"AN AFFAIR OF THE HEART"

I was privileged to know and to serve Major General Jim Wright, the 45th Quartermaster General, known to those who loved him as "Chickenman". I never heard him speak but that he ended his inspiring messages with a quote from General Creighton Abrams.

General Abrams said "What this country needs, it cannot buy. It needs dedicated soldiers who see service to their country as an affair of the heart."

Today I spoke with CPT Patti. The occasion of that phone call was this: she was seeking my approval of her desire to extend her tour as commander of her company by about two months so that she is the Company Commander who brings her company home from Iraq, just as she took her company to Iraq.

She initially expressed this to me via e-mail. I replied, asking her to phone, because I wanted to discuss it verbally rather than by the occasional email.

I think you can appreciate my thoughts. Selfishly, I do not want to be apart from my wife for any longer than is required by the Army.

I asked her to tell me why she wants to extend.

She said:

"I brought these soldiers here. If I could leave here today, I wouldn't. I cannot turn over MY soldiers to some "inexperienced officer" who will "make mistakes" while he is learning to command. "I need to bring them home".

I thought of the company First Sergeant. Back before they knew they would be going to Iraq, the 1SG extended his tour in Europe saying that he would serve in the company as long as CPT Patti did.

"Is the 1SG going to extend again, to match your tour?" I asked.

"Yes...he and I have discussed it and we want to give up command on the same day."

At that point I knew that this came from her heart.
May God have mercy on us. For I suppose I might have "forced" CPT Patti home contrary to her wishes. But I couldn't... she spoke from the heart.

Feeling just a bit like Satan in the wilderness I spoke to her of her opportunity to come home two months before the Brigade. How she could leave that major unit movement to someone else. How when she got home, she would be through. Nothing else to deal with. Shower for hours, sleep forever.

But she set aside the possibility of such luxury. "I must bring my soldiers home" she said.

And , of course, I gave her my blessing.

The conversation had passion. The conversation had tears.

But, I knew, she was the officer that MG Wright quoted Gen Abrams speaking of.

For her, you see, service to her soldiers is an affair of the heart.

May God protect you my darling. You have already given more than is your due.

And as we prepared to say goodbye on the phone, I heard a distortion.

"I have to go", she said, "there has just been an explosion".

You can imagine my concern...

It was this:

THE REAL FEAR IN IRAQ

That we will leave too soon.

So where's the catch? The electricity problems, yes. Security, yes. But this most of all:

There is a terrible fear among many Iraqis that they will not be able to match the Kurds' achievement if they are abandoned by the Americans once again.

"The memories of 1991 are so vivid," says Sama. "People still fear that somehow the Americans will abandon us and Saddam will claw his way back from the grave. They say, `It happened in 1991, it could happen again.' That's one crucial reason why people are reluctant to cooperate with the coalition."

She adds: "I find it absolutely incredible that the anti-war people are now calling for the coalition to leave straight away. Nobody in Iraq wants that. The opinion polls show it's just 13 per cent. Don't they care about the Iraqi people and what they want at all? This isn't a game. This isn't about poking a stick at George Bush. This is our lives."

But, I'm sorry to say Sama, for an awful lot of people here it is about poking a stick at George Bush.

(via Instapundit)

DEEP INSIDE YOU KNEW CALIFORNIA WAS DIFFERENT

Here is proof from Governor Davis himself

Way off topic, but too funny not to mention.

"My vision is to make the most diverse state on earth, and we have people from every planet on the earth in this state.

And how many planets on the earth would that be governor?

(via Instapundit)

STRONG WORDS, SENATOR

''There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud,'' Kennedy said.

Fraud?

Ten years of dodging UN sanctions. Expulsion of the UN representatives? Playing the entire UN for fools?

None of that was fraudulent, senator.

Nor are the mass graves, the corrupt regime and the abject fear under which these people lived.

For a liberal, senator, your level of compassion for those who were kept in check by murder of family members is astonishingly low.

Read the results of the poll of the Iraqi's listed below, senator.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

After nearly a week of negotiations, Iraq's former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad surrendered Friday to U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, according to coalition officials and a mediator for the former minister.

Speaking from Mosul, Dawood Bagistani, the mediator for Ahmad, told CNN that Ahmad turned himself over to Maj. Gen. David Petraeus with the "utmost respect."

The U.S. military would not confirm the report.

Bagistani said he hopes the Americans will keep their promise to remove Ahmad from U.S. Central Command's list of its 55 most wanted members of the former Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein. Ahmad was number 27 -- the 8 of hearts.

WAY TO GO, GUARD GUYS

3/124 Infantry is attached to the 1st Brigade, 1AD.

In a city caught in a cycle of violence and crushed expectations, the al-Maghrib Community Center may well be remembered as evidence of how a vanquished and occupied Baghdad stood back on its feet - with the help of soldiers from Florida.

Until the April 9 ouster of Saddam Hussein, the center was a sleazy night spot frequented mainly by men. In May, the 3rd Battalion, 124th Regiment of the Florida National Guard heeded the call of local residents and began the arduous task of transforming the place into a community center for men, and women, boys and girls of the neighborhood.

After spending a total of $5,000, the National Guardsmen, whose unit is based in Panama City, invited the United Nations Childrens' Fund, or UNICEF, and the Norwegian Church Service to chip in to complete the project. The soldiers, however, continued to guard the facility while the work was going on.

On Thursday, months of hard work finally bore fruit, when the head of the U.S.-backed al-Maghrib District Council, retired diplomat Amer Nagi, officially opened the center.

Some two dozen men from the 3rd Battalion, 124th Regiment took part in the celebrations, mingling freely with residents, posing for photographs and shaking hands with youngsters.

The residents who showed up for the occasion included men, children and women in abbayas, a flowing black robe, and head scarves - hallmarks of Iraq's conservative Muslim society. Women in Western clothes, like jeans and skirts that barely reached below the knees, also attended.

TAKING BACK THE STREETS

And look who is out front!

Iraqi police launched the biggest postwar crackdown on Baghdad crime on Thursday, sirens wailing and guns at the ready as they set up checkpoints to net criminal gangs, stolen cars and weapons.

Backed up by U.S. military police, more than 100 Iraqi police cars swept through the capital, stopping at about 70 locations in a city whose nerves have been frayed by crime, firefights and bombings since it fell to U.S. forces in April.

''Tonight marks the night that the Iraqi citizen takes back control of Baghdad streets,'' U.S. Army Colonel Ted Spain said, ahead of an exercise intended partly as a show of force to boost public confidence.

''The Baghdad streets now belong to the Iraqi citizens, not to the criminals and terrorists. Saddam is gone, Saddam is not coming back,'' he added.

Officers said the crackdown would focus on finding stolen cars, catching 10 key criminal gangs or individuals, and seizing weapons. U.S. forces will reinforce several checkpoints at the request of the Iraqis.

The Iraqi police chief said he would not need U.S. backup for long. ''We feel the Iraqi police can do these things on their own,'' Ahmed Qadim Ibrahim told Reuters. ''As soon as the citizens feel confident the Iraqis can do this on their own, we will.''

CHAPTER 3 IN WHICH WE IDENTIFY THE EEYORES AND READ SOME EYE OPENING POLLS

" 'Good Morning, Pooh Bear,' said Eeyore gloomily. 'If it is a good morning . . . Which I doubt.' "

I thought of Eeyore the other day. I had just read the papers and listened to a room of in-the-know folks wail and rend their garments about all matters Iraq.

Iraq's in "chaos"! Our soldiers are dying! Iraqi oil isn't paying for Iraq's reconstruction! The war's costing us more than President Bush said it would! Americans are losing patience with Bush's war! And where, by the way, are all those weapons of mass destruction?

Eeyore, of course, is the A.A. Milne character who lives at The House at Pooh Corner, 100 Aker Wood Southeast, Eeyore's Gloomy Place. He's always depressed. His favorite food is thistles. Oh, and he's a gray donkey stuffed with sawdust.

My guess is he gets his news largely from The New York Times and National Public Radio.

Now I can become as down-in-the-dumps as the next depressive about the state of the world, and I grieve the loss of every U.S. warrior in Iraq who's died, before or after the end of major combat operations. As for Iraq's postwar reconstruction, we all knew this would be long, difficult work -- Bush said precisely this when he spoke on the aircraft carrier -- and I share Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's general world view: "It takes too long for anything to happen, as far as I'm concerned."

But our Eeyores in the media and Democratic Party bore in exclusively on the negative. They hype each new bit of bad news and ignore or downplay the daily nation-changing good news across Iraq. The limited but tragic American casualties are never put in any context. An adult sense of proportion is missing. Never mind that these folks are most often the same people who opposed the war and were predicting "quagmire" right up to Baghdad's fall. As Eeyore says, "A mostly sunny day, to some, can look a lot like partly gray."

Sometimes, when I need a break from Eeyore's Gloomy Place, I go to PollingReport.com. I logged on there last February, when journalists were telling us everyday Americans were rising up against a war with Iraq. (They weren't.) And I went there recently for a reality check.

Are Americans suffering buyer's remorse over military action against Saddam Hussein's regime? Sixty-four percent told Newsweek pollsters (Sept. 11-12) that we had done the right thing. Do Americans support or oppose the current U.S. presence in Iraq? An ABC News poll (Sept. 4-7) found 67 percent of the public backed the current U.S. military presence, 30 percent were opposed. What kind of job has the United States done since major fighting ended? In a Time/CNN Poll (Sept. 3-4) 71 percent of those surveyed think we've done a good job; 26 percent think we've done a poor job.

Begin to see how the Eeyore's appear to write the headlines?

Previously we had an excerpt here from a recent poll taken in Iraq. However a friend provided me with a WSJ story that discusses the poll in some detail.

I can't link to the original subscription site, but I've created a pseudo-link here You really want to read the whole thing...but in part, here what it has to say.

Iraqis are optimistic. Seven out of 10 say they expect their country and their personal lives will be better five years from now....

Asked to name one country they would most like Iraq to model its new government on from five possibilities -- neighboring, Baathist Syria; neighbor and Islamic monarchy Saudi Arabia; neighbor and Islamist republic Iran; Arab lodestar Egypt; or the U.S. -- the most popular model by far was the U.S...

Our interviewers inquired whether Iraq should have an Islamic government, or instead let all people practice their own religion. Only 33% want an Islamic government; a solid 60% say no. A vital detail: Shiites (whom Western reporters frequently portray as self-flagellating maniacs) are least receptive to the idea of an Islamic government, saying no by 66% to 27%...

You can also cross out "Osama II": 57% of Iraqis with an opinion have an unfavorable view of Osama bin Laden, with 41% of those saying it is a very unfavorable view. (Women are especially down on him.)...

And you can write off the possibility of a Baath revival. We asked "Should Baath Party leaders who committed crimes in the past be punished, or should past actions be put behind us?" A thoroughly unforgiving Iraqi public stated by 74% to 18% that Saddam's henchmen should be punished.

PHONE CARD NEWS FOR AAFES CUSTOMERS

But if youi can't shop at the PX you can still send phone cards to your soldiers down range...I know the AT&T cards work...and presume that any major brand would work.

Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials are touting their new “550-unit Military Exchange Global Prepaid Phone Card,” which they say has the lowest rates available for troop calls from the Middle East region to the United States.

The card’s per-minute rates to the United States from Kuwait are 21 cents per minute; from Iraq and Afghanistan, 35 cents per minute; and from satellite telephones in Iraq, 85 cents per minute, according to AAFES spokesman Judd Anstey.

The AAFES cards, which will cost $39, “are shipping now” and “will be available in AAFES exchanges worldwide and on the AAFES Internet within the next few weeks,” Anstey said.

The Dallas-based AAFES organization currently stocks 50-, 100- and 200-unit Military Exchange Global Prepaid Cards. Prior to the 550 cards, the 200-unit card was the largest available denomination, Anstey said...

Telephone service currently looms large as a morale issue for soldiers in Iraq, many of who rarely have access to any kind of phone.

Aware of the psychological value of “reaching out and touching” loved ones by phone, commanders are trying several different ways to telephone access for their people — but it’s slow going, Brig. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, commander of the 35,000 Iraq-deployed troops of the Wiesbaden-based 1st Armored Division, said during an early August interview.

“I feel like I’ve broken the code on computers [getting Internet access to troops], but not on phones,” Dempsey said.

“Telephones have been a hard [issue],” agreed Col. Ben Hodges, commander of the “Bastogne Bulldogs,” the 101st’s 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, in a late July interview in Mosul, Iraq.

CENTCOM NEWS RELEASE

September 18, 2003
Release Number: 03-09-18

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

82ND AIRBORNE WORKS WITH ICDC RECRUITS

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Volunteers for the new Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) received a medical screening and their first payment of $50 Sept. 18 and are ready to train.

Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division stood up the first company of 120 ICDC soldiers. The ICDC is organized into two 47-man platoons and a 26-man support platoon.

Over the course of three days, a team of five Iraqi physicians gave recruits a basic medical screening to ensure they were ready for training. The doctors reviewed each man’s medical history, checked his motor skills, hearing, eyesight and recorded height, weight and vital signs.

Once the recruits’ physicals were completed, the future soldiers formed into ranks to be paid.

The first two weeks of training will focus on physical fitness, drill and ceremony, basic rifle marksmanship and basic individual soldier skills. The second half of training will focus on basic squad tactics, applying to cordon and search operations and traffic control points.

Once the ICDC training is complete each battalion of the 2nd brigade will be assigned a platoon to help the battalions in their daily operations.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19th. The 131st day of CPT Patti's deployment.

The forecast high temperature today in Baghdad is less than 100 degrees (99). And the lows this week can be in the upper 60s.

By now 99 feels to CPT Patti as about 75 feels to us...and 68 feels to her as 40 feels to us.

She sent the rare email yesterday in which she said she had come down with a sinus infection and "slept for 14 straight hours".

Don't know if its related to the weather...but she can use our prayers.

AN EYEWITNESS

Federal Judge Don Walter gave these remarks in a speech this summer.

I apologize for them being in all capital letters...but they are taken directly from the notes provided by the Judge's office.

BUT, I AM HERE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING OF MY FIVE WEEKS IN IRAQ.

LET ME BEGIN WITH A DISCLAIMER, I WAS IN IRAQ FOR FEWER THAN 40 DAYS, I WAS IN BAGHDAD FOR A LITTLE OVER THREE WEEKS AND IN THE THREE PROVINCES OF THE FAR SOUTH FOR TWO WEEKS. I AM LIMITED IN WHAT I SAW AND HEARD. NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE OPINIONS ARE MY OWN. I WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT INITIALLY, I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED THE WAR.

DESPITE MY INITIAL OPPOSITION TO THE WAR, I AM NOW CONVINCED, WHETHER WE FIND ANY WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION OR PROVE SADDAM SHELTERED AND FINANCED TERRORISTS, ABSOLUTELY, WE SHOULD HAVE OVERTHROWN THE BATHISTS, INDEED, WE SHOULD HAVE DONE IT SOONER .

WHAT CHANGED MY MIND?

WHEN I LEFT IN MID JUNE, 57 MASS GRAVES HAD BEEN FOUND, ONE WITH THE BODIES OF 1200 CHILDREN. THERE HAVE BEEN CREDIBLE REPORTS OF MURDER, BRUTALITY AND TORTURE OF HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ORDINARY IRAQI CITIZENS. THERE IS POVERTY ON A MONUMENTAL SCALE AND FEAR ON A LARGER ONE. AND THAT IS WHY WE MUST FIND SADDAM HUSSEIN AND HIS SONS. THE FEAR THERE IS PALPABLE!

I HAVE SEEN THE MACHINES AND PLACES OF TORTURE. I WILL TELL YOU ONE STORY TOLD TO ME BY THE CHIEF OF PEDIATRICS AT THE MEDICAL COLLEGE IN BASRA. IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST SHOCKING TO ME, BUT I HEARD WORSE.

ONE OF SADDAM'S SECURITY AGENTS WAS SENT TO QUESTION A SHI'I IN HIS HOME. THE INTERROGATION TOOK PLACE IN THE LIVING ROOM IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MAN'S WIFE, WHO HELD THEIR THREE MONTH OLD CHILD AT HER BREAST. A QUESTION WAS ASKED AND THE THUG DID NOT LIKE THE ANSWER; HE ASKED IT AGAIN, SAME ANSWER. HE GRABBED THE BABY FROM ITS MOTHER AND PLUCKED ITS EYE OUT. AND THEN REPEATED HIS QUESTION.

WORSE THINGS HAPPENED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE, INDEED WITH THE PARTICIPATION, OF SADDAM, HIS FAMILY AND THE BATHIST REGIME. THAT ALONE CONVINCES ME THAT WE WERE RIGHT TO INVADE, AND WE SHOULD HAVE SOONER. THOUSANDS SUFFERED WHILE WE WERE MESSING ABOUT WITH FRANCE AND RUSSIA AND GERMANY IN THE UN. EVERY ONE KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON THERE, BUT FRANCE AND THE U.N. WERE MAKING MILLIONS ADMINISTERING THE FOOD FOR OIL PROGRAM. WAS THAT THE REASON FOR THE DELAY, I DO NOT KNOW, BUT THERE IT IS.

WE CANNOT, I KNOW, REMAKE THE WORLD, NOR DO I BELIEVE WE SHOULD . WE CANNOT STAMP OUT EVIL IN THE WORLD, I KNOW. BUT THIS TIME WE WERE MORALLY RIGHT AND OUR ECONOMIC AND STRATEGIC INTERESTS WERE INVOLVED . I SUBMIT THAT JUST BECAUSE WE CANT DO EVERYTHING DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE SHOULD DO NOTHING. WE SHOULD DO WHAT WE CAN, WHEN WE CAN.

THE TOUGH QUESTION IS THE LAST, CAN WE ESTABLISH AN RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT OVER THERE. OH, WE CAN, THE REAL QUESTION IS WILL WE? WE MUST HAVE THE MORAL COURAGE TO SEE THIS THROUGH, TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO SECURE RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT FOR THE IRAQI PEOPLE.

I FEAR WE WILL QUIT AS THE HORRORS OF WAR COME INTO OUR LIVING ROOMS. LOOK AT THE STORIES YOU ARE GETTING FROM THE MEDIA TODAY. THE STEADY DRIP, DRIP, DRIP OF BAD NEWS MAY DESTROY OUR WILL TO FULFILL THE OBLIGATIONS WE HAVE ASSUMED BY OUR INVASION.

WE ARE NOT GETTING THE WHOLE TRUTH FROM THE NEWS MEDIA.

THE NEWS YOU WATCH, LISTEN TO AND READ IS HIGHLY SELECTIVE. GOOD NEWS DOESN'T SELL,THIS IS THE KIND OF YOU DON'T HEAR ABOUT....

OUR SOLDIERS, GOD LOVE THEM AND KEEP THEM: THEY SMILE EVERY TIME I GOT A CHANCE TO TALK TO THEM. THEY WANT TO COME HOME. THIS IS BORING, HOT, DIRTY AND DANGEROUS WORK.

THEY STAND IN 120 PLUS DEGREES IN FULL BODY ARMOR. I AM TOLD THAT IN HIGH SUMMER (MAY IS COUNTED AS SPRING) IN BASRA IT WILL HIT 155, EVEN 160! SADDAM USED TO DECLARE A PUBLIC HOLIDAY WHEN IT HIT 155.

OUR SOLDIERS STAND AT THEIR GUNS, AT READY, IN DANGER. THEY WANT TO COME HOME, BUT I DID NOT HEAR ONE WORD OF COMPLAINT NOR A QUESTION AS TO WHY THEY WERE THERE.

SAY A PRAYER FOR THEM. THEY ARE AMAZING. WRITE A LETTER, SEND A NOTE. TELL THEM THANK YOU. DO SOMETHING. SEND THEM A BOOK, A CD, A TAPE, A SPORTS MAGAZINE. BOREDOM DOESN'T STOP WHEN THEY STAND DOWN. THEIR ENTERTAINMENT WAS LARGELY SELF GENERATED. THEY CANT EVEN HAVE A BEER.

WHILE THEY WERE IN BATTLE, AND SOME, TO THIS DAY BATHE WITH BABY WIPES. DURING THE WAR, THE ENTIRE ARMY SMELLED LIKE A BUNCH OF BABIES, BUT THEY DON'T FIGHT LIKE ONE, NOR DO THEY ACT LIKE ONE NOW. I HOPE WE ARE WORTHY OF THEIR SACRIFICE.

NOW THAT IS LOW

After arriving home from Iraq, Lance Cpl. Lenard Watson of Visalia wanted to see his mom, sleep in a bed with pillows and drive around in his Jeep.

But two days after 19-year-old Watson returned home from his nine-month deployment, his white 1987 Jeep was stolen.

"It just seems so unfair because of where he's been and what he was doing," Linda Klein, Watson's mother, said...

Watson admits that losing his Jeep seems minor compared to what he has seen in Iraq. However, he did want to drive it.

"I'd like the guys that stole it to know that they just stole the most prized possession from a young man that just spent nine months fighting and suffering for their freedom," Klein said.

MORE REASONS TO BE PROUD OF OUR SOLDIERS

U.S. reservists from a Denver-based combat engineer battalion have adopted a small village in northern Iraq, where - on their own time - they are building playground equipment and restoring an irrigation well...

Elsewhere, American troops are volunteering to fix up orphanages, schools and hospitals, and even kicking in cash from their own pockets to buy refrigerators, stoves and beds for needy Iraqis.

Far from the headlines about the U.S. military mission in Iraq, American GIs are daily making these sorts of contributions to help mend Iraq, both from the ravages of combat but also from a decade of neglect while the country was under U.N. economic sanctions to punish Saddam Hussein.

Accounts of these efforts can be found on U.S. military Internet sites, which some critics might dismiss as puffery or propaganda, or little more than a drop in the bucket to slake the needs of Iraqis. But the soldiers quoted in these stories uniformly cite their participation in these projects as the most satisfying, if least heralded, part of their duty in Iraq.

"Americans who disagree with what we are doing might understand how much we are helping this country and its people," Army Pfc. Amber Bryant, a 1st Armored Division medic in Baghdad, said in a recent Army Web site story. "Maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday, people will see the change we made."

A sampling of a few of the projects conceived and carried out by U.S. troops:

A battalion of the Army's 101st Airborne Division is hooking up the folks back home in America with Iraqi villages, organizing an "adopt-a-village" campaign for sending "care" packages of school supplies, sports equipment, toiletry items and canned food. So far, the 426th Forward Support Battalion has signed up the city of Salem, Utah, several Minnesota residents and a Tennessee car dealership to help two villages.

An Army reservist with the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion from Green Bay, Wis., dreamed up the "Backpacks for Iraq" project, which aims to ship 2,000 donated packs filled with school supplies given by people in Wisconsin and elsewhere. So far, the soldier has distributed 120 packs, with another semi-trailer truckload on the way...

The Army Reserve's 171st Area Support Group in An Nasiriyah in southern Iraq collected money from its soldiers to buy stoves, refrigerators, fans, televisions and kitchen tables and chairs for three orphanages, which the troops have taken under their wing, in a city where fierce fighting raged during the initial days of the war.

IRONIC

The war on Iraq was unjustified, according to former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix.

And he accused Washington and London of exaggerating information from their intelligence services.

Asked if the United States and Britain had talked up the case for war, Blix - who led UN weapons inspectors in Iraq in the weeks before the conflict - replied: "They over-interpreted."

"No, I don't think so," Dr Blix told BBC radio when asked if the March 20 invasion that led to the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime was justified.

Comparing them to medieval witch-hunters, he said the two countries had convinced themselves on the basis of evidence which was later discredited.

Let's see - this is the guy who led the team whose job it was to prove WMD - one way or the other.

But he couldn't.

And what he couldn't know then, now he tosses around like it was as plain as day.

TRAIN 'EM WHILE THEY ARE YOUNG

As Iraqi children chant "Good, good, mister," over and over again, Fort Bragg paratroopers make their way through a market in northwest Baghdad.

About 25 children follow 10 paratroopers from the 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, as they patrol. The children chant and shake hands with the soldiers as they walk by. Some even hold the soldiers hands.

"The kids love us," Pfc. Blair Barkley said. "The Iraqis stare at you, but for the most part they are happy we are here."...

The paratroopers patrol the area to make sure there is no trouble in the market and to make themselves available to the Iraqis. The paratroopers said the children are a great source of information, and will often tell them where weapons are hidden.

WELL, IF HE SAID IT - IT MUST BE TRUE

Iraq's former Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said on Wednesday Iraq had destroyed all banned chemical weapons, missiles and its nuclear programme immediately after the 1991 Gulf War.

Sahaf -- nicknamed ''Comical Ali'' during the U.S.-led war -- was speaking to Abu Dhabi television in the first of a seven-series programme about his account of the war that toppled President Saddam Hussein. Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction were a key justification for launching the war.

"Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, this is the truth,'' he said. ''The chemical weapons and missiles were destroyed since the 1991 war, also the nuclear programme.''

GOOD IDEA

Us too.

U.S. Marines need more training in peacekeeping in order to keep up with the missions they will face in the future, said the Corps’ top enlisted man.

“We’ll have to focus for the future and spend a little more time training our Marines in those areas,” Sgt. Maj. John Estrada, the 15th sergeant major of the Marine Corps, said during a recent interview.

While the quick-to-deploy 2,000-man Marine Expeditionary Units receive some peacekeeping training, even that is not nearly enough, he said...

Peacekeeping missions could very well be close on the Corps’ horizon, a point of view echoed recently by Lt. Gen. James Conway, who led the Marine contingent during the Iraq war.

“You’re right in that Marines don’t normally do this type of thing, but I think we all recognize that the Army is being fairly well stretched now with all the other requirements that it has, so it would not be an inordinate request, I would not think,” Conway, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said during a Sept. 9 Pentagon briefing.

The Corps did not have a formal peacekeeping doctrine when Marines of the I MEF began rebuilding missions in southern Iraq. That should change, the two leaders separately said.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18th. The 130th day of CPT Patti's deployment.

One-hundred thirty days.

Sheesh.

CNN IS IN LOVE

Over the weekend here CNN just couldn't bring itself to cut away from it's coverage of Clinton's visit to the AME church in California.

I was disgusted. You see, church still has meaning for me. But apparently I don't share the former president's view of what church is about.

For instance - he makes his entry into the church after the service has begun. According to the news, that brought the whole congregation to their feet. Me - I believe grandstanding and attempting to upstage the Lord in His own house is megalomaniacal.

From the pulpit he tells the people "You'll have to calm down or you will have me believing I'm president again." Of course, this elicits a loud roar. I know a little bit about ego, and Clinton's use of that phrase was calculated to elicit that roar to stoke his boundless ego. Pure passive-aggressive egotism. In church.

He used the Lord's house for political purposes. Is that any different than the moneychangers misusuing the house of God?

He sprinkled his remarks with scripture. This is the same man who wagged his finger in our collective faces as he lied to the nation about an adulterous affair.

I'm just disgusted. And so is David Frum:

But there is still one more thing that remains to be said: which is that just as Clinton reduced the standards of the presidency to a world-historical low, so he now seems to be competing to be the most disgraceful ex-president in history.

Time was, when ex-presidents refrained from overt partisanship, ascending into a kind of dignified retirement that allowed them to undertake important tasks on behalf of the whole nation. Even those presidents who had been strident partisans during their time in office – Truman, Nixon – nonetheless managed to get a grip on themselves afterward, and at least in public behave with some kind of dignity.

Not Clinton! He's still untruthfully accusing his political opponents of poisoning the wells. What a guy. Al Jazeera should hire him as its in-house political analyst.

THOUGHTS ON AN IRAQI CONSTITUTION

Iraq does need a constitution, but not one written by the French or the U.N. The simple fact is that the French and most members of the U.N. do not even understand what a constitution should be. As evidence, a former French president and current president of the European Convention, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, has just submitted a proposed 242-page constitution for the European Union, as contrasted with the U.S. Constitution of 15 pages. The constitutions of most U.N. members are also excessively long, do not adequately protect individual liberties, and are filled with demands, falsely called "rights," for such things as housing, medical care, etc., that can only be met by coercing others to provide them.

The U.S. government has plunged headlong into bringing economic and political reform to Iraq, but is doing so without a clearly articulated and understood master plan, thus giving the French and others opportunities to make mischief.

For Iraq to succeed, it needs to become a democratic and free-market country under the rule of law where individual rights and liberties are protected. This goal requires a constitution that creates a democratic system of government, protects individual liberties and property rights, and establishes the rule of law. Such a constitution can be drafted within a few weeks (as was the U.S. Constitution, whose authors did not have the benefit of word processors).

The U.S. should take a major hand in drafting the constitution to make sure it follows the model of the two oldest and most successful democracies, the U.S. and Switzerland. It needs to: protect basic rights, such as speech, press, religion, assembly and so forth; confine the powers of government to secure the liberties of the people through separation of powers; and protect economic liberties and private property. It should not contain "active rights" such as a demand for "adequate incomes." If the new constitution is more than 20 pages, it will probably fail to do what is needed.

Some in the international community and the news media are saying we must leave the constitution writing to some elected group of Iraqis for it to be legitimate. That is thinking backward. The administration should pick some well-qualified Iraqis and Americans who have a clear understanding of constitutional law and what a constitution needs to do, have them write it within a couple of weeks, and then promote it to the Iraqi people.

The authors of our own Constitution had to spend weeks selling it to the American people — that is what the Federalist Papers were all about. It is not who writes the constitution that gives it legitimacy, but whether the people accept it in a ratification process.

SPIN WATCH

Hey - someone is watching this stuff closer than I am.

Just ran across the web site www.RatherBiased.com

What do you know - CBS Evening News runs 8 negative reports about Iraq for each 1 positive story.

During the postwar "winning the peace" period of rebuilding in Iraq, CBS News has focused heavily on negative events in the country ignored or neglected positive news.

According to a study conducted by RatherBiased.com of news reports during four months from Bush's May 1 speech declaring an end to major operations in Iraq to Sept. 9 (130 days of occupation), the CBS Evening News ran 100 more negative stories than positive stories about events in Iraq. Out of 183 total stories, 132 were negative, 34 were positive, and 17 were neutral. A typical month is August, where negative stories outnumbered positive stories 40 to 5...

On May 22, Dan Rather introduced another story on the latest attack on American troops in Iraq: "As CBS's David Hawkins reports, it was a close call for the American soldiers involved."

Hawkins began his piece: "If the goal of the attackers was to kill U.S. soldiers, they failed. But if their purpose was to provoke an American reaction and further inflame tensions here, they've succeeded."

But the attackers achieved even more. Hawkins could have said, more accurately, "If their purpose was to get on the American evening news programs and create an illusion of chaos for the viewers, they've succeeded."

Now ain't that just a kick in the pants...

CIVIC CALM IN IRAQ

But there are signs that after each new horror inflicted by these forces of destabilization, which appear to be coordinating their deadly work, a fragile equilibrium of civic calm returns in a country that has known only war and tyranny for the past three decades.

There has been calm, for example, in Najaf since the barbaric bombing there on Aug. 29 of the Shiite central mosque and shrine of Ali. Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr Hakim and 124 others died in that blast, which seemed planned by their killers to foment sectarian strife between the country's Shiite majority and the Sunni minority that was Saddam's base of support. But the Shiites have not sought bloody revenge or taken to the streets in sustained protest.

Why is a matter of speculation. "Our conversations with moderate Shiite leaders since Aug. 29 have been extraordinarily free of bitterness and rancor. They would never say so directly, but perhaps this tragedy has emphasized for them the reality that the occupation is not the biggest problem they face," a member of the Coalition Provisional Authority office in Baghdad says.

That does not mean the occupation authority will not be criticized by those same leaders in public for failing to protect Hakim -- even though the CPA provided weapons, funds for training and hiring guards and other logistical help to the governor of Najaf weeks before the explosion. Shiite leaders had asked that U.S. troops not be stationed near the mosque, according to CPA officials.

In a related development, FBI explosive experts have turned up evidence linking the Najaf explosion to the suicide bombing of the United Nations compound on Aug. 19 and to the Aug. 7 attack on the Jordanian embassy, both in Baghdad, according to one U.S. official. "They think they see the signature of one bomb-maker in the three attacks," this official told me.

That raises serious questions about the extent of support for the insurrection, which could be dealt a severe blow by the capture of a lone bomb-maker. The occupation authorities also see hope in a new effort to give tribes in the Sunni heartland a stake in protecting oil pipelines and other facilities from sabotage.

PROGRESS

An Iraqi delegation will attend an OPEC meeting next week for the first time since U.S. forces toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein, signaling a growing acceptance of Iraq's new government.

The announcement yesterday — which helped send world oil prices lower — was seen as a sign that the 11-member energy cartel is prepared to accept the U.S.-appointed body overseeing the reconstruction of Iraq, including the oil sector.

MORE HELP FROM THE LOCALS

A local man flagged down a patrol and then led paratroopers to a burned-out house in a lush farming area near the Nahr alKarmah River.

Behind it, there were 30 rocket-propelled grenades concealed in a haystack, nearly 8,000 antiaircraft shells stacked in a garden of figs, ripe eggplants and 8-foot okra plants. There also was an antiaircraft gun, one giant artillery shell, about six burlap sacks of heavy machine gun ammunition and 40 fuses for artillery shells.

The fuses were ideal for crafting explosive devices like the one that killed the soldier Sunday, said Capt. Jeremy Gilkes, Bravo Company Commander.

Army explosives experts took the weapons away to destroy them.

The informant said the occupants of the house had been causing trouble for the local farmers, and so they were happy to help the soldiers, Gilkes said.

ITS DIFFERENT WHEN IT IS YOU

"The attack...will resonate in our consciousness for as long as we live,"...

"Yet as the grieving process takes its course, and the work of healing begins, we must learn to draw strength and purpose from this experience. We must learn to apply the lessons it has taught us...

The words above sound as if they could have been lifted directly from any of last week's memorials in remembering the sins and the tragedies of the 11th of September, 2001.

But in fact, they are the words of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan speaking of the attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

I believe Mr. Annan's words are generally prescriptive of actions that follow a senseless tragedy. And I believe that the USA has indeed subscribed to those imperatives laid out in his thoughts.

The USA has drawn strength and purpose from the tragedy. The patriotic fervor, and recognition of appropropriate heroes has given our nation strength. The renewed recognition of the privilege of freedom makes us stronger every day. And our purpose is clear...to wipe from this earth the threats posed by those who derive power from fear and oppression and the trampling upon that which we as Americans know to be "unalienable rights" - humankind's very birthright from God.

And as to applying the lessons it taught us. Well, my friends, that is what CPT Patti - and your soldier - do every day on our behalf. For they have taken the fight to the enemy. September 11th, and the series of half-hearted engagements with terror practioners that lead to that horrid day have taught us that weakness and pacificity in the face of these barbarian zealots breeds only contempt and disrespect.

Those who mourn the UN Headquarters Bombing do so against the backdrop of the ever present question "Why? Why, when all the UN is trying to do is to provide assistance to those who need the basics of life - food, water, shelter...?"

Perhaps they can understand the question in the minds of millions of Americans reflecting on the September 11th atrocities: "Why? Why, when all we are doing is trying to foster the spread of those certain unalienable rights?"

The humanitarian relief organizations of the UN in Baghdad were the undeserving targets of senseless murder in August 2003.

So too was the USA the undeserving target in September 2001.

Understand then that the bad guys in these equations do not subscribe to humanity's concept of civilization. They foist upon us a new type of war. They target the innocent, exploiting the very nature of freedom.

It is a threat to all who live free in this world...not only Americans.

And the world will long recall who answered the threat.

For that - again - be proud of our nation, and be proud of our soldiers.

THE PAN-ARAB DREAM IS DEAD

At least in Iraq, says this Arab writer. And the Arabs killed it.

The political decision taken by Arab leaders to deny the US their public support for the war has so far left Iraq with no Arab help in the post-war period. In effect, the Arab world has sidelined itself with respect to playing a role in a future Iraq, which is being reshaped by the Anglo-American coalition...

On the face of it, wouldn’t it have been better from the beginning to have Arabic-speaking soldiers in Iraq, who could relate to the local culture in a way Westerners could only dream of? How much easier would it have been for the Coalition Provisional Authority to win hearts and minds if it had had more Arabs delivering its message?...

Wrong. Evidence on the ground in Iraq suggests that the population does not actually regard the absence of Arab involvement as a bad thing at all. The truth is that most Iraqis would prefer to have a US-dominated force in their country, over an Arab one...

Pan-Arab nationalists will find that their dreams have died in the dusty streets of Baghdad and in the narrow lanes of Fallujah. Iraqis just aren’t interested. They have enough problems of their own and want to get back on an even keel, to enjoy their country as they were always supposed to. In Jordan, King Abdullah champions his “Jordan First” campaign, struggling to get the message out to his people. Iraqis have learned their lessons ­ Iraq comes first; there is no second place.

Take a moment to read the whole thing.

FOR A FALLEN BROTHER IN ARMS

“Like all of us, he had a higher calling,” Hagen said.

Moore choked up some of the hardest men in the world with a bittersweet eulogy that was so personal and candid that it seemed, perhaps, cathartic.

How, he asked, can you talk about someone so soon after his death?

“I wonder how you can say anything at all. But I know he would have taken this duty for me,” he answered himself.

The two had become so close, they planned to grow old together, “the cranky old men in the neighborhood the kids always hated,” he said. “That was our dream.

“Now I’m faced with the reality.”

Moore said he looked forward to being best man in Blumberg’s wedding, godfather to his children, Blumberg taking care of his wife when he was gone “and putting me in my grave.”

He could never imagine his friend dying.

“We’d planned it as if something happened to me. He seemed too good to leave this life.

“If you’re out there, B-berg, I love you,” Moore said in conclusion.

“I miss you.”

“I’ll never forget you.”

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17th. The 129th day of CPT Patti's deployment.

FROM THE ARAB PRESS

Judging from news reports, some might think that my native Iraq is in a terrible mess. Not so. Critics see attacks on coalition troops as signs that Iraqis oppose US involvement. According to a British survey and an Iraqi poll, however, 76 per cent and 85 per cent of Baghdadis, respectively, favour the continued presence of US troops.

That's because Iraqis know, to the core of their marrow, that after 35 years of subjugation, brutality and isolation, they need help, and if the Americans left too early, disaster would likely ensue.

Considering the grip Saddam Hussain had on the country for 34 years and the complicity and loyalty he'd purchased, the attacks are not surprising, for Saddam's killers know they don't have a future in an Iraq without their boss' patronage and protection.

And the overwhelming majority of Iraqis oppose the attacks, knowing that they hinder efforts to rebuild, democratise and modernise the country. With Saddam's sons dead and three-quarters of the "most wanted" in custody, Iraqis are more and more assisting the campaign to destroy the remains of Saddam's terrorist apparatus.

Many who militated against toppling Saddam predicted that Iraq would descend into communal violence or civil war. Instead, Iraqis have worked together and closely with coalition authorities and troops. Local councils and courts are functioning throughout the country. Workers in schools, hospitals and government ministries have elected their own leaders – the first steps in self-government.

The seeds of democracy are sprouting, too, in the forms of private organisations and 150 new newspapers and magazines. A clean police force is being constituted, as is a defence force, to replace coalition troops. Roughly 30,000 troops and police from 30 countries are arriving, too.

"THAT WAS SADDAM'S FAULT"

The first recruits to the fledgling New Iraqi Army showed off their fighting skills on Monday at a desert camp where the U.S.-led occupiers hope to turn out 35,000 soldiers in a year

An initial batch of 750 soldiers at the Kirkush camp, near the Iranian border northeast of Baghdad, included ex-members of Saddam Hussein's disbanded army and Kurdish Peshmerga rebels who until five months ago had been fighting one another.

''That was Saddam's fault,'' said Abubaker Mohammad, who fought for 11 years with the Peshmerga. ''Now we are one family, Arabs and Kurds together, working for a new army, a new Iraq.''

Saddam's vast army, thought to number as many as 400,000, collapsed in the weeks after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March. Some fought and died, most turned and fled.

Washington decided to disband the army and hired a U.S. company, Vinnell, to train a new force from scratch.

The first battalion of 750 in the New Iraqi Army is near to finishing an eight-week initial training course at Kirkush.

Risking retribution from anti-U.S. Iraqi guerrillas who often target ''collaborators,'' 3,000 more would-be soldiers have signed up at three recruitment centres in Baghdad, Basra in the south, and Mosul in the north, U.S. officers said.

''I am not scared. Saddam's people are gone and they will never come back. We in the new army will make sure of that,'' said recruit Saman Talabani, clasping a gun to his chest.

CENTCOM NEWS RELEASES

September 15, 2003
Release Number: 03-09-16

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOLDIERS HOST ORPHANS IN MOSUL

MOSUL, Iraq – Soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the 431st Civil Affairs Battalion recently gave a group of Iraqi orphans a day filled with fun and games at the Civil Military Operations Center in Mosul.

The purpose of the event was for the kids to be able to have fun in a safe environment and spend quality time with the soldiers. Soldiers volunteered time and services to help set-up and run different events of the day. Some soldiers also served as lifeguards at the pool.

Children from three separate orphanages arrived to participate in the events. Each group was greeted upon arrival and given a gift of a towel with the Screaming Eagle insignia on it. The children then went swimming in the pool, participated in relay races and played games such as pin the tail on the donkey. Winners of the games got candy and snacks.

Each child was also given a lunch of hamburgers, french fries, soda and ice cream. The restaurant on the CMOC grounds provided the meals. The restaurant also provided many of the decorations on the grounds.

Another event of the day was face painting. A local caricature artist painted designs on the children’s faces and colored the skin of a few soldiers as well.

Soldiers interacted with the children, swimming with them, playing soccer and simply being a friend.

The children each received a gift bag when it was time for them to leave. The bag contained items such as a t-shirt with the 101st insignia, a beanie baby, a soccer ball and personal hygiene items.


September 15, 2003
Release Number: 03-09-17

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COALITION IMPROVING WATER DISTRIBUTION EFFORTS IN NORTHERN IRAQ
MOSUL, Iraq – Efforts are now underway to repair the nearly obsolete water pumping system that provides water for over 325,000 citizens of Northern Iraq. In the interim, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) have contracted 32 trucks to carry over 10,000 liters of water every day to villages that the water system is unable to reach.

101st AAD civil affairs and engineering soldiers are working to fix the water system, which draws its water supply directly from the Freedom (formerly Saddam) Lake in Northern Iraq. With the broken down water pumps, many areas around northern Iraq are nearly dry without the water trucks.

The drivers of the water trucks meet everyday at the tactical operations center in the northern Iraqi city of Tall Afar before getting into their trucks. The drivers and their trucks are a temporary solution to the water distribution problem until long-term solutions can be put into effect.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16th. The 128th day of CPT Patti's deployment.

Baghdad is now officially out of the high temperature period known as the "Furnace Days". Forecast high today is 106 which CPT Patti says is a significant change from a month ago.

Posting will be light today - I plan to spend the day at the Frankfurt Auto Show...they say its the largest auto show in the world.

WHO IS BLOWING IT?

Indeed, imagine the hopefully not-too-far-flung-future where humanity is having a grand time in the sunny cafes at the end of history. Conjure the image of a Star Treky age where greed and superstition and paranoia are rightly seen as the childish things long since put away by man.

Well, when our descendents look back on the years since September 11, who do you think will say, "Man, we really blew it!"? Will it be the Americans who — at great risk and expense — offered a drowning people a lifeline? Or will it be those who preferred the familiar comfort of drowning to the mild sting to their pride which came with taking that lifeline?

As with all deranged people, the compassionate have two possible courses of action: They can try to help or, if that doesn't work, they can try to protect themselves through less-gentle means.

Obviously, the best protection is to help the deranged get un-deranged. And that is what we are trying so desperately to do in Iraq. We are trying through example, persuasion, and all-too necessary toughness to show the Arab world that there is a better way than grinding poverty, violence, and corruption.

I, like most Americans, truly want it to work. But if it doesn't, if the cup-of-coffee-and-the-sandwich approach doesn't work, America will still do what is necessary to protect itself. And that won't be the preferable option for anybody. Trust me.

PASSIVE SABOTAGE

Many of these international aid agencies somehow felt uncompromised in Saddam's Iraq, adhering to the enshrined doctrine of humanitarian relief that they are beyond politics or "metapolitical." No one can deny that they were blunting the force of U.N. sanctions against Saddam, and thereby making his rule more tolerable. But starvation is not a policy of the U.S., and Americans freely contributed to the easing of Iraqi distress.

There are even more vexing ambiguities. As the author David Rieff has pointed out many times, the NGOs in Rwanda and Zaire relieved the suffering of millions of Hutu families whose members had waged genocide against the Tutsis. Those who now suffer in Iraq never committed genocide or, indeed, any crimes at all. They were mostly victims of the Baathist regime. But they were freed from their captivity by the U.S. and the U.K. and--their agony notwithstanding--the identity of their liberators somehow sullies them and makes their wretchedness tolerable. Or at least not worthy of the routinely brave work of humanitarian institutions.

Many of the NGOs that are on their way out of Iraq from fear--if we believe them--maintain elaborate operations in Liberia, where their employees were until recently probably more at risk than in Iraq. After all, Liberia has been plagued by wanton, random killing. And yet the relief workers soldiered on. Meanwhile, in Iraq--where whatever mistakes have been made by the occupying authorities and however vexing the internal struggles, there can be no doubt that the U.S. wants to leave the country in a better way than it found it--the NGOs are leaving in droves.

(via Instapundit)

DEJA VUE

Beware the "compression" of memory.

Six months before, the world had cheered as the statues of the dictator came crashing down. The Americans had seemed heroic.

But now things were going very badly. The occupation was chaotic, the American soldiers were hated and they were facing threats from the surviving supporters of the dictator, whose whereabouts were uncertain.

Washington seemed unwilling to pay the enormous bill for reconstruction, and the president didn't appear to have any kind of workable plan to manage the transition to democracy. European allies, distrustful of the arrogant American outlook, were wary of co-operating. To many, it looked like the victory had been betrayed, since the American values of democracy, equality and well-being seemed unlikely ever to emerge.

That's how it looked in Germany in November, 1945.

In our memories, history tends to become compressed: There was V-E Day, then the American soldiers were cheered by the people of Berlin, then the president announced that hundreds of millions would be spent on the Marshall Plan, then Germany became the prosperous and democratic place it is today.

That is not how things unfolded...

Six months after V-E Day, The New York Times reported that Germany was awash in "unrest and lawlessness." More than a million "displaced persons" roamed the country, many of them subsisting on criminal activities. The heavy-handed presence of American soldiers was deeply resented by many Germans, especially young men, who had come to believe that the G.I.s were stealing their women.

There were still a lot of rogue Nazis causing trouble. It took months for British investigators to determine that Adolf Hitler had killed himself, and many thought his hand could be detected behind the crime and violence. Worse, the attacks on soldiers, General Dwight D. Eisenhower warned, revealed a deeper resentment of the occupation...

Nobody in the army had expected to be thrust into the position of running a country, certainly not for months after the war ended. The army is "ill-fitted by training, experience and organization for civil government," wrote The New York Times, describing "confusion and chaos" in the leadership. Berlin still didn't have even its most rudimentary infrastructure running in its American-occupied quarter.

Meanwhile, the world was outraged by the scenes of suffering and disorder coming from Germany. The people were going hungry: A report conducted in November,1945, indicated that 60 per cent of them weren't getting the bare ration of 1,550 calories per day (2,000 calories is generally considered a healthy minimum). The world waited for the president of the United States to announce a plan.

The wait would be long. The Marshall Plan, in which the United States spent the equivalent of 100 billion of today's dollars rebuilding Europe, was not passed until late in 1947, more than two years after the war's end, and did not deliver a penny to Germany until 1949. It faced harsh political opposition from Republicans in the United States. The other great instrument of postwar reconstruction, the World Bank, did not begin handing out money until 1947 either.

Read it all.

(via Instapundit)

HOW MANY TIMES MUST WE ASK THE QUESTION?

Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra shared his findings on Iraq with local military families Saturday. The U.S. Representative from Holland showed videotapes of his most recent trip at the Ottawa County Fillmore Street Complex.

As a member of the Congressional Intelligence Committee, Hoekstra has been to Iraq twice.

Saturday's viewing was restricted to military families.

The Congressman said he hoped to give families an alternative view of Iraq--something not usually seen in U.S. newspapers or on TV.

Hoekstra believes the U.S. is doing the right thing in Iraq, and said he hopes his video gives a less negative portrait of the job at hand, "We're getting positive reports from the people who are over there. And then when we turn on the media we're hearing something different. And they're trying to figure out, where's the disconnect?"

PERSPECTIVE

It was very disheartening to read that we’ve already had our 91st casualty shot dead. Ninety-one people killed in cold blood, and there’s not even a war going on. I can’t believe that there’s nothing we could have done to reduce or minimize that number. How can our government allow this to happen?

No, this isn’t the number of soldiers killed in Iraq. This is the number of murders in Oakland so far this year.

Oakland isn’t a war zone (though some might argue that it is), yet they have more casualties so far this year than U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the end of major combat.

Why isn’t the New York Times or CBS News doing a story every night to announce the death of yet another Oakland resident who was murdered in cold blood? Certainly ninety-one people killed in a U.S. city that isn’t in the middle of a war zone is more newsworthy than announcing the death of every soldier in Iraq’s dangerous military conflict...

Compared to Oakland, Iraq actually appears to be relatively safe.

Why could it be that the major media outlets insist on creating doom-and-gloom news stories about casualties in Iraq while ignoring Oakland? Or better yet, why hasn’t the news spin been focused on how few casualties there have been in Iraq given the enormity of the task and the dangers lurking there with terrorism and Saddam’s leftover loyalists?

Surely these media outlets aren’t trying to create failure out of success. No, that would be totally out of character.

The families and loved ones of our brave soldiers deserve better.

It is disgusting how much the media focuses on creating failure in Iraq. As much as they wish this were Vietnam, it isn’t. Almost 50,000 American soldiers died in combat in Vietnam. We won this war with some of the lowest casualties in the history of war, including civilian casualties. Our fallen soldiers should be held up as heroes by the media, not used as props for creating an aura of failure and endless quagmire.

The next time you see our “unbiased” media parading dead soldiers across the screen to raise the flag of failure in Iraq, just remember to keep things in perspective. Being a resident in Oakland isn’t much safer than being a soldier stationed in Iraq.

THE V CORPS COMMANDER SPEAKS

Sanchez called the shooting of the Iraqi officers a "tragic event" of a kind that is often unavoidable in wartime. He also asked for continued support and patience from the American people.

"Something that needs to be communicated across all of America ... is that America's sons and daughters are doing a fabulous job here," he said. "The sacrifices that we're making are not in vain -- they are truly making an impact on this country."

..."We've got to realize that this is a critical battlefield for America itself. This is where we have to win," he said. "... I am absolutely convinced that if we don't win here, the next battleground will be the streets of America. We can't allow that to happen."...

Some critics see a new Vietnam starting up in Iraq, but Sanchez rejects the parallel. His troops are facing not a guerrilla war, he said, but "a low-intensity conflict environment" that a single battalion could handle militarily.

What he needs most, he said, is "actionable intelligence ... that will allow us to strike at these cells and these terrorists that are out there."

For a guerrilla war to succeed, he said, it must possess two things: a unifying ideology and popular support. So far, he insists, he does not see either in Iraq.

Restoring Saddam and his Baathist Party to power does not constitute a winning ideology, he said: "You do not see people demonstrating to bring back the Saddam Hussein regime."

And neither, he said, does militant Islam.

"Yeah there are some fundamentalists, religious fundamentalists, who are out there. But there are a lot of counterbalancing elements of the society," he said.

"This is not a fundamentalist society that exists here in Iraq. It's fairly advanced, and I don't believe there is a fundamentalist majority here at this point in time."

WHERE BEING ARAB TRUMPS HUMAN DECENCY

This is a sad, sad thing.

For an Arab world resistant to political reform, the new Iraq taking shape under U.S. tutelage is a troubling harbinger.

In the five months since U.S. forces rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein's rule, the country's ethnically and religiously diverse people have, in one giant leap, overturned decades of social and political injustice, replaced a brutal one-party system with a multitude of groups advocating a rich range of ideologies and created a free press.

Shiite Muslims, a majority in Iraq oppressed for decades by a Sunni minority favored by past colonial masters and later by Saddam, are now free to worship in public and visit their holy shrines. Kurds, non-Arabs whom Saddam killed by the thousands to suppress their struggle for self-rule, are now main players in the new Iraq — their voices strong, their ideas sought.

Already Iraq's interim leadership is the only Arab government with a Shiite Muslim majority, and its foreign minister isn't even Arab.

"Most Arab intellectuals stood by the Iraqi regime for different motives and without any consideration for the suffering of the Iraqi people, simply because the regime was Arab and opposed America," Abdel-Khaleq Hussein, an Iraqi, wrote in an article published Sept. 7 in the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

From the viewpoint of most Iraqis, Saddam was a brutal dictator who remained in power for as long as he did — 23 years — partly because Arab leaders kept quiet about his crimes in exchange for the large financial gains made from trading with Baghdad and so as not to invite criticism of their own dismal human rights records.

While most Iraqis celebrated Saddam's fall despite their misgivings about the Americans, Arabs beyond Iraq's borders were dismayed to see TV images of U.S. troops in central Baghdad. For their leaders, it was a question of who might be next.

Last week, the Arab League reluctantly accorded Iraq's interim leadership a measure of recognition when it allowed Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd and a longtime Saddam critic, to fill Iraq's seat in the Cairo-based organization.

The league also broke its silence on Saddam's crimes, condemning the mass graves in which the deposed dictator buried thousands of Shiites and Kurds who rose against his rule in 1991 or were suspected of dissent.

"WE ARE NOT OCCUPIERS"

Secretary Powell makes good, common sense during Sunday's press conference.

What I expressed to the Governing Council was that the only way to get to where we have to be is with a deliberate process that first and foremost builds up the institutions of government. You can't just say you're a government, fine, go, you have full authority. Coalition Provisional Authority is responsible for security now, and it will be some time before any new government could take over the responsibilities inherent in being in charge of security.

You have to build capacity to govern.

And then governments, to survive, the kinds of government we want to see Iraq have, has to have legitimacy. And legitimacy comes from having a constitution, a constitution that's been ratified by the people. And once you have that constitution, you then give legitimacy to the new government through elections, elections that represent the view of the people...

So we are not hanging on for the sake of hanging on. We are hanging on because it's necessary to stay with this task until a new government has been created, a responsible government.

The worst thing that could happen is for us to push this process too quickly, before the capacity for governance is there and the basis for legitimacy is there, and see it fail.

We are not occupiers. We have come under a legal term having to do with occupation under international law, but we came as liberators. We have experience being liberators. Our history over the last 50, 60 years is quite clear. We have liberated a number of countries, and we do not own one square foot of any of those countries, except where we bury our dead.



Everybody would like to accelerate this. Everybody wants this to go fast. We don't want to stay here a day longer. It is expensive. Our young soldiers would like to get home to their families.

ONE REPORTER SEES CORRUPTION ALL AROUND

Among his colleagues, as well as the Iraqi Information Ministry.

When I got back to my hotel room I got another call from New York saying it's been put off twenty-four hours because of weather. It was after my second meeting with Al-Tayyib that they raided my room.

He shouted at me. He said, "We know you're a CIA agent because they attacked the ministry."

I said, "You lying son of a bitch. I told you that because I come from a newspaper and a country who cares about people.

We were told this on the basis of human decency. Not just for ourselves but also for Iraqis. They didn't want to kill innocent Iraqis. You failed to do anything at all about it."

I went there two nights running to get people out. As a result, there was only one person injured, a secretary to the minister, which is pretty amazing considering they hit the building with seven or eight cruise missiles.

I said, "You're a son of a bitch. You know exactly what the truth of this was. I told you as a matter of decency and you did nothing at all. Now you invert this to say I'm a CIA agent."

The end of the story was that on the night of April 8, he stole $200,000.

PROGRESS

Iraqi policemen, smartly dressed in pale blue shirts and dark blue trousers, are a fairly common sight nowadays - a sign that local forces are taking over at least some of the simpler duties of law enforcement from American GI's.

But when you see one policeman stopping cars at a checkpoint and five of his colleagues sitting in the shade nearby, it's because the man working would not dare try to enforce his authority without moral support from a group of his fellow officers.

Baghdad's bustling sidewalks are piled high with merchandise - local produce such as peaches, plums, okra, and dates, or imports like freezers and TV sets that have flooded the country since the new US authorities suspended customs duties. (You can even buy balsamic vinegar.) And novelties like Internet cafes have not worn off.

As private companies tentatively begin work, and employees at defunct state enterprises collect emergency payments, many Iraqis have money to spend after weeks of wondering how to make ends meet.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th. The 127th day of CPT Patti's deployment.

And today is CPT Patti's birthday!

Please send a little prayer aloft for our girl on her day.

September 13, 2003
Release Number: 03-09-13

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KISIK REFINERY ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

MOSUL, Iraq – Coalition forces have hired approximately 70 Iraqi citizens to begin cleaning the Kisik Oil Refinery under the supervision of soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), while employees of the Bayji Oil Company fix the facility’s equipment.

Prior to combat operations the Kisik Oil Refinery produced fuel for the entire Ninewah province. When the former regime collapsed the refinery stopped production and looters stripped away many vital components, rendering the refinery non-operational.

The clean up efforts have produced rapid results. The refinery is soon expected to be fully operational and ready to receive crude oil for refinement. This marks a major step toward alleviating the fuel shortages that the people of this region have endured.

Additionally, the repair of the refinery marks another step toward getting the country’s infrastructure on its feet.

While employees of the Bayji Oil Company work on the machinery to make the refinery operational, more than $10,000 has been earmarked to repair the administrative offices, firehouse, storehouse and the fence line. Soldiers from the 101st AAD assess the project’s progress and report that progress at the daily meetings of the Northern Oil Company in Mosul.


September 13, 2003
Release Number: 03-09-14

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARTILLERYMEN, IRAQIS SPIN WRENCHES TO KEEP COALITION ROLLING

MOSUL, Iraq – Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and local Iraqis are making lighter work with many hands by working together in the motor pool to change out engines and repair hundreds of tires.

To help the soldiers, who were spread thin over their many missions, local Iraqis that had been working with the unit to do repair jobs around their area were brought in to work in the motor pool as well.

The Iraqi men were given a class on how to build the spare tires and then went to work. None of them had ever rebuilt tires before, so the work also teaches them new skills. The men break down an average of about 22 tires a day.

The men were hired from the local unemployment office on a weekly basis. They are paid $4 a day, plus an extra dollar for being able to come to the motor pool every morning to go to work instead of being picked up. The men are all from the same village near Mosul.

The Iraqi men hope to be able to work with the motor pool for at least another month and the motor pool is working to keep the men employed for as long as possible. Next, they will be painting the motor-pool facilities.


September 14, 2003
Release Number: 03-09-15

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ONE 82ND ABN DIV SOLDIER KILLED, THREE WOUNDED IN IED ATTACK

BAGHDAD, Iraq – One 82nd Airborne Division soldier was killed on the scene and three were wounded in an improvised explosive device attack on their military vehicle in Fallujah at approximately 8 a.m. on Sep. 14.

The three wounded soldiers were evacuated to a nearby medical facility for treatment.

The soldiers’ names are being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin.

The incident is under investigation.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14th. The 126th day of CPT Patti's deployment.