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thedrifter
11-18-04, 07:40 AM
Iraq Assessments: Insurgents Not Giving Up

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The recapture of Fallujah has not broken the insurgents' will to fight and may not pay the big dividend U.S. planners had hoped — to improve security enough to hold national elections in Sunni Muslim areas of central Iraq (news - web sites), according to U.S. and Iraqi assessments.


Instead, the battle for control of the Sunni city 40 miles west of Baghdad has sharpened divisions among Iraq's major ethnic and religious groups, fueled anti-American sentiment and stoked the 18-month-old Sunni insurgency.


Those grim assessments, expressed privately by some U.S. military officials and by some private experts on Iraq, raise doubts as to whether the January election will produce a government with sufficient legitimacy, especially in the eyes of the country's powerful Sunni Muslim minority.


Even before the battle for Fallujah began Nov. 8, U.S. planners understood that capturing the city, where U.S. troops are still fighting pockets of resistance, was only the first step in building enough security to allow the election to take place in the volatile Sunni areas north and west of Baghdad.


The next steps include solidifying Iraqi government control, repairing the substantial battle damage and winning the trust of the people of Fallujah.


That requires, among other things, an effective Iraqi police and security force.


Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East, said during a visit to Iraq this week that the Fallujah offensive was a major blow to the insurgents, and he said the only way the U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies can be defeated is if they lose their will.


"But we are also under no illusions. We know that the enemy will continue to fight," he told the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s internal news service.


Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Lt. Gen. Lance L. Smith said the military now had to keep the insurgency from regrouping.


"The issue for us at Central Command is make sure we keep the pressure on the terrorists and not allow another safe haven to occur, and we're going to do that," Smith said.


The Associated Press has learned that U.S. military officials in Iraq concluded the population of Anbar province, which includes Fallujah, Ramadi, has been intimidated by the guerrillas and that the provincial security forces are nonfunctioning and their ranks infiltrated by guerrilla sympathizers.


Before the attack on Fallujah began last week, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi formally dissolved the city's police and security forces, which had fallen under control of the radical Sunni clerics who ran the city.


Calls have already emerged for the January vote to be postponed until security improves. Militant Sunni Arab clerics have called for a boycott to protest the Fallujah attack.


However, Iraq's electoral commission is having none of that.


"The election will take place on schedule under laws which cannot be changed because there is no legislative authority to do so," commission spokesman Farid Ayar said Wednesday.


The clerical leadership of the majority Shiite community is also deeply opposed to any delay in the election. The country's premier Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has been demanding elections since the early months of the U.S. military occupation.


"I don't understand how delaying elections will improve the security situation," Hussain al-Shahristani, a Shiite scientist who is close to al-Sistani. "I believe that the most important reason for the deteriorating security situation in the country is the postponement of elections."





However, pressure for a postponement is likely to increase if the wave of car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and armed attacks cannot be curbed as the ballot approaches.

Since the Fallujah offensive, there has already been a marked spike in insurgent attacks across other Sunni areas, notably Mosul where about 1,200 U.S. troops launched an operation this week to reclaim police stations abandoned after insurgent raids. U.S. officials say only 20 percent of the city's 5,000 police had returned to duty as of Wednesday.

"Holding the elections has become more difficult after the military operations in Fallujah and other places," said Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman, a former member of the Iraqi Governing Council. "It is not impossible to hold the election, but will it be credible, free and clean?"

Despite the risks, holding the January vote on schedule is important for several reasons. It would produce a representative government to replace Allawi's U.S.-backed administration — seen by many Iraqis as an unwanted legacy of the American occupation.

Voters will choose a 275-member legislature that will draft a permanent constitution. The document will resolve such key issues as whether Iraq adopts a federal system — a major demand of the country's large Kurdish minority — or remains a centralized state favored by the Arab majority.

Failure to resolve the issue satisfactorily to all could result in civil strife or even the breakup of the Iraqi state. The Shiite Arab majority expects the vote to formalize its domination over Iraq after decades of oppression by the Sunni Arabs. The Kurds, about 15-20 percent of the population, want to preserve their system of self-rule in their northern homeland.

"I will cast my vote even if I have to crawl to the polling station," said Malik Nouri, 34, a Shiite who owns a pastry business in Baghdad. "I will go even if bombs go off in front of my house."

Many Sunni Arabs, however, fear the vote will strip away the prestige and power they had enjoyed for centuries. Many Sunnis accuse their Shiite and Kurdish rivals of acquiescing the American occupation for political gains.

Despite boycott calls, many secular-minded Sunnis are expected to vote in the election. But a low voter turnout, especially in Sunni strongholds now plagued by insurgency, would be worse than having no election at all, according to Peter Khalil, a national security research fellow at the Saban Center of the Brookings Institution.

"You need at least 70 percent of the voters to take place to accord legitimacy to the next government. If not, it will fuel the insurgency and give it a new political dimension," said Khalil, who served for nearly a year with the U.S.-led occupation authorities in Iraq.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041118/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_fallout_from_fallujah

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 07:41 AM
Two Marines From Indiana Killed In Iraq, Families Say

MARION, Ind., November 17th, 2004, 11 a.m.) -- Two Marines from Indiana were killed during combat this week in Iraq, their families said.

Lance Cpl. Lance Thompson, 21, of Marion, died Monday during fighting at Ramadi, said his father, Gregory Thompson. He said he was notified of his son's death by two Marines who visited his home Monday night.

"They told us he was killed in an explosion, and we were told a report would be filed later," he said.

Lance Cpl. James Swain, 20, of Kokomo, was killed Monday during the fighting in Fallujah, his grandfather said Wednesday.

Ed Swain said his son and daughter-in-law were notified of the younger Swain's death Monday by the Marine Corps. Swain was a 2002 graduate of Kokomo High School and enlisted in the Marine Corps in August 2002 and was based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The military said that at least 37 Marines and soldiers had been killed during the recent Fallujah offensive.

The deaths of Thompson and Swain increase to 33 the number of people from Indiana to have died after being sent to the Mideast since the buildup for the invasion of Iraq began in early 2003.

Thompson had been on his second, seven-month tour of duty in Iraq since September, his father said.

"Last year, during the run up to Baghdad, he was stationed at Hillah at the mass grave. He told me about seeing a young mother clutching a small child. He thought they had been buried alive. He saw that and thought he was doing the right thing," Gregory Thompson said.

Thompson was a 2001 graduate of Eastbrook High School near Marion, about 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

Guidance counselor Dee Billinger said Thompson had talked about joining the Marines when he was in high school.

"It's heartbreaking for our community," said Billinger. "It's consumed a lot of our thoughts today (Tuesday). He was such a great kid. A very pleasant young man."

http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=2578484&nav=0RZFTEWe

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 07:42 AM
School honors Marines
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times


Upper Southampton -Sharing lunch Tuesday with a group of locally based U.S. Marines has helped Madeline Tadley develop a "greater appreciation" for the kids of military personnel.

"I don't know if I'd like moving around and making that sacrifice. I don't know if I'd be able to make new friends every year and get adjusted," said Madeline, president of the student council at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic School in Upper Southampton.

Madeline, 13, and other student council members discussed the life that military children know as routine with U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Peter Almeida during a luncheon at the Catholic church's Trinity Parish Center.

Almeida, whose two sons attend nearby Centennial schools, is part of the 3rd Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division based in Northeast Philadelphia. The school partners with the unit during the Marines' annual Toys for Tots campaign.

The artillery battalion has had to reduce its involvement in the outreach effort this year to ensure it's on "be prepared" status for possible deployment to Iraq, Major Edward Eibert said.

Our Lady of Good Counsel wanted to let its outreach partners know the school supports them, eighth-grade teacher Kevin Madison said. So the school invited the Marines to a special prayer service and luncheon in their honor.


Robert Baldassarre, an Our Lady of Good Counsel parent who owns the Malvern-based Cornucopia Catering, volunteered to cater the lunch. The mothers of eighth-graders made two tables full of desserts.

The students made cards for their guests and gave them St. Michael the Archangel prayer cards and medals with the Marine Corps insignia on the back. St. Michael is the patron saint of service personnel, said Kathryn Knott, the student council vice president.

The Marines said they were touched by the students' gratitude.

"It makes us feel good that people care and know that we're doing good things for them," said Staff Sgt. Reynaldo Rodriguez.

Added Eibert: "It's an honor to receive that type of respect from the younger generation."

Joan Hellyer can be reached at 215-322-9714 or jhellyer@phillyBurbs.com.

November 17, 2004 5:14 AM

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-11172004-401809.html

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 07:42 AM
Iraq War Topping $5.8 Billion A Month
United Press International
November 18, 2004

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is spending more than $5.8 billion a month on the war in Iraq, according to the military's top generals.

That is nearly a 50 percent increase above the $4 billion-a-month benchmark the Pentagon has used to estimate the cost of the war so far.

The Army alone is spending $4.7 million a month while the Air Force is spending $800 million a month transporting soldiers and flying combat missions. The Marine Corps is spending $300 million a month, the four service chiefs told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday.

Since 2003, the Pentagon has received some $160 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in supplemental funding -- that is, in addition to its annual budget. It will be requesting another multibillion-dollar supplement early next year to cover the continuing cost of the war.

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 07:43 AM
Troops Recapture Mosul Police Stations <br />
Associated Press <br />
November 17, 2004 <br />
<br />
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi troops fought to crush the spreading insurgency in Iraq's third largest city Tuesday,...

thedrifter
11-18-04, 07:44 AM
Injured Marines To Receive Purple Hearts
Heimgartner, Andrews Hit By Enemy Fire In Iraq

POSTED: 5:08 am CST November 18, 2004
UPDATED: 5:23 am CST November 18, 2004

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Two Iowa Marines injured in battle last week will receive Purple Hearts.

Both Lance Cpl. Shane Heimgartner, of Marshalltown, and Lance Cpl. Joseph Andrews, of Grand Junction, were hit by enemy fire in the Babil Province of Iraq on Nov. 12.

Heimgartner was hit in the legs. Andrews was injured in the legs, shoulder and wrist.

Both are expected to recover.

http://www.theiowachannel.com/news/3928577/detail.html

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 07:45 AM
Posted on Thu, Nov. 18, 2004




MIAMI


Two Florida Marines killed in Iraq fighting

From Herald Wire Services


Two Florida Marines are among the latest Iraq war casualties in the fight for Fallujah, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.

Marine Capt. Patrick Marc M. Rapicault, 34, of St. Augustine and Marine Lance Cpl. Antoine D. Smith, 22, of Orlando, were killed Monday ''as result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province,'' a Defense Department announcement said.

Rapicault was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Smith was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, also at Camp Pendleton.

Their deaths raise to at least 56 the number of Floridians killed in the Iraq war.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 08:13 AM
Quilters Remember Servicemembers Killed in Action
By Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 2004 -- Joined at the seams by a sense of duty and the Internet, quilters from across the country who know little of each other are using their craft to help remember servicemembers killed in the war on terror.

With some stitching away behind their sewing machines and others using simple needle and thread, more than 130 quilters are patching together the KIA (Killed In Action) Memorial Quilt, a project in which they hope to sew together as many quilts as it takes to bear the name of every servicemember who died in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Rochelle Baisch, a bookkeeper in American Falls, Idaho, started the project in April. She said she has never met many of the quilters who began sending in embroidered blocks of fabric bearing the name, rank, state, hometown, and age of a servicemember killed.

Each quilt will consist of 36 six-inch muslin squares. Around each square is a two-inch border of either patriotic or military-themed fabric. Baisch said the blocks will be put in order by the date the servicemember was killed.

"Some ladies are making one block, while others are literally making dozens," she said. "Some ladies will pick up all the names from their state. Some will pick up names from the same branch that they or someone from their family served with. Some will just tell me they want five names, and I will assign names to them."

She said several individuals have requested to make a block for someone in their family that has been killed.

"We stated from the very beginning that if a family member came forward and requested a name, we would let them do the block," she noted. "This whole project is really about the families that have been left behind. We wanted them to have as big a part in the process as we could."

Baisch started the KIA Memorial Quilt project after learning of a servicemember from her area who had been killed.

"I had heard of a young man from Burley, Idaho, that was killed and was online trying to find his name," she explained. "We have family in that area, and I was just wanting to check on the name."

She searched for the soldier online and discovered a Web site that listed the names and information of all the troops who had been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. "It really broke my heart to look at page after page of names of these brave men and women," she said. "For days, I just couldn't get it out of my mind. So, being a quilter, it was only natural that I decided that I wanted to make a quilt as a memorial. But I knew that I wouldn't be able to do it alone. There were already over 400 names on the list," she said.

Baisch took to the Internet again, this time posting a message on a quilting forum that she belonged to. "I told the ladies what I had in mind and asked if they would like to help," she said.

The response to her message was immediate and overwhelming, she said. "We soon decided to move to our own Web site so that we were better able to track things," she said.

Meanwhile, another member of the newly formed Internet forum, Amanda Hagee, started a Yahoo group page, which created a database for those volunteering to help.

Shortly afterward, Baisch's sister, Rhonda Halstead, joined in and started a Web site to get the project out to the public.

Baisch hopes the group can complete the quilts and have them tour the United States soon. She would like to see the quilts displayed at military bases, state capitals, or "anywhere else that we can find someone that would want to sponsor a showing."

She also hopes that interest in the quilts will help raise donations to cover the cost of making them. The group has paid for items such as batting, fabric for the back of the quilts, and shipping and administrative costs, out of their own pockets, she explained.

The group has set up a fund at a local credit union and is looking at ways to raise funds to keep the project going. She is also trying to get KIA Memorial Quilt nonprofit group status.

Baisch has received hundreds of letters from family members asking that the names of their sons and daughters be sewn on the quilt "to keep their memories alive."

"It's actually one of the most rewarding things I've done and one of the hardest things I've done," she said. "I'm glad the family members are enjoying it, but it's really hard sometimes to get the letters, to see what they (families) are going through. To say 'I'm sorry' just isn't enough."

It will take more than 40 quilts to fit the more than 1,400 names her group has collected. More than 900 blocks are complete, she said.

The quilters will keep up the project as long as names are being added to the rolls of those killed in action.

"We decided that we started this that we would keep this up as long as we're losing soldiers over there," she said. "As long as we keep adding names, we're going to keep doing the quilts."


Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 08:15 AM
Wal-Mart, VFW Help Troops Stay in Touch With Home Front
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2004 –- More than 900,000 servicemembers serving worldwide will be able to write and call home during this holiday season thanks to the generosity of Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

This is the third year Wal-Mart and the VFW have partnered to provide free phone cards to deployed servicemembers through the Operation Uplink program, said Michael Meyer, administrator for corporate development for the VFW Foundation at VFW's national headquarters in Kansas City, Mo.

This year, the two organizations, plus Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart, will co-sponsor the sending of new MACK -- Military Assistance Communications Kit -- programs to 900,000 servicemembers overseas, Meyer said.

Each kit, Meyer noted, contains a phone card, writing paper, note cards, envelopes, a folder with a 2005 calendar and a letter of support.

The Wal-Mart-VFW partnership has provided more than 2.3 million free phone cards to active servicemembers in the past two years. The VFW began the Operation Uplink program in 1996.

"We've provided prepaid phone cards to our servicemen and women for a number of years now," noted Meyer, a Vietnam veteran. He said his organization understands "how important these phone cards are" to deployed servicemembers and their loved ones.

Meyer lauded the many VFW members who solicit donations for phone cards and other veterans' programs. These people "are the backbone" of the organization, he said.

Programs like MACK, he pointed out, come about through a combination of corporate support and individual effort. The first batch of MACKs was sent out to overseas servicemembers via Federal Express on Nov. 11, Veterans Day.

Dan Fogleman, Wal-Mart spokesman at the company's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters, noted that MACK "is new, a next step in Operation Uplink." Besides providing free phone cards, he noted, the MACK also contains paper and envelopes, which are "in short supply in some areas of the world."

"The men and women in the armed forces want to know they're being remembered for their service, and that's what we're doing at Wal-Mart," Fogleman said.

Wal-Mart, a discount retailer established in 1962, has a long history of supporting servicemembers, Fogleman said, pointing to company pay and benefits differentials provided to deployed Guard and reserve members and donations provided by the Wal-Mart and Sam's Club foundations. In fact, he said, the two foundations recently made a $1 million donation to the VFW foundation, specifically to meet the needs of servicemen and women, past and present.

Regarding the new MACK program, Fogleman said his company is "very proud to again partner with the VFW to bring our servicemen and women this gift of communication."

With the holidays coming up, Fogleman noted that many deployed servicemen and women will be feeling the effects of being deployed far away from home and loved ones.

The MACK and Operation Uplink programs, he pointed out, enable military personnel deployed overseas to call home free from virtually anywhere in the world.

"Imagine what a gift that would be, to hear your parents, wife, husband or child from half a world away," he said.

Kathy Cox, the community program development manager for the Wal-Mart foundation, spoke of receiving an e-mail from Dale Stevenson, a Wal-Mart assistant store manager who works in St. Petersburg, Fla. In his message, Stevenson, whose son, Andrew, is a Navy man deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, thanks "the people responsible for Operation Uplink and also for the MACK packs."

Stevenson said his son had called him using a Wal-Mart/VFW-supplied phone card during a stopover in Germany en route to Iraq.

"He told me that there was a small sign next to the box that said that the VFW and Wal-Mart had provided these cards for the boys to stay in contact with parents," the elder Stevenson wrote to Wal-Mart in his e-mail.

"I can tell you that just hearing my son's voice is truly a treasure," the father said, according to Cox, "one which was made possible by your efforts, and the efforts of the men and women at the VFW.

"I just wanted to let you know that it really makes a difference," he said.

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 09:19 AM
Teenager Collects a Million Thanks for America's Fighting Forces
By Terri Lukach
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2004 – It's not every day a 16-year-old gets to meet the president of the United States, but Shauna Fleming of Orange, Calif., is no ordinary teenager.

Shauna collected one million letters of thanks for U.S. servicemembers, and she gave the milestone letter to the president in a private White House meeting today.

In late October, Shauna received that milestone letter, a handmade card from Stephanie Cope Francis of Howell North High School in St. Charles, Mo.

"Meeting my goal was exciting," Shauna said, "but doing what I had planned from the beginning, which was to give the letter to the president, was even better - very neat!" Shauna said Bush thanked her for what she is doing. "It means a lot to the troops," Shauna said, recalling the president's words to her. "You are doing a great job, and keep up the good work."

Shauna said Bush seemed very excited by the project, but apparently not as excited as her father. "Meeting the president was awesome," Michael Fleming said. "What a great man. He just made everyone feel so comfortable. It was a great experience for us." Shauna's mother and her brother, Ryan, accompanied her to the Oval Office.

It was just barely six months ago, as part of National Military Appreciation Month, that Shauna, then a high school freshman launched a campaign called "A Million Thanks" to collect and distribute a million letters to U.S. forces fighting for freedom in the global war on terror.

To spread the word and stir up enthusiasm, Shauna started the month May 3 by setting up shop under the tent of NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth at the Auto Club 500 in Fontana, Calif. Later, she met country music superstar John Michael Montgomery in Nashville, Tenn., where the two teamed up to do more than 70 radio and television interviews.

By Memorial Day, the duo was again promoting "A Million Thanks" during the May 30 Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C. Montgomery sang his hit "Letters From Home" at the race's opening ceremony, and Shauna distributed letters to servicemembers who were special guests of NASCAR.

Shauna said when she first heard Montgomery's song, which tells of a deployed soldier receiving letters from his parents and girlfriend, she knew it was a perfect fit for her project. "It's sort of the theme song," she said at the time.

A week before the race, the project passed the 400,000-letter mark – almost halfway to Shauna's million-letter goal. "We've gotten letters from everywhere," Shauna said then, "all across the country, and even from Italy and Canada."

Little did she know that Military Appreciation Month would be just the start of something much bigger. By July, she was not only a regular on the radio and racing circuit but even had her own Web site and radio show to promote the project. The radio show, which discusses the campaign and includes guest interviews, took shape after station owner Chris Murch, a former Marine captain, contacted Shauna after seeing her on the Fox News Channel on Memorial Day.

"Doing an Internet radio show gives me the opportunity to tell people around the world that Americans do appreciate what our military men and women do for our country, and not to believe everything they read," Shauna said. "It also lets me inform everyone what I hear from our soldiers who are out there, and how we can help them and their families."

In addition to letters for the troops, the project expanded to include the collection of used CDs and DVDs for distribution to forces stationed overseas.

During her visit to Washington, Shauna is slated to visit the Pentagon on Nov. 19. She also plans to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

(K.L. Vantran also contributed to this article.)

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 11:15 AM
Former Soldier Writes Musical Tribute to Troops
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2004 -- A new song by a former soldier and country music songwriter and performer pays tribute to the men and women in uniform he said sacrifice the comforts of home and their loved ones for the freedoms America enjoys.

A Minneapolis-based songwriter known simply as "Rockie" has debuted "Red White and Blue" in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Its lyrics bring veterans to tears and servicemembers to stand at attention.

In the song, Rockie calls members of the armed forces "modern-day Minutemen and –women, like heroes from the past" who reflect the values America holds dear. He points out that America's military is a cross section of America, representing every corner of the country, every race, every religion and every socioeconomic status.

Despite their diverse backgrounds, Rockie sings, all are "red, white and blue," ready to respond to whatever mission their country calls upon them to carry out.

"The military is a melting pot," said Rockie, who served with the 50th Signal Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C. "Regardless of their background, they're all part of the same team, and that's why all of America needs to support the troops."

"Red, White and Blue" reflects Rockie's love of the military and his hope that his fellow Americans will "get behind these kids" and support them, particularly when they go into harm's way in their country's defense.

Another song on his latest CD, "Big Time in a Small Town," pays tribute to servicemembers from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa -- where he most frequently performs -- who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq. "Home" has become the most-requested song in his performance-set list, he said.

From his humble roots -- discovered abandoned in a garbage can as an infant and spending the first three years of his life in an orphanage -- Rockie has become a popular performer who enjoys sharing his love of the military with his audiences.

Ironically, Rockie was adopted at age 3 into a strict religious household where music was forbidden. But Rockie said music always called out to him, and he spent his young years mowing lawns until he could buy his first guitar while in the 7th grade. In high school, he was sneaking out of the house to perform in local clubs.

Despite this exposure at such a young age, Rockie is a model of clean living. He said he's never smoked a cigarette, sipped a drop of alcohol, or used a single drug.

Rockie enlisted in the Army fresh out of high school. He called his military experience a turning point in his life, helping fund his musical training and giving him a deep appreciation of the sacrifices servicemembers make every day.

"I joined the military because it gave me an amazing opportunity to go to college through the Veterans Educational Assistance Program and to better my life," he said.

More importantly, he added, as a young child, he'd been impressed by an Army sergeant who lived two doors down from where he grew up.

"He went into the military when I was 4 or 5 years old," Rockie recalled. "He was a Special Forces soldier, and he went to Vietnam. He'd come home and I was so taken by him and his uniform and his attention to detail. He seemed so amazingly together. He was someone I looked up to. He always said to me, 'You have to realize that freedom is not free, it's our obligation.'"

Serving in the military was "a rite of passage," Rockie said, and being in the Army made him "more proud to be a citizen." A drill sergeant taught him to "never, ever quit."

"I learned to be more disciplined, and it helped me organize my life," he said. "It gave me time to set my goals and get myself in shape. I was a really skinny, out–of-shape kid that had been really been beat up on in life with no self-esteem. I had a desire to do something in life but no direction as to how to do it.

"When I graduated from basic training," he recalled, "I remember thinking, 'If I can do this, I can do anything.' I was so insanely proud, when the drill sergeant said, 'Before, you were a recruit, today you are a soldier.'"

Rockie has remained friends with people he met in the Army. "The first person I called when I got a record deal was my friend Joe Jenkins. He's my buddy from (advanced individual training). It's odd because here I was a white guy from the deep south -- from a background of people who weren't very liberal -- and Joe's a black guy from Chicago. We're friends to this day. He taught me so much about life."

After three years, Rockie left the Army at the rank of specialist and used his educational benefits to attend a guitar school in California. Since then, his musical career has taken him to Nashville and Minneapolis, and he recently signed a recording contract with Universal Records. His first Universal album is slated to be out this spring.

As his career progresses, Rockie said he's never forgotten his military roots or lost his appreciation for the freedoms America's men and women in uniform protect.

"I have an amazing respect for those kids. They're all volunteers," he said. "Every single one of them felt a calling to serve our country. And it's important that we stand behind them and make sure they know we support them in that calling."

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 12:23 PM
How They Count the Enemy Dead


By Phillip Carter
MSN
Nov. 17, 2004

In the battle of Fallujah, U.S. military commanders say they killed between 1,000 to 1,200 or 1,200 to 1,600 enemy fighters, depending on your news source. However, embedded correspondents in the field reported that Army and Marine Corps units found fewer enemy bodies in Fallujah than they expected. How exactly does the military determine its body counts?

As a matter of policy, the U.S. military does not officially track enemy killed in action. But the headquarters responsible for an individual campaign - the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, in the case of Fallujah-often does compile such figures, which explains why they sometimes appear in the papers. After a campaign, the headquarters will pull together reports from every unit in the fight to create one big estimate of the enemy's casualties for the entire operation.

Individual units send in several kinds of reports. The lowest-tech-and most reliable-way to determine enemy KIA is to physically count dead enemy corpses. After a military unit seizes an area, such as Fallujah, the troops will report to their headquarters the number of bodies they see left behind. However, this number usually undercounts the dead because most militaries try not to leave their fallen on the ground. This count also misses wounded soldiers who were evacuated for medical treatment and died later, and enemy soldiers directly hit by high-explosive ordnance, such as an artillery shell or 2,000-pound bomb. In such instances, there's little left to count when the battle's over.

The folks at headquarters also rely on "contact reports" from engaged units. For example, an infantry platoon fighting insurgents will radio (or sometimes e-mail) its headquarters to let them know about the fight and, once done, about the outcome. In addition to data like the time and place of the engagement, contact reports usually include a quantification of enemy casualties, estimated by the platoon commander (or another battlefield leader) based on what he and his troops saw first-hand during the fight. So, if a soldier shot an insurgent and believes he killed him, the platoon commander might include the death in his contact-report tally, even if the unit is unable to physically search the battleground and confirm it when the conflict ends. If his troops destroyed an enemy vehicle, the commander will usually estimate the number of dead inside and include them, too. (Such estimates are often based on the usual size of a given vehicle's crew.) A Marine Corps colonel in Iraq said such reports were fairly reliable in Fallujah, because of the close range of the fighting-but were still inexact. "A report of '20 [enemy KIA]' may be anywhere from 15 to 25" in reality, he said, because the stress and fog of war can obscure what troops see in battle.

The headquarters body counts also include enemy troops (and often civilians) killed by artillery bombardments or airstrikes. Although shooters in these situations can't always see their targets, intelligence analysts rely on observations of the target before and after the strike. Usually, such information is relayed by the person observing the target and calling for the artillery. In Fallujah, military analysts also relied on the camera feeds from unmanned aerial vehicles flying constantly over the city. Analysts watch buildings carefully over the course of a day to see how many people went in and out and guess how many were in when a particular bomb hit. Intelligence staffs at varying levels of command also pore over these "bomb damage assessments" to correlate them and produce a total number of KIA that comes as close as possible to the true number.

The U.S. military as a whole doesn't formally compile these numbers because it is reluctant to use them to measure its success or failure in battle. On Monday, the operations officer for the Marines in Fallujah told reporters, "I don't really like to ever, and nor will I ever, go through enemy killed in action." This reticence can be traced back to the Vietnam War and the significant problems that emerged during that conflict when Defense Secretary Robert McNamara overemphasized body counts as a metric of success.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 12:32 PM
Benefit of doubt the least we owe


November 18, 2004
STAFF REPORT
DAILY NEWS STAFF

From the comfort of civilized and peaceful surroundings, a world away from the bloody street fighting in Fallujah, some "experts" already have concluded that the videotaped shooting of a supposedly wounded Iraqi by a U.S. Marine was a "war crime."

We'll withhold judgment on that question until all the critical facts are known.

The proverbial "fog of war" frequently leads to split-second judgments by those in combat that, even if questionable, don't necessarily rise to the level of criminal conduct. Even pictures can mislead when taken out of context.

And until we all walk a few blocks through Fallujah in a Marine's boots - and experience first-hand the uncertainty, fear and ugliness of what's gone on there - it seems presumptuous to rush to such pronouncements.

We can't help but be struck, however, by the shocked reaction by some in the civilian world to the fact that war is a cruel and dehumanizing affair, in which acts of brutality aren't just necessary but expected. The indignation that routinely wells up when the ugliness of war comes barging into our safe, warm and cozy living rooms via the television screen, points to an ever widening understanding gap between those living in the civilian world, who can afford to think of war in pristine abstractions, and those in the professional military, who actually have to fight the wars at constant risk to life and limb.

We in the civilian world ask these troops to kill and maim on our behalf, then draw back in horror when it happens right before our eyes. This suggests either that civilians ought to think more carefully about the consequences when we march fellow citizens off to war - even if they volunteered to go - or become less squeamish when confronting its ugly realities. Too many Americans, as disconnected from all things military as they are, seem to think of war as just another action movie or video game.

The stress of combat, as opposed to some academic thing called "war," obviously doesn't excuse any form of conduct - even war must have rules, as we're reminded by retired and active military personnel who weigh in on such matters. But the tragedy of war becomes even more acute when we place patriotic young Americans in the confusion of an unconventional war, asking that they prevail against a ruthless and unscrupulous foe, and then demand criminal prosecution when they act with hair-trigger brutality.

"They are following absolutely no rules," one Pentagon spokesman said of the enemy, in attempting to put the videotape in context. "To put a young soldier or Marine into that kind of situation puts a huge onus on us and not on (the enemy)." Still others take the rather Olympian view that nothing, not even combat stress, excuses such actions.

We understand that Americans can't lower themselves to the enemy's standards. We know our Marines and soldiers should be too well trained and disciplined to cross the line from warrior to war criminal.

Yet we still believe we owe the young men and women we place in harm's way the benefit of every doubt, and an extra measure of understanding and forgiveness, when they appear to lose their bearings in the moral maelstrom of war

They do so much for us; it's the least we can do for them.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 12:35 PM
Marine Officers See Risk in Cuts in Falluja Force


By ERIC SCHMITT and ROBERT F. WORTH
The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 - Senior Marine intelligence officers in Iraq are warning that if American troop levels in the Falluja area are significantly reduced during reconstruction there, as has been planned, insurgents in the region will rebound from their defeat. The rebels could thwart the retraining of Iraqi security forces, intimidate the local population and derail elections set for January, the officers say.

They have further advised that despite taking heavy casualties in the weeklong battle, the insurgents will continue to grow in number, wage guerrilla attacks and try to foment unrest among Falluja's returning residents, emphasizing that expectations for improved conditions have not been met.

The pessimistic analysis is contained in a seven-page classified report prepared by intelligence officers in the First Marine Expeditionary Force, or I MEF, last weekend as the offensive in Falluja was winding down. The assessment was distributed to senior Marine and Army officers in Iraq, where one officer called it "brutally honest."

Marine commanders marshaled about 12,000 Marines and soldiers, and roughly 2,500 Iraqi forces for the Falluja campaign, but they always expected to send thousands of American troops back to other locations in Iraq eventually, after the major fighting in Falluja. This intelligence assessment suggests that such a move would be risky.

Some senior military officers in Iraq and Washington who have read the report have cautioned that the assessment is a subjective judgment by some Marine intelligence officers near the front lines and does not reflect the views of all intelligence officials and senior commanders in Iraq.

"The assessment of the enemy is a worst-case assessment," Brig. Gen. John DeFreitas III of the Army, the senior military intelligence officer in Iraq, said of the Marine report in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "We have no intention of creating a vacuum and walking away from Falluja."

The report offers a stark counterpoint to more upbeat assessments voiced by military commanders in the wake of the Falluja operation, which they say completed its goals well ahead of schedule and with fewer American and Iraqi civilian casualties than expected.

Although the resistance crumbled in the face of the offensive, the report warns that if American forces do not remain in sufficient numbers for some time, "The enemy will be able to effectively defeat I MEF's ability to accomplish its primary objectives of developing an effective Iraqi security force and setting the conditions for successful Iraqi elections.

The American military and Iraqi government are poised to pour humanitarian aid and conduct reconstruction efforts in the battle-scarred city, most of whose nearly 300,000 residents fled before the fighting began last week.

"The view from the tactical level has been generally more pessimistic," said one senior Marine officer in Washington, referring to the view from the ground. "They may well be right, but I would also say that tactical intel is almost always more dour than that done at the strategic level."

Details of the report and some of its verbatim findings were provided to The New York Times this week by four active-duty or retired military officers in Iraq and Washington who have read the report or heard descriptions of it.

The assessment draws on intelligence gathered in the Falluja operation and 10 intelligence reports compiled in the last six months in the Marines' area of responsibility in Iraq, principally Al Anbar and Babil Provinces, officials said.

Senior officers said the intelligence report was meant to help top Marine commanders in Iraq, including Lieut. Gen. John F. Sattler and Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, and their military superiors in Baghdad, decide how many American forces to keep in the Falluja-Ramadi area when the offensive is over and reconstruction efforts are in full swing.

Senior officers have said that they would keep a sizable American military presence in and around Falluja in the long reconstruction phase that has just begun, until sufficiently trained and equipped Iraqi forces could take the lead in providing security.

"It will take a security presence for a while until a well-trained Iraqi security force can take over the presence in Falluja and maintain security so that the insurgents don't come back, as they have tried to do in every one of the cities that we have thrown them out of," Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top American commander in Iraq, said on Nov. 8.

American commanders have expressed disappointment in some of the Iraqis they have been training, especially members of the Iraqi police force. Other troops have performed well, the officers have said.

The commanders are looking at a range of options on how many troops to keep in the area, depending on the security situation and how quickly Iraqi forces can take control. But if many American troops and the better-trained specialized Iraqi forces, like the commando and special police units, are committed to Falluja for a long time, they will not be available to go elsewhere in Iraq, possibly creating critical shortfalls.

Already, hundreds of American troops in a battalion of an Army Stryker Brigade in the Falluja area have been returned to Mosul in the north to help quell insurgent attacks there.

The Marine report paints a generally gloomy picture of the insurgents' expected reaction if American forces are reduced too much during the critical reconstruction.

"At current projected force levels, the enemy will be able to maintain a sufficient level of intimidation of the Al Anbar and Babil Province populations and infiltrate or otherwise further degrade the capabilities" of the Iraqi security forces in western and south-central Iraq, where the Marines operate, the report says.

The insurgency has shown "outstanding resilience" and the militants' willingness to fight is bolstered by four main factors, the report says. One, the tribal and insurgent leaders understand the limitations of the United Nations, American elections and internal Iraqi government politics, and try to exploit them. Two, they are skilled at turning battlefield defeats into symbolic victories, just as Saddam Hussein did after the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Insurgents will make the battle of Falluja into an excellent recruiting tool, the report says.

Three, the insurgents are dedicated propagandists who use the Internet and other means to feed exaggerated and contrived reporting from the battlefield to jihadists in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East. Al Jazeera and Arab media then pick it up, the report says.

Finally, the report says, the insurgents believe they are more willing to suffer casualties than the American military and public, and "will continue to find refuge among sympathetic tribes and former regime members."

The report predicts that insurgents will try to disrupt voter registration, which the officers say is already two weeks behind in Al Anbar Province, and that elections in the region will be cast into doubt.

Officers who have read the report played down its dire warnings and pointed out several successes noted in the document. The report, for instance, says that the Falluja operation achieved its basic goal, to deny the insurgents their largest sanctuary in Iraq, and has forced the network of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to move to a new base of operations in the country, probably Mosul.

The report also says that the number of attacks in Ramadi, the capital of Al Anbar Province, has declined by 40 percent in the last few weeks, after security was heightened in the region, according to Maj. Douglas M. Powell, a Marine spokesman in Washington.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 12:41 PM
Too little honor being rendered for too great a loss
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 18, 2004 12:00 AM

We forget sometimes that our losses don't only come in combat. Or maybe we don't forget. Maybe it's just that people in my business don't pay much attention to those who die outside of battle. We don't honor them with newspaper space or TV time the way we do with those killed in a war zone. As if one type of service is somehow less worthy. As if one family's loss is somehow less unbearable.

This week, for instance, there were two military funerals in Phoenix.

Two young members of the armed services were eulogized in Valley churches and then taken by long, slow procession to the National Memorial Cemetery on Cave Creek Road, where they were buried.
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The funeral you know about was for Marine Cpl. Christopher J. Lapka, who was killed Oct. 30 near Fallujah, Iraq. Lapka joined the Marines after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and was part of the war effort in Iraq. His life story and tragic death were reported in the local newspapers. His passing was featured on the television newscasts. There were kind words and condolences from friends and family, along with statements of appreciation from regular folks.

All of the things that Petty Officer 1st Class Jose Luis Gonzales did not get. At least not in the papers. At least not on TV. On the same day that Lapka was buried a service was held for Gonzales, who died recently while serving in Japan aboard the USS Kitty Hawk. Gonzales was 35 years old and had been in the Navy for 15 years.

Even outside of a war zone there are risks. The Gonzales family of Glendale knows this. It's a lesson they learned in 2001, when seven Americans and nine others died while searching for the remains of soldiers and airmen killed in the Vietnam War. Their helicopter went down. Among those killed was Navy Chief Petty Officer Pedro Juan Gonzales, Jose's brother. His death didn't get a lot of press, either.

"It's hard. It just hits you. They're gone and you aren't going to get them back," Pedro Gonzales Sr. said of his sons. "At the cemetery just as we were leaving from Jose's service there was another procession coming in. And there had been one before. You say to yourself, 'What is happening here? All these servicemen.' "

From 1961 to 1965 the elder Gonzales served in the Air Force. His brothers were in the Marines.

"My boys used to hear me talking about my adventures in the military. How I traveled all over," Gonzales said. "At first, they were going to go into the Marines like their uncles, but their mother talked them out of it. She said, 'Try something different.' "

Young Pedro and Jose found homes in the Navy. Pedro had been in the service 19 years when the helicopter he was aboard crashed. Jose, who died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm at 35, was an electronics technician with 15 years' service.

"The last conversation I had with Jose I asked if he was going to retire after he put in his 20 years," Gonzales said. "He told me, 'You know, Dad, I might go for 30. I really like what I'm doing.' "

The Gonzales brothers chose a profession that most of us avoid because we know it might mean risking our lives. Of course, any one of us can die of a sudden illness on the job, like Jose. Or in a tragic accident, like Pedro. When a military person dies, however, the manner of his death shouldn't determine whether he makes the news. It should be the choice that he made in life. These two brothers chose to serve.

"I'm proud of them both," Gonzales told me after his son Jose's funeral. "It was a nice service. Difficult for the family, for me and my wife, but nice." Just like the one they had for his son Pedro.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 01:00 PM
November 18, 2004

Marine squadron returns to sea

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer


SAN DIEGO — Don’t count the “Red Devils” down and out anytime soon. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232 is back at sea, this time on the carrier Nimitz and training for deployment next year.
The carrier Abraham Lincoln originally was to be the flattop home for the F/A-18C Hornet squadron from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego. But when Navy officials ordered Lincoln, along with its carrier air wing, to deploy overseas four months ahead of schedule, the Red Devils weren’t quite ready to go.

By then, the squadron, which deployed in 2003 to support combat operations in Iraq, had spent about a month on Lincoln. But when the squadron commander realized the accelerated schedule wouldn’t leave enough time to train pilots, he notified his superiors. Top Marine Corps and Navy aviation officials then decided to pull the squadron from Lincoln’s air wing. In its place went the “Marauders” of Navy Strike Fighter Squadron 82, based at Beaufort, S.C.

But this month, VMFA-232 returned to the sea, joining Carrier Air Wing 11 on Nimitz. The Red Devils’ deployment will be the first carrier tour for the squadron, which until this year hadn’t been in the Navy’s carrier rotation that integrates Marine Corps squadrons with carrier air wings. Already, Red Devil pilots have taken to the flight deck for carrier qualifications, and plane captains and maintainers are honing their skills .

“This squadron hasn’t been on a carrier for more than 50 years, so there’s not a lot of resident experience at sea,” Marine Capt. Eric Jakubowski, the squadron’s adjutant, said in a Nimitz news release. “Only three of the pilots, including myself, have cruised before.”

The squadron is no stranger to combat. In 2003, pilots flew 1,150 hours and dropped 325 tons of ordnance in 540 combat missions over Iraq while deployed in Kuwait for Operations Southern Watch and Iraqi Freedom.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 01:31 PM
U.S. Scales Back Fallujah Air Missions
Associated Press
November 18, 2004

ABOARD THE USS JOHN F. KENNEDY - American warplanes launched over Iraq from this aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf are scaling back their missions over Fallujah while keeping watch on cities where insurgents may flee.

The Iraq war, to a far greater extent than the war in Afghanistan, has relied on U.S. Army soldiers and Marines on the ground, but air power has provided steady backup - swooping in to clear the way, aiding American troops in Fallujah and jamming airwaves in an attempt to cut off communications between guerrillas.

The U.S. military declared Fallujah occupied but not subdued Saturday after a nearly weeklong battle aimed at disrupting insurgent operations in the city west of Baghdad. On Wednesday, U.S. Marines engaged in a heavy firefight with guerrillas trying to sneak back into the city, killing three militants; seven suspected insurgents were killed trying to swim the Euphrates River.

Warplanes taking off from the Kennedy increasingly are focusing on the next phase of the operation - protecting engineers and supplies being moved into Fallujah to restore power, water and other services. Officials hope that will pave the way to another goal: establishing an Iraqi government presence in Fallujah ahead of January elections.

After averaging 38 missions a day over Iraq in the height of the Fallujah assault, the number dropped to 24 Tuesday and was expected to continue at about that level for a few days.

"The operation is starting to wind down," said Rear Adm. Barry McCullough, commander of the Kennedy carrier group. "Now, that doesn't mean there aren't pockets of insurgents and terrorists in Fallujah."


Among insurgents believed to have fled Fallujah ahead of the widely anticipated campaign is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is suspected of having personally beheaded at least three Western hostages and whose terror group recently announced it was joining forces with al-Qaida. In the past week or so, insurgents have become more active in Ramadi, a city near Fallujah, and in the northern city of Mosul.

"As Fallujah winds down and some of these other areas heat up, I expect some of these other flights will be diverted," Kennedy Capt. Dennis FitzPatrick said Wednesday.

Capt. Mark Guadagnini, commander of the air wing aboard the Kennedy, said the military hopes to prevent insurgents from scattering because they are easier to target in an area pilots know from repeated missions.

"We still put the aircraft up anywhere in Iraq," said McCullough.

The overall air power brought to bear in Fallujah goes well beyond the Kennedy, the sole carrier now operating in the area. Also in the skies over the city have been Marine F-18s and AV-8 Harriers, Marine Super Cobra gunships, Army Apache and Kiowa helicopters and a slew of unmanned spy planes, including Predators armed with Hellfire missiles.

Crews of EA-6B Prowlers, cramped for up to eight hours at a stretch in front of Vietnam-era control panels, jam enemy radar and communications signals.

"It's understood that just bombs on target in many areas is not enough. ...You need this," said Cmdr. Randy Pierson, of Oak Harbor, Wash., nodding to his Prowler as a green-shirted maintenance team gave it a once over.

With the Fallujah campaign winding down, the Kennedy will soon be on its way home to Mayport, Fla. The departure date is not released for security reasons, but the ship's replacement, the USS Harry S. Truman, is expected to take over soon.

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 02:22 PM
November 10, 2004

Marines’ core values remain unchanged for 229 years

By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service / Press Release


Two hundred twenty-nine years ago, Marines came ashore from sailing ships; today they come off large amphibious ships. But the service’s core values have remained the same, the top Marine general said.
“The young Marines today … are emulating the warrior ethic that the Marines who went before established,” Marine Commandant Gen. Michael W. Hagee said Nov. 5 in an interview with the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service.

Hagee, the Corps’ 33rd commandant, explained that “Marines that have gone before us really set the standard” in famous battles such as Belleau Wood in France in World War I; Iwo Jima, the tiny Japanese island 660 miles south of Tokyo, in World War II; and the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.

As the Corps celebrates its 229th birthday today, modern Marines have much in common with those long-ago warriors, Hagee said. “We are a force in readiness, and we’ve always been a force in readiness,” he said. “We’re an expeditionary force, and by expeditionary, I mean expeditionary in the fullest sense. In other words, when we arrive, we can sustain ourselves. And finally, we are a combined-arms team. That has remained the same for years and years.”

Still, today’s junior Marines shoulder much more responsibility than their predecessors. Hagee said the war on terrorism is “essentially a war at the squad-leader and platoon-leader level.”

In 1999, then-Commandant Gen. Charles Krulak wrote of “the strategic corporal” — young Marines “far from the flagpole without the direct supervision of senior leadership.”

Modern Marines “will be asked to deal with a bewildering array of challenges and threats,” Krulak wrote in Marines magazine. “In order to succeed under such demanding conditions they will require unwavering maturity, judgment and strength of character.”

Hagee said the emergence of “the strategic corporal” makes it much more vital that Marines continue their education — and that the Corps make education opportunities available to Marines.

“We’ve got corporals and sergeants out there making very important decisions. And they don’t have time to get a 3 x 5 card out of their pocket, and they don’t have time to check with anyone,” he said. “They need to make the decision there. And in order to prepare them to do that, we have to properly educate them.”

The commandant said he’d like to see that every Marine has the opportunity to earn at least a bachelor’s degree over the course of a career.

In a wide-ranging interview about the past, present and future of the Marine Corps, Hagee said he’s often inspired when visiting Marines who have been wounded in Iraq. He said it’s “uplifting” to spend time with these young Marines.

“They’re very proud of what they have done. They’re not thinking about themselves,” Hagee said of the wounded Marines he’s visited. “They want to know how their unit is doing, and they consistently tell me, ‘I am ready to go back.’ ”

The general also offered words on encouragement for Marines who are manning home stations and are not deployed to a war zone. “What I tell the Marines who are back here in the United States is, ‘Just think what you have done over the past year,’” Hagee said.

He noted that Marines who are not deployed are a vital part of training and equipping those who are deployed. “Without the support of Marines back here in the United States, the force protection and the capabilities of the Marines in theater would be much less,” he said. “Everyone has an important job, whether you’re forward or whether you’re back here.”

Speaking before Operation Al Fajr began in Fallujah, Iraq, on Nov. 8, Hagee said the Marines preparing to carry out that mission were ready for what they would face and were in good spirits.

“I would argue that the reason they feel so confident is that they’re properly equipped, properly trained, properly led, and they understand the importance of the mission,” he said.

Looking to the future of the force, Hagee said the Corps would maintain its character and its three core missions: to maintain the service’s force-in-readiness posture, to maintain a combined-arms team and to maintain the Marines’ expeditionary character.

In short, he said, the Marines will remain “most ready (to respond) when the nation is least ready.”

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 03:26 PM
November 17, 2004

Marine commandant rebuffs move to stop embedding reporters

By Rick Maze
Times staff writer


Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee rebuffed a Texas congressman’s effort to stop the practice of having reporters accompany military units into combat in Iraq.
Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, a Vietnam veteran on the House Armed Services Committee, said at a Wednesday hearing he thought the services should “abandon” the practice of “embedding” reporters in combat units in Iraq because of a recent incident in which a Marine was filmed swearing at and shooting a wounded Iraqi.

“I don’t think it is a good idea to have embedded reporters — not that we are trying to keep anything secret,” Reye said.

The video, taken by a freelance reporter working for NBC News, shows a Marine during the battle of Fallujah use vulgar language when he spots a wounded man moving, then shoot the man in the head. The video was provided to other news agencies under a pool arrangement, and has been widely aired in the Middle East, fueling increasing anti-American sentiment.

Reyes said the fact that video of the shooting is being used as anti-American propaganda is reason enough to reconsider having embedded reporters.

But Hagee disagreed, saying he sees no reason to change policies on having the media accompany combat troops. “Embedded reporters actually work very well,” he said. “The large, large majority are doing a tremendous job.”

The Marine Corps is investigating the shooting, which occurred as a small unit was entering a mosque on Saturday. The tape appears to show a young Marine who spots a wounded Iraq moving. The Marine screams about the Iraqi faking that he’s dead, then shoots the wounded man.

Marine officials, while not defending the shooting, said the Marine had been wounded the day before, which may have been a factor in why he shot so quickly at the wounded Iraqi.


Ellie

Sgted
11-18-04, 04:44 PM
Marine commandant rebuffs move to stop embedding reporters

I saw this testimony on TV.
I was surprized by General Hagee's response.

Over the years I have seen & heard pro's & con's on embedded reporters. I must admit that, being the old geezer I am now, I lived the action and adrenaline rush as our troops sped across the desert towards Baghdad. I can't be there so there was brought to me. I watched 24/7 living (as best I could) the experience.
Now that we have a Marine being investigated for killing an unarmed terrorist I'm not so sure if embedding is a good thing (much like alot of other Marines on this site).
I wonder why the Commandant sees embedding as good now that one of his own is under a looking glass ?
Are we over-reacting to this one incident ?.

thedrifter
11-18-04, 05:45 PM
America's Reputation Destroyed by Iraq Invasion
By GEORGE GEDDA
Nov 17, 2004, 08:17

Secretary of State Colin Powell is heading off to Europe soon to try to heal divisions generated by the Iraq war. No less pernicious, according to some analysts, are that war's effects on the U.S. reputation in Latin America.
The Iraq war, says former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda, has "contributed to a wide, deep and probably lasting collapse of sympathy for the United States" in the region.

Castaneda, a candidate for the Mexican presidency in the 2006 elections, is hardly a knee-jerk leftist. He served as foreign minister in the pre-Sept. 11 period, when U.S.-Mexican relations were at a high point.

Beyond the war itself, Castaneda says Latin American faith in the United States was sullied by the disclosures that overthrown Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had not been collaborating with al-Qaida, and the unconventional weapons thought to have been in Saddam's possession never materialized.

Michael Shifter, an analyst at the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, says the Iraq war was a grim reminder for Latin Americans of U.S. intervention in the hemisphere. Because of Iraq, he says, "It's going to take a long time to restore the trust. A lot of goodwill has been depleted."

With so much of Washington's attention and resources directed toward Iraq, there has been neglect of hemispheric issues, Shifter says, describing U.S. policy as one of "indifference and disengagement." Democracy for Cuba may be a priority for the United States but not for Latin America, he said.

Some hemispheric countries do get special attention.

Next week, for example, President Bush will visit Colombia, where the United States helps combat insurgencies and narcotraffickers. Bush also will visit Chile, but the main topic there will be East Asian security, not Latin America. Chile is playing host to a summit of leaders from the Asia-Pacific rim.

Mexico is getting more attention these days. Powell was there last week, and Bush is planning a state visit to Mexico in early 2005. Powell made a two-day visit to Brazil in October.

Philip McLean, a former diplomat who is now a Latin America expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says Washington should talk less about international terrorism and pay more heed to the region's development needs.

"Latin America policy is always best when it ties into what's on Latin America's mind," McLean said.

Responding to allegations of neglect, Powell points out that he has traveled to Latin America and the Caribbean region 14 times since he took office. He also routinely cites a Bush foreign aid initiative - good governance is rewarded with U.S. assistance - as an example of American support for Latin America and other regions.

But thus far, there have been only three beneficiaries in the hemisphere - Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua - representing a tiny fraction of the region's population. Powell hopes that the plan will encourage other countries to make the changes necessary to qualify for the aid.

Mark Falcoff, newly retired as the Latin American expert at the American Enterprise Institute, says the perception of U.S. neglect has generated deep resentment in the hemisphere.

He also says that Washington's commitment to open, freer economies, is viewed by Latin Americans as a policy forced upon them "by a selfish, grasping and unfeeling United States."

A U.S.-backed proposal for a hemispherewide free trade agreement, Falcoff says, "is often depicted as a conspiracy to exploit and subjugate Latin economies."

Looking back recently on his four years in office, Powell has a decidedly different take on the situation.

"There are always problems, but I think we're doing well in Latin America," he said. He pointed to trade agreements being negotiated with Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic, and what he described as quick U.S. action to provide hurricane relief to the Caribbean in the fall.

"I don't accept the characterization that the place is awash with problems that the United States hasn't tended to," Powell said. "And I sense that all of these countries are looking for a better relationship with the United States as we are looking for a better relationship with each and every one of them."

---

George Gedda has covered foreign affairs for The Associated Press since 1968.

Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 06:46 PM
U.S. Reopens Cpl Hassoun Case
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/18/2004 9:28:22 AM
United Press International

The U.S. Marines have reopened their investigation in Cpl. Wassef Hassoun, who went missing in June in Fallujah and turned up in Lebanon, CNN reports.

The move was sparked when troops recently discovered several of his personal items, including his passport, military ID and uniform in Fallujah.

Hassoun vanished June 20 and was listed as a deserter. His status was changed to captured after the release of a videotape that showed him blindfolded with a sword suspended over his head. A few days later, a posting to three Islamist Web sites claimed Hassoun had been beheaded.

On July 8, however, Hassoun turned up at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. How he traveled through Iraq to Lebanon remains a mystery, the Salt Lake Tribune said.

Following a repatriation process and a 30-day compassionate leave in Utah, Hassoun returned to duty at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in September and had his first meeting with military investigators.

He was on leave for much of October, spending the Islamic holy month of Ramadan with his family in West Jordan. He returned to Camp Lejeune Wednesday.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 06:53 PM
The Mystery of the Singing Marines
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November 18, 2004
by Lisa Fabrizio

They stand there at attention; impossibly young, and handsome in a way that only a man who proudly wears the uniform of his country can be. Two Marines, on the eve of the battle for Fallujah, mere days away from a fierce struggle and house-to-house fighting, captured for posterity on videotape. And what do these leathernecks do in those moments leading up to their hour of peril? They sing.

In a remarkable video that I first caught at Blackfive.net, these intrepid warriors give the two most inspired renditions of our National Anthem you'll ever have the good fortune to hear. But it is heartbreaking on two counts; first in the way that your heart bursts with pride and gratitude that men of such distinction are willing to defend us, and second, that they might have been killed or wounded in that defense.

First up is Corporal Mark Sixbey, of Metlakatla, AK. Filmed from the waist up in front of an American flag duct-taped to a wall, he sings the Anthem unaccompanied in a loud, clear voice; his stance firm, his dark eyes resolute and focused on something we cannot see. His every note is sung in a determined yet passionate fashion, as if he were drawing strength from the very singing of it.

No less impressive is the rendition of Sergeant Robert Jones Jr. of Oceanside, CA who follows from the same location. Sporting a thin mustache, probably grown in an effort to make his appearance match his rank, he delivers a slower, more emotive version; his tenor voice embracing every note, using tremolo as if to add meaning to each word. Like his comrade, he ends his performance the way he began; at attention and with a look that says he is ready for whatever happens.

Neatly dressed in their fatigues, these two Marines--one from a red state, the other a blue-- represent us all in the same way: Duty, honor, country. Watching them, one wonders about their intentions: Do they sing for inspiration, to leave a remembrance, or to simply state, in their own way, what they are fighting for?

Far from domestic political clashes, these brave soldiers and Marines are laying their lives on the line every day and night; fighting bloodthirsty, inhuman savages who pray every day and night that they might one day ply their particular handiwork on the citizens of the United States.

I do not know the fate of Corporal Sixbey or Sergeant Jones, but I do know that I will never forget either of them. Credit for this goes to DVIDS (The Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System), who received the video from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. DVIDS is a digital clearinghouse for images and videos. It is funded by the Army but serves all military branches in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters.

A visit to their website is a virtual treasure trove for anyone seeking information on our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. You'll smile, weep and outright cheer as you peruse the mountain of videos, images and articles there. You'll view the costs of war, but get quite a different perspective than if you watch it on your nightly network newscast.

Like the sight of two Marines; strong enough to battle a vicious, lawless enemy, yet capable of an exquisite show of love of flag and country through an act as simple as a song. A love and a song that has sustained this nation and its military for two hundred years. May they sustain Corporal Sixbey, Sergeant Jones and their comrades still.

The appalling part of this story is that DVIDS exists mainly to supply the mainstream media with access to information at ground level from the theaters of war. You've no doubt seen the video of the shooting of an injured Iraqi 'soldier' too many times on the tube already. Ditto, the Abu Ghraib prison photos. Have you seen the singing Marines?

Note: Since the writing of this article, the good folks at DVIDS have solved at least a part of the mystery of the singing Marines: "The 'Sing the National Anthem' video was shot in-theatre specifically for openings to various sporting events across the nation."

The U.S. Marines: The gift that keeps on giving.

DVIDS: www.dvidshub.net

Blackfive: www.blackfive.net/main/20...he_ma.html


Ellie

thedrifter
11-18-04, 08:18 PM
Bush Thanks Troops and Families
By Gene Harper
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2004 – President Bush turned the nation's thoughts to servicemembers and their families during a pre-Thanksgiving White House event Nov. 17.

"During this holiday season," the president said, "we think especially of our men and women of the armed forces, many of whom are spending Thanksgiving far from home.

"America is proud of our military. We're proud of our military families," he said. "And we give them our thanks every day of the year."

Bush recalled his surprise 2003 Thanksgiving Day visit with troops serving in Iraq's Baghdad area. Under tight-lipped security and secrecy, the president flew to Iraq and dined with about 600 servicemembers and invited guests.

That day, he told the stunned audience they were on duty in Iraq "so that we don't have to face them in our own country."

"You're defeating Saddam's henchmen so that the people of Iraq can live in peace and freedom. By helping the Iraqi people become free, you're helping change a troubled and violent part of the world. By helping to build a peaceful and democratic country in the heart of the Middle East, you are defending the American people from danger, and we are grateful," Bush said at his 2003 visit.

At the White House this year, he noted that "those men and women, like all who wear our nation's uniform, have volunteered to serve," Bush said. "Through their courage and skill and sacrifice they are keeping our country safe and free."

The president reminded guests Nov. 17 that "we are a nation founded by men and women who deeply felt their dependence on God and always gave Him thanks and praise."

"As we prepare for Thanksgiving in 2004, we have much to be thankful for: our families, our friends, our beautiful country, and the freedom granted to each one of us by the Almighty."

The president hosted the annual White House event in honor of the national Thanksgiving turkey. In keeping with custom, Bush granted this year's bird, Biscuits, a presidential pardon, meaning that it was "not going to end up on the table." And in an unusual twist, the president included a second turkey, Gravy, in the pardon.

Ellie