Friday - June 23, 2006

Need A New Menu?

_{Mike Lester—Rome News-Tribune (GA)}

- Washington Post (June 23, 2006): “Senate Rejects Democrats’ Calls For Iraq Timetable”

The Republican-controlled Senate, embracing President Bush’s handling of the unpopular war in Iraq, rejected two Democratic efforts yesterday to begin a withdrawal of U.S. troops from the three-year-old conflict. Displaying cohesion that has eluded Democrats, Republicans voted overwhelmingly to leave deployment decisions in the president’s hands. The votes, which followed three days of sometimes-fierce debate, outlined the positions the two parties will carry into the November congressional elections and underscored the Democratic constituency’s split between staunchly antiwar activists and those who are frustrated but less fervent. Thirty-one of the Senate’s 44 Democrats opposed setting a firm deadline for withdrawal.

The Senate voted 86 to 13 to reject a proposal by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) that would have ordered Bush to bring most of the troops home within 13 months. Another Democratic measure—a nonbinding call on Bush to begin a troop drawdown by December—fared better but still failed, 60 to 39. Republicans unanimously opposed Kerry’s plan and lost only one member, Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.), on the second proposal. Six Democrats, meanwhile, sided with Republicans in opposing both measures. One of them was Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), the Democrats’ 2000 vice presidential nominee, who is in danger of losing his party’s senatorial nomination this year to a strongly antiwar challenger.

The Senate action, which mirrored a House vote last week, ratified congressional Republicans’ decision to stake their electoral fortunes largely on Bush’s prosecution of a war that nearly two-thirds of Americans say is not worth fighting, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. The GOP solidarity was a vote of confidence in the White House and a gamble that the situation in Iraq will stabilize, or at least not worsen, between now and November. The administration worked hard to reassure nervous Republicans, having the Pentagon send them a thick binder of talking points about the war’s progress and the need to stay the course until Iraqis can maintain order in their country.

Throughout the debate, Senate Republicans said troop deployment decisions must be left to military leaders advising Bush. “The proponents of these amendments want us to tell the new government of Iraq that we are leaving . . . no matter what the implications for the future of their country, no matter how much they plead with us to stay,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.). “The time to leave Iraq is when we have achieved our objectives.”

Democrats argued that Iraqis need a strong signal that it is time for them to ready their army and police for self-sufficiency. Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) criticized what he described as “cheap political tricks” from the “playbook” of Bush political adviser Karl Rove, “saying Democrats want to surrender” in Iraq. Both parties, meanwhile, claimed to be in touch with U.S. public sentiment over the conflict, which has claimed more than 2,500 American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. “The Republicans in the Senate stand alone in insisting on ‘no plan and no end,’ “ Reid said.

While Republicans in recent weeks gravitated toward a consensus in support of Bush’s policies, Democrats held intensive closed-door debates on what alternatives to offer. Liberals wanted a firm date for troop withdrawals, but others argued for a more moderate approach that would urge, but not compel, Bush to start a drawdown this year. Efforts to reconcile the two camps failed, resulting in the competing measures that were voted on yesterday.

Kerry’s proposed amendment to a military policy bill to set a deadline for withdrawal was co-sponsored by Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.). Both men are weighing presidential bids in 2008 and drawing support from antiwar Democrats busily writing blogs and raising money. As the party’s 2004 presidential nominee, Kerry has a high profile, and his insistence on pushing his measure angered some colleagues who felt that it fueled the GOP’s “cut and run” taunts. All 55 Republicans opposed Kerry’s amendment, as did 31 Democrats. Of the 12 Democrats and one independent who voted for it, only two had voted in October 2002 to authorize military force in Iraq: Kerry and Tom Harkin (Iowa). The senators from Maryland and Virginia voted against the Kerry amendment.

- More on the Chicken-crats at the WAPO ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/23/2006 at 08:58 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Iraq •  
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   Tuesday - June 20, 2006

Just … DAMN!

Why is it that when US troops capture terrorists and treat them gently, according to the pansy-assed Geneva Convention all of the human rights groups start screaming “torture”, “abuse”, etc.?

Yet when the terrorists capture, torture and mutilate our troops news agencies like Reuters devotes three paragraphs to the killings and then quickly spends the next THREE PAGES of the report covering suicide bombings and other terrorist killings in Iraq? Bias? Or just plain BULLS**T?

I extend my deepest sympathies and regret to the families of Privates Tucker and Menchaca. There WILL be payback for this atrocity. Count on it.

Two U.S. soldiers Missing In Iraq Found Dead
_{Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:19am ET17}

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two U.S. soldiers who went missing south of Baghdad last week were killed and their bodies were found in an area where a group linked to al Qaeda said it had abducted them, an Iraqi defense official said on Tuesday. “The two soldiers were killed and they were found in Yusufiya near an electricity plant,” Major General Abdul Aziz Mohammed told a news conference in Baghdad.

He did not say when the soldiers were killed nor when their bodies were found. The U.S. military had launched an intense search for the men involving 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops. The Mujahideen Shura Council said on Monday it had kidnapped the soldiers—Private Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, from Madras, Oregon and Private Kristian Menchaca, 23, from Houston, Texas.

The two went missing at dusk on Friday after an ambush at a checkpoint in Yusufiya, a town in an area south of Baghdad some Iraqis call the “Triangle of Death, which is an al Qaeda stronghold. Another soldier was killed in the attack. The deaths dealt a blow to the U.S. military after it killed the al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in an air strike on June 7.

- More on the violence in Iraq at Reuters ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/20/2006 at 07:25 AM   
Filed Under: • Iraq • Military •  
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   Friday - June 16, 2006

Breaking News: House Vote

The vote was 256-153. The troops are doing good, Iraq is part of the war on terror and no timetable for withdrawal. Too bad the Donks were against all of that. Remember that in November ....

House Rejects Timetable for Iraq Pullout
_{Jun 16 11:28 AM US/Eastern}

(BREITBART) - The House on Friday handily rejected a timetable for pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq, culminating a fiercely partisan debate between Republicans and Democrats feeling the public’s apprehension about war and the onrushing midterm campaign season.

In a 256-153 vote, the GOP-led House approved a nonbinding resolution that praises U.S. troops, labels the Iraq war part of the larger global fight against terrorism and says an “arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment” of troops is not in the national interest.

“Retreat is not an option in Iraq,” declared House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. “Achieving victory is our only option, for the American people and our kids.”

“Stay the course, I don’t think so Mr. President. It’s time to face the facts,” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California answered, as she called for a new direction in the conflict. “The war in Iraq has been a mistake. I say, a grotesque mistake.”

Four months before midterm elections that will decide control of Congress, House Republicans sought to force Republicans and Democrats alike to take a position on the conflict that began with the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in the spring of 2003.

Democrats denounced the debate and vote as a politically motivated charade, and several prominent Democrats joined Pelosi in saying they would vote against the measure because, they said, supporting it would affirm Bush’s “failed policy” in Iraq.

Balking carried a risk for Democrats, particularly when they see an opportunity to win back control of Congress from the GOP. Republicans likely will use Democratic “no” votes to claim that their opponents don’t support U.S. troops.

Republicans and Democrats alike explained the decision, as each side saw it, that voters have to make in November. “The choice for the American people is clear; don’t run in the face of danger, victory will be our exit strategy,” Rep. Mike Conaway, R- Texas, said. Countered Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.: “It’s not a matter of stay the course. It’s a matter of change direction.”

- More on the story here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/16/2006 at 12:42 PM   
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   Thursday - June 15, 2006

Target Acquired And Locked

Get another body bag ready. The next clown in the Al-Qaeda shooting gallery has popped up. The military already has him pegged and the special forces teams are already at work on tracking him down. There will be a lot of sleepless nights for this asshat in the near future ... but that’s alright because he will get all the rest he needs when he joins Al-Zarkwad and their 72 raisins. My best advice to this thug is this: when you see the red dot on your wall ... it’s already too late.

You absolutely have to give it to Al-Qaeda for total insanity, though. First, they try to rally insurgents in Iraq with a Jordanian criminal who massacred more Iraqi Shiites than Americans and now they’re importing an Egyptian criminal. Most Iraqis have a long enough memory to remember the 1950’s when Egyptian President Nasser sent terrorists into Iraq to destabilize the country and destroy the government because Iraq refused to join Nasser’s short-lived United Arab Republic. This should be interesting ...

U.S. Identifies al-Zarqawi’s Successor
_{June 15, 2006, 10:53 AM EDT}

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)—The U.S. military said Thursday the man claiming to be the new al-Qaida in Iraq leader is Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian with ties to Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said al-Masri apparently is the same person that al-Qaida in Iraq identified in a Web posting last week as its new leader—Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, a nom de guerre.

Al-Muhajer claimed to have succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a June 7 U.S. airstrike, and vowed to avenge him in threatening Web statements in recent days.

The military showed a picture of al-Masri wearing a traditional white Arab headdress at a Baghdad news conference. The Afghanistan-trained explosives expert is a key figure in the al-Qaida in Iraq network with responsibility for facilitating the movement of foreign fighters from Syria into Baghdad, Caldwell said.

He has been a terrorist since 1982, “beginning with his involvement in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which was led by al-Zawahri,” Caldwell said. The spokesman added that raids in April and May in southern Baghdad recovered material confirming his high-level involvement in the facilitation of foreign fighters.

“Al-Masri’s intimate knowledge of al-Qaida in Iraq and his close relationship with (al-Zarqawi’s) operations will undoubtedly help facilitate and enable them to regain some momentum if, in fact, he is the one that assumes the leadership role,” Caldwell said.

He said, however, that al-Masri’s ability to exert leadership over al-Qaida cells remained unclear and there were other “al-Qaida senior leadership members and Sunni terrorists” who might try to take over the operations.

Caldwell singled out Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, who in the past had been identified as al-Qaida in Iraq’s deputy leader in statements by the group, and Abdullah bin Rashid al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Mujahedeen Shura Council—five allied groups in the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency.

Post-al-Zarqawi Raids Kill 104 Insurgents

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)—American and Iraqi forces have carried out 452 raids since last week’s killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and 104 insurgents were killed during those actions, the U.S. military said Thursday.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the raids were carried out nationwide and led to the discovery of 28 significant arms caches. He said 255 of the raids were joint operations, while 143 were carried out by Iraqi forces alone. The raids also resulted in the captures of 759 “anti-Iraqi elements.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/15/2006 at 11:47 AM   
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   Sunday - June 11, 2006

Haditha: The Other Side Of The Story

Hmmmmm. It seems there are two sides to every story after all. Now the Marines of Kilo Company are telling their side of events and it doesn’t quite match with what has been reported elsewhere. So far, the only side of the story we’ve heard is from the Iraqis and TIME magazine - who say the Marines murdered the civilans in cold blood as an act of “vengeqance”.

Contrary to that, the Marines are saying they followed the rules of engagement in pursuit of insurgents who ran into the houses. Another interesting point is that the chain of command was indeed notified immediately - instead of being “covered up” as TIME magazine implied recently.

Who do we believe: a bunch of scared Iraqis who are being intimidated by insurgents and the media who would love nothing better than to dishonor the troops -or- do we believe the men of the US Marine Corps?

Say what you will, my money’s on the grunts - who understand what duty and honor really mean ... something the Iraqis and the media haven’t quite figured out yet ...

Marine Says Rules Were Followed
Sergeant Describes Hunt for Insurgents in Haditha, Denies Coverup
_{Sunday, June 11, 2006}

(WASHINGTON POST) - “It will forever be his position that everything they did that day was following their rules of engagement and to protect the lives of Marines,” said Neal A. Puckett, who represents Wuterich in the ongoing investigations into the incident. “He’s really upset that people believe that he and his Marines are even capable of intentionally killing innocent civilians.”

Wuterich’s detailed version of what happened in the Haditha neighborhood is the first public account from a Marine who was on the ground when the shootings occurred. As the leader of 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Wuterich was in the convoy of Humvees that was hit by a roadside bomb. He entered the house from which the Marines believed enemy fire was originating and made the initial radio reports to his company headquarters about what was going on, Puckett said.

The reports that Marines wantonly shot unarmed civilians in Haditha, including women and children, allege one of the most shocking, and potentially damaging, incidents of the Iraq war. A criminal investigation looking into possible charges of murder against half a dozen Marines is underway. A separate probe is examining whether Marines tried to cover up the shootings, and whether commanders were negligent in failing to investigate the deaths.

Three Marine officers have been relieved of command. In the absence of a public response from Marine Corps officials—who are declining to comment to preserve the integrity of the investigation—reports of what happened in the western Iraqi town have been leaking out piecemeal from the Haditha neighborhood and in Washington.

Wuterich’s version contradicts that of the Iraqis, who described a massacre of men, women and children after a bomb killed a Marine. Haditha residents have said that innocent civilians were executed, that some begged for their lives before being shot and that children were killed indiscriminately. Wuterich told his attorney in initial interviews over nearly 12 hours last week that the shootings were the unfortunate result of a methodical sweep for enemies in a firefight. Two attorneys for other Marines involved in the incident said Wuterich’s account is consistent with those they had heard from their clients.

Kevin B. McDermott, who is representing Capt. Lucas M. McConnell, the Kilo Company commander, said Wuterich and other Marines informed McConnell on the day of the incident that at least 15 civilians were killed by “a mixture of small-arms fire and shrapnel as a result of grenades” after the Marines responded to an attack from a house.

McConnell was relieved of his command in April for “failure to investigate,” according to McDermott. But the lawyer said McConnell told him that he reported the high number of civilian deaths to the 3rd Battalion executive officer that afternoon and that within a few days the battalion’s intelligence chief gave a PowerPoint presentation to Marine commanders.

“It wasn’t a situation that dawned on him as the captain of Kilo where it was like, ‘Okay, guys, we need to conduct a more thorough investigation,’ “ McDermott said. “Everywhere up the chain, they had ample access to this thing.”

- Read the rest (and there’s much more) at the WAPO ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/11/2006 at 10:19 AM   
Filed Under: • Iraq • Military •  
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   Saturday - June 10, 2006

Saturday Silliness

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/10/2006 at 10:36 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor • Iraq •  
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   Friday - June 09, 2006

The News You Missed

The mainstream media loves to publish figures each day of how many Iraqis died in suicide bombings and other acts of terror. Today, they seem to have overlooked their duty to report the daily body count so we will provide it for you ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/09/2006 at 03:42 PM   
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Zarqawi Update

It appears that Asshat Zarqawi survived the bomb attack but later died of his wounds. Good. That means the bastard crawled out of the rubble, with burst eardrums, concussion, multiple wounds bleeding profusely and had plenty of time to suffer before Iraqi troops found him. It is good ...

Zarqawi Was Alive After Bombing: US General
_{June 9, 2006 8:31AM ET}

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was alive and made a move to escape when U.S. troops reached the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, mortally wounded in an American bombing raid, a U.S. general said on Friday.

The attack that killed Zarqawi and his spiritual adviser, Sheik Abdul-Rahman, yielded valuable information for several subsequent raids in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, told Fox News.

“We were not aware yesterday that in fact, Zarqawi was alive when U.S. forces arrived on the site,” Caldwell said. Iraqi police first reached the bombed safe house in a village north of Baghdad and put Zarqawi on a stretcher, Caldwell said. U.S. ground forces then arrived and identified Zarqawi, who died shortly afterward.

“He was conscious initially, according to the U.S. forces that physically saw him. He obviously had some kind of visual recognition of who they were because he attempted to roll off the stretcher, as I am told, and get away, realizing it was U.S. military,” Caldwell said.

Captured Zarqawi Aide Spilled the Beans
_{June 09, 2006 11:08 AM}

(ABC NEWS) - An Iraqi customs agent secretly working with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s terror cell spilled the beans on the group after he was arrested, Jordanian officials tell ABC News. Ziad Khalaf Raja al-Karbouly was arrested by Jordanian intelligence forces last spring. Officials say Karbouly confessed to his role in the terror cell and provided crucial information on the names of Zarqawi commanders and locations of their safe houses.

Karbouly also admitted to his role in the kidnappings of two Moroccan embassy employees, four Iraqi National Guards and an Iraqi finance ministry official. In a videotaped confession, Karbouly said he acted on direct orders from Zarqawi. Officials say he will not be eligible for any of the $25 million reward money.

As Brian Ross reported this morning, the super-secret Task Force 145 does deserve the recognition for Wednesday’s capture. By the time two American jet fighters were called in to drop their 500 pound bombs, General George Casey was certain Zarqawi was in the house, and there was no thought of trying to capture him alive.

“Because the only means that could be applied in a timely fashion was the attack by air power and that was decided by General Casey as the right thing to do,” U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told ABC News. The FBI on-line reward poster, offering a $25 million dollar bounty, today lists Zarqawi as deceased.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/09/2006 at 11:16 AM   
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Hasta La Vista, Baby!

_{“Message From Above”
-by- Cox & Forkum}

- Reuters: “Iraq hails killing of Zarqawi as start of new era”

BAGHDAD, June 9 (Reuters) - The killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a “new beginning” for Iraq, the interior minister said on Friday, but authorities imposed a traffic ban in an apparent effort to prevent al Qaeda reprisal attacks.

The ban in Baghdad and in the town of Baquba, near where U.S. planes killed the most wanted man in Iraq on Wednesday, will last from 11 a.m. (0700 GMT) until 3 p.m., when Iraqis go to mosques for Friday prayers, the Interior Ministry said.

Suicide car bombers launched by Zarqawi have attacked Shi’ite mosques in the past as part of a campaign to plunge Iraq into sectarian civil war. The traffic ban suggested authorities feared more such attacks on Friday.

- Washington Post: “Palestinian Hamas denies statement mourning Zarqawi”

GAZA (Reuters) - The ruling Palestinian faction Hamas on Friday denied issuing a statement mourning the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, but hailed him as a symbol of resistance to occupation. Reuters received a statement on Thursday saying that Hamas mourned Zarqawi, killed in a strike north of Baghdad by U.S. warplanes on Wednesday.

Sami Abu-Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said on Friday that “Hamas did not issue any statement in this regard.” He also said that Hamas “reiterates its supportive position to all liberation movements and foremost the Iraqi liberation movement, for which Zarqawi was one of the symbols in the face of the American occupation.”

- ABC News: “Zarqawi death won’t weaken war, says Mullah Omar”

June 9, 2006 — KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar vowed that the killing in Iraq of al Qaeda militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would not weaken Muslim efforts against “crusader forces,” a Pakistan-based news agency said on Friday.

In one of the most significant developments in Iraq since the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Jordanian-born Zarqawi was killed on Wednesday in a U.S. airstrike on a “safe house” north of Baghdad.

“I give good news to Muslims around the world, the resistance against the crusader forces in Afghanistan and other parts of the Islamic world will not be weakened,” the Afghan Islamic Press cited Omar as saying in a statement.

The news agency did not say how it had obtained the purported statement from the fugitive Omar who, like al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is believed to be hiding out somewhere along the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/09/2006 at 08:25 AM   
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   Wednesday - June 07, 2006

Haditha: PR Geniuses & Media Tools?

I’ve just finished reading TIME magazine’s extensive coverage of the alleged Haditha “massacre”. If you want to get the full text of the article quoted below you’ll have to buy the rag mag. Don’t worry, I read TIME so you won’t have to. Here is my take on the story:

Based on what I’m reading at TIME and other sources, it seems the Marines may have overreacted and innocent civilians may have been killed. There are a lot of caveats in that sentence because the Marines in question have not been brought to trial yet and the Navy Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is still involved in an ongoing investigation. Let’s let justice take its course, OK?

With that said there are several things about the media coverage that bother me tremendously. Take the excerpt below from TIME’s article “How Haditha Came To Light” ....

If the Marines are indeed guilty of an atrocity, they had the ill fortune to have committed their crime in the worst possible place: outside the front door of a budding Iraqi journalist and human-rights activist. Taher Thabet, 43, was at home in Haditha on the morning of Nov. 19 when around 7:15 he heard the detonation of the roadside bomb that struck a Marine humvee, killing the driver, Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas, 20.

The blast shattered Thabet’s windows. He ran outside in time to see Marines from three other humvees springing from their vehicles and heading for four homes on either side of the road. “They went into one house. I heard gunfire, explosions and screams,” he told TIME in an interview in Baghdad last month. “Then they came out and went into another. I could only stand and watch.”

The next morning, Thabet--who last year co-founded a small outfit called the Hammurabi Organization for Human Rights and Democracy Monitoring--went into the houses where the killings had taken place and videotaped what he saw, as well as the wrenching scenes later at the local morgue, where friends and family collected the bodies of the victims. “I didn’t know what I was recording,” he says. “I just felt I had to record everything I could see.”

Thabet shared the VCD with the other members of the Hammurabi group, but for a time, news of the killings did not go further than that. Then, in mid-December, President George W. Bush announced the military’s estimate that 30,000 Iraqi civilians had died since the start of the war. TIME’s Tim McGirk, posted in Baghdad, began to investigate cases in which Iraqi civilians had been killed by U.S. troops. In the course of his reporting, he obtained a copy of Thabet’s VCD.

Now what are the odds that a a “budding Iraqi journalist and human-rights activist” would be living next door to the house where the incident occurred? Even more strange is how this man managed to make his way into the house the next day with a digital video camera, make videos of the “victims” and then managed to get back to his computer and burn the videos onto a Video CD (VCD) that wound up in the hands of TIME, Reuters, AP and every media outlet in the known civilized (and uncivilized) world within a matter of weeks. Is it just me or does anyone else smell a rat here?

Regardless, TIME immediately dispatched its team of “crack” journalists onto the trail of the alleged “bloody massacre” that John Murtha has been screaming about for weeks. Chief among these professional “investigative journalists” was Tim McGirk ...

In the ensuing weeks, McGirk and TIME’s Baghdad staff members interviewed more than a dozen Haditha locals by e-mail (travel between Baghdad and Haditha is exceedingly dangerous for Iraqis, let alone foreign journalists), including the mayor, the morgue doctor and a local lawyer who negotiated a settlement between the Marines and the families under which the military agreed to pay $2,500 compensation apiece for some of the victims--mostly the women and children. Several survivors visited TIME’s Baghdad bureau, including a man in his 20s whose four brothers were killed and an orphaned girl who is now the sole caretaker of her 8-year-old brother. The bureau was also pursuing leads that a 12-year-old girl had survived the attack by playing dead. In interviews, Thabet filled in details about what he witnessed before he began shooting his VCD.

This really raised a red flag for me when I read that McGirk could not travel to Haditha to interview any of the natives in person because “travel between Baghdad and Haditha is exceedingly dangerous for Iraqis, let alone foreign journalists”. Is this cowardly Tim McGirk the same idiot who bravely went to Afghanistan and shared Thanksgiving dinner with the Taliban just weeks after 9/11?

Thanksgiving With the Taliban
_{Saturday, Nov. 24, 2001}

TIME correspondent Tim McGirk shares bread, raisins, and thoughts about the afterlife with some Taliban fighters, and finds some common ground

By TIM MCGIRK

With a few colleagues, I spent my Thanksgiving meal squatting on the floor of an Afghan passport office, talking to Taliban fighters about miracles and Judgement Day.

On the Afghan side of the border near the Pakistani town of Chaman, we had pulled into a Taliban base, a dusty courtyard with two broken-down cars. Earlier in the day, a convoy of journalists were stoned and robbed while leaving Spin Boldak, just up the road.

Some 200 other journalists had already left for Pakistan. We were waiting for four reporters who had been led off into the Rigestan desert by the Taliban to look at some fuel tankers blown up by U.S. commandos. It didn’t seem like a very good idea to leave our friends behind in Afghanistan.

I’m afraid I just don’t get it. There are way too many questionable things about this whole incident. Lest you question TIME’s integrity, take a look at the “Letters To The Editor” in any issue. It reads like something from DailyKOS or Democratic Underground with readers screaming about impeachment, Haliburton, domestic spying, etc. - the whole Leftist Moonbat Brigade in full dress rehearsal.

Even more suspicious is the fact that I can find no reference whatsoever on the web for the “Hammurabi Organization for Human Rights and Democracy Monitoring”. You’d think that an organization that has digital video cameras and computers to burn VCD’s in the middle of the Iraqi desert would at least have a web site, wouldn’t you? Even if it is only a dialup connection?

Far be it from me to question TIME’s impeccable staff of non-partisan journalists (?) but I also object to TIME’s incessant crowing about what a great job they did uncovering this alleged incident. I realize they’re fishing for a Pulitzer Prize but there’s really no need to be so blatant about it. They just need to be patient and let the whole story unfold. Besides, TIME needs to be careful that they don’t suddenly get more evidence faxed to them from a Kinko’s somewhere in Texas - if you know what I mean ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/07/2006 at 04:23 PM   
Filed Under: • Iraq • Media-Bias • Military •  
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   Saturday - April 22, 2006

Can You Hear Me Now?

This story needs no intro and all I have to say is .... BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA ......

Wrong Number: Interpreter Answers Cell Phone,
Dupes Insurgents
_{Saturday, April 22, 2006}

IBRAHIM AL MARKHUR, Iraq — One misplaced cell phone and one savvy interpreter equaled one dead insurgent, several pieces of intelligence and a whole lot of captured weapons. On a routine patrol, U.S. troops with 1st Battalion, 68th Armor came upon a house in the midst of dense greenery and at the end of a dusty country road.

Staff Sgt. Matthew Nicodemus, 33, said he immediately noticed that no Iraqi men were around. Suddenly, a cell phone inside the home rang, said Nicodemus, of Altoona, Pa. “The interpreter went in and answered the phone, and on the other end of the phone the person said, in Arabic, ‘Hey, coalition forces are here, go ahead and run away,’ and he specifically said, ‘Go and run into the palm groves all around here,’ ” Nicodemus said.

The troops then fanned out into the palm groves and found several weapons including several rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades, two AK-47s and a new sniper’s rifle, Nicodemus said. They also found a hand-written map of a U.S. military base, diagrams on how to build rockets and a CD-ROM with several thousand files written in Arabic, said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Greer, 35, of San Luis Obispo, Calif.

If that weren’t enough, the insurgent kept calling the interpreter back to ask what the Americans were doing. The interpreter kept the act going. “He’s basically acting like, you know, he’s watching us ... making sure everything is fine,” Nicodemus said.

- Read The Rest Of This Hilarious Incident at Stars & Stripes

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/22/2006 at 01:34 AM   
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   Thursday - March 23, 2006

Terrorizing Iraqi Children

Children jump on two new spring toys before their installation August 19 at the orphanage in Kirkuk. Sgt. Doyle constructed these from old HMMWV parts during his spare time and other unit soldiers painted them.  All the playground equipment in the photos were constructed by members of the Task Force 2-116 Armor. (Photo submitted by Task Force 2-116 Armor)

“And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the – of – the historical customs, religious customs”—John Kerry on “Face The Nation”, December 2005

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/23/2006 at 06:44 PM   
Filed Under: • Iraq •  
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Embedded At Trenton

_{Michael Ramirez—The Los Angeles Times}

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/23/2006 at 02:17 AM   
Filed Under: • Iraq • Media-Bias •  
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   Saturday - March 18, 2006

Third Anniversary

Three years ago today the US, the UN and a coalition of countries decided that enough was enough and that Saddam Hussein had to go. The war in Iraq began, Saddam’s forces were over-run almost overnight and he was later captured. His two evil offspring were killed in a bloody gunfight.

Insurgents from outside Iraq have been pouring into that benighted country since then trying to destabilize everything. In spite of the constant terrorist attacks from these outsiders, the Iraqi people have managed to agree on a consitution and elect a democratic government. The Iraqi security forces are taking over more and more of the burden of stopping the insurgents every day.

This thread is open today for everyone to complain about the war or to praise the coalition for sticking it out and helping the Iraqi people free themselves from nearly fifty years of oppression by one dictator after another. Let’s see how long it takes before the words “WMD” and “quagmire” come up ....

Global Protests Mark Iraq War Anniversary
_{March 18, 2006 10:15 EST}

Anti-war protesters marched in Australia, Asia, Turkey and Europe on Saturday in demonstrations that marked the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq with a demand that coalition troops pull out. Around 500 protesters marched through central Sydney, chanting “End the war now” and “Troops out of Iraq.” Many campaigners waved placards branding President Bush the “World’s No. 1 Terrorist” or expressing concerns that Iran could be the next country to face invasion.

“Iraq is a quagmire and has been a humanitarian disaster for the Iraqis,” said Jean Parker, a member of the Australian branch of the Stop the War Coalition, which organized the march. “There is no way forward without ending the occupation.” Opposition to the war is still evident in Australia, which has some 1,300 troops in and around Iraq. Visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was heckled by campaigners in Sydney this week, who said she had “blood on her hands.”

But Saturday’s protest was small compared to the mass demonstrations that swept across the country in the buildup to the invasion — the largest Australia had seen since joining U.S. forces in the Vietnam War. The turnout also was lower than protesters had hoped in Britain, whose government has been the United States’ strongest supporter in the war. Authorities shut down streets in the heart of London’s shopping and theater district for the demonstration, which organizers had predicted would attract up to 100,000 people, but police estimated the crowd was about 15,000 people.

Some protesters carried posters calling Bush a terrorist and other placards pictured Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying “Blair must go!” Britain has about 8,000 soldiers in Iraq but plans to pull out 800 by May. “We are against this war, both for religious reasons and on a humanitarian basis, too. No one deserves to be bombarded,” said one march, student Imran Saghir, 25. In Tokyo, about 2,000 people rallied in a downtown park, carrying signs saying “Stop the Occupation” as they listened to a series of anti-war speeches.

“The war is illegal under international law,” said Takeshiko Tsukushi, a member of World Peace Now, which helped plan the rally. “We want the immediate withdrawal of the Self Defense Forces and from Iraq along with all foreign troops.” Japanese Prime Minister Junchiro Koizumi is a staunch supporter of the U.S.-led coalition in Japan and dispatched 600 soldiers to the southern city of Samawah in 2004 to purify water and carry out other humanitarian tasks. The Cabinet approved an extension of that mission in December, authorizing the troops to stay in Iraq through the end of the year.

- More on this anniversary party from Associated Press...

- And here’s the report from London by the BBC...

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/18/2006 at 10:19 AM   
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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