MORE IRAQIS STEPPING UP

To take charge of matters in their country. Good for 'em.

A senior Marine officer in Fallujah said Tuesday that the new Iraqi military force that is taking over from U.S. troops in the city is "meeting expectations" in bringing calm to the city.

An all-Iraqi force began moving into positions from withdrawing Marines last week as part of an agreement to restore order in the city, the site of a nearly monthlong siege that left 10 Marines and several hundred Iraqis dead...

Coleman, speaking at the Marine camp a few miles from the center of Fallujah, said that Marines were monitoring the progress of the force.

"We are measuring the reality on the ground, we assigned them, we monitor them," he said...

Coleman said the newly formed Fallujah Brigade was an initiative of former Iraqi officers.

"They didn't come asking for money or anything else, just a chance to serve their nation," Coleman said. "They had been sitting on the sidelines too long, we hadn't given them the opportunity to come forward before."

"But they heard our message ... They came forward saying they can deliver certain things," he added.

"THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT LONG AND HARD LOOKS LIKE"

God bless Jonah.

"Good Lord! You sliced that man open from his neck to his belly! You've cut out his heart! . You're sucking out his blood, you ghoul!"

These are just some of the things you might say if you stumbled on a surgeon conducting a heart transplant.

Of course, you wouldn't actually say it because you'd see the men and women in their gowns and masks, along with all the medical doodads including "the machine that goes 'ping'" - as they say in Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life."

But the important thing to keep in mind is that in a major operation - on a person or a nation - the patient is the most vulnerable, and looks the most horrible, halfway into the procedure, not at the beginning or the end. And if, in your horror, you screamed, "Stop what you're doing right now!" you'd be saying you want the patient to die.

It's not the best analogy for Iraq. Heart surgeons typically have lots of experience. They have guidelines that, if followed more or less faithfully, will yield success most of the time. And heart surgeons rarely get harassed in the operating room.

Meanwhile, nobody under the age of 80 has worked on as ambitious a nation-building project as what we're doing in Iraq...

When Sen. Ted Kennedy says the invasion of Iraq is possibly "the worst blunder in the entire history of American foreign policy," he's putting the cart before the horse (and giving short-shrift to his brother's work in Vietnam). The worst blunder would be the failure to see things through in Iraq.

What's sad is that Kennedy's partisanship makes that blunder more likely. That's probably what prompted Sen. Joe Lieberman to be the grown-up in the Democratic party and ask his colleagues to "stop encouraging our enemies" by undermining the administration's efforts in Iraq.

Still, at this point, there's simply no disputing that Iraq reconstruction isn't going well, though not as badly as many think...

My hope is that what we are witnessing with the halting of "de-Baathification," our backing down in Fallujah, etc., is realism about means, not ends. Compromises on the way to a new Iraq are like amputations on the way to saving a patient - hard choices, but tolerable in comparison to the alternative.

But, you know what? We were told rebuilding Iraq would be hard. When Bush spoke underneath that much derided "mission accomplished" banner, he said this was going to be long and hard. Well, folks, this is precisely what long and hard looks like. Nation building is ugly and difficult; so is cutting out a man's bad heart and putting in a good one.

NICE FOLKS

When customers enter Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar on Alcoa Highway, they can help a neighbor fighting for democracy halfway around the world.

Michael Lloyd is a 24-year-old United States Marine serving in Iraq. He is also the brother of Applebee's employee Katie Hensley.

Shortly after Lloyd was deployed about two months ago, the restaurant ``adopted'' him and placed a box with his picture at the front of the restaurant. Since then, customers and employees have continued to fill it with ``anything we'd use today we'd take for granted,'' Hensley said...

The response from customers and employees has been good, manager Cindy Anderson said.

Often, when customers see the box for the first time, they bring personal items to donate on repeat visits, Anderson said.

``There's a customer who is a regular, and he's always bringing something to put in the box,'' Hensley said.

TWO REASONS TO BE AMAZED
One good, the other...not so good.

For about five months, Joan Foglia waged a personal campaign to bring her daughter home safely from Iraq. Every time she bought something with a credit card, she'd pull out a picture of her daughter along with her license.

"I'd say: `I don't know if you pray. If you do, pray for her. If not, keep her in your thoughts,'" Foglia said of her pleas. "I had people say to me, `Oh, I didn't know we still had soldiers there.'"

On Monday, Marissa Foglia's welcome home was filled with family and neighbors. The 22-year-old has been back in the States for three weeks, but Monday was the first day Joan Foglia got to hold her daughter since she volunteered to go to Iraq in September...

The decision to go to Iraq was not a difficult one. She'd only finished basic training about four months before.

"They called us and said, `Do you want to go over as a replacement?' Me and three others said, `Yes,'" she said.

"She said, `If I go, then another solider gets to come home,'" her mother said. "I said, `We all have our paths to travel in life, and if that's your path then you have to go.' I said, `I'll pray for you and watch your back.'"

KEEP THIS IN MIND

As the rest of the media flood you with the prison images...know that this is more along the lines of what is happening every day, all over Iraq.

“I said, ‘For God’s sake, where are your parents?’” said Wisam Hashim, a security guard at the Palestine Hotel, where Sayf goes to rest sometimes in a chair in the air-conditioned lobby. “He said, ‘They beat me and they take my money.’”

Hussain Mohammed, 15, who sells cigarettes and beer outside the hotel each day after school until 11 p.m., said Sayf has been working the area since he was a very small boy.

“In Saddam’s time, he used to come and beg from the Iranian pilgrims,” Mohammed said.

No adult has ever come to claim him...

He also frequently picks up something new from the soldiers. His vocabulary of curse words, for instance, is said to be impressive.

But sometimes the soldiers sing to him. Staff Sgt. Michael Tucker taught him “Build Me Up Buttercup” recently. Tucker sang a verse, then Sayf repeated it, until they finished the song.

“That’s something I sing to my future stepdaughter,” Tucker said, a little embarrassed. “It just popped into my head.”

The soldiers often slip Sayf $5 or so but they said he prefers to earn money pushing carts or carrying foreigners’ bags in his skinny little arms.

Late one afternoon, Sayf had amassed 3,500 dinar — about $2.20 — and seven $1 bills.

“He comes up here some days and he wants to buy everybody a soda,” Lewis said. “I say, ‘No, Sayf. You have to save your money.’ ”

GOOD IDEA

Is it possible these guys are beginning to sense that the quiet moderate majority can hold sway over the minority militants? Let's hope so.

Representatives of Iraq's most influential Shiite leaders met here on Tuesday and demanded that Moktada al-Sadr, a rebel Shiite cleric, withdraw militia units from the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, stop turning the mosques there into weapons arsenals and return power to Iraqi police and civil defense units that operate under American control.

The Shiite leaders also called, in speeches and in interviews after the meeting, for a rapid return to the American-led negotiations on Iraq's political future. The negotiations have been sidelined for weeks by the upsurge in violence associated with Mr. Sadr's uprising across central and southern Iraq and the simultaneous fighting in Falluja, the Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad.

On Tuesday, the Shiite leaders, including a representative of a Shiite clerical group that has close ties to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, effectively did what the Americans have urged them to do since Mr. Sadr, a 31-year-old firebrand, began his attacks in April: they tied Iraq's future, and that of Shiites in particular, to a renunciation of violence and a return to negotiations.

GOOD NEWS FOR 1AD SOLDIERS AND THOSE OF US MISSING THEM

Secretary Rumsfeld says:

General Abizaid has now indicated his desire to retain the current level of forces in Iraq, roughly 135,(000), (1)38,000 forces, for longer than the 90 days that we recently extended about 20,000 forces to get up to that higher figure. We will not extend the same individuals beyond the 90 days. Instead we are identifying and preparing to deploy forces to replace those individuals.

Recently I approved deployment of approximately 10,000 replacement personnel. Other units are now being identified and will be approved in the coming days.

(Emphasis added)

And this is how they will accomplish that:

The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit will leave Camp Lejeune two months early and go directly to Iraq, where it will relieve Army units stationed there.

The orders were announced Tuesday by the Department of Defense. The 2,200-member 24th MEU is currently about halfway through its normal six-month training cycle for a previously scheduled deployment to the Mediterranean Sea.

The MEU was on a training in an urban environment exercise, or TRUEX, in Morgantown, W.Va., when military officials ordered it to leave in 70 days to replace elements of the Army's 1st Armored Division and 2nd Light Cavalry Regiment who were extended in Iraq. The MEU was previously scheduled to leave in late August.

A BIT MORE FROM FIRAS

It would be nice if Firas could speak at the UN...perhaps those who see nothing but doom would begin to pay attention.

When I read the speech of Mr. Bremer on the 23rd of April 2004, I can’t find in it but true intentions to make thing better for us and with logical methods, easy to be substituted in Iraqi society. And I think that’s the main reason that the governing council members are accepting the American policy in Iraq, I mean they are close to decision making authority and know more about the bright future of the country than the rest of Iraqis.

But when I hear about the new contracts, some of them about rebuilding Faluja and when I see every day in my way to work many Iraqis on their way to work, schools, and many construction sites, and markets full of imported goods with many ordinary people doing shopping, and imported cars in car markets more than the customers who are trying to buy cars, and when I feel the people of Faluja happy to get red of the terrorists in their city and many others are forgetting about the rebels in Najaf and thinking of them just a bunch of twisted minds, then I know that we are on the right path.

I am sure that these days many Iraqis know that the coalition is in war situation, but not with Iraqis but with terrorism on the land of Iraq. So all we have to do is to help the good guys to win this war fast, at least by staying safe and away of the hot areas.

May be many of us are trying to say it’s not our war why should we bear so much….. Well the war against the terrorism is responsibility of the entire world, and now we are playing our part in it.

Good point about the war on terror belonging to the whole world, Firas. How much easier would it be if the whole world were actually participating?

ALRIGHT...LET'S SKIP THE MEDIA AND GET IT FIRST HAND

God bless the Lutz Patriots...some day's I wonder just how much good one small band of folks from The America I Live In can do.

Thanks to Barbara we get to share in this exchange with an Iraqi who keeps his own blog. His name is Firas and he recently swapped email with our friends in the Patriots.

Hi Firas,

I just discovered your blog this evening. I am the mother of a U.S. Marine Corps Officer and want you to know that most Americans want nothing more than to see you and your fellow Iraqi's live in a free and peaceful country.

I wanted you to know also that we are part of a group in our community in Florida who have been sending supplies through our soldiers to many schools there to help Iraqi children. The soldiers have sent us pictures of the children and they are beautiful.

If there is anything we can do to support and encourage you please let us know. If your friends and family there will support the coalition and be patient, I'm sure your country will grow to be free and a great friend to the U.S. We are praying that more and more Iraqi's will bravely defend what coalition forces are trying to do...free your people and restore order there so the children will know a prosperous future.

We will continue to support you and pray for you.

Barbara
LutzPatriots@aol.com
--------------------------------------------------

Firas's reply:

Barbra
Thank you for the beautiful e-mail.....we are aware of the Americans civilian people activities for the Iraqi people and children.......actually you may be surprised how the majority of Iraqis are thankful for you all.....But as usuall Black is more obvious than white and the media is taking bad part in that.......tell your son it will be an honor for me to know him and to be friends.....God bless you all.

Firas Georges

P.S. please read this e-mail to all your friends in the group you mentioned.

Firas...thanks for writing to Barbara and allowing her to share your comments with the rest of us.

May God grant us that those who think as you do will prevail over the violent factions stuck in the past.

I'D LIKE YOUR HELP PLEASE

This morning while preparing for work I passed through the living room and heard a brief clip of Congressman Duncan Hunter, R, California, pointing out that there are 125K soldiers in Iraq doing good and honorable stuff, but the media couldn't be bothered to cover it. However, given the prison issue....well, you can see where that is going.

Not surprisingly I can't find the congressman's quote on the internet yet. And his web site wants me to be a member of his district (which I'm not) to email his office...so - if any of you can help me find some place where he is cited, please let me know.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 5th

And this is the 360th day of CPT Patti's deployment.

"THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE - DON'T LOSE YOUR NERVE"

But is Iraq really plunging into chaos? Anyone in contact with Iraqi realities would know that the answer is: No.

Yes, a variety of terrorist, insurgent and ordinary criminals are active in the country. Parts of Baghdad remain unsafe. Some roads, especially in the desert area bordering Jordan and Syria, are prone to attacks by bandits. And, as in many other parts of the world where criminal gangs operate, there is also some hostage-taking. But most of Iraq's 18,000 villages and 200-plus towns and cities remain as safe, if not safer, than those in some other Arab countries.

The Coalition faces a problem in Fallujah. But Fallujah accounts for no more than 4 percent of Iraq's Sunni Arab community. Other major Sunni cities - Mosul, Ramadi, even Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown - remain calm...

Those who claim that Iraq is in chaos also point to Najaf, where Muqtada al-Sadr, a 30-year-old Shiite cleric, is hiding in a number of holy shrines and mosques along with his so-called Army of the Mahdi. But talk to anyone in Najaf and you'll soon know that the overwhelming majority of the city's population wants Sadr to get the hell out. (After more than two weeks of contacts with Iraqi Shiite leaders and opinion-makers at various levels, this writer has not found anyone who supports Sadr and his shenanigans.)

Sadr is abusing the old Shiite practice of "bast," which consists of taking sanctuary in a holy shrine. But Najaf is a city of 500,000 people, while Sadr's followers number 3,000 at most...

There is no nationwide insurrection in Iraq. Nor is Iraq suffering from a general breakdown in law and order. To be sure, it is no bed of roses. But the violence and insecurity are within the remit of normal in a post-liberation situation, and remain manageable...

When President Bush announced the start of the war to liberate Iraq, he promised to stay the course until the Iraqi people built a new democratic system. Implicit in that offer was that the Iraqis should play their part in what is by far the greatest challenge they have faced since their state was created eight decades ago.

The people of Iraq have kept their end of the bargain. They did not fight on Saddam's side, allowing the Coalition to achieve victory with remarkable ease. Since then, they've continued to do what is required of them - not only by isolating insurgents and terrorists, but also by beginning to rebuild their shattered country. As a string of recent polls, complemented by personal and anecdotal information, indicates, the overwhelming majority are still prepared to work with the Coalition to achieve their dream of a new political system based on human rights and pluralism.

The real question is: Will the Coalition keep its end of the bargain? Or will U.S. and British leaders, for reasons of domestic politics, lose their nerve, throw Iraq to the United Nations or some other ineffectual custodian and sacrifice the strategic goal of a democratic Middle East to tactical electoral considerations?

What to do in Iraq? The answer is simple: Don't lose your nerve!

WILLIAM SAFIRE WEIGHS IN

The new certainty in Iraq of ultimate coalition troop withdrawal should also concentrate the minds of those Iraqis who until now have been all too content to allow the outside world to bear the human and financial costs of overthrowing Saddam Hussein.

But there is never any free ride to freedom. If Iraqis do not take up the opportunity now made available to them by the sacrifice of outsiders, they will slip back into a new dictatorship, with new torture chambers and mass graves.

The Kurdish minority is aware of this. That is why only a few hundred U.S. troops are needed in northern Iraq to help the Kurds keep the peace and build democracy in their region...

Where are the voices of a million Iraqis who returned from exile after their persecutor was overthrown? Where is the leader brave enough to tell fellow Iraqis that the danger to them is not from America, but from Iran, al-Qaida and a new Saddam?

The great majority of Iraqis are glad that Saddam is overthrown. We and the United Nations are giving them democracy's moment, but courageous Iraqis must come forward to seize it. Next April's goal is not "stability,' the new soft word for the old hard tyranny. The goal theirs and ours remains Iraqi freedom.

MORE GOODNESS

This guy finds a need...and we can help.

Concerned about the welfare of troops returning home with disabilities from the war on terror, a new nonprofit group is raising money to build houses adapted to their needs.

Homes for Our Troops is the brainchild of John Gonsalves, a construction supervisor from Wareham, Mass., who said he was struck by television news accounts of a humvee driver in Iraq who lost two legs during a rocket-propelled grenade attack. "I remember watching that and wondering, 'What happens to him from here?'" Gonsalves said.

Gonsalves said that news story inspired him to volunteer his services to an organization that builds houses for disabled troops — but he couldn't find one. "That planted the seed for Homes for Our Troops," he said. "I knew that if I didn't get a group together and try to do this, it would haunt me the rest of my life."

When he launched Homes for Our Troops, Gonsalves admitted that he "knew nothing about nonprofits, but I did know how to build a house." He'd built houses adapted for people with special needs, incorporating ramps, wider doors and hallways, and lower sinks and counters, among other features.

Today, seven weeks after Homes for Our Troops began raising money, more than $100,000 in donations has rolled in, as well as $50,000 in labor and building materials. "Feedback has been phenomenal," said Gonsalves, who said he has received donations from all over the United States.

Homes for Our Troops hopes to break ground soon for its first project, a house for Sgt. Peter Damon, a Massachusetts National Guard soldier who lost his right arm above the elbow and his left hand and wrist in Iraq when a Black Hawk helicopter tire he was changing exploded.

Gonsalves said he hopes to have several houses under construction by this summer if fundraising continues at its current pace. "There's more than enough money in this country to do something like that," he said.

He encourages donors to give, regardless of the amount. "It doesn't have to be a large amount. It all adds up," he said.

Gonsalves said Homes for Our Troops is a way for Americans — many of whom he said have gone on with their daily lives with little personal contribution to the terror war or awareness about how to make one — to help repay the debt they owe to the men and women in uniform.

"The war on terror is something the American people should all be a part of — not just the people on the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq," Gonsalves said. "As Americans, we have a responsibility to do more for our veterans who are out there fighting every day and putting their lives on the line."

To make a donation to Homes for Our Troops, visit the organization's Web site or write: Homes for Our Troops, Inc., P.O. Box 615, Buzzards Bay, MA 02532.

My thanks to Dave for the story.

Turns out these guys have a web-site as well. Go visit them at http://www.homesforourtroops.org/

THE PRISONER STORY

I received email in response to yesterday's post about the prisoner abuse by our Military Policemen.

Like me, you feel betrayed by individuals who should have done better.

You are reading or hearing in the news that Letters of Reprimand have been issued to six commissioned or non-commissioned officers. I can assure you those who have received the letters have just had their careers ended. They have gone as far as they are going. No more promotionS will happen for those individuals. Just one such letter in one's official file and that is it.

I don't know who those are who received the letters. But knowing how these things work my guess is they each had some duty to influence events at that prison...some level of "supervisory" responsibility that, in the view of the General handing out those letters of reprimand, they failed to exercise.

I don't know for certain but my guess is if we knew who these folks are and what their positions were at the time, we might be surprised at just how far these letters go - meaning that I believe we might actually feel that some of these folks were just too far removed from the events to be taken down by them.

But it is well established in the Army that leaders "are responsible for everything their subordinates do or fail to do." And now, by my guess even well up the chain of command, that responsibility is coming home to roost.

And now we are left with the courts martial of the others more directly related. My guess is we will hear from those who want to put cameras in the courts for those. I seriously doubt it will happen.

The defendants can be represented by military defense counsel or, if they so choose, and wish to pay for, by civilian counsel of their choosing. As I alluded to yesterday, the jury will be comprised of officers and enlisted members of the Army. If the defendant in a particular trial is enlisted then he or she can ask that at least one third of the jury (or Panel, as it is known) is made up of enlisted servicemembers.

The defense has already tipped its hand to a degree...we are supposed to cry for the bastards because they lacked training in how to guard prisoners.

Well, I've never been trained to guard a prisoner either. Moreover, it would never occur to me to do what these folks are accused of doing. And frankly, my guess is that is exactly how the members of the court martial panel will see it. Every one of us who has ever worn the uniform has been asked to perform duties for which we have not been trained...it just happens in the Army...it is the nature of the beast. And the astonishingly large majority of us manage to do those duties to the best of our God given abilities without bringing discredit upon ourselves, our profession and our nation.

I'm guessing thoughts like that will go through the minds of the members of the Panel...and such will be discussed in the deliberations room...just before the verdict of guilty is agreed to and brought by the men and women of honor who serve with pride and distinction.

We've all heard that President Bush is angry about these actions at the prison and has instructed the Pentagon to be certain these soldiers are punished. Problem with that is he has potentially set the stage for appeals ad-nauseum by these slugs, since there is a strict prohibition from any leader exercising undo command influence on the outcome of the military process of disposing of cases through the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

It won't be a big problem, but it will be an unnecessary distraction...one that is probably worth it to the President to be seen as being resolute about this sort of thing.

Now...finally, a word about us here. In my view we will see and hear more about this than we could ever hope to absorb simply by watching the news and reading the papers.

And it has been my purpose to seek out the better news, the stories that are not covered so well, that highlight the remarkably selfless service and accomplishments of 99% of Soldiers.

So...you will forgive me if I leave this story in the hands of those whose job it is to sell newspapers and TV advertising - doubtless they will hype this until we all want to retch.

Meanwhile, we will head off in search of the good news that should, but doesn't draw similar enthusiastic coverage by the media.

AN ACCIDENTAL RESCUE

Good story here about Tom Hamill, the captured truckdriver who escaped.

Story written by the Stars & Stripes reporter...so it is better than most you will read.

Hamill, a truck driver with Kellogg, Brown & Root, had been kept in a small building near a house “in the middle of the desert,” the soldiers said, about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad. He’d heard the Humvees that were trailing the foot patrol, then pushed his way out the door blocked with a piece of metal and some wood, and made a dash for the soldiers.

He was shoeless and thirsty, with a gunshot wound in his arm. He said he’d been moved around a lot in the past weeks but had been laxly guarded recently.

“He said, ‘I could have escaped a bunch of times, but where am I going to go with one bottle of water and no map?’” Forbes said.

TUESDAY, MAY 4th.

This is day 359 of my darling wife's deployment to Iraq.

HOW WELL DO THEY FIGHT?

On April 11, Scouts shot it out with 25 uniformed insurgents in a palm grove, killing or capturing them all.

On the way back to base, the Scouts encountered a bomb in the urban area just outside Victory North, “and we didn’t fire a shot. Who were we going to shoot? We just kept on truckin’.”

In rural areas outside Baghdad, Scouts typically engage insurgents laying ambushes, Smith said. They’re well-equipped, with fighting positions dug to American standards.

“They’re prepared to fight,” he said. “It’s in the execution where we seen these guys fail.” Though his Scouts are well-armed, trained and experienced, some of the forces they’ve tangled with had sufficient numbers and firepower to overwhelm them, Smith said.

“They had AKs, RPKs, RPGs. They could have [messed] us up,” he said. But most fled after firing a few stray shots, Smith said. Smith theorizes that many factors differentiate urban and rural warfare. Urban terrorists may be more resolute in that they’re closer to the people who finance attacks, he said. Insurgents operating in rural areas away from “the guys pulling the strings may find it easier to cut and run” than their counterparts on the streets of Abu Ghraib and Amariyah,” he said.

STANDARDS - HOW WE MEASURE SUCCESS OR FAILURE

It was a Sunday. I had graduated from college and received my commission the day before. And on that Sunday I was packing the car with the meager belongings of a 22 year old in 1980 and preparing to head to Fort Bragg, NC where I would begin my career as an Army officer.

My father hugged me that day...and with tears in his eyes (and as a result, in mine) he said simply "Be a good soldier, Son."

Twenty-one years later as I said my farewell to friends and fellow soldiers in a gymnasium at Fort Lee, Virginia, I recalled those words...and again they put a lump in my throat.

I miss my Dad. I think I especially miss the way he could cut through complex issues to find the simple heart of the matter.

Dad's standards were not hard to understand. "Do your best, give it your all, be a good soldier." Nope...not hard to understand. More difficult to live up to however.

Some years after I began my Army career the Army introduced us to The Seven Army Values. It wasn't new that these values were important in the Army. What was new was the packaging of these together, and the emphasis on teaching these values in their packaged form.

This marked a turning point, in my view, for the Army. It marked the time when the values that were behind the everyday actions and decisions made by Army leaders were actually named, exposed, and highlighted so they could be moved to the fore of an Army education.

And seemingly overnight thousands upon thousands of soldiers were introduced to the tortured acronym LDRSHIP (read "leadership", of course), and the values that created the acronym.

Loyalty: Bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the Army, your unit, and other soldiers.

Duty: Fulfill your obligations.

Respect: Treat people as they should be treated.

Selfless-Service: Put the welfare of the nation, the Army, and your subordinates before your own.

Honor: Live up to all the Army values.

Integrity: Do what's right, legally and morally.

Personal Courage: Face fear, danger, or adversity (Physical or Moral).

The descriptions above are the short versions. When these values were first packaged and presented in this form every soldier already in uniform underwent training on the seven Army values. Naturally every soldier coming through the recruiting system into basic training and advanced individual training (AIT) was drilled and schooled in the seven Army values as well.

In my last position on active duty it was my privilege to create an award at the Army's cook's school, an award to ve voted on by peers to honor the Army Cook in training who best lived the ideals of the seven Army values.

To this day the seven Army values is routinely a subject of Officer and Non-commissioned Officer professional development.

In short it is inconceivable there exists a United States Soldier anywhere who hasn't been trained on, and expected to live by, the seven Army Values. Those who wish to call themselves Soldiers will find their inner compass always points in the right and honorable direction if they internalize and live these values.

In other words...in the absence of specific guidance, here is your steering wheel.

Which is why I find the story of the abuse of the Iraqi Prisoners of War to be so very disheartening. And why I find the headlines proclaiming these folks never got training on the Geneva Convention such Bullsh*t, if you will pardon my bluntness.

Let's address the latter point first.

How ashamed it must make your mother and father for you to admit publicly that your own upbringing as a human-freaking-being was insufficient to prevent you from humiliating those under your total control.

Are you actually going to pretend that your defense is that someone didn't tell you specifically that degradation and ridicule of prisoners of war is against some international agreement? Does your own moral compass not have the path toward good (or at least even perhaps NEUTRAL, if you can't find good) marked on it? Are you totally devoid of humanity...destined to follow your baser inclinations as if you are some 8 year old character from Lord of the Flies?

Now that we have addressed your existence as sub-human (or, at least, sub-American Soldier), let us address the fact that you are a liar.

I've been around the Army a day or two. Yes, I was on active duty, but I spent three of those years in direct support of Army Reserve and Army National Guard units. I've been a part of the process to mobilize numerous reserve component units. I have been part of the process by which such units must be certified prior to deployment.

Part of that process is to verify the individual and collective training status of the units and their members.

Army Regulation 350-1, paragraph 4-14 stipulates that Law of War training will be conducted (a) during basic training, (b) in the unit and (c) at the Total Army School System courses, which is, by the way, where members of the reserve are certified in their MOSs if they did not attend the traditional basic/advanced training that most soldiers get.

In other words, you have been trained in the Law of War...probably trained numerous times...and that training includes the following teaching points:

(2) Soldiers do not harm enemies who surrender. They disarm them and turn them over to their superior.

(3) Soldiers do not kill or torture enemy prisoners of war....

(9) Soldiers should do their best to prevent violations of the law of war.

(10) Soldiers report all violations of the law of war to their superior.

Having expeditiously dealt with your being a liar, now let us address your abject stupidity.

You took photos/allowed photos to be taken of your doing criminal acts.

Congratulations...you stupid, lying scum,during the (hopefully) years that will be taken from you as you rot in a cell at Leavenworth, you will be remembered and mocked as you zoom to the top of every stupid criminals list on the internet, radio and television.

Now...they won't be able to convict you one this charge, but my standards of proof aren't as strict as those required by the UCMJ...so let me also tell you that in my mind you are guilty of aiding and abetting the enemy. You have given al Jazeera the only story they need for about the next couple of decades, you stupid, treasonous morons.

Finally...and I hope this one hurts worst of all. You broke faith with Soldiers. You aren't soldiers, you are self-serving dilletantes who somehow got caught up in a world of otherwise professional Servicemen and women. You let the Soldiers down. You let your country down. You have given our enemies photographic evidence that will be trotted out and shown for decades to come.

You have given Active Duty Soldiers reason to give into their inclinations not to trust Reservists, and in doing so you have sullied the reputation of all reservists, indeed all Soldiers of the United States Army.

You had all the tools you need. You had training. You had 228 years of history and tradition to guide you. You had the Army Values to steer you even through the murkiest of times if you needed them (not that the issues here are murky...not at all.) In my view you failed to live up to each and every one of those values. Hell, even if you couldn't remember them all, just remembering one or two and living by them would have kept you out of all this.

And If all else fails your own humanity and even the Bible could have steered you away from these atrocities.

But you blew it. You failed.

You failed to uphold the standards of humanity...nor the standards of American Soldiers.

I hope you spend at least 20 years in Leavenworth. And given that the jury that convicts and sentences you will be made up of real Soldiers, I'm pretty certain that you will.

Standards. Perhaps if my father had asked of you to "be a good soldier"...perhaps you might have understood a standard so simple.

Instead, you are despised. And in my mind you can never, ever atone for what you did to the reputation of the United States Army and the United States of America.

(Tim's note: The preponderance of stories out there today deal with this subject or the mortar that took too many US lives west of Baghdad. Pardon me if there is not much else to post today.)

MONDAY, MAY 3d.

Day 358 of CPT Patti's deployment.