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1/18/06 Well folks I have some bad news and good news, the bad news is this will be my final “Letter from Iraq” the good news is I should be out of here before this letter hits the street. I know I haven’t written in a long time but between the highly successful elections and dealing with people who like to blow themselves up we’ve been kind of busy. It’s been a loooong year and what a year it’s been. It’s strange because like anything else, while ecstatic about leaving and returning home there is also a sense of remorse knowing I’m leaving some of my fellow Marines and Soldiers behind. Such is the nature of things. First of all I want to thank everyone for all of the support and goodies over the past year, as I’ve said numerous times such little things makes your time here more tolerable.
For those of you who have emailed me and I have not responded I am truly sorry though you may not think it’s a big deal I always like to respond to folks it helps me get through the long days, of which there are many. There are so many folks to thank I wouldn’t even know where to begin from Thanksgiving and Christmas cards to the candy and cookies the level of support received has been truly overwhelming and greatly appreciated by the men and women who I pass that stuff off to. Once again for the newly promoted Black Belts congratulations and well deserved it was good to see folks being recognized for their achievements.
For this final installment I thought I would try to sum up some things as to this fight we’re in and where I think it’s heading, understand that these are just “my views” [have try to stay out of trouble here] so you can take it with a grain of salt but I think in the morass of negative news that seems to be the only thing the media cares about you need to hear it from the horse's mouth so to speak. I’ll try to clear the air if you will and share some insights and perspective that I think gets lost in the translation when viewed through the distorted lenses of “Pravda on the Potomac” [The Washington Post] the awful L.A. [as in “Lazy A__”] Times or “The Paper of I will reveal National Security information that is harmful to our nation but my source refuses to go on the Record” [The New York Times – PS. Me thinks you had better get a lawyer boys because you’re probably going to need it]. I don’t mean to be so hard on the NY Times but I just don’t see the editors doing well at the Federal Detention Center in Brooklyn I just hope none of the folks who write in the Sunday Edition are mixed up in this because it’s the only remaining vestige of a once great paper.
I’ll try to sum things up in sections so here goes…
Remember this is just my own perceptions, while things are improving there is still much to be done before we can say that we are done here.
Cultural Factors:
While the elections were highly successful as you can imagine there are still some malcontents out there who would love nothing more than to continue the chaos in Al Anbar because they have nothing to gain by stability in Iraq. As a result many people who are very fed up with these malcontents are turning on them. The Sunni have finally realized that the true way to reestablish themselves is through the political process otherwise they will find themselves quickly marginalized. In truth most Iraqi’s could probably care less who is in power it’s all about what’s in it for them as an average citizen and how are they going to feed their families. If the local sheik or tribal leader is able to provide for folks and maintain stability then his power will grow while at the same time the tribal chieftain is able to enrich himself which is the primary goal of most of the leaders here in Iraq. Think of it just like the Mafia. To outsiders they are corrupt abusers of people but to the people that are either loyal to them or in fear of them because they command some local militia they are revered figures and often defended by the very people they victimize against outsiders.
This is something that I think we are remiss to understand from a strategic standpoint. We view corruption with disdain as seen with what is going on with the GOP at this moment however here in the Middle East such corruption is par for the course all leaders to some degree have to be assumed to be corrupt in some way. This makes it difficult for us to get thing done because we continue to want to view things here through western eyes and as a result we continue from a strategic standpoint to want to place all sorts of conditions on the local leaders whenever we want something done however this only serves to divert our attention away from what the ultimate goal should be. So for example if they want us to fix the water system in some local town because we know there are folks who will skim off the top for their own personal gain we tend to place all sorts of conditions on them which in turn only drags the process out to the point where there is no action or it creates a “perception” that we are not responsive to the needs of the people and since everything is generally worked through the local leaders this has a detrimental effect on their credibility. The more crafty chiefs play off of this by making it appear that the reason for inaction is because the Americans are holding out on them thus deflecting blame onto us in order to save face [these guys never accept blame]. Depending on the influence of the tribal leader I think this tactic of blame it on “The Great Satan” works more than we think especially since as the outsiders our motives no matter how pure are easily perceived as illegitimate, sinister…
Influence Foreign Fighters:
This is one of the most overly exaggerated threats in theater and continues to get a lot of play in the media at home and in Europe however it is not the threat that people are making it out to be and is more of a political hot button issue than a strategic concern. When I say foreign Fighters I’m dealing with no kidding terrorist bad guys coming across the borders to do evil. The focus on foreign fighters is one which I feel is misguided and seeks to divert resources away from the real fights, our I/O campaign, public works and the localized IED threat, in that order! While I can’t in this forum get into specific numbers I can tell you this that with the exception of suicide bombers the impact of foreign fighters is minimal at best. Most of the attacks in large part are due to local actors and not because they belong to any specific groups but more likely because there are financial incentives for them to carry out acts of violence by cell leaders in order to collect a bounty.
Just like politics all terrorism for the most part is local. When you can make more money planting an IED than you can for a hard days work the reward more than outweighs the risk. Part of the problem is that there is little in the way of an economy in many areas this is due to the fact that in large part many people in Al Anbar are either of low skill or made much of their living on the government dole during Saddam’s reign. Many were probably soldiers in the military or connected to the Baathist regime through their tribal connections and now for the first time in their lives they actually have to go out and earn a real living. Some of the actors are also people who made a good living dealing in black market goods which was a thriving business during Saddam’s reign especially after the imposition of sanctions, so in effect these people who I like to call the “Ali Babbas” were an integral part of the Iraqi economy and our presences with our western anti-corruption mindset is an impediment to that. These same people are now the same ones who have no problem placing and IED on a road or taking a pop shot at coalition forces, for a “nominal fee” of course.
As a final note to this it needs to be understood that for terrorist operations to take root not only takes money but requires support in the form of documents such as passports, local safe houses etc… and when you are dealing with these third world countries where the government controls virtually all aspects of people's lives mostly for fear of assassination of its leaders moving from one part of the country to the other when you feel like it is usually a non-starter. It has been proven so many times over that it has become a tired theme, the connections from the over 2 million documents uncovered here in Iraq on Al Qaeda’s [AQ] connections to the Muk-habarat [Iraqi Intelligence run by Qusay Hussein] and the influence of the Iranian Parasdan on terrorist groups including AQ are so well known they are almost spoken of in the same breath over here. The only ones this was a mystery to were our intelligence agencies that dismissed such connections because it didn’t fit their preconceived world view of Islamic terrorism [i.e., the old tired theory that die hard Islamist like Osama Bin Laden would not work with a secularist such as Saddam Hussein because of his devout Muslim beliefs]. Given the number of Mosques and the role they play in Iraq many of which were built by Saddam Hussein’s regime I find this assertion laughable and dangerous as well. Fallujah alone has nearly 40 Mosques thus dubbed the “City of Mosques” and is less than 40 miles west of Baghdad. Such thinking in our national psyche brought us the horror of 9/11 and will bring us greater horrors if the Iranians are able to develop an atomic weapon.The real influence of foreign fighters are not those here in Iraq but those waging proxy battles against the west under the banner of Islam supported by foreign governments such as Iran and Syria and at one time Iraq and Afghanistan. We ignore Iran’s influence over terrorist groups including Al Qaeda at our own peril, there is already ample proof that Saddam’s Iraq was involved in a number of pre-9/11 terror attacks and assassination attempts against the west as revenge for their crushing defeat in the first Gulf War.
Influence of Foreign Actors:
One area that I don’t think from a strategic stand point that we have placed enough emphasis in is the influence of foreign governments in supporting groups here whose sole function is to continue to sow the seeds of chaos. In 4th Generation Warfare one of the problems when fighting against an insurgency is that the stated goals of “this” group or “that” group are often paradoxical to their true objectives in which they [the terrorist] themselves may not even be aware of. The local and regional actors in many respects are but pawns being manipulated to cause a specific outcome and serve as a shield for the true “Puppet Masters” thus allowing the real agitators plausible deniability if the true motives are ever discovered. They are provided with the tools of destruction through a series of intermediaries with little conception as to the source.
Back in the states and amongst some entities here in Iraq they will tell you that the problem is the influence of foreign fighters, however once again if that is true then why is it that no one asks the hard question as to how is it that foreign fighters and contraband can get in across the borders of Syria and Iran without the knowledge of these two countries?
How is it they are able to transport these items to include funding without their knowledge when both of these countries are some of the most Orwellian societies on the planet?
Remember with the exception of the last election Sunni turnout has been low to almost nonexistent. At the same time the Shia have worked to consolidate political parties along tribal and religious lines and create militias capable of maintaining order so while the Sunni’s fight each other and the foreign fighters [possibly supported via proxy from Syria and Iran] bomb them, the Shia are able to present themselves as the model of stability and democracy in Iraq. Also we cannot rule out Iran’s role in influencing activities in Shia controlled areas because although the Shia to the south are primarily Arabs they still have strong traditional ties to the Persians in Iran, lest we forget history the borders between Iran and Iraq were drawn by the British and mean nothing to the Arabs, Persians and Kurds especially amongst tribes that may have ancestral ties in neighboring countries. Remember that when the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini was forced into exile by the Shah of Iran he didn’t go to Mecca or Medina but to Karbala, Iraq which is the powerbase of the Shia majority.
The Way Ahead:
I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel but in order to reach it, it will require a few things, patience and moral courage to see things through to the end because in my view we are going to continue to go to war for a very long time. Right now as Hackworth would say may he rest in peace, we’re in round three of the 30 round fight. As the Iraqi government grows stronger along with the capabilities of the Army I foresee a lessoning of attacks against coalition forces and Iraqi forces. The key here is that we have to work to continue to improve the infrastructure and basic services along with being on guard against foreign influence from Iran and Syria.
I predict that groups like AQ in Iraq will eventually become marginalized simply because they continue to attack people without rhyme or reason and I see possible infighting amongst them. In the famous Zawahiri letter to Zarqawi we saw some of this in which Zawahiri went on to chastise the latter for his indiscriminate killings of Arabs thus eroding the good will that all insurgent groups require if they are able to operate effectively. We should not underestimate this because it may be a glimpse into the first signs that AQ is feeling the heat from our world wide interdiction efforts, this is all good.
We also need to be on guard of the Iranian’s in their zeal to acquire nuclear weapons and not over react to this. While a considerable threat they still hold tremendous sway and influence over terrorist groups in the region and could send waves of terrorists against the Iraqi people to thwart any efforts we may take to rein them in. Then our intelligence agencies must also stay on the ball and not allow “group think” to cloud their judgment causing them to over look the obvious. Such group think caused them to overlook the following in no particular order:
· The fall of the Shah of Iran
· The fall of the Soviet Union
· Iraq Invading Kuwait and the lack of Intel on the Iraqi Regime
· The World Trade Center bombings
· India and Pakistan’s nuclear programs and testing
· The 9/11 Attacks
· The real skinny on Saddam’s WMD’s
· The links between Saddam’s regime and terror organizations including but not limited to Al Qaeda
You get the point and this is not an exhaustive list, what is that expression? “Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan…”
Finally we need “patience”, we say it over and over here in Iraq but it seems to get lost in the translation as the message filters back to the rear. This nonsense of placing time tables for troop withdrawals or when we will pass the baton to the Iraqis only plays into the hands of our enemies and is watched very closely by them and gets much fanfare here on Al Jazeera and on the Radical Jihad websites. Our enemy is very in tune with western culture and our propensity to avoid pain and seek pleasure but most important of all our desire for quick solutions to long term complex problems. They are counting on our lack of fortitude and the desire by some to turn tail and run for it conforms to many of their preconceived notions about us as a nation and the west in general.
We saw this in Spain, we see it from the Canadians and we saw it on full display in France, the French have been psychologically emasculated to the point that even after France burned instead of banding together to prosecute the law breakers and deport them their remedy to the problem was more government programs and concessions for people who openly refuse to assimilate to French society at the expense of the natural born French people. France as well as with much of Europe is on the downward slide toward national suicide and I am convinced they have absolutely no moral will to fight, the barbarians are not at the gates but in their midst.
To that end if we are to survive we must gird up or loins and root out the Brutus in our camps and no matter who they may be and have the moral courage to imprison those who seek to provide aid and comfort to an enemy that seeks only one thing and that is the death of as many Americans as humanly possible. This is a touchy subject because there is also the temptation to accuse the government of establishing a police state and just another example of the government trampling on the Constitutional rights of law abiding citizens. However, if we refuse to confront the traitors in our own land even if they are non-violent then how do we expect to muster the will to fight those who mean to do us physical harm? Caesar made this mistake and it cost him his life at the hands of the man he adopted.
Well I know that was long but there it is, the bird's eye view.
That’s all from Iraq once again I want to thank all of you for your support over the past year not just for me but my family as well, you know who you are and what you’ve done for me, it is a debt I will never be able to repay. If there is one regret that I have and that is leaving behind all of the fine brave young men and women who will be still here fighting the good fight ensuring that NY does not become like down town Ramadi. Their bravery and courage will for the most part go unmentioned but for me it will never be forgotten.
Anyway take care to you all and God Speed…
Semper Fidelis!
Boss man
Show time
in the reeds
2006 Marine Corps Times Marine of the Year
Staff Sgt. Kent Padmore
4TH TANK BATALLION, MARINE CORPS RESERVE
Assignment: Anti-tank missileman, 4th Tank Battalion,
Marine Corps Reserve, Hialeah, Fla.
Personal: Emigrated to the U.S. from Trinidad and Tobago at age 22 in 1990. Enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1994.
The Purple Heart on Kent Padmore's chest isn't for the shrapnel from an enemy rocket-propelled grenade that tore a cheek-to-cheek gash across his face. That wound was never documented; Padmore fixed it himself with a liquid suture in the rearview mirror of his Humvee.
Padmore, a Marine reservist, works in civilian life as a City of Miami Fire-Rescue Department emergency medical technician, so he knew what to do. He patched himself up because he didn't want to steal precious time from the corpsmen in his unit, who were busy treating more seriously wounded Marines. Instead, the Purple Heart he wears is for the second-degree burns on his hands and arms he suffered while dragging 10 Marines out of the burning wreckage of a 7-ton truck on June 23, 2005.
An anti-tank missileman by military specialty, Padmore was leading the security force at a civil-military operations center near Fallujah, Iraq, when he and his Marines were assigned to escort a two-vehicle convoy to Camp Fallujah, 20 minutes away.
The lead 7-ton truck carried a special detail of female Marines trained to search Iraqi women. Padmore and most of his Marines were riding in the back of the trace vehicle when a suicide car bomber crashed into the front of the convoy.
Padmore's driver slammed the brakes and the security detail in the back of the truck tumbled forward as debris from the lead vehicle flew over them.
Padmore, then a sergeant, said he knew it was a mass-casualty situation that could potentially overwhelm the one or two corpsmen on hand. As enemy small-arms fire began barking from rooftops lining the road, he leapt from his vehicle and rushed across 200 yards of open terrain to reach the wounded.
When he made it to the burning vehicle, rounds from its mounted .50-caliber machine gun were cooking off in all directions. Padmore dragged six Marines to cover, left his helmet and weapon with them, and returned to the vehicle to rescue four more people.
Disregarding the burns on both his hands, the native of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, went into EMT mode, triaging casualties and administering first aid that was later credited with saving the life and leg of one of the wounded Marines. For that, he was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with "V."
Padmore has been an EMT in Miami for eight years. For the last two, he has also worked as a flight medic for Baptist Hospital, a position that required six years' experience "on the street as a paramedic," he said.
"I wanted to be able to continue the care of the people I transferred to the helicopter. I wanted to do more," he said.
Around Padmore's fire station, his co-workers know he's too humble to talk about his bravery and compassion, so they do most of the talking for him. Fire Chief Dan Meadows said he wasn't surprised to hear June 8 that the local Navy League was naming Padmore the Broward County, Fla., Marine Reservist of the Year - at a ceremony Padmore had never mentioned. "He serves his community every day … with more heart than most people who were born here," said fellow paramedic Jose Almeida. "But if we didn't say this stuff, nobody would know."
Padmore's co-workers talk about how he still writes to an 8-year-old girl named Farah whom he befriended in Iraq. Padmore said he taught her math when she'd visit him on guard duty, and that when he's with his 5-year-old son, Kemario, he imagines Farah playing alongside him.
Junior Marines idolize Padmore, according to Maj. Chris Guarnieri, inspector-instructor at Padmore's unit.
He's "a very persuasive leader," Guarnieri said. "He doesn't yell or use threats. He has a lot of credibility with the Marines, and they listen to him."
By John Hoellwarth
10/5/05
First of all I just want to express my condolences for the passing of our friend Bill Dempsey, I found out about it thorugh an email once I arrived back in theater. Bill was a great man and will be dearly missed. God Bless Bill...
Well I made it back to Iraq and I can tell you it feels like I never left. I guess this is what if feels like to return to the scene of the crime. I know I haven’t written in a while but as you can imagine I’ve been as busy as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. I have to tell you that it was really great to get some R&R and see everyone first of all as always I want to thank everyone for all of the support and goodies that were sent to Iraq. The Marines, Soldiers and I greatly appreciate it. Almost all of the items were sent out to our troops minus a few packs of gummy bears, sorry but I have to draw the line somewhere. What made my visit even better was the fact that I finally had a chance to see my family for the first time in nearly 7 months and I had the pleasure of seeing my Son play in two football games. All is well now especially since the Nittany Lions are now 6-0! Go PSU!!!
One thing that I noticed and it is something that I have always suspected is that there I believe is more support for what we are doing here in Iraq or Afghanistan than is reported in the media and especially in some of these bogus polls [by the way as an aside understand that “opinion polls” are not designed to measure public opinion but to shape it, be not deceived]. Everywhere I went people were very appreciative of the service we perform and I suspect while there are people who may take issue with the prosecution of the war, which is understandable given the often biased, negative and most important of all incomplete reporting, people are generally supportive of our war effort because I think that there is what I call a silent majority of Americans who “get it” and are probably not avid readers or “Kool Aid Drinkers” of the NY Times international section. I have to tell you when we left the airport in Atlanta as we marched through the airport I almost got a little choked up as thousands of people stopped everything they were doing to applaud us as we transited the terminal. People even left the sports bars, gift shops and restaurants to come out and clap for us. It was pretty much the same scene everywhere we went. Anyway it was just great to see that.
I also have to say that it was great to work out with Ari, Kevin, Adam, Little Patrick, Andre, Vinny and of course Matt just to name a few, you gents have come a long way in your development and have much to be proud of. I also signed a whole bunch of Black Belt certificates that Master Perkins will be awarding at a later date so because I won't be there to help John give them out, congratulations to all those newly promoted Black Belts and to those who have gone up in rank. Trust me it is well deserved and perhaps in some cases long overdue. I also want to thank Ari for a really great article on the proper mind setting needed for the kind of violence that usually visits people in their everyday lives. For those who haven't read it you really missed a good article that ties a lot of key concepts together. Also for those who participated in the weekend seminar congratulations on from what I heard was a very successful seminar. Sorry I couldn't make it but I was still recovering from seeing my Son play that weekend.
One thing that I want to reemphasize and that is the importance of performing the KCD drills because they truly are the secret to developing the type of ability that keeps you out of harms way; like I've said on numerous occasions I can't even tell you how many times I would have been seriously injured had it not been for being on balance or having the ability to drop to a new root point rather than slipping and falling and losing a few teeth.
Like I said it's been a while since my last newsletter; one thing that I will discuss is the way in which the war was covered while I was home and once again it is absolutely amazing at the dearth of information on the war that the media did not or does not cover. I guess they couldn't break away from drinking their Mai Tai's out by the pool at the Al Rasheed hotel in the "Green Zone". Typical…
It seems in the midst of hurricane Katrina and the more recent storm you would never know that there was a war going on based on the media's reporting. With the exception of a brief mention of some of the bombings in Baghdad there were virtually no stories covering the brave actions of our young men in Iraq. Too bad because our young lads are out there fighting the good fight day in and day out so that the streets of New York don't turn into the Ramadi or the Gaza Strip. Speaking of hurricanes I have to tell you that I have been very disappointed in the manner in which we went about that whole thing. I'm probably more disappointed not so much in our leaders although there is plenty to blame to go around on all levels but in particular how many people used the tragedy as an opportunity to commit acts of violence against their fellow man. I was also disappointed in the lack of moral fortitude of some people as well. One thing that I have noticed over the years and this is just as personal observation and that is that we as a nation have really lost much of our pioneering spirit. I'm not saying that everyone is capable of running into a burning building or diving into a lake to save someone from drowning nor am I saying that you're a coward for not doing so but what I am talking about is the perception of helplessness that some people seem to exhibit whenever tragedy befalls our nation as if common everyday folks are incapable of handling some of the problems themselves.
Just from my observations in the few weeks that I was home and had a chance to take in the magnitude of the tragedy of Katrina. If there is one great failure of the whole incident it is that as with all of these "wonderful plans" we as leaders whether in government or even in the military never enlist the help of the local populace. This is a major mistake and we will continue to learn the lessons of Katrina and 9/11 until we acknowledge that no city response plan or emergency plan is worth the paper it is written on unless we involve everyone in the community and charge them to some degree with being responsible for their own survival in the precious few hours during a major crisis after the event has begun. In truth even the best response effort at most cannot respond fast enough in an emergency, just like the old saying that there is never a cop around when you need one, well guess what, there is never a whole rescue team, helicopter or row boat around when you need one either.
The point being is that no matter how much they try to convince themselves the government is not "omnipotent" sorry and so you and I need to have a plan. Just as we say in Attack Proof that you need to become your own body guard well in the same way you need to have some type of plan as to how you and your loved ones are going to respond when there is an emergency and every local municipality needs to have some form of civil defense corps that can respond and aid in an emergency to make up for the lack of capabilities that exists at all levels during an emergency. When I was a kid we use to do things like this but because we have become a society that would rather avoid such things because we don't want to inconvenience people most of us in our communities wouldn't know where to go or what to do in an emergency.
Those who have been in our classes know exactly what I mean, sure it's easy to blame the President, the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana but at the end of the day the person with the greatest ability to help you and your family are you and your neighbors. Now in all fairness from some of the reporting that I observed during my brief time home there were many people who reached out to others who were in need of assistance. However our over reliance on the government to take care of us during a crisis has made us in certain respects a nation of victims. This attitude is not only found in national tragedies but carries over into many other facets of our daily life. How many people have abdicated their moral authority and mastery over their own homes because they have bought into the notion that if something goes wrong the government will protect them? The truth of the matter is that the government has only the power which we give them and can only respond but so fast with the limited resources they have available and as seen in Louisiana we were able to see the limitations of what the government can do when experiencing an act of God on a magnitude far beyond our response capabilities. Enough of that…
So far so good here in Al Anbar as we await with baited breath for the first in a series of elections that I'm sure are going to be a major turning point in the future of Iraq. There are those who I know want to “poo poo” on the whole process however all I can say is that we'll all have to just sit back and wait but more importantly we need to be patient with the Iraqi people as they stumble toward a more representative system of government based on the will of the people instead of the cronyism that has been par for the course over the last 40 years under Sunni domination.
Not to get into too much speculation here but I think in spite of the best efforts of those in the media who choose to downplay the significance of the elections. In truth the elections in my view are going to be a crucial turning point in the history of Iraq because for the first time it is going to level the playing field with regard to the power structure that has been long dominated by the Sunni's, something they fear. Well but we shouldn't expect too much too soon since democracy even in the best of circumstances is messy business as demonstrated with elections in free nations throughout the world.
My view is that as long as folks get out and vote regardless of the outcome it is still a success. This is something that I don’t think many people understand and an issue that I’m sure many in the media will downplay with regard to its significance. It is not our place to try to influence who should rule in Iraq but only to support the Iraqi government in their efforts at a free and fair election, the rest is up to the Iraqi people and if they choose to reject the Constitution then so be it, that’s their choice not ours and that’s the only outcome we should be concerned with. At the end of the day the only question we need to be able to answer are; were the elections fair? Did they get the opportunity to vote? If so then it’s all good. Remember that equal opportunity doesn’t guarantee equal outcome. One thing that I have noticed is that people are becoming less afraid to sign up in spite of the risks [Iraq is still a dangerous place] in support of the elections and many of the politicians have been out on the forefront promoting it. As a side note I have to tell you having met some of these folks all I can say is they have the heart of a lion. I don’t think people realize but there are people here in Iraq who will kill you without batting an eye and would have no problem killing your family as well. Every one of these folks who are engaged in the elections process are not only risking their own lives but that of their families as well. Could you imagine an American politician running for office with the full knowledge there is a bounty on their heads and that both they and their families are at risk of assassination or kidnapping? I can assure you given the general character of many of our politicians the number of prospective candidates would drop off exponentially, trust me!
Since I got back in the saddle I have been doing some traveling and one thing that I have to share and that is during my most recent travels I was at one of four air fields and I had the privilege to run into one of our young warriors who had been injured in combat so I went over to talk to him and shook his hand and thanked him for everything that he did and I have to tell you I was moved by his courage and willingness to want to get back into the fight against people who want to do us harm in a worst way. This young man couldn’t have been older than 20 but you could already see that his experiences had already matured him far beyond his years. I don’t know what it is but if our nation ever runs out of young men like this we’re going to be in serious trouble!
I’ve also noticed that there continues to be positive signs of improvement all around Iraq. Shops are beginning to reopen, kids are going to school and Iraqi’s are becoming less apprehensive of our presence and more intolerant of the insurgents. These are all good signs. I was out one day and there were throngs of children coming up to us to have their pictures taken it was great but I have to tell you looking at the pictures it was also a little sad, man these kids are poor… it’s not even funny how poor they are. They are as innocent as they are adorable you can’t help but feel for them. Every time I’m out and about doing the nation's business I can’t even begin to tell you how thankful I am to live in a country where there are poor people who have cable TV. Trust me if there’s one thing I’ve learned over here is that being poor is totally relative and it all depends on who you’re comparing yourself to. The other thing that I notice something we take for granted and that is just how bad it could be without basic things like a regularly scheduled trash pick up. I was out on one of the city streets in Fallujah and I’m telling you the stench was so overpowering it could have made a maggot gag. There were a bunch of street vendors selling meats and for some odd reason didn’t think there was a problem throwing the discarded animal parts in the street.
Well that’s all for now I would tell more but I have to be real careful these days because the DoD is now cracking down on the content of what people are allowed to share on web sites etc... It seems that some of my fellow servicemen can’t distinguish between what can be discussed versus what can’t so I have to be careful lest something I said be misconstrued as being inappropriate content. In truth I think it’s a good thing and I’m all for information security now if someone can tell some of our General officers to stop reveling sensitive information to the press we’ll be alright. I’ve attached a few humble but “benign” photos for your viewing pleasure.
Shukrun ma-a salama
All Right
Photo of the Year
The Crowd Gathers
Sharing a little Good will
July 24, 2005
Hey check this out! This was sent to me by one of my Marines who is a part of the “Corporal Mafia” who received this from the “Lance Corporal Network” from a Marine who sent it to his wife, who sent it to her girl friend, who sent it to her boy friend who happens to be a Marine, who sent it to another Marine in our unit and so on… (Hey that’s just how the network operates.) These were taken out by a town called Jebel-Ali in one of our barriers. I’ll be thinking about this the next time I decide to walk in some tall grass out in “the Ville”.
Letter#5 July 23, 2005
Well gang it’s been a long and I mean a “long” few weeks and I’ve been as busy as a southern preacher on a Sunday. It’s also been a rough few weeks for us out here in Al Anbar. For those who have been following the news we’ve been in the middle of a serious dog fight and like I’ve said in previous letters we while we’re still making progress we still have a ways to go. I’ll return to this theme later. First of all I want to thank whoever sent the letter I wrote which ever one it was to Free Republic, I received a lot of letters of encouragement.
It’s always good to hear from those who support what we are doing over here in Iraq from back home. Also thanks for the emails from my students it’s always good to hear from the old gang. I’ve received a lot of mail from folks wanting to do something for me over here by sending me stuff. The only thing I can say is if you send me something just make sure you send enough so that I can share it with my fellow Marines and Soldiers otherwise I’ll get run out of town although I don’t know if that’s necessarily a bad thing. Since people insist on sending stuff here’s our selfish wish list and also some “do’s” and “don’t” when sending stuff. I’ll try not to sound like some kid at Macy’s sitting on Santa’s knee so here goes.
Chocolate – please do not send chocolate if you’ve seen the last weather report that was posted you can understand why, something about 120° F and chocolate just doesn’t go together. I had some buddies of mine from NYPD ESU – Truck 1, send me one of those industrial size Hershey bars and it resembled a baby’s diaper when opened. Luckily they wrapped it in plastic otherwise the cigars that they sent would have been ruined causing much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Coffee – any kind except the flavored kind will do. It doesn’t have to be fancy heck we can’t tell the difference anyway but it must smell like coffee and not like rose petals.
Gummy Bears – this is one of our main staples, many successful missions have been completed on little more than a belly full of Gummy Bears and a couple of Red Bull’s. Also make sure you send the ones made in lower Bavaria that have that “oily feel” to them and don’t stick together, you know the ones. We received about four pounds of the stuff once and between the heat and a little compression during the flight by the time they arrived they looked like they’d been sent through the “Transporter” from Star Trek by someone who didn’t know what they were doing, they ended up looking more like “Gummy Quasimodo’s.” They still tasted good though. Subsequent shipments corrected the problem.
Swedish Fish – I doubt the Swedes are even aware of these things but they’re a great back up after we run out of our provision of Gummy Bears.
Red Liquorish – I got caught last week swiping some from the Chaplains office after our supply ran out. Actually I was “dimed” out by my fellow officers but you get the hint.
Gossip Magazines – I’m almost embarrassed to say this but we can’t get enough of this stuff, between Brad and Angelina and Paris Hilton these magazines are a welcome distraction. These guy’s [The Enquire et al.] are almost as good as the CIA but with a better sense of humor. These people are as nutty as a fruit cake and always make for some great late night satire. Although we were disturbed to find out that the Weekly World News reported some archeologist found “ten more” Commandments and one of the commandments said something about, “Thou shall not smoke rolled leaves…” I hope they were talking about “wacky tobacco” (you know what I’m talking about), otherwise it’s going to put a damper on our cigar night.
Girl Scout Cookies – any kind without chocolate is fine especially the butter cookies that taste like short bread. We received a free shipment about a week ago as a gift from the Girls Scouts there must have been a couple hundred boxes and they were “gone” in like an hour.
Teddy Bears and any sort of stuffed animal – do not, do not, do not send us any form of stuffed animal! Thou shalt not do this! You have absolutely no idea the level of ridicule Marines and Soldiers have to endure when that kind of stuff comes popping out of a box.
Funny looking or “unauthorized” underwear – don’t send Speedo’s or any form of GQ gear, I know a guy who received a pair as a joke from his wife and now no one wants to sit next to him in the chow hall.
Alright I’ll cut it out now…
Oh this is a funny Iraq story, you know how people always say that we’re all creatures of habit well we had a situation at one of our locations where they thought they had seen a rocket or mortar round impact and thought there were more on the way so they got everyone to quickly evacuate the chow hall. Do you know that almost every person on the way out still took the time to dump their trays and stack them up before leaving?
When I heard that I couldn’t believe it! At first I thought it was an urban legend until I tracked the story down through the “Private First Class / Lance Corporal Network®” which is an indispensable source profanity and blunt unvarnished truth. And believe me Iraq is full of urban legends and has no shortage of profanity. Sure enough it turned out to be true. It kind of reminds me of doing fire drills when I was a kid yet everyone took the time to grab their coats on the way out just in case it was cold outside.
I received a letter from Captain John Edwards who’s getting ready to ship out, soon Master Perkins you're going to have two students over here. If you keep training and sending guys over here pretty soon you’re not going to have a class. Just kidding. He’s doing really well and his spirits are high, it was good to hear from him. I think when he gets here he’s going to find the same things that I found and that is just from the things he’s learned from John over the years his sense of awareness is going to be off the chart. I don’t know where he’s going he couldn’t say for obvious reasons but I have the utmost confidence he’ll do really well.
Okay I did it again, I was watching TV over the last few weeks and I have to say I just cannot understand some people in our country. From politicians who make irresponsible remarks about our war effort to these wacky anti-establishment dirt munching tree hugging druids. I can’t for the life of me understand what these people think they’re going to accomplish. Now frankly as I’ve pontificated in numerous letters you probably can tell that I could care less what people think but it doesn’t mean I have to put up with it. You see that’s the funny thing about the First Amendment, just as you feel you have the right to say it others have the right to not accept it.
People have to get their heads screwed on right because we are in a war for the very survival of our nation. This war on terror “in my opinion” is the kind of thing that could totally destabilize our nation. I can’t state it any plainer than that. Listen and I think I speak for many servicemen and women when I say this, we don’t always agree with the decisions our leaders make just as I’m sure most people don’t always agree with their bosses at work. But at the end of the day you have to decide whose side you’re on. I kind of liken it to when my son played high school football, you know I didn’t always agree with the plays the coaches called but I always supported the home team. I think any reasonable person can understand that.
These people had better get their minds right because I have news for them if they think there are problems in our nation now they’re not going to like it if the Osama Bin Dirt Bags or Musab Zarqawi’s of the world get their way. What these people including some of our elected officials don’t realize that every time they do these things by talking out of school this stuff gets maximum air time on Al Jazeera and the Jihad web sites which only serves to embolden our enemies which is something we do not have a shortage of.
Everyday in the press you have people in the foreign press calling for the destruction of our nation and unfortunately you have many Americans and I use the term loosely when describing them who are all too willing to become instruments of our enemies. Stalin use to call them “Useful Idiots” and I can tell you that if he were alive he would have his pick of the litter.
I’m sure everyone was watching the London bombings since there was little else in the news. I can assure you that our enemies were watching it very closely as well and taking notes. Understand one thing if we can’t win in Iraq or Afghanistan or wherever the war on terror may take us, we can’t win at home. Believe me this is the kind of fight where you want to have all “away games” lest that level of destruction become common place in our cities and towns.
We continue to fight the good fight and as usual our young Marines and Soldiers continue to perform above and beyond the call of duty. I’m telling you if my son were ever called to duty I would only hope that he would be just like many of the young men I see here in Iraq everyday.
I was recently reading about how an “unnamed” US Senator recently went down to Guantanamo Bay detention facility and got an ear full from some of the guards who are from his home state. Good on them! Did he really think that his remarks and those of the members of his party would not reach the ears of the constituents of his state who are in the military? In the story, the “good” senator was blasted by the troops for his anti-war statements.
I have to tell you that these guys just don’t get it. They in my opinion have no clue as to the type of evil that we are dealing with. Part of the problem is that we have some people in our country who just do not have the moral will to fight our enemies. They think that they can appease people who will drive cars into crowds of children receiving candy from American troops and blow themselves up along with the children.
To quote author Bob Just in his excellent February 2003 article “The 1 Weapon Essential for Victory,”
“No one can doubt the fierce commitment of radical Islamists who are willing to kill themselves in waging this war of terror on America. But as the war heats up, both in the Middle East and here at home where terror attacks are expected, the world will be watching to see if average American citizens can demonstrate a similar will to fight...”
Is this assessment cynical? Perhaps but it is sober and realistic acknowledgment that the potential “soft underbelly” of the United States is public opinion, led by media opinion. So we must ask ourselves: When the terror really begins (as in London and make no mistake, it's coming), will we have the necessary determination to achieve victory, no matter what the sacrifice?
I believe that we do however it’s going to take the moral outrage of the silent majority of Americans to finally say enough is enough and take up the sword and fight back.
I think what Bob Just has to say has some merit especially when we have people in positions of leadership that have either already capitulated to the enemy or seek to undermine our efforts just to score political points. These people are dangerous and we should “regard them not.”
Just to provide further proof of the mind set we’re dealing with recently here in Iraq there was a bombing in Baghdad where a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a crowed of children who were being given candy by some of my Army brothers and if I remember correctly one soldier was killed and about a dozen little children were killed along with 27 other people.
I’ve been out at times myself when we were giving candy away to the kids this is a common practice amongst our troops, and I have to tell you for someone to do such a thing is just beyond comprehension. Yeah we know war is brutal but when you’re out there amongst the population dealing with folks it still shocks the conscience that there are people in this world so full of hate along with some other things they’re full of that they would deliberately drive a car into a crowd of children and then detonate a bomb blowing them to pieces and when I say pieces, I literally mean “pieces”.
There was also another bombing to the south of where I am located in which one of the terrorists detonated a bomb next to a gas truck and set about half the town on fire. The fire was so intense that it trapped people in their homes you had mothers tossing their babies from windows trying to save them as they burned to death. The sad reality is these are all Arabs doing this to each other. Remember what I said in my last letter that the “god” of our enemy is chaos, misery and death!
More recently we had the bombing of a vehicle which made national headlines of Marines and Sailors being killed by a suicide bomber in Fallujah, I’m not going to get into any of the details but I’ll say this I attended the memorial service of those brave men and women and the speech that the Regimental Commander gave was the kind of speech that if faced with a similar tragedy, I would hope it would be the kind of speech I would be capable of giving. The gist of his speech which they video taped was,
“We are representatives of the United States and we have a sworn duty to defend our nation and what keeps what happened out in Fallujah from happening on the streets of America is the job that we are doing here. Make no mistake about it there are people who want to bring this war in the worst way to our cities and towns. We have a job to do and the best way we can honor the memory of our Marines, Soldiers and Sailors is by going out and getting right back in the enemies face! You will do your duty because that’s who you are and that’s what we do and we do not run…”
What I admired most about the good Colonel is that he never fixed blame, he never blamed our leaders (as I’ve seen some do) nor did he make excuses for what happened but simply made people realize that this is a war and that it could have been anyone of us and that if it were him he would still want us to carry on with our mission of putting “foot to behind” by bringing the fight right to the enemy.
It’s interesting to note that after the bombing there were several Marines both men and women who were actually on the vehicle when it was hit, who even though they received minor injuries, the next day went right back out. This is the epitome of courage to get blown up, lose friends and then get right back in the saddle, it’s also my understanding that many of the Marines from another unit who responded in force “ran” about a half mile in their “battle rattle” cordoned the area of and commenced to slug it out with a few of the bad guys.
I’ve attached a few photos of some of the sites of Iraq for your viewing pleasure. These are photos taken during some of my more recent travels. In some of the photos we had kids come right up to us to either have their pictures taken or to get candy from us. I think they got a little ticked off when they realized they could have the hard candy but they weren’t getting the Gummy Bears from me. In the one photo with the little boy by himself I thought it would be cool to try my conversational Arabic on him, usually when I speak Arabic at some of our “locations” I usually find my self telling people to shut up and show me their ID. I figured I’d keep it simple so I said, “Marhaban, is me al-Moocadum Al, shismeck?” which means, “Hello my name is Lt Col Al, what is your name? To which he replies pointing at my camera “Hi Mister, you give me?” in English!
So much for my Arabic lessons.
Ma a salâma…
Cpl Jasso my body guard
Capt Wild Bill Coffey
What are you looking at?
MGySgt Franco and GySgt Watson up to no good
Col Stone giving out candy
In the hood
Major Graham giving away candy
Two Little Angels
Hi Mister
July 20, 2005
"Hey, looks like it’s going to cool off on Friday…" 96-Hour Weather Outlook For Fallujah:
Wed 20th July
Sky: Mostly Sunny.
Temp: 90F/120/104F
Thu 21th July
Sky: Mostly Sunny.
Temp: 92F/121/105F
Fri 22th July
Sky: Mostly Sunny.
Temp: 89F/119/104F
Sat 23th July
Sky: Mostly Sunny.
Temp: 89F/120/103F
July 16, 2005
"Whoa!!! I think I better drink some more water…"
96-Hour Weather Outlook For Fallujah:
Fri 15th July
Sky: Sunny.
Temp: 89F/115/99F
Sat 16th July
Sky: Sunny.
Temp: 89F/118/101F
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