with the lack of democracy and basic rights in Egypt.

We spend much time talking about the problems in the Middle East and other nations that prevent liberal, secular democratic movements from gaining acceptance, visibility and capability to move their countries towards more free democracy; something that people from both the left and the right should be able to agree on as basic right and need of people everywhere. Yet, what we have refused to do as free democracies is to stand together in the face of tyranny to support these groups of whatever political stripe they may be because we are too busy looking for those that resemble us in every aspect, whether the right or the left. WE are incapable of overcoming our differences to support these grass roots.

From here, it seems that we should share at least one common goal: the advancement of democracy and support of grassroots advocates wherever and whoever they are.

Therefore, if you stand for nothing else, stand up for freedom and democracy. Stand up for free speech and the protection of individual rights. Stand up for Alaa and the members of Kifiyah.

If you do not stand up for a Pan Arab Socialist democracy advocate in the face of tyranny, who will there be to stand up for when the democratic movement is completely crushed and there is no one left to stand up for?

Write to these following emails, embassies and state departments:

The Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
3521 International Ct. NW
Washington DC 20008
Phone (202) 895 5400
Fax (202) 244 5131
(202) 244 4319
Email: embassy@egyptembdc.org

or the US consulate in Egypt

consularcairo@state.gov

Or the US State Department for Near East Affairs- Egypt:

nea-ela@state.gov


Sample letters here

Updates at Sandmonkey; Free Alaa Blog; Global Voices

Boycotts and protests are being organized. The first and strongest voice we have is the ability to organize through the internet, write letters and make phone calls.

Help Alaa and the other Kifiyah advocates!

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Posted by Kat at 3:56 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Monday, May 08, 2006

Choosing War

We as humans believe that we are rational and logical. We believe that our rational choices can control the outcome of our lives. We believe in this control because, in this world that seems so anarchic and chaotic, we could not operate or continue to exist without it. Without this control, or the illusion of control, our world, our individual lives would spin out of control. We would be nothing but drifting leaves reacting to every change of the wind instead of the winged bird choosing what breeze we will soar upon.

To this end, we make decisions every day that we believe helps us maintain control of this life and even those lives we interact with. We choose to drive certain cars because they have higher safety ratings or because they are less likely to be stolen. We choose to live in certain areas because the crime rate is lower or because the school system is better. We choose the houses we buy because we believe we will get a higher resale value. We choose not to drive in certain areas because the traffic is higher and accidents more likely. We avoid certain parts of town because we know that crime is higher. We choose not to know or hang out with certain people because we believe they live risky lives, take drugs, hang out with known criminals or are just likely to make bad choices with their lives and we do not want to be part of that. We choose not to speed, to wear our seatbelts or not to drink and drive because we believe it can reduce or eliminate the possibility of a deadly accident.

All of these things we do because we believe that it helps protect us. This is how we can control our lives.

So, when bad things happen to people, we examine their lives. We examine their movements and their choices. We are looking at every aspect because we believe we can determine when or what choices they made that led to that moment. We don't want to make those same mistakes. We want to believe that they had complete control of their lives so that we can believe that we have complete control of our lives.

We see this after every terrible incident. Even the victims re-examine every minute detail so they can determine the exact moment they made a wrong decision, so they can pretend that they were in control every moment. If they had left home two minutes earlier; if they had decided to take a different road, turn left instead of right; had they just stopped at that yellow light two streets back instead of going on, they would not have been at the red light on 9th Street when the man with a gun decided to put a gun in their face, steal their car and shoot them. Better yet, had they only listened to their brother and chose not to buy the Escalade in the first place, this man with a gun would not have wanted their car, not shot them or stolen their car.

It's all about our choices. It's all about us. As long as it is, we are always in control.

We never spend much time examining the choices of the "other". In fact, we usually disregard the "other". If we had to factor in the "other's" choices, then we would have to start recognizing that we were not completely in control; that we may not have changed the outcome, but would still be a victim of "chance". If we had to accept that, then we may not be able to live. We may become the agoraphobic who never leaves the house or the claustrophobic who never enters a building or stands in a crowd.

These same ideas plague us when we talk about war. Most people want to pretend that they control the entire outcome of the war. They control whether there is war. They control whether people will want to go to war with us. They believe that if they had changed something here or did something there, the situation where one or many wanted to harm us would not exist. With that in mind, they re-examine every point in history; from yesterday to two hundred years ago, we search diligently for that moment that changed this moment and brought us to war. In some cases, people believe that, once at war, it only takes one side to choose not to be at war in order for war to be mitigated and the harm to others or themselves would not exist.

We saw this same behavior directly after the attacks on 9/11. Within hours, people were talking about "why". Experts were trying to tell us about OUR actions that led to this moment. It was a natural response. Victims often do it after a violent crime because they could not control the violence or the damage done to them or their loved ones. Instead, they look at every action to see if they could have changed the outcome. If they could find that moment, that choice that led to this, they could know they were in control of the situation the whole time, that in the end, it was they who chose to be robbed or shot, it was they who chose the planes to be hi-jacked, the buildings to be destroyed, the thousands of dead; not the choice of the "other". They need that sense of control in order to gain back the ability, the confidence, to continue with their life. Thus the "other" rarely factors into it accept where we try to determine how our choices made them "react".

We rarely see the "other" as a sentient being who makes their own choices and cares little for our own. We do not see them as capable of interfering with our own control. If we have to believe that others control some aspect of our lives, we may lose all ability to function.

Reading the gruesome death of Atwar Bahjat, there will be many who examine her every movement up to the last and try to determine what choices Atwar Bahjat made that led to her death. They will wonder why she chose to be a journalist in a war torn country. They will wonder why she chose to cover the Samarra Shrine bombing. They will wonder why, if she felt uncomfortable, that she didn't leave earlier. They will think that Atwar chose her path and that she controlled her life. They will thing that, in the end, Atwar chose to be in a position where she was kidnapped and murdered. In fact, her decisions on what she spoke about, where she went and the people she met controlled who killed her and how they killed her. In this way we project our own insecurity onto her situation. We pretend that she had control so that we can pretend we have control. We want to pretend that we could make decisions that could keep this happening from us so she had the same ability.

Many will imagine that, in this war, had the war simply not existed, Atwar Bahjat would never die. The "others" would never have chosen to kidnap her or anyone else. The "others" would not have drilled holes in her face and arms. The "others" would not have partially slit her throat and pushed the blood from her by jumping on her stomach. The "others" would not have chosen to cut her head off or anyone else's head for that matter. If only we had not chosen war. That is the control we believe we have over the "others".

Every action has a reaction.

We have lived a life of science for so long that we have drilled it down to a simple equation. Because we can explain how the sun rises in the east and sets in the west; because we can explain how water evaporates and then condenses to form clouds that travel on the air currents to a location and then the clouds become heavy only to let down the water as rain again; because of this ability to deduce and determine, we believe that we can use logic and rationality to explain the actions of others, thus we can control them.

For the most part, we choose to ignore the actions and words of the others or tend to try to explain them in some concept that relates to our own lives and our own ability to choose and control. We don't imagine that the "others" can choose war and act upon it without our direct participation. If we choose not to participate, then it is not war. If we choose not to participate, the others will not choose war either.

So, these others who chose to torture and behead Atwar Bahjat, they were driven to it by the actions of others. They did not have free will in our world of control, they could only re-act to circumstances. But, if we use that logic, then we must determine that we too could be driven to cut off the head of a bound and crying woman. Then we must believe that we do not have control. But, we don't. We push the uncontrollable away and pretend it has no bearing on our lives and our decisions. Again, without our actions, there would be no reaction.

In truth, this premise is false because it acts as if the action/reaction paradigm only goes one way; that is to say that it is only our actions that control and require a reaction. Thus, we also want to believe that we can choose not to participate and this thing, this war, these "others" will not exist. That is the premise that people who demand a withdrawal from the war work upon. It is the premise of total control. It is the victims reaction to an uncontrollable situation; the need to believe that we are in control every moment, even as we or the people around us are being killed.

If we chose not to go to war, these men would not exist. False premise. If we chose not to go to war, Atwar Bahjat would never die at their hands. False premise. If we chose not to prop up the Egyptian government, the Muslim Brotherhood would not exist. If we chose not to kick Saddam out of Kuwait; if we chose not station soldiers in Saudi Arabia; if we chose not support sanctions against Iraq; if we chose not to support Israel against the Palestinians and other Arabs; if, if, if...

If we had not done these things then we believe that such people as Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri or Musab al Zarqawi or these two men or the entire Islamist movement would not have existed, would not have decided to attack us, would not have killed our people or be killing the Iraqis as we speak.

It is a false premise. It is based on the concept of control. It prepositions that, the United States as a super power, now the only super power, controls the actions and thoughts of all of those around us. It supposes that the history of Islam and the Middle East, alone and without the existence of the United States during much of its history, did not lead to or create this movement. It supposes that this is a new idea and concept in this region. It supposes that the terrible and torturous behavior of "others" there is solely a reaction brought on by this war and not a matter of historical record the behavior of peoples, cultures, states and religious followers in this region; nor is it the choice of the "others".

We want to believe that WE choose war, not the others. We control war, not the others. We control the "others".

It makes it easier to believe that we can choose to withdraw and not participate. The truth is that we do not control this war. We are not the only ones who choose. The "others" have chosen before we even realized that there was something to make a decision about. This decision was made long ago in the words of Qutb in 1955 when he wrote that the freedom of the West infiltrating the lands of Islam would bring about this crisis. This was long before we even considered the idea of Islamist terrorists or their dreams of war and domination. He wrote that, one day, the existence of Islam as they knew it would be demolished if Islam did not rise up and destroy the West or push every idea, product, book, or thought that was not from Islam out of Islam.

Yet, we still believe that it was only our choice, that WE choose war. To believe otherwise would mean we have to accept we have no control and that WE did not choose war but it was chosen for us. In other words, it is WE who react to an action, not the other way around.

We can choose to reject this, but it doesn't matter what we choose because the "others" still have a will of their own. They still have their own thoughts, desires and demands. In all of these things, we believe we can choose differently because we do not hold what we believe is the final prize, the "political objective" as Clausewitz once wrote, in the same high regard as the "others". We have deduced that this final objective is simply that we do not inflict our society on, set foot on, participate with governments, purchase products from or otherwise have any interaction with Arab, Persian or Islamic nations.

This deduction is based on the false ideas that 1) we control the "others"; 2) we control whether we are at war or not; 3) that what we hold has important are the same things that the "others" hold as important. Because we do not understand their aspirations or we choose to disregard them in an act of false control, we imagine that the war is over a specific piece of land within specific geographic boundaries. We choose, with all temerity, with total lack of rationality and logic, to disregard the words and actions of the "others". It is the same choice we have made so many times before. We have chosen to believe that an ideology and movement that espouses the idea of a global war against "infidels" and a desire to create a global Caliphate or Muslim world.

We laugh when we hear the "others" declare that the flag of Islam will fly above the White House or that France will be a Muslim state or that Spain will be taken back into this Empire. We imagine that these are simply bloviations from people who would be happy if we simply withdrew and allowed them to have the geographic area we believe is contested. We imagine that we can create some other energy source which will make it unnecessary to interact there so there will be no reason to have war. Others believe that we could abandon Israel and there would be no reason to have war.

We keep pretending we choose war alone and can choose not to have war alone. It simply rejects the "others" as anything but our own creation. It is this idea that believes that the arrest or death of Osama bin Laden or Zawahiri or Zarqawi will satisfy our need for justice so the war would be done. It ignores the ideology as an aberrant, subject solely to the existence of certain men or to our own actions. We choose not to believe that our existence depends on the destruction of an ideology. So, we have limited our "political objectives" to democracy for other nations or protection of national interests, like oil. Neither of these we find worthy of expending our blood and money. But, these limitations are solely of our own making because the "others" do not imagine that the objectives are so limited.

This is why they fight and continue to fight while we discuss withdrawing. It is not simply Iraq or Afghanistan. The "others" see these as simply campaigns in a greater war while we pretend these two are separate "wars" with nothing in common so we could and should abandon one or the other as we see fit because we alone choose to participate. Rejecting their idea of the war does not make it go away. It only means that we continue to be confused about the nature of the war and our responsibility. We will continue to reject this definition of war because we do not believe that it threatens our survival and it is only our survival that we believe is worth choosing war over.

The only question is, what act by the others, what thing that we cannot control will convince us that war has been chosen for us? Not by the Bush Administration or Wolfowitz, or some nefarious Jewish conspiracy or the military industrial complex or oil companies. None of these flew a plane into buildings or into a field in Pennsylvania. None of these tried to blow up the towers long ago nor blew up our embassies nor blew a hole in the USS Cole or flew planes into the towers. We must accept, as painful to the psyche as it is, that "others" have choices, too; that they choose war.

The murder of Atwar Bahjat is not a lone act that will never be repeated again if only we withdraw from Iraq. Men do not wake up one day, choose to cut off the head of a bound woman after torturing her unmercifully and then go home never to do it again. They made a choice and have committed to it. Something that we want to pretend cannot happen. We want to pretend that, if we were not there they would not have a reason to do it; that they would not choose to do it to another or to us. We need to pretend this or we must accept that we do not control our world. Our perception of invulnerability will be shaken, our world will be chaos and we will not know what to do next.

But, we do have a choice. Even if it is only a reaction to the choices of others, we can choose war. We can choose to fight and keep fighting until the “others” have chosen a different political objective that we can agree on short of world domination or until they have decided that Islamist ideology and the caliphate are dead. Or, we can choose to be Atwar Bahjat, bound, gagged and finally beheaded.

Choosing to do nothing means we surrender. It is not principle. It is not control. It is death, today or tomorrow when the killers of Atwar Bahjat finally choose us.

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Posted by Kat at 3:45 AM 12 comments Links to this post

.::Operation.Iraqi.Freedom::.: Top al Qaida Associate Detained

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces detained five suspects and killed an unknown number of terrorists May 5 in a series of raids at approximately 6 p.m. in the vicinity of Samarra . As the troops moved to intercept a vehicle occupied by three suspected al-Qaida associates, the assault force simultaneously took small arms fire from a nearby house. While the troops positioned to stop the car, armed men exited the house, two carrying shoulder-fired rocket launchers and one firing a light machine gun. The forces quickly neutralized the threat emanating from the structure, located approximately 20 kilometers southwest of Samarra , with small arms and rockets fired from supporting aircraft.

The troops then detained the three suspects located in the vehicle, finding two AK-47s, ammunition, two improvised grenades and one hand grenade.

The forces were then provided another location of a second, related vehicle occupied by suspected al-Qaida associates; two more detainees were taken after the troops stopped the vehicle approximately 15 kilometers east of the first intercepted automobile.

Troops later searched the safe house discovering mortar rounds and grenades.

One of the five suspects detained is believed to be a senior al-Qaida associate. All are currently being questioned for their level and involvement in terrorist activity.


The real importance of the Zarqawi blooper video tape is that we are telling him and his associates that we are on their trail. This means that they have no choice but to leave certain safe houses or to make more contact with each other to arrange activities. This means they will be more open and make more mistakes. Zarqawi must re-think his conditions and security. He does not know who and what was given up. Every time we make an arrest the net tightens and he must make adjustments. Every adjustment means the possibility of another mistake. Another mistake means we are that much closer to shutting him down.

It is a matter of time, a matter of "when", not "if".

.::Operation.Iraqi.Freedom::.

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Posted by Kat at 1:41 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Blog Swarm: Egyptian Blogger Arrested

Free Alaa!

Sandmonkey reports that Alaa, an Egyptian blogger who also participated in the anti-terrorist protests in Egypt, was arrested today, May 7, while demonstrating for a free judiciary in Egypt. He has updates and exact reports on what happened with ongoing issues. It seems that Alaa was removed from regular police custody and taken to a state security facility. In Egypt, that is not good since that is the place where torture and other heinous activities are known to happen.

Instapundit provides the number and address for the Egyptian Embassy in the United States.

The Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
3521 International Ct. NW
Washington DC 20008
Phone (202) 895 5400
Fax (202) 244 5131
(202) 244 4319
Email: embassy@egyptembdc.org

I think we should also bring this to the attention of the US embassy in Egypt since diplomatic pressure is the only way to get Alaa out and let them know that we are watching them.

Email to the American embassy in Egypt:

consularcairo@state.gov

Global Voices has more info on the situation:

Alaa Abd el-Fatah one of the Egyptian political activists, and one of the first bloggers in Egypt was arrested today together with around ten more activists during a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with sixty activists who were arrested over the past two weeks in a non-violent sit in, as well who were held in custody for two weeks under investigation for “crimes” that if anything would raise only mockery including, humiliating the president, possession of “publishing equipment”(graffiti spray) and blocking traffic.

The first group of activists arrested two weeks ago was supposed to have their cases reviewed by prosecution today, so as to release or renew holding them under investigation. In solidarity with them 200 lawyers approached as a defense council, a number of judges, and a number of activists among whom were Alaa and his colleagues gathered around the court house.[snip]

For hours, Alaa and his fellow activists shouted slogans against the government, sang and showed solidarity with their detained fellow activists. At the end of the demonstration police forces surrounding the group increased, refused to let them leave and started picking those to arrest, Alaa and ten others. They were taken to the nearby police station were they were denied lawyers, or any visitors. Lawyers are now standing outside the station just monitoring in case the arrested activists are taken somewhere else, which is exactly what happened. Three of them were taken blindfolded to another police station and were released later.


Alaa has a wide ranging political view. Though I have known him as a Pan Arabist with Socialist tendencies, I'd take his socialist democracy over the current regime and police state in Egypt or the advancement of the Muslim Brotherhood. It's well known that the MB continues to be the biggest opposition in Egypt because it continues to proliferate through mosques while other secular democracy opposition is squashed routinely and has limited ability to organize outside of the eyes and ears of the state. Alaa is anti-terrorist and pro-democracy. He was demonstrating for a free judiciary and for the release of other activists who were detained for doing the same.

Wherever democracy advocates exist, we should support them. From Egypt to Iran to China, we should not abandon them. It is part of the fight against the rise of global fascism in the name of Islam and the fight against tyranny in every form.

Write your senators, the embassy, our embassy, the newspapers. CNN, Fox anyone that might be interested in this story.

Free Alaa!

Sandmonkey says It's War

Update: My Letters to the Egyptian and American Embassies

Egypt

To Whom It May Concern:

I have been advised that Alaa Abd El-Fatah and ten other activists were arrested on May 7, 2006. While three have been released, Mr. El-Fatah and seven others remain in custody.

Free speech and the right to demonstrate peacefully are the bedrocks of democracy. Further, an independent judiciary that treats all citizens as equal before the law insures the security of the people. The arrest of Mr. el-Fatah is deeply troubling for Americans like me. I believe that Egypt is an important ally in the war on terror, however, I do not believe that it gives the Egyptian government the right to arbitrarily arrest its peacefully demonstrating citizens.

As a concerned citizen of the United States, a nation that provides economic and military assistance to Egypt, I believe that it is my responsibility to inform my government and the Egyptian government of my concerns and expectations.

I ask that Mr. el-Fatah's situation be re-assessed. I ask that Mr. El-Fatah and the other activists be kept safe and no harm be done to them. I ask that Mr. El-Fatah and the other activists be released immediately.

I have contacted the American Embassy and my congressman to express my concern over the situation. A large number of groups have been advised of the situation and we will organize a boycott of Egypt, Egyptian products, Egyptian tourism and all other aspects of Egyptian political and economic activities if Mr. El-Fatah is harmed or not released within 24 hours. We expect that the other activists with Mr. El Fatah will receive the same protection and immediate release.

I am a firm friend of Egypt, its people and their democratic aspirations. I hope that Egypt and the United States has a long and prosperous relationship. I ask that the Egyptian government consider its position, its relationship with the United States and its committment to democracy. I ask that the Egyptian government take this into consideration and take the right actions in relations to Mr. El-Fatah and the other activists' situation.

Thank you for your time and attention,

Kathleen Henry
United States Citizen


US Embassy in Egypt

To Whom It May Concern:

I have been advised that Egyptian Blogger and Activist Alaa Abd el-Fatah has been arrested on May 7, 2006 during a demonstration in support of activists previously arrested by the Cairo police. These activists continue to demand a free, independent judiciary that is the bedrock of democracy in the United States and other nations. Without equality before the law, there can be no equality among citizens.

The track record of the Mubarek regime in suppressing free speech and secular democratic activists continues to trouble Americans like me. I understand the need for allies in the war on terror, but I am continually frustrated by the amount of money and support we provide Egypt only to see Egyptian state controlled newspapers routinely demonize our nation and this regime continue to suppress secular democratic activists.

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/05/07/prominent-egyptian-blogger-arrested-and-several-other-activists/

This is another in the long line of activities by this regime that are repugnant and destroys democratic movements while Islamist organizations are allowed to flourish or at least operate. Please take this situation seriously. We ask that the embassy take the following measures:

1) Determine Mr. el-Fatah's situation
2) Express our concern that Mr. El-Fatah remain safe and unharmed while in custody
3) Remind the Egyptian government that peaceful demonstration and free speech are the bedrock of democracy
4) Remind the Egyptian government that, as an ally of the United States, we have certain expectations in its behavior and actions towards its people
5) Ask that Mr. el-Fatah be released immediately

If Mr. el-Fatah is not released, a boycott of Egypt tourism and products will be organized.

I will be contacting the Egyptian Embassy in the United States to express these concerns.

Thank you,

Kathleen Henry


Another fight that still goes on: Ayman Nour

Clouds shadow Mr. Nour's appeal, scheduled to begin on May 18. The judge named to preside is deeply enmeshed in some related political battles. A majority of Egypt's judges are in rebellion against the regime, demanding full judicial independence. Although less widely noted outside the country, this may prove to be a more important landmark on the road to democracy than last year's elections. Following the parliamentary elections, which were under the supervision of the judiciary, several judges accused others of fixing results on behalf of the regime. No action has been taken against the accused, but the accusers have summarily been stripped of immunity and are facing prosecution for "insulting" their colleagues. The judge appointed to "investigate" them (perhaps because of loyalty to the regime) is the same one who will preside at Mr. Nour's appeal. And two of his attorneys have been summoned for questioning and threatened with charges for insulting the president.


It's all the same fight. Democracy in Egypt. Free Alaa! Free Ayman Nour!

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Posted by Kat at 10:21 PM 2 comments Links to this post

Friday, May 05, 2006

Our Allies in the Forgotten War: Canada

Afghanistan is not "won" in the sense that most people understand "winning". That is to say that, while we are rebuilding and vaccinating, we and our allies continue to face a threat by Taliban rejectionist and Al Qaeda in country. Our allies continue to work every day and pay the price every day while trying to stabilize a nation that is not "third world", but more like "fourth" or "fifth".

As Americans, we probably don't hear much about these other groups beyond sound bites from one country's leader or another about whether they intend to stay or leave a certain theater. As for the troops, we probably don't know much. Most people don't even know what nations are in what country with us or that some have died alongside our men and women in faraway lands while others have hoisted beams, driven trucks, hopped helicopters into mountains, provided dental work, medical care, vaccines, built schools; all of the things our men and women do but with little recognition in their own countries or here.

This post is dedicated to the men and women of the multi-national forces who stand beside us everyday, sacrifice and pay the price.

We are not alone.

Two Italians Killed, Four Wounded in Afghanistan; Three Killed in Iraq

KABUL (Reuters) - Two Italian peacekeepers were killed and four wounded by a roadside bomb near the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday, a spokesman for Afghanistan's NATO-led peacekeeping force said.

Taliban insurgents have intensified their campaign against foreign troops and the government in recent months with a wave of roadside and suicide bombings, attacks and assassinations.[snip]

Italy is still recovering from last week's killing of three soldiers in Iraq. They were killed by a roadside bomb which struck their convoy southwest of Nassiriya.


According to this report, over 1775 Italian troops are in Afghanistan. While there are discussions about pulling troops from Iraq, there has been little if any discussion about Italy abandoning it's NATO committments in Afghanistan. So, while we may be concerned over the Iraq re-deployment, let's not forget that Italy still stands by us in Afghanistan.

Four Canadian Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan, Bombadier Myles "Smylie Mylie" Mansell laid to rest in Victoria

A full military funeral was held Wednesday for Bombardier Myles Mansell, who died in Afghanistan 11 days earlier.

More than 1,000 mourners, including hundreds of army reservists and friends, attended the service at Christ Church Cathedral.

Mansell, 25, died on April 22 along with Lieut. William Turner, Cpl. Matthew Dinning and Cpl. Randy Payne when a bomb hit their vehicle near Gumbad, north of Kandahar.

Mansell, from Victoria, was described as a gregarious child by his uncle Michael Mansell, who spoke at the service.

"He paid the supreme sacrifice to help others," said his uncle. "In his mind, he was always home. In our hearts, he will always be home. Myles, I love you and you will never be forgotten."


Don't forget our men and women. The men and women of our allies are "ours", too.

According to the original article on the Italians, Canada has over 2,200 troops in Afghanistan. They are currently moving to secure Helmand province. Brig. Gen. David Frasier has taken command of the Canadian troops in March 2006. Other details about Afghanistan can be found here.

More about the Canadian mission and the men:

Throwing rocks (at) the carrier, no problem at all," he says. "Then, if there's trouble," Hope says, "Look to me. I will dismount. RSM (Northrop) will mitigate the rest of the column, any damage that's done to the column. Organize the column if there's no damage. Be prepared to move, dismounted, with me towards the threat." One key to this mission is to reach out to local people.

"We're there for us to help them," says Sgt.-Major Northrop.

He reminds everyone what to do if things go right.

"They are not our enemy, the people that we will be engaging on these type of ventures. They're not our enemy. Don't give them the steely-eyed cold look, all right. They don't deserve it."[snip]

Today, Col. Hope isn't looking for enemies, he's looking for friends. There are frequent stops for meetings known as "shuras" with local leaders, trying to build bridges, discussing alternatives to growing opium poppies.[snip]

In the middle, trying to help Canadian soldiers and Afghan villagers to find common ground, is the colonel's interpreter, Bashir, a former Vancouver teacher.

"I'm an Afghan-Canadian. By coming here, I actually do something for both countries. Yeah, I love this country. I want to do something. These people, they suffered a lot. I know what they went through," Bashir says.

People gather when the convoy stops.

When a Canadian convoy arrives for the first time, the villagers are sometimes suspicious, even fearful. But with several return visits, several long conversations over tea, and a few gifts, the welcome gets warmer every time.


Chai tea, mud huts, villages with no names.


8 Canadians have died in Afghanistan in 2006. 28 wounded.

2002-2005: 9 Killed, 17 Wounded

More on the Canadian Units deployed and their missions:

The Canadian Forces began building up its forces in Afghanistan in the summer of 2005, expanding the mission from the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul (called "Operation Athena"), to a more aggressive mission in Kandahar ("Operation Archer") working closely with the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom. [snip]

The move is part of a NATO plan to build up allied forces, including British and Dutch troops in the Kandahar area, to relieve pressure on the American forces that will then concentrate on the border region with Pakistan.

The Canadian commitment to Afghanistan is officially called "Task Force Afghanistan" and includes three main components:

    About 80 personnel assigned to Kabul to various civilian and military organizations.


    About 2,000 assigned to a battle group at the Kandahar air base, an old airfield built up by the United States after the invasion of Afghanistan in the fall of 2001. For the first part of 2006, this will include the headquarters group commanded by Brig. Gen Fraser.


    About 150 assigned to Camp Nathan Smith, a provincial reconstruction team (PRT) based in the city of Kandahar.


The provincial reconstruction team, called "Operation Archer," is made up of personnel from the Canadian Forces, Foreign Affairs, the Canadian International Development Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.


Canada's Department of National Defense

Grassroots effort to show appreciation for Canadian Troops - Wear Red on Fridays:


TORONTO — The mother of a Canadian soldier serving in Kandahar is urging people across the country to wear red on Fridays until every member of the armed forces is home.

Audrey Slaney, whose son Pte. Matthew Holden knew two of the four soldiers killed last month, says Red Fridays will boost the morale of troops in what is becoming an increasingly dangerous war zone.

"People should be letting the troops know what they feel," Slaney, a grocery store worker who lives in Oshawa, Ont., east of Toronto, said Thursday.

"The message is to show the troops that we’re thinking of them and that we love them."

The grassroots movement is believed to have started on the Internet and spread through e-mail in the U.S. before moving north of the border.


Spread the word.

March 6, 2006 Lt. General Caron addresses some comments to those who oppose Canadian presence in Afghanistan:

We occasionally hear comments by some Canadians who question our mission in Afghanistan. Perhaps they did not see the photos of little Afghan girls delighted at being able to return to school after the Taliban were ousted. Perhaps they don't realize that if, as General Hillier said recently, we can get security to a reasonable level, medical clinics can be built so that children will not die before the age of five. Most importantly, they should understand that as we replace a training ground and haven for terrorists with peace and stability for the Afghan people, we are doing what Canadian soldiers do - we are protecting Canada and our fellow Canadians here at home.


Another note from March 31:

These suicide attacks and roadside explosions targeting military convoys have certainly caused more Afghan casualties — to civilians and security forces — than they have injured or killed coalition troops.[snip]

"We build schools. We build bridges. They burn them down," Vernon said of the Taliban.

Or they blow things up, including, if not themselves, then their ruinously enthralled acolytes.

As one Canadian commander noted yesterday: "I consider it a very successful suicide campaign. The more of themselves they kill, the fewer we have to worry about."



March 12:

SOMEWHERE NEAR GOMBAD, AFGHANISTAN - Eyes are watching tonight as the blackness settles in on the barren mountaintop. Eyes that seek Canadian blood. They have been watching for weeks, from the very first moment Alpha Company of the First Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group made its presence known in the high hills of the Shawali Kot region of northern Kandahar Province.


Read the entire report. It's great and the soldiers in Canada talk about the same thing our soldiers do: new war, new techniques, officers in the middle are slow to change.

Another note on Chai Tea, Mud Huts, Villages with No Names:

"As much as I want to help you and focus on humanitarian aid, I cannot do that if we're always fighting people."

The one-eyed man softens at this news and, in the next breath, his combative tone vanishes. "If you give us a school, a medical clinic, we can keep security in these places. We can help you. The Taliban is not made of Afghans. It is made of Pakistani people who come here to fight," he says.

The sudden Afghan warmth is sanctified by the serving of tea and bread. With it comes the rest of the villagers, who until now had stood at a distance. The Afghans remark favourably on the Canadians' willingness to share in the ritual, noting that when U.S. soldiers came to visit, they refused the offer of the sweet tea.

"My American friends have weak stomachs," laughs Schamuhn, raising his glass to salute his hosts. "So when they drink your chai they get sick."


A wry[thanks John for spelling lesson] comment from a Canadian soldier on the sand and dust:

The creeping dust finds its way everywhere, from the deepest pores of the exposed members of the LAV crews, who stand two abreast with guns at the ready through the open sentry hatches of the vehicle, to the inner workings of the weapons themselves. Hundreds of cases of aerosol air duster will be consumed during this mission.

In the indelicate words of one soldier, "Boogers around here make good sandbags — if you can ever get them out of your nose."


Mistakes in a counterinsurgency are often hard to overcome:

"The Americans went out of their way to stay with us until the very end," says the Canadian platoon's Warrant Officer, Justin Mackay, 33. "They showed us the site of every IED (improvised explosive device, or roadside bomb) and every rocket attack; they helped us understand the mood in the various villages, which ones were friendly and which were problematic.

"They stayed until the day before they were due to fly home, which was impressive."

The area around Gombad went bad not because of those particular U.S. troops but because of their predecessors, a U.S. infantry company that opted to bar itself within the compound's gates and venture only rarely "beyond the wire," the Canadians say. The valleys were allowed to fester unchecked with an ever more emboldened insurgency, eager to test the will of the coalition soldiers.

Now that turf must be reclaimed, village by village, with Canadian boots on the ground.


I am wondering how many American officers and troops have read books on counterinsurgency? Did they read TE Lawrence? Or 28 Articles by Kilcullen?

Part 4 War Canadian Style:

The LAV did not crumble when a mechanized section of 1st Platoon was struck the evening of Feb. 9 in an area that some of the soldiers now call "Sphincter Alley," a narrow, natural ambush site on the approach to Gombad. [snip]

With this kind of firepower, one wouldn't expect Canadian soldiers to need much else in situ. But the men of 1st Platoon come also with a few superstitious tricks up their sleeve. One has gone so far as to have the symbol for "luck" tattooed onto his neck in Mandarin. Others, when asked about good luck charms, empty their pockets to show such unlikely totems as "three lucky bullets."


This is where the coalition forces work together:

But there is one weapon we can describe — the "ratpicker." We saw it first after a tense dismounted patrol through the comparatively hostile village of Padah, where scowling men ignored the friendly but cautious waves of the marching Canadians and in some cases admonished Afghan toddlers who waved back in greeting.

Dead ahead on the other side of Padah was the ratpicker, or Meerkat — a kind of giant praying mantas on wheels whose sole purpose is to detect and disable roadside bombs before the Canadians drive over them.

U.S. army Specialist Russ Snyder, 28, of the 391st Combat Engineer Battalion, has been driving the Meerkat and its larger variant in Afghanistan for almost a year. A reservist and former Philadelphia city cop, Snyder's crew is the only mine clearance team of its kind in country — and therefore in high demand.[snip]

The hope is that, before Snyder's team is called elsewhere in Afghanistan, bomb-planting insurgents will accept the futility of their efforts and move elsewhere, away from the Canadians at Gombad.

"We're basically chasing the bomb planters around the country," says Snyder. "Hopefully they will eventually get tired of being chased and move out of Afghanistan altogether


Part 6: Canada's Citizen Soldiers Fathers and Sons

The pups of Alpha Company call him "Pops," or sometimes "The Old Man." To glimpse at his grey whiskers, it is easy to imagine Cpl. Erik Hjalmarson is a lifer with decades in the Forces.

Not so. Though Hjalmarson turns 55 this month, he didn't join the army until age 49, making him an extraordinarily mature recruit to Canada's front-line combat forces.

What drove the Duncan, B.C., native to call the Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre six years ago? In part, Hjalmarson explains, it was his last chance to share in a family heritage that dates back to World War I.[snip]

Hjalmarson has another overriding interest for being in these hills: It helps him keep tabs on his oldest son, also named Eric, 25, who is deployed at the main Canadian base at Kandahar Airfield, working with Bravo Company. Father and son have been in the same battalion for the past six years.

"I think I worry about him more than he worries about me, but that is what a parent does. It just goes to show how our family is steeped in military tradition. My dad was with the Royal Canadian Engineers in World War II, landing at Juno Beach and fighting right through to Germany," he says.

"And my grandfather served with 49th Battalion, the South Saskatchewan Regiment, in World War I.

"I've grown up with the stories. To me, it relates to a tradition of what Canadians used to call `citizen soldiers' — volunteers who joined up to fight. Canada always had an army that could make do with what they were given."


With many complaints about the state of Canada's military, the Canadians often do "make do". Right now they've been making do with US airlift and resupply support, among others.

Canada's relationship with it's soldiers and the purpose of a military:

"I think the biggest satisfaction is watching these young guys become men of substance. We get people from all walks of life coming in, boys from the farms and cities and fishing villages. A lot of them already know what is it to work hard and some of them have to learn it the hard way.

"What we end up with is a fighting army. Not just a peacekeeping army, but a peacemaking army. Sad to say, most Canadians don't know about it. But it's here. We're here. And we're getting the job done."[snip]

It emerges by firelight that the Red Devils resent that, somehow, in the minds of so many Canadians, they don't really exist. A crack combat unit, they feel, has no place in the eyes of what many perceive as anti-military Middle Canada. Like their grandfathers, they trained to fight. But somehow in the 50 years between then and now, these shadow warriors lost their hold on the country. Or Canada simply let go.


The Axe Attack on Lieutenant Greene:

Warrant Mackay barks the order to the Red Devil Inn and instantly the men sprint for their gear. Flak jackets, helmets and guns are gathered in seconds. The cause of alarm is not yet known. Everyone knows better than to ask.

It is 2:02 p.m., Saturday, March 4. And something has gone terribly wrong at the village of Shingai, three kilometres away, where Capt. Schamuhn and Lieut. Greene are visiting the third village of the day to meet with village elders. The first radio transmission announced "Contact." That means contact with the enemy. Shots were fired, there were explosions. No other details are known. [snip]

Headquarters at Kandahar Airfield, codenamed "Orion Zero," enters the radio conversation, informing Schamuhn that U.S. Apache helicopters are on the way. They will advise when the Medevac is "wheels up." Headquarters requests for additional details about the nature of the casualty, in order to better prepare base hospital staff.

"Orion One-One: casualty is (unintelligible). He has received an axe wound to the head."

Radio silence.

Then headquarters repeats its query: "Orion One-One this is Orion Zero: Say again the nature of the wound, over."

Schamuhn keys his microphone to repeat. "Orion One-One: I say again. The nature of the wound is an axe to the head. Over."


Definitely a must read.

More on Canada and its military:

"It is so rare for Canadian soldiers to be put in a situation by our government where we are actually able to use the weapons we've been trained to use," he says.

"As morbid as it may seem to an outsider, we get to be soldiers. And a lot of us are going to go home very satisfied that we got to do it. Imagine an EMT worker training all their life in medicine and never getting the call."

As a student of military history, the young captain also has something to say about the Canadian tendency to take its peace for granted. The sheer lack of fighting on our own soil, he says, has damaged the Canadian perception of what really goes on in the world and fostered a culture of blithe pacifism.

"It is one thing for someone to come back from seeing reality in a place like this and to say, `I'm a pacifist. I don't want Canada to have an army.' I can respect that, even if I don't agree," says Schamuhn.

"But if you're born in Canada and that's all you've ever known, your words mean nothing to me. Because you haven't seen the other side of the world. You haven't seen the necessity of conflict. There are people who are fighting against peace, against stable government.

"And Canada, whether they want to know it or not, has a very strong warrior class. I guess that is what the front-line soldiers really want Canadians to understand. We want Canadians to get on board, to realize we are out here and to allow us to do what we are prepared to do."


Virtual Dave from Canadahar's Sibling wrote to the Sun:

In my letter I was trying to make it clear that Canadian soliders serving in Afghanistan are not “peacekeepers”. This will be obvious to anyone reading this weblog; however, it is not at all obvious to many Canadians, including many in the media, who often refer or allow correspondents to refer to our soldiers as peacekeepers.

This is just plain wrong - peacekeeping is done by the UN, not Canada, and we’ve pretty much pulled out of peacekeeping these days anyway - but it bothers me especially because of the emotive image of peacekeepers, and of the idea being put into people’s heads of Canadian peacekeepers as casualties. The article my letter was responding to was one such confused collection of statements about “peacekeeping personnel” being killed, and asking whether this was the best use of our peacekeepers. I may be wrong about this, but I think that people are more likely to support the Canadian mission in Afghanistan - even with casualties - if they know that those involved are soldiers. Changing them into peacekeepers suggests, to me at least, that there should be less shooting involved - both by them, and by others.

Canadians need to understand that these are soldiers, and that this is a war effort. The term “peacekeeping” implies that there should in fact be a peace to keep, and the recent battle at Sangin suggests that this is not entirely the case in Afghanistan.


The final piece of the multi-part story from the Star gives point in fact view of this war.

You may call the Afghan villagers of Gombad and places like it helpless. The lingering paradox now is that they may also be unhelpable - altogether too shredded by successive generations of conflict and decline to accept the hand within reach.

It is a question Capt. Schamuhn has been pondering for months, even before he came to Kandahar. He went to his father, the pastor, for answers.

"I was struggling with the problem that we can't help everybody. We could be here for the rest of our lives and we still won"t be able to solve Afghanistan, it is such a complex and deeply rooted problem," he says.

"But my dad's advice was, 'Don't worry about changing the world. Just change individual people's worlds, one at a time."

"There will always be war, there will always be bad guys," says Schamuhn. "It is the nature of humanity. But just to smile at the kids as we go through these villages, to see their faces light up, you are touching a life on the other side of the planet.

"That's what we have to focus on: the individual victories."




This is a long war. There is no fixing Iraq or Afghanistan overnight. People who imagine that the initial phase of the war or "major combat" could have been fought differently and would have changed the outcome to in fact be "peacekeeping and reconstruction" only have no idea what war we are fighting. They are lost. They don't know the history of the area nor its current condition. They do not understand that third world countries do not turn into even second world countries overnight or in three to five years. The "significant progress" that impresses a ground commander looks like nothing in the news clips and videos that we see on TV. Words from Presidents and Prime Ministers do not explain it nor can they really convey how important it is.

People have a fantasy world that they imagine exists. In this fantasy world, the people in Africa or South Asia are just like the neighbor who lives next door. They think that they can just shake hands, wave hello and these people will simply open their doors and be ready to accept a new social structure that revolves around what we in the west call "the rule of law", but only exists through a unique social contract that does not exist in every nation or backwater hole. In those places, the rule of "survival of the fittest" and the rule of the "gun" are the "rule of law". Disputes are settled with blood, money and even exchange of hostages. Subsistance does not even begin to describe the situation.

In the fantasy world of many people, from Canada to the US to Europe, the American Peace Corps is the exemplary method for changing the world. Where a group of people go to a village somewhere, build a school, dig a well, teach children some English, vaccinate those they can reach and this, they imagine will be the trigger, the only trigger necessary to change a world full of armed thugs, militias and violent idealogues.

People pretend that the moral authority of men in blue helmets standing between a heavily armed force and another or a group of civilians, calling themselves peacekeepers, will actually bring peace. Peacekeepers can only keep the peace that already exists, they cannot make peace. If people are not willing to make peace, they will not have it and we cannot keep it.

It is a strange paradox. On the one hand, people insist that "someone should do something" to stop genocidal killings or keep children from starving or whole countries from obliteration, yet they demand that there is no military force used to stop it because then the military might have to kill people that we did not originally have any fight with. They demand that no military person should die in this "peacekeeping mission" when we have said they cannot shoot. One must wonder what they expect to happen? Is there a magical shield that will keep bullets from hitting "peacekeepers"? Are they protected by a higher power from the violence of the world we expect them to enter? Should they be martyrs, never having fired their weapons? What is it that makes people believe that peaceful organization and action, having occured in some nations, will work in every nation?

How are people to get food and medical treatment if other armed groups kill them or prevent them from doing it if "peacekeepers" cannot insure the safety of these people either coming to receive help or when they leave for surely, those who understand know that, having received help, in the world these people live in, is tantamount to declaring for "our" side or some "other" side.

This war will be long. The transformation of nations are always long, but, more in fact, this war is not just Afghanistan or Iraq. It is far reaching from Africa to Indonesia. It is more than a region. It is more than simply giving people water or food or medicine. A squad will not drink tea with a village elder, build a clinic and school, then leave expecting that they have changed the life and security of that village. It takes many visits, many weeks, months and years to build the kind of trust that is required to change their world and ours. If we do not commit to that; if we are not prepared to go there day after day, week after week; if we are not prepared, not only to spend money and resources, but to provide security to these people over a long haul, we will not win.

The fact is, when we leave every day, when we do not come back the next, there are men over the hill, whether they be Taliban, Al Qaida, other Tribes that are waiting for us to leave. They are waiting to punish, to take away and to destroy what we have built. If there is anything that we should have learned from Vietnam, this is it. You cannot change this fact unless you are willing to become the "peacemakers" who will give people the security necessary to develop into this society, the good society. Unless they can expect to live every day without the fear that their neighbors will come to kill them, they have no incentive to change.

Those who want a silver bullet, that imagine roads, water works and schools then leave, do not want to "win". They do not want to commit. What they want is to have done something to make themselves "feel good" so they can pretend they have changed the world while they go back to microwa