For Military Families, Peace on Earth Is a Daily Prayer

[thedrifter]

Joe Galloway: For Military Families, Peace on Earth Is a Daily Prayer

WASHINGTON - It is good that we think of the American military family this holiday season when we gather with our own families over tables laden with a feast and around decorated trees barricaded with gaily wrapped presents.

We are a nation at war, and these holidays are somehow dimmed by the thought of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in harm's way in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as in a hundred other places around a troubled world.

For the families of the 175,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere, their only joy will come with the safe return home of their soldier or Marine. For 900 children who have lost a father or mother in combat since these wars of the 21st century began, no present or fancy dinner can repair a broken and longing heart.

My friend Karen Spears Zacharias, whose father was killed in Vietnam in 1966, has a memory that returns to her every year during the holidays. She writes, movingly, of that memory:

"Recent news reports estimate nearly 900 U.S. children have lost a parent in the war in Iraq. (These) headlines take me back to the Christmas season of 1965 -- the year my own father went to war. Don't ask me why his deployment took place during the holidays. There's a lot about military policy that befuddles me.

"There isn't much that I remember about that last festive celebration with my father before he was slain in Vietnam. I can't remember whether we ate a ham or turkey or a can of Spam. We were living on Oahu; Spam was a popular dinner choice on a GI's grocery budget.

"What I can remember with an aching clarity, however, was Christmas Day itself. My older brother, Frankie, 11, got me out of bed before Mama and our baby sister, Linda, woke. There wasn't anything for us to do. No presents to unwrap. No stockings to unstuff. No cookies to nibble. No motor cars to rumble around the living room. No Slinkies to coil down the stairs.

"So we went for a walk in the cul-de-sac. Frankie said it sure didn't feel much like Christmas. I nodded in agreement. Eyeing a decorated tree in the window of a neighboring house, we stood still. A young man opened his front door. His wife stood behind him. He asked Frankie what we were doing out so early on Christmas morning. Why weren't we at home, opening gifts from Santa?

"Frankie said we didn't have any gifts to open. 'Daddy left for Vietnam,' Frankie explained. 'Santa came to our house early.'

"A shadow fell across the young man's face. I knew from his haircut that he was a soldier, too. 'Would you like to come inside and share our Christmas with us?' he asked.

"Frankie and I looked at each other. We knew Mama wouldn't approve, but we were both so lonesome that we didn't give her another thought. Besides we needed some proof that this really was Christmas Day and not just another day without Daddy.

"We watched and giggled as the couple's daughter eagerly tore through the silver-wrapping and red bows. It didn't bother us one bit to watch another kid open all the presents under the tree. We were content, even happy, to be part of that merry event -- a baby's first Christmas.

"Not a holiday season goes by that I don't recall that young family and the priceless treasure they bestowed upon Frankie and me that morning -- the gift of hospitality.

"It's the one gift that I cherish more with each passing year. Especially now that we are at war again. I grow sad thinking of all those children who will be spending this Christmas Day without their daddies or their mamas. And my heart is broken for all each and every one of those children whose parent has already died in war.

"For those families Peace on Earth is more than just a holiday greeting. It's our daily prayer."

Karen's book, "Hero Mama," which tells the story of what her father's death in Vietnam did to her and her family, will be published next month by William Morrow Co.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Corpsmen Spread Holiday Cheer
Associated Press
December 25, 2004

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq - With shouts of "Merry Christmas, Devil Dogs," Navy corpsmen clad in elf caps and antlers brought some cheer Friday to Marines spending the holidays in the Iraqi desert.

The group from the Navy's Bravo Surgical Company, which tends to the wounded at Camp Fallujah, crisscrossed the sprawling base in a seven-ton truck and a fire engine, singing carols to Marines who smiled, waved and took pictures. Some looked bemused when candy canes were tossed at their feet with shouts of "incoming!"

"We're getting to spend the holiday here, why not share it with the rest of the group," said Lt. Rex Macaspac, executive officer of the Navy medical unit. "I'm trying to make the most out it with what we have, trying to lighten everybody up, including myself."

Marines decked out the former Iraqi military base with lights and tinsel well before Christmas Eve. There is no snow, though it hailed briefly last week and the temperature has dipped below freezing in recent days.

A sparkling tree lit up a road leading out to the edge of the base. The mess hall was strung with red and green streamers, and camp buses all played Armed Forces Network radio's steady run of Christmas tunes.

Cards from kids around the United States festooned the walls. "Mery Christmas I hope you do not got hurt realy bad," read a misspelled card signed Dylan. "Thank you for protecting our country."

Earlier Friday, the Marines got a surprise visit from Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, who also stopped in Mosul, Tikrit and Baghdad. He posed for pictures with troops gathered just outside Bravo Surgical Company, known best by its nickname, the "Cheaters of Death."

Rumsfeld joked he couldn't stay in Fallujah because his 50th wedding anniversary is Dec. 27.

"Can you imagine being married 50 years?" he asked the troops, who chuckled and jostled to shake his hand. "Is there anyone here who's 50? No, there's not."

Later, a civilian contractor in Santa Claus suit greeted Marines at the mess hall and joined doctors and nurses in singing carols. Troops set up video conference calls with their families back in New York and Chicago.

About 200 people gathered for an evening religious service led by chaplain Tom Thies. Because candles aren't allowed, it wrapped up with the lighting of glow sticks and a rendition of "Silent Night."

Some chaplains ventured into Fallujah itself, which saw intensive fighting between Marines and insurgents Thursday, to minister to troops stationed there for weeks at a time, Thies said.

"We remember those who are on duty tonight, who keep the watch, who stand the wall," he told those at the service.

The war was not far away. Three Marines died in Thursday's fighting in Fallujah. And as the group from Bravo Surgical prepared to make its rounds, the sound of gunfire could be heard from a nearby practice range.

"There's nothing like singing carols with machine guns going off in the background," said Lt. Lyle Gilbert, a base spokesman.

The Marines gained the moniker "devil dogs" from German soldiers during World War I. On Friday, they were more subdued as they contemplated a holiday away from home.

This Christmas was 23-year-old Cpl. Erik Coy's first away from his family. He was matter-of-fact about missing the celebration and said he had kept in touch with relatives through the makeshift Internet cafe - where computers are separated by plywood sheets and a 20-minute time limit keeps the long line moving.

"It's a job. We signed up for it," Coy said after the religious service.

Others were a little more wistful.

"It's tough, but it's worth it," said Brandy Williams, a Navy nurse. "But it would be better to be home with your family drinking egg nog - with vodka in it."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Holidays Savored Before Heading To Iraq
Associated Press
December 25, 2004

FORT STEWART, Ga. - For the 19,000 soldiers of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, whose tanks and armored Bradley vehicles led the assault on Baghdad, Iraq, last year, being home for the holidays is a bittersweet prelude to a busy new year.

In January, the Fort Stewart-based troops will begin returning to Iraq for their second tour of duty. The 3rd Infantry will be the first Army division to go back since the March 2003 invasion.

"When the information finally came that we were going to deploy after Christmas, there was definitely a sigh of relief," said Staff Sgt. David Smith-Barry, who will be among the first wave to leave. "It's definitely been a positive, good for morale."

While waiting to return to Iraq with his military intelligence unit, Smith-Barry conducted a secret mission to make the most of Christmas.

Visiting his wife in The Woodlands, Texas, during two weeks of December leave, Smith-Barry would take her to work every morning and then go shopping - for tiles and cabinets, brick and paint colors, a lot and a builder.

"I bought her a house," said Smith-Barry, grinning at the thought of his gift for his wife, Amanda. "She doesn't know anything about it."

The unit's assignment comes as no surprise to the 3rd Infantry troops at Fort Stewart and Fort Benning. The soldiers began training for a second tour almost as soon as they returned home in late summer 2003. The Pentagon officially announced their return trip last March.

Now, 15 months after the troops' homecoming, yellow ribbons again hang along with Christmas lights on utility poles in neighboring Hinesville. In early December, soldiers began loading their tanks, helicopters and other war machines onto Navy freighters bound for the Middle East.

"I believe the majority will be gone 12-14 months," 3rd Infantry commander Maj. Gen. William G. Webster said earlier this month. While much of the 3rd Infantry will not be in place for the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq, Webster said his troops will play a key role in providing security for follow-up elections in the spring and summer.

A number of Fort Stewart soldiers who had planned to leave the Army after their first combat tour remain in the ranks, their enlistments extended as part of the Army's "stop-loss" program.

"I was hoping I'd be moving on," said Spc. Desmond Lackey, 21, a machine-gunner who was slated to leave the Army in March 2005 but learned last month that his enlistment has been extended until April 2006. "Personally, I'd like to get out and go back to college."

Lackey had time to spend Christmas with family in Jay, Okla. He said he particularly looked forward to seeing his grandmother, who had heart surgery this year.

"The bad thing about being in the military is you always have to have that `what if' thought: What if he didn't come home?" said his wife, Victoria. "So I wanted to make sure his grandmother and mother got to see him and tell him they love him."

During the past year, 3rd Infantry troops have trained for a vastly different type of conflict from the war they fought last year. More than 1,300 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, with more than 1,100 killed since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations in May 2003.

The soldiers who are going back have been honing their urban warfare, riot-control and hand-to-hand combat skills.

"I think it's more dangerous this time, because they know us better," Sgt. Mark Matekovic, a Bradley gunner, said of the Iraqi insurgents. "Now they're not wearing uniforms. It makes it a little trickier."

Matekovic spent the week before his holiday leave tuning up his tracked vehicle, making sure its armor and weapons were in working order. Then he was leaving for Kansas to spend Christmas with his 4-year-old son, Anthony.

"It's my first Christmas with him - I already missed three," said Matekovic, who spent the 2002 holidays in Kuwait during the buildup to war. "I have to try to be a part of his life."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Baghdad Truck Blast Kills 1, Injures 19
Associated Press
December 25, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A gas tanker truck wired with explosives blew up in a west Baghdad neighborhood Friday, killing one person, wounding 19 and lighting up the night sky with a fireball, just hours after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld left the capital.

There were no members of the multinational forces among the casualties, said Capt. Brian Lucas, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.

The butane truck was parked near the Libyan Embassy in the Mansour district, an upscale district where many foreigners live and embassies are located, police said. Residents said they could hear small-arms fire immediately after the blast.

Most of the wounded suffered severe burns, said a doctor at Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital. Three nearby houses were damaged by the blast, though there were no injuries inside the embassies.

Rumsfeld's surprise one-day tour in Iraq took him to the cities of Mosul, Fallujah and Tikrit and the heavily barricaded Green Zone in Baghdad - he did not visit the Mansour area - and throughout his meetings with U.S. troops, he insisted that the insurgency that plagued the country for months would be defeated.




Still, violence has escalated even after the U.S. offensive in Fallujah last month that largely captured the guerrilla's main stronghold.

On Tuesday, insurgents in Mosul, a northern city that has become a center for violence, carried out the deadliest yet against Americans - a suicide attack on a mess tent at a U.S. base.

Brig. Gen. Richard P. Formica, who investigated abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, is leading a new, wide-ranging probe into security lapses that allowed the bomber to penetrate into a packed mess hall on the base, authorities said Friday.

The Mosul blast - claimed by the radical Islamic group known as the Ansar al-Sunnah Army - killed 22 people, most of them American soldiers and civilians. The bomber believed to have carried out the attack was probably wearing an Iraqi military uniform, the U.S. military has said.

Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, a spokesman at the Mosul base, said the investigation will be "conducted quickly and thoroughly" but that there was no deadline for its conclusions.

"Now we have a pretty good idea that it was a suicide bomber," Hastings said. Formica "is going to investigate into the how's - how did that happen?"

In Fallujah, around 4,000 displaced citizens returned to inspect their homes Friday, the second day that authorities have allowed some residents back into the devastated city.

Much of Fallujah remains uninhabitable since the U.S. offensive because of destroyed homes, unexploded ordinance on the streets, lack of water or basic supplies and commodities. But repatriating the tens of thousands of people who fled the city before the assault is a key step in the attempt to restore stability in the city ahead of Jan. 30 elections.

Many of those who arrived Friday were shocked and angry. Some said they would rather remain in makeshift camps outside the town than return to their bombed out homes.

"I no longer have my home," said a man who identified himself only as Abdul-Rahman. "I prefer the camp to returning to Fallujah in this terrible way. I don't know when am I going to be bombed or killed."

Iraq's interim security minister, Kassim Daoud, said people were insisting on returning despite clashes that have continued in the city since the offensive ended - including heavy fighting on Thursday that killed three U.S. Marines.

A posting Friday on an Islamic Web site made a rare admission of significant casualties among insurgents in Thursday's clash, saying 24 were killed. Nineteen were said to be non-Iraqi Arabs from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The rest were said to be Iraqis.

Meanwhile, Tariq Aziz, a former senior aide of Saddam Hussein who has been in jail since early last year, told his lawyer that he will not testify against the former dictator, said the lawyer, Badee Izzat Aref, after meeting his client. Aziz also denied any graft took place in the controversial U.N. oil-for-food program, the lawyer said.

The program allowed Iraq to sell oil to buy food and medicine for its people suffering under U.N. sanctions imposed in 1990. U.N. officials and members of Saddam's regime have been accused of corruption over the program, which started in 1996.

Aziz is one of 11 Saddam aides who - along with Saddam - face trial for crimes under the ousted regime. Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has been pushing forward the proceedings as elections approach.

Iraq's persistent violence has raised fears that voters will not be able to cast ballots in the election - the first nationwide vote since Saddam's fall.

A powerful Sunni Muslim group, the Association of Muslim Scholars, renewed its calls Friday for postponing elections.

"We are not against the elections, but we want fair elections that represent the Iraqi people. Since this is not possible at the time being ... we call for postponing it," senior cleric Sheik Ahmed Abdul-Ghafour al-Samaraie told worshippers at Baghdad's Um al-Qura mosque during Friday prayers.

Clerics from the association had urged Iraq's Sunni minority to boycott the election to protest the offensive in mainly Sunni city of Fallujah.

In other developments Friday, U.S. soldiers opened fire on car carrying a family in Baghdad, killing a young girl and injuring her mother and brother, an Associated Press Television News report said. The circumstances of the incident on the treacherous airport road, the scene of frequent bomb attacks against American troops, were unknown.

U.S. troops and insurgents clashed in the city center of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, leaving four civilians wounded, police Maj. Saadoun Matroud said.

Gunmen kidnapped Iraqi National Guards Col. Saadi Aftan Hammoud while on his way from Baghdad to western city of Ramadi, the police said. Four other guard members who were with Hammoud, a commander in Ramadi, were allowed to continue on their way, the officer said.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Letterman Tapes Christmas Eve In Iraq
Associated Press
December 25, 2004

David Letterman brought his late-night show to Marines serving in Iraq on Friday, loosening up the Camp Taqaddum crowd with the line, "Anybody here from out of town?"

Letterman brought along musical director Paul Shaffer, stage manager Biff Henderson, comedian Tom Dreesen and the band Off the Wall.

When hands flew in the air in response to requests for a volunteer to help deliver the opening monologue, he asked: "Isn't that how you got here?"

With the help of cue cards held by an Army soldier, Letterman ran off a series of crowd-pleasers:

"Iraqi elections are in January. Hurry up and pick somebody so we can get the hell out of here," he said.

And: "If I wanted to face insurgents I would've spent Christmas with my relatives."




Letterman has repeatedly featured Marines on "The Late Show."

"Paul and I were in Afghanistan three years ago, and last year we were in Baghdad," Letterman told the crowd. "We wouldn't want it any other way. We're sorry we keep having to come back. If you ever come to New York City, come see us and we'll treat you like big shots."

The Marines, most of who have been deployed since late summer, welcomed the visit.

"It was great, all of the Marines getting together having a good time," said Gunnery Sgt. Ronald Trignano, 32, a tech-controller with Communication Squadron 48. "It almost makes you forget where you are for a little while."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Fallujah Residents Return To Ruins
The News And Observer
December 24, 2004

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - The first group of displaced residents were allowed back into war-ravaged Fallujah to inspect their homes Thursday, even as U.S. Marines and warplanes fought a pitched battle with insurgents in another corner of the city.

Thursday was the official start of the resettlement of Fallujah, the former insurgent stronghold that was conquered block by bloody block last month. The fighting left a virtual ghost town, with many homes damaged, sewage running in the streets, and electrical and water facilities demolished.

The return was a gingerly first step, at best, toward repopulating a city that once held about 250,000 people. About 900 of them, almost all men and all from the neighborhood of Andalus, re-entered the city for a few hours to see the condition of their homes and decide whether to move their families back, said Marine officers on the scene.

The privations that returning families face are significant. With water purifying plants and distribution systems largely destroyed, officials have built 24 temporary water tanks. They will give water cans to returnees, who will have to fetch supplies by hand.

Residents will also receive food aid, and kerosene to fuel generators for lighting. Every returning family will get the equivalent of a few hundred dollars. Families whose houses were destroyed will receive $10,000 worth of Iraqi currency.




In an effort to keep insurgents out, or track them down more easily, all men of military age will be subjected as they return to computer-age identification procedures. Their retinas and fingerprints will be scanned, and they will have to carry that information on badges that can be swiped in machines at checkpoints. The procedures were started with many of the men venturing back Thursday.

Political aims

The Iraqi government has boldly promised the speedy recovery of Fallujah, hoping that its mainly Sunni residents can be persuaded to vote -- from their home city -- in the national elections Jan. 30. The aim is to draw more Sunnis into a political process.

American officers caution that it will take months to restore electricity and water. It will take longer still to create from Fallujah's ruins the showcase city they have promised.

The 900 visiting Fallujahns on Thursday were fewer than half of the 2,000 predicted the day before by Iraqi ministers. But the commander of the American Marines in this hostile region of western Iraq, Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, said he expected that the number of returnees would snowball.

"When word gets out, the momentum will pick up," Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said Thursday.

Security and aid supplies permitting, the city's 17 other districts will be opened for residents' inspection in the coming weeks, with the next one scheduled for Sunday. Soon after this preliminary step, district by district, those who want to can move home for good.

Nearly all of the residents of Fallujah, which is about 40 miles west of Baghdad, fled the vicious warfare in November and have been crammed into tent camps or the homes of relatives elsewhere.

The interim government and the Americans have portrayed the rebuilding of Fallujah as a priority and a way to regain support of Sunnis, who have formed the core of the insurrection and are in many cases threatening to boycott the coming elections.

American engineers have begun work on power stations and draining of sewage-drenched streets. The Marines say they have buried the bodies of more than 500 insurgents, many of which had lain in the streets for days or even weeks after major combat stopped. Clearing of bombs and mines has begun.

Insurgents remain

But the obstacles to reviving the city are enormous.

First, insurgents remain. Sattler said he had been surprised by the resistance that American and Iraqi forces continued to face more than a month after major combat in Fallujah ended. In the past two weeks alone, he said, 100 to 125 insurgents have been killed in multiple encounters.

He said it was unclear whether they were entering the city from outside, had been hiding in bombed-out buildings or were popping up from the labyrinth of tunnels below the city streets.

On Thursday, Marines encountered fighters in a fortified building in northeastern Fallujah, some distance from the reopened neighborhood, and eventually called in air support.

Later the military said three Marines had been killed in Anbar province, without specifying exactly where. But the battle in Fallujah was the only major fight reported in the province.

Anger at Americans

The visitors Thursday had to leave before dark. It is unclear how many will move back soon.

Whether they supported the insurgency, many Fallujah residents were embittered by the American invasion and recent siege. So another unknown factor is how much the returning population will cooperate with American plans, given its mixed feelings of fear, sadness and anger.

Dhia Hussein, 28, was entering Thursday via a checkpoint to view his parents' home. This fall, he said, he bought a second house because he was about to marry.

"I had just furnished that house, and when I left, the fridge was full of sweets and fruits for my wedding," he said.

He said he dreaded seeing what had happened. "We've heard that most of the houses have been burned or destroyed," he said.

His countenance shifted to fury when he added that he had heard that mosques, too, had been burned. "The mosque is God's house! Did you ever hear of anyone destroying God's house?"All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed in any manner.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Rumsfeld Passionately Defends Himself
Associated Press
December 23, 2004

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, stung by criticism that he's insensitive to the needs of the troops and their families, offered his most impassioned defense Wednesday.

The normally stoic Rumsfeld said when he meets wounded soldiers or relatives of those killed in battle, "their grief is something I feel to my core."

"I am truly saddened by the thought that anyone could have the impression that I, or others here, are doing anything other than working urgently to see that the lives of the fighting men and women are protected and are cared for in every way humanly possible," he said.

"And I hope and pray that every family member of those who have died so bravely knows how deeply I feel their loss."

Rumsfeld has been a lightning rod since the war began in March 2003, but criticism recently intensified after a Tennessee National Guardsman in Kuwait asked him during a question-and-answer session with soldiers on Dec. 8 why he and his comrades had to scrounge for armor to protect their vehicles.




Rumsfeld gave an extended answer that included the statement, "You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have."

Critics called the response insensitive and castigated him for not doing more to prepare the U.S. military for the Iraqi invasion and its aftermath.

The following week, some Republicans joined Democrats in voicing dissatisfaction with Rumsfeld.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he had "no confidence" in Rumsfeld, citing the defense secretary's handling of the war and the failure to send more troops. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said he believes Rumsfeld should be gone within a year. Neither directly called for his resignation.

The defense secretary was criticized again last weekend when it was reported that he did not personally sign letters of condolence to the families of dead soldiers, but instead relied on a mechanical device to affix his signature. He immediately abandoned the practice.

"My goodness, that's the least that we could expect of the secretary of defense, is having some personal attention paid by him," Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said Sunday.

The next day, President Bush defended Rumsfeld, who has agreed to stay on for Bush's second term, saying his defense secretary was "doing a very fine job."

A CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll released Monday found 52 percent of respondents believe Rumsfeld should resign, and 41 percent approve of his job performance. People were evenly split on Rumsfeld's performance in May, but most approved of his handling of the job about a year ago.

On Wednesday, Rumsfeld said, "I, and I know others, stay awake at night for concern for those at risk, with hope for their lives, for their success. And I want those who matter most, the men and women in uniform and their families, to know that. And I want them to know that we consider them, the soldiers, the sailors, the airmen, the Marines, to be America's true treasure. And I thank them and I thank their families."

Asked whether the criticism had undermined his ability to do his job, he said, "You get up in the morning and you think about what our troops are doing. And I must say, if they can do what they're doing, I can do what I'm doing."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Rumsfeld Visits Soldiers In Iraq
Associated Press
December 24, 2004

MOSUL, Iraq - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, on a Christmas Eve mission to cheer up the troops in Iraq, promised them that no matter how bleak things might look at any one moment they will look back on their mission with pride.

"There's no doubt in my mind, this is achievable," he told troops in Mosul just three days after the devastating attack on a U.S. military dining hall here.

"When it looks bleak, when one worries about how it's going to come out, when one reads and hears the naysayers and the doubters who say it can't be done, and that we're in a quagmire here," one should recall that there have been such doubters "throughout every conflict in the history of the world," he told about 200 soldiers of the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division at their commander's headquarters.

Traveling in secrecy amid tight security, Rumsfeld landed in pre-dawn darkness and immediately headed for a combat surgical hospital where many of the bombing victims were treated after Tuesday's lunchtime attack on a mess tent. The most seriously wounded already have been transferred to a U.S. military hospital in Germany.

At a later stop in Tikrit, the hometown of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Rumsfeld met with the commander of the 1st Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. John Batiste.





Batiste said that 90 percent of the threat in his area, which covers four provinces in northcentral and northeastern Iraq is from former Baathist regime elements.

He told Rumsfeld the groundwork is being laid for successful elections in this part of Iraq, which is predominantly Sunni.

Standing under a bright sun on a brisk morning, Rumsfeld addressed a group of about 250 soldiers gathered outside Batiste's headquarters, thanking them for their service and wishing them holiday greetings.

During his brief stop at the 67th Combat Surgical Hospital in Mosul, the defense chief presented a Purple Heart medal to Sgt. Chris Scott, who was wounded a day earlier. Rumsfeld also thanked the hospital's staff for their work in treating the dozens of wounded from Tuesday's attack at the mess hall, located near the base's airfield.

Out of concern for security, Rumsfeld's aides went to unusual lengths to keep his visit a secret prior to his arrival, with only a few reporters and one TV crew accompanying him on an overnight flight from Washington.

In an interview aboard the C-17 cargo plane that brought him to Mosul, Rumsfeld said he'd been planning to visit U.S. troops here long before Tuesday's deadly attack, believed to have been carried out by a suicide bomber.

The blast Tuesday at Forward Operating Base Marez was the deadliest single attack on a U.S. base in Iraq, striking as hundreds of soldiers sat down to lunch. Fourteen U.S. servicemembers were among the 22 killed.

The top U.S. general in northern Iraq said Thursday that the suicide bomber believed to have blown himself up in the dining tent was probably wearing an Iraqi military uniform. The episode has focused new attention on the ability of the U.S. military to protect its forces.

Security experts said improved screening of visitors and fewer large troop gatherings would help counter insurgents' tactics. Some individual bases have taken steps such as posting guards outside mess tents. Military officials discussed ways to increase security for troops in Iraq but announced no major shifts Thursday.

Rumsfeld's visit to Mosul came as U.S. Marines engaged in the heaviest fighting in weeks in Fallujah, the embattled city west of Baghdad, where U.S. troops waged bloody battles before clearing the city of most militants last month. At least three Marines were killed in combat that underlined how far the city and surrounding area are from being tamed as the United States and its Iraqi allies try to bring quiet before national elections Jan. 30.

In introducing Rumsfeld to his troops at Task Force Olympia headquarters, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham expressed gratitude for what he described as an outpouring of Christmas cards and other expressions of thanks and condolences from people across the United States since Tuesday's attack.

"It has been truly heartwarming," Ham said.

In his prepared remarks to Ham's soldiers, Rumsfeld alluded to Tuesday' attack and said he was inspired by the spirit shown by the wounded. He said he had visited other wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington on Wednesday.

"It's amazing, what they say, how they feel about the work that's being done out here," he said.

Rumsfeld's stealth Christmas Eve trip came on the heels of several difficult weeks for the defense chief. Several high-profile Republicans have publicly criticized Rumsfeld, prompting President Bush to defend him Monday as a "good human being who cares deeply about the military and deeply about the grief that war causes."

Speaking for himself on Wednesday, Rumsfeld said he stays awake at night worrying about soldiers and their families and shares their grief over lost loved ones.

Rumsfeld has made several visits to troops in the region, most recently two weeks ago to a forward base in Kuwait. There, a handful of soldiers openly challenged him about inadequate equipment and long deployments.

He faced another firestorm earlier this week because he was not personally signing condolence letters to the families of dead soldiers, as the president does. Critics fault him for poor postwar planning and for a steadily growing list of problems, from failure to strangle the insurgency to prisoner abuses in Iraq and Guantanamo.

Rumsfeld was popular following during the successful military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, but postwar problems in Iraq have soured his standing with Americans. Half now say he should resign even though the president just signed him on for his second-term cabinet.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

December 27, 2004

Experts: Better cultural training needed
Corps is taking the lead in educating ranks

By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer


So you’re headed to Iraq and you’ve tried to learn all you can about the people there. You’ve sat through a few cultural briefings and exercises with your unit, read a book about Islam and even picked up some Arabic phrases.
But if you think you know all you need to know about Iraqis, think again.

That’s the message of a group of cultural anthropologists, political scientists and military officials from each service that gathered in Washington in November for a conference on culture and war sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.

Members of the group say Marines and other service members are missing an important weapon in their arsenal in Iraq: deep knowledge of the culture. It’s not their fault, though, because cultural training for troops has been superficial, they said, and has focused too much on niceties and not enough on the knowledge essential for gaining local allies, fighting insurgents and rebuilding the civil institutions of a nation.

The good news is the Marine Corps is taking the lead in fixing the problem, they say.

“It’s not simply an issue of not committing an offense. It’s now how do you communicate in a way that makes them want to work with you?” said Barak A. Salmoni, a Middle East expert and professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. Salmoni is helping to train II Marine Expeditionary Force on Iraqi culture as it prepares to leave for Iraq in early 2005.

One thing the Corps needs to focus on is tailoring cultural lessons to Marines’ ranks, jobs and duties, Salmoni said. Lance corporals should receive lessons on dealing with Iraqis on the street, while battalion commanders need lectures on negotiating contracts, he said.

Leathernecks’ observations

Montgomery McFate, organizer of the conference, said junior Marines who’ve been to Iraq say they aren’t getting the level of cultural knowledge they need.

With the approval of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico, Va., McFate, a cultural anthropologist, recently conducted a study of Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif., about the effectiveness of their predeployment cultural training. All of them had recently returned from Iraq.

Some said cultural training was not available at all, while others said they took it upon themselves to buy books and study on their own. They reported that their language training was not helpful because it was too short and said they had to rely too often on their instincts and on-the-job training, she said.

Marines said they felt confused or unprepared for rampant swindling and deception, and unofficial ways in which Iraqis did business, along with other Iraqi work practices, which they perceived as being lackadaisical.

She said Marines need a better understanding of Iraqi work culture, the importance of honor and shame, and the effects of fear and totalitarianism on behavior.

Information gap

Part of the problem is that much of the pre-Iraq training initially was based on the culture of other Gulf states and was not specific to Iraqi culture, said Andrea Jackson, a political scientist who conducts cultural training for the Marine Corps and Army. Other training, she said, focused on ideas of Islam that either were oversimplified or applied more to Saudi Arabia than Iraq, she said.

It was difficult for Western researchers to gather cultural data during Saddam Hussein’s regime. ;Much of what academics thought they knew about Iraqi culture was based on other Middle Eastern cultures, she said, and overly generalized information was passed down to the military.

If the military is going to win over Iraqis who might otherwise support insurgents, it is absolutely necessary to get adequate training, Jackson and others said.

“We’re trying to get the culture to buy into the government. We can’t do that if we don’t know how to sell them on this. Until you understand that, you don’t even know who your friends are and you can’t create an environment in which they want your security,” she said.

For example, Jackson said, if you snub a tribal sheik by not inviting him to the opening of your new power plant, he may show up and protest the opening. On the other hand, if you honor him by inviting him, you will create an ally, she said.

Despite shortcomings in training, the Marine Corps has learned much in the past two years and is the one service that is making a true effort to change its training, McFate said.

There is no institutionalized cultural training in the Marine Corps. Officers get some training at the formal schools, and in the past year, deploying enlisted members have performed cultural exercises during security and stability operations training as part of the Revised Combined Arms Exercise at March Air Reserve Base, Calif.

The Corps has recruited people such as Jackson and Salmoni to bring more cultural training to troops at their home stations. But much of this is at the commanders’ request, said Col. Jeff Bearor, chief of staff for Training and Education Command at Quantico, Va.

“We haven’t done as good a job as we need of getting this into our formal training, but we do get them a good baseline,” he said. “I think we’re a lot smarter this year than we were last year.”

Bearor said the command is serious about making cultural training as important as learning geography and the effects of weather on the battlefield.

In November, Bearor and the command’s officials gathered at Quantico to assess the Corps’ cultural resources and talk about ways to institutionalize its cultural training.

He said training officials are considering creating a cultural training center at Quantico within the next six months.



Ellie

[thedrifter]

Two key terror network members captured in Iraq
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(CNN) -- Two key figures in Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terrorist network are in U.S. custody following a December sweep of Ramadi, Iraq, according to a U.S. military news release issued Saturday.

Soldiers of the Marine Expeditionary Force captured Saleh Arugayan Kahlil (Mahalawi), also known as Abu Ubaydah, on December 8 and caught Bassim Mohammad Hazeem, also known as Abu Khattab, on December 12, the release states.

According to the statement, the two men were cell leaders of the "Harun terrorist network," anl al-Zarqawi-affiliated group operating in Ramadi and western al Anbar province.

"This group is responsible for intimidating, attacking and murdering innocent Iraqi civilians, Iraqi police and security forces and business and political leaders throughout the Anbar province," it read.

The U.S. military blames the Harun terrorist network for kidnapping and killing 11 Iraqi National Guardsmen during the last several months and carrying out several lethal bombing attacks.

The terrorist cell also is believed to have smuggled foreign terrorists into Iraq, in an effort "to destabilize the region and prevent economic growth in Iraq," according to the statement.

The soldiers who captured the men were attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Marine Division of the I Marine Expeditionary Force.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Two Receive Soldiers Medal for Lifesaving Heroism
American Forces Press Service

ASAD, Iraq, Dec. 23, 2004 -- Instant decisions and decisive action led to two soldiers receiving the Soldiers Medal here Dec. 18 for heroism in a fight to save the lives of four Cobra AH-1 attack helicopter pilots March 29.

Staff Sgt. Spencer A. Howell and crew chief Spc. Eric S. Burns of the 507th Air Ambulance Company each received the Soldiers Medal from Marine Maj. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, commander of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. The Soldiers Medal is the highest award given for noncombat heroism.

The events leading to the soldiers' receiving the medals would have tested the strength and reaction times of any well rested soldier, but the two had just returned from Al Taqaddum Air Base on an urgent medical evacuation mission.

After hearing a loud noise and seeing a flash of light, the duo realized two helicopters had collided. Without hesitation, Burns reported the collision and raced along with Howell to the crash site.

Howell explained the scene as he saw it. "While the rescue was taking place from first sight, both aircraft looked completely destroyed and pieces of the airframe were scattered everywhere," he said. Quinn's report described one helicopter on its side, and said the pilots could be seen trying to exit.

The other helicopter was situated upside down with the pilots still trapped inside, and the engines of the second helicopter were still running, on fire, and with electrical power still applied to the armed missiles, rockets and 20 mm onboard ammunitions. Both men began to extract the pilots from the second helicopter after Burns had quickly helped the two pilots escape from the first.

The canopy was still intact and restricting access to the cockpit, Quinn said. Both pilots were trapped as the flames continued to build. If the scene was not chaotic enough, a C-130 Hercules transport plane landed on the runway just feet from the scene, and the wingtip passed within feet of the burning wreckage, causing huge vortices that fanned the fire.

Firefighters arrived within moments of the collision and began spraying down the wreckage, which tended to push the flames toward the pilots. The flames were channeled up and over the aircraft, singeing the rescuers' hair, but the two remained steadfast.

This wasn't the final challenge Howell and Burns had to face. The pilot in the rear station was a large man, and all his weight was directly against the shoulder harnesses, making the release mechanism unusable. Howell, knowing time was precious, broke open the canopy and cut the jammed harnesses off the pilot with a survival knife.

Howell carried the pilot from the burning wreckage, then returned to help Burns, who was working to release an unconscious front-seat pilot as water, foam and flames encroached on them.

Burns removed all harnesses, but couldn't remove the pilot, whose foot was stuck in the wreckage. When Howell returned to help Burns, he lifted the pilot's weight and Burns reached into the twisted wreckage of the cockpit. With surgical skill, he cut the pilot's boot off.

After both pilots were released and carried to safety, Howell rendered medical aid to all four pilots and accompanied them to the battalion aid station. News of the soldiers' heroic efforts and successful rescue spread worldwide.

Burns was named the Dustoff Association's crew chief of the year. The Dustoff Association is a nonprofit organization for Army Medical Department personnel involved in aviation evacuation programs in war or peace.

Although Burns has had training in medical evacuation, he attributes knowing what to do in emergencies such as the one which saved the pilots' lives as "70 percent learned on the job."

"I was totally focused on saving the pilots, because they would have done the same if the roles were reversed," Burns said. He said he was just doing his job, and that anyone else in the 507th would have done the same.

Burns is from Arnold, Mo., and graduated from Fox High School there. Howell is originally from the Island of St. Kitts & Nevis in the Caribbean. His family relocated to Pontiac, Mich., where he graduated from Pontiac Central High School. Both are active duty soldiers in the 507th Medical Company (Air Ambulance), Fort Hood, Texas.

(Courtesy of Coalition Press Information Center, Baghdad, Iraq.)

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Army Historian Cites Lack of Postwar Plan
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By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 25, 2004; Page A01

The U.S. military invaded Iraq without a formal plan for occupying and stabilizing the country and this high-level failure continues to undercut what has been a "mediocre" Army effort there, an Army historian and strategist has concluded.

"There was no Phase IV plan" for occupying Iraq after the combat phase, writes Maj. Isaiah Wilson III, who served as an official historian of the campaign and later as a war planner in Iraq. While a variety of government offices had considered the possible situations that would follow a U.S. victory, Wilson writes, no one produced an actual document laying out a strategy to consolidate the victory after major combat operations ended.

"While there may have been 'plans' at the national level, and even within various agencies within the war zone, none of these 'plans' operationalized the problem beyond regime collapse" -- that is, laid out how U.S. forces would be moved and structured, Wilson writes in an essay that has been delivered at several academic conferences but not published. "There was no adequate operational plan for stability operations and support operations."

Similar criticisms have been made before, but until now they have not been stated so authoritatively and publicly by a military insider positioned to be familiar with top-secret planning. During the period in question, from April to June 2003, Wilson was a researcher for the Army's Operation Iraqi Freedom Study Group. Then, from July 2003 to March 2004, he was the chief war planner for the 101st Airborne Division, which was stationed in northern Iraq.

A copy of Wilson's study as presented at Cornell University in October was obtained by The Washington Post.

As a result of the failure to produce a plan, Wilson asserts, the U.S. military lost the dominant position in Iraq in the summer of 2003 and has been scrambling to recover ever since. "In the two to three months of ambiguous transition, U.S. forces slowly lost the momentum and the initiative . . . gained over an off-balanced enemy," he writes. "The United States, its Army and its coalition of the willing have been playing catch-up ever since."

It was only in November 2003, seven months after the fall of Baghdad, that U.S. occupation authorities produced a formal "Phase IV" plan for stability operations, Wilson reports. Phase I covers preparation for combat, followed by initial operations, Phase II, and combat, Phase III. Post-combat operations are called Phase IV.

Many in the Army have blamed Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other top Pentagon civilians for the unexpectedly difficult occupation of Iraq, but Wilson reserves his toughest criticism for Army commanders who, he concludes, failed to grasp the strategic situation in Iraq and so not did not plan properly for victory. He concludes that those who planned the war suffered from "stunted learning and a reluctance to adapt."

Army commanders still misunderstand the strategic problem they face and therefore are still pursuing a flawed approach, writes Wilson, who is scheduled to teach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point next year. "Plainly stated, the 'western coalition' failed, and continues to fail, to see Operation Iraqi Freedom in its fullness," he asserts.

"Reluctance in even defining the situation . . . is perhaps the most telling indicator of a collective cognitive dissidence on part of the U.S. Army to recognize a war of rebellion, a people's war, even when they were fighting it," he comments.

Because of this failure, Wilson concludes, the U.S. military remains "perhaps in peril of losing the 'war,' even after supposedly winning it."

Overall, he grades the U.S. military performance in Iraq as "mediocre."

Wilson's essay amounts to an indictment of the education and performance of senior U.S. officials involved in the war. "U.S. war planners, practitioners and the civilian leadership conceived of the war far too narrowly" and tended to think of operations after the invasion "as someone else's mission," he says. In fact, Wilson says, those later operations were critical because they were needed to win the war rather than just decapitate Saddam Hussein's government.

Air Force Capt. Chris Karns, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, which as the U.S. military headquarters for the Middle East oversaw planning for the war in Iraq, said, "A formal Phase IV plan did exist." He said he could not explain how Wilson came to a different conclusion.

Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks, who as chief of the Central Command led the war planning in 2002 and 2003, states in his recent memoir, "American Soldier," that throughout the planning for the invasion of Iraq, Phase IV stability operations were discussed. Occupation problems "commanded hours and days of discussion and debate among CENTCOM planners and Washington officials," he adds. At another point, he states, "I was confident in the Phase IV plan."

Asked about other officers' reaction to his essay, Wilson said in an e-mail Monday, "What active-duty feedback I have received (from military officers attending the conferences) has been relatively positive," with "general agreement with the premises I offer in the work."

He said he has no plans to publish the essay, in part because he would expect difficulty in getting the Army's approval, but said he did not object to having it written about. "I think this is something that has to get out, so it can be considered," he said in a telephone interview. "There actually is something we can fix here, in terms of operational planning."

In his analysis of U.S. military operations in 2003 in northern Iraq, Wilson also touches on another continuing criticism of the Bush administration's handling of Iraq -- the number of troops there. "The scarcity of available 'combat power' . . . greatly complicated the situation," he states.

Wilson contends that a lack of sufficient troops was a consequence of the earlier, larger problem of failing to understand that prevailing in Iraq involved more than just removing Hussein. "This overly simplistic conception of the 'war' led to a cascading undercutting of the war effort: too few troops, too little coordination with civilian and governmental/non-governmental agencies . . . and too little allotted time to achieve 'success,' " he writes.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Cancer case intrudes on war duties for two Marines
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Connie Cone Sexton
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 25, 2004 12:00 AM

Clearly, something was wrong with Lance Cpl. Stephanie Zavala.

Her uniform, never snug on the Marine's 120-pound frame, now draped her body. Her face was drawn and she appeared exhausted.

She's still losing weight, thought Capt. Christopher Sheppard, her company executive officer.

He was worried.

About two months before, in September, doctors at Camp Pendleton in California had diagnosed the 19-year-old as anemic. They gave her supplements and she seemed to rally.

She's good to go, Sheppard thought at the time. A week after her diagnosis, they shipped off for duty to Camp Taqaddum, about 45 miles west of Baghdad in Iraq.

They settled into separate roles: Sheppard, 29, as company leader, and Zavala, as a big-rig driver and as a guard over day-labor Iraqis.

Their paths often crossed. Sheppard made her laugh with his easygoing manner. He admired her tenacity and ability to corral an M-16 almost as long as she was tall. Also, he got a kick that despite her size, she was called "GI Jane."

The two had known each other since February when Zavala became part of his reserve unit just outside Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. She was just months out of Marana High School where she graduated with honors. Sheppard, also a reservist, was a graduate student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

The Arizona connection made conversation easy between the two. But Sheppard didn't know the one thing she was hiding: her growing fear about her health.

In the weeks after Zavala arrived in September, her hair was starting to fall out and she later quietly endured stomach pains and bouts of vomiting.

Sheppard would realize that her silence was fueled by her avid determination to stay with her unit, especially since it had just arrived. As a Marine, the young woman felt that serving her country meant everything.

Sheppard shares the commitment to serving his country.

His parents are grateful for his e-mail messages. He tells them about how he enjoys giving a hug or shaking soldiers' hands as they take off on a convoy.

And he has shared just how painful it is when they don't return. In November, four of his troops died in combat.

He was comforted by his parents who worried the loss was emotionally draining.

Still, Sheppard continued his focus on his unit knowing that a leader must hold attention to detail. That includes watching for changes in patterns and behavior of people.

It's a matter of survival.

It was only a matter of time before Sheppard became aware of Zavala's condition. As she stood one day along a road near their camp, Sheppard noticed how painfully thin she appeared in the sweats she was wearing. Her face was gaunt. Sheppard approached and they chatted for a while. He persuaded her to see another doctor.

He didn't know at the time that he would never see her again as she began a medical odyssey that, so far, has kept her from the unit.

Zavala weighed less than 100 pounds when she left by helicopter for a U.S. military base in Balad, Iraq.

A CT scan of her intestines left doctors puzzled. They suggested she fly on to Landstuhl, Regional Medical Center in Germany. It was a day before Thanksgiving. Zavala told doctors about her pain, like a balloon was inflating inside her body.

Along the way, Sheppard anxiously kept up with her journey, all the while tending his unit.

Sheppard would later write from his post in Iraq about the ordeal: "There are so many moving parts to this (being in a war) that you often get lost in the details and tempo of it. Sometimes, it becomes hard to see the forest through the trees. I try to treat all my Marines fairly, whether they are reservists like me or active duty."

Sheppard was relieved when he got to speak to Zavala on the phone in Germany.

She finally had an answer to her medical problems: cancer of the colon. She needed emergency surgery.

The news rocked Sheppard, who never sensed the severity of her illness.

The rigors of being in a war are hard enough for his Marines, now one of the horrors of everyday life had struck. It was hard to believe that a 19-year-old Marine had cancer.

Sheppard spoke to Zavala a day after her surgery. She was heavily medicated. He asked how she was feeling. She replied, "Not too good. I have been better, Sir."

A few days later, Sheppard called her again. She told him she was eating ice cream and walking around - and she told him she wanted to be back in Iraq.

Sheppard, who thought she sounded a little scared, replied that a million places are better to be than Iraq. She needed to concentrate on getting well. He told her to consider Sea World or Disneyland - not Iraq.

Sheppard thought about all Zavala had been through and just how strong and resilient she was. It made him proud. Just like he is proud of the other young Marines, just barely out of high school.

Zavala, who wanted to join the Marines since junior high, hopes someday to return to her unit.

Sheppard would welcome her but knows she faces a long road to recovery.

Last week, Zavala flew to California to receive chemotherapy treatment at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. She has been staying with her aunt, who lives nearby.

Sheppard learned Thursday that Zavala, now down to 89 pounds, was going to ride with her aunt to Arizona to be with her parents for Christmas. She'll have to return to San Diego to begin her chemo.

Sheppard also knows now that Zavala's cancer has advanced to stage 3.

On Dec. 11, Sheppard asked his parents not to send him anything else for Christmas.

He told them about Zavala, one of the original Marines with whom he started the journey. He told them about how aggressive her cancer was. He told them about how she wants to go to the University of Arizona to study criminal justice and to go to law school.

Then he told them not to send "any more junk food or anything for that matter." He wondered if they maybe could send flowers to Zavala or to ask around about chipping in to help pay for a plane ticket so her mother can fly from Tucson to be with her during treatments.

Sheppard got to talk to Zavala this week. He thinks about her great sense of humor and how she doesn't take herself too seriously. He thinks about her big, toothy smile and how she laughs a lot. He thinks about her courage and how he wishes that he could just make it all better.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines enjoy day of relative peace
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By Aamer Madhani, Chicago Tribune
European edition, Friday, December 24, 2004

FALLUJAH, Iraq - On a day that started with a surprise holiday visit from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Marines in Fallujah received an even more unexpected gift on Christmas Eve - a day of relative peace in this violent city.

Just one day after three U.S. Marines were killed in fighting in Fallujah and the reopening of the city to residents, many Marines spent part of their Christmas Eve reflecting on the war they have fought and the fellow Marines they lost in battle.

Others tried to make the best of celebrating a holiday in a war zone, decorating their tents with Christmas lights and playing holiday music as they went about their work on base.

The day was not without violence, however, as a butane tanker truck wired with explosives blew up in a west Baghdad neighborhood near the Libyan Embassy, The Associated Press reported. One person was killed and 19 injured in the blast, but there was no damage to the embassy.

In Fallujah, the site of the some of the worst violence of the past few months, dozens of U.S. troops attended a makeshift candlelight worship service Friday. Instead of candles, they made do with "Chem-lites," illuminating fluorescent green and red tubes that soldiers often use to mark their checkpoints. A group of U.S. Navy Corpsmen and contractors toured the base in a 7-ton cargo truck and a fire engine decorated in Christmas regalia and sang Christmas carols.

"Life is too short for you not have to fun," said Capt. E. Melissa Kaime, a Navy combat surgeon, who was among the loudest and sometimes off-key carolers. "We don't know if the missile could be coming in right now. You've just got to take life as it is and grab it."

Fallujah has been the fiercest of battlegrounds in Iraq as American troops have clashed with insurgents many times since the beginning of the war. Last month's battle to reclaim the city from the control of anti-American fighters left scores of Marines and Iraqi security forces dead.

The city is in the initial stages of being repopulated. On Friday, about 4,000 residents came back to inspect their homes, or what was left of them, the second day of such returns. However, the fighting continues in spurts.

On Thursday, Kaime and other members of the Bravo Surgical Company were chatting about their plans to go caroling when they received word to prepare for some Marine casualties who were hurt in fighting. When the three Marines arrived at the surgical tent on base, they were already dead, she said.

Kaime, who is a cancer doctor back home in San Diego, said she is accustomed to death. Still, she said the loss of these Marines tugged at her heart.

"They were dead on arrival - three angels," she said.

For fellow Navy Corpsman, Chief Petty Officer Damon Sanders, the day was made by a handshake from Rumsfeld. As Rumsfeld made his way through the surgical tent to visit wounded, he stopped to thank Sanders for his work and placed a gold Secretary of Defense coin in his palm as he shook his hand.

Sanders, who was spending his second straight Christmas in Iraq, said the token from Rumsfeld boosted his morale. He said he didn't understand the criticism of the secretary, who has been under fire over the past several weeks for remarks made in answer to a soldier's question during his last visit in the region and from high-profile Republican leaders in Washington over his planning and execution of the war.

"I don't think people understand the difficulty of his position," Sanders said. "I totally believe in him."

Rumsfeld's surprise visit to Iraq on Thursday went smoothly as he also visited with soldiers in Mosul, Tikrit and Baghdad. He met with the interim Iraqi president, Ghazi al-Yawar, and was briefed by several top commanders in Baghdad before heading back to Washington. Friday's truck explosion in Baghdad occurred hours after Rumsfeld left.

Unlike his visit with troops in Kuwait last month, there was no tough questioning from soldiers during his stops at the various military bases.

When Rumsfeld last visited with troops, he received pointed questioning by a Tennessee National Guardsmen who was coached by an embedded reporter to ask why his unit was being sent into Iraq without proper armoring for their vehicles.

At the request of Rumsfeld's aides, Marines excluded embedded reporters from watching a town hall-style meeting with Marines in Fallujah. The small group of reporters who traveled with Rumsfeld from Washington for the Christmas Eve tour, however, was allowed to watch the meeting with soldiers.

During a short visit with Marines and Navy Corpsmen before the town hall meeting at a mess hall, Rumsfeld seemed at ease as he shook hands with service members and posed for photographs. He briefly addressed the troops to thank them for their service.

"I'm very grateful and am privileged for the opportunity to look you in the eye and thank you," Rumsfeld said.

In Mosul, Rumsfeld offered troops encouragement and advised them to ignore doubters of the war effort. He also visited some of the soldiers who were wounded in an apparent suicide attack at mess hall Tuesday in Mosul that killed 14 soldiers.

"When it looks bleak, when one worries about how it's going to come out, when one reads and hears the naysayers and the doubters who say it can't be done, and that we're in quagmire," he advised soldiers in Mosul, they should recall that there have been such doubters "throughout every conflict in history of the world."

Through the day Friday, the sounds of incoming mortar and outgoing artillery could be heard in Fallujah, but there no major combat was reported in the city.

The Marines seemed to savor the time to pause and reflect on the holiday and the war.

At the worship service, Chaplain Tom Thies used the benediction to ask the troops to pray for fellow soldiers who have been wounded and killed.

"Lord, for those who are wounded, heal them," Thies prayed. "For those who have been lost, comfort their family and friends."

Staff Sgt. Cory Franklin, 26, the choir's leader who works with a communications company on the base, paused at one point to pay tribute to those who have seen horrors of the war that he has thus far been shielded from.

After the service, he remarked that it is difficult to believe that he was celebrating Christmas in the middle of a war zone.

"I'm truly blessed to be celebrating Christmas today," Franklin said. "When you're going to Iraq, you worry the worst can happen. I've been blessed to be safe."


Ellie