A Look Around on the Ground
Lately my grandma, who lives in Baghdad, seemed tired from her voice , whenever my mom asked her, she answered “it is hot you know, and we don’t have electricity,” or “I am worried about you all in Mosul,” or “I am fine, don’t worry,” but mama didn’t believe, my grandma is too strong. On Sunday, mama called her and asked her what was going on:
-what’s wrong mama? Why dad isn’t at his work? He didn’t go in the last few days?
- yes , that right, honey , I am afraid that there are bad news. your uncle M. was murdered..
The rest here.
Poor brother, my heart tightens every time I speak to him over the phone; not that he complains or shares any of his problems with me, but rather for saying nothing…
The more silent he is the more worried I get.… I called on his birthday last week; he came first on the phone, very unusual of him, but no one seemed in the mood of talking, I sang happy Birthday to him and finished by asking him for a wish!“I wish I never grew up” he said “It is against nature that I lived a better life than my kids. They don’t know how to cycle, swim or even swing. When I manage to take them out, I tell them about imaginary places and events that took place on this spot or that. I could see their jaws drop in disbelief, and my youngest insists that I repeat those fairy tales at bedtime!”
The rest here.
YouTube: Close Combat in Iraq.
Like all good people of course I hate al-Qa’ida. Their ideas says that all people who aren’t Wahhabi (extremist Sunni type) should be killed. Being Sunni doesn’t matter, only a Wahhabi Sunni is good enough for them, otherwise they are allowed to kill you, so they think!… Here is my thought… If al-Qa’ida disappeared completely tomorrow from Iraq, the damage from them is all over the place and the effects of al-Qa’ida would unfortunately stick around for a long time … it will take a long time to make things better.I have to blame al-Qa’ida first of course. Also I have to blame the people who supported them in Iraq, which means Ba’thists who thought they could work with al-Qa’ida to win back control. Also anyone who let them in their neighborhood and actively supported them, like I have talked about before (different from people who were just scared to work against them). And of course many of the Sunnis and Arabs all over the world who thought that it is “resistance” and of course they don’t give a damn how many Iraqis are killed by the “resistance” of this evil called al-Qa’ida …… Iraqis all need to unite against al-Qa’ida and maybe it is happening, more and more I think it is. But they also need to somehow get rid of the higher level of hatreds that al-Qa’ida brought into Iraq … But how can it be done when it is just a struggle to stay alive for your average Iraqi in so many parts of the country?
The whole thing here.
“Al Qaeda killed his whole family. Fighting Al Qaeda is his life,” the 1st Sergeant told me of Iraqi Police Lieutenant Zyeed.
“Get the National Police out of here. I think this guy is willing to cooperate but won’t talk in front of them,” the Captain said.
These conversations took place one month and 35 miles apart and capture the state of the Iraqi Police
Just got back from maybe the most miserable 10 day stretch of my life. I’m not sure I’ve ever quite had this combination of misery, thirst, heat, humidity, fatigue, lack of sleep, work, shot-at’s, mortar attacks, suicide bombers, bugs, spiders, heat rash, prickly heat, filling sand bags, carrying sand bags, stacking sand bags, diving for cover, headaches, adrenaline rushes, fire-team rushes, hunger, sun, sweat and aches. But now I’m back.
… At one point I had to pee incredibly bad, which I thought was weird, because I was sweating gallons but only drinking tea cups. I went to pee, and it was close to the color of Coke. Not trying to be gross, but that’s some serious dehydration. I’m not sure that I have ever gone 10 staight days where I never once stopped sweating, but that’s how it was out there … Combine that with the bugs. I felt like I was in a “Feed the Children” commercial where they show all those starving kids with flies crawling around their mouths and eyes. I used to always watch that and think “how can you not swat at them???” Well I figured it out. It’s a combination of lack of energy and not being able to tell the difference between a fly and a bead of sweat rolling down your skin.
What else made this a pretty bad 10 days?? Well al Qaeda decided they wanted to come out for a few rounds…
Whole thing here.
“What makes a local sheikh respect coalition forces more than terrorists?” Dr. Kilcullen asked. “Is it a case - like the Indonesians say - ‘either silver or lead’?”
“Either way is difficult,” said Brig. Gen. Ali. “People are getting tired of Al-Qaeda in Iraq - they’re tired of the ideology and killing. In Anbar, many tribes are fighting terrorism. We just need time to re-culture the people.”
“I’m very impressed with your progress here,” Dr. Kilcullen told him. “The last time I came to this area, we couldn’t even drive here. It’s very impressive.”
Dr. Kilcullen asked Brig. Gen. Ali what he would do if he were in Gen. Petraeus’ shoes.
“More Iraqi army soldiers,” Brig. Gen. Ali said without hesitation. “Right now we have 200,000 troops. The first reason is that we need more soldiers watching and protecting the people. The second thing is that it would improve the economy and reduce the unemployment rate - and when people are poor, it’s easy to recruit them for terror. In my view, Iraq needs 20 divisions instead of the 11 (they) have now.”
The rest here.
Ar Ramadi, Iraq, provincial capitol of Al Anbar province, the biggest and western most province of Iraq. In the mind of many the Wild West, home to disaffected Sunni Tribes who even Saddam Hussein could not control. Last summer in a classified report that was leaked to the Washington Post the situation was characterized as “dire.” When I arrived in this city, the thought of being here in the daylight was unthinkable.
Over this last six days, in this city there have been no reported insurgent attacks.
None.
Zip.
Zero.
Nada.
The rest here.
MNF-I YouTube: Patrolling Baquba.
I’m in Kuwait now, headed home on leave. Travel is a complicated process in Iraq, marked at each stage by some complicated torture designed to remind soldiers that, while they may be going home, they still have no right to expect to be happy or revel in the appearance of comfort.
Fourth Rail: Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle, June 2007 Update
Something had been nagging at me all day Saturday, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. While I was sitting at the pier watching the troops fish, it came to me. One year ago Saturday, my husband returned from Afghanistan. I looked around as if I wanted to tell somebody. Earlier, Erin of Soldiers’ Angels said when someone called her about Operation Fresh Air, she said, “yes, I’ll help.” Erin said when she receives these types of inquiries, there’s only one answer, “you just say yes.” I took a slow pan of the landscape and realized that not everyone has a homecoming as happy and uneventful as mine, but when they don’t, I’m thankful that there are people who “just say yes.”
The Gunner’s World: “Whoever does not have a stomach for this fight, let him depart.”
Topics: ground views
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:43 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2007
3 Responses to “A Look Around on the Ground”
Leave a Reply
Trackback URLYou must be logged in to post a comment.
June 8th, 2007 at 1:30 am
Close Combat in Iraq
Just a little something to remind those who might have forgotten ….
This war is NOT a bumper sticker.
View This Video on You Tube
h/t Jules Crittenden who has much more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: trackbacks to this post do not necess…
June 8th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Death Tolls and the blogosphere today.
Jules has two excellent must read pieces, one of which shows Death Tolls that our media has been ignoring…. terrorist death tolls.
June 10th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
In the News and on the Blogs
Whatever you do , don’t show this to Nancy Pelosi!!!!!! The vast Right Wing Conspiracy is keeping it a secret from her to make her sound like an ass every time she discusses it. It is FUN and it is working, so shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.