In Huseybah for Steel Curtain

how many civilians were injured and killed? that would be a good story… doubt you will/can cover it however…

are you even interested in that?

Hey Butch, Why don’t you tell it to the French

LOL

Are there ever any civilians or are they dead ones “insurgents” The ones that don’t run are just well disciplined insurgents? Get a grip, there is no such thing as a precision air strike, with a 500 pound bomb, it ain’t possible, so going in and letting the marines sweep and destroy a village because of someone shooting at them is useless, just pisses off the locals and makes them all the more determined to get the occupiers out of their country. Good job though, they let you ride along for the glory.

airedale, why dont you enlist?

Iraqi politicians have condemned the latest US offensive on villages and towns close to the Syrian border, calling it a killing operation.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/78AACB8D-FDC2-409D-9E3A-E8034C8BA469.htm

Iraqi politicians have condemned the latest US offensive on villages and towns close to the Syrian border, calling it a killing operation.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/78AACB8D-FDC2-409D-9E3A-E8034C8BA469.htm

Hey Butch, been there, done that

Why don’t you move to Paris and join the freedom movement and fight against the oppressive ruling class ?

Some can never “grow a set” larger than sitting at their mom’s PC keyboard and slamming you ( Chris ) for reporting what you see up close.

Then if your words don’t fit “THEIR TRUTH”

you are a tool of the people they just love to hate.

-sorry Chris, this will be the last time I feed the trolls.

Their mom can feed them from here on out.

Keep yer head on a swivel, and trust nobody who isn’t fluent in swearing in English

French ‘fatwa’ condemns violence

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/53243B37-A383-46F3-9268-700BDD4A5EB8.htm

Thats right, I linked an al-Jazeera article.

My son was in Husaybah for 7 months last year with 1/7 Marines, Baker Company. This unit of 200 Marines held the city for 7 months. Yes, there are civilians. However, they want nothing more than to live in peace - free from the tyranny that the insurgents would impose on them. When the city is cleaned out, they’ll have a much better chance. It’s interesting that even though the citizens of Husaybah had no access to outside media and got all their news from Al Jazeerah, they still understood that our Marines were their best resource and cooperated with them. It’s way past time for Operation Steel Curtain.

Deb, how do you know (or how does your son know) that the residents feel free to speak their minds to the American troops? If there were a million and half Chineese troops in the USA, whould you feel free to tell them what you really think and feel? That would be 10 times the number of US troops in Iraq, but then we have 10 times the population of Iraq.

Chris, I hope you can report on what is going on there, and that includes what is happening to the civilians.

Operation “Steel Curtain” There is a huge US military operation once again targeting the Al-Qa’im area of Iraq, this one named “Steel Curtain.”

As tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of the massacre in Fallujah, the US military pushes on with house to house fighting in the small down of Husaybah, near Al-Qa’im.

According to Al-Jazeera: “Falih Abd al-Karim, an Iraqi journalist, told Aljazeera that US and Iraqi forces were positioned in al-Sikak neighbourhood and north and south of 12 Rabia al-Awal neighbourhood in central Husaybah.

This came after US warplanes on Sunday evening targeted al-Jamahir, al-Risala and other neighbourhoods in the town, destroying houses, and killing and injuring dozens of people, he said.

The bodies remained under the debris of the houses because US forces do not allow burials or transfer of the injured to hospitals, Abd al-Karim added.

The US shelling has demolished government buildings, including al-Jamahir primary school, al-Qaim preparatory school for boys, the educational supervision building, al-Qaim post office and communication centre, al-Qaim education directorate and two mosques in the city, he said.”

A report on what is happening there in Iraq:

US kills fighters in western Iraq By Paul Tait Mon Nov 7, 3:08 PM ET

At least 17 insurgents and one U.S. Marine have been killed in a major offensive continuing near Iraq’s border with Syria, the military said on Monday as violence flared elsewhere in Iraq.

The campaign to secure western Iraq against Sunni Arab insurgents and foreign fighters before a December 15 election went into a third day; a suicide car bomber killed six policemen and three civilians in Baghdad’s southern Dora district.

Police said another 10 people were wounded in the biggest bomb attack since 29 people were killed in a bombing near a Shi’ite mosque in Mussayib, south of the capital, last week.

Some Sunnis have accused the Shi’ite and Kurdish-led government and its American backers of killing civilians in offensives like Operation Steel Curtain, the biggest in the mainly Sunni Arab desert province of Anbar since the battle for Falluja a year ago.

Al Qaeda’s military wing in Iraq said it would target the homes of anyone who “collaborated” with the military or the government and gave the military 24 hours to stop the offensive.

“Their homes shall be brought down on their heads after women and children leave, ” it said in a statement posted on a Web site used by al Qaeda’s Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The wording was an echo of Iraq’s defense minister, who last week warned that people sheltering rebels would have their homes brought down on the heads of their families.

So, there you have it…. al Qaeda is showing more morality in their fighting than the US-backed Iraqi government.

It’s a funny, funny world, no?

excuse me while I go throw up……

http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/default_02112005.asp

The above is a link to a video of the fight in Fallujah. You have to get to 15 minutes into it to see the interveiws with the US Marines. They show film the Marines shot and they talk about the chemical weapons the US used in Fallujah.

May the dead rest in peace.

May God forgive for what we sent our military to do.

The U.S. doesn’t use chemical weapons, nor does it maintain them in its arsenal. In all likelyhood, the powders and other agents described in the video were used or planted by the insurgents. There have been several reports of houses containing chemical barrels rigged to explode to make it look like the U.S. is engaging in chemical warfare. It is absolutely untrue, and should be recognized as such.

Stephan, What is this? www.cma.army.mil/umatilla.aspx

the US wouldn’t use chemical weapons simply because the gains do not justify the risks.

There is nothing chemical weapons would accomplish that can not already be accomplished without them. Neither politicians nor generals are so stupid that they will take extrodinary risks without considering possible gains. Since there are no gains, the use of chemical weapons is an propaganda argument engaged in by imbeciles who have limited reasoning abilities.

stefan and moron99:

go watch that movie. look at the pictures.

the evidence is overwhelming, just like the evidence that there would be no nuclear WMDs found in Iraq.

And take a look at the website about US chemical weapons linked above.

wake up and start * thinking* and stop making excuses for the US/UK government.

How many times do those governments need to lie to you before you wake up?

Troops in Iraq know what the people think? How many speak arabic? Or do they talk to the iraqis that speak english? Please troops don’t get to interact with the natives, it brings them problems, for instance the natives get targetted and the soldiers might get shot. So all of this about the troops knowing anything about the civilian populations and their problems is a lot of hooey. Troops care about their buddies and nothing else, they want to get their ass home in one piece. Altruism stops as soon as the first IED goes off, and the first bullet hits the old humvee. Think not, take a ride around Baghdad without armor, and see how much time you have to interact with civilians, before the guys with guns show up. Propaganda nothing more. Truth? Hah, the first casualty of war.

Um, Susan, the website you pointed out is one of 8 facilities designed to DESTROY the chemical weapons the USA currently has stock piled. Much like every major power in the world. The Cold War wasn’t just nuclear dear.

Also, do you really think even the US media wouldn’t have picked up word of us using chemical weapons on civilians/insurgents? The last time the US made use of chemical weapons was, wait for it…WWI. The reason? Absolutely no benefit. Its a slippery slope. You use them, the other guy uses something better, and so on.

I know quite a few people in upper echelons of the US Military and no where does it currently stand in operating procedures to use Chemical/Biological/Nuclear (well, ok nuclear bunker busters were drueled over by Bush) in Iraq.

These same soldiers don’t agree with why we went into Iraq, much as I dont, but atleast we don’t post blatant propaganda.

I want to make a correction to my previous post. Technically the U.S still does use chemical weapons. Aka, Posphereus gernades, smoke gernades, flash bombs, FAE bombs, etc.

Posphereus and FAE bombs would show similar effects to most chemical agents whether through burns or else suffication/liquidation/burns of internal tissue. This was covered and debated about during the Afghanstan campaigns when FAE bombs were used on tunnel complexes. Their effects are similar to chemical/nerve agent attacks but are actually caused by massive underpressure (all air is sucked out of the air to fuel the explosion) and resulting internal/external burns from the explosion.

I agree with Airedale on this one. How can people sit around and fashion an argument about what is going on without hearing a report from someone like Chris, who is on the ground? They may argue that Chris is only hearing and reporting one side of the story, but how many firsthand accounts of the story are they providing? None!

I’d like to hear whether the US forces are going around deliberately targeting innocents, as some people here seem to claim.

But if US troops are only reacting to guerrilla actions, it’s not right to put them on the same moral ground as people deliberately inciting violence.

Everybody knows there were votes this year on the interim government and on the constitution. If the “freedom fighters” have such a just cause, what is stopping them from advancing it through elections? Again, I wonder what kind of government the “pro-insurgent” debaters here are advocating? A return to a dictatorship or to feudal dominions run by warlords?

And since when do campaigns of violence and intimidation against non-combatant citizens qualify as “civil disobedience?”

http://usinfo.state.gov/media/ArchiveIndex/IllegalWeaponsinFallujah.html

“All chemical weapons currently possessed by the United States have been declared to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and are being destroyed in the United States in accordance with our obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.”

Beyond this clear denial supported by the weapons disposal centers posted by tescht, as many others have said, chemical weapons are simply NOT PRACTICAL for use in warfare. It takes the delivery of an obscene amount of agent to cause the desired effects, and even then, less than 1% of battlefield casualties in WWI were due to gas. Chemical weapons proved to be a huge flop.

If for no other reason than that they don’t work, the U.S. does not use chemical weapons any longer, and hasn’t since WWI.

In addition, the media and world opinion backlash for using such weapons is so extreme (and rightly so), that any reasonable person can see that no government so dependent on the world community as the United States would seriously consider their use.

Reason, people. Logic. Take a step back and look at what you’re saying. You’re trusting the WORD of people who deliberately and systemically target, kidnap, kill, torture, and behead their own people over the EVIDENCE presented by a highly audited, deeply investigated nation bound by the laws of war. How can you possibly justify this to yourself, intellectually?

Uh, I just wanted to say I’m glad Christopher is all right and writing. Looking forward to reading it!

Chris -

What is with the latest reports of the use of phosphorous bombs being used on civilian targets - any word out there on this, or is this just another wild rumour?

Susan,

I have it on good authority that giant spiders have materialized in the desert and will soon be deploying chemical weapons. According to my sources, the Jooos have been secretly plundering the Egyptian pyramids and have found ancient mystic texts. One page in particular tells of the magic recantations and spells that when used with special crystals under the light of a full moon will call forth these demon spiders to smite their enemies and advance their goals of global domination. According to the ancient texts, the only way to defeat this insiduous plot is for all those who oppose it to eat large servings of unwashed black beans 4 hours before an important social function. Are you going to do your part to help defeat these evil jooos?

I personally saw NO phosphorous bombs being used on civilian targets. The civilians I saw were told to go to empty houses behind the front, which the almost all did without much compolaint. I witnessed about a dozen military-age men detained for questioning, but none seemed too concerned about it.

I DID witness air strikes of 500-lb bombs against houses that had been rigged with IEDs in the walls and doors. As far as I know the house was empty, but I have no way to verify that as we couldn’t get in — as that would have set off the booby trap.

Nice one, Chris. The tribal angle — I haven’t seen in that in the big American press before. Or anywhere, come to think of it. Drop me a line when you get a chance.

Rock on.

nms

stefan—-

did you believe that nonsense about WMDs? Wasn’t it all over our media? How come they could not figure it out but most of the rest of the world could?

yeah, sure we can count on our american mainstream media…..

as they go on and on about how the political process is going to overcome the resistance against foreign troops and occupiers in their land…. sure.

go watch some films and look at some pictures and then decide if you believe your lying eyes or what the “media” tell you…

The use of chemical weapons is being widely reported in Italy I hear. And all of the world outside the USA saw many, many pictures of dead civilians from this war, and they are still seeing them almost daily.

Now, here’s a point to wonder about: if the US government and the US military really were there to bring “freedom and democracy” to the Iraqi people, then how come they make no effort to count the dead and injured Iraqis? Why do they go so far as to suppress this information from the Iraqi officials?

AND WHERE ARE THOSE IMMAGINARY WMDS ANYWAY?

Last April 9th, about a million Iraqis gathered in Baghdad to have a protest. The main signs they carried said

USA: GO OUT!!

Recently, the Brits did a survey of Iraqis down in Basra area. 80% want the US/UK troops out immediately.

And, of course, we have the unending IEDs going off, which also send a clear (if immoral) signal.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR THE MESSAGE TO GET THROUGH????

I, for one, did not believe that there were nuclear WMDs in Iraq and that is because I can still read and I can still think.

I called and wrote in protest back in 1988 when Saddam used chemical weapons on civilians and the USA government did not allow even a UN resolution to condemn this to pass. I protested that they did nothing.

Then, in 2003, I heard US officials condemn Saddam for these very same acts, without a shade of hypocrisy crossing their minds. Even Rumsfeld did this.

I’ve listened to Americans say that we had to support Iraq and Saddam back then, because of the so-called threat of Iran. Their ignorance and denseness astonishes me.

In 2002 and 2003, I heard again and again how Saddam and Iraq had chemical WMDs, along with biological WMDs and well on the road to getting nuclear WMDs. That, of course, was total horseshit.

Know when the last WMD was found in Iraq? Know how many WMDs were uncovered in Iraq by the UN inspectors without Iraqis help? Go look it up.

Early this year, I heard stories of chemical weapons being used in 2004 in Fallujah by US troops. I saw photos. I said nothing because I do not jump to conclusions until I am fairly certain. Now, there is a video out, and it is being shown on Italian TV, and getting noticed in other foreign press. The US corporate press is ignoring it, just like they ignored the above. It has video and photos and testimony of US troops that they used chemical weapons in Fallujah in 2004. By chemical weapons, I mean phosphoruous weapons, like napalm (which was used in Vietnam).

you can go to this website and watch the video. I only last 15 minutes before I could not stomach any more.

http://dailywarnews.blogspot.com/

I called my Representative, the White House and both Senators and told them what I thought of US troops using chemical weapons in Fallujah today. I told them what I had protested in the past and how I feel about all this hypocrisy.

I remember writing and calling back in 2002 also. One of my Senators then was John Edwards. I remember writing a tear-stained letter saying

“I hope you find those WMDs in Iraq to justify this war!”

after the war started. I knew they would not.

Now, how is it that nearly our entire US government and US corporate press could not figure this out and I could?

Well, they are either quite stupid or liars.

Take your pick.

Fallujah is about the size of Cincinnati, Ohio in area. About 2/3 of the city was reduced to rubble. I hear there are five main checkpoints going into the city now, and the Iraqis have to wait long hours to get into their city.

There is a video out about that too:

http://conceptionmedia.net/projects/caughtinthecrossfire/index.html

Now, imagine how Americans might feel if 2/3 of Cincinnati was reduced to rubble by a foreign army.

If you were stupid enough to believe in WMDs, then I suppose you are stupid enough to believe that Bush & company want to bring “freedom and democracy” to Iraq. There may be US troops over there who want the best for Iraq, but that is NOT TRUE of the US government. Never was and never will be.

I imagine if you think that, you will be quite surprized to find out one day that the majority of Iraqis hate us for what we did to them, and feel no gratitude for all the American deaths in Iraq. That would not be true for the puppets however, they are busy stashing away money now, and they will up and leave Iraq when it gets too bad.

The only positive thing about this whole situation is the fighting going on in Iraq has stopped the Bush/Cheney administration for invading anywhere else. None of the American deaths will ever amount to good coming to Iraq. They will just be dead people who choose to serve their country and then were sent overseas to do (at best) a fool’s errand and (at worst) make money for Cheney.

Halliburton stock is up 3,000% since the start of the war, I heard today.

WMDs = B.S. in the first place. I never cared about them, and I still don’t. This is not a point of contention, and will not help your case.

I’ve done extensive research into your claims, and no evidence has turned up. The sources that have reported chemical weapons abuses provide no verifiable facts to their claims, and many of them show a fundamental lack of understanding about the weapons they are describing.

The most convincing claims has been that the U.S. Marines used white phosphorous artillery shells to provide smoke cover for advancing forces in Fallujah. Even if these smoke-rounds were deployed improperly (I.E., with disregard for the possibility of civilian contact), it hardly represents a use of banned chemical weapons to target civilians. At best, it implies that a line officer improperly chose to protect his own men from enemy fire at the cost of using white phosphorous in an urban environment.

As much as you’d like to paint the insurgent as wonderful freedom fighters taking on the evil capitalists who have occupied their country for Halliburton’s oil schemes, the plain truth of their actions shows them to be waging a sectarian war aimed at leveraging Sunni power disproportionate to their numbers. I’m talking about the LEGITIMATE insurgency here, not al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, who are unequivocal monsters who have embraced a cult of death and thrown off all pretenses of decency.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F886ED14-806A-4D3A-A09E-57B1CF1B5B83.html

Is this the protest you’re talking about? Because it is plainly tens of thousands, nowhere near to your “million.” In any case, a protest in the streets is a clear sign of progress in a country where they would have been arrested or slaughtered wholesale under Saddamn. Democracy at work.

Now, I looked up your poll numbers and, yes, it appears that a secret poll has been taken and some 82% of Iraqis want the U.S. out of Iraq. Does that surprise anyone here? Of course they don’t want us there, but “immediately” was never mentioned (you would do well to stop misrepresenting your claims, Susan). Even I want the U.S. out of Iraq, but, like most Iraqis, I don’t want them to leave a power vacuum to be filled by al-Qaeda and a neo-Taliban. So long as insurgent violence continues, most Iraqis will accept coalition presence insofar as it provides more security than the insurgents can ever offer.

In addition, the insurgents are the primary cause of civilian deaths in Iraq. They are turning the Iraqis against them, day by day. The uprising in Qaim is evidence of this.

You Peace-Love-&-Happiness jerk offs make me sick. If you have so much self hate and insecurity that you cant even defend your own life well being and way of life we have, what have you become. Is the US perfect of course not is thier any such Utopia in the world today or will thier ever be such Hell No something called Human Nature keeps that a impossibility. However the US is the best game in town and our yes I said OUR way of life is the best game around and therefore should be supported and defended at all cost against any Yes any enemy who tries to challenge that. Why they hate us is irrelevent (did anyone ask why the Nazis hated the Jews, Slavs, Russians, gypsys, ect..) the simple fact is they DO and for over 20yrs we have had terrorism grow and grow on 9-11 we lost 3000 civilians and it is only going to get worse if we dont stand up and fight just as history has proven up to 9-11. We fight we have gone into the heart of the Middle East and we are going to try to setup a nation from were the 80% go Muslims who are good people can gain power and contain and fight if nessecary the 20% Muslim Radicals that wish to kill all who dont jive with thier crap (kinda like the 60% of Germans who didnt believe the Nazi line control the 40% radical Nazi’s). Like it or Not If we lose in Iraq and the 20% prove stronger than the 80% then the future is going to be real ugly. Because at some point in time the 20% radicals will get thier Nukes or Bio weapons and when they do they will earn thier virgins by killing the Infedels and by the way your LLL agenda makes you’ll just as infedel if not more so than me, at least if you are christian you are offered conversion or death. And when they kill a couple hundred thousand or million what do we do? ehhh OK maybe then make a limited war but wait now time is not on our side the cat is out of the bag so we try then to do a process that will probably take a generation while we die at home by the boat load. Hmm Right does anyone really think if we lost New York tommorrow the screams wouldnt be loud enough for even a Kerry, or Clinton to retaliate overhadidly with Nukes?, then that 80% of good Muslims will be our blood enemy too so unless you are prepared to pull out the ban islam and lets go kill millions of people and lots of other unthinkable things down the road thier and here at home when it is too late either help out or shut up. Personally I dont like this option I would rather at least try the first option what do we have to lose the second senerio is barrling down on us fast. Even in the mid term what is acceptable yearly losses cough sacrifises are you willing to give to the radicals so they can make thier point?? 3000, 5000, 50000, what?

9-11 saw 3000 civilians cost radicals 19men todate we have lost what just over 2000 soldgiers enemy cost heavy in the high tens of thousands. To me the troops losses while all are cherished are pale in comparison to what continued terrorist attacks will extract from US. Why have we not been hit again at home think maybe Radical pride has forced the Mayrtrs to defend the homeland first rather than train and maybe if lucky go across the ocean to Big Satan’s home to gain virgins. Debate over was Iraq the best place for this option to be played out (my personal veiw was yes but have heard other compelling alternatives) well that choice is now irrelevent the fact is the Battle Has Been Joined it is now Do or Die.

To just cry about the current situation without offering a reasonable alternative is useless if anyone here has a different idea better than giving the 80% good the ability and country to control the 20% radical name it explain it. And sit back and ignore the situation is not a option unless you have no kids or at least kids you care about pass the buck was what the we have been doing since the late 70’s early 80’s and terrorism has only spread gotten stronger and more costly.

And I know what you are going to try the “well the new Iraqi gov is Shia and Iranian radical” I would answer that with the Shia Iran once pre Mullah was a staunch US ally with rather western values and leadership. Also no one said that this plan was full proof it is very likely the 80% wont be able to control the 20% or even hold the line we just formed, may even go Mullah radical. My retort to that is “We Tried” life or choices rarely if ever come with a garantee, and if they did their would be no real choice would thier. Personally I know some Muslims and even some Iraqi’s and while beit they do fear and openly admit the strong Radical percentage they are good people like me and you and hopefully we can help them get the power they need to overcome the Radicals. Islam and religion in general are not evil, actually can be good however Radicalized it is dangerous to all that dont share whatever radical crap they are selling.

first blog ever so don’t get vicious! Having woken up to the imediate dangers of militant Islam following 11/9 - or as you guys across the pond say - 9/11, and having read the history of al-qaeda since its birth following the retreat of the soviets from afghanistan to its evolution into a truly global banner for the worlds disaffected muslims, I have come to a few very basic conclusions. Al-qaeda was created by a combo of Pakistan and American intelligence(?) agencies to halt the spread of communist russia through the middle east. The immediate aim of this was succesful - after a prolonged occupation the russians retreated. Unfortunately left in their place was a unified grassroots arab army - not seen since the days of salladin. since then following the rise of america as the worlds sole superpower, and its necessary interference in the affairs of the worlds largest oil exporting region, Saddam’s secular iraq was propped up as a bulwark against the greater threat of Irans theocracy. wmd was supplied to both sides as well as co-ordinates for troop positions. saddams invasion of kuwait which followed the two iran-iraq wars, was deemed by america as saddam gaining a dangerous upper hand in the region, for which he was swiftly and crushingly rebuked. Retreating back to iraq as requested by america his army was destroyed. Only after 10 years of aerialbombardment and sanctions was the country deemed to be militarily weak enough for a ground invasion. The consequences of this so far have been:

The break up of the country into 3 ethnic groups.

A secular country being moulded into an islamic state (as stipulated by the new constitution)

The country now a fortress for al-qaeda, with massive daily casualties of muslims to use as propaganda to recruit new foot soldiers from around the world.

A massive american force for al-qaeda to attack without having to enter the U.S.

as the conflict spreads to neighbouring countries, more and more mulims - local and worldwide will join the jihad. Weapons and combat knowledge will return home with the battle hardened muslim recruits, resulting in ever widening spread of terrorism. Instead of terrorism being contained to a hardcore minority, it will spread to the mainstream.

What began as a corporate business contract from Bush co. to Halliburton will result in us - the general population- coming evermore increasingly under fire.

Damn Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Pearle and all the other bastards for making mankind pay for their profit, and sorry to all above who condone it, may god/allah forgive you.

p.s. I’m British not French, caucasian not arab. I, like many others have always despised ALL forms of terrorism - those perpetrated by the state as well as individuals. Intelligent comments only rather than character assasination please.

Dearest Chris. I had no idea where my Marine son was until I read your article on Times.com. He is with Fox Co. God Bless you Sir! Keep your head down and yourself safe. If your in that part of the country again, tell that Marine son of mine that his Momma loves him.

Outstanding article, by the way. Semper Fi

Chris, The America media have failed to report many things, including the deaths of civilians and soldiers. A major part of this disaster is journalists failing to speak the truth, failing to overcome their own paradigms, failing to be OBJECTIVE. Now, I realize media outlets and organizations have the power to decide what to print or show or not, but the failure has been deep and widespread. You have a tendency to forget things, to want desperately for things to work out well. When your brain is telling you that is not possible. Hope is indeed a slim reed. And the trauma inflicted on victims of this war will NEVER be repaired. People are destroyed. And for what? For an utter lack of imagination, creativity, and for a future that will be NO DIFFERENT than the previous, only less obvious in its exploitation.

We need to leave and yesterday. The idea that it’ll be worse is nonsense. The rallying point of the insurgency will be gone, and the Iraqi people will be free to deal with them as THEY SEE FIT, not with American troops bumbling around the country putting band-aids on gaping wounds.

There is no good solution, there are only solutions that will hurt. The one we are pursuing has not only hurt, it has FAILED MISERABLY. At what point do you realize you’re in the middle of something THAT HAS NO SOLUTION?

Abusurdism is sometimes too naturalistic to accept as such.

Wow! You’re in Huseybah covering Operation Steel Curtain? One time I saw Iron Maiden in Denver. I didn’t cover it though. I just sparked up a phatty and listened. Anyhow, keep pumping out those military press releases you plant in Slime, i.e. “Americans troops are such good boys they just want peace and brotherhood and don’t never shoot first honest but them terrorheads shoot at us we weren’t doin’ nuthin (‘cept a little occupying-big deal!) but after they take a little protest pot shot at us …. “you’ll be sorry that you messed with The U.S. of A. Cause well put a boot in your ass It`s the American way…

Man, we lit up your world Like the 4th of July

When you hear Mother Freedom Start ringin’ her bell And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you

Verklempt…. Verklempt, Talk Amongst Yourselves….. those lyrics do it to me every time! :)

Anyone out there think Syria is still in line of fire?
It could go a little something like this: - Assads regime is proved to be behind assasination of Hariri in lebanon. - We believe they are trying to produce Weapons of mss dedribbledribble. - Proved to be behind increasing flow of foreign fighters into Iraq.

Is this not the ground work that our compliant media machines have been grinding into us for six months? As in the build up to the war in Iraq - though more subtle.

• Decisions have not yet been made.
• Syria can still avert military action by complying.
• Axis of evil, blah blah.
• Baath party with links to Saddams regime.

To me the question is whether this pressure will be enough for the Syrian government to fold, or whether we will see another stumble in the war on terror. Perhaps the invasion force will consist of a division of U.S. and Iraqi troops. This would give it more credibility in the eyes of the world, wouldn’t it?

Perhaps it will be Iran first. Perhaps both simultaniously.

Perhaps they will bring back the draft.

Thank you for your reports on this. My husband is currently with 2/1 and your blog and your current article for Time are fantastic. It helps me to be able to keep track of my husband just a little bit better. I greatly appreciate your service and your reports about what is going on and our Marines!!!! I am so proud of all of our guys and you help me to be prouder day by day.

Thank you so much for your article in Time and for your blog!! My husband is currently serving with 2/1 and it has helped me greatly to be able to know a general idea of what he is doing. This is his 3rd time over there with 2/1 and I couldn’t be prouder of him and all of our guys!! Thank you for your time and for reporting on this wonderful Battalion!!!

If you just read all your entries, you will see that civilians were mistreated. Rounding all military age men, is not mistreatment? Reducing a 30000 population to 5000 is not mistreatment.

What you meant was you did not see any personal mistreatment. Fair enough, but I guess the “suspicious ones” who cannot enter their own town, are not too happy about that.

To me, it looks like you don’t think Iraqis are entitled to anything. And if US wants to avoid secterian war then they should not send Shia soldiers to Fallujeh

Read this..

In a 9,000-word article that Jones says will be published in the book The Hidden History of 9/11/2001, by Elsevier, Jones offers these arguments: The three buildings collapsed nearly symmetrically, falling down into their footprints, a phenomenon associated with “controlled demolition” — and even then it’s very difficult, he says. “Why would terrorists undertake straight-down collapses of WTC-7 and the Towers when ‘toppling over’ falls would require much less work and would do much more damage in downtown Manhattan?” Jones asks. “And where would they obtain the necessary skills and access to the buildings for a symmetrical implosion anyway? The ‘symmetry data’ emphasized here, along with other data, provide strong evidence for an ‘inside’ job.”

No steel-frame building, before or after the WTC buildings, has ever collapsed due to fire. But explosives can effectively sever steel columns, he says.

WTC 7, which was not hit by hijacked planes, collapsed in 6.6 seconds, just .6 of a second longer than it would take an object dropped from the roof to hit the ground. “Where is the delay that must be expected due to conservation of momentum, one of the foundational laws of physics?” he asks. “That is, as upper-falling floors strike lower floors — and intact steel support columns — the fall must be significantly impeded by the impacted mass. … How do the upper floors fall so quickly, then, and still conserve momentum in the collapsing buildings?” The paradox, he says, “is easily resolved by the explosive demolition hypothesis, whereby explosives quickly removed lower-floor material, including steel support columns, and allow near free-fall-speed collapses.” These observations were not analyzed by FEMA, NIST nor the 9/11 Commission, he says.

With non-explosive-caused collapse there would typically be a piling up of shattering concrete. But most of the material in the towers was converted to flour-like powder while the buildings were falling, he says. “How can we understand this strange behavior, without explosives? Remarkable, amazing — and demanding scrutiny since the U.S. government-funded reports failed to analyze this phenomenon.”

Horizontal puffs of smoke, known as squibs, were observed proceeding up the side the building, a phenomenon common when pre-positioned explosives are used to demolish buildings, he says.

Steel supports were “partly evaporated,” but it would require temperatures near 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit to evaporate steel — and neither office materials nor diesel fuel can generate temperatures that hot. Fires caused by jet fuel from the hijacked planes lasted at most a few minutes, and office material fires would burn out within about 20 minutes in any given location, he says.

Molten metal found in the debris of the World Trade Center may have been the result of a high-temperature reaction of a commonly used explosive such as thermite, he says. Buildings not felled by explosives “have insufficient directed energy to result in melting of large quantities of metal,” Jones says.

Multiple loud explosions in rapid sequence were reported by numerous observers in and near the towers, and these explosions occurred far below the region where the planes struck, he says. Jones says he became interested in the physics of the WTC collapse after attending a talk last spring given by a woman who had had a near-death experience. The woman mentioned in passing that “if you think the World Trade Center buildings came down just due to fire, you have a lot of surprises ahead of you,” Jones remembers, at which point “everyone around me started applauding.”

Following several months of study, he presented his findings at a talk at BYU in September.

Jones says he would like the government to release 6,899 photographs and 6,977 segments of video footage for “independent scrutiny.” He would also like to analyze a small sample of the molten metal found at Ground Zero.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,635160132,00.html