Category Archives: Iraq: The Ugly

Dammit

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As I was outprocessing today I learned that one of my former Airman’s good friends was killed in Iraq this weekend.

There are just no words.

The Airman was only 19. Yeah, 18′s an adult. That’s easy to say when you’re 18. When you’re over 40…not so much.
So before I left I spent a few moments “sexually harassing” (hugging) a very red-eyed Airman that is very special to me. Practically a second daughter. I felt bad that I couldn’t stay longer and talk like we used to, but shit happened as it does when you’re trying to outprocess and I was already three hours behind schedule. I’ve never felt quite THAT crappy about leaving anyone in my life.

I still think we were right to go in given the circumstances at the time.

I can’t tell you when it happened, but at some point I began to lose confidence in our leadership. When it hit me that “I’m” leadership, I knew it was time to go.

Do me a favor?  Pray if you got that goin’ on in your life.

Ohhhhh, You Mean THIS WMD?

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Jeff Goldstein has got news that I haven’t heard anywhere else today, although to be honest, I haven’t listened to the news since about noon.

Last Tuesday, I wrote about the (potential) forthcoming release of 12 hours of audio recordings between Saddam Hussein and his top advisers that, as the New York Sun story I quoted put it, “may provide clues to the whereabouts of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction”. According to the Sun report, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence was studying the tapes.

Go read the whole thing.

I’m not sayin’ nuthin’ until more comes out, but I’m making a list of my ol’ friends who have beat me up with, “There was NO WMD!” for the past three years…oh yes I am…

Well Whaddaya Know?

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Saw this in the Early Bird this morning and almost forgot about it until now.

Saddam’s Terror Training Camps
What the documents captured from the former Iraqi regime reveal–and why they should all be made public.
by Stephen F. Hayes
01/16/2006, Volume 011, Issue 17

THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq. The existence and character of these documents has been confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD by eleven U.S. government officials.

Read the rest.

Gosh…that might mean that we weren’t lied to. Perhaps some of intelligence was accurate. Perhaps Iraq was actually a valid target in The Global War on Terror. Perhaps this information should have been released to the public the moment it was found and we could have avoided some of the tearing apart the country is currently going through. Perhaps if there’s MORE information it should be released as soon as possible instead of waiting for, oh, I don’t know, a political cycle and maybe we can stop sneering at each other so damn much.

Why I Love the Marines

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Link requires registration.

Ya gotta love this guy.

Burghardt was wounded.

But with two new young Marines in his ordnance disposal unit – and the insurgent attackers undoubtedly looking on – “I didn’t want them to see the team leader carried away on a stretcher,” he said.

So after the Nebraskans tended to wounds that reached from his boot tops to the small of his back, Burghardt rose to his feet and reached back with a one-finger salute for his attackers.

“I was angry,” Burghardt said.

…

As for Burghardt, he said he wanted to send a message to the insurgents who failed to kill him.

“I knew there was somebody disappointed out there.”

Via Ravenwood who got it from The Smallest Minority who got it from…my local newspapaer?

Casey Sheehan

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Blackfive has the scoop on the real Sheehan story:

Casey Sheehan’s Sergeant asked for volunteers. Sheehan had just returned from Mass. After Sheehan volunteered once, the Sergeant asked Sheehan again if he wanted to go on the mission. According to many reports (and according to his own mother), Casey responded, “Where my Chief goes, I go.”

Go read the whole thing. Bring tissue.

We’re Supposed to Be the Good Guys, Bad Lieutenant, no Donut Edition

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Check out this crap.

My take? It made me ill when I first heard about it and I don’t feel a hell of a lot better about it now.

First of all, he’s a Lieutenant, where the hell was Top (The Senior NCO)? Second of all, he “had them thrown” off the bridge?!!! You’re telling me that he ordered enlisted folks to do this and they frelling did it?!!! What kind of Mickey Mouse chain of command would even let you consider this a lawful order?

WE’RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE GOOD GUYS YOU MISERABLE F*CKS!!!

Deep breath and…

okay…better now…carry on.

Exactly When Did You Decide You Didn’t LIKE the Constitution?

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Every four or six years for the past 20 I’ve raised my hand and enlisted in the United States Air Force. The first thing, the very first thing that we vow to protect and defend is The Constitution of the United States.

Today I’ve seen a few bloggers, I’m not going to link to them, they don’t deserve it, refer to Kevin Sites as a traitor or worse for releasing the videotape of the Marine in the Mosque.

To those folks of questionable citizenship, I have some questions: When did you decide you didn’t like the Constitution and exactly where would you like to stop limiting the Freedom of the Press? Who gets to decide what gets shown? You? The Government? Me?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

That applies to all of us you assholes, not just you. Deal with it.