News and Personal dispatches from the front lines.
In their own words:
One Marine's View: March 10, 2008 Gang - Conducted a few convoys in the area and I thought I would pass on the atmospherics in the area. Compared to my last deployment here, things are a lot better. We began in the local area and did not have to utilize any escalation of force due to vehicle threats. Roads have been repaired from past IEDs and general contracting and building is improving across the bar. However, we have had incidents that resemble my last tour here that prove that the insurgents are still around, although not as evident or as frequent. (READ MORE)
One Marine's View: March 10, 2008 - U.S. troops in Iraq can see the next round of Iraqi terrorism taking form. Next time, it will mainly be Shia Islamic radicals, trying to terrorize their way into power. Muqtada al Sadr, the head of the radical Mahdi Army, may be a little slow, but he’s not stupid. He finally figured out that his primary asset is time; sooner or later the US will be gone, having rid the country of al Qaeda and the most militant Sunni groups. (READ MORE)
Those Wacky Iraq's: WebCamming - Before I left I bought those fancy, shmansy laptops at CompUSA. The Mrs. and I finally figured out how to link up via Skype and we have been happily webcamming away at night. T-Man thinks it is way cool and he and I conduct our Jedi Light Saber combat via the WWW. he and I back up a few feet and twirl around making "whoosh" sounds while we swing our "Air Sabers". The dogs hear me talking and head for the door thinking that I am at the door to take them for a walk. I always wanted to do that in Iraq but the insidious firewall there prevented me from being able to do so. I still can't do it from work but since I have Saudi Internet in my room it has none of that protection and I can stream video away. (READ MORE)
James Aalan Bernsen: BIAP, Paris, Chuck Norris and Davy Crockett - I'm off to Paris on 16 days of leave! This evening marks the first time I have not gone to work in 161 straight days, and it was an odd feeling. Right now, I'm typing away from an Internet Cafe at BIAP, the Baghdad International Airport. It's been a long night of sleeping on dusty concrete slabs in the open air, trudging across the gravel-paved walkways to the port-a-johns and taking showers with wet-wipes. I have plenty of experience with BIAP by now, having already gone through here three times before this. We're on the old Iraqi military side of the airport, and facilities are downright primitive - though they are dramatically improved from the way they were the last time I was here five months ago. The U.S. military is constantly improving and upgrading our bases and facilities here - part of the vast dough that you, the taxpayer, are coughing up. (READ MORE)
LT Nixon: Shenanigans to Defuse Winter Soldier II Tensions - The IVAW has been talking about the upcoming Winter Soldier II hearings for months and Army Sergeant at Active Duty Patriot has the details on her blog. The tensions have been brewing for weeks prior to this, but recently Michelle Malkin has posted how the Gathering of Eagles are being threatened with violence, and it even contains a link to notable "Teh Awesome Viking Man" De Wald of IVAW. I find this a bit troublesome, since Michelle Malkin has riled up the Gathering of Eagles folks before, and I can only surmise that this event is going to get ugly. IVAW member, De Wald, has even threatened to cut people's heads off with a steak knife. In an effort to quell this animosity between fellow vets/military members/well-wishers I propose a riddle for veterans of the Army type. (READ MORE)
LT Nixon: Iraq News (11 Mar) - TheGood: Not much good news in the last 24 hours, it was a pretty shitty day for our fighting forces, but the US did blow up a torture house south of Baghdad to impress the local sheiks and show that the US forces were there to combat extremist violence. The Bad: A significant amount of violence as 5 soldiers were killed by a suicde attacker in the Mansoor district of Baghdad, and 3 soldiers were killed in Diyala by an IED attack. The soldiers in Baghdad were talking with the locals about their concerns, which is a proven effective tactic towards counter-insurgency, when they were hit by a suicidal maniac. This is a terrible day...Also, a prominet Sahwa sheikh was assassinated along with some family members by a female suicide bomber in Baqouba. And rarely do the Kurdish provinces suffer from extremist attacks, but a suicide bomber killed 1 in Sulaymaniyah outside a fancy hotel. (READ MORE)
Army of Dude: Photo Story Monday - One Year Later - After being in Baghdad for a few months, it started to feel easy. Routine. We'd clear hundreds upon hundreds of houses and walk a few miles collectively and go in for the night to sleep. And do it all over again the next day. Glancing up at the fortress of Sadr City was a normal day at the office. Strolling through Arab Jabour could only be described as boring. Apart from a few firefights and the downing of a Blackwater helicopter, Baghdad was a bust. We had suffered two deaths in ten months, both in other companies. I didn't know them except for their names. In that regard we were luckier than most other units. I thought to myself often, this isn't bad. We're going to make it out of here okay. (READ MORE)
Fearless 1st Marines’ blog: Fallujah Public Radio Station Opens Airwaves to Brighter Future - FALLUJAH, Iraq (March 10, 2008) —There are many factors to consider when measuring the development of a city such as economic growth, security, and social progress. One of the things that ties all of these factors together is communication. How the city communicates to its people is an important aspect in understanding and measuring the development of an emerging city. In Fallujah the medium that best accomplishes the goals of communication to its people is the local radio station. (READ MORE)
Borzou: IRAQ: Intelligence failures past, and present? - Three articles in Monday's L.A. Times show the disparate challenges facing the U.S. in Iraq. Times intelligence beat reporter Greg Miller writes about the release of a report on a touchy subject some Americans believe is counterproductive and others of utmost importance: whether the Bush administration mishandled or lied about intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq War to veer the country into a conflict that has cost nearly 4,000 American and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives. Underlying the subject is whether the U.S. should be in Iraq in the first place, and a crisis of confidence in America's security and foreign policy establishments. Here's an excerpt from Greg's story: (READ MORE)
Paul McLeary: Part II: The Suicide Bomber - I tried to squeeze into the Stryker to head to the site of the suicide bombing, but Captain Higgins needed the space for troops, not reporters, so I stayed to watch the EOD team pack the weapons cache with thirty pounds of C4 explosive and blow it in an impressive blast. At the same time, Lt. Pappas took the suspect to a larger forward operating base for processing and interrogation. Leaving the farmhouse with Cpt. Higgins and the explosives team to investigate the suicide bomb site, we stopped at the IED that we had identified earlier—just long enough for the EOD team to frantically tell us that were sitting on top of an IED, and refuse to go any further. We moved on while they stayed behind to blow it. (READ MORE)
Badger 6: Daylight Saving Time in Iraq - The implementation of Daylight Saving Time always seems to be controversial in Iraq. There is no Uniform Time Act such as in the United States so the "spring forward" seems to be up for debate every year. The fall back has not seemed up for debate so much as to just when it was going to occur. At a minimum though there is a three week period where I am an eight hour time difference from home as opposed to nine hours. I would say that nine hours is better than eight for Mrs. Badger 6 and me, however I realize that we have merely ordered our lives around that time difference. (READ MORE)
Desert Dude: 10 March - Today started out like any other…people being all loud in the hallway, interrupting us old guys while we try to catch up on our beauty sleep…I need as much as I can get to erase the year of pain I have been thru…just playin…it’s all good …I really don’t care about any of the little bullshit anymore because I am LEEEEEEAAAAVVVIIIIINNNGGGGG…. Only a couple more short days…I met up with my replacement and showed him around a little, introduced him to the Sgt. running the other shop—that was interesting…he tried to play all nice—oh, anything you need we will take care of you, we can do this and that for you, if you need any help with anything we can hook you up... (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Targeting Mosul’s kidnappers - MOSUL, IRAQ: As al Qaeda and allied extremist groups attempt to regroup in the northern city of Mosul, kidnappings inside the city have spiked in the past week. Six Iraqis have been kidnapped in the last six days. The latest victim was a Muslim sheikh. The most high-profile kidnapping over the past two weeks targeted the leader of the Christian community in Mosul. Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, was kidnapped during what Iraqi officers in Mosul described as a professional operation. Three cars pulled up as Rahho left mass, killed his three man security detail, and put him into the trunk of a car. (READ MORE)
News from the Front:
Iraq:
Death and More Death. Why? - BAGHDAD - Karada is a bustling mosaic where people from different ethnicities and sects and places in Baghdad come to shop. Security here started to improve over the past few months, and people started to breathe again. Shop owners, after a long time of sitting jobless, are trying to do the same job they were doing before in 2003. Every day, more people have come to Karada to shop. One of them was my good friend Qusay, 29, who was married two years ago. He comes from a wealthy family. He was kindhearted, helping beggars whenever he encountered them. (READ MORE)
Hawr Rajab Sees Significant Economic, Quality of Life Improvements - FOB KALSU — With security improving in Hawr Rajab, stores and schools are reopening and a number of programs are revitalizing a community once on the brink of chaos. In November 2007, al-Qaeda launched their last well-coordinated offensives into Hawr Rajab, killing a total of 12 members of the Sons of Iraq (SoI) and wounding eight. In the same firefight, two Iraqi Army (IA) Soldiers were killed and another nine wounded; four U.S. Soldiers were injured in the attacks. (READ MORE)
Women’s Engagement Team Hears Concerns of Iraqi Females - AL TAQADDUM — A team consisting of five female Marines from the 1st Marine Logistics Group and two female interpreters recently conducted a census patrol in a nearby town here. The Iraqi Women’s Engagement Team (IWET) was able to meet and talk with the local Iraqi females one-on-one, segregated from men. A variety of topics were discussed, from any assistance they may need to how the American military has helped them make a better way of life. (READ MORE)
‘Village of Hope’ Aims to Boost Hawr Rajab Economy - FOB KALSU — After months of oppression from al-Qaeda in Iraq, the southern Baghdad community of Hawr Rajab is coming back to life. Coalition and Iraqi efforts are now focused on rebuilding the economy. One initiative garnered 50 students for classes at the “Village of Hope,” a vocational school designed to teach Hawr Rajab residents the basics of construction. Soldiers from 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division provide security at construction sites where classes are taught by U.S. Air Force Airmen with related occupational specialties. (READ MORE)
MoE repairs towers on Baghdad’s power belt - BAGHDAD – Reconstruction of three 132-kilovolt high-tension power line towers in the region of Arab Jabour are near completion. Iraqi Ministry of Electricity employees began work on the towers March 1. Once complete, another link of the southern Baghdad power belt will be fixed. With the exception of occasional route clearance teams checking and clearing the route to and from the site of the towers, Coalition forces had no involvement in securing the area. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Army, Coalition Forces, conduct operation in al Lej - FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – Iraqi Army and Coalition forces conducted a two-day cordon and search operation in al Lej, Iraq, March 7-8. The operation resulted in the death of two insurgents, discovery of four improvised explosive devices and one weapons cache, and destruction of two buildings storing ammunition and explosives. Soldiers from the 13th Georgian Army Light Infantry Battalion provided area security, as 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division Soldiers searched houses in two villages in al Lej for weapons caches and evidence of insurgent activity. (READ MORE)
Coalition Force Soldiers attacked by IED in Diyala province - TIKRIT, Iraq – Three Coalition Force Soldiers and an interpreter were killed by an improvised explosive device attack in eastern Diyala province, March 10. Another Soldier was wounded and transported to a Coalition medical facility for treatment. The names of the deceased are being withheld pending next of kin notification and release by the Department of Defense. (READ MORE)
Coalition disrupts al-Qaeda in Iraq networks; five killed, 11 detained - BAGHDAD – Coalition forces killed five terrorists and detained 11 suspects Monday and today during operations to disrupt al-Qaeda networks operating in central and northern Iraq. North of Ad Dawr Monday, surveillance elements positively identified a group of terrorists attempting to emplace improvised explosive devices in a road and called for a supporting fixed-wing aircraft to attack the time sensitive target, killing three terrorists. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Police in western Iraq seize 5 major weapons caches, detain 1 - HABBANIYAH, Iraq – The Rawah Iraqi Police and the Khalidiyah Iraqi Police and Transition Team and found and cleared 5 major weapons caches and detained one suspect earlier this month. The Rawah Iraqi Police discovered a weapons cache approximately 7 miles west of Rawah March 7. They were directed by locals on-scene to three more cashes. (READ MORE)
Afghanistan:
Able Company Visits Shangar - Recently, 4th Platoon, Able Company, 2-503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment visited the Shangar ANP station and Shangar School construction site. 4th Platoon visited the Shangar ANP station in order to access the security of the station and the area. The ANP were very alert and friendly manning the checkpoint and the roof top op. The ANP pointed out targets from the area, as well as locations from which ACM typically attack. Behind the ANP checkpoint construction has begun for the Shangar School. (READ MORE)
Partnership with TF MED for Remote Medical Training - Recently, Task Force Med, out of Bagram's Craig Hospital, conducted an experimental remote medical training program. The goal of the training was to build the capacity of Afghan health care providers through lectures and live training all conducted via video teleconference. Medics and doctors from 2-508th Parachute Infantry Regiment located at Afghanistan's Ghazni Hospital were standing by to assist Afghan medical personnel with the physical portion of the training. There were also translators at both locations to assist with terminology. (READ MORE)
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