How to Lose (or Win) a War

Posted By Blackfive

Below is a message (2 days old) from a Soldier in Iraq training Iraqi forces in Baghdad. Just keep in mind two things (1) more violence - increased violence - is sure to come as we increase our presence and squeeze the enemy out of his safe havens, and (2) when we create a safer area like western al Anbar, Al Qaeda will want to strike there to prove that it is not safe. So, when George Soros sends/pays people to come here and marginalize what the troops are saying about the war, remember what this good Soldier has said:

...I do apologize for my lack of emails lately. It has been difficult for me to sit down and rationally discuss the situation here in Baghdad without losing my professional bearing as I begin to think about the absolute and utter nonsense that is pouring out of our Congressional leaders. My Mother always told me if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Oh well.

I was absolutely disgusted by the comments made by Sen Reid (D). When I read his comments in the Stars and Stripes newspaper, I was enraged. How can someone with his position and power openly undermine the war efforts and what I am doing. For many in the states, it may be a simple little issue of him saying we have already lost. Unfortunately, the insurgency took this as a HUGE propaganda victory. Simply look at the latest news reports from Al-Qaida's number 2, al-Zawahri. To think Al-Qaida wasn't ecstatic to hear this kind of rubbish coming out of our Congress is absolutely absurd.

As I hear continuing news reports about how support for this war is continuing to slide, I am amazed at what our country has become. I look back through history at everything that we as Americans have been able to accomplish. The hardship and difficulties were great but through individual and collective sacrifice we were able to pull through together and face the world as a stronger nation. Sure, I have had to make some sacrifices about being over here. My family has had to adjust to me being gone. More importantly though, what has America sacrificed? The only ones who have TRULY sacrificed are my brothers and sisters in arms who have been killed or wounded and their families that live with that pain everyday. For the rest of America what has been given up? I saw in the news that the stock market is at record levels. The Wachovia Championship golf tournament is in full swing, with Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan getting great press during the ProAm. I guess the NBA finals are rolling right along. Spider Man 3 just opened with a record day. I think you are beginning to see my point. There are so many Americans that move about their daily lives not knowing or CARING about what is going on around them. They just want to stop all of the bad news stories that they hear. They don't want to hear anything else about Iraq. I mean come on, it has been going on for 4 years now, can't we find a new story? Americans have expanded their waist line, increased their individual debt and have plugged into cyberspace. Completely losing focus of what is going to happen if we don't sacrifice, if we don't stand up and if we don't WIN this war.

As everyone reads the terrible reports about how we are losing and how this war is slipping from our grasp, I have to ask how many stories have been reported about progress?

When was the last time you heard ANY news about the fighting on Haifa Street? Come on, this is one of the worst sections of Baghdad. It is right near the Green Zone and the fighting has to be terrible.

Well no.

4-9 Cavalry "the Buffalo Soldiers" have gone in and almost completely secured that area of Baghdad. There has not been a single significant activity on or around Haifa street in almost a month. Don't worry, I won't claim that as progress because we are losing. If we look at what elements of 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry "Black Jack" are doing in Diwaniya province. This use to be a terrible area for insurgent activity. Now, things are fairly quiet and the soldiers are conducting many more dismounted patrols and capturing insurgents from intelligence that the populous walks up and provides. An area that is near and dear to my heart, the Al Doura area of southern Baghdad. This is, without question the worst area to be in within the country right now. Al-Qaida in Iraq has made it publicly know that they intend on turning Al Doura into their regional headquarters. So obviously there is still significant fighting going on as this is a major flash point. In the midst of this fighting, we continue to see the Al Doura market expand and reopen. More vendors are reopening shops everyday and the market is staying open later as each week passes.

So you see, there is progress being made by the fantastic efforts of our soldiers and service members that are over here. Obviously the American people aren't provided this information as it will give too optimistic of an outlook on things. Seriously, how much do American's really care if another Joint Security Station was opened up to provide better protection and response to the people of Al Rasheed? This type of progress is a critical steping stone to the overall success of our effort. It is this success and progress that is happening every single day. Apparently it is all for nothing because we have already lost.

It is not reported that on any given night, American patrols will capture 50 - 60 insurgents all over Baghdad. It is not reported about how many IEDs are actually found and destroyed prior to their implementation. It is not reported how bravely and heroically our soldiers are fighting everyday, in a war that we believe we can win, only if the American people are behind us and understand the sacrifice.

It is emotionally draining to see day in and day out the news coming out of Washington. When we read reports about how many Americans DON'T support the war and think we should pull out now, it makes me physically sick. Did we as Americans not learn anything from Vietnam? The Vietnamese NEVER beat us in a conventional battle. All they had to do was out last the American will to fight. That is exactly what happened. The American people lost the will to fight. They lost the will to support the military action. We lost. Our military was not accepted back home. The Vietnam Veterans are fighting to this day to regain the respect and dignity they so rightfully deserve. Now as I look at what is happening over here and back in the states, I realize that we as Americans are so spoiled and selfish that we no longer have the will or backbone to stand up to what is right. I fear that as I return back to the states, I will see my country repeat history and hand the war over to the terrorists.

I know that the terrorists can never beat us. I know Al Qaida can never win this fight on their own. I know we still have the most capable military in the world. I have to say that the most significant weapon the enemy has at their disposal right now, is not an IED or suicide bomber, it is the will of the American people. We have allowed the terrorists to brake our collective will to fight. It is not the insurgency that will win this war, it is the American people who will lose it.

As so many people claim to support the troops, I ask that they prove it. I ask America to make a sacrifice. Take a stand against the "popular Hollywood" view point and support a victory. It's not enough to say I support our troops by wanting them home. Hell, I want to come home too. But I support a unilateral victory.

I support kicking the hell out of the insurgency and sending them to meet Allah.

I support building walls around Baghdad neighborhoods because it provides better security.

I support executing major artillery barrages on portions of the city that foster terrorists that launch rockets and mortars at me and my team.

The American people need to realize that if we are going to maintain a signifcant presence in the world, we must at times revert back to a John Wayne persona in which we don't concern ourselves with polls and opinions but rather take care of business because it is the right thing to do.

As I approach my return to the states, I simply pray that we as Americans don't let this period of history effect the security and safety of my children years from now...

Posted by Blackfive on May 09, 2007

Beware the anti-jihad in the form of RC destroyers, to seek and destroy the enemies of this nation

Battle Bots: Iraq, Afghanistan Unprecedented In Widespread Use of Warbots

—Ace

And more are coming, including centipede-like crawlers that weave their way through minefields detonating one mine per leg.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have become an unprecedented field study in human relationships with intelligent machines. These conflicts are the first in history to see widespread deployment of thousands of battle bots. Flying bots range in size from Learjets to eagles. Some ground bots are like small tanks. Others are the size of two-pound dumbbells, designed to be thrown through a window to scope out the inside of a room. Bots search caves for bad guys, clear roads of improvised explosive devices, scoot under cars to look for bombs, spy on the enemy and, sometimes, kill humans.

Even more startling than these machines' capabilities, however, are the effects they have on their friendly keepers who, for example, award their bots "battlefield promotions" and "purple hearts." "Ours was called Sgt. Talon," says Sgt. Michael Maxson of the 737th Ordnance Company (EOD). "We always wanted him as our main robot. Every time he was working, nothing bad ever happened. He always got the job done. He took a couple of detonations in front of his face and didn't stop working. One time, he actually did break down in a mission, and we sent another robot in and it got blown to pieces. It's like he shut down because he knew something bad would happen." The troops promoted the robot to staff sergeant -- a high honor, since that usually means a squad leader. They also awarded it three "purple hearts."

...

Ted Bogosh recalls one day in Camp Victory, near Baghdad, when he was a Marine master sergeant running the robot repair shop.

That day, an explosive ordnance disposal technician walked through his door. The EODs, as they are known, are the people who -- with their robots -- are charged with disabling Iraq's most virulent scourge, the roadside improvised explosive device. In this fellow's hands was a small box. It contained the remains of his robot. He had named it Scooby-Doo.

Staff Sgt. James Craven (background) and Sgt. Domonic Amaral run tests on two Talon 3Bs at a base in Tikrit, Iraq. The Talon 3B is one of several robots used by explosive ordnance disposal units in search of improvised explosive devices.

"There wasn't a whole lot left of Scooby," Bogosh says. The biggest piece was its 3-by-3-by-4-inch head, containing its video camera. On the side had been painted "its battle list, its track record. This had been a really great robot."

The veteran explosives technician looming over Bogosh was visibly upset. He insisted he did not want a new robot. He wanted Scooby-Doo back.

"Sometimes they get a little emotional over it," Bogosh says. "Like having a pet dog. It attacks the IEDs, comes back, and attacks again. It becomes part of the team, gets a name. They get upset when anything happens to one of the team. They identify with the little robot quickly. They count on it a lot in a mission."

The bots even show elements of "personality," Bogosh says. "Every robot has its own little quirks. You sort of get used to them. Sometimes you get a robot that comes in and it does a little dance, or a karate chop, instead of doing what it's supposed to do." The operators "talk about them a lot, about the robot doing its mission and getting everything accomplished." He remembers the time "one of the robots happened to get its tracks destroyed while doing a mission." The operators "duct-taped them back on, finished the mission and then brought the robot back" to a hero's welcome.

Near the Tigris River, operators even have been known to take their bot fishing. They put a fishing rod in its claw and retire back to the shade, leaving the robot in the sun.

Of the fish, Bogosh says, "Not sure if we ever caught one or not."

Thanks to Michelle.

An Iraqi who understands the greatness of America and has risked his life for last 4 years voluntarily helping American troops

Brave Iraqi Translator Seeks US Visa

—Ace

Andrew's Dad tips me to this request for help in getting an Iraqi who's helped our troops through the long war get a US visa.

FoxNews talk radio host Brian Suits worked with him in Iraq, and offers this plea on Alaa's behalf:

The translator depicted in these images is an like us all: Hopeful, idealistic and ambitious. He's never been to America, but he's the most "american" Iraqi I met.

He shared the day to day risks of life in a rifle company, but with one big difference: he could've quit anytime. It's been four years now and he's assisted hundreds of U.S. Army soldiers in accomplishing their missions. Whether it's gaining the trust of locals to ask about IEDs or using his local knowledge to reveal the deceit of foreign fighters determined to derail democracy, he never faltered.

In the year I worked with him we were attacked, ambushed and blown up several times. Every time I or one of my men were wounded, he was there. Always.

Now, I need your help. Please view this quick movie or the longer Discovery Channel version on My War Diary and decide whether this young man deserves to have a chance to become an American. Ask yourself "Has he earned the chance?" If you answer yes, please write his visa packet sponsor kenneth.miller@us.army.mil and tell him that you support Alaa's dream to come to America.

One District at a time - WINNING THE BATTLE IN IRAQ

Al-Qaida ousted from one Iraqi district

By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 51 minutes ago

BAQOUBA, Iraq - Across the walls of the villas they seized in the name of their shadow government, black-masked al-Qaida militants spray-painted the words: "Property of the Islamic State of Iraq

They manned checkpoints and buried an elaborate network of bombs in the streets. They issued austere edicts ordering women not to work. They filmed themselves attacking Americans and slaughtered those who did not believe in their cause.

For months, al-Qaida turned a part of one Baqouba neighborhood into an insurgent fiefdom that American and Iraqi forces were too undermanned to tackle — a startling example of the terror group's ability to thrive openly in some places outside Baghdad even as U.S.-led forces struggle to regain control in the capital.

U.S. forces took back the entire Tahrir neighborhood during a weeklong operation that wrapped up Sunday in Baqouba, a city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad that al-Qaida declared last year the capital of its self-styled Islamic caliphate.

Though the operation was a success — it forced the guerrillas to either flee or melt into the population — soldiers say the extremists are likely to pop up anywhere else that's short on American firepower.

Indeed, even as the Tahrir operation took place, insurgents stepped up attacks on a new police post in the adjacent Old Baqouba district — which was also cleared recently — pounding it daily and killing Baqouba's police chief in a suicide car bombing.

Insurgent teams, meanwhile, have tried to infiltrate back into Tahrir, U.S. Capt. Huber Parsons said Tuesday.

When U.S. forces began pouring into the embattled district last week, residents said it was the first time they'd seen significant numbers of coalition troops since last fall. U.S. troops set up a combat outpost in northern Tahrir several months ago.

But to the south, residents recounted watching helplessly as masked fighters came and went freely in past months, piling weapons into the back of vehicles and taking over the homes of Shiites who had either fled or been killed.

"We were terrorized," said one man. "We wondered, Where is the government? Why have they forgotten us? Why does nobody come here to help?"

Baqouba has been wracked by violence for years. But insecurity has skyrocketed since late last year, partly because Sunni militants fleeing Baghdad's security crackdown have sought refuge here.

An estimated 60,000 people have fled the city of 300,000, most of them Shiites driven out by Sunni hit squads. Meanwhile, vital government subsidized food and fuel shipments, which normally flow in from Baghdad, ceased arriving because of political corruption in the capital, said Col. David W. Sutherland, whose 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, is responsible for security in Diyala province.

"In an insurgency, if you don't have faith in the government or security forces ... you turn to those who will offer you a better way," Sutherland said. "The terrorists were able to drive a wedge between the government and the people. But we're reversing that."

The battle for Baqouba picked up in mid-March.

U.S. commanders rushed in Stryker infantry battalion which helped clear, and eventually calm, the southern district of Buhriz, once the city's most violent area. While American forces fought there and in Old Baqouba, they watched neighboring Tahrir spin out of control.

Parsons said video from an unmanned aerial drone last month showed suspected al-Qaida militants searching vehicles at a checkpoint. They held back from destroying it, choosing to "track them to see where they were going, where they lived," Parsons said.

Then, for eight days in early April, al-Qaida battled fellow insurgents from the nationalist 1920 Revolution Brigades, who residents said were trying to resist the terror group's bid for control. The nationalist fighters ran out of ammunition and fled.

With the district firmly in al-Qaida's hands, local leaders and sheiks called on American and Iraqi soldiers for help.

U.S. forces first sent road-clearing teams into southern Tahrir April 22. Insurgents fired mortars and popped out of windows with rocket launchers, destroying three de-mining robots. Tanks and infantry blasted surrounding buildings, killing more than a dozen attackers.

The next day, Parsons moved three of his platoons into central Tahrir on foot. All three came under fire. The day ended with a 30-minute firefight at dusk in which rounds ripped through palm groves. Apache helicopters shot Hellfire missiles at a house insurgents had fled to, lighting the sky in thunderous blasts.

Fighting eased afterward. Soon, previously empty streets were teeming with crowds of people who shook soldiers' hands as they passed.

Residents recounted watching groups of masked men dig into roads with jackhammers in recent weeks, planting bombs and stringing copper wire to trigger them from houses and schools.

The militants mostly kept to themselves, but they distributed puritanical leaflets commanding women to cover themselves in black from head to toe, and stay home from work. They ordered tea shops shut and warned men not to smoke water-pipes.

"No one dared ask them why," said one father. Those who did drew unwanted scrutiny — and a possible death sentence, he said.

Families told of Shiites who went shopping and never returned. One man said his brother had been kept and beaten in a makeshift prison with two dozen others.

At night, masked men stormed homes, robbing and carrying out extra-judicial killings. "Nobody knew whether they were al-Qaida or the police or just common criminals," said a baker named Ali. "It was total lawlessness."

Like other residents interviewed, Ali declined to give his full name in fear of reprisals from insurgents.

Insurgents blocked roads with concrete barriers taken from coalition forces. One checkpoint was so permanent that U.S. troops found a schedule naming those who manned it daily.

In some empty homes, guerrillas knocked small holes in the walls to use them as sniper positions. Below some, bullet casings littered the floor.

Half a dozen of houses containing weapon stashes, as well as one booby-trapped villa with a 155mm artillery shell rigged to blow behind its front door, were leveled. Many stashes were pointed out by residents.

One cache of rocket launchers and Kalashnikovs was found simply leaning against a wall in the back room of an abandoned home, along with handcuffs, ski masks, radio handsets and a video camera. A tape inside it showed a "Husky" American bomb disposal vehicle trying to de-mine a road in Baqouba.

Parsons eyes widened when he saw it: the driver and the vehicle work with his Stryker unit.

On the video, machine-gun fire erupted amid cries of "Allahu Akbar," God is Great, targeting the vehicle and a de-mining robot.

The footage cut abruptly to an unrelated, final scene: A closeup of a blood-splattered corpse whose blindfold had been pulled from his face. The man looked Iraqi and appeared to have been tortured.

Soldiers said they believed al-Qaida operatives had lived in Tahrir, using homes there as a kind of rear base. In the living room of one home residents said served as a medical aid station for wounded fighters were empty beds, neck braces and x-rays scattered across the floor.

Although insurgents claimed many houses in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq, they tried to erase their work with splotches of white paint two months ago — realizing the proclamations might be too conspicuous. On some gates and walls, the paint was too thin to cover the black Arabic lettering.

The Islamic State is a coalition of eight insurgent groups. Late last month, it named a 10-member "Cabinet" complete with a "war minister," an apparent attempt to present the Sunni coalition as an alternative to the U.S.-backed, Shiite-led administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Parsons assured each family that U.S. troops and police would stay behind to keep insurgents out after he left, and establish a new police station.

Al-Qaida "had months and months to run rampant because we didn't have the forces available to come in here until now," Parsons said. "They controlled this neighborhood, but they don't anymore."

OBVIOUS LIES OF THE MSM - When will they take it in direction of Walter Cronkites TET portrayal?

CNN: Buncha Douchetools

—LauraW.

In 1968, Walter Cronkite portrayed the Tet Offensive as a devastating blow to the US, though the reality was quite the opposite.

Since then, he has admitted deliberately misrepresenting the event, but caveats that he meant well, since he was just trying to help end the war.**

How long will we have to wait for the current crop of activist "journalists" to confess their dishonesty?

2,000 troops deployed after scores killed in Afghanistan

Think about the meaning that CNN headline conveys, then head over to Geoff's post at JunkYardBlog.

** UPDATE: I seem to remember Cronkite's admission from an interview some years ago, but damned if I can find any reference to it online. So consider this unconfirmed, please, as my memory may be foggy.

If I die before you wake... Tribute to US Armed Forces

The True American Idols

Posted by The Bear under Culture

A Video and turn up your sound.