Keith brings a ‘piece of American pride’

[thedrifter]

Keith brings a ‘piece of American pride’
Submitted by: I Marine Expeditionary Force
Story Identification #: 200462074336
Story by Lance Cpl. Joseph L. Bush



CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq(June 4, 2004) -- Just before midnight on June 4, two helicopters touched down at Camp Fallujah’s eastern landing zone, stirring up dust in the moonlight. Out of the dust cloud appeared country music star Toby Keith and rock legend Ted Nugent.

The pair of performers heartily shook the hands of the awaiting escort staff and were whisked away to the base chapel where a crowd of I Marine Expeditionary Force Marines and sailors anxiously awaited their arrival.

As Keith was back stage getting ready for the show, he explained coming out here was the least he could do for all the men and women who put themselves in danger every day.

“I just want to see some lights go on in their eyes, hearts shine and bring them a piece of American pride,” the country music star said.

The I MEF Morale, Welfare and Recreation office worked in cooperation with I MEF Headquarters Group to bring the concert here.

I MHG Marines provided the elbow grease necessary to make the concert possible, according to Chief Warrant Officer 3 John F. Kauffman the I MEF MWR liaison officer.

“They did a great job,” providing security, transportation and stage set-up, he said.

Both performers took the stage around midnight, thanked the Marines for the opportunity to perform, and then launched into a mini-concert featuring hit songs by each artist including Nugent’s “Cat Scratch Fever” and Keith’s “Angry American (Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue).”

“People in the crowd did not have to be a country or rock fan at all to enjoy the show,” said Lance Cpl. Danielle T. Doth, a Lexington, Ky., native, and a logistics clerk with the I MHG embarkation office. “They just played their songs and boosted the morale of the crowd.”

At the end of the concert, Gunnery Sgt. Donald M. Drzewiecki, the I MHG career retention specialist, was pulled on stage with Keith and Nugent.

“The roadie gave my guitar to Ted, and he said ‘Let me show you something,’ then played my guitar,” Drzewiecki said. “Ted was my hero when I was a kid growing up in Chicago.”

Drzewiecki served as the opening act for his childhood hero by strumming his guitar and singing for the crowd of hundreds before the pair arrived.

“The thing that kept the crowd going was not so much the music, but the comedy of the two greats up on stage,” added Drzewiecki. “Overall they were both great together. The fact of how late it was didn't matter to the crowd.”

After the show, many Marines and sailors came up on stage to have autographs signed and pose for photos with the musicians. Some even brought their own guitars to have autographed.

“I don’t think anybody knew what to expect,” said Doth, who worked as part of the escort staff. She enjoyed the fact that “the guys and gals were able to forget a little of their worries and laugh a little and just have fun.”

Shortly after 1:00 a.m., the performers left the chapel and boarded the bus back to the LZ.

Reflecting on the chance meeting of his childhood hero in Iraq Drzewiecki said, “(It) made me realize that today's idols are just normal people like you and me.”

On their way back, Nugent took a moment to communicate his respect for U.S. Marines to members of the escort staff.

“It’s a powerful force within my American dream to be the best I can be, whether it’s just jamming, or showing my patriotism,” Nugent said. “I’m surrounded with the spirit and dedication of professionalism.

“I’ve always used the analogy in my professional life and in my home life that if your going to work for me, you’re going to be like a Marine. You’ve got to be the very best. Whether it’s my musicians, my road manager or my kids.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20046208305/$file/show02lo.jpg

Rock legend Ted Nugent and country music star Toby Keith perform for hundreds of service members at Camp Fallujah, Iraq, June 4, 2004. The two musicians have been traveling to forward operating bases in Iraq and Afghanistan to show their support for U.S. troops. Photo by: Cpl. Matthew J. Apprendi

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/79A083ABB338AAE685256EB900406AFE?opendocument

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines prepare boys in blue for duty <br />
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division <br />
Story Identification #: 200462122054 <br />
Story by Cpl. Macario P. Mora Jr. <br />
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CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq(June 19, 2004) -- The...

[thedrifter]

Interim Iraqi prime minister says saboteurs targeting oil infrastructure 'will be defeated' <br />
<br />
By: - North County Times <br />
<br />
MUSAYYIB, Iraq (AP) -- Attacks on Iraq's oil infrastructure likely will...

[thedrifter]

Insurgents strike Iraqi troops in calculated attack on near Baghdad airport

By: CHRIS TOMLINSON - Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Attackers laying in wait for Iraqi troops detonated a roadside bomb on the dangerous road leading to Baghdad's airport Sunday, killing two Iraqi soldiers and wounding 11.

American troops took the Iraqi wounded to a U.S. aid station and waited while they were treated. Iraqi soldiers wept and hugged their U.S. comrades.

Elsewhere, U.S. forces clashed with insurgents in Samarra, striking back with helicopter gunships after guerrillas fired mortars into a residential neighborhood. U.S. 1st Infantry Division spokesman Maj. Neal O'Brien said at least four insurgents were killed.


Also Sunday, the Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape purportedly from al-Qaida linked militants showing a South Korean hostage begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw troops from Iraq.

South Korean media identified the hostage as Kim Sun-il, 33, an employee of South Korea's Gana General Trading, Co., a supplier for the U.S. military.

The kidnappers identified themselves as belonging to Monotheism and Jihad, a group believed to be led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who claimed responsibility for the videotaped beheading of American businessman Nicholas Berg in May. A statement made by armed, masked militants on the video gave South Korea 24 hours from Sunday night to meet its demand that Korean troops stay out of Iraq or "we will send you the head of this Korean."

On Monday, South Korea's deputy foreign minister, Choi Young-jin, said his country will still send 3,000 soldiers to the northern Iraqi city of Irbil beginning in August. That deployment was announced Friday.

Some 600 military medics and engineers currently in the southern city of Nasiriyah will join them, making South Korea the largest U.S. partner in the coalition after Britain.

In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, insurgents fired mortar shells into a residential area, striking a home and killing a husband and wife, Iraqi authorities said.

The U.S. military said an American Marine was killed in action Saturday in Anbar province, which includes Ramadi and Fallujah. A mortar round also injured six police and four Iraqis in a separate attack Sunday near the Iraqi central bank in Baghdad.

Late Sunday, shooting erupted behind the Palestine Hotel, headquarters of several international news organizations. Hotel guards returned fire, and U.S. troops manned positions around the compound near the circle where Saddam Hussein's statue was hauled down in April 2003.

In southern Iraq, a blast and gunfire were heard early Monday in the central district of Samawah, where Japanese troops are based, Japan's Kyodo news service reported.

Repairs continued on two key pipelines that transport crude oil to offshore terminals in the south, prolonging Iraq's absence from the market, a coalition spokesman said Sunday.

Iraqi oil officials had predicted that crude exports would resume Sunday and had said repairs on the smaller of the two key oil arteries were completed. But coalition spokesman Dominic D'Angelo said that was inaccurate, and that an estimate of when partial exports could resume was not available.

U.S. soldiers accompanying the Iraqis on the airport road said the Americans had just passed a traffic circle with the Iraqis behind them when assailants triggered the bomb.

"The hardcore terrorists don't care who they kill," said Lt. Col. Tim Ryan, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment. "These guys are bigger targets than we are now."

Insurgents have hammered Iraqi security forces to discourage volunteers from bolstering security forces straining to create stability before the interim government assumes power June 30.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi appealed Sunday for international help for his beleaguered forces and said the government was considering "emergency law" in unspecified regions.

Such measures could be imposed on the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah, where an American airstrike Saturday leveled a building that U.S. officials said was a suspected safehouse for the network of al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born militant believed to be linked to al-Qaida. At least 16 people were killed in the strike.

A senior officer of the U.S.-backed Fallujah Brigade disputed the American contention, saying Sunday that rescue operations uncovered only the belongings of women and children.

"Through our inspection in the ruins, we could see clothes and stuff of women and children," Col. Mohammed Awad said. "There was no sign that foreigners have lived in the house."

Fallujah Mayor Mahmoud Ibrahim al-Juraisi met Sunday with local leaders and assured them he would sever relations with the Americans because of the airstrike, according to an official, Ahmed al-Dulaimi.

The difference in U.S. and Iraqi assessments of the attack could strain relations between the Americans and the Iraqi security force established last month to take responsibility for law and order in Fallujah after the end of the three-week Marine siege.

The video of the South Korean hostage came two days after news of the beheading of American hostage Paul Johnson by al-Qaida-linked militants in Saudi Arabia.

As part of Iraq's restructuring, Allawi announced creation of a ministerial-level committee for national security, including the ministers of defense, interior, foreign, justice, and finance. He also announced establishment of a Center for Joint Operations "to control all activities related to national security."

Afterward, Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib told The Associated Press that the government was also considering an amnesty for insurgents who were not personally involved in killings.

Allawi's comments at a news conference came amid a surge of bloody attacks that has been rising as the countdown to handover draws near.

Most of the victims have been poor Iraqis willing to take dangerous jobs in the Iraqi security forces because of few opportunities elsewhere; unemployment in Iraq is up to 45 percent. More than 300 people have been killed in attacks on police stations and recruitment centers since September.


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/06/21/military/21_16_126_20_04.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Dad's virtually here

With father in Iraq, the Mendez kids learn high-tech way to say hello.

By Chad Greene
Staff writer

LONG BEACH — Never mind the billowing clouds of sand being kicked up by the twin-bladed Chinook helicopter landing behind Marine Staff Sgt. Ronald Mendez. When his 5-year-old daughter Hailey leans in to kiss her father good night, it's the static electricity she has to watch out for.
While Mendez serves with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force somewhere in Iraq's volatile Sunni Triangle, Hailey must content herself with the nightly smooch from his photograph, which is the background picture on the family's home computer screen.

"At night, Hailey will walk up to the computer, say 'Good night, dad," then kiss her hand and put it on the screen," said Mendez's wife, Valerie.

That's only one sign of the increased familiarity Hailey, her 8-year-old sister Kayla, and her 10-year-old brother Steven have developed with the family computer since their dad shipped out for Iraq in February. It's become their primary means of communicating with Mendez, a Lakewood High School graduate who'll celebrate his 28th birthday on Monday.

"They know how to use the computer now," said Valerie. "Before, they had no idea."

Hailey, Kayla and Steven have also learned a thing or two about time zones. Because Iraq is 12 hours ahead of California literally half a world away their mom helped them figure out that they needed to send Mendez's electronic Father's Day card on Saturday.

"Saturday afternoon is Sunday morning there," explained Valerie, 29, who sends off messages and packages with a flair for logistics that suggests she'd make a fine Marine herself. "So we (sent) it Saturday afternoon, so when he gets up, he'll see it."

If all goes according to Mom's plan, that won't be all Mendez gets for Father's Day. Because she's noticed that packages usually take about 10 days to reach her husband, Valerie made sure that a box wrapped in Hailey, Kayla and Steven's drawings was in the mail by June 9.

Inside, Staff Sgt. Mendez will find a professionally bound photo album containing pictures of his wife and children, and enough of his favorite snack foods for himself and his troops.

"All they have to eat over there are MREs, so Steven likes to get him beef jerky, because beef jerky from the Orange County Swap Meet is (Ronald's) favorite food," Valerie said.

"It's hot," said Steven, smiling shyly.

"The girls like to get him candy and Dentyne Ice," his mother added.

"He likes spearmint," Kayla said.

While this is the first gift-wrapped treat package the Mendez family has sent to him, they send a less decorated box every week. E-mail messages, however, are sent out much more often at least twice a day. And the kids always run to the computer as soon as they return home from school or the grocery store, just in case their father has sent them message while they were out.

Each child has developed his or her own etiquette for composing messages. Steven wants to be alone in the room while he writes, for instance, while Hailey sits on her mother's lap and tells her what to type. The content of their messages changes from day to day, but here are some representative excerpts:


Subject: From Steven
"Today's my last day of school. I'm happy because I get to talk to you more now."
---

Subject: From Hailey
"I love you because you are strong and I hope you come back, dad, and everyone misses you, and I always pray and cry for you."
---

Subject: From Kayla
"Love you soooooooooooooooooooo much and miss you!"
---

Their father supplements his replies with a variety of multimedia goodies. In addition to his military-issued gear, Valerie made sure that her husband was outfitted with a digital camera and a small tape recorder, so Steven, Kayla and Hailey could see his face and hear the sound of his voice.

Although the Mendez children are certainly getting an education in high-tech communication methods, they haven't given up on one old standby.

"They always run to the phone, just in case it's him," she said.

Maybe today, on Father's Day, it will be.

http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~31714~2223841,00.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines restock Ar Ramadi hospital with donated medical supplies
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20046205820
Story by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald



AR RAMADI, Iraq(June 14, 2004) -- The Ar Ramadi General Hospital has X-ray machines but no film.

That's just one of the many problems plaguing the doctors working here.

To better equip the city's primary medical facility, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment recently donated nearly $50,000 worth of basic medical supplies to the hospital.

"During Saddam Hussein's time, the hospital was ignored," said Iraqi Dr. Qussai Najem Abdulla. "We never received any money for medicine or equipment."

Since the fall of Hussein's regimen, Abdulla has been working overtime trying to stock his hospital with modern medical equipment and more medicines. He said he's worked through every channel he could find.

"This is one of the biggest hospitals in Iraq. Right now, we don't have enough stuff to help all the people or Ramadi," he explained.

Abdulla has been working with representatives from 2nd Battalion's medical and civil affairs sections for the past three months.

Navy Lt. Kenneth Y. Son, battalion surgeon, discussed the needs of the hospital with Abdulla.

"At first, they were surprised to see the American military," explained Son of his first visit to the hospital. "They were pretty skeptical of us."

Through constant visits, Son and Abdulla came up with a list of items most needed at the hospital. Then Son found a vendor in the Baghdad area who could accommodate the
request in a timely and cost-effective manner.

"These are just the basic medical supplies a hospital needs to function," added Son, from Los Angeles. "The doctors here have had to finagle to get supplies on their own. They've even had to bypass the Iraqi Ministry of Health because it takes forever to get any help from them."

The doctors at the hospital see more than 16,000 people per month. Ramadi is home to 400,000 citizens.

"The hospital just doesn't have enough supplies and medicines to treat all the people who come in," Abdulla explained. "Sometimes they come in and we have to send them away without the proper treatment."

According to Son, the hospital's lack of gear has sparked an illegal and dangerous business.

"Wannabe doctors" in the city set up "modameds," which claim to provide patients with a wide range of medical care.

"They're usually just in someone's garage," Son said. "People go there and get all sorts of stuff done. These people get surgeries and medicines that they probably don't need."

Modamed owners steal their equipment and medicines from manufacturers or vendors, which hurts the legitimate medical facilities throughout Iraq.

"Ramadi's hospital usually only receives about ten percent of the medicines that it's supposed to get," Son said. "People steal the supplies and sell them on the black market."

That's why this donation meant so much to Abdulla and the other doctors at the hospital.

"This is very important to us," he said. "I have to thank the Marines for their help because it's going to help me take care of my people."

But the hospital wasn't the only place that benefited from the donation.

Several boxes of books and various training aids were given to the Al Anbar Medical College here. Many of the items came straight from Son's personal collection.

"The medical college has very few books. The ones they do have are very outdated from the seventies and eighties," Son said. "The instructors have to photocopy pages to give to students just so they can complete the required readings."

The dean of the college, Dr. Salah Al Anii, was on hand to receive the gear.

"We're not really sure what to do with everything right now," he said while going through the boxes. "Everything is very useful. We definitely need stuff like this."

Son said he was glad to help.

"Every time we come out in town, we risk our lives," Son explained. "But I think helping others gives the Marines and sailors of the battalion motivation to go. We'll do everything to help the Iraqis help themselves because then we've completed half of our mission here."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200462051957/$file/medical1lr.jpg

Navy Lt. Kenneth Y. Son, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment surgeon, shows Iraqi Dr. Qussai Najem Abdulla medical supplies donated by the battalion. Nearly $50,000 worth of basic medical equipment was taken to the Ar Ramadi General Hospital recently.
(USMC photo by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald) Photo by: Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/172C49A849ACC1AF85256EB90032339D?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

New York Times
June 20, 2004

The Re-Baathification of Falluja

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

It was payday for the Falluja Brigade, a dusty, flat, 100-degree day in late May, and hundreds of the brigade's soldiers were gathering at the city's railway station on the north end of town. A month before, during the siege of Falluja by 4,500 United States marines, this same railway station was attacked by American helicopters after insurgents inside the station fired rocket-propelled grenades at Marine snipers nearby. But now things were very different. On May 1, as Falluja and the world braced for an all-out assault by the marines, the siege was suddenly called off. The marines announced they were pulling out and ceding control of the city to a new, all-Iraqi force. The man who engineered the deal was Muhammad Latif, a 66-year-old former Iraqi Army colonel from Baghdad. Latif promised the Americans that he could pacify Falluja with a corps of laid-off soldiers from Saddam Hussein's army. Some would be former members of the Republican Guard, the elite force responsible for the regime's darkest hours, and some would be drawn from the insurgents the Americans had been fighting -- a very different situation indeed.

Now the 2,600 members of the Falluja Brigade were packed into the railway station to collect their monthly salaries. Three Iraqi officers with big, Saddam-style mustaches and constellations of stars on their shoulders sat along one side of a table in a stuffy little office in the back of the station, counting out stacks of cash: $150 for sergeants, $250 for majors, $300 for colonels; all in crisp U.S. bills, all provided by the U.S. government. The line of soldiers waiting for their pay snaked out the door, through the railway station and into the heat. Many were dressed in faded combat fatigues with a jaunty eagle insignia on their shoulders, signifying high rank in Hussein's army; some had red triangles just below their shoulders, the mark of the Republican Guard. In just a few weeks, Falluja had gone from de-Baathification to re-Baathification. The problem, it seemed, had become the solution.

Latif trotted up the steps of the railway station wearing a gray polyester suit. Unlike his men, he never wears a uniform. He had an assistant with him, also dressed in civilian clothes. Neither man was armed.

''General,'' said one soldier standing by the door, using the Arabic word, liwa. He cut a quick salute.

''How's your health, general?'' asked another as Latif stepped inside. (Latif later confided: ''They always say 'general.' But I'm not a general. Colonel, maybe, but not a general.'')

Latif strode past the soldiers pressed against the walls. There was barely room to pass. ''General, general, general, general,'' they said, a one-word echo chamber as he advanced down the musky hallway. When he walked into the pay room, which used to be the conductor's office, the men with the big mustaches barely looked up. Latif didn't say a word to them. They, in turn, said nothing back -- not ''sir,'' not ''general.''

Two U.S. Marine officers were standing in the pay room, off to the side. They were advisers, here to report back to Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, the top Marine general in Iraq, on the progress of the Falluja Brigade. One carried an assault rifle, the other wore a pistol in a holster and both were dressed in full battle gear. Across the room, the Iraqi soldiers approached the table one by one, leaned over to sign a form, took their money and signed again. Both marines looked impressed by the drill.

''Man, these guys are organized,'' said Lt. Col. Scott Hartsell. ''They have a disbursement officer; they have a payroll; they have proper records.'' He smiled. ''Hell, they were a professional army after all.''

The Marine officers motioned to Latif, and the three men stepped aside for a private chat. My interpreter, Khalid, and I found ourselves suddenly alone. The officers behind the table noticed me and glared in my direction. Khalid started to get a little twitchy. ''It's like a joint chiefs meeting of the Republican Guard,'' he whispered to me. ''These guys are bad guys. They hate Americans. Let's get out of here.''

It seemed like a good time to ask Latif if we could see more of the brigade's operation. He agreed, and he led us out of the train station and back to his white truck, which was parked next to a Falluja Brigade checkpoint -- if you could call it that. Three soldiers lounged under a tree with their new Bulgarian-made Kalashnikovs, chewing kebabs wrapped in grease-soaked bread and lazily watching traffic go by.

Falluja, a city of 300,000, sits on a desert shelf alongside the Euphrates River, 35 miles west of Baghdad. It is laid out in a grid: thousands of flat-roofed homes, one after another, all built from the same crumbly, monochromatic brick, the color of the earth and the dust and the sky here when it's windy. The Iraqis call Falluja the City of Mosques, and from a distance all you can see are dozens of minarets poking the sky like tiny needles. It is a traditional place, where many restaurants have their own prayer rooms or mini-mosques tucked away in the back. Some women here wear deep blue traditional tribal tattoos on their faces. The city has no nightclubs, no bars, no movie theaters. During the reign of Saddam Hussein, Falluja was home to many high-ranking army and Republican Guard officers. But it was always a difficult place to rule, even for Hussein, a volatile mix of rival sheiks and imams and military men, controlled by half a dozen powerful families, including the Zoba, the Halabsa, the Jumaila, the Muhammada, the Albu Esa and the Albu Hatim.

The Americans have had an even harder time taming the city. Falluja lies at the heart of the so-called Sunni Triangle, where opposition to the occupation has been the fiercest. During the U.S.-led invasion last year, Falluja put up virtually no resistance. But on April 28, 2003, a demonstration to mark Hussein's birthday turned unruly, and U.S. soldiers opened fire, killing 15 people. The city was soon a hotbed of rebellion, with frequent mortar, car-bomb and rocket-propelled-grenade attacks on American convoys and American helicopters -- and many U.S. casualties. When soldiers rolled through town and tossed candy out the windows of their Humvees, the children of Falluja threw it back. They said it was poison.

For the first 11 months of the occupation, it was the U.S. Army that had authority over Falluja, but after a number of deadly incidents, the Army adopted a they-don't-like-us-we-don't-like-them approach and pulled back to their big, walled base four miles beyond the city limits. From there, troops staged the occasional raid for weapons caches and high-ranking Baathists, but for almost a year American forces mostly stayed out of the city. Then on March 24, the Marines took over control of the region from the Army and pledged a new era of cooperation with the people of Falluja. They had big ideas: living in town, running joint patrols with Iraqi soldiers and the police, doling out millions of dollars in reconstruction contracts to a grateful city. ''Our plan,'' said Maj. T.V. Johnson, a Marine spokesman, ''was to knock on doors, not knock down doors.''

But that never happened. On March 31, four American contractors from Blackwater USA, a North Carolina security company, were ambushed and killed as their convoy drove through Falluja, and a mob dragged their bodies through the streets and hanged some of them from a bridge over the Euphrates. The new era was over before it began. On April 5, two battalions of marines stormed the city looking for the men responsible for the contractors' deaths. Hundreds of insurgents from across Iraq, both Sunni and Shiite, streamed into Falluja to fight the Americans, sneaking into the city by field paths, on donkey carts and in boats rowed along the Euphrates. Falluja was quickly shaping up into the biggest battle of the war -- the insurgents' ''Super Bowl,'' as Johnson put it.

But now the Americans are gone, and the city is quiet -- maybe not peaceful, but quiet. Stores are open, and restaurants are full. Latif's Falluja Brigade, along with the police and civil defense corps, is providing at least a veneer of order and control, but it is hard to know how far the authority of the brigade goes. Masked insurgents still operate openly in parts of the city, even enforcing their own harsh brand of Islamic law. The brigade itself has been attacked by insurgents, and Latif is essentially a commuter general, spending his days driving up and down the desolate stretch between Falluja and Baghdad, making phone calls, holding meetings, searching for more officers, more uniforms and more guns and planning for the eventual integration of his men into the new national army -- although no one knows exactly when that will be or what it might look like in a tinderbox like Falluja.


How did muhammad latif wind up responsible for a situation that the most powerful military on the planet couldn't resolve? On April 20, Latif told me, he was working in his garden in the Adamiya neighborhood of Baghdad, tending to his young banana tree. That afternoon, Donald Rumsfeld came on TV, and from the garden Latif could hear him talking about Falluja. Latif went inside to watch. There was a shaky cease-fire in Falluja at the time, and the Marines were trying to negotiate a truce with the mayor and some tribal sheiks, but the talks were breaking down. ''The difficulty with these discussions,'' Rumsfeld said, ''is that the people who are causing the trouble aren't part of the discussion.''

continued........

[thedrifter]

Latif was worried. He sensed that Falluja was going to get hit very hard. We were talking -- he and I and an interpreter -- in his living room in early June, and in between puffs on a cigarette and...

[thedrifter]

When the Marines held a news conference on May 1 to announce the formation of the new Falluja Brigade, though, Latif was nowhere to be seen. ''I didn't want to be on TV,'' Latif later explained. ''So...

[thedrifter]

Issue Date: June 21, 2004

Cause of troops’ balance illness being investigated
Anti-malaria drug regimen may be linked to disorder

By Deborah Funk
Times staff writer

Federal health investigators are trying to learn what is causing balance problems in a cluster of troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan — to include whether the disorder is linked to the anti-malarial drug mefloquine.
Eleven soldiers, sailors and Marines recently treated at the Defense Department’s Spatial Orientation Center have been diagnosed with ototoxicity, in which the inner ear becomes infected by a chemical agent, disrupting the balance system.

The common agent so far found among 10 of the troops has been mefloquine, said Cmdr. (Dr.) Michael Hoffer, director of the center at Naval Medical Center San Diego.

“That doesn’t mean that caused it,” Hoffer said, but he added that mefloquine, known by its brand name Lariam, is a candidate.

Based on the findings, a broader inquiry is underway by the Defense Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It’s premature to say mefloquine was a causal factor. That’s what we’re trying to study,” said Navy Capt. (Dr.) Dean Bailey, head of the unit leading the study.

While dizziness is listed as one of mefloquine’s potential side effects, a link to persistent and long-term balance problems after ceasing medication would be a new finding, Bailey said.

Many drugs can cause ototoxicity, including some antibiotics and chemotherapy agents. There have been some reports of ototoxicity among mefloquine users, but there is not enough scientific proof to link them, Hoffer said.

Roche Pharmaceuticals, the maker of mefloquine, said peer-reviewed, published studies on its drug have found no inner-ear balance problems, nor has function been compromised because of coordination problems or dizziness in studies meant to assess those functions.

“Roche is not aware of any study, or other reliable scientific evidence, that says Lariam causes permanent vestibular dysfunction,” spokesman Terry Hurley said.

Dizziness, loss of balance and vertigo are known to be potential adverse reactions to Lariam, but they are usually mild and may decrease despite continued use of the drug, Hurley said.

Bailey said investigators are looking at “a number of other things” besides mefloquine to explain the balance disorders, which can be caused by a host of exposures, including loud noises, jet fuels and explosives, to name a few.

Medical investigators will survey several hundred troops who have been diagnosed in the last couple of years with inner-ear balance disorders from Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

But Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, said that in most cases he is aware of, mefloquine use is not recorded in troops’ medical records, despite a law requiring the recording of medical services performed on deployed troops.

“What kind of study are we going to do if DoD is not annotating the drugs soldiers are getting?” Robinson said.

To stay balanced and maintain spatial relationships, people use input from their ears, eyes, hips, ankles and spinal cord, all integrated at the brain stem. In these 11 patients, reception at the ear and the ability to put the information together at the brain stem is decreased, Hoffer said.

The 11 include nine men and two women, ranging in age from 23 to 46. All served in Iraq, Afghanistan or both. Their symptoms have lasted for at least six months and include unsteadiness when they stand or walk, a sense of the room spinning, uncontrollable eye movement and other symptoms. The symptoms and their severity vary by patient.

The damage appears to be reversible for those receiving proper treatment, to include physical therapy for all the patients and medications for some of them, Hoffer said. Without treatment, the damage can be permanent.

Specialized physical therapy for this condition is available only at the Spatial Orientation Center.

Deployment Health Clinic Center fact sheets at www.deploymenthealth.mil/mefloquine.asp#fs warn of possible side effects to mefloquine, such as insomnia, irritability, dizziness, vomiting and diarrhea. Potential behavioral side effects may include anxiety, depression, paranoia, panic attacks, hallucinations and aggression.

Mefloquine was called into question in a series of domestic murders and suicides involving soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., in 2002.

Army investigators ultimately concluded mefloquine did not contribute to the deaths, but controversy remains over the military’s use of the drug.

Serious side effects occur mostly among people who drink alcohol while taking mefloquine.

People with behavioral changes are urged to seek a medical evaluation immediately.

Staff writer Laura Bailey contributed to this report.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2998491.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

'We care and stand behind him'
Injured Aurora soldier gets a hero's welcome home


By Wes Johnson
News-Leader Staff

Aurora — Lance Cpl. Curtis "Glenn" Hensley got a hero's welcome — and a hearty HOO-RAH — from his hometown Thursday.
True, the crowd of about 400 people practiced the familiar Marine "hound-dog" cheer before Hensley arrived escorted by Aurora fire trucks.

But the town's depth of appreciation for Hensley's ordeal in Iraq and his safe return home was from-the-heart genuine.

"I think it's wonderful we have this kind of community support for someone that gave up so much," said Aurora native Veronica Kuschel. "These people who serve, I appreciate it more than words can say."

She brought her 4-year-old daughter, Emilee, to the town's Oak Park, festooned with American flags and yellow ribbons, to see what it means to support the troops.

"I just wanted her to see all this and develop some patriotism in her," Kuschel said.

Hensley's return home marked a high point for the town of Aurora. The community of 30,000 has already buried two men killed while serving in Iraq.

Hensley, 20, still bears the scars of an Iraqi sniper's bullet.

It struck the right side of his Kevlar helmet, broke into pieces and tore into his brain.

It also destroyed his right eye, though his left eye was uninjured.

"I'm getting used to it, though I still have problems with depth perception," Hensley said. "They say I might qualify for a helper dog, so I may try to get one."

He called his hometown's welcome home "overwhelming," but said he wouldn't hesitate to go back to Iraq to be with his Marine reserve buddies in Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment.

"I would, for the honor in it," he said.

He's still healing, however, and will soon receive a prosthetic right eye, once the swelling on the right side of his face goes down.

And if he can't go back to Iraq, the 2002 Aurora High School graduate wants to go to college, get a job and get back to a normal life, he said.

He downplayed his ordeal, saying he faced the "same hardships as everybody else" in Iraq.

Wearing his Marine dress uniform, Hensley walked arm-in-arm to the ceremony with fiancȥ Valeska Woodruff, 20.

She said his injury hasn't altered her feelings about him, though it was hard hearing the news that he had been injured.

"I lost track of the days after we got the news," she said. "We'd get more and more bits of information by phone. When I finally saw him in the hospital, that's when I knew he was OK.

"They say love is blind, but here it's true," she added, as Hensley hugged and shook hands with Aurora residents. "It hasn't changed anything for me."

Matt Andrews, 20, graduated with Hensley and remembers pleasant days floating down local rivers with his best friend.

"He's just a good guy," Andrews said. "It's terrible what happened.

"When he joined the Marines he kept trying to get me to join," he added. "But I broke my ankle and couldn't join."

Hensley's younger brother Kevin, 18, said he has no interest in following his brother's military path.

However, he respects his brother's desire to serve.

"I think it's great that people came out to pay tribute to him — not just what he went through but all the Marines who are serving," Kevin said.

John and Barbara Litvan drove down from Springfield to show their support. Their son John is a member of Hensley's unit and is still in Iraq.

"I'm sure he knew Glenn," John Litvan said. "We came here to honor Lance Cpl. Hensley as a member of that unit. We're recognizing the willingness of young people to serve their country."

Barbara Litvan, proudly wearing a "United States Marine Mom" T-shirt, said she and her husband hope their son returns home safely in September.

"We just pray," she said. "Your heart stops when you hear the news that a Marine has been injured," she said.

"You hold your breath and pray for their family — or for your own."

Aurora native Amy Price served in the Army National Guard during the first Gulf War.

She and her two daughters joined hundreds who lined Aurora's Church Street to greet Hensley as he arrived by limousine.

"We're here to let him know we care and stand behind him," she said.

"I just wish we had finished it the first time so these guys wouldn't have to come back like this."

http://news-leader.com/today/0604-Wecareands-104290.html


http://news-leader.com/today/0604-Wecareands_1.jpg

Lance Cpl. Curtis "Glenn" Hensley receives a hug from Dianna Pierson. Hensley was injured in combat.
Edmee Rodriguez / News-Leader


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine keeps dreams of novel writing on his deployment packing list
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200462121030
Story by Cpl. Macario P. Mora



CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq(June 18, 2004) -- Lance Cpl. Eric S. Freeman likes the old-fashioned idea of putting a pen to paper while other Marines enjoy e-mails and instant messaging. For him, the idea of scrawling his thoughts on paper is more than telling his family what's going. He hopes to tell the world.

The infantryman from Thousand Oaks, Calif., and assigned to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment's Company L, has documented every day of his deployment in a leather notebook. He details events and places he hopes to one-day turn into a book.

"I think to myself everyday how stupid it was of me not to have done this the first time around," Freeman said. "It's important, for so many reasons. I want to be able to tell my grandchildren what it was like. I don't want to be like 'Old Man River' who tells his tales and with each one the fish grows bigger."

Writing came naturally to Freeman. He traced his first effort to junior high school. As an early teen, he wrote short stories to help occupy his mind.

Still, the structured education of mastering the English language was a challenge for Freeman.

"I hated English in school," Freeman explained. "They always made you write the dumbest things, but once I started college I was able to write for myself. That's when it became fun."

But Freeman was far from lackadaisical student. He kept his studies a step ahead of his peers, graduating high school at 16 and completed nearly two years of college before joining the Marine Corps.

It was during those years after high school and before joining the Marine Corps when he found a passion for the written word. Still, he had a life-long desire to serve in uniform and put off his studies to become a Marine.

"I don't think people have reasons for everything," Freeman said. "But for me, ever since I was little I wanted to be in the Marine Corps."

Now, even while he's patrolling the streets and vast expanses of open desert in western Iraq, Freeman is scribbling down page-after-page in his notebook, hoping one day to turn it around into a published novel.

"He's such a smart guy," said Lance Cpl. Tom A. Harris, a friend of Freeman's from Tracy, Calif. "He thinks way into things sometimes. He turns the simplest tasks into complex problems."

His mastery of the English language has helped as a Marine as well as a budding novelist.

"He has the biggest vocabulary," said Pvt. Jesus Rivera, an infantryman with the battalion from Phoenix. "It seems like whenever anyone has trouble with a word or how to pronounce something he knows."

Freeman knows that breaking into the literary world is no easy task, but he's got a little experience. After several years writing short stories Freeman began writing a novel. Soon it became two.

"I just had this idea," Freeman said. "So I ran with it."

Not knowing how to contact a publisher he sold his novels to an author for $1,000 for their creative value to break apart and add to his own work.

"I was young and not sure what to do," Freeman said. "I got paid for it though. At the time that's what mattered most."

Freeman's an avid reader. He's got a list of authors he counts as his influences. Still, he hopes to bring a fresh, unique and personal approach to his work.

"Many stories lack realism," Freeman said. "Not everyone is perfect; you have ugly people, simple people. What about them? They need to have stories told about them as well."

Freeman plans to pursue more education and training to master his passion for writing at the University of California at Santa Barbara. His planned major is in English composition.

"Making it as an author is like trying to become a rock star," he said. "I'm realistic, this will provide me the opportunity to teach if all fails."

In fact, he's already been offered a role teaching at a college once he completes his degree, he said.

Still, he scratches out notes in his journals, keep his pencil dull and his mind sharp.
"I write everyday," Freeman said. "It's important to document what goes on. The mind goes but you can always look back and read about your memories."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200462121346/$file/novelist1lr.jpg

Lance Cpl. Eric S. Freeman, an infantryman with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment's Company L from Thousand Oaks, Calif., writes his day's events in his journal. Freeman hopes to turn his love for writing into a career as novelist.
(USMC photo by Cpl. Macario P. Mora Jr.) Photo by: Cpl. Macario P. Mora Jr.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/1BBD1BB0E5A9EF2385256EBA0021EB9D?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

The Paul Johnson Beheading, and the Nature of Our Enemies
Written by Joe Mariani
Monday, June 21, 2004


How we Americans react to the horrible murder of Paul Johnson by al-Qaeda extremists will tell us a great deal about ourselves. We need to discover whether we are truly determined to stop terrorists or merely appease them, pushing the real fight down the road for another generation.

The most common reaction was disbelief, but anyone who was surprised simply doesn't understand the enemy. Why is it such a shock that murderous extremists would kill one man, when they glory in committing mass murder nearly every day? Did anyone really think that prayer vigils and news footage of neighbors lighting canles would stop the terrorists from killing an ''infidel''? It's about time we wake up and face the nature of this enemy. We cannot negotiate with them. We cannot bribe them. We cannot appeal to their better nature--if they have such a thing, they already believe they're acting in accordance with it.

Terrorists firmly believe that God has instructed them to kill us all, en masse or one by one if need be. That's their grand scheme, their master plan, and everything they do works toward that end. Nothing can talk them out of that belief or weaken the resolve that springs from it. Exposing them to Western society only heightens their loathing of it, even as they partake of its freedoms. Their beliefs are rooted in a literal interpretation of the Qu'ran, which contains passages such as:

Let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life of this world for the hereafter. To him who fighteth in the cause of Allah--whether he is slain or gets victory--soon shall We give him a reward of great (value).
- Sura 4.74

But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.
- Sura 9.5

Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in battle), smite at their necks; at length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them).
- Sura 47.4

The Saudi ruling family has turned a blind eye to the rise of the fanatical Wahhabi sect (an 18th century fundamentalist movement of the Sunni form of Islam) for far too long. Worse--in return for the forbearance of terrorist groups, the Saudis have actively assisted and funded them. That truce cost the Saudis dearly, according to testimony by Dr. Alex Alexiev before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism in June 2003. ''Between 1975 and 1987, the Saudis admit to having spent $48 billion or $4 billion per year on 'overseas development aid,' a figure which by the end of 2002 grew to over $70 billion (281 billion Saudi rials),'' Alexiev stated. ''The Saudi money is spent according to a carefully designed plan to enhance Wahhabi influence and control at the expense of mainstream Muslims. In Muslim countries, much of the aid goes to fund religious madrassas that teach little more than hatred of the infidels, while producing barely literate Jihadi cadres. There are now tens of thousands of these madrassas run by the Wahhabis' Deobandi allies in South Asia and also throughout Southeastern Asia. In Pakistan alone, foreign funding of these madrassas, most of which comes from Saudi Arabia, is estimated at no less than $350 million per year.'' After 9/11, President Pervez Musharraf vowed to reform Pakistan's madrassa schools, but his efforts have had little effect so far.

So what form should our response to these terrible murders of American citizens take? Most Liberals and Democrats favor what they call a ''nuanced'' approach--trying to come to an agreement with groups like al-Qaeda. Find out what they want and give it to them. Certainly the terrorists will make demands, but--as always--return to the attack after gaining the concessions they request. Ask Israel for examples of the futility of negotiating with terrorists. Trying to reason Islamofascist fanatics out of their beliefs is like trying to reason a mad dog out of its rabies--it only gives the dog another chance to bite. There's no "nuance" to a knife--it cuts you, or it doesn't. There's no ''nuance'' to death, either. One minute Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg, and now Paul Johnson were alive, and the next they were dead, beheaded by Muslim extremists who believe they were told by God to ''smite at their necks.''

Killing or arresting the individuals who commit these atrocities won't be enough. We need to go to the source. One thing we can do is shut down the madrassas right here in the U.S., stop the funding flowing to them from so-called ''charities,'' and pressure our allies to do the same. At one such school, the Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia, students ''file into their Islamic studies class, where the textbooks tell them the Day of Judgment can't come until Jesus Christ returns to Earth, breaks the cross and converts everyone to Islam, and until Muslims start attacking Jews.'' At another, ''[m]aps of the Middle East hang on classroom walls, but Israel is missing.'' Nationally, there are estimated to be 200 to 600 of these schools, with at least 30,000 students. Thousands of others attend Islamic weekend schools, according to Valerie Strauss and Emily Wax of the Washington Post. (Yes, even Washington Post stories can contain facts, buried as they are in prose overly sympathetic to the beleaguered students of jihad schools. Their story, written less than six months after 9/11, made it a point to report that ''students in class also talk about the taunts they face outside the school gates--being called 'terrorist' and 'bomber'--and ask whether Osama bin Laden is simply the victim of such prejudice." It took less than six months to Blame America First.) We need to pressure the Saudi ruling family to stop the financing of terrorist groups from within their country. The bargain they had made with al-Qaeda is obviously over; the royal family must decide whether they want to be counted among our friends or our enemies. Saudi Arabia has been moving inexorably toward civil war since King Fahd's 1995 stroke left the government too weakened to contain the frustration among the citizens; now is the time to gain these concessions from them.

We have the ability to stop terrorism at its source, but do we have the will? The upcoming Presidential election will be a referendum on the war against terrorism more than anything else. Do we want to have a ''nuanced'' conversation with the kind of people who behead innocents on camera for their religion, or do we want to stop the ''barbaric people'' and ''extremist thugs'' that President Bush understands them to be? We'll find out in just a few short months.



http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=8030


Ellie