WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20th. The 101st day of CPT Patti's deployment.

SHAMEFUL

The U.N. special representative in Iraq died Tuesday in a bomb explosion that ripped through the organization's headquarters in Baghdad, U.N. officials in New York announced.

Sergio Vieira de Mello was among the 17 killed and 100 injured when a truck bomb exploded immediately beneath the window of his office in the Canal Hotel. He was trapped in the rubble.

The bombing continues a recent pattern of attacks on non-military targets in Iraq. Over the weekend, oil, water and electricity lines were attacked by what coalition spokesman called saboteurs. And earlier this month, a car bomb exploded outside the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, leaving 10 people dead.

I don't know who is behind this. But I think it is fair to say that we have moved well beyond the Saddam loyalists that Secretary Rumsfeld refers to as the "dead-enders".

It seems apparent that we now have trained, organized, funded cells operating in Baghdad and other places in Iraq.

What interests me from a strategy standpoint is why attack the UN outpost? Seems to me that up until this point, in Iraq anyway, circumstances had done a fair job of isolating the USA and Britain in the minds of most of the world. The old "divide and conquer" strategy was theirs for the exploiting.

But no more.

Of course, similiar strategic flaws were made with the attacks in Bali and Jakarta. That is, unless we drop the assumption that the USA is the target, and consider for once that all non-muslim infidels are their targets...if only because they are too weak to effectively strike the US meaningfully.

Whatever the driver, perhaps - just perhaps much of the rest of the world will pull the blinders off their eyes to recognize that these miscreants will target us all.

Of course, the liberal so-called elite will attempt to blame America. But the facts don't support it.

Look at the faces of the 9/11 terrorists. Arab.

Osama bin Laden. Arab.

Saddam Hussein. Arab.

And you can take it to the bank that the bombers of the Jordanian Embassy, the Iraqi pipeline, the Baghdad water main and the UN outpost in Baghdad, as well as the bus in Jerusalem today...Arab.

The facts lead to their own conclusions.

REGARDING AL QAEDA CLAIMING CREDIT FOR THE BLACKOUT

Defense Contractor Guy writes

regarding Al Qaeda claiming responsibility for the blackout ... remember the audience - that announcement is aimed at the same folks who believe the US has x-ray specs and air conditioned uniforms.

A good point, I think. And further amplified in this piece.

Claiming credit for what appears to have been the product of a fluke equipment failure in Ohio is a sensible move for al Qaeda. The communiqué is a psyop, aimed at the United States to some extent, but more importantly, at the faithful abroad.

Al Qaeda needs to show that it is still relevant and can mount significant attacks on the Crusaders, and claiming credit for the largest power outage in U.S. history is as good a way to demonstrate puissance as any...

But suppose terrorists had managed to bring down the power grid — what were the effects? It was not a day of terror, alarm, and fear, as al Qaeda claimed. New Yorkers dealt with the outage with a degree of aplomb. Some journalists offered stranded commuters the opportunity to lose their tempers on national TV, but I didn't see anyone seriously complaining. The most critical people seemed to be politicians and newsmen seeking to render blame or push policy agendas. The contrast with the expected chaos was notable...

There were no signs of panic, drivers were taking turns at intersections, and traffic was flowing fairly smoothly. Even had the outage been the achievement of the Abu Hafs al-Misri Brigades (not to digress, but why are these platoon-sized terror subgroups always called "brigades"?), it did not result in anything like the harm they claimed in the announcement.

What it shows us is that the terrorists have failed at their most basic objective, namely to terrorize. This is not a country on a knife-edge of tension, ready to dissolve at the first disruption of daily life. If there is a lesson al Qaeda can draw from this event, it is that they will have to do something a lot more spectacular than even this massive power outage to get the country's attention. 9/11 is a hard act to follow.

WHOO HOO!!!!!!

Finally - a phone call! It has been 12 days since our last phone call - unfortunately the shelf life of a phone call is only about 7 days.

CPT Patti sounded terrific...although as she said they are having "generator issues" today so their air-conditioning is on the fritz. Bad day for that. Says she is sweltering.

She sends her thanks to those who have sent her packages...

Another note to Defense Contractor Guy...the "Gator Library" is now up and running thanks to you and your wife. We owe ya.

CPT Patti said that they continue to improve their living and working conditions. This weekend work is set to begin on an Internet Cafe, Fruit Bar, Ping-Pong, Fussball, Pool Table and Big Screen TV area. Won't be finished for a few weeks, but it is real progress.

She tells me we should be receiving a news letter written by her and her fellow commanders downrange. That will have more news of the quality of life stuff...if any of it is new, I'll let you know.

She says thanks for recently arrived packages from Dave & Deb, Pastor Paul & Sue, Dan & Amy and In-Laws Pat and Jan. Still hasn't got to those thank you cards yet.

She says to say she misses everyone, but her full days (now 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. - that is her work schedule) keep her from communicating very much.

OK - I'm good for another week now.

Yee-ha!

REDEFINING THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Excellent analysis by Victor Davis Hanson.

Read it here.

What is a base?...

I think under current practice we could better define an existing base as either a nexus for local anti-American resentment or a means of exacting political or financial concessions...

What is an ally?...

In this context, the current meaning of "ally" too often reads as a state benefiting from American friendship that in turn expresses its thanks by gratuitous expressions of hostility in times of crisis...

What is the United Nations?...

A better definition for the current body is something like the following: an international organization where Western liberal states seek to ingratiate themselves with tyrannies, theocracies, and tribes — appeasement winning accolades of justice, while principles earn slanders of racism, colonialism, and imperialism.

OH YEAH...AND I STARTED THAT EARTHQUAKE IN GREECE

Claims of responsibility ring very hollow.

Is this what Al Qaeda is reduced to these days...claiming credit for stuff that just happens?

I'd say the war on teror is working.

Al Qaida's Abu Hafs Brigades has claimed responsibility for the blackout last week in the Northeast and Midwest United States. A communiqué by the Abu Hafs Brigades made reference to Operation Quick Lightning in the Land of the Tyrant of this Generation."

It was published as "the third communiqué by the "Brigades."...

The new communiqué says that in compliance with the orders of Osama bin Laden to strike at the American economy, the Brigades struck two important electricity supply targets on the East coast, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.

The Brigades say that they cannot reveal how they did it, because they will probably have to use the same method again soon. The communiqué also claimed that the operation was meant as a present for the Iraqi people.

"118, AND IT FEELS COMFORTABLE"

I'm glad they've adapted.

"Right now it's 118, and it feels comfortable," says Lt. Brian Crowley, 33, of Los Angeles. Compared with many days this summer, when troops say the temperatures they've recorded have routinely neared 130 degrees, a 10- or 12-degree drop is welcome.

History has shown that how an army battles nature can be as important as how it battles the enemy. The bitter Russian winter of 1812 helped spell the end of Napoleon's empire.

Now, in central and southern Iraq, the U.S. Army says it is winning a dangerous struggle with brutal summer heat. Training that drills soldiers on the importance of drinking lots of fluids and eating properly has kept casualties low. Of the nearly 150,000 troops in Iraq, two have died in the past month from heat-related illnesses. At least five have become seriously ill.

"Given the numbers of troops and the 120-degrees-plus temperatures, it's a relatively low number," says Maj. Bill Dixon, a physician and chief of medicine at the 28th Combat Support Hospital, a city of tents 30 miles southwest of Baghdad. "People are aware and are serious about prevention."

WHERE THE SABOTAGE COMES FROM

The Anglo-American liberation of Iraq was the most revolutionary occurrence in the Arab/Muslim world since the overthrow of the Ottoman empire.

The potential emergence of a democratic Iraq is a dagger poised at the heart of three very different kinds of neighbouring dictatorships - the Shia Iranian mullahs to the east, the secular nationalists of Syria to the north-west and the Saudi monarchy to the south-west.

So when we look for the sources of the instability in Iraq today, be it in the form of sabotage of a key oil pipeline or the continuing attacks on Allied forces, we need look no further than the surrounding states with most to lose. But they are acting out of fear, not self-confidence. They are scared to death that the Iraqi experiment will work and create an unstoppable momentum for change in their own countries.

NOT EXACTLY "WRAPPED IN SWADDLING CLOTHES AND LYING IN A MANGER"

Bizarre.

Two British soldiers have saved the life of a newborn Iraq girl they found locked in a box full of weapons.

The prematurely-born child was barely two days old and had been abandoned by her mother.

The soldiers had cornered five terror suspects in the southern city of Basra and found the girl while searching their base.

She was not breathing when found in a 3ft-long padlocked metal box among rocket-propelled grenades, AK47s and ammunition.

But Private Damien Kenny, 18, from Wigan, and Private Jonathan Hunt, 21, from Blackpool, revived her with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

I'D LIKE TO SEE IT HAPPEN

The head of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council said on Monday he expected a new constitution to be in place within six months and the council to name a cabinet at the end of next week.

"The constitution might need six months, more or less...We have started receiving draft versions of the constitution and then it will be put to the Iraqi people," council President Ibrahim Jaafari told Reuters in Abu Dhabi emirate.

GOING IT MORE OR LESS ALONE

One perspective on why this is a good idea.

Irrespective of whether we should seek to have Europeans, Pakistanis or Indians dying with or in lieu of Americans, irrespective of whether murderous hard-core Baathists and Sunni fundamentalists would feel less "occupied" and less murderous seeing Turks in their country, and irrespective of whether the economically stressed, anti-war countries of the European Union would actually give meaningful financial aid to Iraq, the idea of a "new coalition" to oversee the reconstruction of Iraq is entirely unwise.

It probably would encourage the worst political and cultural tendencies among Iraqis, even among those who are profoundly pro-Western. It could easily send a signal throughout the Middle East and beyond that the Bush administration doesn't have the stomach to transform Iraq, let alone the region.

In the Muslim Middle East, in the age of bin Ladenism, where the rulers and the ruled are constantly assessing American strength and purpose, multilateralism, when it is so evidently cover for a lack of patience and fortitude, is never a virtue. However long the United States stays in Iraq, the cost in American lives and dollars will likely go up, not down, the more we "internationalize" the occupation.

The men who are killing U.S. soldiers and other foreigners want to drive the United States and other Westerners out of the country. When Washington talks about the need to share the pain, what these men hear is that America wants to run.

Only a successful conclusion to the constitutional process will bless American efforts in Iraq. In the eyes of the Iraqi people, legitimacy springs from there, not from the members of the United Nations or its Security Council.

BANK IN A BACKPACK

“I saw a whole different side to the war and after got to help in the rebuilding efforts,” Furman said Sunday from her parents' home in Quaker Hill.

Furman, a member of the finance corps, is accustomed to the policies and procedures related to cashing soldiers' checks and processing other pertinent financial information, but her role in Baghdad was much different.

For roughly five months she regularly toted $150,000 to $200,000 in cash inside a run-of-the-mill backpack through the streets of Baghdad. Her job was to find and meet with venders the Army was doing business with to purchase anything from ice to air conditioning units to an entire rock quarry that soldiers used to build makeshift helicopter pads.

The 38-year-old communicated often with Iraqi businessmen and shop owners, looking for goods to purchase, and worked with the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance to ensure that payments were made to Iraqi ministries so that employees, such as teachers, doctors and police, were paid.

Her most significant transaction came when she had to carry $2.5 million in cash in a footlocker from her office inside one of the Baath party's former houses to the Central Bank of Baghdad.

Furman was escorted on her outings by armed guards — she also carried an M-16 for protection — but she never carried the cash in a locked unit or safe.

“I didn't want to announce that I was carrying up to $200,000 in my backpack. It was safer,” she said.

PUTTING THE TROLLING IN PATROLLING

While many soldiers think of patrolling in terms of tough foot patrols on the city’s streets, this group of combat engineers considers patrolling a blessing.

They could be spending eight hours a day staring off into the distance beneath the blazing rays of the sun, pulling guard duty -- an extremely important, but rarely well-liked, job.

Instead, the 671st, a company that builds multi-purpose bridges for the military, uses their boats to patrol the murky, yet placid waters of the Tigris, where Iraqis can be found relaxing, fishing and swimming.

The unit has been patrolling up and down the Tigris River since early May in their MK-2 boats. The boats are essentially miniature tugboats normally used for erecting bridges, said Dorris.

“We regularly take interpreters with us,” Dorris said. “We get a lot of information from people along the river.”

Soldiers from the unit have apprehended people smuggling illegal items on the river and found unexploded ordnance along the banks, he said.

“One time, we brought out the father of a drowning victim to help him search for his son,” Dorris said.

The unit has also escorted soldiers from other Army units, such as psychological operations soldiers who use the river to spread information to the Iraqi people about curfew and coalition operations.

“We like doing this a lot,” Dorris said. “It’s a lot better than guard duty.”

The soldiers have seen the result of their presence as well, he said. “Every time we’ve helped someone in a particular area of the river, whenever we go back, everyone waves.”

ONE OF OUR OWN, TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN

And a special note to my friend and college roommate, Defense Contractor Guy - you didn't know how on the money you were, did you?

Anyone wondering what else to stuff into those boxes for the troops, this story tells you what they all can use.

A soldier from the Friedberg Judge Advocate General office is on a mission to put books into the hands of soldiers deployed to Iraq.

Spc. Heather Holder, noncommissioned officer in charge of Friedberg’s Trial Defense Service, is contacting major bookseller chains and publishers for donations of books for the troops to read during their down time.

“My fiancée (Sgt. Arthur Ford, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division) is in Iraq, and all he asks for is books, books, books,” Holder said. “I looked at my receipts and realized I’ve been spending up to $200 a month on books to send to him and for him to pass out to other soldiers.”

In all, Holder estimates she has sent about 75 books since the unit deployed to Iraq in May.

Yet, the requests for books haven’t let up.

To better meet the needs of the 1st Brigade soldiers, Holder last week began contacting major book chains and publishers for donations of new books.

She has secured about 25 books from a Borders Books in Syracuse, N.Y., where Holder will be on leave beginning in September. She contacted Penguin publishers, Amazon.com, Borders and Barnes & Noble by e-mail last week and has yet to receive responses.

While she is on leave, she plans to contact those companies and more publishing houses by telephone or in person.

“I figure if I contact them in that way, I’ll get more timely responses,” she said.

With hopes of raising 200 or more books for the brigade, Holder said she is also accepting donations from libraries and military families.

Although she is accepting hard or soft cover books, Holder said that paperbacks are much easier for the soldiers to carry around with them.

RAMEN NOODLES - ITS NOT JUST FOR STARVING COLLEGE STUDENTS ANY MORE

The last time I spoke with CPT Patti I wanted to know if the dining facilities were serving hot meals.

I asked her "So, what are you eating these days?"

She said, "The packages of Ramen you send me."

Yes, she gets to the dining facility, but I guess her upbringing and heritage make the Asian noodles a taste of home for her - and a priority.

However, I haven't found any such as this story describes - the kimchee flavored ramen (ramyun).

So, if you are in my family of friends and relatives, please look around to see if you can find kimchee flavored ramyun...the brand cited here is "Shin Ramyun" but I'm sure any brand will do...as long as the flavor is kimchee (we can get beef, shrimp, chicken and "oriental" flavored ramen at the commissary). You might need to check an Asian specialty store.

CPT Patti will love you for it.

Of course, CPT Patti loves you anyway. Its just the way she is.

You’d probably be hard pressed to get kimchee-flavored noodles on the streets of Baghdad these days.

Unless your caring mother is sending them from South Korea.

Over the last few months, Meacha Sullivan has sent several cases of the spicy hot noodles to her son, 1st Lt. Patrick Sullivan. The 26-year-old officer, who has been in the Army about three years, is stationed somewhere in Baghdad with the 596th Signal Company, his mother said.

Sullivan’s pasta pipeline started with a few packages tucked in a care package for Patrick — but the noodles caught on. Other soldiers in his unit began slurping them despite Iraq’s searing heat. The attraction may be in the meal’s simplicity: Only hot water and a few minutes waiting are required and the noodles are ready to eat.

ITS QUIET BACK HERE...WHERE THE TROOPS USED TO BE

It’s too bad there are no tumbleweeds in Germany.

There are days when tumbleweeds blowing across the empty streets of H.D. Smith Barracks would look just about right, now that everyone has gone.

Before the 1st Armored Division went off to war, this was bustling small-town America. And like every town in America, it has a barbershop. Used to be, troops would have to park at the top of the hill near the Community Bank and walk down to Salvatore Mudano’s shop on Texas Avenue. The barbershop and the beauty salon next door stayed pretty busy before the war.

Now, Mudano is Baumholder’s Maytag repairman.

CENTCOM NEWS RELEASE

August 18, 2003
Release Number: 03-08-37

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOLDIER KILLED BY EXPLOSIVE DEVICE

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A 1st Armored Division soldier was killed by an explosive device on August 18.

The incident took place in the Karadah District at 2p.m. The soldier was medically evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m.

The soldier’s name is being withheld pending notification of his next of kin.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19th. The 100th day of CPT Patti's deployment.

Triple digits now. Just like the temperatures in Baghdad.

AND ANOTHER VOICE FROM IRAQ

His website is here.

I was speaking with a restaurant owner today who had come in to give us some information. I was asking him about his business given the nature of things right now. He answered by saying that business is really tough, especially without electricity, but any kind of business is better than life with Saddam. He invited us over to dine whenever we get a chance.

A mother and her daughter who had both found work in the new government, invited us to spend some time at their farm on the outskirts of Baghdad, to enjoy some real home cooking and a ride on their boat on the Tigris River.

Dad after day, we continue to meet with people who for one reason or another want to come in to meet with us, to share information they have regarding things going on out in the city. Many of the people are confused about what to expect from us, hoping in many cases that their information will be worth a job or some reward in return...

At times I wonder if I will be able to remain caring, concerned, empathetic and compassionate as I continue to deal with my fair share of liars, ungrateful and needy people, takers, dependent individuals, and overall people who feel we owe them something.

I feel at times that I am in some kind of a parent child relationship trying to get them to step up to the plate, to be responsible, to take advantage of things, and to take some initiative.

But yet at all times remembering where these people have been and what kind of environment they have grown up in for the last 35 years. Oh what a toll Saddam's regime has taken on its people.

The real test is whether or not I will continue to do this with all my heart no matter what the people say or do. For the most part the people here are very appreciative of our efforts on their behalf to free them from the chains of bondage. I feel it and see it everywhere I go, kind simple people grateful for our presence.

Who am I to judge anyway, maybe I really don't know what they are thinking or feeling. All I really care about is that we are here making a difference. We, in our own little way, are here in the middle of a bad situation trying, in the only way we know how, to make things better.

"THE ARAB CONDITION"

One Arab speaks clearly.

Until now, Arabs have adhered to behavior based on domination and use of the power game. Each Arab country is ruled either by a tribe, family or sect, or by a group of families from a certain area. Maintaining such domination requires employing power and sometimes violence, as well as much corruption, since maintaining power demands a distribution of the spoils. Such methods weaken the state and its institutions.

This model can succeed in the short term, but fails in the long term because it is based on an old form of fanaticism and on sowing division among others and sometimes destroying them. To change the ruling methods in the Arab world, what is needed is a national model that goes beyond fanaticism and is based on sound relations between all the components of a country.

A second matter involves rights. No country must be without rights for everyone and there can be no overcoming family domination, tribalism and sectarianism without asserting the equality of all people under the law. The reality in the Arab world is different: Members of the opposition do not enjoy rights simply because they are opponents; a sect which does not rule is often deprived of its rights, while the ruler or those related or close to him are above the law.

Rights in the Arab world are given to those with whom those in power agree or to those who are part of a given sect, a tribe or family.

Yet throughout the world, rights have been developed mainly to protect the weak and those who disagree with decision-makers or the majority. Laws must be developed in Iraq, especially since the country is in the process of writing a constitution and reorganizing civil relations.

A third issue in Iraq is the future of elections. Arab countries have generally organized their affairs without elections, except when arranging polls that are a masquerade of democracy, and where candidates receive 99 percent of votes.

Holding democratic elections in Iraq in accordance with modern laws for both political parties and the media will be very important in determining Iraq’s future. But the most important thing is presenting a new model for elections in the Arab world, different from the traditional model that lacks freedom.