SpiritBuilders

Off to Afghanistan

2009-05-03T19:56:00.007-06:00

When our kids were growing up we could have never imagined that they would be sent off to war.

The picture here is of my niece, her husband and their daughter. Both my niece and her husband are in the Navy. Rusty was deployed to Afghanistan last week; Liz is working in the hospital at Camp Lejeuene.

If you have a minute, here's a link to a story about the deployment of Rusty's batallion. A few prayers for his safety would be appreciated by all.

If you known me for a while, you know that my son, Allen, was deployed to Iraq for about a year in 2004. He left Iraq on Inauguration Day in 2005; the same day that he reenlisted in the Army National Guard for three more years. Al's enlistment was up late last year; and he plans to re-up again this fall.

From the beginning, this blog has been mostly focused on military matters, from a military mom's point of view. That will continue, and I'll post news about the 2nd MEB here from time to time. Let's hope and pray that there will be very little bad news and that this deployment will fly by.

Update: Here's a television news story with Rusty and Liz.

Reading the Tea Leaves

2009-04-19T19:34:00.008-06:00

Much has been said about the tea parties that were held on April 15th. Janeane Garofalo called the attendees racist. Several television anchors snickered about the "tea-baggers" apparently knowing the sexual meaning of the term. CNN's Susan Roesgen seemed to think that the protestors were a threat that she needed to quash herself.

Well, my husband and I attended the tea party event at the Minnesota State Capitol grounds. During the event, it was announced that there were between 8,000 - 10,000 people there. Who knows? It could have been more...or less... Almost all were pretty normal looking people. Like these:

Tea bags were a fashion accessory that were worn by men and women alike.

At the end of the event, people were invited to throw their tea bags into a large bin that was going to be presented to lawmakers at the capitol.

These two ladies don't look especially scary to me.

Are there some concerns? Sure. There did seem to be a lot of Ron Paul supporters, and so I would not want my presence to at the rally to imply support for Ron Paul if it was indeed his followers that really were behind the organization of the event. Also, there were a LOT of "Don't tread on me" flags. One has to wonder what type of folks have flags like that laying around the house.

For the most part, the crowd was quite mild. Some carried pretty creative signs. The motivation for most people's presence seemed to be out of control government spending. There were also many signs that displayed folk's feelings about guns and liberty.

Was this a historic moment? Probably not. But if the tea parties on July 4 grow by a factor of just two, they are going to be very hard to dismiss.

Yes, they did!

2009-03-21T08:16:00.002-06:00

You know, being a supporter of President Bush for eight years was a sometimes frustrating experience. It seemed that the entire journalistic world was against him, only being able to find flaws and never seeing the good. Slate.com still keeps track of current "Bushisms."

In the presidential campaign, there was a cone of silence about reporting on Barack Obama's flaws and so our nation plunged headlong, uniformed, into the election of a man whom they thought was the most gifted speaker in the history of the human race.

Well, the good folks in the U.K. are no longer star struck. From the Telegraph.co.uk, here's a top ten list of Obama Administration gaffes.

Bien venidos a Venezuela

2009-02-17T05:57:00.003-06:00

In the 1980's and early 1990's I worked in the finance department of an international heavy equipment manufacturer. One of our larger accounts was in Venezuela. I traveled there and found the country and people to be not that different from home. There was a healthy middle class, an entrepreneurial class, and all the rest. Over the years, I've watched as Hugo Chavez has gained and consolidated power, and observed warily the nationalization of the petroleum, cement, and steel industries. I've thought: "How sad for the people that I used to work with."

Amigos mios, bien venidos a Venezuela.

This morning, I read an article in the Washington Post titled: "President of Everything." I expected it to be a criticism of the power grab by President Obama's administration. The article even begins: "This is a presidency on steroids." This is something that you would have expected critics of the Bush administration to utter. But, no, opinionist Eugene Robinson thinks that a presidency on steriods is now a GOOD thing.

Here's some more from the article: "Now it's time for the administration to get to work. For his next act, Obama must set the parameters of a new presidential role that he did not seek but cannot avoid: managing the big chunks of the private-sector economy that are now more accurately described as semi-private at best. "

My heart sank as I read this paragraph, and it made me think of my old friends in Venezuela. You see, it's unavoidable (and not a bad thing in the view of this columnist) that big chunks of the American private-sector economy are now nationalized. Just like in Venezuela.

A lesson for today

2009-02-17T05:55:00.002-06:00

If you read one article today, let it be this one by Ed Kaitz at American Thinker. It's titled: How Democracies become Tyrannies. I have to say that American Thinker is slightly reactionary, even for me. However this article rings true as it contrasts Plato's Republic to the rise of socialism in America, with inferences to our current President. It's a sober story and worth reading.

Cross posted at Fight On

Silence is complicity

2009-01-14T06:35:00.002-06:00

Cross-posted at Fight On:

This week, I've read two articles that are particularly chilling and I'm at a loss as to what to do.

The first is this opinion piece by former President Jimmy Carter. Found in The Washington Post and titled: "An Unnecessary War," the article starts thus:

"I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided. After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years), the town was traumatized by the unpredictable explosions. About 3,000 residents had moved to other communities, and the streets, playgrounds and shopping centers were almost empty. Mayor Eli Moyal assembled a group of citizens in his office to meet us and complained that the government of Israel was not stopping the rockets, either through diplomacy or military action. "

The article then spends the next nine paragraphs explaining how Israel is totally to blame for the current hostilities in Gaza. If I have seen such a maniacal screed by someone of the stature of a former president of the United States, I cannot recall it. I have read Carter's writing in the past; this one has me floored.

My question is: "How do common citizens respond to things like this?" Do we simply whine about the crazy old man in the corner, hoping that no one is paying attention? Do we write the author and newspaper in order to try to set the record straight? Do we send emails to our friends in the media and ask them to write a rebuttal? At this point, none of this feels as if it's enough.

So, this blog post is one small way to not be silent.

The second article that absolutely stopped me in my tracks is a blog post from Melanie Phillips at the website of The Spectator. Very bad things are happening in Europe in regard to the rise of anti-Semitism. Ms. Phillips includes eye witness accounts of violent demonstrations in England. She ends her post with this:

"For silence is complicity, as once gentle, decent, civilised Britain changes before our horrified eyes into something very ugly indeed."

In a trip to Europe this summer, my husband and I visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. The visitors to the museum slowly and silently made their way through the different levels of the home, going from the normalcy of Anne's father's business that was run from the lower floors of the building to the betrayal of the Frank's, their friends, and the whole of the Jewish population of Europe in the 1940's.

I doubt that one person in that building on that day believed it could happen again.

I do believe that we are close to it happening again.

And we cannot be silent.

"Well, we'll just call those combat troops 'civil engineers' now"

2008-12-04T05:42:00.004-06:00

Here's a news analysis piece from the New York Times that gives us a glimpse of how Obama will be able to claim that it is he who won the war while delivering the retreat that he promised to the anti-war wing of his party.

From the article:

There always was a tension, if not a bit of a contradiction, in the two parts of Mr. Obama’s campaign platform to “end the war” by withdrawing all combat troops by May 2010. To be sure, Mr. Obama was careful to say that the drawdowns he was promising included only combat troops. But supporters who keyed on the language of ending the war might be forgiven if they thought that would mean bringing home all of the troops.

Pentagon planners say that it is possible that Mr. Obama’s goal could be accomplished at least in part by relabeling some units, so that those currently counted as combat troops could be “re-missioned,” their efforts redefined as training and support for the Iraqis.

Read the whole article. It's actually pretty balanced and points out the revisionism that's going on in regard to Obama's promises on the campaign trail.

Victory in Iraq Day - November 22

2008-11-23T20:12:00.003-06:00

Yes, it's true. The war is over and victory has been achieved.

An American Dream

2008-09-03T21:38:00.003-06:00

You GO girl!

This is all we need to see

2008-09-03T21:26:00.009-06:00

If you look very closely at the ring finger of the young man's hand, you'll see the name "Bristol."

God bless the three of them.

Update: Ooops. Levi may need to alter that tattoo. Well, that's a shame, and best wishes are still sent for the three of them...together or apart.

Next time you see one of the troops, say "Thank You."

2008-04-15T20:49:00.002-06:00

Have you ever seen a soldier, seaman, airman, or marine in uniform and wanted to say "Thank you"...but you couldn't because you were too far away, or you weren't able to stop and say the words? Here's a way to communicate "Thanks for your service!" without saying a word.

(Thanks to my sis, a proud Navy mom.)

Paaaaaar-teeeee!

2008-04-12T14:35:00.001-06:00

2-16 boots back on American soil!

So close to being home

2008-04-05T07:32:00.006-06:00

There is sad news from Army Battalion 2-16 this week. Two soldiers, so close to coming home, were killed: Spc. Durrell L. Bennett, 22, of Spanaway, Wash., and Pfc. Patrick J. Miller, 23, of New Port Richey, Fla.

Bennet and Miller would have returned to Kansas in April with the rest of the 2-16.

May both soldiers rest in peace in the loving arms of their creator. God grant solace to their families.

General Odierno's Lessons from Iraq

2008-03-09T13:34:00.002-06:00

Ralph Peters wrote another fine column this weekend titled: Lessons from the General. In it, General Odierno reflects on what he has learned about fighting an insurgency and the progress that is being made in Iraq.

As part of the interview Peters asked Odierno what he learned about our soldiers. The general replied: "They are compassionate. They genuinely care - not just about each other, but about Iraqis, too. I saw it again and again. They are compassionate young men and women."

Peters asked if there were any surprises about our soldiers. "They've surprised me with their resilience. . . They continue to re-enlist, continue to perform. . . Both leaders and soldiers have shown incredible resilience in the way they've adapted" to the changing situation in Iraq. "And I realized how much we can trust our soldiers."

If you're reading this blog, I'll bet you're not surprised at all with the compassion or resilience of our soldiers. God bless 'em all - from the grunts all the way up to the generals.

Glass breaking in the night

2008-02-17T09:34:00.007-06:00

Seventy years in the future, will the danger of Islamic radicalism in Europe be seen as clearly as we now see the evil of Hitler's facism in the late 1930's?

Across Europe for a few years now, European "youths" have been burning cars as a form of protest. Oh-so-perceptive journalists never seem to be able to put their finger on the profile of the protestors or the reason for the protests. However, after years of review maybe, just maybe, they will be able to connect the dots between perceived slights against Islam and shattered glass on the streets of Europe.

This week in Denmark, "youths" torched more cars and now garbage trucks in the same week that Danish newspapers reprinted the infamous "Mohammed Cartoons."

Here's a clip from a story from one correspondent in Copenhagen:

"Five youths were arrested in the capital after 28 cars and 35 garbage trucks were burned, Copenhagen police duty officer Jakob Kristensen said.

Danish media said arrests in other towns brought to 29 the number of people police were holding.

Scores of cars and several schools have been vandalised or burned in the past week.

Police could give no reason, but said that unusually mild weather and the closure of schools for a winter break might have contributed."

Wait, wait...it's GLOBAL WARMING that's causing the unusually mild weather in Europe that's led to the rioting. Yeah, that's the ticket.

For Crying Out Loud

2008-02-10T07:07:00.000-06:00

There she goes again.

"You know, for me, politics isn't a game. It's not about who's up or who's down."

She said it in Virginia yesterday.

She said it on Super Tuesday.

But when she's down...

Three, two, one... cue the tears...

Yesterday in Maine (above.)

In New Hampshire:

And in Connecticut:

Sheesh! The first time, I gave her the benefit of the doubt. The second time, I was becoming skeptical. But three times? Come on, Hillary, buck up.

Why I'll be caucusing for Mitt Romney

2008-02-03T12:09:00.000-06:00

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the part of conservative elites at the prospect of John McCain being the GOP nominee for the presidential race this year. They cite things like McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, and the proposed McCain-Kennedy immigration and Lieberman-McCain anti-global warming bills. In a nutshell, he is accused of not being conservative enough for the Republican party.

It seems, however, that a plurality of the Republican party disagree with the the opinion shapers of talk radio, the blogosphere, and some print media.

Well, I won't be so presumptious as to say that the unwashed masses of the Republican party are wrong and that the deep thinkers at the top have got it right. However, I'll be caucusing for Mitt Romney on Tuesday. Here's why:

When I think of John McCain, I think of this video where he gleefully sings into a mic: "Bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb, bomb Iran." A few months ago, I heard John McCain using Abu Ghraib as a campaign talking point. I wish I could find the quote, but it was in the context that such things would not happen under his administration. Finally, a Republican congressman from California was praising John McCain last week on Hugh Hewitt's radio show. He was talking about how although he disagreed with McCain on many things, McCain's credentials for the War on Terror overrode all else. This congressman talked about McCain's anger and that he wanted an angry president to sit across the table from our enemies.

Well, I do not.

I do not want an angry president making rash decisions about sending in troops. It seems to me that it is likely to get soldiers needlessly killed.

I do not want a president who uses a one night shift in a stressed out military prison as a talking point. There is no "integrity" in gaining favor with those who have used that scandal to try to bring down the administration's efforts in the War on Terror.

I do not want a president who has such a tin-ear that he does not find anything wrong with publicly joking about bombing a country.

My son is currently part-time Army National Guard. His enlistment is up in October. For a while, it seemed that he would not be reenlisting after ten-years in full-time and part-time service, including one year serving in Iraq. As the time gets closer, he's reassessing the benefits of being in the Guard, and even contemplating going back to full-time service.

I am very interested in who will be our Commander-in-Chief. Mitt Romney has a record of achievements. John McCain is seen as a hero because he spent five years in a prisoner of war camp. Well, I had an uncle who was a prisoner of war. He marched in one of the death marches in Nazi Germany. My uncle was an unsung hero. That did not make him qualified to be President.

I believe that it's going to take more to win the War on Terror than simply killing the enemy, somthing that John McCain seems all too eager to do. It's going to take strategy, a "can-do" attitude, and can I even say - a Godly spirit. That sounds more like Mitt Romney to me.

So, I will be caucusing for Mitt Romney on Tuesday night.

The problem with the left and the war

2008-02-02T06:24:00.000-06:00

Many on the left see the war more as a stick to beat President Bush with than anything else. In this article at Mother Jones: Iraq: Dem's Dream Dashed? all of the focus is on "how to confront him on Iraq" or the failure of Congress to make him take a "new direction." Only is it briefly mentioned that the goal is to end the war. There is no thought on how ending the war will benefit the U.S. or Iraq. In their mind, the end goal is simply to humble President Bush by making him end the war, the consequences are not considered.

Well, I would like to see an end to the war, also...after the mission is accomplished. I'll leave it to the generals to decide when that has happened.

Duncan Crookston Funeral Information

2008-01-29T06:17:00.000-06:00

The Patriot Guard Riders will be at Duncan Crookston's funeral and has posted information about the time that it will take place:

Saturday, 02 Feb 08 services are scheduled for 1100 (11 a.m.) at:

The Church of Latter Day Saints
2710 S. Monaco Pkwy
Denver, Colorado 80222

I will be there in spirit, as will hundreds of others who will not be able to make the journey. It is sure to be the celebration of the life of young man who made a difference and will not be forgotten.

Upon the death of a young soldier

2008-01-27T20:08:00.000-06:00

Over at roodawg.blogspot.com, PFC Duncan Crookston's squad leader describes the soldier who joined his squad in late 2006. Duncan would have been 18 years old at the time.

Duncan Crookston was a very smart young man who was the unofficial but very capable computer tech support guy for his fellow soldiers. He was funny, and caring, and always willing to help. The description of Duncan sounds just like my own son.

Duncan was injured on September 4, 2007 in an EFP attack that killed three other soldiers and severely wounded another. There is a video remembrance of them that can be viewed here.

On January 25th, 2008, after five months of a valiant fight, Duncan died with his mom, Lee, and wife, Meaghun, at his side. He would have been 20 years old on January 26th.

His death will surely go mostly unnoticed by the New York Times, or even the Washington Post who covered the deployment of the 2-16. However, those that matter will know our country has lost one of our finest.

Rest in peace, young man.

My deepest condolences go out to Meaghun, Lee, and all of Duncan's family and friends.

PFC Duncan Crookston R.I.P.

2008-01-26T14:45:00.000-06:00

A hero has died.

For a letter from Duncan's mom, go to http://roodawg.blogspot.com/.

Damn.

Will post more when I get back to my computer.

Update: For information about Duncan's funeral, go to this post.

Poor Martha Raddatz

2008-01-16T04:30:00.000-06:00

ABC's Chief Whitehouse Correspondent is all fired up. In this video she shows her displeasure with Saudi Arabia. Here's what she had to say about it on ABC's blog:

Saudis Get Bombs---I Get Booted

January 14, 2008 6:09 PMAlessandra L.-->

By: Martha Raddatz

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The administration wants to sell 900 JDAMs ..those big, precise GPS controlled bombs, to a country that won't let me go to the hotel gym because I am a woman. And it is an American owned hotel--a Marriott. Yes, the announcement that the JDAMS would be added to the 20 billion dollar weapons package for the region came at almost the precise time I walked into the gym to inquire how late it would be open. "Sorry, ma'am---but ladies are not allowed in here." As you might imagine, this did not sit well with me. After eight brutal days on the road hopping from country, you grab a workout whenever you can. So I offered what I thought was a reasonable compromise---let the men work out for a few hours, then let "the ladies" work out. "Let me check," the man at reception offered. I knew it wouldn't happen, but I had to try. After a few minutes, the answer that I expected. "Sorry, ma'am, but that is not possible."

Don't get me wrong, I respect other cultures and am a seasoned traveler in the Mideast. I know in some places they separate women and men (which is what my solution addressed I thought!) But it is the first time in decades I was made to feel like a second class citizen---and it is not a pleasant feeling. I also wondered how President Bush, an exercise fanatic, would feel if he was turned away from a gym. He touts the positive changes that the US invasion of Afghanistan brought...and criticizes the human rights record in Saudi ( compared to that record the no gym action pales) but judging from the fact we are spending two days here (and only 4 hours in Egypt) Saudi is very high on the president's BFF list.

And I am sure all the men on the treadmill were pleased about the news that 123 million dollars worth of bombs might be coming this way. I don't know how the women feel--there weren't any around.

Poor Martha. Yes, I'm sure it was a tramatic thing for her not to be able to use a work out gym in Saudi Arabia. Athough I doubt it was nearly as tramatic as this story where two female domestic workers were beaten to death in Saudi Arabia. Or this story where fifteen girls were burned to death because they were prevented from escaping a blazing building - they were not wearing proper Islamic dress. Or this story where a gang-rape victim was sentenced to ninety lashes.

You, go, Martha! And when you get done feeling sorry for yourself then, maybe you can start reporting on real abuse of women in the Middle East.

Chilling

2008-01-13T09:09:00.000-06:00

On January 11, 2008, Ezra Levant had to appear before Alberta's Human Rights Commissions. A complaint was filed against his magazine "The Western Standard" for publishing a cartoon that was critical of the prophet Mohammed.

Over at LGF, there are two videos from the hearing. Here is the written text of Mr. Levant's opening statement.

We feel safe in the U.S., thinking it cannot happen here.

As I'm writing this post, I'm listening to Hillary Clinton defending herself against comments in which members of the black community have basically called her a racist. Now, I am no fan of Hillary Clinton. However, what difference is it that Ezra Levant is charged with being a racist for publishing a cartoon critical of Mohammed and Hillary Clinton being charged with racism for criticizing her black opponent?

The trouble with polls

2008-01-10T06:07:00.000-06:00

I am having major email problems right now and am again facing the prospect of losing easy access to a little more than three years of email exchanges starting at the time that my son was called up for duty in Iraq. They are backed up and we'll see if they can be restored.

In the meantime, I ran across this email which is reminiscent of what is happening with the polling data in the current primary races. How soon we forget how wrong the polls were in 2006, too:

Here's most of an email that I wrote in an exchange with a journalist on October 31, 2006:

"I do agree with you about not being able to read what is going on. In Minnesota, for instance, a University of Minnesota poll is now reporting that our incumbent governor, Tim Pawlenty (R), is behind 39 to 45 against the former attorney general, Mike Hatch (D). The last approval poll I saw for Pawlenty (about a month ago) had him at 54 percent approval among Minnesotans. The economy is very good here. Frankly, life does not get much better anywhere else. How can this incumbent be losing?

I do appreciate hearing, too, your inside thoughts. They make sense...the one I'd like to respond to, though, is your irritation with Iraq. Here's what jumped out:

You said: 'When they made the decision to go to war, Bush and the cabinet should have discussed and thought about the enormous nation-building exercise they were signing on for, and the American people's limited patience for it.'

My friend, *we* all made the decision to go to war through our elected representatives - not only Bush and his appointees, but also through my senator, Norm Coleman, and my representative, Mark Kennedy and all the other senators and representatives who overwhelmingly approved of our military action in Iraq.

*We* did it.

And it is our responsibility to finish what we started.

Trust me, ********, I have glimpsed the ravages of war... I've watched a pro-American Iraqi journalist (********* *******) turn into a hate-filled Bush-basher, I will never forget the tragedy of Steven Vincent's death at the hands of religious fanatics, and I very recently went through a weekend with a close friend who mistakenly thought her marine-reserve son was being called up for duty. None of this is pleasant.

But do you want to talk about irritation? It would be beyond irritation to watch 26 million people being slaughtered by each other as we pull out. It would be beyond irritation to think that my son spent a year in 120 degree heat and gave it his all for a mission for which now one eager-war-supporter after another wants to throw in the towel. And it would be beyond irritation to live in a country where, like in Europe, the population is too timid to face the evil of shari'a. Because if we lose in Iraq, there is no stopping Muslim radicalism anywhere else. Not in our lifetimes.

Sorry if I sound a little preachy. I am very worried, however, about a Speaker of the House Pelosi, and folks like Carl Levin and Charlie Rangel being in charge of important committees in the Senate and House. I do not want to live through the late sixties and early seventies again. Although I am barely old enough to remember much past a fairly idyllic childhood in rural Minnesota, I know that Dems running wild through the chambers of Congress cannot be a good thing. Last week Peggy Noonan said something about folks not wanting to associate with being part of a political base anymore, they see themselves as independent thinkers. Well, not this woman...I am voting for Mark Kennedy as senator simply because he is a Republican. I guess I'm now part of the Republican base."

By the way - the polls were very wrong in Minnesota in October 2006, too, and I'm happy to say that Tim Pawlenty is still our governor.

Duncan Crookston Update

2008-01-09T20:36:00.000-06:00

If you've reached this page by searching for news about Duncan Crookston, here is a link to something that was posted today on a military forum page.

Duncan is making progress. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Remember the trust fund: You can donate by stopping at any Chase Bank and directing your donation to: Duncan Crookston Trust, Chase Bank, Acct. # 1635716796, Routing #102001017. Also, you can make a check payable to Duncan Crookston Trust. Mail it to: Meaghun Crookston c/o Powless Guest House, 3298 George C. Beach Rd, Ft. Sam Houston, TX 78234.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T11:00:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas to all who come this way.

To any soldiers and military families who stop by to get an update on the 2-16...this is one time where we truly can say that "no news is good news." There have been no news reports of deaths in the 2-16 since September. Continue to pray for Duncan Crookston and Joseph Mixson. The men of the 2-16 are critical to the success of "the surge" and even if they cannot see it where they are, they are providing for a peaceful future for Iraq and for us.

As for me, I just finished up the green Jell-o salad that is our family tradition, I'll be wrapping little weinies next and then some presents. This has been a most blessed year for our family and I almost dare not whisper it because it seems like it all might be taken away.

May 2008 bring us peace in the Middle East, in America, and throughout the world.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

2007-12-20T05:41:00.000-06:00

In August of 2005, journalist Steven Vincent was killed in Basrah three days after he had a story published in the New York Times about the worsening situation in that Southern Iraq city. His translator, Nour Khal was shot but survived.

Today, in the Los Angeles Times, there is a vivid story of Nour's journey to America and her relationship with Steven's widow, Lisa Ramaci.

Read the story and be grateful for men and women who put their lives at risk to bring you the news of the world.

Returning Heroes Home

2007-12-11T05:41:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I ran across a story in the New York Post that was written by Ralph Peters and has information about the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center. This center at Ft. Sam Houston near San Antonio is where soldiers and marines with amputations and other very serious injuries are treated. It is where Pfc's Duncan Crookston and Joseph Mixson of the 2-16 will face months of surgery and recovery.

Mr. Peters is writing a week-long series of articles to raise awareness (and money) for The Warrior and Family Support Center there. This support center is a privately funded refuge for wounded soldiers and their families where they can get reacquainted or where the soldiers can just get out of their rooms and relax with other soldiers.

Click the link to read Monday's story from Mr. Peters that covers an inspiring account of Pfc Adrian Garcia. Here is today's story about Army Staff Sgt. William Corp's work out with a boogie-board on the wave-rider in the rehab center.

Finally, you can donate to the Warrior and Family Support Center project via credit card by phone at 1-888- 343-HERO or at ReturningHeroesHome.org.

To give by mail, send your donations to:
Returning Heroes Home
P.O. Box 202194
Dallas, TX 75320-2194

Checks should be made out to Returning Heroes Home, Inc. This is a nonprofit 501c3 endeavor; all donations are tax-deductible.

In this time of preparation for Christmas, take a few moments for thoughts of gratitude for our soldiers and prayers for the recovery of Crookston, Mixson, and all the soldiers and marines at Brooke Army Medical Center.

Pfc Duncan Crookston

2007-12-05T06:27:00.000-06:00

I know there are a lot of people who are very concerned about Duncan Crookston who was severly injured in Iraq. This morning, I found a page on a military forum that includes updates from his mother-in-law. The latest update was in November, but things looked encouraging at the time.

A trust fund has been set up. You can donate by stopping at any Chase Bank and directing your donation to: Duncan Crookston Trust, Chase Bank, Acct. # 1635716796, Routing #102001017. Also, you can make a check payable to Duncan Crookston Trust. Mail it to: Meaghun Crookston c/o Powless Guest House, 3298 George C. Beach Rd, Ft. Sam Houston, TX 78234.

May God bless Duncan and this entire family, and may angels guide all the caregivers as Duncan struggles to heal.

Update: If you are reading this post, you probably sadly know that Duncan passed away on January 25. For information about his funeral, go to this post.

Scott Thomas Beauchamp

2007-12-04T05:40:00.000-06:00

A story that I've been following since this summer was that of a 24 year old soldier who was able to publish a series of reports from the theatre in Iraq. The series was presented in The New Republic magazine.

The author is Scott Thomas Beauchamp and the last entry contained three examples of how war had dehumanized him and his buddies. He wrote about:

Soldiers mocking a woman (either a fellow soldier or a contractor - the author wasn't sure) who had been disfigured by an IED
A soldier wearing the skull bone of a child as a yarmulke underneath his helmet
A Bradley Fighting Vehicle driver who intentionally ran over dogs with his equipment

Some in the conservative side of the blogosphere started poking holes in the story and after four and a half months, the editor of the magazine, Franklin Foer, said at the end of a fourteen page post that the magazine could no longer stand by the author's stories.

What I find quite amazing in this all is the support that people have for the American soldier in general. Attached to Foer's retraction, which takes thirteen pages to justify his magazine's shoddy reporting and fact-checking and to blame the Army for stonewalling, there are 419 comments. While I did not read every comment, of those I saw not one was supportive of the magazine. It is clear that readers took this series as a swipe at American soldiers in general and were not happy that the magazine sensationalized events in order to make the soldiers look bad.

Here are a few tips to the media:

Iraq is not Vietnam.

Our soldiers are not known for having "personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Ghengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun."

Iraq will not be remembered as a Fiasco.

The American people love their soldiers and do not take kindly to their being slandered.

And one last thing: grow up!

Pfc's Duncan Crookston and Joseph Mixson

2007-11-11T18:59:00.000-06:00

On this Veterans Day, there are two soldiers who can especially use our quiet prayers. They are Duncan Crookston and Joseph Mixson. These soldiers were gravely wounded on September 4 in an EFP attack that also claimed three lives of soldiers in the 2-16.

The photo on the left is of Duncan Crookston who according to this story in Stars and Stripes: "was badly burned and sustained significant injuries. Both of his legs were amputated, along with his right arm and left hand, and 75 percent of his body was left severely burned." God bless you and your family, Pfc Crookston. May angels surround you and give you strength.

In the photo on the right, Joseph Mixson (on the left) is pictured with Spc. David Lane and Pfc. Kurtiss Baumgartner having a laugh before going on patrol in east Baghdad. Spc. Lane was killed in the attack of September 4. Pfc Mixson lost both legs at the knees. God bless you and your family, Pfc Mixson. May you receive excellent care at the hands of skillful surgeons.

A grateful nation pauses today and gives thanks for your service.

According to the Stars and Stripes article, "all of the men were with the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Fort Riley, Kan.

The brigade did not exist before the U.S. troop 'surge,' and was, in fact, created specifically out of the order to push 30,000 more troops into Iraq earlier this year."

The "surge" is working, by all accounts. These men have sacrificed so much in contribution to the mission. May their brothers in arms who are still in Iraq now proceed to victory.

Happy Veterans Day!

2007-11-11T18:54:00.001-06:00

To all the heroes who have served

our country here and "over there"

THANK YOU!

A letter to Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post

2007-11-11T18:35:00.000-06:00

I have been on the road lately, and very much unable to devote any time to this blog. The GOOD NEWS is that I haven't received any news search results for the 2-16. No news is definitely good news. On Friday, I read a column of Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post. The column's gist was to explain how President Bush has pushed reasonable people beyond reason with rage. I rarely write to columnists anymore, but did take a few minutes to send this one off:

Dear Mr. Robinson, I just finished reading your column: "Rage of Reason". Thank you very much for providing an example of the syndrome with which you open your article - Bush Derangement Syndrome. I do have a few quibbles, though.

Foremost is that the Iraq war is " Bush's War." You may forget that in October 2002, both houses of Congress passed resolutions to authorize military force in Iraq. I'm sure you're much more aware that there have been hundreds of thousands of coalition forces who have cycled in and out of Iraq to carry out the mission. Additionally, there was a Gallup Poll in January 2002 when 77% of the population was "willing to see U.S. military operations expanded to other countries -- to include Iraq, Iran, Somalia and the Philippines". So, even if you personally have never been a supporter of this war, as a country, we are all in this together.

I do find it amazing how quickly you've come to blame President Bush for the tear-gassing of lawyers and students in Pakistan. You certainly give that man a lot of credit for being all-powerful, of course only in a malevolent sense. Hey, Eugene, I stubbed my toe yesterday, and I'm sure "it's Bush's fault."

Yes, this will all be over in fourteen and a half months. Thank, God. President Bush will be off the scene and there will be some other poor soul who must swat at the angry Chihuahuas of the press who are nipping at his or her ankles while issues of terrorism, the economy, national infrastructure, and a host of others must be carefully weighed and decided.

Oh, one more thing. I just went to the Gallup Poll to see the American public's opinion toward the media. Guess what? In response to the question: "In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media -- such as newspapers, T.V. and radio -- when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately, and fairly -- a great deal, a fair amount, not very much, or none at all? " 52% of Gallup Poll respondents replied "Not very much" or "None at all". Hmmm, that sounds worse than President Bush's disapproval rating of 50%.

God bless you anyway.

Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week

2007-10-23T06:12:00.000-06:00

Did you know that this week is Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week? Have you seen the video that shows in graphic detail the horrors women face under shari'a law?

Do you know about the honor killings of victims of sexual abuse?

Have you seen the remains of a beheaded seven-year-old girl?

Did you know that in imitation of Islam's founder, grown men in Iran may marry nine-year-old girls?

Have you ever seen photos of female circumcision?

Or a woman being stoned to death?

Oh, you hadn't heard about these things? That's probably because the mainstream media were feeding you a steady stream of the horrors that Ellen DeGeneres has been experiencing recently.

Or maybe you agree with the BBC that violence against women in South Asian and Middle Eastern countries is not tied to any religion.

Don't look away. Watch the video.

A Horrific Day for Army Battalion 2-16

2007-10-23T04:48:00.000-06:00

In looking for individual stories about the three members of the 2-16 that were killed in late September, I came across a story in Stars and Stripes that gives a detailed description of the day when three soldiers died and two suffered double leg amputations, other amputations and severe burns.

Here is the lede, but take the time to read it all:

"At around 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, five men in a Humvee led a five-truck patrol through the traffic of Route Predator, known as one of the deadliest roads in the New Baghdad district of Iraq’s capital.

In the vehicle were Sgt. Joel Murray, 26, the truck commander, riding in the front passenger seat; Spc. David Lane, 20, the driver; Pvt. Randy Shelton, 22, the turret gunner; and in the back, Pfcs. Joseph Mixson, 22, and Duncan Crookston, 20.

The patrol was on its way to a gas station, where the men of Company C’s 2nd Platoon were taking an engineer to do some assessment work of concrete barriers protecting the location.
As the soldiers neared the station at about 10:45, an explosion went off, said Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Smith, 31, who was the acting platoon leader that morning and riding in the fourth vehicle of the convoy.

Three of the men — Murray, Lane and Shelton — were killed when an explosively formed penetrator, a weapon favored by Shiite militias, ripped through their Humvee.

Two others in the truck suffered multiple amputations and severe burns, altering their lives forever."

May Murray, Lane and Shelton rest in peace and may God grant strength to their families and friends. May Joseph Mixson and Duncan Crookston receive skillful care in their recoveries and their suffering be alleviated to the extent possible.

Feckless

2007-10-16T16:42:00.000-06:00

Do you remember when Nancy Pelosi wanted to legislate a date for withdrawal of troops from Iraq? And failing that, she wanted to legislate how long troops had to spend at home between deployments, remember?

Now, it seems she wants to end the war by cutting off the military's supply lines through Turkey.

Well, it seems that Nancy may even have a little trouble with her own on this one. John Murtha - yes, JOHN MURTHA - is urging the speaker not to bring the resolution to the floor.

"If your son is so smart, why is he in the Army?"

2007-10-15T04:59:00.000-06:00

This, friends, is the verbatim question that was stated to me in the sacristy yesterday before Mass.

Now, the woman who said it was simply thinking out loud what she wanted to say to her sister. It was in the context of her telling me about her trip to Washington DC last week and in which we discovered that we happened to be at Arlington cemetary at the same time last Sunday. I immediately and gently said: "I have a son in the Army."

One would think that something like that would give the speaker some pause - perhaps: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend." In times like these, I suppose, there is no room for middle ground. So, she continued without missing a beat complaining about how much is spent on the war and how little is spent on education. I wish I would have had statistics ready about the percentage of budget spent on national defense as opposed to education. Or would have thought to say that it is not the constitutional duty of the national government to educate, but it is to provide for the national defense.

Maybe I should have explained that my (now part-time) soldier son is working on his Masters degree in Computer Science or that he is programming computers in a vault in order to keep her CNN satellite feed running smoothly.

But, no. I just listened. And then warmly shook her hand and wished her peace at the sign of peace.

God bless her and her nephew.

Until they're all home

2007-10-10T04:47:00.000-06:00

I was thinking the other night how my tracking of the news of the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, Kansas has come to be a metaphor for the war in general. I started out with good intentions of posting good news about the battalion. Instead, almost all I have seen are stories of the deaths of its soldiers. There have been no human interest stories, that I've found, about heroic acts or surprise home leaves. Additionally, in my becoming more busy at work - and more distracted - I sadly admit that I have not even kept up with posting the death notices. Like the nation, it seems I've just been too busy to think much about and honor these men who've given the ultimate sacrifice. I truly regret that.

So, with the sadness that this nation feels over the deaths of someone else's sons, I bring you the news of the following loss:

Sgt. 1st Class James D. Doster, 37, died in Baghdad, Iraq Sept. 29 when insurgents attacked his unit using an Improvised Explosive Devise and small arms fire.

Doster was an infantryman assigned to 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. His home of record is Pine Bluff, Ark.

He entered the Army in May 1990 and began serving with the 1st Inf. Div. in February 2006. This was his first deployment in support of the Global War on Terrorism.

May SGT Doster rest in peace in the loving arms of his Creator, and may God grant strength to his family and friends.

I will continue posting on the battalion until they they're all home. I pray it will be one heck of a party.

It's going to be all right

2007-09-11T04:25:00.000-06:00

I haven't been posting much lately. While I admire the folks that can write succinct opinions on current events or will sometimes debunk liberal "conventional wisdom" that is printed as news, I haven't found this mode of communication to be satisfying for me. I much prefer to listen than to talk.

In February, I started monitoring news of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, KS. I was hoping to post good news about their progress and successes. Sadly, my Google News search has brought mostly tragic news of soldiers' deaths. This week, three more soldiers were killed. The families of Sgt. Joel Lee Murray, 26, Ogden, KS Spc. David J. Lane, 20, Emporia, KS; and Pvt. Randol S. Shelton, 22, Schiller Park, IL are in mourning.

Early this morning, I received a news alert on the battalion's commander Ralph Kauzlarich. It is unexpectedly optimistic and is written by the Sunday Times. Here's just one section:

"The 2nd Battalion soldiers who moved in were the first to base themselves in the area since 2003, the year of the invasion. They set themselves up in Base Rustamiyah, an old Iraqi army school, and implanted small companies of men in the worst neighbourhoods.

By June they were engulfed in all-out war. Mortars and rockets pounded the base and its small outposts relentlessly. Soldiers were killed and wounded by snipers and roadside bombs.

'It was more war than I ever want to see again,' said Major Brent Cummings, the second-in-command. Then the rain of mortars relented and during the past two weeks the roadside bombs, their enemy's most potent weapon, have almost disappeared."

I have been watching the attacks this week on General Petraeus. I've also watched the sometimes hyper rhetoric that is being thrown back by the right. Through it all, Petraeus just keeps stating the facts as he sees them. The American public is likely not impressed by either side - the right or the left. They trust, and I might say - almost adore - the military.

When MoveOn.org insinuates that General Petraeus is betraying the United States, it drives people away from them and the Democratic Party. The folks on the right might benefit from simply being quiet and letting the light shine upon the true nature of those who would find political gain in America's defeat in Iraq.

There is indeed a shift in the events in Iraq. You can hear it from Bill Ardolino, Michael Yon, and Michael Totten. Americans will hear it from soldiers and marines as they slowly start coming home.

In the meantime, babies will be born, entrepenuers will start new businesses, and college graduates will embark on new careers - in America and Iraq. Life always springs anew even after horrific wars. We mourn the dead, we lick our wounds, we carry on.

It's going to be all right.

The "tired" Republican Congress members

2007-07-15T19:12:00.000-06:00

Deb at "You Betcha I'm a Proud Army Mom" (aka Yankee Mom) reacts to an AP story on the effort by GOP senators to influence war strategy that includes the following sentence: "But many Republicans, most of whom will face voters next year, say they are tired of the war, which is in its fifth year and has killed more than 3,600 troops."

The title of Deb's post, appropriately enough, is "WTF!!!" Her response is:

"They’re tired of the war??? TIRED???!!!

Tell that to the 20 year old packing 80 lbs of gear in 130 degree heat, walking miles patrolling the streets to keep them safe from the murderous, head sawing off while still alive, blow ‘em up, hate America, wastes of oxygen infesting the Middle East."

Deb continues with more illustrations.

Unfortunately, one of my senators - Norm Coleman - seems to be one of the Republicans who is most tired of the war. Here is the letter I wrote to him on Friday:

"Dear Senator Coleman,

I just read your boilerplate response to my recent email message to you in which I asked you to not 'go wobbly' in the war in Iraq. To my dismay, and in contradiction to your letter in which you state: 'I do not believe politicians should set troop levels,' yesterday you voted to do exactly that.

There will be a vote coming soon in the Senate in which the Democrats will try to set a deadline for troop withdrawal. This, of course, is not within the responsibilities of the Congress. Should you decide to vote for this legislation and it somehow comes to pass, you, sir, will be remembered through history as one of those most responsible for the deaths of perhaps millions. You have heard the warnings of Ryan Crocker and others. I do not need to go into further detail.

You will not remember me, Senator Coleman, but in October 2004 I spoke to you and thanked you for your support of the military. I explained that my son was in Iraq, and you gave me a hug and said: 'God bless your son.'

May God bless you and guide you in this extremely important time in our country's history."

At this critical time for our country, we cannot give in to weariness - nor allow the discouragement of politicians over the sacrifice of someone else's sons and daughters to snatch defeat from the reach of victory. The time between now and the September report by General Petraeus is "crunch time." It's all hands on deck...

Victor Davis Hanson

2007-07-13T05:33:00.000-06:00

One of the most clear writers on the war in Iraq is Victor Davis Hanson, a farmer, classicist, and professor of history. I've often wanted to print out his articles and post them on my cubicle wall - sort of like Martin Luther and his 95 theses that were nailed to the wall.

This is the point from Hanson's article: "The New York Times surrenders" yesterday that should be memorized and then repeated when someone claims this is "Bush's war":

"Supporters of the war included 70 percent of the American public in April 2003; the majority of NATO members; a coalition with more participants than the United Nations alliance had in the Korean War; and a host of politicians and pundits as diverse as Joe Biden, William F. Buckley, Wesley Clark, Hillary Clinton, Francis Fukuyama, Kenneth Pollack, Harry Reid, Andrew Sullivan, Thomas Friedman, and George Will."

As they say, read it all.

A journey through Hell

2007-07-10T03:57:00.000-06:00

I've been monitoring news of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division since they left from Fort Riley, Kansas in February. So far, five have died, nineteen have been wounded - including such serious injuries as a lost hand, a lost arm, a lost eye, and one soldier has been shot in the face.

David Finkel, a Washington Post reporter, accompanied the unit on an excruciating four mile journey to the memorial service of Sgt. William Crow Jr. Here is the report filed by Finkel in yesterday's Washington Post.

As the American public and our politicians forget that we are involved in a war with a brutal enemy the men of the 2nd Battalion fight for their lives and the lives of the Iraqis they are trying to save. May God protect them and bring comfort to their families. And may God protect one brave reporter, too.

~~Update: It appears that something happened to the ability to add a title in Blogger right now. Will do that when able.~~

Still more sad news from Fort Riley

2007-07-03T04:23:00.001-06:00

Sgt. William W. Crow Jr., 28, of Grandview Plaza, Kan., died when the vehicle he was in struck a improvised explosive device on June 28. Crow was an infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. This was his third deployment.

May he rest in peace in the loving arms of his Creator.

Their sacrifice is not in vain

2007-07-01T20:39:00.000-06:00

Sadly, there are two more deaths to report in the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas.

Army Pfc. Cameron K. Payne, 22, of Corona, Calif., died June 11 in Balad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad. (No photo is available.)

Pfc. Andre Craig Jr., 24, died of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device June 25 in Baghdad, Iraq. He entered the Army in October, 2005 and began serving with the 1st Inf. Div. in March, 2006. This was his first deployment in support of the Global War on Terrorism.

Please say a prayer of thanksgiving for their service and one for comfort for their families.

Tired of the war?

2007-07-01T19:44:00.000-06:00

Are you getting a little cranky about having to hear about the loss of someone else's sons and daughters in the war in Iraq? Do you think that the threat of al Qaeda is overblown and that if we leave Iraq, al Qaeda's grievances against us will be over? Do you think that the U.S. should just "let 'em fight it out" in Iraq?

Are you just plain tired of the war?

Well, tough.

Read this.

Michael Yon is in Iraq, reporting from the field. Here is an excerpt:

"I told the Iraqi commander, Captain Baker, that it was important that Americans see this; he took me around the graves and showed more than I wanted to see. He said the people had been murdered by al Qaeda. I made video of him speaking, and of the horrible scene. The heat and stench were crushingly oppressive and broken only by the sounds of shovels as Iraqi soldiers kept digging."

It gets worse. This caption is below one of the photos in Yon's post:

"Soldiers from 5th IA said al Qaeda had cut the heads off the children. Had al Qaeda murdered the children in front of their parents? Maybe it had been the other way around: maybe they had murdered the parents in front of the children. Maybe they had forced the father to dig the graves of his children."

There are currently 108 links to Michael Yon's post. You will probably not read about such things in the New York Times or the Washington Post. However, as Yon writes in the first excerpt, it's important that Americans see this.

And after they understand the evil that the Iraqi people face, how could they ever suggest that we just walk away?

Immigrants - Legal and otherwise

2007-06-28T21:10:00.000-06:00

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

If you've visited the Statue of Liberty, you may have seen these words which are the last two sentences of the poem "The New Colossus" on a plaque on the inner wall of the pedestal.

Many of my fellow conservatives are high-fiving each other today, happy that they have killed immigration "reform". They are thrilled that there will be no amnesty for 12 (or 20) million illegal aliens who have crossed deserts and oceans to arrive in America. They understand that no further legislation for immigration reform is likely to occur before 2009. By this time, there will still be 12 (or 20 or 40) million illegal aliens who will be working outside the protection of labor laws...because we know that very few of these people will be deported. Even the conservatives admit that we cannot (and do not want to) send back the folks who serve our meals, pick our vegetables, clean our hotel rooms, and landscape our homes and businesses. We have simply kicked the issue down the road for another administration to handle.

I have heard no proposed solutions for what to do with the wretched refuse that has washed up on our shores. Instead, I've heard and read gleeful celebration of "Victory!" and vindication for hurt feelings in a sensitive debate. I have even read one usually moderate conservative voice suggest to the President of the United States that he "had better ask nicely and have a long list of persuasive arguments" when he needs help in the future.

So, immigration "reform" is dead until President Clinton or possibly President Obama is in office. President Bush has been humbled like Gulliver in the land of Lilliput. All the while the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses continue to dream of gaining a place in this land that is their last best hope.

Contrast and compare

2007-06-27T04:05:00.000-06:00

There is a video of Rosie O'Donnell's daughter that is posted on Rosie's website. The video apparently tries to make a statement about the lost innocence of her daughter and her transformation from Princess to Soldier.

Well, I have a little soldier picture, too. Look at his bright eyes, his relaxed smile. Will he grow up to be a soldier like his daddy? I hope it's not necessary. But I'll be proud of him if he does. Or if he doesn't.

Better than despair.com

2007-06-26T05:39:00.000-06:00

Before there were blogs, there was the great website: despair.com. It provided cynical counterpoint to those sappy motivating calendars that executives would order and give to employees in the hopes of teaching them success. This morning, I ran across a website called "Military Motivator." It's a hoot. (h/t Yankee Mom)

Why I am optimistic

2007-06-25T22:41:00.000-06:00

For a few years, I was very active in reading and reacting to news via the "Mainstream Media," conservative blogs and other media outlets. I was fortunate enough to exchange correspondence with some well-known journalists and more than a few times the thoughts that I had expressed would appear in articles in various national newspapers, magazines, or blogs.

Life is much different now. I hardly exchange correspondence with journalists anymore - my days as a quiet activist military mom are quickly coming to a close.

Now, my source of "opinion" is usually sitting next to me on an airplane or in the boarding area of an airport. A few weeks ago, I sat next to a young man whose parents came from Croatia. I don't know how we got onto the subject but we started talking about the Palestinian situation. He was extremely well informed and as we were finishing up our conversation, I asked him if he thought that he was unusual in his knowledge of world events. He said he was, and I told him that I disagreed. Actually, I have had several such conversations on planes.

I have watched the small segment of the population who are now young men and women in their mid twenties to lower thirties. I chaperoned my sons' classes and activities through junior high and senior high. My fellow parents often complained about the bad behavior of this particular group of students. I would venture to say, even then, that we were seeing the greatest generation. The other parents would look at me as if I had two heads.

The nation now watches in amazement as these young men and women willingly and nobly fight Islamic terrorism wherever our national policy allows. Young writers provide a voice of reason with poise and grace at places like National Review and in blogs where there is no barrier to entry for reaching a potentially huge audience.

In private conversations with regular folks, I hear recurring themes: gratitude for the military, disgust at the media, distrust of both political parties.

While men like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declare the "war is lost" and the national newspapers highlight every coalition setback, our young men and women quietly fight our wars, absorb news of the world, and refer to facts that are neither found on the front page of the New York Times nor in network newcasts. They are the thinkers and the doers that their parents were not.

The future is in good hands with "Generation Y" whose coming of age corresponded with the attacks of September 11, 2001. While Baby Boomers and Generation Xers have become bored with the fight and weary at the loss of someone else's sons and daughters in the war on terror, these young men and women will soldier on.

God bless 'em.

I LOVE this man

2007-06-25T22:21:00.000-06:00

Christopher Hitchens has been one of my favorite writers ever since the Spring of 2004 when my son was serving in Iraq and I joined the ranks of news/opinion junkies.

Today, one of his best columns appeared in Slate. Titled: "Look Forward to Anger," Hitchens points out how the media are manipulated to amplify the anger of professional Muslim protestors. He writes: "I have actually seen some of these demonstrations, most recently in Islamabad, and all I would do if I were a news editor is ask my camera team to take several steps back from the shot. We could then see a few dozen gesticulating men (very few women for some reason), their mustaches writhing as they scatter lighter fluid on a book or a flag or a hastily made effigy. Around them, a two-deep encirclement of camera crews. When the lights are turned off, the little gang disperses. And you may have noticed that the camera is always steady and in close-up on the flames, which it wouldn't be if there was a big, surging mob involved."

He finishes with this perfect paragraph: "We may have to put up with the Rage Boys of the world, but we ought not to do their work for them, and we must not cry before we have been hurt. In front of me is a copy of this week's Economist, which states that Rushdie's 1989 death warrant was "punishment for the book's unflattering depiction of the Prophet Muhammad." There is no direct depiction of the prophet in this work of fiction, and the reverie about his many wives occurs in the dream of a madman. Nobody in Ayatollah Khomeini's circle could possibly have read the book for him before he issued a fatwah, which made it dangerous to possess. Yet on that occasion, the bookstore chains of America pulled The Satanic Verses from their shelves, just as Borders shamefully pulled Free Inquiry (a magazine for which I write) after it reproduced the Danish cartoons. Rage Boy keenly looks forward to anger, while we worriedly anticipate trouble, and fret about etiquette, and prepare the next retreat. If taken to its logical conclusion, this would mean living at the pleasure of Rage Boy, and that I am not prepared to do."

Mr. Hitchens, nor will our family live at the pleasure of Rage Boy.

News you can use

2007-06-21T04:24:00.000-06:00

...but don't expect to find it on the front page of the New York Times.

From the latest Gallup poll on Americans' confidence in various institutions:

"Americans have relatively low levels of confidence in the Fourth Estate. Just 23% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in television news, and only 22% express the same sentiment for newspapers. Neither of these two entities has done exceedingly well in Gallup's history, but both are particularly low this year. "

Oopsie!

Those numbers are even lower than President Bush's in the same poll. Confidence in the presidency is rated at 25%.

Congress' rating? 14%

I think it's safe to say that the self-absorbed press (in general) is becoming less and less relevant by the passing week. Folks are turning off the news because they don't believe what they are being told anymore. One day - perhaps very soon - we will wake up and find out that all is not lost in Iraq. You just won't read about it on the front page of the New York Times..

Pray for them

2007-06-19T20:21:00.000-06:00

As you read this post from Michael Yon, you will become informed of the scope of the military offensive that the coalition forces are making in Iraq. At this moment, our young men are engaged in the depths of Hell.

Please pray for them.

Is the war in Iraq lost?

2007-06-15T04:07:00.000-06:00

Senator Josepth Lieberman doesn't seem to think so.

From the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal today:

"I recently returned from Iraq and four other countries in the Middle East, my first trip to the region since December. In the intervening five months, almost everything about the American war effort in Baghdad has changed, with a new coalition military commander, Gen. David Petraeus; a new U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker; the introduction, at last, of new troops; and most important of all, a bold, new counterinsurgency strategy.

The question of course is--is it working? Here in Washington, advocates of retreat insist with absolute certainty that it is not, seizing upon every suicide bombing and American casualty as proof positive that the U.S. has failed in Iraq, and that it is time to get out.

In Baghdad, however, discussions with the talented Americans responsible for leading this fight are more balanced, more hopeful and, above all, more strategic in their focus--fixated not just on the headline or loss of the day, but on the larger stakes in this struggle, beginning with who our enemies are in Iraq. The officials I met in Baghdad said that 90% of suicide bombings in Iraq today are the work of non-Iraqi, al Qaeda terrorists. In fact, al Qaeda's leaders have repeatedly said that Iraq is the central front of their global war against us. That is why it is nonsensical for anyone to claim that the war in Iraq can be separated from the war against al Qaeda--and why a U.S. pullout, under fire, would represent an epic victory for al Qaeda, as significant as their attacks on 9/11."

There's more. Go read it all.

More sad news

2007-06-10T16:56:00.000-06:00

I have not been blogging much lately. Life has been a whirlwind of plane trips and road trips and cruises. I'm home for three weeks and perhaps I will be able to post a few thoughts.

In February, I started following the news of 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, Kansas.

Today, I found the sad news that another of its soldiers has been killed in Iraq. He was Pfc. Shawn D. Gajdos, 25, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. May he rest in peace, and may God grant comfort to his family.

Home at last!

2007-05-18T20:25:00.000-06:00

Tonight, I've arrived home from a series of about two months of weekly road trips. Next week, I'm home all week. Yahoo! Now, I can catch up on store visit reports and other projects.

Last weekend, I was able to take my mom on a short cruise for Mother's Day. It was great fun for both of us.

Here we are at dinner on formal night:

An interview with Steven Vincent's interpreter

2007-04-27T18:22:00.000-06:00

Nour al-Khal is the interpreter who was kidnapped and shot with journalist Steven Vincent in Basrah in August 2005. Here is an interview that was posted on American Public Media. The interview runs about 40 minutes.

It contains a first person account of the evil our soliders are fighting. Lisa Ramaci, Steven's widow also is included in the interview. Nour and Lisa talk at length about Nour's struggle to obtain refugee status in the United States.

A day in the life

2007-04-27T17:32:00.000-06:00

In February, I posted about the deployment of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. Then, I set up a Google News search to follow their story. Sadly, one of the soldiers was killed in action.

A few days ago, David Finkel filed this story with the Washington Post. The headline and sub-headline are: A Grisly Problem, Grateful Iraqis and a Grim Outlook; Unit Planning Outpost Confronts an Obstacle Known as 'Bob'.

It is an interesting, if a bit macabre, story of the obstacles that were encountered when the U.S. Army wanted to set up operations in an abandoned spaghetti factory. This is the kind of writing that the Washington Post is very good at. There's no gottcha, just the sad facts of a day in the life in a war zone.

What I learned at Police Reserve training

2007-04-22T18:40:00.000-06:00

One of the best things about being a police reserve is the training that we get. Yesterday, we were shown the usual gory first aid films that implore us to stay calm as blood and tissue flow out of wounds of various types.

For comic relief, we were treated to this film. I thought it was quite funny.

Update: Video clip removed because the incessant and unexpected playing of a boozing song was irritating my faithful reader. (Thanks, Bro.)

Find this and other videos at Guzer.com.

Cheers!

Waiting for an American Soldier

2007-04-13T03:41:00.000-06:00

H/T Yankeemom

A reminder to wear your seat belt

2007-04-13T02:34:00.000-06:00

I'm in the Garden State this week. While most newscasters around the nation are still rolling around in their new-found freedom of being able to say "Nappy headed ho" on the air, the lead story in New Jersey is that the governor is in critical condition after his SUV crashed on the Garden State parkway. In hearing and reading some news reports, I was shocked to learn that the governor does not usually wear his seat belt.

I've seen the pictures of the governor's crashed SUV and I've responded to many accidents as a police reserve. Sad to say, I've seen much worse crashes where people have come out without a scratch.

If you love the people around you and want to improve the chances of not ending up dead or in an ICU from a survivable accident, buckle up.

Here's hoping for a speedy recovery for Governor Corzine.

Military moms speak up

2007-04-09T05:30:00.000-06:00

Via Lucianne.com here is a YouTube video of a meeting between some military moms and other relatives, and Congressman Paul Hodes of New Hampshire. It is a nine minute video, and starts out with what might be seen as typical talking points. But as the mother of a soldier who was slain in Afghanistan starts to speak, talking points are dropped and the truth of both sides in the exchange are revealed. Watch, particularly, the reaction of the Congressman's wife.

Sad news

2007-04-09T04:35:00.000-06:00

In late February, I posted about an Army battalion whose deployment was featured in a front-page Washington Post story. I set up a Google News alert search for the commander, Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, and the battalion. I was planning to post updates here, preferably from local news sources that tend to print good news stories about their hometown boys.

I have received many Google alerts on Lt. Col Kauzlarich, but they have all been related to the Pat Tillman friendly fire death investigation. Kauzlarich was involved in the original investigation.

This morning I found the following sad news for my alert on the "2nd Battalion" "16th Infantry Regiment" "4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team" "1st Infantry Division":

"Army Pfc. Jay S. Cajimat, 20, Lahaina, Hawaii, died Friday in Baghdad of wounds suffered when a vehicle-borne explosive detonated near his unit; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan."

May he rest in peace in the loving arms of his creator.

Update: Here is a picture of PFC Jay Cajimat

America's Broken-Down Media

2007-04-07T08:12:00.000-06:00

Via RealClearPolitics, Ray Robison deconstructs an article in Time magazine that attempts to paint a mortally wounded soldier as a victim of poor training instead of the well-trained professional that he was.

I've been intensely interested in media coverage of soldiers since my son was deployed in early 2004. In the three years hence, despite tanker-loads of ink spread across NEWSWEEK, The New York Times, et al, reporters - in general - are no closer to understanding or supporting the men and women who fight and die for their freedom than they were when the press became engaged in the orgy of coverage of that twelve hour shift at Abu Ghraib.

God bless the soldiers and the families who will exchange Easter greetings via cell phone this year. May they keep on fighting the good fight until victory over radical Islamic terrorism is acheived.

Our Hillary

2007-04-04T05:21:00.000-06:00

The caption for this AP photo says: "Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York reacts to seeing and old friend during a campaign stop at the National Education Association New Hampshire, in Concord, N.H., Friday, March 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)"

There's a phrase that goes: "With friends like this...."

H/T LauraW at Ace of Spades HQ

Minnesota (not so) nice

2007-04-03T23:54:00.000-06:00

In this week's Jihad Watch video at Hot Air, Robert Spencer imagines what the news from Lake Wobegon might be like if Garrison Keillor took notice of the Sharia campaign in Minnesota.

The good news is that Minnesotans aren't yet ready to let anyone stand between us and our bacon. There was sufficient uproar about the Muslim cashiers' refusing to scan pepperoni pizza and other pork products that Target has reassigned cashiers who will not fully serve the public.

You may recall a blog-swarm a few years ago, in which Hugh Hewitt tried to get Target to change its mind about not allowing Salvation Army bell-ringers at its entrances. Target did not budge on that one, but must have found the reaction by its customers on this pork story to not be consistent with "Minnesota nice."

Also: See this previous post from January.

What We Call The News

2007-03-29T04:55:00.000-06:00

You may remember the very funny political short animation film "This Land" that was made by Jibjab Media, Inc. in 2004. They've come up with another one that will make you laugh, for sure. It's called: "What We Call The News," and it takes a poke at TV news. Great stuff.

These are a few of my favorite things...

2007-03-20T19:14:00.000-06:00

Let's see:

Soldiers...check!

Pigs...check!

A gentle poke at Democrats who claim to "support the troops"...double check!!

This has all the elements of a great cartoon.

From US News & World Report, via Lucianne.com.

BBDS (Before Bush Derangement Syndrome)

2007-03-16T04:15:00.000-06:00

This morning, I happened across this story from BBC News. It is dated October 11, 2002 and describes - via unnamed senior administration officials - the Bush administration's plan to occupy Iraq. The writer is skeptical that an occupation will really happen.

Here is the lede:

"It has been reported that the Bush administration is developing a detailed plan to occupy Iraq and install an American-led military government in Baghdad if the US topples Saddam Hussein.

The New York Times newspaper and the Associated Press news agency have been briefed on the plan by unnamed senior administration officials.

However, the Associated Press says the two officials it spoke to consider that of all the plans being studied in Washington, this is among the least likely to be approved.

One prominent Iraqi opposition figure told the BBC the Americans would be naive to attempt to occupy the country."

You may notice a definite lack of anti-Bush hysteria in this piece. That may be because it had been written only a year after 3,000 innocent Americans were killed on that sunny Tuesday morning in NYC, DC, and PA. It was a few short months since Daniel Pearl, journalist, was beheaded in Pakistan. In October 2002, al-Qaeda and anyone else who supported terrorism, was viewed as more of an enemy than President Bush.

Whither the poor pig farmer?

2007-03-14T04:46:00.000-06:00

I recently met a pig farmer from Canada on a Caribbean cruise. The man was very nice, had a lovely wife - both physically and in personality, and I think they had five children. It seems that they worked very hard on the pig farm and made a comfortable living. As I spent the week with them, I did have one underlying worry - how long would it be before pork was banned and they would have no livelihood?

Overreaction, you say? Been reading a few too many right-wing opinion columnists?

Well, it looks like the pork jihad has come to Minneapolis. Here is a story from the Minneapolis Star Tribune's web site detailing an incident of a cashier at Target refusing to scan a pepperoni pizza. The post is by Chris Serres, a Star Tribune staff writer.

As an isolated incident, I'd say ignore this. But, as you read the many comments to the post, you find that this is not an isolated incident at all.

How long will it be before businesses decide to drop pork products because it is simply too difficult to deal with the multi-cultural issues surrounding it? How long will the pig farmer survive?

H/T Little Green Footballs

Some more thoughts on Walter Reed

2007-03-05T06:32:00.000-06:00

I've been pretty quiet lately - busy at work, and now on the road again. I've been thinking a lot about this Walter Reed issue, and it still sticks in my craw. But not for the reasons that most Americans are getting riled about it.

You see, it seems to me that this story didn't get legs because of concern for the soldiers by the media. There is no doubt in my mind that members of the media have received reports of this type of treatment for years...and so have politicians. It is the nature of government bureaucracy and of war for horrific cracks to develop in the system. We have no perfect bureaucracies and no perfect wars. We do have bureaucracies that have benefitted the greater good and unfortunately we have needed wars to deal with real evils such as terrorism, Hilter's nazi regime and communism.

The fallout from the Walter Reed scandal is not going to create a perfect VA medical system. There will always be human failings. However, it has claimed a Secretary of the Army and a two-star general has been relieved of his command.

A follow-up story in the Washington Post says this: "Several forces converged to create this intense reaction. A new Democratic majority in Congress is willing to criticize the administration. Senior retired officers pounded the Pentagon with sharp questions about what was going on. Up to 40 percent of the troops fighting in Iraq are National Guard members and reservists -- 'our neighbors,' said Ron Glasser, a physician and author of a book about the wounded. 'It all adds up and reaches a kind of tipping point,' he said. On top of all that, America had believed the government's assurances that the wounded were being taken care of. 'The country is embarrassed' to know otherwise, Glasser said."

Yes, you, the American public, are being told that up until now men like Senators Kennedy and Durbin and Kerry or Congressmen like Murtha and Pelosi had no national voice; that it took a cold-call to Dana Priest for anyone at all to realize that there was a problem.

Now, the military and administration are being painted as entirely uncaring of its vets. This is the perfect political tool for a nation that adores its troops.

What is forgotten in all of this is that soldiers sent to Iraq overwhelmingly re-up, that the vast majority do not have post-traumatic stress syndrome, and that Tri-care provides great coverage. And in this description, I'm not talking simply of the hundreds of thousands of unknown troops who have gone through Iraq. I'm relating the story of one soldier that I know very well - my son, who was wounded in Iraq, re-upped in the week he was coming back, and whose wife is likely alive today because of expensive medicines provided by Tri-care after the birth of my grandson. I, for one, am very grateful not just for the the Armed Forces' efforts to fight terrorism but for them returning my son home alive. An attitude such at this, however, does not garner much media attention.

If the media were terribly interested in the welfare of the soldiers you would hear more about the progress that is being made and less about fired generals. However, there are Pulitzer Prizes to be won and scalps to be had. Stories of success simply get in the way.

Meme alert

2007-02-25T08:59:00.000-06:00

Readers (OK, the one reader, thanks Bro) of this blog may have noticed that I've sensed a strong new meme developing on the left side of the aisle. It goes something like this: "We really, really support the troops. We said it in our resolution. You (the administration) obviously hate them as you treat them like crap. We just want our beloved soldiers to come home."

This morning, McClatchy Newspapers' Margaret Talev says basically the same:

Support the troops.

Few phrases in American politics sound so innocuous but sting so much.

Republican backers of the Iraq war have revived a tactic from the Vietnam era, trying to put Democrats on the defensive by accusing critics of President Bush's decision to send thousands more troops to Iraq of failing to "support the troops" there.

This line of attack could explode this week, when Congress returns from a short recess. The Democratic majority will shift tactics from seeking nonbinding antiwar resolutions to trying to limit troop deployments and curb funding for the Iraq war.

Historians, political strategists and linguists say that questioning Democrats' loyalty to the troops is probably the best leverage supporters of the unpopular war have left.

"What that reflects is the aftermath of Vietnam and what happened to the Democrats," said Stephen Hess, a George Washington University professor and Brookings Institution scholar who worked in the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations. Although polls show that solid public majorities oppose the war, Democrats still can be portrayed as undermining the troops.

The Bush administration and its congressional allies, however, are open to countercharges that they have overworked the Army and Marine Corps, failed to provide troops with adequate armor, and neglected serious problems in how the military and the Veterans Administration are caring for wounded warriors.

Democrats also can argue that the best way to support the troops is to bring them home, said Frank Luntz, the pollster and language consultant who shaped the Republicans' 1994 "Contract With America."

Army Battalion 2-16

2007-02-25T07:23:00.000-06:00

The front page of today's Washington Post includes a 4500 word description of the days leading up to the departure of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. The central figure of the story is its commander, Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich.

This is how the story begins:

FORT RILEY, Kan. -- Their camouflage on, their wives carrying infants, their older children carrying flags, the soldiers of George W. Bush's surge crowded into a gymnasium for their brigade deployment ceremony, a last public viewing before they disappeared into Iraq.

Baghdad, long an abstraction, was now imminent. Of the 21,500 additional troops President Bush decided to send to Iraq in the coming months, about 3,500 were coming from here. "Are you frightened?" a TV reporter called out. "I'm confident," one of those soldiers replied. An enormous American flag hung on the back wall. A military band lined up in formation. "Ready to go," another soldier said.

Outside, snow was coming toward this isolated place. Inside, as the bleachers filled and the doors swung closed against the cold, a 41-year-old soldier near the middle of the floor began clapping his hands in anticipation.

And now waved at his wife and children.

And now took his position in front of the soldiers he would soon be leading into combat.

While America obsesses about Anna Nicole, and Britney, and a catfight between Hillary and Obama, 800 soldiers are right now putting their lives on the line in hopes of securing a better Iraq for its and our future generations. The Washington Post will probably never run another story on Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich or his battalion. Even so, I have set up a Google news search for the battalion and for Lt. Col. Kauzlarich. I'm going to try to follow their story for the next year and I'll post here of their acheivements and heartaches along the way.

The Pride and Joy of the Washington Post

2007-02-24T21:11:00.000-06:00

As Dana Priest collects bouquets for her selfless reporting on the outpatient treatment at Walter Reed, Howards Kurtz reveals a little too much about Ms. Priest's motivation.

Kurtz' Media Notes column starts out:

"To the Army's public affairs chief, it was simply an effort to 'get the facts out from our perspective.'

To Dana Priest, who covers national security for The Washington Post, it was a case of Army officials 'shooting themselves in the foot, because reporters are not going to trust them.'"

Ummm, because, you know, the reporters have always blindly trusted them before.

"The Post last week gave the Army six days to respond to the paper's investigation into decaying, cockroach-infested facilities and an overwhelmed patient-care bureaucracy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington. The Army's public affairs office used the time to summon journalists from other news organizations to a briefing at which Walter Reed's commander responded to the findings -- in an article that had not yet been published." ...snip...

"When journalists seek a response from a government agency on a pending story, there is generally an understanding that the information will not be shared with rival news outlets before publication. Such unspoken agreements, however, are hardly iron-clad. Treasury Department officials last year gave the Wall Street Journal declassified information about a secret program to track the banking records of terror suspects after failing to persuade the New York Times to kill a planned story on the subject." ...snip...

I see. It's not really about the troops. It's about scooping the competition.

Priest, who reported the two-part series with Anne Hull, says she told an Army public affairs officer this week: "How do you think this is going to affect our relationship? Do you think I'm going to be willing next time to give you that much time to respond, if you're going to turn around and tell my competitors?" ...snip...

Not to mention that Priest sat on the story for four months and allowed untold numbers of soldiers to suffer untold misery. She and Hull kept this secret from not only her competitors, but also Congress, and anyone within the military system who could have addressed the situation. She and the WaPo chose to cause the most embarassment possible by plunking this on page A1 right during the most sensitive debates we've had yet in Congress and in the streets of America over the war.

"As for Weightman's complaint that the paper should have notified the Army of its conclusions earlier in the process, Priest called that 'ridiculous,' saying: 'You find wrongdoing and you don't report it to the public first? You report it to them first? That's not our role.'"

That's right, Dana. I guess in your world, it's your role to scoop the competition. Let someone else worry about the troops.

Good on ya, Secretary Gates

2007-02-24T20:35:00.000-06:00

This is the way to effectively handle a media crisis.

From an A1 story in the Washington Post today:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates named an independent review panel yesterday to investigate what he called an "unacceptable" situation in outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and he said that some soldiers "most directly involved" in the problems have been removed from their positions.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to the Army hospital in Northwest Washington, Gates also warned that senior military leaders could be disciplined based on the findings of the review group.

Oh, brother

2007-02-18T12:14:00.000-06:00

The major papers must have thought that Presidents' Day weekend means there's one extra day for dumping on the military. Here's the New York Times' contribution:

Jailed 2 Years, Iraqi Tells of Abuse by Americans
By MICHAEL MOSS and SOUAD MEKHENNET

...After his release from the American-run jail, Camp Bucca, Mr. Ani and other former detainees described the sprawling complex of barracks in the southern desert near Kuwait as a bleak place where guards casually used their stun guns and exposed prisoners to long periods of extreme heat and cold; where prisoners fought among themselves and extremist elements tried to radicalize others; and where detainees often responded to the harsh conditions with hunger strikes and, at times, violent protests...

...Mr. Ani said the electric prods were first used on him on the way to Camp Bucca. “I was talking to someone next to me and they used it,” he said, describing the device as black plastic with a yellow tip and two iron prongs. He said the prods were commonly used on him and other detainees as punishment.

“The whole body starts to shake and hurt,” he said. “And you lose consciousness for a couple of seconds. One time they used it on my tongue. One guard held me from the left and another on my back and another used it against my tongue and for four or five days I couldn’t eat.” ...

Hmmm, guess what? I know someone who was at Camp Bucca at the same time that Mr. Ani claimed the abuse took place in 2004 and 2005. I've heard the other side of the story of detainee/guard relations at Camp Bucca. Of course, any chance for another perspective is given only a few sentences in the Times' lengthy story.

And a few things about those tasers that are mentioned in the quote above. You don't lose consciousness and I can't imagine how it would be used on someone's tongue. This story has all the credibility of the Qur'an being flushed down the toilet fable.

Were some detainees mistreated at Camp Bucca? Definitely, yes. And the offenders were punished. For the New York Times to drag out this "newsflash" of treatment that happened two years ago makes one wonder what public good is being served.

Hey, New York Times - don't you know the "Soldiers are torturers" line is soooo yesterday? Today's meme is "We really, really support the troops. Let's just bring them home."

Beyond the Green Zone

2007-02-18T10:08:00.000-06:00

An e-friend, Steven Vincent, wrote a book called "In the Red Zone." The title came from the part of Iraq that was beyond the relatively safe borders of the Green Zone in Baghdad. It is from the isolated Green Zone that politicians and journalists tend to work and provide their view of Iraq. "In the Red Zone" was a brilliant book that revealed a glimpse into the soul of Iraqis. Unfortunately, it did not garner much attention until Steven was killed in Basrah in August 2005.

Now, JD Johannes has directed a movie called "Outside the Wire." Here's a short description of the movie:

"This is the Iraq War you won't see on the evening news.

Former Marine and television news producer JD Johannes traveled to Iraq with his old Marine Corps unit to produce syndicated TV news reports for local stations.

From those reports comes a view of the war that only the grunts who operate outside the wire experience.

From a dust-up with Al Qaida outside Abu Ghriab, to a night raid on the home of an insurgent leader, you will see what the Marines saw and hear the story in their own words of why they joined, volunteered for the deployment, why they fight and what it is like to go outside the wire and into combat."

You can buy the movie here. Then, go to the blog which gives this bright advice in developing a caucus' message: "I propose something simple, that can fit on a bumper sticker, and is unequivocal in meaning: Support the Troops: LET THEM WIN"

I think this is my new favorite blog, and it's going on my blog roll.

It's like deja vue all over again

2007-02-18T09:08:00.000-06:00

In doing a Google search for folks who "really, really support the troops", I ran across this interesting post by Tim Grieve of the War Room at Salon.com. Here's what Tim had to say in June of 2006:

"They really, really support the troops

Republican congressmen like Walter Jones and Ron Paul hoped that the House of Representatives might have a serious debate about the future of a war that has claimed 2,500 American lives. Dennis Hastert, John Boehner and others in the Republican leadership thought it was more important to jam Democrats and other war critics with an all-or-nothing vote on a support-the-troops-or-else resolution.

Guess which side prevailed?

Soldiers in the field and patriots everywhere can rest easy this afternoon, knowing that the House of Representatives has got their backs. By a vote of 256-153, the House today approved a resolution that rejects any 'arbitrary' timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops and declares that the United States 'will prevail in the Global War on Terror.' The Republican leadership refused to allow any amendments to the resolution, leaving opponents with a choice that wasn't much choice at all: Vote in favor of the resolution, or be prepared to stand accused of supporting an 'arbitrary' timeline for troop withdrawal and predicting U.S. defeat at the hands of terrorists. Oh, and this, too: To vote against the measure, you also had to vote against the part that said that the House 'honors all those Americans who have taken an active part in the Global War on Terror, whether as first responders protecting the homeland, as servicemembers overseas, as diplomats and intelligence officers, or in other roles.'"

Imagine that, politicians using heavy-handed tactics to play to the public over who really supports the troops.

Page A1 News in the Sunday edition of the Washington Post

2007-02-17T21:32:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow, Washington Post readers will be offered a stinging rebuke of the military's treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital. The story was written by Dana Priest and Anne Hull who gathered information without the knowledge or permission of Walter Reed officials.

The story is long and includes the inevitable: "Life in Building 18 is the bleakest homecoming for men and women whose government promised them good care in return for their sacrifices."

Well, I have a few thoughts on the subject:

When our son was deployed, our biggest fear was not that he would be killed, but that he would be gravely wounded. We had heard, going into 2004, that National Guard troops were not treated, medically, as well as regular Army. We were certainly not aware that "the government promised [him] good care in return for [his] sacrifices." We expected the worst. By the grace of God, despite being wounded in the face with grenade shrapnel and serving a year as a prison guard, he came back physically and emotionally healthy.

I feel badly for the soldiers and their families who are described in the Post's story. The Army, being an organization run by humans, is far from perfect. And I hope that progress is being made in the conditions that were described. One of the reported incidents dates back to when Paul Wolfowitz was Deputy Secretary of Defense.

But here is what really gets to me: the Post comes through with another holier-than-thou story about the treatment of soldiers by the military. Yet, the treatment of one of its own war reporters has been less than stellar. Who holds the Post accountable when one of its reporters is damaged while working for them and then apparently casts her off? Where is the compassion and concern? Where is the expose'?

In the end, all these people - the soldiers and reporters - deserve the best treatment possible by their employers. War is Hell and mistakes are made. The Washington Post is able to use page A1 to showcase the mistakes of the military. Unfortunately, there is no such showcase to illuminate the mistakes of the Post. The military is under constant pressure to improve - although we know that progress can be painfully slow. I wonder if anything will ever cause the Washington Post to look within and see that it can be guilty of the same types of abuses of which it accuses others.

Update: Knowing that this major piece was coming in the Washington Post, Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, commanding general of Walter Reed Army Medical Center responds. BTW, the Post's story is getting major play across America this morning.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the new meme:

"We really, really support the troops. We said it in our resolution. You (the administration) obviously hate them as you treat them like crap. We just want our beloved soldiers to come home."

Not just another statistic

2007-02-17T16:02:00.000-06:00

Over the years, I've exchanged emails with several people who have worked or lived in Iraq. Last summer, one young man from Iraq sent me a picture of his niece who stills lives, I assume, in Baghdad. She is about the same age as my grandson.

I think of this young girl a lot and wonder if she is safe, and I wonder what will happen if we leave Iraq too soon. John Burns of the New York Times recently gave his opinion on that.

Here is one face of the future of Iraq. I hope she is able to grow into a beautiful young woman.

Update: By coincidence, I just ran across a blog entry that as of Monday, the child was safe and talking to her uncle on the telephone. In the interest of protecting the identity of the child, I won't link to the post. It makes me glad to read that she is OK.

"Believe me when I say I really, really do support the troops"

2007-02-17T15:37:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, the Washington Post ran a piece by Eric Fair in which he details abusive treatment of detainees at a detention facility in Fallujah. The writer describes the nightmares he experiences as a lingering effect of his failure to stand up to what he called meritless orders to torture the detainees. According to the short bio at the end of the article Mr. Fair: "served in the Army from 1995 to 2000 as an Arabic linguist and worked in Iraq as a contract interrogator in early 2004." The abuse he engaged in occurred in the summer of 2004 - just at the height of the Abu Ghraib coverage.

Mere months ago, a detailed story of reported torture and mayhem by U.S. troops would have been front page news. But in reading the reaction to washingtonpost.com's Bill Arkin calling our troops pampered mercenaries, and in watching senators who had formerly compared our troops to Nazi's and uneducated ne'er-do-wells now knocking themselves out in declaring their "support for the troops," it's become apparent that demonizing the troops is a losing political and journalistitc strategy. Eric Fair's story gained no traction at all in the major newspapers or on the cable news channels.

If there was one lesson learned from Vietnam, it's that turning against the troops does nothing to help a party win elections. Let's hope those same politicians - so attuned to consequences of missteps in times of war - remember the other important lesson from Vietnam, that precipitous retreat in a military struggle will likely leave millions dead.

Why I read the Washington Post

2007-02-17T08:07:00.000-06:00

Because there are plenty of grown-ups there who are not sticken by BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome.)

So, when Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Committee, makes threats to stop the surge and force a redeployment of troops from Iraq while avoiding the responsibility that comes with such action, well, the Washington Post editorial board calls him out.

God bless 'em.

NCO of the Year!

2007-02-11T19:17:00.000-06:00

For the whole state of New Hampshire!

Here's an American Soldier to be proud of - great dad, loving husband, wonderful son...and now he's been chosen as the NCO of the year for the New Hampshire Army National Guard.

The next level is a regional competition for the Northeast states. Now, the contest becomes intense: More interviews, a navigation test, PT to the max.

Way to go, Al! Best of luck in the next round!

Understanding what happened in Iraq

2007-02-08T06:56:00.000-06:00

John Burns is a reporter from the New York Times and has been cited favorably in the right-leaning blogosphere on his reporting on Iraq. Via the Anchoress yesterday, here's an exchange that Burns had with Tim Russert last weekend:

"Russert: John, was it possible for our policy makers to truly understand the way Iraqis would have reacted? The judgments made here were that when we went in we would be greeted as quote, 'liberators,' to quote Dick, Vice President’s Cheney’s phrase, that they were prepared, in effect, to take governing into their own hands, that they were so upset and had been so downtrodden by Saddam Hussein that they would embrace democracy and rise up, almost immediately.

Burns: Well first of all, I think, again, to be fair, the American troops were greeted as liberators. We saw it. It lasted very briefly, it was exhausted quickly by the looting and the astonishment and puzzlement and finally anger of Iraqis that nothing, or very little was done to stop that. I think that to be fair to the United States, when I speak as a citizen of the United Kingdom, I think that the instincts that led to much that went wrong were good American instincts: the desire not to have too heavy of a footprint, the desire to empower Iraqis.But, and I think that the policy makers in Washington, and to be on honest with you the journalists also, to speak for myself, completely miscalculated the impact of 30 years of violent, brutal repression on the Iraqi people and their willingness, in President Bush’s phrase, 'to stand up' for themselves, to take authority, to take risks. Why did we who, people like Rajiv [Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post] and myself who were there under Saddam, why did we not fully understand that? I think it’s because we were extremely limited by the Saddam regime as to where we could go and who we could go and speak to and what we wrote about mostly — certainly I can speak for myself — was what was most palpable and accessible to us which was the terror, it was real.

To that extent, I suppose you’d have to say people like myself enabled what happened, the decisions made here to go into Iraq and I’m not going to apologize for that. I’ve been to, I think many of the world’s nastiest places in a 30 year career as a foreign correspondent for the New York Times and Iraq was, by a long way saving only North Korea, the nastiest place I’ve ever been. It was a truly terrible place and what I think we were transfixed by was the notion that if you could remove this of carapace of terror and you could liberate the Iraqi people, many good things would happen.

We just didn’t understand, and perhaps didn’t work hard enough to understand, what lay beneath this carapace which is a deeply fractured society that had always been held together, since the British constructed it, by drawing geometric lines on the map — Winston Churchill and Lawrence of Arabia in the 1920s — a country that had really always been held together by force and varying degrees repression. The King, King Faisal, is remembered, the King who was assassinated in 1958, as a kind of golden era, but even that is really, was not really a parliamentary democracy. It was still basically an autocratic state and I think we needed to understand better the forces that we were going to liberate.

And my guess is that history will say that the forces that we liberated by invading Iraq were so powerful and so uncontrollable that virtually nothing the United States might have done, except to impose its own repressive state with half a million troops, which might have had to last ten years or more, nothing we could have done would have effectively prevented this disintegration that is now occurring."

Unfortunately, I haven't followed John Burns' reporting in the New York Times as closely as I have of reporters from the Washington Post. I wish I'd been reading him all along because clearly this man can put forth a non-partisan view of what has happened in Iraq.

Read this, then weep

2007-02-03T06:14:00.000-06:00

This post from Michael Yon has been cited frequently in the blogosphere.

Having read thousands and thousands of articles and posts on the war in the last few years, I've become somewhat hardened and cynical. If you can read Michael's post, then not have a gut-wretching reaction to the last picture which explains the title of his post "The Hands of God," you're even more hardened than I.

Update: I was reading The Wide Awake Cafe, and found a different interpretation of what represented The Hands of God in Micheal Yon's post. I thinks it's true that God is everywhere, even in the most unexpected places.

Another case of the pot calling the kettle black

2007-02-02T04:59:00.000-06:00

William Arkin, ~~a columnist for the Washington Post~~ a blogger for washingtonpost.com, has created quite a little stir with his series of blog posts: "The Troops Also Need to Support the American People", "A Note to My Readers on Supporting the Troops", and "The Arrogant and the Intolerant."

Here is the comment which I have submitted to his blog:

Mr. Arkin,

As mother of one of the said "mercenaries" and, perhaps even worse in your mind, a former U.S. military prison guard in Iraq, I have been quite interested in your columns of the last few days.

In this post: "A Note to My Readers..." you said: "We give them what we can to be successful, and we have a contract with them, because they are our sons and daughters and a part of us, not to place them in an impossible spot." Sorry, Mr. Arkin you haven't a clue what it is to have a son or daughter at war and then to watch as journalists such as yourself try to infantilize them, call them names, and accuse them of being indulged by America. In your next post, when people come to their defense, you decide the writers are "Arrogant and Intolerant."

To claim that my precious son is your son is the height of arrogance. To write in such a way as to criticize the soldier's right to express an opinion is the height of intolerance.

While some of the comments that have been written to your posts have been most disrespectful, they do not pose a physical threat to you. I dare say that you will wake to see the morning sun tomorrow. This will not be true of some of the young men and women whom you have so thoroughly disparaged in your series of posts. They will have died completing a mission on which they were sent by the American people. It is a mission with which the American public has now become weary and bored.

God bless you, Mr. Arkin, and your freedom to speak what you feel. You live in the greatest country known to mankind and enjoy the most free and affluent lifestyle that could ever be imagined by people just a generation ago. Your freedom is protected by those in uniform whom you chose to insult, and they will die again and again for you.

Mrs. Johnson goes to Washington

2007-01-28T18:18:00.000-06:00

January 27, 2007 was a day slated for protests against the war across the country. News reports stated there were "tens of thousands" of protestors in DC.

What they missed was that many of those "tens of thousands" at the Capitol and on the national mall were folks just like us. We were not protesting the war, but chance brought us here on this day.

We shared a hotel with an organization called "Military Families Speak Out," a group of families who have gained their share of media attention as they protest the war in Iraq. On Saturday morning, the Metro carried old and young people carrying hand lettered signs and sign making kits. It also carried at least one military family who simply came to see the sights of Washington DC.

Our first stop was a tour of the Capitol, lunch at Tortilla Coast, and then a walk over to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. As the rest of the family explored the museum, I slipped out the back door onto the national mall and walked into the protest. Susan Sarandon was speaking. A man with a sign was standing next to me, and I asked him if he knew any soldiers. He didn't. I told him my son is a soldier. There was no reply. We kept talking and the man's wife joined us, I asked them what they thought would happen if we pulled out of Iraq, and they shrugged. I asked if they supposed many Iraqi's would die, and they said they suppose they would. Then came the surprising part of the conversation...I asked if they thought it would be like Vietnam and the woman said she thought it would. So, I asked what happened in Vietnam after we left. She said: "They became all one country, and they were happy." I said: "Interesting." After a bit more talk, they simply walked away.

I also spoke with a man who was holding an "Out of Iraq" signed that was produced by moveon.org. (These were the most prevelant signs at the protest.) I asked the man what he was doing here and he said he was a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He brought a group of students out to DC for a tax policy contest and they had won the competition. I congratulated him, and then asked: "but why are you here today?" The response was that he wanted to see the protest (as he held a protest sign.)

All the reports I've seen state that there were "tens of thousands" at the protest at the national mall. Ten thousand - probably. Twenty thousand - maybe. Thirty thousand - definitey not. Here's a photo taken at 1:41 p.m., at the height of the protest, just before a march was supposed to start.

My family then joined me as we walked through the protestors and made our way to Washington Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial. Then we headed for the White House and what turned out to be the highlight of the day.

As we approached the front gate of the White House, a small group of people had been stopped on the sidewalk. No one was allowed to cross in front of the gate. In a few moments a guard dressed in black and carrying a serious looking machine gun came out to the corner by the gate where we were standing. A group of about thirty people were now stopped, and there were no protestors. They were all on the other side of the White House and on the mall. The crowd was talking in hushed tones as we waited to see what this was all about.

Suddenly, through the front gate appeared former President George H.W. Bush along with what appeared to be family members. People clapped. No one shouted protests. The former President and his companions slowly walked across the street in front of us. No one approached him until he got to the other side when a woman went up and shook his hand. It was very, very cool.

It is, indeed, an amazing country...one in which protesters are free to gather and call for the President's impeachment on one side of the White House, while on the other the President's father and predecessor walks calmly through an applauding crowd.

You say you "Support the Troops"

2007-01-26T04:36:00.000-06:00

The blogosphere is loaded with articulate men who understand the threat of terrorism and can then succinctly convey clear thoughts on the war. I'm not sure why, but there are not a lot of women who write with a military sense of the war.

However, Lorie Byrd at Wizbang! is one of them. Lorie "get's it." Her column this morning at Townhall.com is significant and I hope it gets a lot of traction in the 'sphere. Here's an excerpt from "Many Democrats Won't Stand For Victory In Iraq":

"Hugh Hewitt addressed what it means to “encourage the enemy” saying it “means to increase their will to fight on, and their courage to do so even in the face of the arrival of reinforcements. It also means to increase –substantially—the likelihood of redoubled and retripled efforts on their part to kill American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.”

Hewitt went on to say “Democrats are willing to encourage the enemy if it means hurting George W. Bush. They are willing to disregard the advice of the general they have just sent to do a mission if it serves their political purposes.” That is a pretty bold accusation to make and not one I am eager to embrace, but everything I have seen over the past three years tells me that Hewitt is right and that the behavior did not begin with the current resolution.

In Tuesday’s State of the Union address, the President’s calls for victory in Iraq were met from the Democrat side of the aisle with intentional silence. Most Democrats would not applaud, much less stand, for victory in Iraq. Over the past months and years, those on the left have gone to great effort to paint the mission in Iraq as “failed,” “doomed” and a “disaster.” They have failed to acknowledge the accomplishments of the U.S. military in Iraq, but have been quick to talk about those in our armed forces as child victims of a failed policy or (worse) as bloodthirsty thugs engaging in torture and terror.

I love the sight of SUCCESS in the morning (paper)

2007-01-23T07:01:00.000-06:00

Here's a surprising headline on the front page of the Washington Post:

General May See Early Success in Iraq

I'm out in DC for a few weeks. Here's hoping that as I pick up the Washington Post and listen to 1500 AM WTWP Washington Post Radio, we'll be hearing more of that word.

Profound

2007-01-20T07:43:00.000-06:00

Following a link from Bill Ardolino's site, to Michelle Malkin, a reader will come across this profound piece of writing at MySpace by a twenty-three year old soldier.

May he be dancing with angels.

Here is the full text of a post from late last year. Read it all:

WHY I JOINED

Current mood: optimistic

Why I Joined:

This question has been asked of me so many times in so many different contexts that I thought it would be best if I wrote my reasons for joining the Army on my page for all to see. First, the more accurate question is why I volunteered to go to Iraq. After all, I joined the Army a week after we declared war on Saddam's government with the intention of going to Iraq. Now, after years of training and preparation, I am finally here.

Much has changed in the last three years. The criminal Ba'ath regime has been replaced by an insurgency fueled by Iraq's neighbors who hope to partition Iraq for their own ends. This is coupled with the ever present transnational militant Islamist movement which has seized upon Iraq as the greatest way to kill Americans, along with anyone else they happen to be standing near. What was once a paralyzed state of fear is now the staging ground for one of the largest transformations of power and ideology the Middle East has experienced since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Thanks to Iran, Syria, and other enlightened local actors, this transformation will be plagued by interregional hatred and genocide. And I am now in the center of this.

Is this why I joined?

Yes. Much has been said about America's intentions in overthrowing Saddam Hussein and seeking to establish a new state based upon political representation and individual rights. Many have framed the paradigm through which they view the conflict around one-word explanations such as "oil" or "terrorism," favoring the one which best serves their political persuasion. I did the same thing, and anyone who knew me before I joined knows that I am quite aware and at times sympathetic to the arguments against the war in Iraq. If you think the only way a person could bring themselves to volunteer for this war is through sheer desperation or blind obedience then consider me the exception (though there are countless like me).

I joined the fight because it occurred to me that many modern day "humanists" who claim to possess a genuine concern for human beings throughout the world are in fact quite content to allow their fellow "global citizens" to suffer under the most hideous state apparatuses and conditions. Their excuses used to be my excuses. When asked why we shouldn't confront the Ba'ath party, the Taliban or the various other tyrannies throughout this world, my answers would allude to vague notions of cultural tolerance (forcing women to wear a veil and stay indoors is such a quaint cultural tradition), the sanctity of national sovereignty (how eager we internationalists are to throw up borders to defend dictatorships!) or even a creeping suspicion of America's intentions. When all else failed, I would retreat to my fragile moral ecosystem that years of living in peace and liberty had provided me. I would write off war because civilian casualties were guaranteed, or temporary alliances with illiberal forces would be made, or tank fuel was toxic for the environment. My fellow "humanists" and I would relish contently in our self righteous declaration of opposition against all military campaigns against dictatorships, congratulating one another for refusing to taint that aforementioned fragile moral ecosystem that many still cradle with all the revolutionary tenacity of the members of Rage Against the Machine and Greenday. Others would point to America's historical support of Saddam Hussein, sighting it as hypocritical that we would now vilify him as a thug and a tyrant. Upon explaining that we did so to ward off the fiercely Islamist Iran, which was correctly identified as the greater threat at the time, eyes are rolled and hypocrisy is declared. Forgetting that America sided with Stalin to defeat Hitler, who was promptly confronted once the Nazis were destroyed, America's initial engagement with Saddam and other regional actors is identified as the ultimate argument against America's moral crusade.

And maybe it is. Maybe the reality of politics makes all political action inherently crude and immoral. Or maybe it is these adventures in philosophical masturbation that prevent people from ever taking any kind of effective action against men like Saddam Hussein. One thing is for certain, as disagreeable or as confusing as my decision to enter the fray may be, consider what peace vigils against genocide have accomplished lately. Consider that there are 19 year old soldiers from the Midwest who have never touched a college campus or a protest who have done more to uphold the universal legitimacy of representative government and individual rights by placing themselves between Iraqi voting lines and homicidal religious fanatics. Often times it is less about how clean your actions are and more about how pure your intentions are.

So that is why I joined. In the time it took for you to read this explanation, innocent people your age have suffered under the crushing misery of tyranny. Every tool of philosophical advancement and communication that we use to develop our opinions about this war are denied to countless human beings on this planet, many of whom live under the regimes that have, in my opinion, been legitimately targeted for destruction. Some have allowed their resentment of the President to stir silent applause for setbacks in Iraq. Others have ironically decried the war because it has tied up our forces and prevented them from confronting criminal regimes in Sudan, Uganda, and elsewhere.

I simply decided that the time for candid discussions of the oppressed was over, and I joined.

In digesting this posting, please remember that America's commitment to overthrow Saddam Hussein and his sons existed before the current administration and would exist into our future children's lives had we not acted. Please remember that the problems that plague Iraq today were set in motion centuries ago and were up until now held back by the most cruel of cages. Don't forget that human beings have a responsibility to one another and that Americans will always have a responsibility to the oppressed. Don't overlook the obvious reasons to disagree with the war but don't cheapen the moral aspects either. Assisting a formerly oppressed population in converting their torn society into a plural, democratic one is dangerous and difficult business, especially when being attacked and sabotaged from literally every direction. So if you have anything to say to me at the end of this reading, let it at least include "Good Luck"

Mark Daily

This is not good

2007-01-09T21:35:00.000-06:00

Just as I'm goin' to Disney World tomorrow, I read this at Counterterrorism Blog:

"The Saudi daily Al Watan just reported that there have been a number of thefts of airport vehicles in US airports in the past few days including an United Air car on Chicago O'hare's airport.

also attempts were made in the Buffalo airport to stael authorized vehicles and supposedly airport authorities around the country have noticed strange people watching restricted areas in airports."

In a week that there were two incidents at the Port of Miami (was just there last month), news like this hits kind of close to home.

An amazing soldier (and an amazing reporter)

2007-01-08T20:11:00.000-06:00

Michael Yon is back in Iraq and says he'll: "spend the entirety of 2007 with our troops at war, until sickness, wounds or worse send me home, or the military tires of my presence and catapults me over the wire."

His first dispatch details his flight back into the country and then later on in the lengthy post, Yon describes Command Sergeant Major Jeffrey Mellinger, the senior enlisted soldier in Iraq. Here's just part of what Yon has to say:

"With nearly 35 years of continuous military service, Mellinger is the senior most active duty draftee; yet he cruises Iraq like an Infantryman...

...One young sergeant, a team member on CSM Mellinger’s crew, told me the CSM’s team has been hit 26 times so far, and when I asked the CSM, he shrugged and said, “Sounds about right.” Five of his Humvees have been destroyed by IEDs, two that he was riding in at the time. Astonishingly, nobody in his crew has even been seriously wounded. He goes into combat, but you’d have to see how he rolls to understand why nobody has been killed so far. Experience multiplied by luck."

I wish that we heard more about these amazing soldiers. From time to time, stories of heroism will be told in the Washington Post or other national papers about soldiers who have been killed or wounded. Very few articles are written, however, about the 140,000 living and honorable troops that are serving in Iraq.

If you're the praying kind, offer a little prayer of gratitude for men like CSM Mellinger, and one for safety for Michael Yon.

Celebrity

2007-01-08T05:14:00.000-06:00

I have noticed, more and more, lately that I don't recognize faces of "celebrities." Now, faces like the man at the left, I've pretty much got and can even spell his name from memory - Abizaid.

And the women, below, are pretty familiar to me.

But, I have to be honest, when I Googled the word "celebrities" and clicked on the "Images" tab, I hadn't a clue who most of these people were.

I wonder if this means I'm living "in a bubble?"

Oy vey!

2007-01-08T04:44:00.000-06:00

While checking in at The Belmont Club this morning, I expanded Wretchard's post: Whispers in the Execution Chamber. It starts out: "John Burns of the NYT, who really is one of the best journalists to cover Iraq writes about the American-Iraqi struggle over the execution of Saddam Hussein. He describes how conflicting cultures, political objectives and styles confronted each other over the issue of when and how to hang Saddam Hussein."

Indeed, the article gives great insights into the challenges that our military faces in dealing with the culture that exists in Iraq today. Despite the cluck-clucking over Hussein's execution last week, it appears that the Americans wanted to slow things down. Of course, the distinction between "it's Bush's fault" and the taste for blood developed by an oppressed people is not so throroughly developed in the stories that I've seen and heard over the last week. Burns and his co-writers take five pages to tell the story.

Take some time to read In Days Before Hanging, a Push for Revenge and a Push Back From the U.S.. No matter where you stand on the war, you'll learn a lot about the situation on the ground in Iraq.

Heh, it's not MY war, buddy.

2007-01-07T08:53:00.000-06:00

A few days ago, Jim Geraghty at TKS posted about an exchange between Charlie Gibson and Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kansas. In it, Boyda vows to not get in the way of the Commander-in-chief's handling of the war.

When I first read the quotes, I was puzzled - in a good way. I didn't understand why Democrats wouldn't fight the President on the troop surge, but I was grateful for this attitude of cooperation. (Even if I don't particularly support a "surge".) Geraghty was much more skeptical and apparently with good reason.

This morning, I read an article by Howard Fineman titled: "Sidestepping 'The Surge'". It goes into great detail about the Democrats' placid response to President Bush's latest controversial moves in the war in Iraq. Here's one clip:

"Sen. Joe Biden, whose Foreign Relations Committee will launch hearings on the war this week, said that Congress's role is simply too limited to be effective. 'It's all about the separation of powers,' he said. Last month he told Bush: 'This is your war, Mr. President, and there's nothing we can do to stop you.'"

Fineman ends with this chilling paragraph: "In the meantime, Democrats know a classic 'wedge issue' when they see one. With 21 Republicans up for re-election, Democrats would be happy to witness full-scale GOP infighting, which could catch the Republicans' '08 front runner, Sen. John McCain, in the crossfire. Democratic strategists say it would be politically foolish to help Bush by crafting a bipartisan war policy. 'Why should we try to come up with a compromise policy with him?' asks Mike Ward, a former congressman who was back at the Capitol for opening-day festivities. 'If we do that, we take ownership of the war. Why would we want to do that?' Only one reason I could think of: to end the war faster so that the troops could come home.

This all falls into the "let the chips fall where they may" line of thinking. There are many in the country who are willing to walk away from the war and let the chips fall where they may, because, heh, it's not their war. Even though both houses of Congress voted for it overwhelmingly in October 2002. Or that we reelected the Commander-in-chief in the middle of it. Or that millions of folks still bravely stick a yellow "Support the troops" magnet on their car.

Geraghty was right on when he said: "I don't like the overall tone of Boyda's comments - that she and the legislative branch can’t be held accountable for what happens from here on out regarding foreign policy. If she thinks a troop surge is a bad idea, she ought to oppose it. If she thinks it’s a good idea, she ought to support it. There’s something unseemly about privately believing a policy to be a bad idea, but voting in favor of it anyway because 'it’s what the commander in chief wants to do.' The Democrats won control of Congress last year, and with that power comes responsibility, as Spider-Man’s Uncle told us."

The Democrats were elected, partially, to provide balance in the conduct of the war on terror. Walking away from that responsibility is simply playing politics upon the lives of over a million U.S. servicemen and 26 million Iraqi's.

Citizens fighting the war on terror

2007-01-07T03:37:00.000-06:00

One of the blogs that are listed on my "blogroll" is Counterterrorism Blog. This week, that blog celebrated its second anniversary. If you're not reading Counterterrorism Blog regularly, you're missing a great source of information about the war on terrorism...not just in Iraq but all over the world.

Who wudda thunk it?

2007-01-06T06:40:00.000-06:00

For those who don't live here in Minnesota, their view of the state is probably shaped by the movie "Fargo" as much as anything else. It's the Land of 10,000 (frozen) Lakes and 2,000,000 Johnson's, Anderson's and Peterson's.

Lately, though, it seems like Minnesota is Ground Zero in the Islamic/Western Civilization culture war. However, you wouldn't know it by reading the local paper - the StarTribune.

While the "Flying Imans" gained national attention on CNN, Fox News, and throughout the blogosphere, the Strib wrote three "straight" news stories about the removal of six imans from a United Airways flight last November:

6 men removed from flight, questioned (11/21/06), Uproar follows imams' detention (11/22/06), Imam incident rests on a raw nerve (11/23/06)

Then, the resident conservative columnist, Katherine Kersten, singlehandedly had do to the heavy lifting of providing additional facts:

Ordering imams off flight was a reasonable act (12/6/06), Suspicion about imams grows as terror links pile up (12/11/06), The real purpose behind the imam publicity blitz (12/14/06)

As far as I can tell by a look through the Strib's search engine these are all the articles that cover the nationally known incident.

Some other big international and national news stories lately have included: the controversy over cabbies refusing to transport passengers who are accompanied by seeing eye dogs or who are carrying liquor; Keith Ellison and his use of the Qur'an at his swearing in as the first Muslim representative to the U.S. Congress; and a gathering this week of 1,500 in support of the Shari'ah regime in Somalia.

These have been barely mentioned by the StarTribune or the local news broadcasts. It's as if this is just a part of normal life here in Minnesota...not even worth a mention as "news".

A while back, I was walking with a friend in Greenwich Village and I realized that there were definitely differences there between New Yorkers and Minnesotans. Finally, I asked my friend "Where are the burqas?"

You see, it is rare to walk down the street in Minneapolis and not see a woman in a burqa. In New York? Not so much.

I wonder if the Republican National Committee knew that when they committed to holding their national convention here in 2008?

Cindy and me

2007-01-05T21:35:00.000-06:00

Cindy Sheehan has been in the news again. This time, she managed to co-opt the Democratic platform upon which Rahm Emanuel was giving a press conference.

I've written to a lot of folks in the last few years...and once to Cindy Sheehan. Last year, I noticed she was wearing a Tau cross - a symbol that is worn by Secular Franciscans. Since I know a little something about the Franciscans, the Prayer of St. Francis popped into my mind. So, I sent it to Cindy and gently reminded her of the need to seek real peace. She never responded.

Cindy and I share something else beyond our familiarity with St. Francis. Both of our worlds were rocked in April 2004. Cindy's son, Casey, of course, was tragically killed in that month. It's also the month that the Abu Ghraib scandal hit. In a different way, our family also went through Hell then and in the following months. For our son, it was because of knee-jerk decisions that were made by a chain of command under attack by politicians and media who salivated at the chance to unseat the commander-in-chief. For us, it was because of the vitriol that was slung at the military in front page stories accompanied by photos of the "man on the box."

So, to some extent, I feel close to Cindy's pain.

I do hope that the Peace Mom comes across this prayer again someday:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Winning for Dummies

2007-01-04T06:19:00.000-06:00

Victor Davis Hanson is one of the smartest commenters about the war on terror around. He is a military historian and knows that despite advances in technology war doesn't change much throughout the millennia. It's all about tactics. This morning VDH has a piece at RealClearPolitics called: "A war of endurance." Here's what he has to say:

"Americans have two stark choices in the war against terrorists.

One, we can withdraw ground troops and return to punitive and conventional bombing - tit-for-tat retaliation for each attack in the future. That way, the United States stays distant and smacks the jihadists on their home bases below. Few Americans die; terrorists sometimes do. The bored media stay more concentrated on the terrorists' provocations, not on our standoff response from 30,000 feet in the clouds.

Or American forces, at great danger, can continue to change the political and economic structure of the Middle East in hopes of fostering constitutional governments that might curb terrorism for generations. This current engagement demands our soldiers fight jihadists on their vicious turf, but by our humanitarian rules. For this, we must pay the ensuing human and materiel price - all broadcast live on the evening news."

You've probably already guessed that his choice would be the latter:

"Presidents Reagan, Bush senior and Clinton, who respectively skedaddled out of Beirut, skipped Baghdad and fled from Mogadishu, didn't risk, lose or solve much against the terrorists.

In contrast, George W. Bush wagered everything by going into Afghanistan and Iraq. And he will either make things much worse or much better for millions - depending on how successfully the United States can endure the messy type of war that jihadists welcome and the American military usually seeks to avoid.

Military success on the ground now demands that we expand the rules of engagement to allow our troops to shoot more of the jihadists, disarm the militias, train even more Iraqis troops to take over security more quickly, and seal the Syrian and Iranian borders.
This solution, of course, is easier said than done. The military must use more force against those who are destroying Iraqi democracy at precisely the time the American public has become exasperated with both the length and human cost of the war.

Imagine this war as a sort of grotesque race. The jihadists and sectarians win if they can kill enough Americans to demoralize us enough that we flee before Iraqis and Afghans stabilize their newfound freedom. They lose if they can't. Prosperity, security and liberty are the death knell to radical Islam. It's that elemental."

Michelle Malkin on a mission

2007-01-03T23:01:00.000-06:00

Michelle Malkin is heading over to Iraq to report on a number of subjects including the story of "Capt. Jamil Hussein" whom the AP has used as a source in about 60 stories. Hussein's indentity has not been authenticated by any other news source and has been called into question by bloggers.

May Michelle meet with success in her reporting and return safely home when her mission is accomplished.

Remembering Steven Vincent

2007-01-01T23:25:00.000-06:00

In the January 2007 issue of marie claire, you'll find an article about journalist Steven Vincent, his travels to Iraq and then his death near Basrah in August 2005. The article is named: "A different kind of love story" and includes a view of the relationship between Steven and his wife, Lisa Ramaci, as well as the bond between him and his translator, Noor, who was also shot (but survived) when Steven was killed. Most of all, it is a story about one man who decided he needed to join the war on terror, and paid the ultimate price.