May 08, 2004

Don't miss reading Ali's account of his chat with an Iraqi doctor who sees the Abu Ghraib prisoners as patients:
IRAQ THE MODEL
You'll discover that according to this physician, not only does he not think this abuse was widespread at all, but you'll love hearing about the decency, politeness and kindness of our soldiers to all the Iraqis, including their POWs.

Shi'ite Fighters Take on British Troops in Basra

Iraqi militants and British troops fought running battles in Basra on Saturday as hundreds of Mehdi Army fighters took to the streets in a show of strength after suffering heavy losses from U.S. forces elsewhere.
[...]
But a British military spokesman described the violence as the "posturing of a few lawless individuals" and said the troops were keeping a discreet distance, waiting for it to pass. They held talks with local leaders. By evening, the city was calmer.
[...]
The Basra violence came a day after a preacher from Sadr's movement told worshippers in the city he would pay a reward of $70 for the capture of a British or American soldier -- and $170 for a woman soldier he said could then be kept as a sex slave.

"If we capture a British woman soldier we will take her as a concubine and we will have the right to pleasure ourselves with her," said Kassem Hassan, the Mehdi Army fighter.

This is, of course, straight from the Koran and the will of Mohammed...Ewwwwww.
Thank God they're losers and won't get the opportunity to make this a reality.
The promise of the 72 virgins (or raisins, depending on how you interpret the Koran) is also not doing the trick these days, because as I blogged below, Osama's had to resort to offering gold as a reward.
We're winning....! On to complete victory!

G.I.'s Kill Scores of Militia Forces in 3 Iraqi Cities

KARBALA, Iraq, May 7 — American soldiers battled insurgents led by a rebel Shiite cleric on Friday, killing scores of Iraqis, as the cleric delivered a defiant, derisive sermon that dismissed President Bush's expressions of regret for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
[...]
The Americans pursued Mr. Sadr's militia forces in the warrens and alleyways of two of the holiest Shiite cities, Karbala and Najaf, where the rebels have barricaded themselves for more than a month. Mr. Sadr's militiamen in Karbala fired rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47's at more than 100 soldiers, who moved low along walls and inched their way down a mile-long stretch of road, returning fire as roadside bombs exploded near them.

The soldiers reportedly killed at least 25 insurgents in Karbala, 12 in Najaf and at least 41 in two separate battles around Kufa. There were no United States casualties reported Friday, but a Pole and an Algerian working for a state-run Polish television network were killed by gunmen as they drove through the town of Mahmudiya on the road from Baghdad to Najaf. A Polish cameraman was wounded.

The firefights were the most intense since the American military started an operation here on Tuesday night to crush Mr. Sadr's thousands-strong militia, called the Mahdi Army. The stiff resistance seems to indicate that many of the militiamen are prepared to fight to the death.
[Gee that's too bad, because our soldiers are only too happy to make that happen!--Jen]

More than 2,500 American soldiers have surrounded Najaf, where Mr. Sadr lives, but have refrained from a full-scale invasion because its golden-domed central shrine is one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites. On Thursday, American soldiers took over the governor's mansion on the city's outskirts and installed a new governor.
[Did the Media cover this at all?
I don't think so!
They were too busy bashing the Bush Administration over the Abu Ghraib abuses.
While it's important that we correct any problems in our treatment of POWs, it's more vital that we keep our priorities straight about the larger war, which occasions the POWs in the first place. --J.T.] Powerful Shiite politicians and religious leaders have called for Mr. Sadr to withdraw his militia.

Lt. Col. Gary Bishop of the First Armored Division said the soldiers would continue patrols and raids until they drive the Mahdi Army from Karbala. The goal is to put Iraqi security forces back in charge of the city and limit Mr. Sadr's circle of influence to Najaf, where it is hoped that senior clerics will deal with him, he added.
[...]
In Baghdad, Shiite followers of Mr. Sadr held a rare joint Friday Prayers service with Sunni Muslims at the hard-line Abu Hanifa Mosque
[Normally I like to see "ecumenism," but not in this case!
Shi'ites and Sunnis getting together to wage jihad against the Great Satan has meant nothing but death and violent jihad for the "Crusader" troops.] in the Adhamiya neighborhood, once a stronghold of Saddam Hussein and the scene of fierce battles involving American soldiers last month. Organizers said the cooperation showed that Iraqis were united against prisoner abuse.
[This kind of unity sounds a
lot more positive because Americans are also united against prisoner abuse!]
[...]
"I think they had enough today," Captain Adcock said of the insurgents as he chewed on a cigar after the battle on Friday. "They may get ready and go back tonight. But right now they've had enough."
[...]

One soldier fainted from heat exhaustion, and two were dragged into Bradleys and given water before they collapsed. Some soldiers found a hose by a house and doused one another with it after taking off their helmets.
[For those of you who can afford it, I'd like to remind you that it's HOT in Iraq and now is the perfect time to participate in Operation Air Conditioner and send one of our GIs some relief!]
"The insurgents don't have the support of the people here," Colonel Bishop said. "They now know the local populace is working with us against them."

Some residents of Karbala expressed a more ambiguous view. People in Karbala and Najaf generally want the Mahdi fighters — many of whom hail from the slum of Sadr City in Baghdad — to leave their cities. But those same residents have little regard for the foreigners who have invaded their soil.
[I wouldn't give this too much credence. This is the NYT's obligatory America-bashing.--Jen]

"We don't support either side," said Ahmed Abbas, 24, a grocery store owner. "We don't want the Americans to kill the members of the Mahdi Army, but we also don't want the Mahdi Army to win."

Gosh, I still loathe the slant of the NYT!
They twist the sentiment expressed by the Iraqis that we not kill the Mahdi "militia" because they're fellow Arabs into hatred for the U.S. occupiers.
But Leftist bias aside, this story still paints a picture of a productive few days for Coalition forces!
Hooah and Good work!
This all happened yesterday, but even better news came today that we'd gotten close enough to the evil cleric to arrest 4 of his aides!

U.S. tanks and armored vehicles briefly circled the offices of rebel Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad's Sadr City on Saturday and arrested four aides in a move to step up pressure on the militia leader.

Between the pressure of our guys and gals with guns and his poor support among the population, it won't be long before we have al-Sadr in custody, too!
Looks as if al-Sadr's Friday's sermons aren't as rousing as they used to be, either.
(Even though it wasn't right, you've got to wonder if al-Sadr isn't petrified with fear that he'll be shamed by having the American lady soldier force him to get naked and then point at the smallness of his penis while she smokes an unholy cigarette!)

Greyhawk, writer of the very fine Mudville Gazette blog, chronicles the interview Bill O' Reilly did with Seymour Hersh of the NYSlimes and "Fisks" it good and proper.
Read the whole thing:
Mudville Gazette: The Greyhawk Factor

Did some of our U.S. military step out of line in their treatment of Iraqi war prisoners?
Looks like. They are going to be dealt with; President Bush and SecDef Rumsfeld will make sure, if not their C.O.s.
But the reaction from the Left side of the aisle in Washington led me to the inescapable conclusion that this issue wasn't about righteous indignation about a wartime SNAFU, but was only more fodder for the anti-America, anti-Bush, anti-war attack machine.
Their complete overreaction--calling for Rumsfeld's resignation (and Charlie Rangel (Dumbass-NY) even threw in an impeachment of Bush!) having a Congressional hearing for something the Pentagon was already investigating fully, and the usual holier-than-thou grandstanding by Dimocrat politicos for the media mikes and cameras--is more sickening to me than the abuse photos.

Hersh's name is a historical footnote because he was the reporter who "broke" the My Lai massacre story during the Vietnam War and it's clear the Left would love to have another My Lai in Iraq so that they could use this to discredit our military, the President and his Administration and ultimately bring about the end of the war itself, as they did with the Vietnam war.

As I've noted before, we also have a Dimocrat candidate for the Presidency who "made his political oats" testifying to Congress that he witnessed, as a Navy swift boat captain in Vietnam, "systemic" committment of war crimes by the U.S. military on the Enemy and that tacit permission to behave this way allegedly went "up and down" the entire military chain of command.
One of the stories that has been kept out of the media because of this Iraqi prison issue has been the press conference of Kerry's comrades-in-arms (Swift Boat Veterans for Truth) who want to take him to task for spreading these lies to the American public, including their family and loved ones and thereby, return the honor to the service they rendered to their country.

Because of his dishonesty about his fellow sailors in combat and also, due to the disingenuous way he supposedly earned his Purple Heart medals, and his failure, should he have witnessed other U.S. military committing war crimes, to report such crimes, which was his duty, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have publicly declared him "unfit for office" as Commander-in-Chief.
But the Left has been far busier than the Right.
It isn't over yet, but kudos to Greyhawk for getting down a Hersh-busting interview that is important!
Hersh's talking points are already being repeated by the Useful Idiot idiotarians on TV and radio talk shows around the country as "proof" that Abu Ghraib is the My Lai to our 21st Century Vietnam.

Who's really owed an apology?

It's going to get a lot worse. As if Army reservist Lynndie England's little souvenir-of-Iraq funhouse photos were not already destined to be the official Face of America in the Arab world for decades, there are piles of more pictures - and videos, yet - that are even more sickening.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told Congress yesterday that he's seen some of them, and that it will be a very bad thing if they get into general circulation for all the world to blanch at. Which, of course, they assuredly will. The genie is out of the bottle.

Uncharacteristically humble as he sits in the epicenter of a catastrophic American moment, the secretary added his own voice to the chorus of breast-beating apologies that has suddenly become the bedrock of foreign policy. He even offered "compensation" to Lynndie England's prisoners, which, frankly, seems more apologetic than is necessary. These guys, it is useful to remember, were not sitting in Abu Ghraib just because they were driving on expired licenses.

Which is a point that was not lost on Sen. Joe Lieberman. Amid the wringing of hands - amid condemnation even from the Vatican
I couldn't believe the Pope did this! He never condemned Saddam of even his own priests for doing far worse!--Jen] - Lieberman refreshingly focused on fundamentals:

"The behavior by Americans at the prison in Iraq is, as we all acknowledge, immoral, intolerable and un-American ... I cannot help but say, however, that those responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, never apologized. Those who have killed hundreds of Americans in uniform in Iraq, working to liberate Iraq and protect our security, have never apologized. And those who murdered and burned and humiliated four Americans in Fallujah a while ago never (apologized)....

That's worth remembering as we scourge ourselves. Meanwhile, let's also remember the rest of Lieberman's wisdom: "I hope as we go about this investigation we do it in a way that does not dishonor the hundreds of thousands of Americans in uniform who are a lot more like Pat Tillman and Americans that are not known, like Army National Guard Sgt. Felix Delgreco, of Simsbury, Conn., who was killed in action a few weeks ago, that we not dishonor their service or discredit the cause that brought us to send them to Iraq, because it remains one that is just and necessary."

Well, God bless Joe Lieberman (I forgive him for being a Dimocrat!) and the New York Daily News for giving us words that we need to hear!
I've had just about enough of the boo-hooing, scourging and hand-wringing (particularly on the Left) that this Media-manufactured scandal has
caused!
Can we please get back to the War?
(And Lib Dims, don't even think about Rumsfeld resigning! He's prosecuted the most successful military campaign in American history since Ike and now, in the middle of the conflict, is no time to change our Secretary of War!*)
*According to this WashbrainPost-ABC poll, the majority of the American people agree with me on keeping Rummy in place!

May 06, 2004

Bin Laden Reportedly Offers Gold For Killing U.S. Officials

A statement attributed to Osama bin Laden offered rewards in gold Thursday for the killing of top U.S. and U.N. officials in Iraq.

The transcript of an audio recording dated Thursday appeared on a Web site known for militant Islamic messages.

The Web site gave links to hear the statement, but none were working.

"You know that America promised big rewards for those who kill mujahedeen (holy warriors)," the transcript read. "We in al-Qaida organization will guarantee, God willing, 10,000 grams of gold to whoever kills the occupier Bremer, or the American chief commander or his deputy in Iraq."

He was referring to L. Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator in Iraq, and top military officials.

The authenticity of the statement could not immediately be verified.

YESSSSSSS!
Not only does this mean that Coalition forces are doing an excellent job of fighting the Islamist insurgency in Iraq, but that Iraq is exactly where we need to be fighting in the WOT.
Don't let it escape your attention, my fellow Americans, that Osama's focused on the Iraqi theater himself.
So much for those war critics and Bush-bashers on the Left and in the Dimocrat Party who've been saying that OIF is a "waste of time," "shouldn't be part of the WOT, or "not related to the 9/11 attacks!"
Go U.S. troops and Coalition forces!
We will prevail--eat our dust, Osama!
Here's more from the AP:

"For security reasons, the rewards will be given as soon as conditions permit,
[Gee, that doesn't sound too good! LOL!--Jen]
God willing," the transcript read. "As for those who die while killing an occupying solider, the great prize will be for us and for him when God grants him martyrdom, and the smaller prize (the gold) will be for his family."

The statement also promised the same reward for the deaths of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi.

"The United Nations is nothing but a Zionists' tool
[This is too funny, considering the number of times the U.N. has whaled on Israel! Maybe noone told them until today that they were a Zionist tool!--J.T.], even if it worked under the cover of providing humanitarian aid," the statement said. "... Whoever kills Kofi Annan or the head of his commission in Iraq or a representative like Lakhdar Brahimi, he will be awarded the same prize of 10,000 grams of gold."

The statement promised a lesser prize — 1,000 grams of gold — to anyone killing a citizen of countries it called "the masters of the veto like Americans and Britons" — a reference to nations with veto power on the U.N. Security Council.
[Whoopsie! Looks as if the French and Russians haven't been left out of the party!]

it offered 500 grams of gold to anyone killing citizens of countries it called "slaves of the Security Council who are in Iraq, like Japan and Italy."

With gold selling Thursday on London exchanges for $387.60 an ounce, 10,000 grams of gold was valued at $135,660, 1,000 grams at $13,566, and 500 grams at $6,783.

The statement appeared on two Web sites, the Ansar Islam Forum and the Islamic Research Center. Both are clearing-houses for statements by al-Qaida and other Islamic militant groups.

The transcript also denounced U.S. plans to hand sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30, calling them a trick to end the resistance that has killed hundreds of U.S. soldiers.

"The so-called handing sovereignty over to Iraqis is an overt trick, to anesthetize the people and abort the militant resistance, and (such a trick) will not deceive the true mujahedeen of the sons of Iraq," the statement said.

"There is no sovereignty for Iraq as long as a crusader solider remains in its land, and no sovereignty for Iraq as long as it is not ruled by Islam."
[Sounds as if OBL's nostalgic for the days when Saddam ran his Baathist Sunni police state that the Left keeps insisting was "secular!]

It urged Iraqis to fight a holy war against their U.S.-appointed Governing Council, which it called a "puppet" of the U.S.-led coalition and "a tool to pass their plans to the people and a way to show their hatred of religion."

"Therefore, jihad (holy war) is obligatory for all Muslims in Iraq," the statement read.

 The statement was titled: "A Word from the emir of the Islamic armies, Osama, to the nation and especially to brotherly Muslims in Iraq." It used language similar to previous bin Laden statements, laden with Quranic verse.

I love a good fatwa, don't you?

From my friend Omar over at IRAQ THE MODEL again. This is the most amazing thing I've read today!

Some of the readers asked about my opinion about the interviews that GWB gave to Al-Hurra and Al-Arabeya TV channels and since I'm a CIA agent (I'm thinking of leaving them to work for the Mossad. I've heard they pay better), I guess my opinion would be biased, so I decided to offer you some of the responses I saw on the BBC Arabic which offers a comment section for Arab readers to post their opinions about the hot topics. There were about 30 comments today, since it's still fresh on the site. As usual, the comments from Iraqis-in general-contradicted those from other Arab countries, especially Palestine, Syria and Saudi Arabia. I also found that many of the commentators considered President Bush's speech an apology despite the fact that he didn't frankly apologize.
I've selected some of the comments for translation and it's worth mentioning that about 40% of the total number of comments was positive (sorry, I mean they were supportive of the CIA propaganda).
Here are the translated comments:

-"Thank you Sir for apologizing on the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison. Here you opened an important file; I think that those criminals who were responsible for the mass graves in my country (who are now in your jails' cells) should apologize for their massacres against the Iraqi people".
Imad Al-Sa'ad - Netherlands.

-"Who reads the reactions of Iraqis will see how surprised they're by the way the Americans can prove that years of Saddam's rule and of his anti-American propaganda can be washed out by time; here we have the president of the greatest nation on earth apologizes for what a small group of pervert soldiers did. And here, the American press proves that it's free to show the truth. We lived with similar pictures for years until they became the basics of every prison's daily life and we never heard an Arabic paper point them out. These are lessons from the western culture entering the hearts of Arabs, whether the Arab leaders liked or not".
Sa'eed - Diwaniyah/Iraq.

-"I think that President Bush should talk to us to fill the gap between us and I wish I could see the Arab leaders talk to us like GWB did"
Jihad Abu Shabab - Germany.

-"I'm very happy to see Iraqis condemning the abuse and defending the rights of the prisoners and this is the first time they do something like this, which was impossible for them to do under the dictator's regime. I think that our Arab brothers should mind their own business and take a look at their own prisons".
N - Jordan.

-"I think that president Bush was honest in what he said. Those abuses do not represent the American people. As a matter of fact, we can find cruel men with no morals in any country; that's why we should not judge a whole nation for the violations of a small group of people and I'm sure that these will get the punishment they deserve. Here I'd like to direct my question to the Arabic media "where were you when Saddam mass-executed my people and used all kinds of torture against us?".
Reemon A'adel Sami -Iraq

-"I think that President Bush's statement will find acceptance from some of the Arabs, while the majority will not be satisfied with his words whatever apologies they included just because he is BUSH and he is AMERICAN. I'm sure that the American officials are more upset by the event than the Iraqis themselves because this doesn't belong to their culture or their ethics as a civilized nation.
I think that the event took more space than it actually deserves and the media are creating a mountain from a grain. It's enough for us to remember Saddam's doings to comment on what recently happened".
Sameer-Jordan.

Peace and blessings be upon Omar and the good Iraqi people who "get it" a lot better than the American Left!

Update: Here's the Iraqi blogger Alaa with more thoughts in a similar vein:

Hi Friends,

Just to say Hellow and to let you know that I am still around. This latest fiasco smells to me. It smells really bad. Abuses there seems to have been, but who took the photos, and the timing, isn't it too convenient? But you must know this: All this has not shaken my support for the liberation one little bit, nor my absolute conviction of the justice and nobility of the "Project". If some of you have seen fit to appologize to us about the behaviour of some of your "scum"; we must also appologize to you for the behaviour of so many of our "scum".

Salaam

How do you explain the "hate-America-first-ism" of the Dims and that today's Democrats have very little to do with Democracy to a young, hopeful Iraqi?

U.S. Forces Kill 41 Sadr Fighters Near Najaf

U.S. troops killed 41 members of rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia in a firefight east of Najaf on Thursday and recaptured the governor's office in the city, a senior coalition military official said.

"We have resecured the governor's building and we intend to have the governor reoccupy it to have the coalition retake control of the city," the official said of the office on the edge of the Iraqi city which is holy to Shi'ite Muslims.

The recapture of the building was largely unopposed, he said.

U.S. forces also pushed to the east of Najaf, across the Euphrates River, resulting in heavy clashes with Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in which 41 fighters were killed, the official said.

He gave no details of U.S. casualties. U.S. forces have had Sadr and many of his militia fighters surrounded in the city for nearly a month.

Plumes of smoke rose from a cemetery on the fringes of the city as U.S. helicopters swooped low over the area. U.S. forces say they will refrain from entering Shi'ite shrines in the city, which would incite widespread fury.

I don't know about "inciting the...widespread fury."
These Shiites seem pretty hot-headed and easily infuriated no matter what.
All in all, though, I'd say that this was a good day for the USA and the Coalition!
Great work, GI Joes and Janes!

Born to Run

On 9 January 2003, 31-year-old Staff Sergeant Mike McNaughton of Denham Springs, Louisiana, a member of the Louisiana Army National Guard, was serving with the 769th Engineer Battalion in Afghanistan, scouting for land mines. Suddenly, according to Sgt. McNaughton, "I closed my eyes for a second going up in the air and then landing on the ground, and that's when I just — I knew exactly what happened." Sgt. McNaughton had stepped on an anti-personnel mine, and in the resulting blast he lost his right leg, as well as the middle and ring fingers of his right hand and a chunk of his left leg. Sgt. McNaughton was evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for immediate treatment and later flown to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for follow-on care.

In the months since his wounding, Sgt. McNaughton has undergone at least 11 separate operations as a result of his injuries and has been fitted with a thin, robotic prosthetic shaft to replace his right leg. While recuperating at Walter Reed, Sgt. McNaughton was honored to receive a visit from President Bush. One of the subjects of common interest they discussed was running, and the President extended an invitation to Sgt. McNaughton to come running with him once he was up and about.

The President's invitation posed something of a dilemma for Sgt. McNaughton: "He said give him a call and we'll go running. How are you supposed to just call the president?" Fortunately, Sgt. McNaughton's doctor at Walter Reed was also a doctor for the President, and the two men were able to keep in touch through her.

In April 2004, Sgt. McNaughton and his family made the trip to Washington, and — true to his word — the President went for a run with him. According to Baton Rouge television station WAFB, Sgt. McNaughton described his return visit with President Bush thusly:

"It rained a little bit. I didn't care if it was storming or lightning all around, I didn't care. It was nice to run with him.

"He has a weight room upstairs, in the White House. We worked out for about 45 minutes, we tried different equipment. He said I couldn't do it, so I had to prove him wrong.

"This goes back to my military training. I never once stopped something and said I can't do it or quit. Just because I lost my leg, why should I start now?"

Sergeant McNaughton says the president was more interested with his new leg than even his own children. McNaughton says the president couldn't stop looking at it or asking questions about it.

I don't think President Bush is supposed to run anymore because of his bad knees, but we'll let that slide this time.
And I've got to send out an "Outstanding, soldier!" and a "Hooah" to Sgt. McNaughton for getting back on his feet (literally!) so beautifully!





Bush pauses to comfort teen

'This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11'

In a moment largely unnoticed by the throngs of people in Lebanon waiting for autographs from the president of the United States, George W. Bush stopped to hold a teenager's head close to his heart.

Lynn Faulkner, his daughter, Ashley, and their neighbor, Linda Prince, eagerly waited to shake the president's hand Tuesday at the Golden Lamb Inn. He worked the line at a steady campaign pace, smiling, nodding and signing autographs until Prince spoke:

"This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11."

Bush stopped and turned back.

"He changed from being the leader of the free world to being a father, a husband and a man," Faulkner said. "He looked right at her and said, 'How are you doing?' He reached out with his hand and pulled her into his chest."

Faulkner snapped one frame with his camera.

"I could hear her say, 'I'm OK,' " he said. "That's more emotion than she has shown in 2 1/2 years. Then he said, 'I can see you have a father who loves you very much.' "

"And I said, 'I do, Mr. President, but I miss her mother every day.' It was a special moment."

Special for Lynn Faulkner because the Golden Lamb was the place he and his wife, Wendy Faulkner, celebrated their anniversary every year until she died in the south tower of the World Trade Center, where she had traveled for business.
[How awful. Does this mean that Lynn Faulkner just happened to be there on that black day? God rest her.--Jen]

The day was also special for Ashley, a 15-year-old Mason High School student, because the visit was reminiscent of a trip she took four years ago with her mother and Prince. They spent all afternoon in the rain waiting to see Bush on the campaign trail. Ashley remembers holding her mother's hand, eating Triscuits she packed and bringing along a book in case she got bored.

But this time was different. She understood what the president was saying, and she got close enough to see him face to face.

"The way he was holding me, with my head against his chest, it felt like he was trying to protect me," Ashley said. "I thought, 'Here is the most powerful guy in the world, and he wants to make sure I'm safe.' I definitely had a couple of tears in my eyes, which is pretty unusual for me."

The photo has been circulating across the country, Faulkner said. Relatives have passed it on to friends, bosses and acquaintances. As they tell the story, they also share in Wendy Faulkner's legacy, which her family continues through the Wendy Faulkner Memorial Children's Foundation.

"I'm a pretty cynical and jaded guy at this point in my life," Faulkner said of the moment with the president. "But this was the real deal. I was really impressed. It was genuine and from the heart."

How neat is this?
God be with the Faulkners (and all the other families who lost loved ones on 9/11) as they continue to deal with their sorrow and go on with their lives without their loved ones!
As far as I'm concerned, President Bush is doing this for me, too, because I would love to hug all of the 9/11 victims' families and comfort them myself and don't have the opportunity.





Bush Vows Justice on Iraq Prison Abuse

Acknowledging mistakes but stopping short of an apology [The Left media is making big hay out of this "no apology" thing, as if the President's outrage about the abuse and attention to the problem is somehow "second rate" because he's not assuming accountability for someone else's bad behavior. Bill Clinton spent a good part of his presidency apologizing and look where that got us!
And Bubba would apologize for things he could have done something about, like the Rwanda massacre.--J.T.] ,
President Bush told the Arab world on Wednesday that Americans are appalled by the abuse and deaths of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. soldiers. He promised that "justice will be delivered."

"The people in the Middle East must understand that this was horrible," Bush said, trying to calm international outrage. He went on two Arabic-language television networks to take charge of the administration's damage-control efforts.

Bush said he retained confidence in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, but White House aides said the president let the secretary know he was not satisfied with the way he was informed about the unfolding controversy. In particular, Bush was unhappy he was not told about incriminating pictures before they were shown on television or about a 2-month-old Pentagon report before it turned up in the news.

Rumsfeld did not know about the images until CBS aired them last Wednesday, a senior White House official said.

Doesn't the media know there's a war on?
The Pentagon had already launched an investigation of this Iraqi prisoner abuse several months ago, but they were aware that there was a problem.
The matter was going through channels--something that is crucial for the smooth functioning of a good military.
We are at war--there's no reason for either SecDef Rumsfeld or the Commander in Chief to be made aware of every little problem in the theatre of war.
The Left (through their media megaphone) is now pushing for Rummy's resignation over this brouhaha; they wish!
They've been whaling on Rumsfeld before and trying to "get him," because he stands for everything they hate: a strong, viable military, Conservative leadership, "Alpha" maleness (no metrosexual, he!) and in his particular case, a penchant to make the fourth estate look like the assinine fools they are!
Go Rummy!

But I found it extraordinary that President Bush would choose to go on Arab TV to personally address the problem.
This is fighting fire with fire, as Al-Jizz was one of the chief press organs giving big play to this story!
I'm looking forward to hearing the reaction of some of our Iraqi bloggers to Bush's appearance.
(It seems the Saudis were "unimpressed," though.
Not that we care about them!
As we know from the testimony of Westerners who've gotten released from Saudi prisons, their treatment of prisoners is nothing short of APALLING, so they can go suck an oil well! LOL)

May 04, 2004

Unfit for Office

I was on Mr. Kerry's boat in Vietnam. He doesn't deserve to be commander in chief.

In 1971, I debated John Kerry, then a national spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, for 90 minutes on "The Dick Cavett Show." The key issue in that debate was Mr. Kerry's claim that American troops were committing war crimes in Vietnam "on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command." Now, as Sen. Kerry emerges as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency, I've chosen to re-enter the fray.

Like John Kerry, I served in Vietnam as a Swift Boat commander. Ironically, John Kerry and I served much of our time, a full 12 months in my case and a controversial four months in his, commanding the exact same six-man boat, PCF-94, which I took over after he requested early departure. Despite our shared experience, I still believe what I believed 33 years ago--that John Kerry slandered America's military by inventing or repeating grossly exaggerated claims of atrocities and war crimes in order to advance his own political career as an antiwar activist. His misrepresentations played a significant role in creating the negative and false image of Vietnam vets that has persisted for over three decades.
[Isn't this piece timely given today's headlines?
John Kerry's party and his supporters are attempting to portray our military in the same horrible light today with their many stories about allegations that U.S. military prison guards abused, humiliated and "tortured" their Iraqi prisoners.--Jen]

Neither I, nor any man I served with, ever committed any atrocity or war crime in Vietnam. The opposite was the truth. Rather than use excessive force, we suffered casualty after casualty because we chose to refrain from firing rather than risk injuring civilians. More than once, I saw friends die in areas we entered with loudspeakers rather than guns. John Kerry's accusations then and now were an injustice that struck at the soul of anyone who served there.

During my 1971 televised debate with John Kerry, I accused him of lying. I urged him to come forth with affidavits from the soldiers who had claimed to have committed or witnessed atrocities. To date no such affidavits have been filed. Recently, Sen. Kerry has attempted to reframe his comments as youthful or "over the top." Yet always there has been a calculated coolness to the way he has sought to destroy the record of our honorable service in the interest of promoting his political ambitions of the moment.
[...]
Vietnam was a long time ago. Why does it matter today? Since the days of the Roman Empire, the concept of military loyalty up and down the chain of command has been indispensable. The commander's loyalty to the troops is the price a commander pays for the loyalty of the troops in return. How can a man be commander in chief who for over 30 years has accused his "Band of Brothers," as well as himself, of being war criminals? On a practical basis, John Kerry's breach of loyalty is a prescription of disaster for our armed forces.

John Kerry's recent admissions caused me to realize that I was most likely in Vietnam dodging enemy rockets on the very day he met in Paris with Madame Binh, the representative of the Viet Cong to the Paris Peace Conference. John Kerry returned to the U.S. to become a national spokesperson for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, a radical fringe of the antiwar movement, an organization set upon propagating the myth of war crimes through demonstrably false assertions. Who was the last American POW to die languishing in a North Vietnamese prison forced to listen to the recorded voice of John Kerry disgracing their service by his dishonest testimony before the Senate?

Since 1971, I have refused many offers from John Kerry's political opponents to speak out against him. My reluctance to become involved once again in politics is outweighed now by my profound conviction that John Kerry is simply not fit to be America's commander in chief. Nobody has recruited me to come forward. My decision is the inevitable result of my own personal beliefs and life experience.

Today, America is engaged in a new war, against the militant Islamist terrorists who attacked us on our own soil. Reasonable people may differ about how best to proceed, but I'm sure of one thing--John Kerry is the wrong man to put in charge.

Thank you for coming forward and speaking out, Mr. O' Neil and at such at time as this, too.
The Left in America is being led by sKerry and his rich wife and a Dimocrat Party primarily made up of hippies and Baby Boomers who began their political careers protesting the Vietnam War.
Not only do they want to relive those days, but there is nothing more ugly to them than to see an America (and an American military) that is strong, proud and united.
Therefore, no matter how justified we are to fight back after the horrendous slaughter of 3,000 of our citizens on our own soil on 9/11/01 in an hour and a half, they must stop our fight because, like the Islamist terrorists, they want to see America lose.
So we have the Left's enablers in the media giving this story about allegations of Iraqi prisoner abuse by our military constant and increasingly ramped-up emotional coverage.
As I said a few days ago, they're trying to make the bad behavior of a handful of American soldiers to their Iraqi captives into a My Lai "massacre."
The President has spoken out and declared this abuse to be "disgusting" and "shameful" and has expressed his order that the abuse be investigated and if it occurred, that the soldiers in the wrong be disciplined.
The Pentagon has already launched no less than 5 investigations into the matter.
Now, almost as I was posting this, SecDef Donald Rumsfeld has given a press conference on this matter also and has called the alleged abuse "totally unacceptable and un-American".
It should be clear--even on the hateful Al-Jazeera--that most Americans, from the President on down, are outraged that a few bad GIs' misdeeds threaten to give all of us a bad name, but especially our troops in theatre in Iraq.
I'm satisfied that the abusers are going to be punished and disciplined and I know that these bad eggs don't represent the entire military in any way.
In fact, I'm sure that 99% of our soldiers are good, decent and fair human beings who treat their fellow men and women with respect and dignity and kindness, even if they're enemy prisoners.
What truly concerns me about this whole story and the to-do being made over it is that it was "news" at all.
This abuse should have and would have been a classified military problem that should have been confined to channels in the Department of Defense...until someone leaked the story and the inflammatory pictures to the media.
Worse still, this was leaked at a crucial time in the war, when we are fighting 2 sieges in Iraq and there are pockets of IslamoNazi guerrillas who are trying to stir up a native "revolt" who are killing our guys and gals every day, while we all are a little less than 2 months from handing over political power to the Iraqis for a democratic system.
The 2 groups who don't want us to succeed in Iraq, the Dimocrats and the Islamists, are working this story for everything that it's worth and then some.
Don't let them.
The person who leaked this needs to step forward and take their licks.
One of the things that good journalism is supposed to do is to "right wrongs" that otherwise wouldn't be, by exposing situations of corrupt behavior that would go unpunished to the light of day.
That isn't the case here.
Not only is the Pentagon seeminly over-investigating the situation now, but the first investigation into the incidents at Abu Ghraib prison was done in the fall of last year!
The media and the Left aren't doing the American people a "service" here; on the contrary, they're getting our soldiers killed and ensuring that the war in Iraq, particularly that of "hearts and minds," will be that much longer and tougher.

Our military is made up of good American people, like you and me.
Our cause in the WOT and in Iraq is moral and justified.
The United States and her citizens are a force for good in the world and have been for all of our history.
Repeat those three phrases above as often as necessary, because they're true and because we must and will prevail.

Oman at the very fine IRAQ THE MODEL should be a regular read for everyone, but his post today on the reaction of real Iraqis to the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military guards is definitely a must!
Also, he muses about the mood in the country nowadays and how his fellow citizens are looking forward to democracy and the handover on June 30.
All in all, I can say that reading Omar's observations and thoughts, as well as several of the other Iraqi bloggers, always restores my faith in the goodness and decency of the Iraqi people and in my joy that we liberated these wonderful folks from a monster like Saddam.
Also, I'm thankful that we now have blogging and the Internet that makes it all possible!
(Why rely on the old, tired, schlerotic and biased traditional media when we get at the real news so much better on the web and often directly from the source too?)

May 02, 2004

Germany Says Protection of U.S. Bases to End

German Defense Minister Peter Struck said Germany will stop protecting U.S. military bases in the country at the end of 2004 and would not send troops to help a NATO force police Iraq, a newspaper reported Sunday.
[That's not part of the NATO deal, Krauts, to be able to pick and choose your battles.--Jen]

"We want to put an end to the German army's protection of American installations by the end of the year," said Struck in an interview with Welt am Sonntag. "We're now negotiating an end to the guarding process."

A Defense Ministry spokesman said discussions about ending the German army's policing of U.S. bases had been going on since the start of the year.

"The United States is gearing itself up for this accordingly," the spokesman said.

Can you believe this?!?
The nerve (or dare I say it, chutzpah?).
Wasn't it the other way around for 45 years--our bases protected Germany?
I hope we made the decision to pull our troops out of Deutschland and move them elsewhere (like Poland) long BEFORE the Germans made this statement, allowing them to act as if it were "their call."
Do we even get a Danke Schön?
We paid in men, materiel and money to keep them safe from a Soviet invasion for five decades and while we were there protecting their heinies, our troops spent lots of money and helped their economy, too... If you don't think that matters, ask the Philippines if they miss Americans since we closed our big base there!
Good riddance to bad rubbish and Auf Wiedersehen!

Bush, Arabs Disgusted Over Prisoner Abuse

Images of smiling U.S. military police humiliating Iraqi prisoners appeared in newspapers around the Middle East on Saturday, angering Arabs who accused the United States of only caring about the rights of Americans.

You'll probably think I'm hard-hearted, but I refuse to get upset about this.
The pix to me don't look too different from some college student's photos of "Spring Break" when they all got loaded on tequila down in Padre and drove to Mexico...of course, naked hijinx ensued.
Seriously, though, if this abuse by U.S. soldiers of Iraqi prisoners took place, it was wrong and the soldiers should receive the proper punishment under the UCMJ.
The funny thing was, this alleged abuse was under investigation some months ago and the military judicial disciplinary process had already begun.
As with all of these types of things, it's being driven from the Left: CBS (Motto: "We hated Reagan!"), "60 minutes" (Home of Andy "I hate Bush" Rooney) and everyone's fave, Human Rights Watch (who's watching America like a hawk, because the rest of the world's abuses don't interest them!).
And strange how the lion's share of the evidentiary pictures ended up on DemocratUnderground (or DUH.com as I call it).
We've got a candidate running for the Oval Office--J. F'in sKerry-- whose main claim to fame was his heading of a veterans' group against the Vietnam War after he got back from serving 4 whole months in that war.
In 1971, Lurch (Oops! I mean Sen. Ketchup) testified to Congress that our soldiers were "murderers, baby killers and habitual abusers of the rights" of the Vietnamese.
These "photos," along with the abuse of Iraqi POWs that is alleged, are an attempt to show the American people (and really, the rest of the world) that nothing has changed: that our soldiers are crude, coarse "animals."

For those native whiners who worry that the U.S. has lost the "moral highground" in the WOT because of this alleged abuse, I would say that it doesn't take anything at all to "inflame" the Arab Street or to make headlines of outrage in the Arab press--they're more than happy to do that anytime!
Of course, no mention from Al Jazeera and their ilk ever that this kind of abuse and far worse is SOP in the jails of their countries to their own countrymen by their own soldiers.
Or that some of this alleged brutality on the part of Americans might be partly "understandable" in light of the brutal way that the enemy have killed Americans (Daniel Pearl's beheading on video tape comes to mind, if not the coverage of the people jumping 100 stories to their deaths on 9/11 from the WTC), mutilated their dead bodies, or tortured our prisoners and hostages.
And lastly, where was the outrage in the Arab world when Saddam abused and murdered and put into mass graves not a dozen hooded guys, as here, but 800,000 to 2 million Iraqis, day after day for over 30 years?
If these charges are true, it's being dealt with, as it should be and it must be stressed that this abusive behavior was indulged in by a mere handful of "bad eggs" under a poor leader in our Army Reserve.
They in no way represent the other 99% of our troops who are good, decent and kind people who respect human rights and who abide by the Geneva Convention (and then some) in their treatment of enemy prisoners.
And of course, all the good things our soldiers are doing in Iraq seem to go unnoticed by not just the Arab press, but our own American (and Leftist) press, too.
There's something that should provoke real outrage and shame, but it won't.
To get a look at some of the good our Marines are doing over there and how you can contribute to help make wonderful things happen, visit Spirit of America's site and don't forget other Good Samaritan Soldiers like Chief Wiggles, either, who collected donations and distributed toys to Iraqi children while he was serving in Iraq (I think he's still doing it back here at home...)!
Whatever you do, don't let the Anti-war Left convince you that the real bad guys are our own Military!
This is Liberal Leftist propaganda designed to demoralize our morale both at home and at the Iraq front and meant also to purposefully incite the "Arab street" to anger (as if they needed any help!)--don't fall for it!
And not content to pick on just American soldiers, they're trying to say that the British soldiers have been abusing Iraqi prisoners, as well.
Once again, this is being driven in the U.K. by the Left-bent Daily Mirror, the employer of Peter Arnett and Robert Fisk. (Need I say more?)
Funnily enough, however, al-Beebera has the story that the photos showing this abuse "may not be genuine."
Ya think?

Our soldiers are not just a "band of brothers;" they're our brothers and sisters and husbands and wives and fathers and mothers and daughters and sons!
Let's give them the benefit of the doubt accordingly when they seemingly behave badly and send them all the love, support and help we can while they fight the good fight!

Britain to deploy up to 4,000 additional soldiers

Thousands of troops are to be sent to Iraq to take control of the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf in the largest expansion of British forces since the start of the war more than a year ago.
    
Up to 4,000 troops will begin arriving in Iraq in the next few weeks to plug the gap left by the 1,300 Spanish soldiers who were withdrawn from the country last week.
[Grrrrrr...don't get me started on what I think of the Spanish!--Jen]
   
 Prime Minister Tony Blair made the decision to send additional troops to Iraq after meeting President Bush at the White House two weeks ago.
[...]
The British force will be composed of troops from the Royal Marine commandos
[Royal Marines are almost as tough as ours! Hurray for their deployment!--J.T.]
, a parachute regiment battalion and an infantry battalion, as well as supporting elements from the artillery and logistics units.
[...]
Although it is possible that other countries might offer to commit more troops to Iraq, U.S. generals have made it clear that their preferred option is for more British reinforcements.
[...]
"Not sending troops was never really an option because of the message it would have sent to the rest of the coalition," a senior Defense Ministry official said. "It is difficult to predict how long these troops will have to remain in Iraq, but it won't be less than two years. This means that many troops, mainly from the infantry and logistical support units, will have to complete a six-month tour of duty in Iraq every 10 months. ..."
[...]
The United States has avoided an all-out offensive against Najaf for fear of antagonizing Iraqis.

Thank you, Britain.
We appreciate the help.
Looks as if we're employing a "careful, wait and watch" strategery with Najaf, similar to the way we've handled the siege of Falluja.
Lookie here, though; the Brits are already proving that they have "the right stuff" when they met members of the "Mahdi Army:"
Five Iraqis Killed in Clash With Britons

A British foot patrol came under attack in the southern city of Amarah on Saturday, sparking a seven-and-a-half-hour gunbattle with insurgents in the city center that left five Iraqis dead and six British soldiers injured, witnesses and a British forces spokesman said.

Witnesses said the five Iraqis killed were members of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army. The bodies of the dead were brought to al-Sadr's office in the town, they said.
[...]
Last month, fighting in Amarah between al-Sadr's followers and British troops killed 15 Iraqis and wounded eight.

Go, Brits!
Those Mahdi madmen oughtta surrender--the numbers and the firepower really aren't in their favor...and it seems they're still trying to negotiate a surrender or hudna of sorts:
Iraqis to Meet With U.S. Officials on Najaf Standoff.
But for a small band (estimated at about 2,000 jihadis) of killers who haven't proven themselves to be the superior force in battle nor who have won anything close to a real victory, al-Sadr's boys surely want a lot of concessions.
Don't leave your computer for very long, because this story can change by the hour and sometimes by the minute.

Claim that Baghdad has list of oil-for-food cash bribes

An Iraqi official said today there was a list of cash bribes made by Saddam Hussein's government to journalists, politicians and groups in connection with the US$67 billion ($108.92 billion) UN-run oil-for-food programme.

Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi Governing Council, said Iraqi officials combing Saddam's files had not decided whether to release the list as part of a burgeoning scandal over the defunct programme.
[...]
The oil-for-food programme, which began in late 1996 and closed last year, was an exception to 1991 Gulf War sanctions. It allowed Iraq to sell oil and buy civilian goods to ease the impact of the embargoes on ordinary people.

Most of the misdeeds in the programme were reported over the years to a Security Council committee that supervised the plan, particularly the smuggling of oil and surcharges paid to Saddam by oil dealers. But political divisions often blocked action.

What is new since the fall of Saddam's government are the list of alleged bribes to individuals, among them a senior UN official, from the Iraqi government, which campaigned to have the sanctions lifted.

Remember back in 2002, when the bribed world (like the Weasel Powers, Russia and at least one member of the British Parliament named George Galloway) and Iraq were babbling about letting Hans Blix and his UNSCOM in to verify that Saddam had disarmed not to avoid the consequences of a U.S. led force to do so, but so that the sanctions could be lifted?
These bribes fill in the missing piece of that puzzle.
I am convinced that this scandal must and will see the full light of day.
Human Justice demands it, so please Mr. Talabani, share it with the rest of the class...and don't hang around Kofi, whose son is implicated in the scandal, any more than is absolutely necessary!

Retreat, Hell!

The guesswork hasn't been too far off. From the beginning it seemed clear that an Iraqi component was always going to be needed in Fallujah, both to process civilians and restore order. On April 2nd, before Valiant Resolve was formally announced, the Belmont Club guess was that:

CPA Administrator Paul Bremer chose a graduation ceremony for Iraqi police cadets to vow that the incident "will not go unpunished", possibly because a large role has been assigned to the Iraqi police in the forthcoming operation. From these elements one can deduce the basic shape of the counterstroke. Since Fallujah and its anti-coalition forces are largely run on tribal (read Mafia) lines, the strategic goal will be to arrest the tribal leadership structure and other ringleaders such as imams. A secondary goal will be to capture the thousands of weapons and magazines that are bound to be present. This will require a block by block reduction of an entire city of 230,000 persons. Hence, a plentiful supply of Iraqi cops is needed for large-scale interrogation. And all this must be accomplished within the limits of acceptable collateral damage levels.

One of the risks to taking the town was always that the defenders would use the opportunity to stage their own Viking funeral pyre by torching the town and roasting as many civilians as they could with it. The answer, it seemed back in April 3 was:

However, if the Marines exert only gradual pressure, and use neighbors or Iraqi police from outside Fallujah to guide other neighbors into processing areas, the defenders will never be presented with a clear opportunity to precipitate a crisis. Once the Marines get the momentum of processing going, the tribal leaders will lose control and the whole structure will start to crumble. The Marines can exploit their physical domination by offering clemency or even rewards to those who rat out on other perps. The inner bastion of Fallujah will collapse like a termite-eaten post as each man looks out for himself.

It is in this context that the perplexing cycle of ceasefires punctuated by nocturnal assaults can be understood. The Corps, besides incorporating the Chinese word Gung Ho into it's vocabulary, may have finally proved to the Arabs that they can out-hudna anyone who ever stood on a patch of sand. By alternately throttling and releasing the enemy, or in cruder terms, by a process of talking and shooting, the USMC seems to have squeegeed the foe into the 'Golan' without ever precipitating the feared crisis. ("Like a cut flower in a vase, fair to see, yet doomed to die" -- Winston Churchill)

When the Press began trumpeting a humiliating Marine withdrawal and their ignominous replacement by Iraqi Fallujah Protection Army, the Belmont Club, although perplexed by the origins of the Fallujah Protection Army, still guessed that the Marines would not be withdrawn, as per innuendo, from around the 'Golan' cordon and that the Iraqis would be employed in stabilization and police duties simply because it was impossible for a force in contact with the enemy to be replaced by a unit which had yet to be constituted.

One of the most difficult operations of war is relieving a unit in contact with the enemy. It first of all requires the existence of the relief force. News accounts which suggest that this-still-to-be formed Fallujah Protection Army (FPA) will take over from the Marines, said to be evacuating "front line positions" within a few days, are only slightly less incredible than a report that Batman, the Hulk and Wolverine have joined the Navy to see the world. ... The most likely scenario is that the FPA will be given charge over city areas free from heavy fighting and assigned general police duties.

Although the appearance of the Fallujah Protection Army (FPA) and its effects still remain to be seen, the mystery of it origins has been solved at last. It appears to be a creature of the Marines themselves, tricked out in Iraqi uniform. This would go a long way toward explaining the kind of training Marines were providing to Iraqis in southeastern industrial area of the city. They were training locals who will be assigned police duties. This April 30 press release from CENTCOM is here quoted in full. [Emphasis is BC's Wretchard's.--Jen]

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq - As part of the overall effort to restore security and stability in Fallujah, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force is overseeing the formation of the 1st Battalion of the Fallujah Brigade.

The mission of this interim organization, to be completely integrated with that of I MEF, is part of the ongoing aspiration to have Iraqi Security Forces fully cooperate with Coalition Forces to perform security tasks and, eventually, to assume responsibility for security and stability in Fallujah and other cities.

The Coalition objectives remain unchanged -- to eliminate armed groups, collect and positively control all heavy weapons, and turn over foreign fighters and disarm Anti-Coalition insurgents in Fallujah. The Coalition welcomes the assistance of the Iraqi forces, including the 1st Battalion of the Fallujah Brigade, in efforts to achieve these objectives.

Like most of the existing Iraqi Security Forces, this battalion will be recruited largely from former soldiers of the Iraqi Army. The battalion will be employed in Fallujah alongside the 1st MEF to assist in the return of peace and stability for the city. Their employment will facilitate the flow of support and foster rapid reconstruction, thereby stimulating the job market for citizens inside the city. The Battalion will function as a subordinate command under the operational control of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, and 1st MEF will provide the resources and equipment necessary to ensure mission accomplishment by this force.

Until the battalion's units demonstrate a capability to man designated checkpoints and positions, Marines will continue to maintain a presence in and around Fallujah. Consistent with our duty to provide security, Coalition Forces will maintain their right of freedom of movement in all areas of the AOR. As calm is restored, families will be allowed to return to the city, and during the transition, the number of families allowed into the city on a daily basis will increase to 200.

After commencing the restoration of law and order inside the city of Fallujah, Iraqi security forces inside the city will assist police with investigations to identify the murderers and mutilators of the four American contractors on 31 March, and the criminals responsible for the 14 February attack on the Fallujah Police Station. When captured, those persons will be tried in the Iraqi judicial system.

If this interpretation proves to be accurate, it will have flowed directly from the basic operational requirements of Valiant Resolve. The goals of that operation would have been to root out enemy cells in Fallujah without massacring everyone in the city. This had to be accomplished against an active resistance schooled in the methods which brought the Russians to grief in Grozny. [Wretchard's referring to the Russian attempt to militarily putdown the Chechnya insurrection.]
All with the final goal of wresting control of Fallujah from its gang leaders into the hands of an American-controlled Iraqi administration. And although the final victory remains to be won and 'Golan' still to be reduced, no one should ever, ever, call Marines Jarheads again without meaning it in irony.

Once again, Wretchard has nailed the situation down for us.
Belmont Club has been a daily read for me since the Falluja nightmare began for several reasons; first of all, he's tops. ( I don't know if he has one or many friends who are in or near the high command in Iraq or what, but his sources seem pretty solid and his instincts, analysis and perceptions are almost flawless!)
Secondly, it's not likely that the commanders will discuss their strategies and plans in the press before, during and after the fight with the enemy.
And lastly (and certainly leastly), the Leftist Media can be relied upon to put the worst possible spin on any war news, thus telling us precisely nothing.
And when I say "worst," I mean the worst for America, for President Bush and for the U.S. military.
As a matter of fact, the crowing about the Marines' supposed retreat in Falluja has already begun. Here's the al-Reuters version:
Iraqis Hail Falluja 'Victory' as U.S. Changes Tack
The British tried to subdue Iraq and put down a similar insurrection to the current one using only brute force in 1920 and that didn't work out too well for either the Iraqis or the British.
So why not try it the "nicer" way? We let the Iraqis round up and arrest the bad guys, we avoid alienating the hearts and minds of the Fallujans, the majority of whom aren't participating in the uprising, and we prosecute the criminals under the newly established Iraqi criminal law system.
Works for me.
This is only the first day of the FPA taking over.
We shall soon see who has the "victory" and who has the "retreat."
But I wouldn't bet against the U.S. Marines...ever.
Jen is Semper Fi!

Two Britons die, 19 hurt, in Saudi terrorist attack

Two Britons and at least four other people, among them two Americans, were shot dead by terrorists in Saudi Arabia yesterday in an attack that left up to 19 people injured.

Gunmen opened fire on the office of an oil contractor in the Saudi coastal city of Yanbu with AK47 and M16 assault rifles
[OK...how they'd get ahold of M16s?--Jen]
killing the Britons and also fatally shooting at least two Americans and an Australian.

The terrorists are said to have attached the bodies of the Americans to the rear of a vehicle and dragged them through the streets before being cornered by police.
[Looks like Falluja set a new low for the terrorists' behavior and their abuse of our dead...wonderful.--J.T.]

During the subsequent gun battle, three terrorists were killed and another captured. One report described them as teenagers. At least one of the dead was reported to have been wired with explosives, which he had failed to detonate.
[...]
Yesterday's incident began just before 7am in the industrial district of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast about 550 miles west of the capital. Witnesses said the terrorists first tried to storm an oil plant, but were unable to gain access.

Dressed as coastguards and driving three four-wheel-drive vehicles, they then made their way to the Royal Commission district of the city and attacked the offices of oil contractors ABB Lummus Global, spraying the occupants with machinegun fire.

Some of the bodies were pulled out and the dead Americans were attached to the back of one vehicle and dragged around for up to an hour. A branch of McDonald's was also said to have been hit with gunfire during the drive.
[You know this Mickey D's; it's the one that doesn't serve Jews or have bacon on the menu.--J.T.]
[...]
Saudi security forces have stepped up their hunt for Islamic militants, resulting in frequent deadly clashes in recent months.

Last month the United States ordered all non-essential US government employees and family members to leave Saudi Arabia and also urged private citizens to get out. Shortly before that evacuation order, the US embassy issued a warning of "credible indications of terrorist threats aimed at American and western interests in Saudi Arabia".

All Westerners really should leave Saudi Arabia and not just for their own safety and you wanna know why?
Because the Sauds can't get the oil out of the ground without our help, that's why.
No matter how much or how little they charge for a barrel of oil, they won't sell any if it can't be pumped out of the ground and refined.
This situation exists because the Sauds were too lazy and corrupt to learn how and make sure that there was education and training in their country to create a native pool of workers.
The Saudis think they're "above" such "dirty, manual" labor like that.
They'd rather all young men went to madrassas, learned the Koran and become radical clerics to produce their true biggest export: Waahab jihadi terror war.
The only good development in Arabia has been the official recognition that these acts of murder are being committed by Saudi natives, either linked with or in sympathy with Al Queda.
In years past (but not long past), the Sauds would have blamed the same British, American and Australian workers who got shot at for staging these attacks as part of the "expat illegal liquor trade," tortured and jailed for years and then made to "confess" on Saudi TV.
Any way you look at it, Western workers in Arabia have a bad deal, in spite of the fact that the work pays very, very well.
It's way past time for us to "take our toys and go home" there, don't you agree?
Proceeds from Saudi oil sales are only going to fund worldwide jihad anyway, so why should we help them pay to kill us?

Update: Well, maybe the Sauds haven't gotten rid of all their old ways...Seems that Crown Prince Abdullah is blaming "Zionists,"
although he's not saying how they'd get into SA or why they would even want to!