1st Radio Battalion trains, supports WTI

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1st Radio Battalion trains, supports WTI <br />
Submitted by: MCAS Yuma <br />
Story Identification #: 2004101517341 <br />
Story by Cpl. Michael Nease <br />
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Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz. (Oct. 14, 2004) -- A...

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4th LAAD Battalion hosts ranges in Iraqi Desert
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 2004101216135
Story by Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri



AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 4, 2004) -- The Marine Corps has always placed a high importance on the training of their troops.

Especially while in a war-zone, a high standard of excellence is required of the Marines in every aspect of operations.

In order to meet these requirements, it’s imperative that there are proper facilities to conduct the various types of training necessary to get the job done.

With numerous units based on Al Asad, the need arose for adequate training areas. The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing has taken responsibility for controlling and maintaining the weapons ranges for all the units aboard Al Asad.

Run by the Marines of 4th Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Security Battalion, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd MAW, Range Operations and Training has a large area of operations with combat courses that encompass a wide variety of training.

Covering everything from small arms to full-scale bombs, range control Marines ensure that the training is conducted safely and efficiently.

“We do a lot of training out here,” said 45-year-old Yorba Linda, Calif., native Master Gunnery Sgt. Ronnie M. Mejia, operations chief, Range Operations and Training. “Since taking over September 1, we’ve trained almost 5,000 Marines.”

According to Mejia, running the weapons ranges requires a lot more than scheduling times and organizing units.

“We give safety briefs for the ranges we run, place targets, and clean up the ranges,” he said. “We give classes about all factors of weapons and combat.”

Nicknamed “Angles of Death,” the range control Marines have full confidence in their abilities to do their job.

“We’re good at what we do,” said 26-year-old Chicago native Sgt. Jesus E. Villegas, LAAD gunner, Range Operations and Training. “We’re always on time and always motivated.”

Having available over a dozen mission-specific ranges for weapons such as pistols, rifles, heavy machine guns, various rocket launchers, grenades and artillery gives the range control Marines enough work to keep them busy.

“We also try to give (units) as much time as necessary so they can prepare for their missions,” said Mejia. “They have priority.”

Along with organizing the ranges for the units on base, Range Operations and Training also host ranges or the Iraqi Police force and border patrol.

“We’re training the Iraqi boarder patrol how to do fire their weapons, do squad rushes, and engage targets on the move,” said 23-year-old Eric, Penn., native Sgt. Heath A. Fernald, instructor, 2nd Amphibious Assault Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, during a recent training session held at the fire and maneuver range here.

Also located on base is a range used specifically for grenade training. The Marines run through a course with various barriers and throw grenades while their fellow Marines give cover fire with live ammunition.

With all of these tasks, it’s often that the range control personnel don’t get a chance to participate in the training themselves.

“We’re always conducting training for other units,” said 23-year-old Burlington, Wash., native, Sgt. Richard L. Swihart III, LAAD gunner, Range Operations and Training. “As a result, we hardly ever get a chance to do any training.”

“Our mission is support the other units on base,” added Swihart. “Our personal training comes second.”

However that doesn’t mean that they don’t train at all. Occasionally the range control Marines occasionally get the opportunity to mix business with pleasure by participating in the range shoots they conduct.

“Every once in a while we’ll go out and shoot weapons with another unit,” said Villegas. “Firing a machine gun and throwing grenades is pretty motivating.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20041012163327/$file/041002-M-2789C-043-RangeLR.jpg

Marines from Regimental Combat Team 7, 1st Marine Division, conduct live-fire and grenade training at one of the multiple weapons ranges at Al Asad, Iraq, Oct. 02. The ranges aboard the air base are controlled and maintained by the Marines of 4th Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Photo by: Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200410121720/$file/041002-M-2789C-029-RangeLR.jpg

Sgt. Henock S. Hall, low-altitude air defense gunner, 4th LAAD Battalion, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and 25-year-old Pasadena, Calif., native tosses a grenade at a range aboard Al Asad, Iraq, Oct. 02. The ranges aboard the air base are controlled and maintained by the 4th LAAD Bn. Marines, who provide support for units utilizing weapons ranging from small-arms to rockets. Photo by: Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/51E5EF8465B1E96C85256F2B006E024B?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

3rd MAW reservists keep perimeter safe at Al Asad
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 200410148147
Story by Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri



AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 6, 2004) -- Driving through miles of seemingly endless desert, many hours have passed and exhaustion has begun to set in.

At one of the largest military installations in Iraq, patrolling around the perimeter of the air base here is no easy task, yet the Marines safeguarding its boundaries remain constantly watchful and take their job seriously.

In a combined effort, reservists from Company P, 5th Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, based in Spokane, Wash., have been joined with 4th Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Security Battalion, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, to accomplish the mission of protecting Al Asad.

With a constant threat from anti-Iraqi forces, Marines here conduct non-stop patrols that cover a wide radius in every direction around the outskirts of base.

"Doing a patrol around base keeps a buffer between us and the enemy," said Guiana, South America, native Staff Sgt. Leon C. Pilgrim, platoon sergeant, Company B, 4th LAAD Bn. "The further we can keep them from the base, the safer we are."

Performing patrols day and night, each Marine on the patrol is required to be extremely observant of their surroundings.

"The most important thing I tell my Marines before each patrol is to stay alert," said Pilgrim. "You never know what's going on out there, so you have to be prepared for anything."

Marines conducting vehicle patrols or standing guard duty often have to combat the unseen adversary of complacency, caused by the monotony occasionally encountered during missions.

"Not seeing anything out there is almost worse than seeing something," said Pilgrim. "You can sometimes catch yourself becoming complacent, but you need to snap out of it. Just because there wasn't anything out there today doesn't mean there won't be tomorrow."

A policeman in Atlanta, Pilgrim has had a lot of experience in dealing with security.

"My job as a police officer translates to my security duties out here," said the 33-year-old. "When I have to conduct a search it comes like second nature."

A single patrol can last for hours, so the day before the patrol the Marines involved receive a full brief of the next day's events.

"Everyone shows up for the brief because it's so important," said 21-year-old Spokane, Wash., native, Cpl. Jeremy C. Greenfield, forward observer, Company P. "We get the who, what, where and why of the mission."

Normally functioning as an artillery unit, the reservists from Company P didn't quite expect to be conducting patrol missions here.

"When I first did a patrol I was a little nervous because I didn't know what to expect," said 21-year-old Greenfield. "Now I'm more familiar with what we're doing, and when I go out there, I'm never worried because we've all had the proper training."

Building and maintaining trust between the Marines in a unit has always been an important part of every mission and patrols are no exception.

"When I'm out there I'm confident in myself and the Marines next to me," said Greenfield. "As long as you relax and think about what you're doing, you'll be fine."

With such a large responsibility on their shoulders, it is imperative that the Marines of Company P maintain a vigilant and upbeat mindset.

"Marines can easily get stressed out here doing this job," said Curlaw, Wash., native, Lance Cpl. Haden E. Barkley, field artillery cannoneer, Company P. "The biggest challenge is staying focused and positive," finished the 21-year-old fulltime student at Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004101483224/$file/041006-M-2789C-004-PatrolLR.jpg

Reservists 22-year-old Douglasville, Ga., native Lance Cpl. Joshua N. Freeman (left), LAAD gunner, 4th Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Security Battalion, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and 24-year-old, Pasco, Wash., native Cpl. Jerry T. Zuetrong, field artillery cannoneer, Company P, 5th Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, stay on the alert during an external patrol around the perimeter of the air base at Al Asad, Iraq, Oct. 6. Now attached to 4th LAAD Bn, the Marines of Company P help conduct vehicle patrols to ensure the safety of the installation. Photo by: Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/A16B9664C77A1DE385256F2D00433620?opendocument

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Pass, Foe! <br />
<br />
Illegals clean the pentagon, drive trucks onto bases, and enlist with false documents <br />
<br />
By Dr. Martin Brass <br />
Soldier of Fortune Magazine <br />
<br />
In the first four parts of this series, we...

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Terrorists Or Sympathizers <br />
<br />
&quot;What if a foreign country decided to infiltrate our Army with a large number of its own agents? Did you know that China has an organization charged with this very...

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US Marines pound Fallujah

AP
Saturday, October 16, 2004



BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - US warplanes pounded the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Friday, a day after the city's leaders suspended peace talks and rejected the Iraqi government's demands to turn over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

US troops detained Fallujah's top negotiator in the peace talks, witnesses said. Khaled al-Jumeili, an Islamic cleric, was arrested he left a mosque after prayers on the first day of Ramadan in a village about 15 kilometres (10 miles) south of Fallujah, they said. There was no immediate US comment.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20041015T200000-0500_67707_OBS_US_MARINES_POUND_FALLUJAH.asp


Ellie

[thedrifter]

V Corps Training for Possible Return to Iraq

By Jon R. Anderson,
Stars and Stripes European Edition

HEIDELBERG, Germany — The Army headquarters that led the blitzkrieg invasion of Iraq and the first year of occupation duties there, launched initial field maneuvers this week in preparation to return to the war zone.

“We are operating on the assumption that some or all of us will be going back into the fight,” Col. Sean MacFarland, head of operations for the Germany-based V Corps, told Stars and Stripes.

Exactly when that will be, he said, remains to be seen. Officials are remaining tight-lipped on specific deployment plans.

But with the Army outfitted with only three active corps — the nucleus for the top field command units in Iraq — MacFarland said it’s only a matter of time.

The Fort Hood, Texas-based III Corps replaced V Corps in February and XVIII Airborne Corps, from Fort Bragg, N.C., is preparing to relieve III Corps early next year.

If the cycle of yearlong deployments repeats itself, that would put V Corps on its way to Iraq in early 2006. Army leaders, however, have expressed hope of reducing Iraq tours to six months. That could mean a turnaround back to Iraq for V Corps as early as the summer of 2005.

Regardless, MacFarland said, the corps could be ready to deploy as early as April.

In the meantime, there’s a lot of work to be done.

Victory Start

Involving more than 3,000 troops, the corps began Victory Start on Monday.

The exercise is designed as the first major building block in the reconstitution of the corps’ war-fighting skills since top staff and main support units returned from Baghdad.

Although troops have been setting up for the war games for the past two weeks, the exercise itself runs through Monday, split about 200 miles apart on opposite sides of central Germany. To the west, about 750 troops will work from the 1st Armored Division headquarters in Wiesbaden and 2,400 troops operate from the Army’s main training range in Grafenwöhr, to the east.

The separation will allow commanders to replicate the vast distances units most work across in Iraq.

“We’re taking a crawl, walk, run approach to this, and Victory Start is the crawl-to-walk phase,” said MacFarland.

“We’ll fire up all of our equipment and give the staff some scenarios to work through,” he said.

With about one-third of the staff new to the corps since it returned from Iraq in February, “this gives everyone an opportunity to work together for the first time and establish our battle rhythm.”

Deployment focus

With Victory Start under its belt, the corps staff will shift focus from training to the real-world oversight of pushing Europe-based units deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq. That will include, for example, training assistance for the Southern European Task Force, which is slated to take over command duties in Afghanistan.

“Then we’ll shift back to training ourselves in March,” said MacFarland.

In mid-March, the corps will return to the field for Victory Focus, for the “run level” of the corps’ train-up.

The weeklong exercise will be conducted mostly at Grafenwöhr and be run by the Army’s Battle Commadnd Training Program from Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The program’s staffs operate as a combination of evaluators and a free-thinking “opposing force” in simulations.

“We’ll be in good shape after Victory Focus,” said MacFarland. In terms of what comes next, however, “after that, it kind of gets a little murky, to be perfectly honest,” he added.

The corps has canceled its annual Victory Strike exercise in Poland.

Considered the pinnacle of the corps’ annual training plan, Victory Strike had been slated to run Aug. 15 to Sept. 15 next year.

“We really haven’t been able to shape that time frame very well, due to all the uncertainty,” said MacFarland.

Instead, whenever the corps does get its orders for deployment, the staff and support units will undergo a three-week Mission Rehearsal Exercise to certify the staff is good to go.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

2 Camp Pendleton Marines Die In Iraq

Officials at Camp Pendleton said 2nd Lt. Paul M. Felsberg, 27, of West Palm Beach, Fla., died after fighting in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Felsberg was a platoon commander assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton.

Felsberg joined the Marine Corps July 5, 1995. His personal awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.

Lance Cpl. Victor A. Gonzalez, 18, of Watsonville, Calif., also died Wednesday after fighting in Al Anbar Province, base officials said. Gonzalez was a rifleman assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton.

Gonzalez joined the Marine Corps Oct. 27, 2003. His personal awards include the National Defense Service Medal.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/militaryconnection/3823518/detail.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Joe Galloway: Lessons of the Iraq War's "Digital Divide"

WASHINGTON - A senior military official at U.S. Central Command told me last year that one of the main lessons learned in the Iraq war is that the next time the United States fights "we will need 10 percent of the troops and 10 times the bandwidth."

He may have been speaking figuratively and underestimating the number of troops that might be required next time, but he was not overestimating the need for bandwidth (the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time).

Technology Review, a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this week reported that a largely classified Rand Corp. study of new technology in the Iraq war found that front-line commanders in the shock-and-awe attack had about as much situational awareness of the battlefield as their grandfathers did in World War II.

Which is to say, not very much at all.

A senior Rand researcher said that what the unclassified part of the study discovered was that the new technologies - aimed at ramping up the power of a smaller, smarter military with advanced computer communications - didn't make it down to battalion and brigade commanders who were making the decisions on the battlefield.

The researcher said what we had was a "digital divide" between division and higher commanders who were totally plugged in and watching the war develop in real time on their blue screens while lower echelons were basically operating in the dark.

One battalion commander, Lt. Col. Ernest Marcone of the 69th Armor, 3rd Mech Division, told the magazine that he was sent to take over a key bridge south of Baghdad on April 2, 2003. He was told to expect one Iraqi brigade advancing against him out of Baghdad Airport. Instead he found himself fighting three Iraqi brigades coming at him from three different directions in the largest counter-attack of the war.

The heavily outnumbered Americans won but only because of better weapons, greater firepower and effective air support - not because the new technology gave them a clear picture of what was about to happen.

The Rand Corp. study reports that the delay in getting vital intelligence data to ground commanders was caused by long download times, software failures and lack of access to high-speed communications.

In fact, the Rand study reports, the enemy attacked three American military vehicles when they stopped to download data on enemy positions.

Higher commanders in Qatar and Kuwait were, if anything, too well plugged in. They were getting so much data from sensors that they couldn't process it all and, at times, had to stop accepting feeds. But when they tried to pass information to the front they found line-of-sight microwave relay systems virtually disabled.

Some who defend the idea that high tech has brought us a new future in warfare - small, agile forces striking swiftly with total situational awareness - argue that problems at the lower echelons were doctrinal, not technological. They say the networking of the Iraq war was incomplete because it was fatally grafted onto an old-fashioned command and control system. In other words, sensor information went up the chain of command where commanders interpreted it, made decisions and issued orders and then tried to pass the relevant data down the chain.

It would be better, they say, if information and decision-making in a war zone flowed horizontally as it did in Afghanistan in 2001 where special operations forces roamed the mountains in small groups, rooting out the Taliban and hunting al-Qaida. Teams and individuals were all linked to each other but no one person was in tactical command.

Curiously, the Army's highest-tech division, wired from one end to the other and fat with bandwidth, didn't make it into the original attack on Baghdad. The 4th Mech Division, the Army's testbed unit for the digitization of warfare, was left floating around in the Mediterranean when Turkey refused to permit passage into northern Iraq.

Once it was on the ground and in Iraq the 4th Division was light years ahead of other units precisely because of bandwidth. Units less well equipped were unable to access such vital information in the counter-insurgency phase of the war as interrogation reports on prisoners they had captured and sent back to centralized interrogation centers.

Maybe the real lesson in all this is if you are going to do high-tech warfare you better make sure the lieutenant colonel's tank can download the goodies and do e-mail on the fly before you wire the general's bunker in the rear.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Paratrooper Who Lost Leg in War Re-Enlists

By ESTES THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - George Perez lost his leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq (news - web sites) more than a year ago, but despite the phantom pains that haunt him, he says he is determined to prove to the Army that he is no less of a man — and no less of a soldier.



"I'm not ready to get out yet," he says. "I'm not going to let this little injury stop me from what I want to do."


Perez, 21, still feels the sweat between his toes when he exercises. He's still plagued with nagging cramps in his calf muscle. And sometimes, when he gets out of bed at night without thinking, he topples over.


He is one of at least four amputees from the 82nd Airborne Division to re-enlist. With a new carbon-fiber prosthetic leg, Perez intends to show a medical board he can run an eight-minute mile, jump out of airplanes and pass all the other paratrooper tests that will allow him to go with his regiment to Afghanistan (news - web sites) next year.


On Sept. 14, 2003, Perez, of Carteret, N.J., and seven other members of his squad were rumbling down a road outside Fallujah when a bomb blast rocked their Humvee. Perez recalls flying through the air and hitting the ground hard.


The blast killed one of Perez's comrades. Perez felt surprisingly little pain, but when he tried to get up, he couldn't. He saw that his left foot was folded backward onto his knee. His size 12 1/2 combat boot stood in the dusty road a few feet away, still laced.


A photograph of Perez's lonely boot transmitted around the world and spread across two pages of Time magazine became a stark reminder that the war in Iraq was far from over.


Doctors initially tried to save part of Perez's foot. But an infection crept up his leg, and Perez agreed to allow the amputation below the knee joint.


"I was going to stay in no matter what," he recalls telling the surgeons. "Do whatever would get me back fastest."


Perez was left with a rounded stump that fits into the suction cup of the black carbon-fiber prosthetic leg.


When he arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for his rehabilitation, Perez asked a pair of generals who visited his bedside if it was possible for him to stay in the Army.


"They told me, 'It's all up to you, how much you want it,'" he says. "If I could do everything like a regular soldier, I could stay in."


He wasted little time getting started. At one point, a visitor found him doing push-ups in bed. He trained himself to walk normally with his new leg, and then run with it.


Perez has to rise at least an hour earlier than his fellow soldiers to allow swelling from the previous day's training to subside enough for his stump to fit into the prosthetic.


But it is a comfort for Perez to know he's not alone.


At least three other paratroopers in the 82nd have lost limbs in combat during the past two years and re-enlisted. One of them, Staff Sgt. Daniel Metzdorf, lost his right leg above the knee in a Jan. 27 blast. He appealed three times before the fitness board allowed him to stay on.


"I think it's a testimony to today's professional Army," says division commander Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell. "I also think, deep down, it is a love for their other paratroopers."





In July, amputee program manager Chuck Scoville of Walter Reed told a congressional committee that amputations accounted for 2.4 percent of all wounded in action in the Iraq war — twice the rate in World Wars I and II.

Perez is one of about 160 service members who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan who have passed through Walter Reed's amputee patient program. The military says it does not track the number who choose to stay in the service.

"It isn't something that historically we've had to deal with a whole lot," says Lt. Col. Frank Christopher, the surgeon for the 82nd Airborne.

Today, Perez looks every bit the part of paratrooper — tall, in ripped-ab shape and serious-looking. His uniform is sharply creased, his maroon beret sits at an exact angle above one eye and the black leather boot on his good leg gleams with a mirror shine. The only thing that sets him apart at a glance is the white running shoe on his prosthetic leg.

Perez has to go before another medical fitness board to determine whether he will be allowed to jump again. He also must pass the fitness test for his age — run two miles in just under 16 minutes and do at least 42 push-ups and 53 sit-ups in two-minute stretches.

For now, he must content himself with a job maintaining M-16s and M-4s, machine guns and grenade launchers in his company's armory. But his dream is to attend the grueling Ranger school at Fort Benning, Ga., a serious challenge to even the most able-bodied soldier.

"I got a lot of things to do," he said. "I want to do as much as I can, as much as they'll let me."

___

Editor's Note: Associated Press reporter Allen G. Breed contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041017/ap_on_re_us/amputee_re_enlistment


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Webb City to welcome Marines back home

From staff reports

10/17/04
Print this story

WEBB CITY, Mo. - Four Webb City Marines just back from Iraq will be honored with a town parade today.

What: Welcome-back parade for local troops.

When: Starting at 3 p.m.

Where: The parade will begin at the intersection of Washington Street and Daugherty Street in Webb City, proceed to Main Street, and then turn up Main to Third Street.

The Marines with the 3rd Battalion 24th Marine 4th Division Weapons Company in Springfield are Lance Cpl. Adam Minard, Lance Cpl. Aaron Walker, Cpl. Chad Brooks and Cpl. Adam Bryant.

Their company has been stationed in Fallujah for the past seven months, and it probably hasn't been a picnic. That's why Bryant's mother, Shannon Diaz, decided the town should welcome them home with a parade.

"Webb City has always been real good about honoring our sports teams and others with parades," Diaz said. "I just thought we should do it for these boys, too."

Bryant is a machine gunner, Walker and Minard mortar men and Brooks a radio field wireman, according to Diaz. Each will ride in his own convertible at the head of the parade, and then watch the remainder of the parade pass by from a dais at the end of the route, Diaz said.

Webb City's junior-high and high-school band members and the Webb City Singers are slated to participate in the parade, along with students from Webb City High School's Reserve Officer Training Corps unit and the motorcycle group the Rolling Patriots. The Webb City fire and police departments and the Jasper County Sheriff's Department also will be represented.

Staff writer Jeff Lehr can be reached at 623-3480, ext. 7299, or jlehr@joplinglobe.com.



A taste of the grape for a good cause

There's no reason to feel guilty for spending part of an afternoon indulging in some good wines and tasty treats. And Cookie Monster would probably even give the event a thumbs-up.

Ozarks Public Television's 15th annual Wine Feast raises money to benefit the education and children's programming that has been available in the Joplin area since 1987. But the programs broadcast on OPT costs the Springfield station money, and the combination of a slow economy and an increase in programming costs have made it all the more important that the organization get financial support, said Norma Scott, regional support manager for OPT in Joplin.

Though Wine Feast features more than 70 different kinds of vino ripe for sampling, there's plenty to be had for those who don't drink. Almost 30 area restaurants will serve up dishes, piano music will entertain the crowd, and plenty of nonalcoholic beverages will be available. For those interested in paying a few dollars more, they can attend an event beginning at 12:30 p.m. where a chef will prepare appetizers to complement individual wines. Ticket holders can then take part in the rest of the day's festivities.

What: Ozarks Public Television's 15th annual Wine Feast.

When: Sunday, Oct, 24; early event begins at 12:30 p.m.; general event runs 2 to 4 p.m.

Where: Holiday Inn, 3615 S. Range Line Rd.

Cost: $60 for both events; $35 in advance for later event, $45 at the door.

Details: 782-2226.

Several prizes will be sold through a silent auction, including a plasma television and a rare 1986 bottle of Bordeaux. Tickets are available at the OPT office, all Community Bank and Trust locations, Show-Me Magazine and May's Drug Warehouse locations.

Staff writer Dena Sloan can be reached 623-3480, ext. 7263, or dsloan@joplinglobe.com.

Barton County Republicans dishing up a rally

LAMAR, Mo. - If you want to learn more about Missouri and Barton County candidates, or if you just want a free meal, then you might want to check out the Barton County Republican Committee's upcoming "Get Out and Vote" rally.

What: Republican Texas barbecue and rally.

When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Memorial Hall in Lamar.

Cost: Free.

Maxine Rader, chairwoman of the Barton County Republican Committee, said that the group tries to have a rally every two years but every four years near election time "we go all out."

Conservative songwriter Jeff Parnell from Rogersville, Ark., will be the entertainment. Local and state candidates will also be on hand.

The food will be roast beef, potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans and chocolate cake.

There will also be various door prizes, including a painting of elephants. Bush buttons will be handed out.

Staff writer Jeremiah Tucker can be reached at 623-3480, ext. 7297, or jtucker@joplinglobe.com.

http://joplinglobe.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=137359&c=87

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Troops Take a Gamble on Iraqi Dinars <br />
<br />
By Juliana Gittler, <br />
Stars and Stripes Mideast Edition <br />
<br />
BAGHDAD — In drawers and footlockers, servicemembers in Iraq are banking on the future by hoarding...

[thedrifter]

Marines' proximity to power plant adds danger <br />
<br />
BY RICK JERVIS <br />
<br />
Chicago Tribune <br />
<br />
<br />
ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq - (KRT) - The Musayyab Power Plant sits on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in this...

[thedrifter]

In Iraq military hospitals, all patients — friend and foe — are treated equally


By Ward Sanderson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, October 17, 2004


BAGHDAD — The light was the sad blue-green that all hospitals seem to have, and Capt. Batina Sundem smiled through it toward Mohammed.

Mohammed was wrapped in yellow plastic that kept his protruding intestines from drying out. Sundem seemed sunny despite the pallid light.

Chirpily, she asked Mohammed if he was her friend. He weakly shook his head no. Would he be her friend if she gave him water? Yes. That he would do.

Mohammed had blown a hole in his belly trying to build a bomb to kill U.S. soldiers.

“It went off in his face,” Sundem said. “It was really a bad day for him.”

This is normal for the nurses of Ibn Sina Hospital, once Saddam Hussein’s private center and now the Army’s busy facility in Baghdad. Caring for American troops and the insurgents with whom they fight drains nurses and twists their insides around like gauze.

They must treat all patients the same.

The most severely injured must be treated first, regardless of nationality. The nurses work 12 hours a day, six days a week. And some struggle with fears that time spent mending enemies might deplete energy they could use to heal their own soldiers.

Nurses who work exclusively with prisoners rotate to the GI ward after six months; it’s just too much. Nurses in the emergency room and intensive care unit see all patients before they’ve ever been sorted into bad guy or good.

Sundem tries to stabilize patients before they can go home, to prison or to another hospital. Sometimes she sends terminal soldiers back to Germany, and there they will die. But at least they will see their families one last time.

To cope with the insurgents behind that, Sundem focuses on the Golden Rule and on her husband, a Ranger deployed to the Middle East six times since Sept. 11, 2001. She hoped a nurse would take care of him were he ever captured.

She looked at Mohammed, the failed bomber. She said he, too, could be someone’s father, someone’s husband.

“I’ve been a nurse for 14 years, and I’ve never seen the devastation that I’ve seen here,” Sundem said. “It’s a downer. It’s literally man’s inhumanity to man. It’s war.”

Down the hall padded the small feet of another local. Dihar Aljazy, 5, struggled behind her walker. She moved slowly but she did not strain.

“You’re doing good,” Capt. Leslie Goodwin said, waving a floppy dolly in front of the girl.

Bandits shot Dihar in the back seven months ago.

“The doctors here, they made this little kid walk,” said her grandmother, Jammala, draped in black. “… You people are helping us a lot. You deserve more gratitude from our side. We haven’t seen help from anyone else. We wish you were here five, 10, 20 years ago.”

Nurse Goodwin has seen other sentiments.

Children have made bombs and acted as decoys for insurgents. In the hospital, “They seem so passive. And here you were, making a bomb.”

Ramadan is beginning, and the nurses are worried. Any special date could bring more bombs, more bullets, more business.

Maj. Patricia Born, acting head nurse in the emergency room, treats troops and locals just off the streets of urban warfare. When they arrive she doesn’t know who locals are and how they were hurt.

“I think it’s difficult because we see a lot of mortal injuries, and people who will be disabled, soldiers and Marines,” she said. “I didn’t know how I’d respond to seeing the person who shot them.”

Others are locals injured in the crossfire.

Some of the Iraqi injured who later turn out to be insurgents come in looking angry and hard. The eyes of the young, though, go wide with fear.

“They come as young as 9 years old,” said Born, who is 57 and a grandmother.

Other children may be members of Iraqi families who drove through military checkpoints and were shot by soldiers fearing suicide bombers.

On a busy day, emergency nurses must treat the queued injured in the hallway.

“Sometimes,” Born said, “it’s overwhelming.”

Though their mission is to treat everyone the same, feeling the same about everyone is not easy. If patients survive the ER they may see Spc. Steve Hodgkins, who works in intensive care. After a few moments, Hodgkins’ voice loses its clinical detachment and takes on an aching note of conflict over the cost of being so humane.

“When it comes to taking care of insurgents, bad guys, I think I’m part of the process that returns them to what doing whatever they were doing,” he said.

He’s heard stories of insurgents recovering, somehow being released, then winding up attacking troops again. Some bite, spit and throw containers of urine at nurses.

Other times, an insurgent does a 180, telling Hodgkins he now loves America, he can’t believe how well they treated him here, he’s so sorry.

Hodgkins, who often lowered his eyes as he spoke, nonetheless fears the following scenario: He spends several units of a type of blood trying to save an Iraqi who dies anyway. Then a GI comes in, needing 12 units of that same type. Only 10 remain.

This evokes Hodgkins’ memory of the shattered soldier who, after being bombed, needed not shrapnel removed from his arm, but shards of bone that were once his friend.

This can harden a man. Then Hodgkins will treat an Iraqi child who witnessed his parents machine-gunned to death, and he melts again. Or he remembers the thief shot while robbing a mosque, and how the thief was relieved to discover the object of surgery was to fix his wounded leg, not to cut off his hand.

These feelings clash. They don’t compute.

“I try not to think about it that much,” Hodgkins said, “because I’m a good nurse, and I will not compromise my humanity.”

Capt. Laura Ricardo, who wears hats from spokeswoman to clinic head nurse, said she could relate. She’s held a broken soldier’s hand and felt anger toward those who hurt him. Then she asked herself, what if I were born poor and in Baghdad? How would I behave? What would I believe?

“That person is just as important in God’s eyes,” Ricardo decided.

The nurses, though, are tired.

“You can’t go full-tilt, boogie-woogie, six days a week and not burn out,” Hodgkins said.

An officer agreed.

“Just about every day we were holding an American who was dying,” said 1st Lt. Jill Schroeder, sniffing as she remembered April, when the fighting was especially terrible.

Recently an insurgent complained that Schroeder hadn’t fanned him enough in the heat. She said she treats three or four Iraqis for every American.

“They shouldn’t be here,” she said of the locals. “They should go to the Iraqi hospital. Granted, it’s crap.”

Everyone wants to be treated by the Americans, she said. But after nearly a year here, the healers who treat insurgents like Mohammed, the failed bomber, may need healing themselves. The pain of the heart is less apparent than that of an opened belly, but it aches all the same.

“All of us are sick,” Schroeder, said, voice breaking. “In the past 21 days, I’ve had two days off. For a nurse, that’s too much.”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=24949


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Troops pound Fallujah; nine Iraqi policemen killed in ambush
ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

Sunday, October 17, 2004

U.S. troops pounded the insurgent stronghold Fallujah with airstrikes and tank fire Sunday, and the Iraqi government appealed to residents of the city to expel "foreign terrorists" and "murderers" to prevent an all-out attack.

A mortar shell exploded Sunday at a Baghdad sports stadium minutes before Prime Minister Ayad Allawi arrived to inspect a cash-for-weapons program for Shiite fighters. Insurgents, meanwhile, ambushed and killed nine Iraqi policemen as they were returning home from a training course in Jordan.

Throughout the day, the crackle of automatic weapons fire and the thud of artillery echoed across Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, as fighting between American troops and insurgents raged on the eastern and southern edges of the city, witnesses said.

Clashes blocked the main road leading to Baghdad, and plumes of smoke rose above the flat-roofed houses in the city's Askari and Shuhada neighborhoods in eastern and southern Fallujah.

Witnesses said a Humvee was seen burning in the eastern edge of the city, and hospital officials reported three civilians were killed. There was no casualty report from the U.S. military.

American forces have stepped up attacks around Fallujah since peace talks between the Iraqi government and Fallujah clerics broke down last Thursday after city leaders rejected Allawi's demand to hand over "foreign terrorists," including Jordanian-born extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Fallujah clerics insist al-Zarqawi, whose Tawhid and Jihad movement has claimed responsibility for multiple suicide car-bombings and hostage beheadings, is not in the city. Fallujah fell under the control of hardline Islamic clerics and their armed followers after U.S. Marines lifted a three-week siege in late April.

As the Iraqis try to reach a peaceful end to the Fallujah standoff, the U.S. military is believed to be drafting plans for an all-out assault on the city if negotiations fail.

In London, the British Defense Ministry said the United States has asked Britain to redeploy hundreds of troops from southern Iraq amid reports the soldiers will back up the Americans in the event of a major attack on Fallujah.

British media reports say the United States wants British soldiers to replace units of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines in Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Defense Minister Geoff Hoon will confirm the American request Monday before the House of Commons and say Britain has not made a decision, a ministry spokesman said.

On Sunday, Allawi's government renewed its call for Fallujah to surrender al-Zarqawi and others, saying their presence in "some areas and cities" is "something the government cannot accept or tolerate."

"We call upon the sons and tribes of Fallujah to immediately expel foreign terrorists and evacuate all the city's neighborhoods from these murderers and their criminal supporters who want to hamper plans of reconstructing Iraq," National Security Adviser Qassem Dawoud said in a statement.

Dawoud said "the door is still open before any initiative or effort to avoid having to use the military option."

Elsewhere, police said Sunday that nine Iraqi policemen returning from training in Jordan were ambushed and killed Saturday in Latifiyah, an insurgent stronghold 25 miles south of Baghdad. The attackers escaped. Latifiyah is part of a belt of towns just south of the capital where kidnappings and ambushes have been common.

Along the Syrian border, overnight clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents left four people dead and 13 others wounded, Dr. Wael al-Duleimi said Sunday from the border town of Qaim. The city is a hotbed of insurgent activity and is believed to be a major route for smuggling weapons and fighters into Iraq.

In hopes of sparing Fallujah further violence, the city's clerics have offered to resume peace talks if the Americans stop their attacks. But the talks have deadlocked over the alleged presence of Zarqawi and other foreign fighters.

"We are still ready to go back to the talks and open new channels of dialogue," said negotiator Abdul Hamid Jadou. But he said Allawi is "responsible for each drop of blood being spilled in Fallujah. This government sided with the Americans in bombing the innocent people who are fasting in Ramadan."

Meanwhile, a military prosecutor in Jordan indicted al-Zarqawi and 12 others for an alleged plot to attack the U.S. Embassy in Amman and Jordanian government targets with chemical and conventional weapons, government officials said. The alleged plot was first revealed by Jordan in April.

Iraqi officials hope that Fallujah leaders can be persuaded to negotiate a deal similar to one struck with Shiite radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end clashes in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Under the deal, al-Sadr's fighters have been turning in weapons for cash.

On Sunday, a mortar shell exploded at a sports stadium about 15 minutes before Allawi was to arrive to inspect the guns-for-cash program. The itinerary was quickly changed and Allawi visited several other sites before arriving at the stadium.

"I am very thrilled and pleased that things are moving in the right direction and arms are being surrendered to the Iraqi government," he said.

Allawi also called on Iraqis throughout the country -- whether in Basra, Nasiriyah, Fallujah, Ramadi or Mosul -- to surrender their weapons and to respect the rule of law and to be part of the political process.

More than 200 detainees were released Sunday from Abu Ghraib prison after a security review deemed them no longer a threat, the U.S. military said.

It was the fifth round of releases since a review board set up by coalition forces and the interim Iraqi government began work in August following a torture scandal at the detention facility.

Also Sunday, the 1st Cavalry Division said an investigation had not yet determined what caused two Army OH-58 helicopters to crash Saturday night in southern Baghdad, killing two soldiers and injuring two others. The division spokesman, Lt. Col. James Hutton, said it "could be days" before the cause is officially determined.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press correspondent Rawya Rageh in Baghdad and an AP employee in Fallujah contributed to this report.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/10/17/international1343EDT0466.DTL


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Gen. Vows Review of Iraq Safety Measures

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. Army will study protective measures for supply vehicles and add steel plating to vehicles if necessary, a general said Sunday, after members of a Reserve unit refused to deliver supplies down a dangerous route in Iraq (news - web sites) partly because they were concerned their vehicles were in poor shape.


Brig. Gen. James E. Chambers, commanding general of 13th Corps Support Command, said all soldiers involved in the incident had returned to duty and it was "too early" to determine whether any of them will face disciplinary action.


Chambers told reporters the command will "assess armor" on supply vehicles, which are often subject to insurgent attack, and add steel plating if necessary.


He denied claims by some of the soldiers to their families that the fuel they were to deliver was contaminated.


The Army announced last week it was investigating up to 19 members of a platoon from the 343rd Quartermaster Company based in Rock Hill, South Carolina after they refused to transport supplies from Tallil air base near Nassiriyah to Taji north of Baghdad.


On Wednesday, the 19 did not show up for a scheduled 7 a.m. meeting in Tallil to prepare for the fuel convoy's departure a few hours later, a military statement said.


The mission was carried out by other soldiers from the 343rd, which has at least 120 members, the military said.


Chambers has since ordered the 343rd to undergo a "safety-maintenance stand down," during which it will conduct no further missions as the unit's vehicles are inspected, the military said.


The platoon has troops from Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20041017/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_unit_investigation_26

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Military Reports the Capture of 17 Insurgents in Ramadi

By EDWARD WONG

Published: October 17, 2004

RAMADI, Iraq, Oct. 17 — American officers here said marines captured 17 men suspected of working with the insurgency in a night raid early today, including a couple of midlevel leaders and a senior aide to a man believed to be organizing guerrillas in this city, the restive capital of Anbar province.

The aide is a lawyer for Muhammad Daham Abid, one of the most wanted men in Ramadi. Officers say Mr. Abid is an Iraqi who has organized insurgent cells and is in close contact with the mujahedeen in the rebel stronghold of Falluja, just 25 miles to the east. Mr. Abid was once detained by American troops but was let go after he agreed to stop recruiting men to fight the occupiers, said Lt. John McKinley of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines.

Mr. Abid reneged on his promise, and "we've been after him for a long time," Lieutenant McKinley said.

The search of nine houses in the Meelab district of Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, was initiated by Special Forces. It was one of the most successful raid operations by Golf Company of the 2-5 Marines and tightened the circle around Mr. Abid, said Lt. Brian Iglesias of the 4th Platoon.

After the detainees were brought back to a forward base east of the downtown area, an Iraqi informer named all 17 men as "bad guys," Lieutenant McKinley said. The Marines rarely have someone on hand who can immediately identify detainees and are forced instead to rely on photographs to tell whether they have detained a sought-after fighter, the lieutenant added. He declined to identify the informer.

Lt. Col. Randall P. Newman, the battalion commander, said his men had "good intel" before the raid.

Special Forces soldiers and marines also confiscated cell phones, desktop computers and about $600 in American dollars, as well as a lot of Iraqi dinars, Lieutenant McKinley said. He added that the Marines were hoping to find more dollars, because insurgent leaders pay about $150 to impoverished young men to take part in a single attack on American forces. The midlevel leaders detained this morning are suspected of being financiers, the lieutenant added.

Interrogators found that one of the detainees was partly deaf in his left ear and had burn marks on the right side of his neck, signs that he had fired rocket-propelled grenades, Lieutenant McKinley said.

Mr. Abid is one of three men on a "most wanted" poster that hangs in a base cafeteria here. The others are Muhammad Mahmoud Latif and Abdul Aziz Mahmoud al-Fahadawi, both believed to be insurgent leaders. In the poster, the words "Detain on Sight" are written in red below separate photographs of the three bearded men.

The First Marine Division operates out of several bases ringing central Ramadi, a city of at least 300,000 in the heart of the dusty, parched Sunni triangle, where resistance to the American occupation has reached a fever pitch. Fighters move with ease between Ramadi and Falluja, where Islamist insurgents have established strict fundamentalist rule and are bracing for an expected ground invasion by the Marines. The Americans have been pounding Falluja with virtually daily airstrikes, including one on Saturday night, possibly driving some insurgents toward Ramadi, officers here said.

Marines here have been bracing for a surge in violence during Islam's holy fasting month of Ramadan, which began on Friday. Combat Outpost, the base on the eastern edge of Ramadi, was attacked with nearly a half-dozen mortar rounds and at least one rocket on Saturday. One of the mortars destroyed a red water tank by the showers, and another landed right outside the cafeteria, sending marines rushing out toward the roofed garage area with plastic plates of food in hand.

The marines bunked down to get a few hours of sleep, then suited up to roll out at 2 a.m. As the convoy rolled west through the city center, the 100 or so marines of Golf Company crouched down in the back of open-backed armored trucks, not daring to even peek out at the empty streets. It was a clear night, with scores of stars visible overhead and silhouettes of palm along the road.

The armored vehicles set up perimeters along corners of the Meelab district, a neighborhood that officers say is rife with fighters and safehouses. The Marines rarely enter except on specific raids such as this one or to do a full patrol about once a week, Lieutenant McKinley said. Special Forces soldiers and marines dismounted and started moving along the rows of cinder-block two-story homes, the stink of open sewage heavy in the air.

A group of marines from 2nd Platoon rushed up to a house on a corner lighted by dim street lamps and prepared to break through the front gate, their M-16's raised. "Wrong house," Staff Sgt. Brice Bartlette yelled. "We've gone one house too far."

The marines reversed course and raced to the house next door. One man broke through the front metal gate with a hand axe and rushed into the courtyard. An orange-and-white taxi sat in the driveway.

They found six men, a teenage boy, a woman and a young girl sleeping on thin mattresses on the living room floor. No one spoke English. The woman rocked back and forth in a yellow robe.

"Tell the men to get against the wall, hands behind their backs," Sergeant Bartlette said to an Iraqi interpreter in Marine uniform whom the Americans called Barry.

A Special Forces soldier rushed through the rooms with a green duffel bag, stuffing equipment into it. A marine watched over four women and four children who had been herded into a dark room in the rear. In the front room, Barry told Sergeant Bartlette that the boy was 12 years old.

The sergeant told his men to leave the boy behind. The marines put plastic handcuffs on the adult men and strips of white cloth over their eyes. A white-haired man collapsed to the ground outside the house and began sobbing, saying he could not walk, but two marines dragged him to his feet and sat him in the back of a truck, alongside the other detainees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/international/middleeast/17CND-RAMA.html?ex=1098676800&en=ffa6a50c29dee0f0&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Anti-War Americans Send Photos To Iraq
Associated Press
October 16, 2004


NYACK, N.Y. - More than 2,000 people opposing the war in Iraq, including the father of an American beheaded by terrorists, are sending Iraqis personal photos with protest messages to show "what Americans are really like."

The pictures, from all around the country, are meant to be a counterpoint to the infamous images of Americans abusing Iraqi prisoners. Each photo shows at least one sign, usually handmade. Some specifically criticize U.S. actions in the war while others simply extend sympathy to Iraqi civilians.

"With deep shame, we apologize for the suffering our country has brought to the people of Iraq," says a banner in a photo showing 11 people in Vancouver, Wash. Three elderly people in Minneapolis declare, "All our children long for a new day."

Michael Berg, whose son Nicholas was executed last spring by an al-Qaida-affiliated group, holds a sign in his photo that says, "I am sorry and ashamed for the tremendous loss my government has caused the Iraqi people."

"I truly feel that what the United States government has done to the once-sovereign nation of Iraq is atrocious and shameful," he said in a phone interview. Berg, whose opposition to the war predates his son's execution, will be in Washington on Wednesday when the project is formally unveiled by the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

The peace group, which organized the project, said it wants Iraqis to know that most Americans were shocked by the photos of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqis prisoners and many regret a war being waged in their name.

A veterans' group, however, believes the project undercuts U.S. soldiers.

Jerry Newberry, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said, "This type of thing only serves to undermine the effort and the sacrifice of our military in Iraq. These people on the face of it seem to have a political agenda. ... It implies that what we're attempting to do in Iraq is shameful."

The White House had no comment, spokesman Ken Lisaius said.

The project was sparked by Kaia Svien, a 57-year-old Minneapolis teacher, who said she was "just dumbstruck" when she saw the Abu Ghraib prison photos.

"It was the power of the photographs that brought home the message," Svien said. "So I thought, 'Can't we use photos in another way to respond to this and hope they will be as powerful? Maybe we can show them what Americans are really like.'"

She took the idea to the Nyack-based Fellowship, a 90-year-old group with a history of pacifism and activism. Staffer Hossein Alizadeh made it a national project, asking local peace groups to spread the word.

About 400 pictures came in from more than 100 cities and towns. Half of them are being burned onto CDs for distribution Wednesday to news media that reach Iraqis, said Fellowship spokeswoman Jennifer Hyman.

"We thought it would be great if we could speak as ordinary Americans to ordinary Iraqis," said Alizadeh. "Since the United States went in there, the Iraqis have seen nothing but violence, so they have a very negative opinion of Americans. We hope that after they see these photographs, they will pause for a second and think, 'At least we have a few friends, there are people who care about what's happening.'"

He said that despite the signs in the pictures, the project is "not about condemning any government." Hyman said the peace group wants to stop the deaths of U.S. soldiers as well as Iraqis.

There is no official figure for the number of Iraqis killed, but some non-governmental estimates range from 10,000 to 30,000. As of Friday, 1,086 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to the Defense Department.

Bruce Hawkins of Northampton, Mass., a retired physics professor who sent in a photo of 16 people in a Quaker meeting house, said, "The intent was to send a friendly message to people. We're not their enemies and they're not ours."

The sign in his photo says, in part: "We pray for the humane treatment of all prisoners and the continuing healing of human hearts."

A group of 27 people stood for their portrait on the steps of St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis after their weekly anti-war vigil. One of their signs says, in Arabic, "Our hearts are full of pain and sorrow for the Iraqi prisoners."

William Quick, a lawyer from Lincoln Heights, Mo., who took the picture, said the church was used as the background to show that "being Christian does not mean being anti-Muslim."

Mimi Pukuma, 29, of Philadelphia, posed with three friends and a sign that says, "We apologize from our hearts for the suffering our government is causing innocent Iraqi people."

"I've been writing letters to the government, going to anti-war vigils and so on but that's impersonal in many ways," she said. "This seemed like I could in some small way express my sadness to Iraqi citizens."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Zarqawi Movement Vows al-Qaida Allegiance <br />
<br />
By RAWYA RAGEH, Associated Press Writer <br />
<br />
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The most feared militant group in Iraq (news - web sites), the movement of terror mastermind...