Unrealistic Expectations Of Our Troops In Combat
By The Media
Evidence accumulates of a hoax in Haditha. Read the full story at AmericanThinker.com.
Here are two pictures that were awarded first and second place at the picture of the year international this year. Very very touching photos.
First Place
Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News
When 2nd Lt. James Cathey's body arrived at the Reno Airport, Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac. During the arrival of another Marine's casket last year at Denver International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the scene as one of the most powerful in the process: "See the people in the windows? They'll sit right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what's going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought him home," he said. "They're going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They're going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should."
Second Place
Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News
The night before the burial of her husband's body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of 'Cat,' and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. "I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it," she said. "I think that's what he would have done..........
March 30, 2006
[Editor’s note: our contributor LTC Joseph Myers forwards this report from Iraq with the following introduction:I received this ‘update’ from a friend, written by a great American and Infantry officer, it represents his view of things in Iraq…a personal foxhole snapshot from someone “over there” for ten months. This is not an official report of the Army or the MNF-I, but I thought you might want to post it; it’s a very telling and inspiring story. But just between you and me and the reading audience, the American media is failing the American people—and terribly so. Is it just an accident or partisanship? I suspect books will be written on the coverage of this war as much as its conduct.
Meanwhile the American Army and the rest of our armed forces in this fight is the only thing standing between us and tyranny. One day the American people might understand this, no thanks to the American media of course.]
This was attached to the email that I received from a viewer, the publication the Editor works for is unknown....Webmaster
Hello All,
Sorry it has been five months since my last update, but then, we have been busy. Let me give you the bottom-line up front (BLUF), and then catch you up on things. Feel free to forward this to whomever, since we still can’t seem to get the press to tell folks what is going on. This is how the fight is going from my foxhole, and it is much more than the bombings, US casualties, and rumors of civil war the press seems to be focused on.
BLUF: We are not, and have not been, on the verge of civil war. We have had an increase in killings by militia groups in the past five weeks, and that is not helping get the new government seated, but we (the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Coalition Forces) are far from losing control.
As you probably noted, Al Qaida and the other insurgent groups were not able to mount a Tet like offensive this past fall. Iraqi and US operations prevented them from organizing major attacks, and the ISF did a superb job of securing the polling sites. Iraq ratified a constitution and conducted a credible election. Although the Iraqis face some significant challenges forming the new government, the basics of democracy are present and taking root.
Saddam’s trial is making progress, albeit painfully slowly. The new judge is ensuring the defendants receive due process and a fair trial, while eliminating their ability to turn the trial into a political circus. Saddam’s and the others’ security continue to be one of my personal headaches, so I am a big fan of keeping the trial moving.
2006 is the Year of the Police, which means our focus is to get the Iraqi police forces trained and operational. We continue to work to rebuild the Iraqi Army, which assumes responsibility for more battle space each week. It is the ability of the Iraqi Army to take the fight to the enemy that allowed us to turn off two US replacement brigades at the end of 2005. The Iraqi Army is having successes and failures, but is steadily improving. Recently they have conducted a number of truly outstanding operations, both in conjunction with us and on their own. The police are not as far along, hence our focus on them in 2006. What you don’t see in the media is the tremendous courage of most of the Soldiers, Policemen, and Judges who take significant risk each day to bring stability to their country. I lost an Iraqi friend last week who was the leader of the security of the prison where we send our convicted terrorists to serve their sentences. Another equally brave corrections officer stepped up immediately to take his place.
The fight against Al Qaida is going well. They have chosen to make Iraq the battleground against the US, and this has enabled us to kill or capture significant numbers of their senior leadership, and put a dent in their funding. They believe they can prevail by killing US Soldiers, and waiting for the US public to tire of the war and casualties, and bring us home. As I talk to Soldiers around Iraq, they overwhelmingly believe in what they are doing and why they are doing it. They know they are winning, and are frustrated by what they see and hear in the news about America questioning why we are here. In my opinion, it is much better to fight these terrorists in Iraq vice in the US.
Our counterinsurgency strategy continues to focus on: offensive operations to kill or capture insurgents; train and reinforce the Iraqi Army and police forces to conduct the counterinsurgency; establish a strong democratic Iraqi government; and rebuild the infrastructure and economy. The interagency process is working fairly well in Baghdad (Washington could take a lesson), with most of my contacts being with the Departments of State and Justice.
One of our two largest challenges is to get the Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds to work together. No one party/sect has a majority in the newly elected Council of Representatives, so learning to compromise and put together alliances in the government will be key to success.
Who is selected to head the Ministries of Defense and Interior (police) is also key; we really need individuals who are secular, and are clearly not tied to any of the various militia groups. The militias are the other major challenge to success here. We will have to disarm them, weed them out of the government, and neutralize their ability to terrorize the citizens of Iraq. This will be at least as challenging as getting the major sects to work together, but not impossible.
On top of these two challenges, we have the Iranian influence to combat. Our neighbors to the east are intent on destroying this attempt at democracy, and infiltrate and support terrorists at every opportunity. The Judiciary continues to be a success story, and it remains strongly independent and resistant to executive branch influence. As a side note, we got our first death sentence in a Coalition case this week; one of the Al Qaida terrorists who participated in the beheading of Nick Berg.
I could not have been prouder than to spend my final Thanksgiving and Christmas in uniform with the outstanding young Americans who are serving here as Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines. Thanksgiving morning dawned clear and crisp at 45 degrees with a 20 knot wind. Although it was warm by Minnesota and Korea standards, it was chilly for the desert as we donned our body armor and loaded our HMMWVs for the convoy to Abu Ghraib.
Had a great dinner in the mess hall there with the Soldiers, and spent the afternoon checking fighting positions and guard towers. That evening I spent some talking with the joint service members of our intelligence unit, a section of which is dedicated to finding our one MIA, SGT Keith Maupin. They are out on missions each week, intent on bringing him home.
Troop morale continues to remain high. The Soldiers can see the difference they are making, whether killing bad guys, training the Iraqi forces, or improving the living conditions for Iraqis. They can no longer give beanie babies to the kids, because Al Qaida has taken to placing explosives in them, giving them to kids, blowing their arms off or killing them, and blaming the Americans.
This is a tough fight, and we are once again up against an enemy who has no moral compass. Our kids continue to excel at every mission, and are undaunted in their task. If anyone has any doubts about this generation, they can erase them. 2006 will be a decisive year. We have the opportunity to do a battle handoff to the Iraqis for the lead in the counterinsurgency fight, and begin to reduce our combat presence. Concurrently, we must continue to coach and mentor the Iraqi Government as it continues its journey toward democracy. We will need to be here for awhile, but my assessment is that this is the make or break year.
I’m betting on our Soldiers and the Iraqi people.
Colonel William Ivey, Infantry
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
A Soldier Challenges The Hollywood Left
By Capt. Paul Carron
I was fascinated to watch the exchange between actor Richard Belzer and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ("Into the lion's den," Inside Politics, March 26, 2006). I have completed four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. I participated in the initial invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and parachuted into Iraq three years ago this month. Most recently, I had the privilege of leading an infantry company in Mosul, Iraq. I use this as context, not authority, because, according to Mr. Belzer, participating in a conflict indicates a lack of understanding.
When I was younger, my father made me read a book by James Michener, "The Bridges at Toko-Ri." When I finished, I told him the book was about naval aviators during the Korean War. He looked at me a little disappointed and told me I had missed the point. The book to him was not about pilots or the Korean War — it was about the bravery of men. At the end of the book, the captain of an aircraft carrier is watching his men suit up for yet another mission when he asks himself out loud, "Where do we get such men?
Why is America lucky enough to have such men?" Today, while actors and talk-show hosts see fit to broadly characterize the men and women of the armed forces as "19- and 20-year-old kids who couldn't get a job," we should be asking the same question.
I wish Bill Maher, Richard Belzer and the young adults of my generation who comment from campuses and talk shows all over the country and mistake knowledge for understanding could see what's really happening over there. I welcome their right to disagree, but I wish they would educate themselves well enough to disagree intelligently.
They should see a 22-year-old spend two hours sitting on a hard concrete floor negotiating an electricity contract or generator plan only to hit an improvised explosive device emplaced by the very people he seeks to help; a 19-year-old female medic advise a 19-year-old Iraqi mother on how to treat her child's ear infection; or men still dazed from a bomb blast that killed a friend and wounded seven others return from a mission and roll up their sleeves to give blood for the wounded, then clean the blood out of their vehicle to do a night patrol.
They do it without ceremony or formality; they do it because it is their job and they are driven by sense of purpose few in other professions can understand.
"Where do we get such men?" From all over — not just America, but from many other countries, but I know for sure the dedication required to do what they do every day is equal to the demands of any "real job."
Capt. Paul Carron, U.S. Army, Fort Lewis, Wash.
This may be the most outrageously gorgeous truck ever painted. Hands need to clap for those creators.
There is a huge rock near a gravel pit on Hwy 25 in rural Iowa . For generations, kids have painted slogans, names, and obscenities on this rock, changing it's character many times. A few months back, the rock received it's latest paint job, and since then it has been left completely undisturbed. It's quite an impressive sight.
I hope John Murtha sees this tired soldiers remarks. . . . WebMaster
Two weeks ago, as I was starting my sixth month of duty in Iraq, I was forced to return to the USA for surgery for an injury I sustained prior to my deployment. With luck, I'll return to Iraq in January to finish my tour. I left Baghdad and a war that has every indication that we are winning, to return to a demoralized country much like the one I returned to in 1971 after my tour in Vietnam. Maybe it's because I'll turn 60 years old in just four months, but I'm tired:
I'm tired of spineless politicians, both Democrat and Republican who lack the courage, fortitude, and character to see these difficult tasks through.
I'm tired of the hypocrisy of politicians who want to rewrite history when the going gets tough.
I'm tired of the disingenuous clamor from those that claim they 'Support the Troops' by wanting them to 'Cut and Run' before victory is achieved.
I'm tired of a mainstream media that can only focus on car bombs and casualty reports because they are too afraid to leave the safety of their hotels to report on the courage and success our brave men and women are having on the battlefield.
I'm tired that so many American's think you can rebuild a dictatorship into a democracy over night.
I'm tired that so many ignore the bravery of the Iraqi people to go to the voting booth and freely elect a Constitution and soon a permanent Parliament.
I'm tired of the so called 'Elite Left' that prolongs this war by giving aid and comfort to our enemy, just as they did during the Vietnam War.
I'm tired of anti-war protesters showing up at the funerals of our fallen soldiers. A family who's loved ones gave their life in a just and noble cause, only to be cruelly tormented on the funeral day by cowardly protesters is beyond shameful.
I'm tired that my generation, the Baby Boom - Vietnam generation, who have such a weak backbone that they can't stomach seeing the difficult tasks through to victory.
I'm tired that some are more concerned about the treatment of captives than they are the slaughter and beheading of our citizens and allies.
I'm tired that when we find mass graves it is seldom reported by the press, but mistreat a prisoner and it is front page news.
Mostly, I'm tired that the people of this great nation didn't learn from history that there is no substitute for Victory.
Sincerely,
Joe Repya
Lieutenant Colonel
U. S. Army
101st Airborne Division
Insult
To Our Nation's Warriors!
Washington Post Political
Cartoon By Tom Toles
This drew the attention and ire of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Note that ALL signed. Most likely SECDEF Rumsfeld wishes he could have. As I wish I could have.
I encourage anyone who reads or subscribes to this rag of a newspaper boycott it. This cartoon is one of the most distasteful and insulting cartoons I have ever seen. My original thoughts were not to show this despicable cartoon on this web site, but it is such an insult that I think it needs wide dissemination to show everyone what the left-wingers really think of the troops. . . . WebMaster
Russ Vaughn adds his reply, to the Washington Post and Mr. Toles, in this poem.
WaPo Weasels
Wanna draw a soldier, Toles? Here I am,
Back with all four limbs from Vietnam.
You wanna draw pictures of fighting men?
Just tell me where and tell me when.
I’ll give you a pose to impress any viewer,
Your punk arty ass comatose in the sewer.
Like all of your kind you don’t have a clue
Who fightin’ men are and what fightin’ men do.That you, your kind, you effete panty waists,
With Hollywood morals, metrosexual tastes,
Would taunt a brave warrior’s fight for life,
Mock his loss, his pain, deride his strife;
And use his sorrow to support your screed,
With no concern for the warrior’s need,
Tells me you are clueless of the facts of war,
You’re a cut ‘n run, spineless, media whore.Go to Walter Reed hospital, smug Mr. Toles,
To see those you’ve mocked, grave injured souls
View wounded warriors with bodies so broken
And think again of the message you’ve spoken,
So abysmally ignorant, so smug condescending
That even most liberals won’t waste time defending.
So Toles it’s a fact that your most famous work
Will proclaim you forever as a pitiless jerk.And Washington Post you’re as bad as this weasel
You gave him the forum, provided his easel.Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66
A
Vet Tells Off Rep's Murtha and Moran
By Michelle
Malkin
January 07, 2006
Sgt. Mark Seavey was outnumbered, but not alone at the moonbat townhall hosted by Reps. Jim Moran and John Murtha last week. Near the end of the marathon session, a Vietnam veteran, General Wagner, stepped up to the microphone to deliver a message from the mother of an Iraqi war vet who gave his life for his country and for the mission. After reading a scathing letter addressed to Murtha, Wagner talked about his own experience in Vietnam:
A snippet of Wagner's remarks:
I visit Walter Reed [Army Hospital] and talk to the young soldiers with their legs blown off. I know you do, too. I can't find one in a dozen that don't believe that they are fighting for a noble cause and are fighting to go back. And I think it's a disgrace when members of our Congress -- just as they did in 1975 when they sold out the south Vietnamese -- are selling out our soldiers today in Iraq!
When Rep. Moran answers by delivering Cindy Sheehan-esque platitudes to the wild applause of the left-wing audience, Wagner does the only thing a decent man would do: He stands up and walks out.
General Wagner, wherever you are, thank you and God bless you.
Rep.
Murtha Now Working With Code Pink
to Undermine Morale of Wounded
at Walter Reed
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) met with leaders of the anti-American group Code Pink last week at the anti-Operation Iraqi Freedom meeting in Arlington, Virginia hosted by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.)
Code Pink posted pictures of the meeting along with a statement indicating they will be working with Rep. Murtha to deliver "kindness and support to the wounded soldiers" at Walter Reed.
Code Pink has given $650,000 to the terrorists in Fallujah, participated in war crimes tribunals against America and has called American soldiers "killers" on their website among many treasonous actions.
Text of Code Pink's statement on meeting Rep. Murtha:
Thank You Congressman Murtha! CODEPINK co-founder Gael Murphy and DC coordinator Allison Yorra met with Congressman Murtha to thank him for his courageous stand on Iraq. We presented him with our pink badge of courage and pink flowers sent by CODEPINK members nationwide. Rep Murtha was very appreciative of these gestures and requested that we ask legislators to support H.J Res 73 (Murtha's resolution). He also requested that we use additional donations for the wounded at Walter Reed. DC CODEPINK along with other peace groups involved in the weekly vigil at Walter Reed recently delivered baskets of goodies to the wounded at Walter Reed. Together, with Murtha's office, we will be continuing this outpouring of kindness and support to the wounded soldiers from CODEPINK.
The ANTI-MILITARY ANTI-WAR group Code Pink and their associates disguise themselves at Walter Reed Hospital. Here is their Real Nature and some of their banners:
For more information about the dastardly acts of Code Pink at Walter Reed Hospital, see the following links:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1536961/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1552161/posts
Where Did Code Pink Evolve From?
Code Pinko
By Jean Pearce
FrontPageMagazine.com, March 26, 2003Like any other group, Communists come in a lot of shapes, sizes and colors. This time they’re wearing pink, they’re on the nightly news, and more than anything, they want the mothers and grandmothers of America to identify with them.
If you didn’t know any better, you’d think the leaders of the women’s anti-war group Code Pink got lost on their way to the carpool line. Since October, these hot pink-clad "marching moms" have been spinning the same tale to reporters from coast to coast, the one about how concern for their families moved them to trade their oven mitts for placards and take to the streets in protest of an unjust war on Iraq.
They’ve played the part so convincingly that over the last six months, they’ve become the media darlings of war protest movement, raking in the television talk show invites and making national news when they were arrested in front of the White House. But the untold story is what they were doing before October.
Unless you travel in Marxist circles or work for the FBI or CIA, the names of the Code Pink moms may not ring a bell with you, though you’ve probably been reading news reports about their collective exploits for years. In the wake of their war against capitalism and self-determination, they’ve left a trail of anarchy and destruction that has cost property owners, corporations and consumers millions of dollars.
Naturally, they’ve toned their Marxist rhetoric down for their stint with Code Pink. Though they’ve taken great pains to differentiate themselves from the other, more radical anti-war protesters, they are one and the same. The leaders of Code Pink didn’t merely take part in the Washington and San Francisco protests that made international headlines – they also organized them. In the process, they’ve provided a rare public glimpse of the faces behind the modern, highly organized American Marxist movement. Needless to say, these women have little in common with the carpool moms of America.
At the center of Code Pink is legendary leftist organizer Medea Benjamin, the 50-year-old mother of two widely credited as a chief organizing force behind the 1999 Seattle riots in which 50,000 protesters did millions of dollars worth of property damage in their effort to shut down meetings of the World Trade Organization. In addition to Code Pink, Benjamin’s San Francisco-based human rights organization Global Exchange was the founding force for United for Peace and Justice coalition, the nexus of the anti-war protests.
The United for Peace coalition, which includes Socialist Action and the Socialist Party USA, is also led by Leslie Cagan, who has a long history of activism with the American Communist Party. If you want to know what anti-war activities United for Peace and its more radical partner, Act Now To Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) have planned for the near future or contact information for how you can join in, you can click on the Communist World Workers Party website, one of the central grassroots clearing houses for communist organizers in the United States and around the world.
The mindset of Benjamin and her friends can best be summed up by her description in the San Francisco Chronicle of how she felt on her first pilgrimage to Cuba in the early 1980s. Compared to life in the United States, the communist social equality of Cuba "made it seem like I died and went to heaven," Benjamin enthused. Now it appears that Benjamin is trying to recreate it here.
The ties that continue to bind Benjamin, Cagan and the others behind Code Pink and today’s anti-war movement were formed in the early-to-mid 1980s when the still young Marxist-American activists found the cause that first unified them: a communist government in Nicaragua. Using the same sort of incestuous, sprawling coalitions they created to oppose the war in Iraq and the invasion of Afghanistan after Sept. 11, they helped aid the Marxist Sandinista regime in its struggle against the American-backed Contras for control of the Nicaraguan government.
Benjamin worked as a project coordinator for Institute for Food and Development Policy (IFDP), which was widely credited with aiding the Marxist Sandinista regime while Cagan, coordinator of the National Mobilization for Justice and Peace in Central America, led marches against US aid to the contras at home that at times attracted upwards of 75,000 people.
When Sand Brim, the widely interviewed voice of Code Pink, insisted to the reporters who interviewed her in January that she was not an activist, just a businesswoman with reservations about war, her 1985 stint in Nicaragua must have slipped her mind. As the executive director of Medical Aid, Brim flew an American neurosurgeon to San Salvador to operate on Marxist Revolutionary Party Commander Nidia Diaz’s hand, which had been injured in combat. That Diaz’s group had claimed responsibility for the murders of four U.S. Marines and nine civilians two months before was apparently not an issue for Brim. Nor were such ironies a problem for Kirsten Moller, the current executive director of Global Exchange and Code Pink organizer who, like Benjamin, also worked for IFDP in the 80s.
In the 1990s, Benjamin and other Code Pink Marxists focused their energies on organizing sometimes-violent protests against free trade across the globe, targeting large corporations with high-profile campaigns and lawsuits that cost consumers and companies like Gap, Nike and Starbucks millions of dollars. As with the anti-war protests of the moment, the Marxist World Worker’s Party website has played a crucial organizing role in their anti-corporate activities, letting would-be agitators know when and where to show up for demonstrations.
Meanwhile, other Code Pink organizers were making a name for themselves in domestic and eco-terrorism in the 1990s. Code Pink Co-Founder Jodie Evans also sits on the board of directors of Rain Forest Action Network (RAN), a radical anti-capitalist, anti-corporate coalition of environmental groups co-founded by Mike Roselle, who also founded the domestic terrorist organization Earth Liberation Front (ELF), which along with the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is ranked the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat by the FBI. The FBI attributes over 600 criminal acts and $43 million in damages to the two groups since 1996. Wherever RAN pops up, you’ll also tend to find the Ruckus Society, which has trained activists for ELF/ALF. Ruckus Society organizer Steve Kretzmann, also a Code Pink coordinator, has helped train activists in the agitation tactics that have earned the Ruckus Society its reputation. The Ruckus Society, it’s also worth mentioning, is a coalition member of Benjamin’s United for Peace and Justice.
Code Pink may be communism central for the moment, but if the past is any indication, the group will be left to die on the vine as soon as public attention shifts away from the war in Iraq. Like the other wedge issues these activists are so skilled at creating and taking advantage of, the Iraqi conflict is little more than an opportunity to ingratiate themselves with the American public and swell their volunteer rosters while energizing and solidifying the organization they’d been building since the Seattle riots.
While it may seem chaotic with its mass of groups with varied interests, "the movement" as the organizers like to call it, is built around a simple theme: that America and the rest of the world is increasingly controlled by corporate powers that threaten democratic rights. Its goals, as laid out by Benjamin and others in a variety of newspapers over the years, are clear-cut.
They want to redistribute wealth from the top tiers of society to the poorest Americans by raising minimum wages, choking off trade, pushing up inflation, limiting corporate growth and dragging down the stock market, cutting into the profits of the country’s largest corporations or shutting them down completely and prompting white collar layoffs.
As Benjamin explained to The Sunday Oregonian in 2000, these changes would be made slowly, perhaps over 20 years or more. Though she admits that the above would cause an economic shakedown or even a stock-market crash, she insists the changes would lead to a "healthier, more stable economy."
"Seattle was this kind of battle cry," Benjamin told the San Jose Mercury News in 2000. "We now know we can mobilize hundreds of thousands of people."
But to the dismay of the movement’s organizers, September 11 crushed some of that momentum. Ironically enough, September 11 was the day they’d planned to announce their biggest demonstration yet, which was slated to draw well over 100,000 protesters to Washington from around the world in late September. It was instead replaced with a small peace demonstration.
The Code Pink ladies have been biding their time ever since, reaching out to middle America, building their contact lists and dreaming of the Marxist America that might one day be.
Letter From An American Soldier
From GrassFire.net via the 545TH MP AssociationRead full CNSNews.com article w/ video:
Soldier's Outrage at Anti-War Protests at Army HospitallI am a reservist out of Dallas, Texas, who is currently deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. I also was deployed to Iraq for one year in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I was part of the initial invasion into Iraq. During my first deployment to Iraq, my MP unit was called up. I volunteered for this deployment because I felt I had more to give my country and felt it was the right thing to do. I would like to comment on the article you wrote in reference to the Code Pink group at Walter Reed Medical Center. I first saw your article on the Sean Hannity website and then listened to Marc Morano’s interview with Mr. Hannity via-pod cast from here in Afghanistan. (‘Anti-War Protests Target Wounded at Army Hospital,’ August 25)
When I read the article I was assuming that the group was just close to the Medical Center. But when I listened to your interview with Mr. Hannity and your confrontation of the Code Pink lady, it became a lot clearer. I was taken aback by her and her group’s arrogance to what they are really doing there and who they are actually hurting. To carry the signs, heckle the troops and to have mock caskets with an American flag over them is beyond protest. It is downright harassment of my brothers and sisters of the United States military who have been injured.
By the end of the interview I was shaking and was even in tears for my fellow brave soldiers who not only have to endure the loss of a limb(s), loss of sight, or even worse – the loss of a battle buddy (fellow soldier serving with your team). I know the guilt that soldiers feel when they are not taken or injured but someone else is. I feel guilt now that I made it through Iraq and now half way through my tour in Afghanistan and yet I am fine. Over 2,000 of my fellow soldiers have not made it. I can only imagine what my fellow injured soldiers are feeling as they look out that window and see the Code Pink group. I then went from thinking of my fellow soldiers to thinking about my family and what they would have to go through if I were injured and the emotional stress and guilt they would feel that they were unable to protect their 34-year-old son, even though I made a decision to protect my family and country.
Even though I disagree with what all of these groups such as Code Pink, Moveon.org and anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan stand for, my fellow soldiers and I have fought, died, been injured and are still fighting for their right to protest and speak their mind. But what angers and hurts me as a soldier is that they parade their anti-war views in the face of my brothers and sisters who are recovering from the same battlefield that I fought on and am still fighting on as I type this e-mail. Is there no honor or dignity left in the anti-war movement? Do they have no shame? Do they have no integrity? Do they have no heart? Do they have no soul? I can answer that with a simple no! How can they say they support the troops but protest where they try to recover from war? You interviewed one gentleman, and I use that term loosely, who stated ‘If I was injured I would want someone to speak for me like this.’ Well let me tell him something, we do not want you to speak for us and we do not need you to speak for us! …
In closing, I would like to thank you for bringing their conduct to the public eye, not only in your article, but on ‘The Sean Hannity Show.’ I actually began to have some faith in the media again when I heard Morano stand up for us soldiers like he did. I wish there was something that I could do to personally thank him for your actions. But I am going to ask that you please do not stop speaking of these actions at Walter Reed. Please find a way to help stop the protesting at Walter Reed. Please write more articles, ask why they were granted permission, get public officials to speak out on the record and petition people to withdraw their right to protest within a certain distance from a military hospital. It scares me that next will be a fellow soldier's funeral. That is the next step! Please, I ask that you continue to investigate this protest and their rights to be there! Not to stop people’s freedom of speech, but protect and respect my fellow soldiers.”
Sgt. Mark Leach, U.S. Army
Afghanistan
Murtha The Turncoat
By Kieran Michael LalorLAST spring, I dropped by an anti-war rally in White Plains. When I made it clear that I was an Iraq vet who supported the war, the insults began to fly. Most slurs were boilerplate anti-war clichés, but one man struck a nerve: He marched up to me, looked me straight in the eye to ask, "You joined the military?" — and when I proudly answered "yes," responded, with utter disgust, "You are a sucker."
I felt the same rage last weekend just watching Rep. Jack Murtha declare on TV that, were he younger, he wouldn't join today's military.
I expect that kind of rhetoric from the washed-up anti-war rabble that congregate on street corners to relive their glory days — not from retired Marine colonels.
Murtha's call last year for a cut-and-run strategy in Iraq was one thing — irresponsible and unwise, but basically just stating a policy position. This is different.
What a nice New Year's treat for the beheaders and suicide bombers to know that a decorated Marine and lawmaker thinks the U.S. military is not only "broken" but not worth joining. Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi will no doubt use Murtha's words to inspire his band of thugs to hold out longer and kill a few more Americans assuring them that ultimately we will wilt like Murtha.
Why would Murtha not want to be part of a military that in the past four years has liberated 50 million souls and heroically brought aid to tsunami and earthquake victims, saving untold lives? Surely he knows that all was chaos in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina until Gen. Russell Honore's 1st Army and the 82nd Airborne came to town and provided relief and a security presence.
Evidently, Murtha doesn't think this is noble work.
Or, rather, the congressman doesn't like the way Iraq is going, so he disparaged the entire military — forgetting about our sailors working tirelessly to keep the seas open, Marines bravely guarding our embassies and soldiers standing watch in Korea and elsewhere to protect the democratic from the despotic.
Thirty-seven years in the Marine Corps should have taught Murtha that our military has historically been and continues to be the world's greatest meritocracy. No other institution has allowed people to climb the ranks and reach their potential regardless of their socioeconomic status like the U.S. military.
Similarly, Jack Murtha should know that millions of men and women have personally benefited from the discipline, training and structure of the military and used the traits learned in uniform to make countless contributions to civil society after their service.
If Murtha wouldn't want to be a part of a military that did in Afghanistan in three months what the Red Army couldn't do in seven years and that put genocidal maniac Saddam Hussein behind bars and his brutal sociopath sons in the ground, I am glad he is not.
But he's surely undermined military recruiting. Think he'll resign his committee assignments relevant to the military?
Last year, despite a media that overemphasizes the negative aspects of the war and an organized anti-recruitment effort, the Marine Corps exceeded its recruiting goals by 2 percent. The Navy and Air Force met their goals. The Army, which fell short of expectations last year, is exceeding them in Fiscal Year 2006 (which started in October).
Fortunately for the United States, a turncoat blowhard like Murtha won't stop the tens of thousands of good men and women inspired to serve this great nation.
Kieran Michael Lalor is the founder of Eternal Vigilance Society (eternalvigilancesociety.org), an independent organization supporting leaders who put protecting the nation ahead of politics.
Damaging to Recruiting and Morale in time of War!
Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked to comment on remarks by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a Marine Corps veteran who has become a leading voice in Congress advocating an early withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Murtha told ABC News this week that if he were eligible to join the military he would not, nor would he expect others to join.
''That's damaging to recruiting,'' Pace said. ''It's damaging to morale of the troops who are deployed and it's damaging to the morale of their families who believe in what they are doing to serve this country.'' ... ''When a respected leader like Mr. Murtha, who has spent 37 extremely honorable years as a Marine, fought in two wars, has served the country extremely well in the Congress of the United States ... says what he said, and 18- and 19-year-olds look to their leadership to determine how they are expected to act, they can get the wrong message,'' Pace said.
I agree with Gen Pace, do you?
I am urging you to send a letter to your congressman/congresswoman urging them to take some action against Rep Murtha. A suggested letter/email is provided below.
Honorable Representative,As a Congressman from __________ you are not only suppose to represent the citizens of your district but all of the citizens of __________ and the United States of America. As such, what are you going to do about Rep. Murtha's despicable statements that have resulted in the increase in deaths of civilian men, women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as increased the casualties of America's bravest? His actions embolden our enemies, put our country at risk, and his remarks are such as to attempt to dissuade US men and women from joining the military, opening us to further attacks from terrorists. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Pace, says Rep Murtha's recent remarks are damaging to recruiting and to morale. These statements, from a member of the U.S. House of Representatives - a fellow member of yours - are shameful!
As a military veteran, and constituent of yours, I want to know what you are going to do about it?
Respectfully,
YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS
Remaining True Blue In Iraq
By John B. Dwyer, Washington Times
December 2, 2005
Cartoon By Mike Shelton, Orange County RegisterAnd so the debate continues. Should U.S. forces pull out of Iraq? It has gone from a question of when to one of how. Quickly, or in a staged manner? Doesn't matter, just bring them home, sooner the better.
Now think about it; American troops have only been in Iraq for a relatively short period of time. As President Bush noted in a recent speech: "By any standard or precedent of history, Iraq has made incredible political progress ? from tyranny, to liberation, to national elections, to the writing of a constitution, in the space of two-and-a-half years."
Two-and-a-half years into our Civil War, Fredericksburg was over and Chancellorsville was in the offing; into World War II, GIs were fighting in Normandy hedgerows and combat in the Marianas. In both cases, hard-won victories had not yet been achieved, but they would be. Now, a mere two-and-a-half years into Operation Iraqi Freedom, the central theater for the global war on terror, calls for retreat are being heard. They must not be heeded.
At this time 222 years ago, British troops were finally departing American soil after forces under Cornwallis were defeated at Yorktown in 1781. The war for our independence lasted six years, marked by initial defeats and retreats. What if those volunteers and regular Continental Army forces, the "true blues," hadn't persevered?
A sizeable British army under Gen. Clinton remained in New York until late 1783. After it set sail, American troops marched through the city. As Richard M. Ketchum tells us in his excellent book "Victory At Yorktown": "A New Yorker, a woman used to seeing British troops in their perfect uniforms, was astonished seeing the victorious Americans, 'ill clad and weather-beaten, (they) made a forlorn appearance; but they were our troops and as I looked at them and thought upon all they had done and suffered for us, my heart and eyes were full, and I admired and gloried in them the more.' " Those men were the "one-third true blue," as John Adams described the percentage of Americans who fought for and gained our independence. The rest were "the Tories and the timid."
Those men — New Englanders, including Glover's "Marblehead Mariners," New Yorkers, Marylanders, Delaware Continentals, Pennsylvanians, Dan Morgan's Virginia sharpshooters and Henry Knox's artillerymen, among others — had persevered. And then, Yorktown. Mr. Ketchum sets the scene: "A surprising number of these men had six years of punishing, bloody warfare behind them; six years of hardship and suffering, hunger and tedium, no pay, and unparalleled neglect by their government and fellow Americans... some of these men standing under the hot Virginia sun were survivors of the fights at Concord and Bunker Hill, had been part of the humiliating loss of New York and the retreat across New Jersey, and endured the killing winters of Morristown and Valley Forge. They had experienced the... all too rare victories of Trenton and Princeton and Saratoga... yet somehow, they had endured to participate in and savor this glorious moment."
If the patriot few had not persevered, this blessed country, this redoubtable republic, would not exist. We are still free because their uniformed descendants have fought and died to keep us so.
Twenty-first-century true blues are at this very moment fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and serving elsewhere in the global war on terror. At this pivotal point in our history, with craven calls for retreat polluting the air, Americans must honor their service and sacrifice, and remain true blue themselves, anchoring their perseverance in their hallowed revolutionary roots until victory — as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently described it, "unconditional, unapologetic and unyielding" — is achieved.
John B. Dwyer is a military historian, author and contributor to the American Thinker.
Jane Fonda: U.S. Troops Are 'Killing Machines'
Source: NewsMax.com, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005
Cartoon By Mike Shelton, Orange County Register"Hanoi Jane" Fonda is claiming that ever since Vietnam, U.S. troops have been trained to commit atrocities against innocent civilians as a matter of military policy.
"Starting with the Vietnam War we began training soldiers differently," the anti-American actress says in an email to the Washington Post.
Fonda claims she learned of the policy switch in "secret meetings" she had with military psychologists "who were really worried about what was happening to our combat personnel."
One doctor, she insists, told her U.S. troops had been deliberately trained to be "killing machines."
"This began," Fonda maintained, "because the military discovered that in World War II and Korea, [U.S.] soldiers weren't killing enough."
"So they changed training procedures" to teach troops how to commit atrocities.
Still, the anti-war gadfly cautions, it's important not to blame the soldiers themselves for carrying out war crimes.
Recalling the "Winter Soldier" hearings that she and John Kerry staged in 1971, Fonda lamented: "When you put young people into an atrocity-producing situation where enemy and civilian are commingled, where the 'other side' is dehumanized, we cannot be surprised."
Anti-war vets now returning from Iraq, Fonda cautioned, should be listened to instead of being dismissed as "unpatriotic."
"We have not learned the lessons of Vietnam," she declared.
First we have Kerry calling the troops "Terrorists," now Jane Fonda refers to the troops as Killing Machines!" And, the Democrats say they support the troops?! I think the extreme left has taken over the party and that they are self destructing!. . . . WebMaster
Force Multipliers
Wikipedia: force multiplier-a military term referring to a factor that dramatically increases (hence multiplies) the combat-effectiveness of a given military force.
In Iraq an IED explodes,
An American soldier dies,
But that blast will grow as the media blow
It up before our eyes.
And trumpet to the watching world,
These fifth column falsifiers,
Like sheep they bleat we face defeat,
Our foe’s force multipliers.Osama and his minions know,
In combat they can’t beat us;
So they hope and pray will come a day,
Our own media will defeat us.
Ignoring all the good we’ve done,
Liberals focus on the gore,
On losses mounting and body counting,
To prove we’ve lost this war.They disgraced us once in Vietnam,
So now these leftists feel,
That again they’ll win with media spin,
And make America kneel.
But defeatists aren’t the only ones,
Learned lessons from the past;
Back then we swore we’d lose no more,
This time we’re standing fast.The Internet’s exposed them,
As elitist media liars;
They stand unclothed and widely loathed,
Our foe’s force multipliers.
Some day when all our troops return,
With Iraq on freedom’s path,
The liberal elite who sought defeat,
May face some Righteous wrath.Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66
Cartoon by Mike Shelton, The Orange County Register
Every time I hear some liberal Democrat ranting about our not providing enough armor to protect the troops I just shake my head and tell myself, that idiot’s obviously never humped a ruck in combat. Hell, most combat infantrymen in my day didn’t want to wear a steel helmet even though they knew it offered significant protection from head wounds. I wish I had a dollar for every time I had to say, “Put that steel pot on, soldier! Now!” I knew fellow NCO’s who volunteered for Special Forces just because those guys never had to wear pots, even into combat.For an infantryman, who must carry not only the weapons, ammunition and communications gear with which to fight, but also the food, water and clothing to sustain his fighting ability for up to several days, everything has a weight to value ratio as well as a weight to mobility ratio. In Vietnam, every paratrooper in my battalion was issued a gas mask in a canvas, carrying bag. After several months in country, I was instructed by the battalion CO to inventory all the chemical protection equipment in our unit. Guess what? While nearly all of the troops still had the carriers strapped to their legs when they went out on operations, most contained changes of socks and underwear or candy or smokes, all things which were of greater value to them than a bulky, heavy, rubber, seldom-if-ever used gas mask.
Unless the infantry has changed a great deal from my time, which this article makes me doubt, (among the subjects interviewed are a truck driver, a graves registration marine and a military police officer) the actual groundpounders, who need to be fleet of foot when the balloon goes up, don’t want to be inordinately weighed down when the ability to move may be the most important factor in surviving a firefight. When the shooting starts, you want to be able to jettison that rucksack or whatever else you’re carrying that isn’t essential to the immediate situation at hand. You can always come back for that gear once the shooting stops. Conversely, and by necessity, body armor must be worn all through the fighting and may in fact encumber some individuals to the point their combat skills are degraded.
If you read the comments following the article, you will see that others who have been there agree. The most astute comment is the one observing that intelligent local command discretion should be used in making the determination as to whether additional armoring up contributes to or takes away from the success of the immediate mission. If this sort of mission-specific logic is applied to the use of body armor, I will wager that infantry units, when involved in foot operations, where they have always gone into battle with minimal protective gear, will consider that weight to value/mobility ratio and opt for less weight and more mobility. It is significant that even some of the non-infantry personnel are complaining of armor-induced constraints.
Believe me, if the troops doing the fighting really need something badly in this email- connected age, you can bet they’ll be letting their families and their politicians back home know about it. As for the combat-deprived, reality-challenged, liberal Democrats attacking the administration over this issue at every opportunity, I would remind them there is a reason for the military designation, Light Infantry:
It’s the weight, Stupid!
Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66
