I participate in a group blog, specifically about the war. It is called Iraq War News, and it is hosted on west-point.org. The contributors are people from the West Point community - mostly graduates, some parents, and other people who have some relationship to the Academy.

Whether I post something here or there goes through a little algorithm in my head. Sometimes I put an item in both places. I do more commentary, here, and notification there.

I read a post on there today that is not a news item, but an editorial by a USMA '50 graduate, who went from graduation parade to troopship and showed up to his first assignment as a brand new 2LT as the company commander of a rifle company in the midst of the Korean War.

Read it. And there are folks like him out there today. If you saw the MSNBC story where Brian Williams was stranded in a Chinook after one of his flight was hit by a rocket, and then trapped by sandstorms, he thanks a LT Nye and his troops. LT Nye is USMA '99.

In this war, LT Nye won't see the devastating losses that were experienced in Korea. But he is putting his life on the line, for Brian Williams, and the rest of us, and a bunch of people that live in a country 10,000 miles from us, but he is fighting in today. I am sure that he knows that what he is doing is right, just like those who came before him.

I found my own answer 53 years ago when I stood on top of Hill 347 in Korea, as a 7th Cavalry Company Commander. I had lost all 6 of my officers, and 154 of the men I loved - killed, wounded or missing. Only myself and 15 men were left standing after the battle. We suffered a toll in casualties that would not be tolerated today. But we won. And it was important.

For Hill 347 still stands today on the dividing line. South of Hill 347 is a free and prosperous, even if often ungrateful, nation. North of that hill is only fear, misery, and a tyrannical state.

This Reuter's article on a 4-6 day "operational pause" is getting a lot of play. Not sure why. I guess it dovetails into the "Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld really screwed it up" theme. Of, course there are lots of issues with this. First of all, why would we be telegraphing exactly what we'll be doing for the next few days? Unless it is some disinformation, trying to either get the Iraqis to relax because we won't be attacking, or to try to get them attack us since they know where we'll be for the next 4-6 days. Second, haven't we been "paused" for the past 4-6 days? We've been 50 miles from Baghdad since Day 3.

Besides, what exactly is the rush to get into Baghdad to begin with? Everyone agrees that Hussein wants us in there, in urban combat that he can use human shields and our desire to minimize casualties to negate our strengths in firepower and high technology. That this is a bad scenario for us. Why wouldn't we sit where we are and wait for them to get out of their hidey holes next to the orphanages and hospitals, and get out on the roads for a little "Highway of Death" action? This seems to be working fairly well. The Fedayeen are making suicide runs with their pickups at our armored vehicles, and we are just wiping them out. When their armor goes on the move, B-52's pound them from the air.

And while every casualty is tragedy, the fact is that we have not lost all that many folks. We certainly lost more in the first Gulf War. We had POW's on TV Day 1 of that conflict.

How soon we forget.

In the Washington Post, an article about blogging the war. But I got the shortest blurb. I'm just ranting and raving. Hmmm. Guess I gotta work on that some.

And evidently you don't piss off Neil Cavuto.:

So am I slanted and biased? You damn well bet, professor.

I'm more in favor of a system that let's me say what I'm saying here than one that'd kill me for doing the same thing over there.

You have the right to be the self-absorbed, condescending imbecile you apparently are and I have the right to tell you that. You didn't give me that right, professor. My country did.

To the USA Today. On their front page today (print edition, not the website) they have a LARGE photo with 2 dead Iraqi soldiers. Not nearly as graphic as al Jazeera's videos, but gruesome enough. We just got through beating up on AJ for doing that. You would think they'd have better taste.

Just now on Fox - the reporter said that Iraqis had run a bus into the side of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle on purpose. So the US troops shot them with a 120mm cannon.

On purpose.

Heh.

We need to conscript Frank and put him in the PsyOps group now.

Sent to Jonah, and posted in The Corner:

As a Marine Corps Captain, I would like to pitch a gripe about all these headlines lately about the "elite republican guards" heading south toward the Marines. The headline should read "Republican Guards heading south on suicide mission toward Elite Marines."

This is going to suddenly look very one-sided. First, an Iraqi armor column decided to leave Basra.

The source said coalition aircraft as well as ground units were hitting the column, which he estimated at about 120 vehicles. The vehicles were moving south along Highway 6 .

Since they've only managed to tick us all off with that fake surrender stuff, the Republican Guard has decided it is going to come and get us out on the plains away from Baghdad. In this case:

A column of up to 1,000 Iraqi military vehicles was reported moving south Wednesday night toward Najaf, the scene of an earlier battle with U.S. forces, U.S. Army officers told CNN.

Michelle Malkin writes that perhaps we need to take a scrutinizing look at the Islamic soldiers in the US military.

Advantage, umm, me.

By something. There has to be something else going on Iraq. As I pointed out earlier, the numbers don't seem to add up. Could be there is a force waiting to come in from the West. Or maybe from the East. Maybe there is a lot more diplomacy than we know. Maybe the Jordanian's are playing along more than they say, or perhaps even the Saudis. Or weirder still, the Iranians. Drudge linked to an article that pointed out that Iraqi speedboats laden with explosives had been captured, and the coalition Naval forces were on the lookout for suicide attacks:

Three other Iraqi speedboats, which it is feared may contain similar amounts of explosive, got away when Iranian forces engaged Iraqis at the mouth of the Shatt-al-Arab River, the waterway that marks the border between the two countries. The explosives were discovered after one of the Iraqi boats was run aground during the confrontation.

What is surprising is that evidently the Iranians reported it to us. Which says that they are somewhat less than neutral in this conflict. If they are passing intel to us, they are at least marginally on our side. I wonder if there is perhaps more to their support.

MSNBC and FoxNews have identified the soldier who carried out the grenade attack on the 101st Airborne. He is Sgt. Asan Akbar of the 326th Engineer Battalion. Fox adds:

But Heath did say Akbar had been "having what some might call an attitude problem." As a sergeant, Akbar commanded four to seven soldiers, Heath said.

Another Army spokesman, Max Blumenfeld, said the motive in the attack "most likely was resentment." No further details were available.

MSNBC reporting that two high-ranking military sources say Akbar was opposed to the war. He was not "disgruntled" about not being deployed, as first reported. He was opposed to the killing of Muslims.

A military source said the man was a Muslim who was upset by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a Muslim country.

"He's a Muslim, and it seems he was just against the war," the source, who did not wish to be identified, said.

• Item 1: Former Army sergeant is part of al Qaida team that attacked US embassies in East Africa.

  
  Ali Mohamed, a 48 year old Egyptian native and former US Army sergeant, was the first person to plead guilty or be convicted of murder charges resulting from the embassy bombings. On Friday, October 20, 2000, Mohamed told Judge Leonard Sand of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan that at the request of bin Laden, he had conducted surveillance of US, British, and French targets in Nairobi, including the US embassy.
  
  [...]
  
  Mohamed pleaded guilty to five federal counts of conspiracy, which included plotting to kill US citizens, destroy US facilities, and murder US soldiers in Somalia and Saudi Arabia. His plea was a major victory for US prosecutors. Mohamed is a naturalized US citizen, who worked as a supply sergeant in a Special Forces unit in Fort Bragg, North Carolina from 1986 to 1989, before going to work for bin Laden.
  

• Item 2: Terrorist cell leader joins Army Reserve for training

  
  The indictment charges that the five defendants purchased airline tickets to Hong Kong with the intent of traveling to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan via China and Pakistan. On November 2, 2001, Battle told his ex-wife and alleged co-conspirator, October Lewis, that the group had encountered difficulties crossing the border of China into Afghanistan. The indictment charges that on eight occasions Lewis wired money to Battle overseas with the knowledge that the money would be used to support his attempt to reach Afghanistan to fight with Taliban and al Qaeda forces. The indictment further charges that while in Bangladesh attempting to gain entry into Afghanistan, Battle caused himself to be discharged administratively from the United States Army Reserve, in which he had enlisted in order to receive military training intended for use against the United States. According to the indictment, three of the defendants, Battle, Ford, and Muhammad Bilal, returned to the United States in late 2001 and early 2002. They, and alleged co-conspirator October Lewis, are in the custody of federal authorities at this hour.
  

• Item 3: Muslim student encourages Muslims on the Internet to join US military to fight against the US.

  
  

  
  03-16-2003 08:12 AM

  
  El-Masri
  
  Junior Member

  
  Brother
  
  Registered: Feb 2003
  
  Location: U S of A
  
  Posts: 58
  
  Asalamu Alikum Wa Rahmatu Allah Wa Barakatu,

  
  I always thought (and still think) it's a great idea to join the US ground forces for a simple reason: they're all getting shipped off to the Middle East for FREE! So, you go there, free, with US equipment and weapons, yada yada yada, then when you get there, you change sides and fight the kufar! After changing your uniform of course! And while you're at it, you can sabotage some of their stuff from the inside!

  
  Aaah, just some thoughts that are coming to my mind!

  
  Wa Asalamu Alikum Wa Rahmatu Allah Wa Barakatu.

  
  __________________
  
  BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU! ALLAH IS WATCHING YOU!
  
  MSA of GVSU

  
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  03-16-2003 07:59 AM
  

  
  Referenced below, via LGF.
  
• Item 4:
  
  
  
  • a: Wahhabist institution provides majority of Muslim clerics to US Army

    
    Leesburg, Va. -- The graduation ceremony at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (SISS) last week had all the trappings of any other American university conferring advanced degrees -- caps and gowns, a musical entrance march, a robed faculty and a guest list of joyful families and friends. The only difference with this graduation was that its focus was on Islam and its meaning in the modern world.
    
    [...]
    
    Currently, there are two Muslim chaplains in the U.S. military. With last week's graduation, however, the number of Islamic clergy in the armed services has increased to six. Their training has become one of the school's main focuses.

    
    The U.S. Department of Defense requires that chaplains prove that they have trained at an appropriate institution. Al-Alwani mentioned at the graduation that he is in discussions now with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to train chaplains for the different institutions around the country.
    [NOTE: This is from 1999. I saw a report that there are now 13 Muslim chaplains, 9 of which are from SISS.]
    

  • b: SISS is raided by government, suspected of being part of terrorist financial network.

    In the aftermath of those appalling attacks, Federal officials formed Operation Green Quest, aimed at tracing the money trail to Islamic terrorism. In the course of their investigation, agents raided more than a dozen Saudi-funded organizations, such as the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Virginia.
    

  
  

If they can, and do, infiltrate our civil institutions for the purpose of furthering their terrorist agenda, then we should definitely be on the lookout for it in our military ones.

Remember, President Sadat was killed by members of his own Presidential guard. Members of the military. They were following the Muslim Brotherhood, the head of which is the #2 guy in al Qaida.