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thedrifter
10-05-04, 06:55 AM
A mother recalls the life of a boy who died a Marine

Oct. 3, 2004 12:00 AM

Rhonda McCarthy was 20 years old when her son, Joe, was born. He was early. Problems developed two months before her due date and she was rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section. It all happened so quickly.

"The doctor said something about a baby boy," she says. "I remember nothing after that."

When Joe was 6 weeks old, Rhonda tried to open a door while wedging the baby carrier with Joe in it against the wall. It slipped, fracturing her boy's skull. At 8 months he had a seizure and nearly died. She remembers asking herself why God seemed to want her son back so quickly. advertisement




They lived in Concho, near St. Johns. The athletic, mischievous boy that Joe grew into idolized Jim Carey and Michael Jordan.

"He set off the fire extinguisher in the garage and nearly gave his uncle a heart attack," Rhonda says. "He helped to fix my car by putting transmission fluid . . . in the brake reservoir."

But he also could prepare homemade lasagna and once set up an alternative school's sports program. Before his high school prom, Joe and his girlfriend, Amanda Salazar, dressed as clowns and entertained kids at a day-care center. He had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. This made classroom learning difficult, and by the time he was 16 Joe told Rhonda that he wanted to become a Marine.

"I will never forget the day he had me sign the pre-enlistment papers," she says. "It turned my stomach, but I did it because it meant so much to him. I was worried but I figured, what were the chances of war?"

Joe's family drove him to Phoenix the day that he was supposed to enter the service. It was Sept. 10, 2001.

He shipped out for his first tour in Iraq on Jan. 6, 2003. He returned that summer and married Amada. In March of this year he was sent back to the war. In April, a photograph of Joe handing out candy to a pair of Iraqi children ran in newspapers all over the country. His buddies called him "Willy Wonka" after the character who owned a chocolate factory.

He suffered some shrapnel wounds and earned a Purple Heart, promising to tell his mother all about it - someday. "I thought I could relax after that," Rhonda says. "What were the chances of anything else happening to him? I let my guard down."

Joe's wife showed Rhonda an e-mail he had sent her that read in part: "Other than wishing my Nana and Poppy were still alive, I would not trade in my life for anything. To me, I have the perfect life; perfect parents, perfect friends, perfect you, perfect job, perfect everything."

On Labor Day, a car bomb detonated near a group of soldiers outside of Fallujah. Joe and six others were killed. He was 21.

"Maybe one day I'll understand it all," Rhonda says. "Until then I will cry. Every day. Not just out of anger but out of loss. Not only mine but this world's."

Casualty reports list names. A mother measures souls, leaving us to multiply the loss of one young spirit by the more than 1,000 sons and daughters who have died in the war. After Joe's death a friend set up a web site (www.thankyoujoe.com) where people have left messages about Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph McCarthy.

"I look at it each day," Rhonda says. "I have received letters from different places around the country. I am so touched."

She senses her boy's presence everywhere. He didn't go to Iraq as a Republican or Democrat, she says, but as an American. With our argument over the war getting more and more nasty she asks us to be "gentle" with our words. Think of the children, she says. They may be listening.



Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8978.


http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1003montini03.html


Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 06:55 AM
New York Times <br />
October 4, 2004 <br />
<br />
2 Clean Uniforms, Owners' Fates Unknown <br />
<br />
<br />
By Charlie LeDuff <br />
<br />
OCEANSIDE, Calif. - There are two unclaimed military uniforms hanging in Jerry Alexander's dry...

thedrifter
10-05-04, 06:56 AM
Commanders cite difficulties in framing global message on Iraq


By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, October 2, 2004


HEIDELBERG, Germany — The U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq defeated Saddam Hussein’s conventional forces in spring 2003.

But the military leaders’ ability to engage in communication needed to win the peace left a lot of room for improvement, according to the coalition’s former military commander.

“Strategic communication was a challenge for us from the very beginning, and we struggled with it through the entire time I was there,” Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez said Thursday during the final day of Land Combat Expo 2004.

Sanchez, who as commander of Combined Joint Task Force-7 directed the multinational force, said that anyone with a stake in Operation Iraqi Freedom needed to be kept up to speed, and that did not always happen.

“It is literally the world [as an audience],” Sanchez said.

“You’ve got a combined operation of 36 countries. If you’ve got a few political problems or a few strategic problems, you’ve got to communicate with that entire world what is going on in [Iraq],” he said.

“You’ve got to communicate with each one of the national audiences, not just your own.”

Sanchez was one of a number of top generals at the expo who talked about their experiences.

Lt. Gen. William S. Wallace, former commander of V Corps, which spearheaded the defeat of Saddam’s army and evicted his regime from Baghdad, said Wednesday that he wished the coalition had more quickly recognized the shift in power from Saddam’s regime to the Iraqi people.

The coalition, if it did, might have done a better job co-opting more Iraqis sooner into playing a role in the reconstruction of their country.

Sanchez, the current V Corps commander, called his comments “observations” rather than “lessons learned,” saying that time was needed for the U.S. military to fully evaluate what it had learned.

The nations that made up the coalition made military contributions ranging from one person to several thousand troops, he said.

But no matter how small the contribution, each nation’s peoples needed to be placated.

Inside of Iraq, there was an array of audiences, from individual U.S. troops to whole regions of the country, experiencing different levels of satisfaction and anxiety.

“You have to break that [message] down, you have to communicate in the theater of operations that you’re in,” Sanchez said.

“You have to communicate effectively to the region and to the country and then to the individual Iraqi who is out there.

“You have to be able to tell him what lies ahead in his future and what you are doing for him, and how he can help.

“Then you have to communicate with your own force so your soldiers understand where we’re headed and how we’re doing,” Sanchez said.

“It’s critical to success.”

Sanchez called dealing with reporters and other media a “necessary evil.”

Sometimes they could be your friend, Sanchez said, and sometimes your foe. He called it the “CNN factor.”

But giving interviews was a commander’s job, from top brass down to junior lieutenants, Sanchez said.

“You have to embrace [the media],” he said.

“You have to be good at it, have to understand the messages you want to communicate, and understand the dangers of getting out of your lane.

“Because it can have an impact very, very rapidly all the way up to the national level, and I had to struggle with that at times.”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=23837&archive=true

Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 06:57 AM
Corporal among 2/4's twice bitten
Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton
Story Identification #: 2004101163917
Story by Sgt. Robert M Storm



MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2004) -- As Cpl. Logan Degenhardt sits in a chair outside his barracks room drinking a beer and talking to his friends, he realized his experiences in Iraq - including wounds sustained in two separate firefights - will live with him forever.

The 21-year-old from Boscobel, Wis., is one of a handful of Marines receiving two Purple Hearts for service with 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment - the unit that lost more Marines than any other so far in Operation Iraqi Freedom. But Degenhardt doesn't complain about being wounded twice, or try to make himself into a hero.

"I really don't think about getting shot that much. After a while, the shock value of being in a firefight wears off," Degenhardt said.

"You can't take it too seriously in Iraq, or you'll go insane. We actually used to cheer when mortar rounds or enemy fire got close."

Degenhardt says he was shot while "just doing my job."

On April 10, while raiding an suspected terrorist's house, his squad came under heavy enemy fire. He was the first to find cover. While members of his squad followed him into a room, he provided cover fire even after taking a round in his left shoulder. Even now, pieces of shrapnel are embedded in his shoulder.

The second time Degenhardt was shot, he was clearing a house. After clearing a room with a grenade, his team entered the house, only to find the assailant still fighting, barricaded and largely protected from the explosion.

"As we came in the room we came under immediate fire. I went for cover in a niche in the wall and took a couple of grazing shots. I've never tried to make myself so small in my entire life," Degenhardt said.

Both raids were successful; Marines subdued the attackers and took prisoners, Degenhardt said.

"Earning two Purple Hearts is definitely unusual, it is not a common accomplishment," said Maj. Mike P. Wylie, 2/4's executive officer, noting that Degenhardt was not alone in collecting two badges denoting blood sacrifice.

After his time in Iraq, Degenhardt said he appreciates home a lot more now that he's had to spend so much time away.

"You learn not to take your freedoms for granted; it's the little things that would normally escape a person's notice - like being able to go buy a steak, or smoke a cigarette outside without being shot at," Degenhardt said.

"The hardest part is when you lose your friends. We remember them by the way that they made us feel, how they made us laugh, the jokes they told."

Asked about the war and the controversy surrounding it, a spark of passion lights his eyes.

"If people could see the good we're doing in Iraq," he said. "Just in the time I was there, the areas are cleaner. We're fixing the streets and lights. When you hand out candy, pencils or balls to the kids and see the smiles on everyone's faces, it's great.

"People don't see how the Iraqis live, so they can't imagine the way of life over here. I'll know for the rest of my life I did the right thing."

E-mail Sgt. Storm at robert.storm@nmci.usmc.mil

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/9F9B9BA0F24849E985256F20007175C6?opendocument

Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 06:58 AM
3rd FAST Marines return home
Submitted by: Marine Forces Atlantic
Story Identification #: 200410471530
Story by Cpl. Glen Springstead



NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY, Norfolk Va. (Sep. 30, 2004) -- Local Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) Company Marines returned from Iraq on September 27. These Marines have been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) since March 2004.

The Marines where assigned to Task Force Rodgers, a security element in Baghdad comprised of approximately 400 Marine, Navy, Army and Air Force personnel. The Task Force was established to guard the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) against enemy insurgents, and former Iraqi regime loyalist attacks, according to Capt. Scott Huesing, platoon commander.

TF Rodgers and CPA attached elements were involved in combat and peacekeeping operations in conjunction with OIF I and II. After being deployed for combat operations in November 2004 as part of Combined Joint Task Force Seven (CJTF-7), TF Rodgers conducted a relief in place of U.S. Army units in the city of Baghdad to secure the CPA area, the number one high-value target in the Green Zone. Terrorist and insurgent forces, according to Huesing, often target this site.

The FAST Marines conducted tactical mounted patrols and tactical convoy security operations in central Baghdad, while under hostile automatic and small arms fire and Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) fire from enemy forces.

TF Rodgers continued to provide critical security at the CPA responding to hostile insurgent attacks with FAST reactionary forces, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams, military working dogs and adjacent U.S. Army quick reaction forces. TF Rodgers was involved in multiple combat incidents after arriving in the city of Baghdad.

To date, the CPA in Baghdad remains intact and operational and accordingly, is the only CPA compound in Iraq that has not been compromised by terrorist and insurgent attacks.
"This can be attributed to the vigilant efforts and combat responsiveness of the Marines of [Task Force Rodgers] and attached elements," Huesing said. "The accomplishments of Task Force Rodgers during combat operations were an integral part in the safe and effective transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi Interim Government while continually coming under hostile direct and indirect enemy fire."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/A52228B8C4A0B6BD85256F23003DD83E?opendocument


Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 07:00 AM
Memory of fallen Marine lives on
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200410452756
Story by Lance Cpl. Graham Paulsgrove



COMBAT OUTPOST, Iraq (Sep. 24, 2004) -- Though his life is over, his legacy and spirit live on.

The Marines and Sailors of 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, gathered at Combat Outpost to pay their final respects to their fallen comrade, Pfc. Timothy Shane Folmar, a rifleman with Company F.

During a patrol through downtown Ar Ramadi, Iraq, Sept. 24, Folmar was hit by enemy fire during an engagement with hostile insurgents.

"We come here to seek closure and try to understand why a friend, a fellow human being has been lost," said Lt. Col. Randy Newman, commanding officer, 2/5. "We try to understand and respect the fact that he was dedicated to his duties, executed them as a Marine flawlessly and paid the ultimate sacrifice because he understood his call to duty here in Iraq."

Folmar, a Senora, Texas, native, was known through his platoon for his sense of humor work ethic and always striving to improve himself.

"Shane was a good friend, with a great personality," said Lance Cpl. Jose Osornia, a rifleman with Company F, 2/5. "He would never complain and he could always make you laugh. His platoon and company will miss him."

While Folmar's peers recalled the man, his commander remembers the Marine.

"He never complained, he never fell out and he never quit," said 2nd Lt. Robert Jones, a platoon commander with Company F, 2/5. "He never wanted to let anyone down, that was the type of Marine he was."

Folmar was killed doing his duty by advancing and engaging the enemy, and he will be remembered as a true warrior.

"When he died, this Marine was taking the fight to the enemy," said Cpl. Widener, a squad leader with Company F, 2/5. "He would never let up, he would never quit, he was a true spirited warrior. We will continue the best we can, but it will be hard to fill his place. He will be deeply missed by me, his squad and platoon."

Although he is gone, Folmar will live in hearts and minds of his brothers in arms.

"I am sure he is watching over us now, protecting us. He is gone but not forgotten," said Capt. Edward Rapisarda, company commander, Company F, 2/5. "Semper Fi, Shane Folmar."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200410453650/$file/Fmemorial1lr.jpg

Capt. Edward Rapisarda, commanding officer, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, pays his final respects to Pfc. Timothy Shane Folmar, a rifleman with Company F. Folmar was killed while engaging terrorist insurgents on Sept. 24. A memorial service was held Sept. 28 at Combat Outpost in his honor.
Lance Cpl. Graham Paulsgrove Photo by: Lance. Cpl. Graham Paulsgrove

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/7CAC1D522B89692485256F230033FEF6?opendocument

Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 09:43 AM
Laboratory Tests Confirm Field Reports of 5.56mm Inferiority

By: Maj. Anthony F. Milavic, USMC (Ret)

U.S. Army laboratory tests have confirmed almost 40 years of demonstrated inferior lethality by the 5.56mm cartridge; i.e., since 1965, Americans have reported that enemy soldiers continued to fire their weapons after suffering multiple hits by 5.56mm bullets. Most recently, the Interim Report of these tests observes that “less than optimal” performance of the 62-grain 5.56mm M855 cartridge in Somalia and Afghanistan prompted many Special Operations Forces (SOF) units to switch to the heavier 77-grain 5.56mm MK262 ammunition. Those events prompted the testing and comparison of the 5.56mm M855 against four other cartridges: 110-grain 6.8mm Special Purpose Cartridge (SPC), 149-grain NATO 7.62mm M80 ball cartridge, 77-grain 5.56mm MK262 MatchKing, and 5.56mm (unspecified projectile weight) Le Mas (AKA: RBCD). U. S. Army ARDEC, AETC conducted ballistics gelatin tests of these cartridges and published the results in, “Interim Report, Engineering Study ES-1A-9001, Soft Target Terminal Ballistics Evaluation Of The M855 5.56mm Projectile,” dated September 01, 2004. Summaries of some of the results and judgments contained in that Interim Report are presented below in their order of assessed relative performance:

BASE) The 5.56mm M855 was the base cartridge against which the
other four were compared and it was the best performer “when
viewing steel plate penetration.” However, this bullet contains a
steel penetrator and the others in this test do not.

#1) “The 6.8mm SPC is far and above, the best performing
ammunition, in gelatin” in these tests. It was not tested for steel
penetration.

#2) “The NATO 7.62mm M80 ball observed in this test had the
highest impact energy of those tested. Additionally, the total
quantity of damage done to the gelatin block was greater than
any of the other systems in this test. However, the location of
that damage was deeper than optimally desired.. . . the overall
ranking of this system came in second only to the 6.8mm SPC
system.” The report did not mention if this round was tested
against steel plates.

#3) In general the 5,56mm MK262 “outperformed” the 5.56mm M855
in gelatin. Also, it performed “better than expected” in steel
penetration tests but was “inferior” to the M855 in those same
tests.

#4) The 5.56mm Le Mas (AKA: RBCD) ammunition “demonstrated
inadequate penetration, small fracture diameter, and shorter
fracture lengths at all tested ranges. It is noted, based upon their
configuration, that these rounds would be very unlikely to pass
the legal review necessary to allow usage by the U. S. Military.”
A 1 December 2003 Army Times article described the Le Mas by
saying, “this 5.56mm round has all the stopping power you
need.” That assertion was based, in great measure, on the report
by a Mr. Ben Thomas who, while in Iraq, said he hit a man with one Le
Mas bullet with explosive results: "It entered his butt and
completely destroyed everything in the lower left section of his
stomach ... everything was torn apart." And, the “round appeared to
kill the assailant instantly.” The above Interim Report reinforces
the results of ballistics gelatin tests observed by LCdr. Gary
Roberts, USNR in March 2002 that performance claims by Le Mas,
“were not shown to have merit.” Mr. Thomas’ reported explosive
effects of the Le Mas bullet remain unconfirmed by laboratory tests.

All three 5.56mm bullets—62-grain M855, 77-grain Mk262, and the Le Mas bullets—were inferior to the larger 110-grain 6.8mm and 149-grain 7.62mm bullets in gelatin performance tests. Although, the 6.8mm round received the highest overall rating, it is the 7.62mm that “had the highest impact energy of those tested.” This translates into, “knockdown power” and it is one-round knockdown power that is critical to the warrior’s survival. This is due to the facts, in combat, a warrior frequently gets only one shot; and in other situations, the time between the first and second shot is long enough for the enemy to kill HIM with one shot. The demonstrated combat performance of even the largest 5.56mm bullet tested above is sorely inferior to this requirement; for example, on 12 September 2003, after being hit by seven 77-grain 5.56mm bullets, an Iraqi insurgent killed both MSgt Kevin N. Morehead and SFC William M. Bennett with his 7.62mm Kalashnikov. Then, SSgt Robert E Springer threw aside his 5.56mm M-4 carbine and knocked the insurgent down dead with ONE .45 cal. pistol bullet. If the above September 01, 2004 Interim Report doesn't prompt the replacement of the 5.56mm cartridge, it is time to ask the Department of Defense: How many tombstones will be added to those of MSgt Morehead and SFC Bennett before you provide our warriors with one-round knockdown power?

Semper One-Round Knockdown Power,

Anthony F. Milavic
Major USMC (Ret.)


Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 09:44 AM
October 2004

MILINET: SPECIAL “Laboratory Tests Confirm 5.56mm Inferiority” SPECIAL

The subject named article was posted to MILINET on 21 September 2004. Subsequently, Col. Hackworth’s web site, Soldiers For The Truth (SFTT.org) also carried this item. On 1 October, I received a note from a CPT Bowser of US Army Special Operations Command containing comments on that article; the note was posted to MILINET the same day without comment from myself even though I had questions on its content. This was done because CPT Bowser described himself as the “combat developer for weapons and ammunition” for that command;
i.e., the action officer for testing the 5.56mm and the development of any possible replacement. Now that you have had several days to digest that note, I would like to offer some observations. For the sake of clarity, I’m presenting CPT CHAZ W. BOWSER’s note a second time as the first item below, followed by MY RESPONSE, and then the SUBJECT ARTICLE posted on 21 September. (This entire text is attached as an MS Word file.)

Semper Intelligence Drivers,

Anthony F. Milavic
Major USMC (Ret.)

------------------CPT CHAZ W. BOWSER-------------


MAJUSMCRET:

The [subject] article is a work of art to say the least. You should send it to
Solider of Fortune Magazine. I especially liked the part at the end about
the tombstones and such. And naming the guys, that was a beautiful piece of
literary refinement to say the least.

I am the combat developer for weapons and ammunition for US Army Special
Operations Command. Maybe in the future you ought to run some of you words
on paper by some at the fulcrum of the process v/s just agreeing with
something like the interim report on the "ongoing" engineering study like
you write of. It is not a complete work, has not been fully developed,
discussed, and a course of action has not been decided which will best
support our operators - and drawing conclusions (as you did) are not only
unprofessional (you are a Retired Marine Major are you not?) but naming our
warriors in an article and concluding that those that are working hard daily
governed by the acquisition process makes you look like the village idiot to
those in the know. You should have known better - especially as an officer
who is supposed to be governed by professional behavior (even retired) day
in and day out. I would only hope that Non-Commissioned Officers who come
across this give you piece of their mind also - and I am sure they will.
My suggestion - Keep you opinions to yourself, and find another way to make
a living if this is how you currently do so.

VR

CPT CHAZ W. BOWSER
Combat Developer - Weapons / G8
Building E-2929, Desert Storm Drive
US Army Special Operations Command
Fort Bragg, NC 28310


-----------------------------------MY RESPONSE-------------------

CPT Bowser,

I would like to thank you for the response to my article, “Laboratory Tests Confirm Field Reports of 5.56mm Inferiority” that appeared on the Soldiers For The Truth web site. It originally was posted to the forum I’ve moderated since 1995 called, “MILINET.” I usually trash unintelligible vacuous drive-by-shootings such as your response; but, given your current position of influence over the 5.56mm issue, it’s important for the MILINET community to meet the man who could affect an issue so near and dear to us. Specifically, the manner you expressed yourself above has provided us a window on your intelligence; and by extension, your competence. You see, we—some 350+--on MILINET have been actively involved in the discussion of the 5.56mm since April 2002. For many of us, our introduction to this issue occurred in the early 1960s when we had our M-14s replaced with M-16s and saw our comrades die because of a defective weapon and the impotent bullet for which it was chambered—the 5.56mm. This memory is especially painful because we realize the decision to field that system was based on performance lies that were taken as truth by incompetent people in positions of influence (See: my “The Last ‘Big Lie’ of Vietnam” available on The American Thinker web site). Depressingly, the content of your note to me has the force of “déjà vu all over again.”

First of all, I would like to apologize for not having the subject article published by your recommended Soldier of Fortune. I have, however, published articles on the 5.56mm elsewhere: one in The Naval Institute PROCEEDINGS entitled, “It’s the Bullet, Stupid, Not the Rifle!” and three in the Army/Marine Corps Times entitled, “US Soldiers Are Outgunned in Iraq,” “Stopping Power Needed,” and “The
M-16A4.” Obviously, you don’t read those publications or I would have heard from you sooner—after Soldier of Fortune, you must not have much reading time left on your schedule. Then again, I was interviewed on a live broadcast by NRA News and that would not have dug into your monthly reading time. DAMN IT! I forgot; we were on opposite Oprah Winfrey and her aficionadas have told me just how important their daily dose of Oprah can be.

Rather than belabor this issue, I’ve elected to look through only three of the “windows” you
have provided:

1) You say to me that, “you ought to run some of you [sic] words on paper by
some at the fulcrum of the process.” Given that demonstration of your, or
should I say, “you” writing skills, I have no intention of having you critique
my “words on paper.”

2) You accuse me of, “drawing conclusions (as you did) are [sic] . . .
unprofessional.” I guess you mean those conclusions from the Interim Report
cited in the subject article. That is absurd. Every conclusion on the tests cited
in my article and contained in the Interim Report was “drawn” by the drafters
of the Interim Report (NOTE: This is being said only for the benefit of CPT
Bowser and is NOT intended for those accustomed to reading). The only
conclusion referencing those tests in my article NOT formulated by those
drafters was my statement that these tests confirmed almost 40 years of
field reports on 5.56mm inferiority—and they did! I would have thought that
someone who describes himself as, “the combat developer for weapons and
ammunition for US Army Special Operations Command” would have known
that. A simple reading of the Interim Report—in fact, you needed only to read
the shorter Executive Summary—would have shown that to be true. However,
such knowledge could only have been acquired by someone who is literate,
and your demonstrated skills in this area suggest the contrary.

3) That is further evidenced by your following words, “naming our warriors in
an article and concluding that those that are working hard daily governed by
the acquisition process makes you look like the village idiot to those in the
know.” I challenge all reading this to tell me what the preceding sentence means. This
indecipherable blather is indicative of someone who is overly challenged by written
communications.

Being “the combat developer for weapons and ammunition” requires literacy
skills beyond those you have demonstrated above; i.e., you do not have the
intellectual competence to absorb, analyze, and process research data and
formulate intelligible written judgments of those formulations. The soldiers
of the US Army Special Operations Command deserve an officer who has that
competence. Captain Bowser, I appeal to whatever latent fragments of
compassionate loyalty you have for your, excuse me, “you” warrior comrades:
Do the right thing before you cause them irreparable harm and RESIGN!


Semper One-Round Knockdown Power,


Anthony F. Milavic
Major USMC (Ret.)


Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 10:02 AM
Homecoming is bittersweet
October 05,2004
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

When the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment left Camp Lejeune last March, its troops were prepared to protect supply routes in Iraq's northern Babil Province.

The seven-month deployment included a handful of combat operations, however. Six of their fellow Marines were killed.

A scarlet banner now hangs on the side of their headquarters - a tribute to Gunnery Sgt. Ronald Baum, Sgt. Michael Speer, Cpl. Chris Belchik, Lance Cpl. Brian Kelly, Lance Cpl. Nick Morrison and Lance Cpl. Andrew Zabierek.

"They're as much a brother of mine as my three biological brothers," 26-year-old Maj. Chris Dixon, the battalion's executive officer, said Monday during the group's bittersweet homecoming. "That's probably the number-one thing Marines deal with - I can't let my buddies down."

Seeing fellow troops killed or wounded and coping with their loss isn't easy, Dixon said. But the group got through it - fighting in their memory and continuing to support one another, he noted.

As the battalion's second in command, Dixon went into the hospitals where troops recuperated from wounds. There he observed an awe-inspiring sense of optimism, he said.

"I actually got more from them than they did from me," said Dixon, a native of Bellefonte, Pa. "They kept asking, 'When can I come back?'"

In Iraq, the 2/2 helped train police officers and members of the former Civil Defense Corps - now called the Iraqi National Guard. By bolstering security, U.S. officials hope the volatile nation can begin developing its economy, infrastructure and social programs.

"Imagine rolling into Jacksonville and having to rebuild the city so businesses can grow and schools can operate freely," Dixon said.

The 2/2 - replaced by 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, a reserve unit from New York now on its second trip to Iraq since 9/11 - answered to a reinforced version of the West Coast's 1st Marine Regiment. They fought in Fallujah and elsewhere as needed.

"We moved the entire battalion five separate times," Dixon said.

"Our logistics (guys) were amazing to move for four days and then go into the attack when (they) got there. It's not a linear fight anymore."

Gunnery Sgt. John Schidlmeier, 34, of Mobile, Ala., is the battalion logistics chief. It was his job to transport supplies to the "line companies" - Echo, Fox, Golf and Weapons companies - scattered throughout the region.

"MREs, water, ammo - any supplies that battalion or company needed," Schidlmeier said. "We'd put a security element on it and move out."

Schidlmeier, a rear gunner, was positioned in a Humvee turret with a MK-19 automatic grenade launcher.

He's a machine gunner by trade who moved to the unit's logistics section before it deployed.

While Schidlmeier was based at an old chicken-processing plant, other troops stayed in hardened tents with wooden frames on the inside, hexagon-shaped barriers filled with earth on the outside, and sand bags across the roof.

Each convoy leaving from these forward operating bases encounters its own dangers.

And every Marine has his or her own way of handling them.

"You need to be on your toes every minute," Schidlmeier said. "Right when you roll out the gate, your stomach gets tight."

Overall, there were successes during the last seven months, Dixon said.

There are Iraqis loyal to their country - there are people encouraged by the prospect of self-rule, he said.

"(The Iraqis) stood Â… shoulder to shoulder with us," said Dixon.

Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.

http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=26171&Section=News

Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 10:26 AM
Atlanta Journal and Constitution
October 5, 2004

Suit Seeks Military Coffin Photos


By George Edmonson

Washington -- A lawsuit filed Monday seeks to force the Pentagon to release photographs and videotape of coffins of service members killed overseas and brought back to the United States.

The suit, filed in federal district court in Washington, is based on the Freedom of Information Act, not the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press, said Meredith Fuchs, general counsel of the National Security Archives and one of the lawyers involved in the suit filed by a journalism instructor.

"These are the kind of documents that directly serve the core purpose of FOIA. . . . Everyone says a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, the pictures have an impact and help people understand what war is really about in a way that nothing else does," Fuchs said.

The Pentagon says it's a long-standing policy to withhold such images and limit access to the Dover, Del., Air Force base that serves as the East Coast military mortuary. It says the reason is to protect grieving families' privacy.

Earlier this year, a furor erupted when the Air Force provided an Arizona Web site operator with 361 photos in response to his FOIA request. Those photos of ceremonies and flag-draped coffins were subsequently published in newspapers and shown on television. Officials called that a mistake and have made no further releases.

Ralph Begleiter, a journalism instructor at the University of Delaware and former CNN correspondent, said he was motivated to seek the images after discussions in a class he taught last spring on global media and international politics. "I think the public has a right -- and maybe even a responsibility -- to be aware of them," Begleiter said.

"Because the impact of war images on the public can affect any decision by United States officials to engage our military in combat, the public's reaction to photographs such as those taken at the Dover AFB mortuary has been called 'the Dover Test,' " the court filing states.


Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 11:32 AM
Issue Date: October 04, 2004

Too much work, too few troops, new study finds
But Rumsfeld insists answer lies in efficiency, not increase

By Vince Crawley
Times staff writer


The military doesn’t have enough people for its missions, according to an independent study commissioned by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But Rumsfeld said he won’t immediately act on the panel’s recommendations.
As violence grows in Iraq, Rumsfeld also took exception to suggestions that he and other U.S. officials are portraying the troubled country in an overly positive light.

“You can’t think it’s a rosy picture when you see people killed,” Rumsfeld told Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in a Sept. 23 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Kennedy noted that 900 Americans were killed or wounded in August and that a poll highlighted by the CIA in a recent classified briefing showed that 90 percent of Iraqis think of the Americans as occupiers and that half believe the insurgents who target Americans are trying to liberate the country.

The Iraq campaign “seems to be closer to ‘mission impossible’ than ‘mission accomplished,’” said Kennedy, echoing the slogan that accompanied President Bush’s May 2003 declaration of an end to “major combat” in Iraq.

During the hearing, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who has strongly endorsed manpower hikes for the Army and Marine Corps, disclosed that Rumsfeld recently asked the Defense Science Board to study long-term troop levels.

According to Reed, that advisory panel concluded the Pentagon has “inadequate total numbers of troops and lack of long-term endurance.”

Reed said he found it “puzzling” that Rumsfeld has not supported the study’s recommendation to increase troops.

“I think we’re running off a cliff,” said Reed, a former Army officer. With increasing provocations by North Korea and Iran, he said, “We have put ourselves in a strategic position where we might not be able to respond to obvious threats.”

Rumsfeld said he took the DSB study seriously enough that he had it briefed to the Joint Chiefs and combatant commanders. But he also said he supports only the current, temporary increase of 30,000 soldiers to the Army.

He said he’s certain more efficiencies can be squeezed out of the force without a large, permanent manpower increase.

The various operations in the U.S. Central Command region, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar and the Horn of Africa operation in Djibouti account for about 250,000 troops, Rumsfeld said. Yet the U.S. military, including active-duty members and reservists, is 10 times that number, 2.5 million.

“We’ve got a lot of people that are not being used,” he said.

But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., quoted a colonel from the Army’s Germany-based 1st Armored Division, who spoke of being deployed so long he didn’t recognize his youngest daughter in a welcome-home crowd.

McCain said the colonel spoke of a “threshold before which people will say, ‘I just can’t give any more.’”

Rumsfeld did not rule out sending more U.S. troops to Iraq for the elections scheduled at the end of January, but he said such a move would be only at the request of Army Gen. John Abizaid, Central Command chief. Abizaid and Rumsfeld briefed lawmakers Sept. 22 in a closed-door session.

For now, Rumsfeld said, Abizaid is prepared to rely on growing numbers of trained Iraqi security forces to maintain order for the elections.

A classified CIA briefing shown this summer to Bush described three likely outcomes for the Iraq mission, with the worst-case scenario being civil war and the best case a level of violence comparable to today.

Rumsfeld acknowledged that insurgents seek to undermine Iraqi public confidence in a democratic government, so gloomy polling assessments would boost their case.

But, he said, even imperfect elections in January would be better than no elections at all. Much of the country is stable, but many observers have warned that some cities in Iraq will be too violent to hold credible elections and insurgents might specifically target voting sites.

If elections are only possible in three-quarters or four-fifths of Iraq because of high levels of violence, “so be it,” Rumsfeld said. “Is it better than not having an election?”

He characterized the struggle as one between those trying to create democracy and those “who chop off people’s heads.”

“The kind of system they want in this country and for this world is not the kind of system anyone in their right mind would want achieved,” Rumsfeld said.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the situation in Iraq “is far from encouraging and appears to be worsening.”

Soldiers and Marines are dying at a rate of two a day, he noted, and “casualties among Iraqis are being numbered in the scores.”

Levin quoted a 1998 book co-written by former President Bush and his national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft. In the book “A World Transformed,” they discussed their reasoning for not marching to Baghdad at the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

“To occupy Iraq,” they wrote, “would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us. … It would have taken us way beyond the imprimatur of international law” and would have pitted U.S. troops in an “urban guerrilla war” and “plunge that part of the world into even greater instability and destroy the credibility we were working so hard to re-establish.”

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-370918.php


Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 01:13 PM
American troops and insurgents clash in Ramadi after two car bombings




By Fisnik Abrashi
ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:38 a.m. October 5, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Two car bombs exploded in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi on Tuesday, killing four Iraqis and prompting clashes between U.S. troops and gunmen. In the northern city of Mosul, another vehicle bomb went off, wounding four Americans.

Also in Mosul, three decapitated bodies – two Iraqis and an unidentified corpse – have been found in and around the city, a coroner said, the latest in a grisly campaign of beheadings by militants who have been snatching foreigners and Iraqis accused of helping the United States.


U.S. warplanes pounded the vast Baghdad slum of Sadr City overnight after an American patrol came under gunfire, the military said Tuesday. Hospital officials said at least one Iraqi was killed in the violence in the district, a stronghold for Shiite militiamen.

Near Baghdad, one soldier from the U.S. Army's 13th Corps Support Command was killed Monday night and two were injured when their convoy hit a homemade bomb, the military said. As of Monday, 1,058 members of the U.S. military have died since the start of the war in March 2003, according to the Pentagon.

Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, is one of the Sunni Triangle cities where U.S. and Iraqi commanders are considering launching a new push to clear out insurgents ahead of key January elections.

Intensifying violence – including near-daily car bombs and persistent abductions – and the insurgents' dominance in several cities have raised concerns over the vote. Iraqi and U.S. leaders insist they will be held on schedule, though some officials have said voting may not be possible in the most violence-torn areas, which are largely Sunni Muslim.

A powerful group of Sunni Muslim clerics on Tuesday warned against leaving out parts of the country, saying it would undermine the vote and be tantamount to fragmenting Iraq.

"This could be a bad omen for the unity of the country because this means that (the excluded areas) would be separated from the rest of Iraq," said Mohammed Bashar al-Faidhi, a spokesman for the Association of Muslim Clerics.

In Ramadi on Tuesday, a booby-trapped car exploded near the city's Grand Mosque as a U.S. military convoy passed. Four Iraqis inside a car near the explosion were killed and two bystanders were wounded, said Dr. Dia'a al-Haity, a doctor at Ramadi General Hospital.

Witnesses said a wounded U.S. soldier was seen being carried away by his colleagues after the blast, which punched a crater into the ground and mangled a nearby vehicle. The U.S. military said it had no informatin on the incident.

Earlier Tuesday, another car bomb exploded in another part of the city, sparking a gunbattle between U.S. forces and gunmen. Al-Haiti said two Iraqis were killed and four wounded in the fighting.

Ramadi is frequently the scene of clashes. On Monday, U.S. Marines spotted militants planting a roadside bomb and in the ensuing gunbattle two insurgents were killed and a third wounded, said Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert.

He said a woman and a child were wounded in an exchange of fire between the insurgents and the Marines. "It is unclear at this time how their injuries occurred," Gilbert said.

Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has seen increased rebel attacks in recent weeks, with frequent car bombings. Previously, the city and its surroundings weres among the more peaceful regions in the country.

A car bomb in the city Tuesdasy targeted a U.S. convoy, wounding four American soldiers, the U.S. military said.

U.S. troops opened fire after the explosion, killing three Iraqis in a passing vehicle and wounding a number of others, said police 2nd Lt. Mohammed Ahmed.

Mohamed Qadir Youssef, a worker at the al-Jomhuria Hospital, said three people were killed and three others wounded.

Meanwhile, coroner Riyadh Mohammed of al-Jomhuria Hospital said three beheaded bodies have been found in and around the city in the past two days. Two were Iraqis, while the third was unidentified, he said.

Kidnappers have severed the heads of several foreign and Iraqi hostages in the past months – including three Americans. The pace of beheadings appears to be increasing recently.

Besides the bodies found in Mosul, the headless body of a police officer was discovered in the Kirkuk area north of Baghdad. Another headless corpse of a man was found of south of Baghdad with authorities initially saying he appeared to be of Western origin.

The comments by the Association of Muslim Scholars – which is seen as representing many in Iraq's Sunni minority – reflected that community's fears of being left out of elections that will pave the way to the creation of a new government.

"Such elections would be unfair because many people in some areas would not be able to vote and their opinions would be neglected. This would affect the credibility of the elections," he said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said late last month that residents who might not be able to vote in such areas in the January elections would be able to cast their ballots elsewhere. He did not elaborate.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told Congress last month that elections must be held throughout Iraq, including areas gripped by violence. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said if insurgents prevent voting in some areas, a partial balloting would be better than none.

Meanwhile, U.S. Marines have distributed $367,300 in condolence and damage repair payments in the holy city of Najaf since three weeks of fighting ended there in August, the military said.

The statement did not specify how many families have benefited from the payments.

U.S. and Iraqi troops fought for three weeks with followers of renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad. The clashes ended with a peace deal brokered by Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani.

"We are working hard to demonstrate goodwill to the people of Najaf who incurred losses during fighting in August," said Col. Anthony Haslam, commander of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Condolence payments are made to express sympathy to those who were injured or lost relatives in the fighting. Collateral damage payments are intended for those who suffered damage to their homes, businesses or other property.

While Najaf has calmed since the uprising, U.S. troops and al-Sadr militiamen have fought almost daily in Baghdad's Sadr City district, home to more than 2 million people.

Hospital officials in Sadr City said Tuesday that at least one person was killed in skirmishes overnight. Residents said they continued to hear loud explosions until dawn.

U.S. soldiers were fired on late Monday during a patrol in Sadr City, said Capt. Brian O'Malley, spokesman for the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division. They returned fire as U.S. AC-130 planes targeted insurgent machine gun crews on the ground, he said.

Abu Tar al-Kinani, the spokesman for the insurgents in Sadr City, said the overnight attack was a "liquidation operation" and an effort to keep al-Sadr's movement from taking part in elections.

On Monday, the former head of the U.S. occupation in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, said the United States did not have enough troops in Iraq after ousting Saddam Hussein and "paid a big price" for it.

Bremer said he arrived in Iraq on May 6, 2003, to find "horrid" looting and a very unstable situation.

"We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," Bremer told an insurance group in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. The group released a summary of his remarks in Washington.

"We never had enough troops on the ground," Bremer said. But he insisted he was "more convinced than ever that regime change was the right thing to do."

Rumsfeld said Monday he does not expect a civil war to erupt in Iraq, and pointed to the recent retaking of the former insurgent stronghold of Samarra as evidence of progress in stabilizing the country.

"I don't think it's going to happen," Rumsfeld said in New York at the Council on Foreign Relations, when asked about the threat of civil war. "But what has to be done in that country is what basically was done in Samarra over the last 48 hours."

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20041005-0638-iraq.html


Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 01:48 PM
U.S. Faces Complex Insurgency In Iraq
Associated Press
October 5, 2004


BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military is fighting the most complex guerrilla war in its history, with 140,000 American soldiers trained for conventional warfare flailing against a thicket of insurgent groups with competing aims and no supreme leader.

The three dozen or so guerrilla bands agree on little beyond forcing the Americans out of Iraq.

In other U.S. wars, the enemy was clear. In Vietnam, a visible leader - Ho Chi Minh - led a single army fighting to unify the country under socialism. But in Iraq, the disorganized insurgency has no single commander, no political wing and no dominant group.

U.S. troops can't settle on a single approach to fight groups whose goals and operations vary. And it's hard to sort combatants from civilians in a chaotic land where large parts of some communities support the insurgents and others are too afraid to risk their lives to help foreigners.

"It's more complex and challenging than any other insurgency the United States has fought," aid Bruce Hoffman, a RAND counterinsurgency expert who served as an adviser to the U.S.-led occupation administration.

Insurgents aren't striving for revolution as much as they are trying to spoil the U.S.-backed interim Iraqi regime by inflicting as much pain as possible on the United States and its Iraqi and foreign allies.

"We want every U.S. dog to leave the country," said an insurgent leader in Fallujah who identified himself as Abu Thar, a 45-year-old former colonel in the Iraqi army.

Beyond that, the estimated 20,000 insurgents have little in common, although groups have occasionally work together in temporary alliances of convenience. U.S. commanders describe the war as a "compound insurgency" sorted into four groups with different tactics and goals.

Three are made up of Sunni Muslims, almost all of whom are Iraqis. A fourth group is radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, formed of Shiite Muslims, Iraq's largest social grouping.

The largest insurgent bloc is composed of Iraqi nationalists fighting to reclaim secular power lost when Saddam Hussein was deposed in April 2003.

The second is a growing faction of hardcore fighters aligned with terrorist groups, mainly that led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The U.S. military believes they want to turn Iraq into an anti-Western stronghold that would export Islamic revolution to other countries in the region.

A third group consists of conservative Iraqis who want to install an Islamic theocracy, but who stay away from terror tactics like car bombings and the beheading of hostages.

The fourth, al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, seeks to make the cleric the nationwide Shiite leader.

Ordinary criminals also pitch in on attacks when they are paid. And gangsters who abduct people regularly sell their hostages to terror groups, which have beheaded some.

Hoffman and other independent experts feel the insurgents are succeeding, with death tolls spiraling and a guerrilla-induced climate of fear that has reduced the U.S.-led rebuilding effort to a shambles.

Abu Thar, the former colonel who was interviewed by an Iraqi reporter for The Associated Press inside insurgent-held Fallujah, gloated over his compatriots' successes, saying U.S. leaders were publicly contradicting each other about the state of the war. He also said U.S. counterattacks that kill women and children are turning public opinion in the militants' favor.

"We see the conflicting statements by the U.S. administration on Iraq as another sign of their defeat," Abu Thar said. "More volunteers are coming to us because they are fed up with the humiliation and the misdeeds of the Americans. They feel it is a national and religious duty."

Public opinion is the war's central front and it is tilting against the Americans, said James Dobbins, a former Bush administration envoy to Afghanistan and now a military analyst for RAND Corp.

"If we can't protect the population, we can't secure its trust and support," Dobbins said. "If we or the Iraqi government lose that, we ultimately lose the war."

U.S. military officers concede the situation is tough, but they say the intensity of the conflict could be much worse. And they argue that insurgents also alienate Iraqis with indiscriminate attacks - such as the car bombings Thursday in Baghdad that killed 35 children and nine adults.

Commanders say U.S. strategy focuses on boosting Iraqi government control while fighting only the most necessary battles.

"History is replete with insurgencies that failed," one general said privately during a discussion of Iraq.

History is also replete with insurgencies that triumphed. Vietnamese guerrillas ousted the United States in 1973. Afghan militias similarly embarrassed the Soviet Union in 1989.

If Iraqi insurgents succeed in toppling the U.S.-backed government, analysts believe the stark differences in the groups' goals could lead to a civil war that might break Iraq into rival fiefs.

Bad decisions by the U.S.-led occupation administration are widely blamed for stoking the war. Those cited most often are the disbanding of the Iraqi army and the banning of Saddam's political leaders from public life, both of which are said to have converted potential allies into enemies.

Independent analysts say 16 months of escalating warfare by U.S. troops with little practical experience in fighting insurgents have made clear the difficulty of defeating militants who mount attacks while hiding and moving among civilians.

The analysts say the most promising chance for victory lies in U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces. U.S. and Iraqi troops reclaimed the city of Samarra from insurgents over the weekend, but it's unclear how much fighting was done by the Iraqis.

"The United States can buy the Iraqi government time to get organized, but the U.S. has become too unpopular and lost too much support among the population to be able to itself win a counterinsurgency campaign," Dobbins said.

The U.S. military has few homegrown models for counterinsurgency success. Its last two major campaigns - in Somalia in 1993 and in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s - failed.

Both times, a tenacious enemy fought hard enough to force U.S. troops from its soil. No one has said Iraqi insurgents are as tough as the Communist Viet Cong, and the United States had little incentive to stay in Somalia once militias made things difficult.

"Vietnam was not easy, but it was certainly far less complex and more straightforward," Hoffman said.

If the insurgents are unorganized and unfocused, their tactics are classic. Guerrilla wars often feature car bombings, assassinations and abductions in the early stages, said Richard K. Betts, director of the Institute for War and Peace Studies at Columbia University.

As the militants gain strength, they progress to fielding combat troops, Betts said. In Iraq, large formations of Iraqi insurgents have met with mixed success. U.S. commanders claim their troops killed more than 4,000 al-Sadr fighters in April and August. But Sunni fighters in Fallujah and other cities have mounted daring attacks and melted away with few killed.


Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 02:15 PM
White House Silent on Bremer Troop Request

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The White House refused to say Tuesday whether the top U.S. civilian official in Iraq (news - web sites) after Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s ouster had asked the president for more troops to deal with the rapid descent of postwar Iraq into chaos.


In remarks published Tuesday, the official, L. Paul Bremer, said he arrived in Iraq on May 6, 2003 to find "horrid" looting and a very unstable situation — throwing new fuel onto the presidential campaign issue of whether the United States had sufficiently planned for the post-war situation in Iraq.


"We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," Bremer said during an address to an insurance group in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. The group released a summary of his remarks in Washington.


"We never had enough troops on the ground," Bremer said, while insisting that he was "more convinced than ever that regime change was the right thing to do."


White House spokesman Scott McClellan refused to say whether Bremer had pleaded with Bush for more troops. "We never get into reading out all the conversations they had," McClellan said.


Later, in an unusual public acknowledgment of internal dissent, the Bush campaign said that Bremer and the military brass had clashed on troop levels.


"Ambassador Bremer differed with the commanders in the field," said campaign spokesman Brian Jones. "That is his right, but the president has always said that he will listen to his commanders on the ground and give them the support they need for victory."


Kerry said Tuesday that Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) should acknowledge mistakes made in Iraq, pointing to remarks by Bremer that more troops had been needed in the aftermath of war.


"I hope tonight Mr. Cheney can acknowledge those mistakes," the Democratic presidential candidate said, referring to the debate between the vice president and Kerry's running mate Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites), D-N.C. "I hope Mr. Cheney can take responsibility."


Kerry said there was a "long list of mistakes" that the Bush administration had made in Iraq.


"I'm glad that Paul Bremer has finally admitted at least two of them, and the president of the United States needs to tell the truth to the American people," Kerry said. The other mistake, Kerry said, was a failure to contain postwar mayhem and violence.


In a statement Monday night to The Washington Post, Bremer said he fully supported the Bush administration's strategy in Iraq.


"I believe that we currently have sufficient troop levels in Iraq," he said in the e-mailed statement, according to Tuesday's edition of the Post. He said references to troops levels related to the situation when he first arrived in Baghdad "when I believed we needed either more coalition troops or Iraqi security forces to address the looting."


Bremer addressed the Insurance Leadership Forum, at The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. Portions of the speech were made available Monday night through a press release from the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers.


In an earlier speech Sept. 17 at DePauw University, Bremer said he frequently raised the issue of too few troops within the Bush administration and "should have been even more insistent" when his advice was rejected. "The single most important change — the one thing that would have improved the situation — would have been having more troops in Iraq at the beginning and throughout" the occupation, Bremer said, according to the Banner-Graphic in Greencastle, Ind.


The final report by the American weapons inspector in Iraq — Charles Duelfer — will come out this week. In drafts, Duelfer found that Saddam did not have stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but left signs that he had idle programs he someday hoped to revive.


Even before the final report was issued, McClellan said it bolstered the White House's contentions on Iraq.





The report will assert "that Saddam Hussein had the intent and the capability, that he was pursuing an aggressive strategy to bring down the sanctions, the international sanctions imposed by the United Nations (news - web sites) through illegal financing procurement schemes," McClellan said. "That's something that's very revealing."

"The fact that he had the intent and capability" to build weapons of mass destruction, and that he was "trying to undermine the sanctions that were in place is very disturbing, and I think the report will continue to show that he was a gathering threat that needed to be taken seriously, that it was a matter of time before he was going to begin pursuing those weapons of mass destruction," McClellan said.

McClellan ticked off a litany of what he said were links between Iraq and al-Qaida. Both were "sworn enemies of the free world, including the United States"; both "celebrated the Sept. 11 attacks on America," he said.

"There are clearly ties between Saddam Hussein's regime and al-Qaida," McClellan said. "There (were) clearly some disturbing similarities that existed as well."

"We know there were senior-level contacts between the regime and al-Qaida — the 9/11 commission documented that," McClellan said.

In fact, the 9/11 report said that while there were "friendly contacts" between Iraq and al-Qaida and a common hatred of the United States, none of these contacts "ever developed into a collaborative relationship."

Indeed, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in a speech Monday that he knew of no clear link between the al-Qaida terror network and Saddam Hussein, although he later backed off the statement and said he was misunderstood.

Asked to describe the connection between the Iraqi leader and the al-Qaida terror network at an appearance Monday at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pentagon (news - web sites) chief first refused to answer, then said: "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two."

Several hours after his appearance, Rumsfeld issued a statement from the Pentagon saying his comment "regrettably was misunderstood" by some. He said he has said since September 2002 that there were ties between Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s terror group and Iraq.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=2&u=/ap/20041005/ap_on_re_us/bremer_iraq_8


Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 03:34 PM
In their grief, Long Island mothers are united by sons' war deaths

By PAT MILTON
Associated Press Writer

October 4, 2004, 7:08 PM EDT


BRENTWOOD, N.Y. -- The three young men grew up in the same close-knit community, attended the same high school and then became fighters in the war on terrorism. Their deaths, within a 14-month span, have united their families in grief.

The most recent to die was Lance Cpl. Ramon Mateo, 20, a 2002 graduate of Brentwood High School killed in a roadside bombing in Iraq on Sept. 24.

On Monday _ as several hundred family members, friends and fellow Marines gathered for Mateo's funeral _ his mother, Luz Rivera, got support from two mothers still grieving the losses of their own sons.

"We are holding each other up and getting each other through each day," said Cathy Heighter, whose 21-year-old son, Army Cpl. Raheen Heighter, was killed in an ambush in Iraq in July 2003.

Dawn Esposito, whose 22-year-old son, Army Sgt. Michael Esposito Jr., died in Afghanistan in March, said that "only another mother's heart knows what she's going through."

She said she told Rivera that she was not alone. "I said, `I will be there for you, 24-7,"' said Esposito, 46, a hospital nurse.

But in St. Luke's Catholic Church on Monday, Rivera looked numb, sitting in the front pew with her husband, Miguel Rivera, and Concetta Mateo, 19, Ramon's wife and childhood sweetheart. Her son's coffin rested at the foot of the altar.

Luz Rivera, 45, an aide at a nursing home, said earlier that she was thankful for the support she has received from family, friends, the Marine Corps and the other mothers.

"Nothing can fill the void," she said on Sunday night, following her son's wake. "I am proud of my son as a young man and as a United States Marine who served our country."

She added, "My son is at peace now."

Brentwood, about 50 miles from Manhattan, is a hamlet of working-class people: landscapers, car washers, school bus drivers, factory workers.

Msgr. Thomas Molloy, pastor of St. Luke's and an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel who recently ministered to wounded GI's in Germany, said that 90 percent of the parish is Hispanic _ immigrants from Peru, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

"Many of the young people, boys and girls, go into the military for the educational opportunities and to speed up citizenship," Molloy said, watching a line on the church steps of about 30 cadets from Brentwood high's junior ROTC, where Mateo also served.

For Heighter, Monday marked her third funeral. After enduring that of her own son last year, the 46-year-old beautician went to show support and to comfort her friends.

She said she felt anger and sadness as she drove to Monday's service.

"This is the face of our country now," said Heighter, speaking outside the church while holding a miniature American flag. "This is the face of the minority community."

Ricardo Johnson, a relative of Mateo's who also lives in Brentwood, is a school bus driver. His son is serving in the U.S. Navy in Iraq.

"This place is the salt of the earth," said Johnson. "Here's a boy who loved his country and tried to better himself."

"The whole community feels hurt," Johnson said. "He was so close to home (and family). He told me: `I'll be back."'

Following the church service, Mateo was buried at Calverton National Cemetery with full military honors, including a 21-gun salute and a U.S. Marine Corps honor guard. Concetta Mateo, a student at Suffolk Community College, was presented with her husband's purple heart and the American flag that draped his coffin.


Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--mothersmourn1004oct04,0,6267568.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 04:45 PM
New Team Arrives to Help With Recruitment
By Spc. Al Barrus, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 4, 2004 -- While Iraqi police applicants lined up outside Camp Hawk for screening Oct. 3, the newly deployed soldiers of the 414th Civil Affairs Battalion from Utica, N.Y., got the chance to experience their area of operations and learn more about the people of Baghdad.

Since the 425th Civil Affairs Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, will be heading home soon, they are integrating the 414th into civil military operations. The 414th has been in country for two weeks, and this event gave them the opportunity to get familiar with working with the Iraqi people.

"This is an outstanding mission for us to be doing with the new [CA] team," said Capt. Marc Chung, a 425th team leader. "We have already taken them on some patrols to see some projects, but this is what it's all about: working with the Iraqi people and working with the [neighborhood councils]."

When the teams arrived at the recruitment area, the veteran team set up stations and showed the newcomers the ropes. "You can see right now a lot of my guys are hanging back," Chung said. "We have the new guys ... learning their part at the processing stations and have them taking over."

As the new soldiers gained some know-how of the event and environment, hopeful Iraqi men stood in line waiting to take tests in order to be accepted into Iraqi police basic training.

"All the men here have been given a recommendation by their [neighborhood councils], which shows they have been somewhat screened for fitness and literacy," said 425th Spc. Justin Cardoza. "Here we have them take the [physical training] test consisting of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and 100- meter dash."

The next station would test Arabic literacy, then they would be given a physical exam and urinalysis, Cardoza said. The final step is a background screening, after which they are given a letter of acceptance and orders to report back to Camp Hawk.

It was a tough time for many of the applicants. During these recruitments, only about 40 percent pass to go on to police school in Jordan. For those who fail, it's another day they go without work. But for some, becoming an Iraqi policeman is more than just a job.

"I have always wanted to serve my country and protect my family and fellow Iraqis from the terrorists that threaten us everyday," said Husam Hamadi, a graduate of Baghdad University. "I think serving in the Iraqi police as an officer is the best way for me to do this."

It's citizens like these that give the 414th's soldiers the motivation to help make a better life for the people in Baghdad, Chung said. "It's not only important for the 414th to take over, but to also make improvements over time in not only events like these, but the civil affairs mission as a whole."

Chung said they do not want to have to turn away Iraqis who want to help protect their country. "If the applicants do get rejected for any reason, we would like to have contractors standing by with jobs available," Chung said.

"It's something that just helps get them into the system, and we don't have to turn patriotic Iraqi people away. That's something I would like to do, but since we are leaving soon, the 414th can cover down on it."

Because of the standard set by the 425th, it will be a difficult task, said Staff Sgt. Patrick Cummings, a 414th team sergeant. On the other hand, he said he feels that his team is well-trained for the streets of Baghdad. "Most all of my team has already done a deployment in Afghanistan," he said.

"We know that Iraq is a whole different place, but I think we have enough ground lain down so we can be situationally aware in our new sector. We just hope we can live up to the bar that our predecessors have set in [civil military operations]. They have done an outstanding job here with the projects going on, and Captain Chung is giving us advice to keep raising that bar."

Cummings admits that it will be a rigorous mission, especially with a new battalion taking over their sector. The changeover will require his team to pass on civil affairs knowledge to a new battalion, but his team is confident.

"We aren't going to try and set the world on fire," Cummings said. "We're just going to try and keep reliable and consistent CMO throughout the sector."

(Army Spc. Al Barrus is assigned to the 122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2004/n10042004_2004100403.html


Ellie

thedrifter
10-05-04, 06:25 PM
October 05, 2004

Major counterinsurgency operation begins in central Iraq

Associated Press


BAGHDAD, Iraq — More than 3,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops launched an operation in the southern approaches to Baghdad on Tuesday, seizing a suspected insurgent training camp and capturing more than 160 alleged rebels, the U.S. military command said.
The force also took control of a bridge across the Euphrates River believed to be a favored corridor for insurgents moving into and out of key cities, including Baghdad and the Sunni rebel stronghold of Fallujah, a command release said.

The operation involved the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as well as U.S. and Iraqi army troops and members of the Iraqi National Guard.

The release did not report any casualties taken or inflicted.

The mission, the release said, was to “assist Iraqi authorities in fostering security and stability for the nearly 900,000 citizens of the province” of Babil, located just south of the Iraqi capital.

The force punched west across the Euphrates in pursuit of insurgents, discovering numerous weapons caches and destroying 35,000 pounds of explosives.

The operation follows this weekend’s capture of the rebel stronghold of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, by a joint U.S.-Iraqi force.



http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-389085.php


Ellie