Target Centermass

Category: Military

  • Iraqi Unrest May Delay Elections

    Iraqi and American officials have now stated that terrorist activity is endangering the Iraqi election timeline.

    Elections in Iraq scheduled to take place by Jan. 31 may be postponed because of continued widespread violence or a coordinated boycott by Sunni Muslims, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

    “I believe we have a good chance of still meeting the target,” Iraqi Ambassador Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaidaie said at the United Nations. “If, however, at the time it is determined that we need a bit more time, then that situation will be reviewed” by policy makers.

    Under Iraq’s interim constitution, voters would cast ballots by the end of January for a national legislature, which would form a permanent government and write a lasting charter.

    President George W. Bush said Nov. 13 that successful elections in Iraq would be “a crushing blow” to terrorists, and “inspire” democratic change throughout the Middle East, ultimately making the U.S. more secure.

    Security has worsened in Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle up to the northwestern city of Mosul, one U.S. official said.

    “We’re worried that in some areas — again, not all, in some areas — it would now be difficult to have elections,” said Bill Taylor, director of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office. “And it’s that kind of work that we need to do between now and January so that we can have elections in the entire country.”

    Asked about the threat by Sunnis in central Iraq to boycott the election of a 275-member national assembly, Sumaidaie said there might be a delay “if all the Sunnis act as a group.” He added that such unity is “unlikely” because the Sunni leaders who have threatened the boycott don’t represent the entire religious minority of Iraq.

    Unrest spread just after U.S. and Iraqi forces attacked the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Nov. 8.

    Air Force Lieutenant General Lance Smith, deputy commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, today disputed a statement by Marines Lieutenant General John Sattler that the Fallujah siege had “broken the back” of the insurgency, saying it was too early to tell.

    ….

    Sumaidaie said his confidence that elections can be held in January grew after the U.S.-led incursion into insurgent-held Fallujah. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s decision to increase the number of the election advisers in Iraq also was a good sign, he said.

    “The position of the Iraqi government is that we should plan on holding the elections on time,” he said. “We accept that there continues to be violence in different parts of the country, but the outcome of the recent military operation in Fallujah has been very positive. We clearly have reduced the terrorists’ ability to launch an organized campaign. What happens in the next weeks will be important.”

    Sumaidaie said the UN is about to increase its staff in Iraq to about 60 workers, double the number there now. That should be enough, he said, for the UN to play an important “supervisory” role in the elections.

    UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said that, while Annan is deploying more people to Iraq, he was “not aware of any decision by the secretary-general to raise the ceiling further.”

    Sumaidaie said he is confident that next week’s international conference on Iraq in Egypt would also improve the security situation by producing new commitments from Iran and Syria to secure their borders to prevent terrorists from entering.

    This ain’t good news. That delays at this point in the ballgame are even being considered can only come across as weakness to both the terrorists and the Iraqi people. The gloves are slowly coming off, with the taking of Fallujah and today’s raid on a Mosul mosque. However, the Iraqi government better be willing to shift into ruthless mode pretty damn quick.

    To further counter the instability and danger presented by the terrorists, the US is likely to up the number of American boots on the ground as the elections near.

    Commanders in Iraq probably will expand their troops by several thousand as the January elections approach, the No 2 commander of US forces in the Middle East said yesterday.

    Lt Gen Lance L Smith told a Pentagon news conference that no final decisions have been made and that the size of the troop increase will depend in part on whether the insurgency grows or weakens in the aftermath of the Fallujah offensive, which he called a major success.

    Smith estimated that commanders would ask for about a brigade’s worth of extra troops, which would be roughly 5,000. He said that probably would be achieved by keeping some units that were scheduled to serve 10 months in Iraq for an extra two months. He did not name the units.

    There now are about 138,000 US troops in Iraq, he said.

    “We will make a further assessment as we get a little bit closer” to the elections scheduled for late January, “and as we understand what the impact of Fallujah is on the entire country,” he said.

    Smith said he believed that terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still in Iraq but that the US-Iraqi offensive this past week had eliminated Fallujah as a Zarqawi base of operations.

    Any substantial delay in the elections must absolutely be avoided. The Iraqi people need to feel the government is their own.

  • Probe of Marine’s Disappearance Re-opened

    I refrained from posting on the swarm of allegations around the disappearance and subsequent resurfacing of US Marine Hassoun when the story originally was made known. Now, in the wake of the Fallujah campaign, there’s this news.

    Military investigators have re-opened the case of U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Wassef Hassoun after several personal items — including his military ID and civilian passport — were found in Falluja, the city where he disappeared in June.

    Hassoun reappeared July 7 in Lebanon, where he was born and has relatives.

    What happened to Hassoun during that time has been a mystery to military investigators who recently closed two separate investigations into the disappearance.

    Because of the new evidence, the case of Hassoun’s disappearance is unexpectedly open again. Investigators are assessing the evidence found in Falluja.

    After the initial report that Hassoun was missing, military officials assumed he had walked away from camp. He was listed as a deserter.

    His status was changed to captured after the release of a videotape that showed him blindfolded with a sword suspended over his head. A few days later, a posting to three Islamist Web sites claimed Hassoun had been beheaded.

    Hassoun denied being a deserter and staging his own kidnapping.

    A Marine Corps official said representatives of the Naval Criminal Investigative Services did not interview Hassoun until after he completed his 30-day home leave, following his repatriation back to the United States.

    Hassoun may now be interviewed again, the official said.

    Hassoun’s civilian passport, military identification card and his military uniform were all found, sources said.

    The uniform was described by those familiar with the case as being in “remarkably good shape.”

    Other items with Hassoun’s name on them, but which the sources declined to describe, were also found. It appeared that some items of identification were altered, the sources said.

    Hassoun’s personal weapon disappeared from the camp just outside Falluja at the same time he did. It was never recovered.

    Also, an amount of cash he had has not been found, sources said.

    Two weeks ago, the NCIS presented its findings on two ongoing investigations into Hassoun’s disappearance.

    One investigation was a missing-person case. The other was a criminal probe into whether there was a breach of national security or classified information.

    Marine Corps officials would not say what those findings were. The findings were presented to the top commander of the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Camp Lejeune, Hassoun’s unit.

    While not restraining from posting it, I will continue to refrain from commenting on it and will advise others to do the same. There is so little publicly known at this time that an innocent Marine may be harmed or an Islamist investigation may be impaired. No prediction. No guessing. No opinion. At this time.

  • The Age-Old Problem During, Between and After Wars

    War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.

    —Winston Churchill

    The above quote is most assuredly true and unavoidable. War is a series of traps, a string of opportunities for error. Perhaps the most difficult pitfall to avoid actually begins before combat commences. In fact, it begins immediately in the aftermath of the previous conflict, be it a small engagement or a worldwide conflagration of hostility, and continues on into the next conflict. Put simply, the mistake I write of is the misuse or neglect of possible lessons to be learned. I’ll leave it to Cyril Falls to put it more eloquently:

    Those who study warfare only in the light of history think of the next war in terms of the last. But those who neglect history deprive themselves of a yardstick by which theory can be measured.

    The obvious mistake is to misinterpret or neglect the abundant information available, be it from failures or successes. An example of this would be the successful torpedo-plane attack on Taranto in early World War II. The Japanese chose to learn from the British air success against a shallow, sheltered harbor, while the Americans learned little or nothing from the sinking of three Italian battleships. Result: five American battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor, less than thirteen months later.

    The more subtle trap is to fall into the thinking that the next war will be fought in the manner of the previous one. This leads to limitations on both strategic and tactical thinking and their subsequent effect on training and preparation. Drawing from WWII again, an easily identified example is that of the French. Having seen the trench warfare, relatively stable fronts and bloody results of attacks against fortified positions, the French relied too heavily on this experience with their dependence on the fixed fortifications of the Maginot Line. Result: the capitulation of France to Nazi Germany in just six weeks.

    During my time in the National Guard, I saw first-hand this type of thinking, at both a strategic and tactical level. Even into the latter ’90s, much of the US armor training was based on the planned defense-and-counterattack of the anticipated massive tank showdown with the Soviets in Europe. On a small-scale level, my platoon was going through a move-to-contact engagement on the tank simulators at Ft. Knox (I’m talking about the old platoon-to-battalion level SimNet, which may or may not still be in use). The exercise was late in the day and the platoon reacted poorly to the eventual enemy attack. Overnight, the platoon leadership planned for the same exercise, anticipating the meeting with the OpFor to be in the same location. Sure enough, as the engagement was rerun the following morning, the enemy were in the same location and were decimated. We had made a mistake and been rewarded for it — wrong lesson learned.

    Military history is replete with examples of both lessons that were failed to be grasped and lessons that were learned too rigidly. How best to avoid this trap? Learn the lessons of the previous conflict but don’t allow them to exclusively dictate doctrine or tactics. Innovate while anticipating innovation. Despite the above case of Pearl Harbor, along with my own examples and many more throughout our history, the modern American military has generally been pretty good about this, overcoming the potential pitfalls with flexibility and innovation. One of my old lieutenants liked to say, “We train in chaos.” (He also, in his fair share, was fond of saying, “I’ll get the next pitcher.” He’s still a dear friend.) This has been noticed by our foes as well, as a Soviet military document apparently held the following gem:

    One of the serious problems in planning against American doctrine that the Americans do not read their manuals nor do they feel any obligations to follow their doctrine.

    So far in the war against Islamist terror, this potential trap has played to our advantage. In Afghanistan, the Taliban felt secure without a build-up for a repeat of the Soviet engagement. In Iraq, Saddam and his military seemed paralyzed when the ground onslaught took off without a lengthy air campaign, as was expected from the first Gulf War. In both, the US used innovation and adaptation to overcome the enemy without allowing them the luxury of benefitting from their acquired experience.

    A trio of historical examples are driving today’s war — Viet Nam in general, Tet specifically, and Mogadishu. The Islamists are hoping that a slow bleed or a sudden hemorrhage will cripple the will of the American public.

    Which is stronger — the will of the American people to succeed or their fear of the failures of our history? The hopes of our current enemy based on our past or the future imaginative actions of the American military?

    I anticipate having children someday. They and their children will live in the world that results from the answer to that.

  • U.S. to Probe Shooting of Wounded

    It looks like another tragedy, another submission of a human being to the demons of war, may possibly have occurred in Fallujah.

    The shooting Saturday was videotaped by pool correspondent Kevin Sites of NBC television, who said three other previously wounded prisoners in the mosque apparently also had been shot again by the Marines inside the mosque.

    The incident played out as the Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, returned to the unidentified Fallujah mosque Saturday. Sites was embedded with the unit.

    Sites reported that a different Marine unit had come under fire from the mosque on Friday. Those Marines stormed the building, killing ten men and wounding five others, Sites said. The Marines said the fighters in the mosque had been armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 rifles.

    The Marines had treated the wounded, he reported, left them behind and continued on Friday with their drive to retake the city from insurgents who have been battling U.S.-led occupation forces in Iraq (news – web sites) with increasing ferocity and violence in recent months.

    On the video as the camera moved into the mosque during the Saturday incident, a Marine can be heard shouting obscenities in the background, yelling that one of the men was only pretending to be dead.

    The video then showed a Marine raising his rifle toward a prisoner laying on the floor of the mosque but neither NBC nor CNN showed the bullet hitting the man. At that moment the video was blacked out but the report of the rifle could be heard.

    The blacked out portion of the video tape, provided later to Associated Press Television News and other members of the network pool, showed the bullet striking the man in the upper body, possibly the head. His blood splatters on the wall behind him and his body goes limp.

    Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.

    The events on the videotape began as some of the Marines from the unit accompanied by Sites approached the mosque on Saturday, a day after it was stormed by other Marines.

    Gunfire can be heard from inside the mosque, and at its entrance, Marines who were already in the building emerge. They are asked by an approaching Marine lieutenant if there were insurgents inside and if the Marines had shot any of them. A Marine can be heard responding affirmatively. The lieutenant then asks if they were armed and fellow Marine shrugs.

    Sites’ account said the wounded men, who he said were prisoners and who were hurt in the previous day’s attack, had been shot again by the Marines on the Saturday visit.

    The videotape showed two of the wounded men propped against the wall and Sites said they were bleeding to death. According his report, a third wounded man appeared already dead, while a fourth was severely wounded but breathing. The fifth was covered by a blanket but did not appear to have been shot again after the Marines returned. It was the fourth man who was shown being shot.

    A spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon (news – web sites), Maj. Doug Powell, said the incident was “being investigated.” He had no further details, other than to confirm the incident happened on Saturday and that the Marines involved were part of the 1st Marine Division.

    The CNN broadcast of the pictures used pixilation to cover parts of the video that could lead to public identification of the Marines involved.

    NBC’s Robert Padavick told members of the U.S. television pool that the Pentagon had ordered NBC and other pool members to make sure the Marines identity was hidden because “they (the military authorities) are anticipating a criminal investigation as a result of this incident and do not want to implicate anybody ahead of that.”

    In New York, NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the network did not broadcast the prisoner being shot because of the “graphic nature” of the video.

    If the evidence on this tape and the accompanying allegations are true, this soldier needs to be prosecuted.

    Evidence may find him innocent, or circumstances may hold sway over the extent of his penalty. He must be prosecuted, however, as he seems to have violated orders and US-signed accords.

    There may come a time when this conflict requires such barbarity (which was known in other heroic efforts, e.g. WWII) but that time has not come yet. There may be a time when the gloves are truly off and the media are muzzled to save our civilization, but we ain’t there yet. Let’s watch how the UCMJ wheels roll on this one.

  • A Veterans Day Message

    In Flanders fields the poppies blow...I was asked today and have often wondered something about Veterans Day — who is it truly meant to honor? Memorial Day is easy — that is a day to remember and pay homage to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the uniform (though everyday we wake up free should be such a day). I knew the origins of today’s holiday, with Nov. 11 (the anniversary of the end of World War I in 1918) formerly being set aside as Armistice Day to honor those who served in that great conflict. In 1954, the name of the holiday was changed to include the veterans of WWII and Korea. Obviously, Veterans Day is a tribute to veterans, but my question was if it was truly meant for combat veterans or those like myself who only served in peacetime?

    Well, according to the FAQ on the government’s official Veterans Day site, the answer is as follows:

    Q. What is the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day?

    A. Many people confuse Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle.
    While those who died are also remembered on Veterans Day, Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military – in wartime or peacetime. In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served – not only those who died – have sacrificed and done their duty.

    In light of this confirmation, I would like to thank all who served before me, all who served with me, all who served after me and all who currently serve and sacrifice.

    Why the picture of the flowers on my posts about Veterans Day? That’s a pic of poppies from Flanders Field in Belgium, and the significance of that particular flower and its relation to Veterans (formerly Armistice) Day stem from the poem “In Flanders Fields” by WWI Canadian army physician John McCrae. The poem and its history can be found here (hattip to Damian Brooks at Babbling Brooks).

  • A Veterans Day Welcome

    In Flanders fields the poppies blow...A US Marine was one of several honored this Veterans Day with a special new title: US citizen.

    Marine Cpl. David Antonio Garcia stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier Thursday and was sworn in as an American citizen — after already serving under the U.S. flag in Iraq.

    The native of Mexico was among 80 sailors and Marines from 25 countries — from Canada to Syria — who became citizens in a Veterans Day ceremony aboard the USS Midway, a reward for putting their lives on the line for their adopted country.

    The ceremony, watched by more than 100 cheering relatives, came as the nation observed Veterans Day with about 160,000 troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan — some of them locked in fierce house-to-house fighting in Fallujah.

    “I wouldn’t want to compare myself to World War veterans or Vietnam veterans,” said Garcia, 21, who was with combat engineers who cleared the path for tanks to roll into Iraq. “But I feel some of what they must feel today. I know what it’s like to leave loved ones and not to know if you will come back.”

    The citizenship ceremony was one of dozens of events held nationwide to celebrate Veterans Day, a holiday that has taken on added meaning in the last three years after wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Veterans were honored Thursday at ceremonies big and small: an event recognizing a teenage Purple Heart recipient in South Carolina, a parade on the streets of Manhattan, a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony attended by President Bush.

    The war in Iraq was a dominant theme at the ceremonies. There are about 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq; the American death toll stands at more than 1,140.

    “Let no one tell you we aren’t doing good things there,” Army Col. Jill Morgenthalher, who recently returned from Iraq and earned a Bronze Star, said at a wreath-laying ceremony at Chicago’s Soldier Field. “We are standing up for what is right. This is our next greatest generation.”

    At the ceremony aboard the USS Midway, U.S. District Judge William Hayes administered the oath of citizenship, noting that many of the troops were from countries that deny individual liberties and had left behind families who “cannot know what joy you are experiencing today.”

    “You as representatives of the armed forces know above all, like most citizens, that freedom is not free,” Hayes said. “Thank you for your sacrifice.”

    Legal permanent residents of the United States had been allowed to join the military and seek citizenship after three years of active service. But in July 2002 President Bush signed an executive order allowing anyone on active duty after Sept. 11, 2001, to immediately apply for citizenship. There are about 31,000 non-citizens in the U.S. military.

    On the other end of the country, dozens of veterans, some into their 80s, stood and applauded one of the nation’s youngest Purple Heart recipients during a ceremony in North Charleston, S.C.

    Marine Lance Cpl. Nicholas Riccio, 19, who was born on the Fourth of July and wanted to be a soldier from childhood, was wounded in Iraq in June when shrapnel from a mortar round passed through his brain. He survived but only after a Navy corpsman held his head together on a 30-mile drive to a first aid station.

    “I guess you could say I grew up quick,” he said. “I was 18 years old, a gunner, a Humvee driver and engaged in firefights against insurgents in Fallujah.”

    In New York, thousands lined Fifth Avenue for a parade that has seen attendance surge in recent years. “Five or 10 years ago when I would come, there might be 200 or 300 people here,” Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record) said. “And now the whole street is full.”

    Illinois officials said dozens of schools received permission to stay open for the holiday, inviting veterans to join students in flag-raising ceremonies, question-and-answer sessions, and the singing of patriotic songs. More than a quarter of schools sought to waive the holiday, up considerably from five years ago.

    Wayne Miller, commander of a VFW Post outside Chicago, said attending school on Veterans Day will help children “understand it’s more than just getting a day off and prancing around.”

    In Arkansas, about 60 elementary students attended a ceremony and presented veterans with a handmade card, with one girl telling a vet: “You’re my hero.”

    “You can walk down the streets or be in your house and know you’re not going to get hurt because they’re there (in Iraq),” said 10-year-old Sarah Burns. “We need to think more about our veterans than we do because we don’t honor them as much as we should.”

    Welcome aboard, my fellow Americans. You’ve certainly earned it.

  • A Veterans Day Farewell

    In Flanders fields the poppies blow...A day of remembrance and gratitude to those who served honorably turned to a day of tragedy, as a veteran was lost while preparing to serve again.

    An 80-year-old veteran of World War II was killed Thursday morning when a van backed over him as he prepared to march in a Veterans Day parade.

    Witnesses said William Hammond, captain of the parade’s color guard, was lining up with fellow veterans at the start of the parade route when the van struck him.

    The van, owned by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter, was driven by a close friend of Hammond. He was taken to a hospital to be treated for emotional distress.

    “It’s devastating,” said Richard Slowey, adjutant of VFW Post 697. “Bill is a very warm and very kind person.”

    The Army veteran, who served in the infantry, had fought in the Battle of the Bulge, according to Robert Wessa, the post’s junior vice commander. He was a past commander of the post and stayed active, traveling to a school with Wessa last week to talk about Veterans Day.

    Wessa said he was in a different part of the parade and no idea anything had happened until he noticed that a group of marchers hadn’t started.

    A man who answered the phone at Hammond’s house declined to comment. Post members said Hammond owned a contracting business and he and his wife, Irene, had several children.

    Wessa remembered Hammond as a strong leader and good friend. He was still an avid motorcyclist and completed a road trip around Canada and the United States when he was in his late 70s.

    “He was quite a guy,” Wessa said. “It’s a sad day.”

    Thank you, Mr. Hammond, for your service.

  • Let’s Get It On, Fallujah-Style

    It looks like things are getting under way in the pacification (read brutal beatdown) of the Islamist holdouts in Fallujah.

    U.S. forces stormed into the western outskirts of Fallujah early Monday, seizing the main city hospital and securing two key bridges over the Euphrates river in what appeared to be the first stage of the long-expected assault on the insurgent stronghold.

    An AC-130 gunship raked the city with 40 mm cannon fire as explosions from U.S. artillery lit up the night sky. Intermittent artillery fire blasted southern neighborhoods of Fallujah, and orange fireballs from high explosive airbursts could be seen above the rooftops.

    U.S. officials said the toughest fight was yet to come — when American forces enter the main part of the city on the east bank of the river, including the Jolan neighborhood where insurgent defenses are believed the strongest.

    The initial attacks on Fallujah began just hours after the Iraqi government declared 60 days of emergency rule throughout most of the country as militants dramatically escalated attacks, killing at least 30 people, including two Americans.

    Several hundred Iraqi troops were sent into Fallujah’s main hospital after U.S. forces sealed off the area. The troops detained about 50 men of military age inside the hospital, but about half were later released.

    This is just the prelude to what may well end up being a drawn-out, bloody drama, as urban warfare so often is. It should be made clear, however, that we’re most definitely not rolling into the outskirts of Stalingrad. This is Fallujah, where an ascending Iraqi national army will be assisted by the most professional, best equipped and truly lethal military force the world has known — the American military. Arrayed against them: terrorists and fanatics, outcasts and criminals, armed with RPGs, booby traps, mines, car bombs, mortars and rifles, employing tactics that have already repeatedly failed them.

    The terrorists are desperate, knowing the loss of Fallujah would be a savage blow to their efforts and a tremendous boost to the interim Iraqi government. They also have little hope of a second intervention by the Iraqi government to avert a crushing of Fallujah, as no good came from the previous act of mercy. Their two hopes are contradictory in nature — inflict as much of a bloodletting as possible in hopes of blunting coalition will, or bug out with as much of the leadership intact as possible and strength as can be salvaged.

    To counter this, the Americans are entering the combat with several key advantages, including airpower, intelligence, night-time capabilities, firepower and training. Add to this list the intangibles of optimism and motivation.

    As U.S. forces prepared for what is expected to be the biggest Marine-led urban assault since Vietnam, U.S. commanders pumped up troop spirits Sunday, saying they were no different from the storied heroes of Iwo Jima and Korea.

    Standing before some 2,500 Marines who stood or kneeled at his feet, Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, told them that they would be at the front of the charge.

    “This is America’s fight,” Sattler said. “What we’ve added to it is our Iraqi partners. They want to go in and liberate Fallujah. They feel this town’s being held hostage by mugs, thugs, murderers and terrorists.”

    Two Marine battalions, along with a battalion from the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, will be the lead units sent into a Fallujah attack. They will be joined by two brigades of Iraqi troops.

    ….

    Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent, the top enlisted Marine in Iraq, told troops Sunday the coming battle of Fallujah would be “no different” than the historic fights at Inchon in Korea, the flag-raising victory at Iwo Jima, or the bloody assault to remove North Vietnamese troops who occupied the ancient citadel of Hue in the 1968 Tet Offensive.

    “You’re all in the process of making history,” Kent boomed in a clarion voice. “This is another Hue city in the making. I have no doubt, if we do get the word, that each and every one of you is going to do what you have always done — kick some butt.”

    Marine battalion commander Lt. Col. Mike Ramos said many of the young fighters would be dashing into battle for the first time. In the barracks, Marines could be seen packing up gear, strapping anti-tank missile tubes to their packs. They would also be carrying gas masks in case of chemical weapons, a threat Ramos deemed unlikely.

    “They’re sharpening their K-Bar fighting knives; they’re cleaning their weapons for the last time; they’ve fueled their vehicles and they’ve rehearsed the plan,” said Ramos, 41, of Dallas.

    Ramos predicted that “freedom and democracy” would prevail in Fallujah within days.

    “Make no mistake about it, we’ll hand this city back to the Iraqi people,” he said. “I think it will be rapid.”

    During the fight, rules of engagement allow U.S. troops to shoot and kill anyone carrying a weapon or driving in Fallujah, a move aimed at allowing U.S. troops to fire on car bombers, Ramos said. Military age males trying to leave the city will be captured or turned back.

    “If I see someone who looks like a martyr, driving at high speed toward my unit, I’ll send him to Allah before he gets close,” Ramos said.

    Sattler reminded the troops that the assault would be a joint U.S.-Iraqi effort. The fledgling Iraqi military, which has been under intense U.S. training, needs to be led by example into the fight against Fallujah, he said.

    “This is a whole can of whoop-butt all combined here,” Kent said, surveying the Marines surrounding him.

    A pumped-up crowd shouted a deafening “Hoo-rah” in response.

    Good luck and happy hunting, troops.

  • Veteran Sues After He Receives Duty Order

    A former soldier has been recalled and doesn’t want to report for duty. And this time, if the details are correct, I generally agree with him.

    A veteran of the first Persian Gulf War is suing the Army after it ordered him to report for duty 13 years after he was honorably discharged from active duty and eight years after he left the reserves.

    Kauai resident David Miyasato received word of his reactivation in September, but says he believes he completed his eight-year obligation to the Army long ago.

    “I was shocked,” Miyasato said Friday. “I never expected to see something like that after being out of the service for 13 years.”

    His federal lawsuit, filed Friday in Honolulu, seeks a judgment declaring that he has fulfilled his military obligations.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry Yee said his office would defend the Army. He declined to comment further. An Army spokewoman at the Pentagon declined to comment to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

    Miyasato, 34, was scheduled to report to a military facility in South Carolina on Tuesday.

    Within hours of filing the lawsuit, however, Miyasato received a faxed letter from the Army’s Human Resources Command saying his “exemption from active duty had not been finalized at this time” and that he has been given an administrative delay for up to 30 days, said his attorney, Eric Seitz.

    Miyasato, his wife, Estelle, and their 7-month-old daughter, Abigail, live in Lihue, where he opened an auto-tinting shop two years ago.

    His lawsuit states that Miyasato is suing not because he opposes the war in Iraq, but because his business and family would suffer “serious and irreparable harm” if he is required to serve.

    Miyasato enlisted in the Army in 1987 and served in Iraq and Kuwait during the first Persian Gulf War as a petroleum supply specialist and truck driver.

    Miyasato said he received an honorable discharge from active duty in 1991, then served in the reserves until 1996 to fulfill his eight-year enlistment commitment.

    The Army announced last year that it would involuntarily activate an estimated 5,600 soldiers to serve in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Army officials would be tapping members of the Individual Ready Reserve — military members who have been discharged from the Army, Army Reserve or the Army National Guard, but still have contractual obligations to the military.

    Miyasato said he never re-enlisted, signed up for any bonuses or was told that he had been transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve or any other Army Reserve unit.

    “I fulfilled my contract,” Miyasato said. “I just want to move on from this, and I’m optimistic that I’ll be successful.”

    Miyasato speculated that he may have been picked because his skills as a truck driver and refueler are in demand in Iraq. He told reporters he did the same work as that done by a group of Army reservists who refused to deliver fuel along a dangerous route in Iraq last month.

    I suspect that this is an administrative error, as I’m sure we have sufficient numbers of transport troops in the IRR, and I would expect for this to be resolved in Miyasato’s favor. Earlier, when I said I generally agreed, I meant that I agreed up to a point. However, if the Army truly needed the man, I would expect him to serve. If the Army called me up, I would go, and I am also free of IRR commitment.

  • Household Survey Sees 100,000 Iraqi Deaths

    Holy crap! The U.S. military is a bunch of killers.

    A survey of deaths in Iraqi households estimates that as many as 100,000 more people may have died throughout the country in the 18 months since the U.S.-led invasion than would be expected based on the death rate before the war.

    Worse than that, the U.S. military is bunch of baby-killers.

    The survey indicated violence accounted for most of the extra deaths seen since the invasion, and airstrikes from coalition forces caused most of the violent deaths, the researchers wrote in the British-based journal.

    “Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and children,” they said.

    Funny, I don’t remember being trained to be an evil bastard. Maybe we should look a little closer at this.

    There is no official figure for the number of Iraqis killed since the conflict began, but some non-governmental estimates range from 10,000 to 30,000. As of Wednesday, 1,081 U.S. servicemen had been killed, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

    The scientists who wrote the report concede that the data they based their projections on were of “limited precision,” because the quality of the information depends on the accuracy of the household interviews used for the study.

    ….

    The report was released just days before the U.S. presidential election, and the lead researcher said he wanted it that way.

    Oh, my bad. It’s just a political hit. Chalk me up as really freakin’ surprised.

    By the way, these guys would’ve had a field day with our WWII air tactics in Europe. Hell, their fun might have led to our defeat. Sadly, these idiots are blind to the scope of the Islamist threat we face today and feel obligated to parade their admittedly-biased crap to all.