SUNDAY, JUNE 29th. The 49th day of CPT Patti's deployment. Last contact with her was the phone call on Tuesday.

THE JAPANESE TO PROVIDE LOGISTICAL SUPPORT

The (Japanese) government is considering assigning Self-Defense Forces personnel the task of cleaning and supplying water in and around Baghdad under a bill the Diet is currently debating, government sources said Saturday.

The SDF's main mission in war-torn Iraq would also include transporting personnel and goods, according to the sources...

Initially, the government considered dispatching SDF members to Karbala and other locations in south central Iraq, where Polish forces are operating, or to the southern part of the country, including Basra, for transportation and supply missions. These areas were believed to be less dangerous.

However, the government was later informed of the greater need for operations to clean and supply water for Iraqis and U.S. forces in and around Baghdad Airport--an area that is becoming increasingly safe.

In addition, the government learned that the SDF was not required in Basra or other southern Iraqi areas, as armed forces from other countries are already extending logistic support in such regions.

Bring em on. We'll be glad for the company.

Read it here.

PSYCHOPATHS.

A senior Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim cleric has issued a decree, or fatwa, ordering the killing of any Jew who buys real estate in Iraq, an aide has said.

And the really sad part is that this doesn't strike any of them as odd.

Read the whole bigoted, paranoid, hate-filled thing here.

THEY SAY A LEOPARD NEVER CHANGES HIS SPOTS.

US says Baghdad Bob was lying about being questioned by US Forces.

A spokesman for US forces in Baghdad has denied claims from the former Iraqi Information Minister, known as Comical Ali, that he was questioned by the Americans.

Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf, famed for his deadpan insistence that Iraqi forces were crushing the invading Americans, has resurfaced for the first time since the collapse of the regime in April.

In brief interviews on Al-Arabiya and Abu Dhabi TV on Thursday, he said that he had surrendered himself to US forces, who had released him after questioning.

"Through some friends, I went to the Americans, to the people in charge, and an interview took place about a number of issues relating to my work," he said.

"After the interview, I was released."

But a spokesman for US forces in Iraq said they had never questioned Mr Sahhaf, let alone had him to release.

US Central Command was also unable to confirm his claims, telling BBC News Online: "He is an interesting story teller and we look forward to hearing what he has got to say."

But here is the bit that strikes me as interesting.

Looking thinner and greyer than three months ago during his daily press briefings, he declined to tell the Arab TV stations about the final days before Baghdad fell.

"The time is not yet ripe to say what happened. When history's ready, then we can talk about it," he said.

The time isn't ripe yet eh? Is that because you believe Saddam is still listening?

Read it here.

OH, THIS IS RICH.

This from the same people who brought us unbridled looting and shooting.

Leading Iraqis have denounced proposals to deploy Indian peace keepers in their country, saying Iraqis alone should be responsible for their security.

The Iraqi reactions follow continuing political and military tensions within the country, which has been occupied by US and British troops and a small Polish contingent since the end of April...

Back in New Delhi the Pentagon proposal has been rejected by opposition politicians, notably Congress foreign affairs expert K Natwar Singh, who believes that sending Indian troops to Iraq without a UN mandate would be a mistake.

Iraqis who agree with him include Dr Hamid Bayati of the Iranian-backed Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. "I don't know why they should ask India," Bayati told rediff.com. "It surprises me. Perhaps the Americans think it will relieve the pressure on them, but the pressure will then be applied to the Indians.

"I don't know what the Americans are up to, but they are acting as occupying forces. It's not going to be acceptable to Iraq or any other country in the region. If the Indians went in under a UN flag that would be very reasonable, otherwise they would be very vulnerable."

Bayati, who is currently touring Europe, said only the Iraqis themselves know how to tackle their security needs.

He cites the example of Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, where the two main Kurdish political parties have successfully maintained stability and prosperity since 1991.

If the Kurdish model of government was applied across the rest of the country, stability would follow, he argued.

"Only the Iraqi's themselves know how to tackle their security needs"?

Nice sentiment. Then presumably the Iraqis themselves would know how to tackle their stay-free-of-radiation-needs by not stealing storage barrels from a nuclear site. Or tackle their electrical needs by not sabotaging their electrical grid. Ditto their oil and gas pipelines.

Sheesh.

And let's not be too quick to hold up the Kurds as the shining star example. First of all, they are Kurds. They have never been in dominance in this cobbled together country. But they have been bound together by two things.

1. They are Kurds, not Shia or Sunni. As in the lesser of my two enemies is my friend.

2. Their very existence was threatened by Saddam Hussein until the US stepped in wth the northen no fly zone. When one's survival is in question it is easy to suspend the (relatively) petty political differences.

Yeah, I'm being selfish here...bring in the Indians. Bring in all who will come.

Perhaps CPT Patti comes home sooner as a result.

Read it all here.

IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK AND QUACKS LIKE A DUCK...

I wanted to get this on the record as my gut tells me this might just cost Rummy a "good point of the day" award sometime in the future.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the almost daily attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq do not constitute a guerrilla war.

Mr. Rumsfeld instead blamed the deadly attacks on remnants and sympathizers of the ousted Saddam Hussein regime. He also said common criminals are behind some attacks, noting that Saddam Hussein freed almost 100,000 prisoners before the U.S.-led invasion.

Mr. Rumsfeld spoke Friday after three attacks claimed the lives of three U.S. soldiers in 24 hours.

That story is here.

INTERESTING.

For me this is simply further proof that Saddam Hussein didn't give a damn about the Iraqi people and their well being..

Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency devised a plan to challenge the allied occupation of Iraq: sabotage its own country.

The targets have included oil pipelines, the Baghdad electrical system, a liquid natural-gas plant and other key installations. With each attack, life for Iraq's roughly 24 million people has become more onerous and the mission of allied forces more complex...

Allied officials say they recently obtained a document prepared by the Iraqi Intelligence Service calling for a sabotage campaign in case of Saddam's ouster. Marked "secret" and dated Jan. 23, the document was found in the southern Iraqi city of Basra but is marked for distribution to intelligence officers throughout the country.

The "emergency plan" in the document outlines 11 steps, including looting and burning government offices, sabotaging power plants, cutting communication lines and attacking water purification plants, a familiar list to anybody who has followed events in Iraq over the past two months.

The measures are described in the plan as "steps necessary after the fall of the Iraqi leadership by the American-British-Zionist allies, God forbid."

Read the rest here.

GOOD FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT OF A SOLDIER'S LIFE IN BAGHDAD.

This soldier is in the 2d Brigade area, west of the Tigris river.

Our patrols are limited due to the intense heat, which has been around 120 degrees in the day, plus we are wearing body armor, Kevlar helmets, lots of ammo and our assigned weapons.

Foot patrols are done on a voluntary basis usually on our days off, which is usually every third day but of course mission dictates. The soldiers and I who perform the patrols really enjoy them because we feel we are doing something for the people of Iraqi.

We often stop for breaks at homes and enjoy a cup of Iraqi tea called "chi," provided by the adults of course.

Most people appreciate us being out there. I'm sure it gives them a sense of security. Our primary responsibility is the security of the Media Center, which currently houses the Iraqi interim government along with Iraqi media and television employees.

Read the whole thing here.

MISSING SOLDIERS IDENTIFIED IN THE PRESS.

Meanwhile, U.S. troops detained six Iraqis in connection with the intense search for two soldiers missing since Wednesday from their post about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Baghdad, a spokesman with the Coalition Public Information Center said.

CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf said the U.S. military has deployed a formidable array of equipment, scouring the countryside and Baghdad with helicopters, armored vehicles and tanks.

The soldiers -- Sgt. 1st Class Gladimir Philippe, 37, of Linden, New Jersey, and Pfc. Kevin Ott, 27, of Columbus, Ohio -- were last reported traveling in a Humvee near a checkpoint when military officials lost contact with them.

The story is here. And while it doesn't identify their unit, this story says:

But soldiers from the 1st Armored Division's 2nd Brigade stationed in Baghdad said they heard in a nightly report Wednesday that the missing soldiers were from their division's 3rd Brigade.

If that is the case, these soldiers probably are based out of Fort Riley, Kansas.


UPDATE: Two missing U.S. soldiers were found dead Saturday 25 miles north of Baghdad (search), Centcom has confirmed.

Please say a prayer for their families.

SABOTAGE AGAINST THE ELECTRICAL GRID.

But its effects also accrue to the US. And the face of the US to the average Iraqi is a US soldier.

The sabotage is designed to discredit the US - and if it succeeds, the soldiers will be the ones to face the anger of the Iraqi people.

Iraq’s electricity crisis won’t be getting better any time soon, the top U.S. civil administrator said Wednesday.

Millions of Iraqis across the country have experienced long periods without power since the United States and Britain started the campaign to overthrow the Saddam Hussein-led government.

In the last week, Baghdad residents have been frequently left with only a few hours of power each day — especially painful during the middle of summer, when temperatures are constantly topping 110 degrees.

Saboteurs and the former regime are to blame for Iraq’s electrical woes, said Paul Bremer, who heads the Coalition Provisional Authority. Bremer told a group of Iraqi journalists that he knows the situation is a serious one.

“I can understand the people’s impatience,” he said. “Ask my staff, they would tell you I’m rather impatient myself.”

Read it here.

ANOTHER STORY SET IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THAWRA.

Signs of progress and reminders of what impedes progress.

The 2nd ACR opened two police stations in al-Thwara, run by military police until local Iraqi police can be equipped and trained to take over.

And for the very first time, Madiha Lazim said she feels safe enough to walk after dark, but only when accompanied by other women.

“Yes, I feel safe,” she began to say. But the conversation abruptly ended when a cleric, who would only identify himself as “Islam,” yelled at the congregating women, telling them they had no business being outside, and especially should not speak to a reporter.

At his insistence, they scurried away.

Its a good story. Read it here.

MORE BAD NEWS.

Attackers killed a U.S. soldier in a convoy moving through the capital and a gunman shot an American soldier in the neck as he browsed a Baghdad market Friday, part of a vicious cycle of Iraqi attacks and ever-tougher U.S. crackdowns on resistance.

American forces, meanwhile, accidentally killed an 11-year-old boy in Baghdad.

The past two days have seen a torrent of guerrilla-style ambushes that have killed at least three U.S. soldiers, with a fourth dying in a non-combat accident. Two U.S. soldiers remained missing Friday night, three days after their apparent abduction from a guard post north of the capital.

Late Friday, attackers fired on a U.S. convoy in the Thawra neighborhood of northeast Baghdad, killing an American soldier and wounding four others, said military spokesman Sgt. Patrick Compton. An Iraqi civilian interpreter was also wounded.

Saboteurs also have been attacking Baghdad's power grid and oil pipelines, foiling coalition efforts to restore services to the Iraqi people as temperatures climb as high as 117 degrees.

"These are guys who want us to fail. They'd rather see their country burn than have it succeed," said Maj. Scott Slaten, of the Army's 1st Armored Division.


If you are trying to follow this on a map the Thawra neighborhood is the 72 square block neighborhood formerly known as Saddam City, in Northeast Baghdad just north of the narrow Army Canal. You can find it on the map link at the top of this page.

This area is the responsibility of the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Polk...but the 2d ACR has been attached to the 1st Brigade...so realistically this is 1st Brigade turf.

Read the whole story here.

SATURDAY, JUNE 28th. The 48th day of CPT Patti's deployment and a very special day.

Congratulations to Kelley and Jon on their wedding day.

Wish we could have been there guys...our best to you both.

WAY OFF TOPIC, BUT I WANT MOM TO HAVE THIS.

This is the website for the national Do Not Call Registry.

http://donotcall.gov/

Go to that web site and register.

Then have dinner in peace.

ONCE AGAIN THE GOOD POINT OF THE DAY AWARD GOES TO RUMMY.

On the subject of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction:

Rumsfeld feels that had Saddam Hussein actually destroyed all his weapons, "he had everything to gain and nothing to lose by cooperation with the U.N.," and would have more freely welcomed inspectors.

"Why did he continue to give up tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues, under U.N. sanctions, when he could have very simply had those sanctions lifted, simply by demonstrating that he had disarmed?" Rumsfeld questioned. "Why did he file a fraudulent declaration with the United Nations?"

Indeed.

Read it here.

PLAYING POLITICS.

It used to puzzle me why politicians will do this...because it makes no sense. But then I realized that it makes no sense only to those informed enough to know that they've just flipped flopped on an issue for political expedience.

And that's when it really began to bother me...as it sinks in that they must be counting on enough uninformed voters to elect them.

Now that is scary.

Soldiers from the 1st Armored Division captured piles of top secret Iraqi intelligence documents, some of which refer to a nuclear program, in a raid on a community center in Baghdad last Saturday.

Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, probably wishes he had been able to a peek at the documents before he accused President Bush of intentionally misleading Americans about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee dismissed Mr. Kerry's charge as political, and refused to join in it.

Mr. Kerry had to hope his listeners have short memories: "[Saddam Hussein] cannot be permitted to go unobserved and unimpeded toward his horrific objective of amassing a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction," Mr. Kerry said in a speech on the Senate floor in 1997.

In that speech — exhumed by Wesley Pruden, editor in chief of The Washington Times — Mr. Kerry said the U.N. should authorize a military strike on Iraq that would "materially damage ... as much as possible of the suspected infrastructure for developing and manufacturing weapons of mass destruction." And if the U.N. wouldn't go along, the U.S. should go it alone:

"While we should always seek to take significant international actions on a multilateral rather than a unilateral basis ... we must have the courage to do what we believe is right and wise," Mr. Kerry said.

Similar statements — essentially indistinguishable from what President Bush has said — were made by Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt. So if Americans were "intentionally misled" about WMD in Iraq, Democrats originated the plot.

Harping on this issue is strange politics, because polls indicate about two-thirds of Americans think war with Iraq was justified even if weapons of mass destruction are not found. And if they are found, Democrats have walked out on a limb that will be sawed off behind them.

Read it all here.

GETTING WORSE?

I'm not sure...but my sense of unease is growing.

U.S. forces came under widespread attack again Thursday, with two soldiers apparently abducted and one killed in a series of ambushes in and around Baghdad.

Reports of attacks on troops streamed in throughout the day Thursday.

At midday, a trailer in a U.S. military convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in southern Baghdad, and a truck was set afire by local residents protesting the U.S. presence in Iraq, witnesses said. By early evening, al-Jazeera television reported a grenade attack on an American vehicle in the southern town of An Najaf. Military spokesmen could not confirm either attack.

In another incident, a bomb exploded on a road to the Baghdad airport, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding eight others, according to Maj. William Thurmond, another military spokesman in the capital. Two Iraqi electricity workers were killed when a convoy of U.S. and Iraqi civilian vehicles was attacked with hand grenades in west Baghdad.

A static Army becomes a rich target once the locals lose their respect or fear for it. And at that point only more violence can restore that fear and respect.

But that leads to a cycle of violence and resentment.

Read about it here.

AND ANOTHER?

Also Friday, a gunman shot a U.S. soldier shopping for video compact discs on a sidewalk in northwest Baghdad, witnesses said. Ammar Saad, a 44-year-old vendor, said the soldier was shot in the neck at close range and appeared to have been killed. U.S. military spokesmen in Baghdad said they had heard of the incident but were unable to confirm it.

Saad and another witness, 20-year-old porter Jassem Obeid, said the assailant escaped into crowds at a nearby market.

I grow anxious.

FASCINATING STRATFOR ANALYSIS OF THE WAR ON TERROR

When we step back, the broader picture of the U.S.-al Qaeda war becomes clearer. It appears to us that both sides are gearing up for a summer offensive. Each, for its own reasons, is going to try to engage in operations in a series of theaters, including in the United States. This does not mean the offensives will be successful. It does mean we can expect complex action from both sides on a broad geographic scale. These need not be individual large-scale operations, but collectively they will constitute significant attempts to get an advantage in the war.

Analysis

The conquest of Iraq has created an interesting dynamic in the war. Both sides are now under pressure to launch summer offensives. Al Qaeda must demonstrate its continued viability.

The United States must exploit the victory in Iraq and disrupt al Qaeda operations globally. This indicates to us that both sides will carry out intense operations over the next few months.

If we look at the world through al Qaeda's eyes, the period since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has consisted of a series of significant reversals. First, a U.S. offensive dislodged the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Second, the hoped-for insurrection among the Islamic masses did not materialize. The primary goal of the Sept. 11 assault -- to prompt a rising in the Muslim world designed to create an Islamic regime in at least one country, to serve as al Qaeda's anchor -- did not take place. Finally, Iraq was occupied. The Baathist regime was no friend of al Qaeda, except in the sense that the two shared an enemy. Nevertheless, it appears in the Islamic world that al Qaeda has cost Iraq its freedom.

In short, al Qaeda has little to show for Sept. 11 except significant losses and failure. If this trend continues, as we argued in our second-quarter forecast, al Qaeda will begin an irreversible disintegration process, with support personnel concluding that the organization has ceased to be operational and therefore beginning to fall away. It is insufficient for al Qaeda's network to assert operational capability; it must demonstrate this capability...

It also means that if the United States makes headway, al Qaeda will have to come to life. First, if the United States is effective, it will have to protect itself. Second, if the United States is effective, al Qaeda will face a use-it-or-lose-it situation. If its assets are being rolled up, there is little incentive for the network to continue to patiently preserve those assets. It is paradoxical, but in the short run, the more effective the U.S. operation is, the greater the danger from al Qaeda becomes...

Read the whole thing here.

IF YOU HAVE A SOLDIER DOWN RANGE, YOU MIGHT DO THEM A FAVOR AND SEND THEM A WASHBOARD.

In the dirt and grime of the Iraqi desert, Army Reserve Lt. Dominick Filipponi and the men in the transportation unit he commands can sometimes go for a week without a change of clothes and a shower.
So when the 29-year-old soldier had a chance to ask his parents for a favor, it seemed a simple enough request: send a washboard to help the unit do its laundry.

But in a world of automatic washers and dryers, washboards have been relegated to the world of kitschy country decor and the occasional washboard band.

Joan Filipponi and her husband, also named Dominick, searched online stores and auctions from their Pasco County home. They also called department stores and hardware stores and couldn’t find a single one of the galvanized steel boards of days gone by.

It took a call to Cracker Barrel, the roadside restaurant which bills itself as the “little old country store” to resolve the dirty laundry dilemma. Years ago, Cracker Barrels across the country sold washboards in their gift shops, but the boards had long ago been relegated to the clearance bin.

The company searched its 477 stores, finding five boards, which — along with three washtubs and an assortment of games — were sent to Iraq in a care package from the Cracker Barrel restaurant northeast of Tampa, for the lieutenant and his troops...

As it turns out, the old-fashioned house ware has become a hot commodity in the desert. The Columbus Washboard Company, the Ohio factory that is the last remaining manufacturer of washboards in the U.S., has sent nearly 1,500 to the troops.

The boards are accompanied by boxes of laundry soap, clothes pins, clothes lines and small tubs. The company specially designed some boards to read “Proud to be an American.”

“They are thrilled,” said Jacqui Barnett, the company’s co-owner. “We are getting more requests.”

You can find The Columbus Washboard Company at www.columbuswashboard.com/index.html

ANOTHER STORY ON THAT SOCCER GAME AND GIVING BACK THE STADIUM.

But where it says "510th" in the story, it is supposed to say "501st".

And that would be our guys!

The score didn’t matter.

And that was a good thing, because the soccer game Tuesday between American troops assembled from the divisions around Baghdad and a second-tier local Iraqi club was a little lopsided.

OK, more than a little lopsided. The final score was 11-0, and it was the American team that didn’t find the net.

But again, the score didn’t matter. What did matter was that the Iraqis were playing soccer again in al-Sha’ab stadium, which was turned back to them by American troops who had been using it since entering the Iraqi capital.

“Basically, you had support units using the Olympic facilities,” said Lt. Col. Antonio Coleman (CPT Patti's Boss), commander of the 510th Forward Support Battalion from Friedberg, Germany.

Coleman said the facilities have been used for a variety of purposes, including the billeting of some personnel. His unit was supposed to be the next to move into the facility, “but we found a home elsewhere.”

That allowed a series of facilities to be given back to the Iraqis.

Read it here.