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Video: Captured U.S. Soldier Speaks
(hat tip Jawa Report)
I’m not sure what to make of this video, but Private Berdahl is clearly violating the military code of conduct. Initial reports about Berdahl’s capture alleged that he deserted his base without his weapon or body armor.
He’s allowing himself to be used as propaganda by telling outright lies about the military and giving up information about his unit.
It’s been less than two weeks since Gen. McCrystal gave new orders to do whatever is necessary to prevent civilian casualties. Berdahl knows that, but when asked about civilian deaths he lies to the world and says “there are no rules” and “civilian deaths don’t matter.”
Here’s what retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters had to say about it:
(hat tip Michelle Malkin)
Kellie Pickler Is A Patriot
Kellie Pickler just returned from her second USO tour visiting with our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This from Kellie’s Myspace blog:
I am more tired than I have ever been in my life and I don’t mind it at all. I just got back from my second USO tour. Once again, the most incredible thing I have ever done in my life.
I don’t think I have ever flown this much in my life. Monday we flew to Washington where we joined Admiral Mike Mullen (chairman of the joint chief of staff) to board our flight on a C-32 to Germany. That is where we kicked off our first show. I still can’t believe that in a matter of 6 days we flew to Germany, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, and England. The shows did not start until we landed on Tuesday and if I remember correctly we did 9 shows in 5 days!!!! I guess I am still on auto pilot, not sure why I am even up right now as I just got in from England late last night. lol. I don’t think this trip has really sunk in yet so it might take me a while to absorb everything….I’m kinda drawing blanks right now. I do however remember two things….seeing the faces of over 20,000 military men and women (that is forever imprinted in my mind) and….the horrific endless sight of porta potties (that too is forever imprinted in my mind).
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to the men and women serving our country. I will never take what you do for granted.
God Bless You and God Bless the USA!
xoxo, Pickler
Instead of marching for gay marriage or spreading climate change propaganda, Kelly is bringing holiday cheer to our troops. Thank YOU Kelly for being such a great American.
Video: Obama Shocked That The Military Prefers Fox News
Obama should really get out more often. The only people who don’t watch Fox News are the far-left people he runs around with.
Some U.S. Soldiers In Iraq Bored, Wish To Be In Afghanistan
If you still need more evidence that the situation in Iraq has improved, you should read this story. A lot of areas in Iraq have settled down so much that some soldiers feel like there missing all the action in Afghanistan.
Spc. Grover Gebhart has spent nine months at a small post on a Sunni-Shiite fault line in western Baghdad. But the 21-year-old soldier on his first tour in Iraq feels he’s missing the real war—in Afghanistan, where his brother is fighting the Taliban.
With violence in Iraq at its lowest level in four years and the war in Afghanistan at a peak, the soldiers serving at patrol station Maverick say Gebhart’s view is increasingly common, especially among younger soldiers looking to prove themselves in battle.
The part of the story that’s guaranteed to drive left-wing war crtics completely nuts is this:
Instead of facing gunfire and roadside bombs, the soldiers’ armored Humvees are chased by waving children as they weave through streets crowded with pedestrians out to shop or just to stroll.
Ouch, that could really damage the “surge didn’t work” narrative of the far-left.
Soldier In Iconic Iraq War Image Dies Tragically
Army Pfc. Joseph Dwyer was simply saving a young Iraqi boy, and in the process unwittingly became the subject of one of the most iconic images of the Iraq war.
As proud as he was of the photograph and what he was able to contribute to the war effort as a field medic, Pfc. Dwyer was never the same after returning from the war. Plagued by severe PTSD that kept him from sleeping and caused him to fear that Iraqi insurgents were still hunting him even back home.
His fear became so bad that in 2005 he became involved in an armed stand-off with Police in an apartment complex in Texas. Dwyer shot up the apartment building and refused to surrender to Police because he thought insurgents were trying to get to him.
Though his family tried to get him treatment for his PTSD, (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) his family says Veterans hospitals simply had inadequate resources for treating cases like Dwyer’s. He went to inpatient and outpatient treatment but none of it worked.
There’s no question that the U.S. military has been slow to respond to the treatment of PTSD. A stigma still remains around the disorder, even though experts claim as many as 1 in 5 soldiers who return from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from it.
Last month, on June 28, police in Pinehurst, N.C., who responded to Dwyer’s home, said the 31-year-old collapsed and died after abusing a computer cleaner aerosol.
Pfc. Dwyer became a hero at the age of 26, but tragically died at home at the age of 31.
The importance of the war in Iraq is undeniable and those brave men and women who continue to volunteer to fight it will forever deserve our nation’s utmost respect and gratitude. The most important way for our country to show that gratitude is by taking care of our veterans when they return home.
Though these men and women may look fine on the outside, the real damage can be on the inside. The mental toll that combat can take on even the strongest person can be indescribable. I believe every combat soldier should be required to attend a PTSD program. Our soldiers should also be required to attend classes on how to reintegrate back in to civilian life after a deployment.
Our warriors should have assistance as they return from combat and attempt to resume a normal life again. War is not something that you can simply turn on and off like a light switch, returning to civilian life is a process that takes time.
Pfc. Dwyer may not have died on the battlefield, but make no mistake about it, he did indeed give his life for his country.
-Chris Jones
Video: 1,125 U.S. Soldiers Re-enlist In Baghdad On July 4th
More news out of Iraq that isn’t fit to print.
(via Hot Air)
Heartwarming Iraq Picture Moment
Take a look at these heartwarming pictures from Iraq. I think these pictures manage to capture the essence of what it means to be an American.
There are no words to express everything conveyed by this photo. To me, it represents the highest ideals of our country and our guys, and the hopes and aspirations of the Iraqi people.
This is why we fight.
About The Photos:
U.S. Army Task Force Regulators 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment Staff Sgt. Fred Hampton, of Lexington, Ky., kneels on a knee to talk with a young Iraqi boy at the future site of Regular 6 Park in the Thawra 1 section of the Sadr City District of Baghdad on June 20. Photo: Tech Sgt. Cohen Young, Joint Combat Camera Center Iraq.
(hat tip to Soldiers’ Angels Germany)
U.S. Missile Fired In NW Pakistan
An American unmanned Predator Drone is thought to have fired a missile at something or someone on the Afghan/Pakistan border today.
The missile was believed to have been fired into the Mohmand ethnic Pashtun tribal area in northwest Pakistan. This makes sense, because this same area has been hit by Predator drones on at least four separate occasions, resulting in the deaths of dozens of militants.
Unnamed Pakistani govt. officials confirms there was an attack, but won’t give any specifics as to what or who the targets may have been.
“There was an attack by a spy plane close to the Afghan border but we don’t have information about casualties or damage,” said the government official based in the region. He declined to be identified.
Neither U.S. nor Pakistani authorities usually confirm U.S. missile attacks on Pakistani territory, which would be an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.
Leaked: U.S. Plans To Keep 50 Bases In Iraq
By now it’s pretty clear that the U.S. government is incapable of keeping secrets. So not surprisingly, our plans for future involvement in Iraq have been leaked.
Much to the shock and horror of Democrats, the so-called “Strategic Alliance” that President Bush is planning to get signed next month In Baghdad is certainly raising eyebrows.
America currently has 151,000 troops in Iraq and, even after projected withdrawals next month, troop levels will stand at more than 142,000 – 10 000 more than when the military “surge” began in January 2007. Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government.
None of this comes as a shock to me, because the idea that we would lose more than 4,000 soldiers in this adventure and not even keep any bases is unthinkable.
Anywhere in the world that America has waged war, we always keep a base or two or 50. Since we liberated Iraq from Saddam Hussein we are entitled to retain bases.
Secondly, this whole idea that Barack Obama is going to pull troop out of Iraq is truly a fairy tale (to use Bill Clinton’s words). Iraq is just now beginning to have a modest standing army thanks to our training.
They have a “Navy” with maybe 5 or 6 boats that is still in the early stages of training.
They have a militia police force that is barely capable of securing a city block.
They have an “Air Force” that consists of about five C-130 Vietnam era cargo planes provided by the U.S. military.
All these shortcoming are not the fault of the military at all. War planners foolishly failed to prepare for post-war Iraq.
So once the insurgency took off, all of our troops had to be used to improve the security situation instead training the Iraqi military and rebuilding the country.
The Michigan militia is probably more capable of defending itself than Iraq is right now, yet Barack Obama plans to pull out all the troops? Yeah, right! That’s a good line for the campaign trail, but it’s not gonna fly if he actually becomes President.
Say what you want about the decision to invade. The reality now is that we invaded Iraq, toppled the government, liquidated the armed forces, and currently occupy the country.
Like it or not, we have no choice but to put that country back together again and hopefully make it better than it was before.
As difficult as it has been and as difficult as it will continue to be, we have the opportunity to rebuild Iraq in our best interest.
We are gonna drag the Iraqi people kicking and screaming to a brighter future, and the side effect of that will be a safer America.
Having a permanent military presence as we do in South Korea, Japan, and elsewhere will allow us to “lay down the law” in a moments notice anywhere in the Middle East.
With U.S. bases in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Iraq, plus two aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, we have Iran completely surrounded.
Someone has to keep order in this crazy world, and unfortunately the U.S. is the only country powerful enough to do it.
The U.S. Is Right Not To Join Cluster Bomb Ban
The United States, China, Russia, Israel, and a few others, are right not to join the 110 countries in signing the treaty to ban cluster munitions from the battlefield.
Cluster Bombs are a potent weapon that the U.S. military should continue to use whenever necessary. Human rights organizations which are of course championing this ban are not taking into account new technologies in cluster munitions.
The biggest complaint by human rights groups is the tendency of cluster bombs to leave unexploded bomblets scattered across a wide area. Years after a conflict has ended these bomblets remain lethal and can detonate at anytime and frequently kill civilians.
This is a legitimate concern and one the U.S. military has already addressed. The U.S. has recently begun using a brand new cluster bomb called the CBU-97 SFW. The SFW stands for “Sensor Fused Weapon” and it contains dozens of “smart” bomblets.
When the bomb is dropped, the outer casing comes apart and releases the sub-munitions (bomblets) across a wide area just like a traditional cluster bomb. The difference with the new SFW is that each bomblet has a sensor inside it that immediately scans the area and hones in on a target and kills it.
However, if the bomblet scans the area and fails to find a target it simply self-destructs in mid-air leaving behind a “clean” battlefield.
A single CBU-97 SFW can kill everything inside in area roughly the size of a football field and leave no unexploded bomblets behind.
This new cluster bomb is only the beginning of the technologies we’ll have in the future, so there is simply no reason to join in any kind of ban on cluster bombs.
-Chris Jones
Iraq Party Calling For “Severe” Punishment Of U.S. Soldier Who Desicrated Quran
On May 9th, a U.S. Staff Sergeant who was a sniper section leader foolishly used a Qu’ran for target practice (cue the looting, arson, and murder). The tattered holy book was later discovered by Iraqi soldiers and reported to U.S. officials.
Suffice it to say the “Arab street” was outraged prompting U.S. Army officials to take swift action. The Sergeant who perpetrated the offense was relieved of his command with “prejudice” and reassigned back to the United States.
Suffice it also to say the raging Muslims don’t feel that punishment was adequate and are calling for a “severe” punishment.
So the U.S. military held an official “apology ceremony” and Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, Commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, graveled at the feet of the tribal leaders.
On Saturday, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, appeared at an apology ceremony flanked by leaders from Radhwaniya.
“I come before you here seeking your forgiveness,” Hammond said to tribal leaders and others gathered. “In the most humble manner, I look in your eyes today, and I say please forgive me and my soldiers.”
Another military official kissed a Quran and presented it as “a humble gift” to the tribal leaders.
Hammond also read from the shooter’s letter: “I sincerely hope that my actions have not diminished the partnership that our two nations have developed together. … My actions were shortsighted, very reckless and irresponsible, but in my heart [the actions] were not malicious.”
Hammond said, “The actions of one soldier were nothing more than criminal behavior. I’ve come to this land to protect you, to support you — not to harm you — and the behavior of this soldier was nothing short of wrong and unacceptable.”
Sheikh Hamadi al-Qirtani, in a speech on behalf of all tribal sheikhs of Radhwaniya, called the shooting “aggression against the entire Islamic world.”
What that soldier did to the Qu’ran was incredibly stupid and he should have known better. His commanders were right to send him home, because his stupidity put our entire mission in Iraq at risk.
I also recognize how critical it is that we have the support of local clerics and the like in Iraq, but it’s frankly humiliating to see one of our guy’s kissing a Qu’ran.
Coward: US soldier refuses to serve in ‘illegal Iraq war’
Meet Matthis Chiroux, the latest darling of the far-left and an active duty Sergeant in the U.S. Army. After crying openly while listening to the testimony of the disgraceful “Iraq Veterans Against The War”, Chiroux held a press conference and proudly announced his decision not to deploy to Iraq as ordered, because he cannot go against his “core values” and participate in the “illegal occupation”.
“I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq,” Chiroux said in the sun-filled rotunda of a congressional building in Washington.
“My decision is based on my desire to no longer continue violating my core values to support an illegal and unconstitutional occupation… I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation,” he said, as a dozen veterans of the five-year-old Iraq war looked on.
Chiroux’s announcement came minutes after the far-left Democrats who make up the “Progressive Caucus” held hearings about ending the Iraq war. The centerpiece of the hearings was testimony from members of the anti-war group, “Iraq Veterans Against The War.”
The hearings descended into an orgy of anti-American/anti-military sentiment which consisted of a litany of falsehoods, mischaracterizations, and outright propaganda.
The ex-soldiers accused the military of “lawless murders, looting and the abuse of countless Iraqis.”
One veteran offered to “name names” of officers in his chain-of-command who he believed were guilty of crimes.
The entire episode was much like and in some ways worse than John Kerry’s famous testimony before Congress during the Vietnam war. Kerry accused the military of war crimes, including the cutting off of ears, and razing villages in a manner reminiscent of Genghis Khan (”Jinjiss Kon” if you want to say it like Kerry).
Like Kerry, these Iraq veterans didn’t complete their service, accept their medals, and go on with life. Instead, they chose to disgrace their country and sully the reputation of the U.S. military in front of an all-to-eager bunch of left-wing Senators.
People like Sgt. Chiroux are a disgrace to the uniform they still wear, and he’s wrong to refuse to go to Iraq. When you join the military your job is to go where the President sends you. You don’t get to decide which wars your willing to participate in.
Chiroux has been ordered to report for duty in Iraq in June, and when he fails to show up he will be prosecuted. In a perfect world, Chiroux would be sent to prison, stripped of his citizenship, and sent elsewhere.
-Chris Jones
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