The much discussed "troop surge" in Iraq continues to succeed, US troop deaths for May are at a new low of 19. Good men with strong leadership can indeed work wonders.



That is only good news and cause for celebration.

That's because of the massive genicide cleansing committed against all the kind gentle people who lived there.

There are less and less people there. Nobody left to fight back.

Maybe they should just have tossed a few nukes...it could have gotten the job done sooner.

Do like ole' Harry did. Just kill millions at once and voila...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2oZGlrHXqM...feature=related

Good news as far as it goes, but longer term it's meaningless unless our policies shift to making Iraq viable again in their own image instead of ours (which Petraeus and every other expert I've seen address it agrees with).

HERE IS ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW ON THE TROOP SPLURGE FROM MR. A.B.'s "CONNECT THE DOTS" THREAD ...

IF ONE FOLLOWS THE DAILY NEWS ON THE SUBJECT, ONE NOTES THAT THE "BAD GUYS" HAVE SIMPLY FADED AWAY TO LIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY ...

And so ...

One of the best books on human nature that I have read, Mr. A.B., is Street Without Joy - The French Debacle in Indochina by Bernard B. Fall ...

Bernard Fall was kind of a unique human being, I think ...

He went to Viet Nam and studied over there among the Vietnamese people ...

He was in Viet Nam during the conflict over there, and he died over there in conflict ...

No American who talks about "success" in IRAQINAM right now because violence has gone down in anticipation of more Americans leaving, which will weaken those who are left, should be making pronouncements UNLESS they have read this book and can reconcile their statements with the human nature outlined in Street Without Joy ....

In the Battle of the Bulge in Europe during WWII, the Nazis hit the American lines right where a bunch of newly-arrived green and ill-equipped American troops from the 106th Inf. Div., I believe, had just arrived ...

I knew a man who had been captured then, and he spent the rest of the war in a German POW camp somewhere ...

He was only there a few days when he was captured ....

I used to talk to him about that ...

How it was that he came to be captured ...

Why it was that he did not resist or try to fight clear or fight back ...

His answer was multi-fold, but it boiled down to the fact that he and those with him had no food, they were surrounded by a veritable sea of Germans who were obviously very mobile and organized ...

They had no real organization themselves ...

They were cut off from their own people and had no means of communication ...

They had no ammo, no real means of resisting ...

So they surrendered ...

Call it what you will, he said ....

But that is what they did ...

Fast-forward to today in IRAQINAM, where a bunch of new troops will be rotating in to replace whole experienced units that will be rotating out ...

VIET NAM ALL OVER AGAIN, EXCEPT THIS TIME DONE MORE INCOMPETENTLY BY A PACK OF ARROGANT REPUBLICAN FOOLS ...

And none of this is any kind of secret ...

The fool Bush and the fool Petraeus made clear that the "SURGE" was really their LAST HURRAH, and now it is coming to an end ...

The true name for the surge would really be "THE SPLURGE" ...

SPLURGE: to indulge oneself extravagantly; to spend extravagantly or ostentatiously ...

- Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary

So what do you do if you want to fight the INVADER?

This really takes us all the way back to American General Nathaniel Greene in the Southern Campaign of the American WAR OF INDEPENDENCE FROM THE TYRANNY OF ENGLAND that led up to the defeat of Lord Cornwallis in Virginia and the end to that war ......

And that in its turn takes us forward in time to Viet Nam during the French debacle over there that Bernard Fall chronicles in Street Without Joy ....

In the Southern Campaign, General Greene dragged the British Army after him all over Hell's half-acre down there, on purpose ...

Get the British away from the coast and their base of civilian support and logistics support ...

Lengthen their lines od communications ...

String them out ...

Get them isolated ...

MAKE THEM SUSTAIN THEMSELVES BY HAVING TO FORAGE THE COUNTRYSIDE ...

That tactic had the British stealing from people inland as they chased after Greene ....

As they chased after Greene, they had to rob from more and more people to survive ...

People are funny, Mr. A.B. ...

They don't like being robbed by foreign troops at gunpoint ...

And if they are armed themselves, even with pitchforks, they are going to come for you when you are weak ...

They will take you one by one ...

Kill your messengers ...

Ambush your logistics train ...

PARTISANS ...

By dragging the British after him, Greene created PARTISANS ...

Greene was never strong enough to really face the British in a set-piece battle, so he let the land and its people defeat them, instead ...

And the rest of that is AMERICAN HISTORY 101 ...

In STREET WITHOUT JOY - The French Debacle in Indochina by Bernard Fall, copyright 1961, at page 34, Bernard Fall carries that set of lessons from the AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE over to Viet Nam, and the Vietnamese WAR OF INDEPENDENCE FROM THE TYRANNY OF FRANCE ....

Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap was himself a French trained HISTORIAN ...

According to Fall, it was late in 1950 that Giap (Vietnamese General) elaborated his final plan to defeat the French armies in Indochina.

In a remarkable staff study presented by him before the political commissars of the (Viet Minh) 316th Infantry Division, Giap outlined the Indochina war as consisting of three stages.

First was that of the INITIAL RETREAT of the Viet-Minh forces until they had time to re-train and consolidate.

The second phase would begin when the French, FAILING TO DESTROY THE VIET-MINH GUERILLA FORCES, would allow them to re-equip themselves and with the help of the Chinese Communists, TO ELIMINATE SLOWLY BUT SURELY MOST OF THE SMALL FRENCH POSTS IN THE VIET-MINH BASE AREA.

THE THIRD STAGE WAS TO BE THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF THE FRENCH TROOPS.

Giap is quoted by Fall as follows:

The enemy (French) will pass slowly from the offensive to the defensive.

The BLITZKREIG will transform itself into a war of long duration.

Thus, the enemy will be caught in a dilemma:

HE HAS TO DRAG OUT THE WAR TO WIN IT AND DOES NOT POSSESS, ON THE OTHER HAND, THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL MEANS TO FIGHT A LONG DRAWN-OUT WAR.

- p.34, Street Without Joy - The French Debacle in Indochina by Bernard B. Fall ...

There, Mr. A.B., is America in IRAQINAM right now, as I see it ...

In Viet Nam, no matter their personal differences, the Vietnamese were all Vietnamese ...

A mistake the French and America made was labeling the Viet Minh as being COMMUNIST, when many of its members were not, and were opposed to communism, even though they fought side by side with communists against the hated French ...

It is perhaps instructive, Mr. A.B. to carry this defeat of the French in Viet Nam a little further, for the parallels it presents us with respect to what is going on in IRAQINAM right now ...

And so I will ...

Returning to Street Without Joy at p. 32, we have:

Beginning on October 1, 1950, Giap attacked one by one the string of French forts along the Chinese border with fourteen battalions of regular infantry and three artillery battalions.

Separated from the French main line of resistance by 300 miles of Communist-held jungle, the dispersed French posts, though numbering close to 10,000 troops, never had a chance.

By October 17, all of the garrisons along the border, including three paratroop battalions dropped in during the battle in the forlorn hope of re-opening the main road to the key fort of Lang-Son, had been COMPLETELY DESTROYED.

Lang-Son itself, which could perhaps have been defended for a certain time, was abandoned in an almost panic with 1,300 tons of ammunition, food, equipment and artillery still intact.

WHEN THE SMOKE CLEARED, THE FRENCH HAD SUFFERED THEIR GREATEST COLONIAL DEFEAT SINCE MONTCALM HAD DIED AT QUEBEC.

They had lost 6,000 troops, 13 artillery pieces and 125 mortars, 450 trucks and three armored platoons, 940 machine-guns, 1200 sub-machine guns, and more than 8,000 rifles.

Their abandoned stocks alone sufficed for the equipment of a whole additional Viet-Minh division.

end quotes

AND THE REST OF THAT STORY IS ALSO AMERICAN HISTORY 101 ..

EXCEPT ....

George W. Bush does not know any of that history ...

"IRAQINAM IS NOT GOING TO BE ANOTHER VIET NAM" the ignorant peckerwood has brayed to the world many, many times, and in fact, it seems a carbon-copy of the arrogant and ignorant French in Viet Nam in 1950-1953 ...

And General David Petraeus as well does not know this history ...

He has AMERICAN ARROGANCE bred into him, Petraeus does ...

HE IS THE CONQUEROR ...

He and "THUG" Odierno ...

"TEACH THEM SAND N-WORDS TO KNOW AND RESPECT A TOUCH OF THE AMERICAN LASH, ALRIGHT!"

That is the "strategy" employed by Bush and Petraeus with the TROOP SPLURGE ...

And now the hand that holds the whip is going to get smaller and weaker in a short bit of time ....

Soooooo ......

Like the small and weak Vietnamese fighting the French, and the weak Americans during the AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, what would you do, if you were a resistance fighter over there in IRAQINAM who was not a fool, and who knew history as well as I do, anyway, and I am just an average American, no Ph,D., me ...

What would you do if you knew that the SPLURGE TROOPS were leaving, and were being replaced with all new units?

Would you attack into strength?

Or would you bide your time, resting yourself up for down the road when your adversary was weaker and more inexperienced?

OH!

But my ...

I BET THAT SUCH THINKING IS UN-PATRIOTIC, Mr. A.B. ...

Thinking that SAND N-WORDS can reason like human beings and put two and two together to know that the better day to fight for them right now is tomarrow ....

So go back to sleep, Mr. A.B. ...

There really are no dots here to connect, AFTER ALL ...

See how simple it was to make the world go away, Mr. A.B.?

I learned that trick of self-denial from George W. Bush and David Petraeus ...

And so ...

Tell me when all the troops are safe back on native soil... when the death, dismemberment and injuries are at an end, when the trillion dollars have been repaid to the U.S. treasury, when all Iraqis are living together in peace. Until then I reserve the right to consider the lie of Iraq to be the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on Americans by a sitting President... and not, in any way, worth the cost of lives that were lost on that lie.

If you're waiting for troops to come home...cool...plan a reception for the locals.
If you are waiting for the Iraqis to live in peace...well a different thing...when
Rumsfeld was tossed and Gates came in...when the political selection of generals
stopped and Petraeus came in...things did get better. And, I give McCain some
of the credit for it. McCain might be compared to Bush taxes, but his style and
approach to commander-in-chief is totally different. He was a career officer prior
to doing 30 years in the Senate...and without a doubt a better commander prospect
then his competition. His unwillingness to give an annouced military plan is also
correct for a political capaign...and I believe Obama is coming to that conclusion.
The general election debate on Iraq won't be as black and white (oops) as most imagine.

I believe it will boil down more to style, age, and experience, IMHO.

This all is so bogus. Pure crap.

If there really is an Al Qaida, they already won. How? They will have caused the world's greatest superpower to start imploding under a massive debt load, crumbling infrastructure, and deterioration of our own freedoms. They did it to the USSR, and now they are doing it to us.

But I'm sure none of that matters to Mac2. 1 Trillion? 100 trillion? 100 trillion per enemy killed? Where the F* does it stop?

We won! We won! While 300 million Americans are losing losing losing at home. And we are less safe than we were 6 years ago. What a deal.

And that death toll... That can be manipulated so easily it is unreal. How? You just don't put the troops in harms way for the next 6 months. And you better believe that is what is going to happen. They are all going to stay safe and away from danger to the degree possible until the election is over.

Your opinion is worthwhile...as is that of those who have fought.

I want to hear from those men who have volunteered, fought,
been wounded, physically and mentally. It's my predjudice.

We can debate...but what say those who paid? Philosophy
and sacrifice are oft opposed. And, until everyone supports
universal service - a draft - then my support goes to those
who saddled up and paid this price. The rest is parlor debate.

Should Obama visit Iraq? Hell, he should do a tour. Don a uniform...
then I'll listen intently...'til then...talk all the shizen ya like. That's crap.

Those who talk for the safety of troops without troops' support is crap.
The ones who fought beside those who died have place - the rest is rhetoric.
It's the hole in the Obama, liberal donut...earn place...or shut TF up talkin' 4 troops.

If you live near a major city which is serving as an entrepoint for any one of a number of military bases you can go on down and welcome troops back on a weeky basis. When you get tired of doing that there are a bunch of worthwhile organizations putting together packages so our folks have a few creature comforts while serving.

Did you know the USO subsists entirely upon private donations? Not a dime from the government is used to provide all those reading rooms, telephones, and internet cafes the kids(and some old coots like me) in uniform rely on to keep in touch with home.

Go down and welcome the next plane load of troops coming home, but while welcoming them I'd muffle the part about them sacrificing for a lie or you might get your ass kicked.

We surged our troops 3, 4 tours until they are exhausted. We are sending "marines" trained in less then 3 to 5 months.
America is so vulnerable and with out well trained, rested and supplied national guard is not our nation vulnerable to attack on our soil.
It appears in History Books BC through AD to WWII that countries over extended are vulnerable on their own soil.
Britain was once an empire, France was once an empire, Spain was once an empire, Rome was once an empire and I believe Greece was once an empire. The Ottoman empire lasted until the twentieth century. China was an empire and Russia was an empire.
The US is a nation of States. States being the size of Countries in Europe and United Kingdom and Ireland.
To the rest of the World History we are still children or possibly young adults.
The anger and attitude of G.W.B administration and the poor management of military resource as historically set us on a path that could lead to our own arrogant destruction.

In Allegheny County PA it will cost $1 billion to fix our wast water structure. Are we doing it? NO. We are spending the money borrowed from the Chinese to work on Iraqi problems. Meanwhile Iraq has $100 billion in oil money sitting with the US Federal Reserve. If anyone wishes to volunteer to go and kill Arabs do it on your dime. I am tired of wasting our money on this BS. And Marine I will not go and welcome or otherwise entertain troops. They are Bush's army. At this point in time everyone there knows the score. If you join you are in Bush's Army knowing the war crimes that were committed in the occupation of someone elses country for really no good reason.

While you can be mad all you want about the money being spent - those are OUR troops over there. Many of them in the Military Service for a hella of a lot longer than Bush has been President or even pre 9-11. This is a VietNam type attitude that my husband came home to, and I detest it.

Its still my Fu.kin money they are wasting there. I resent it. And my comment about knowing who you are serving when you join the Army after 7 years of Bush stands. You have to be living in a cave not to know.

If no one joined the Iraq occupation would be over. Anyone who joins is keeping up this effort and is aiding and abeting in an illegal act and war crime.

Whatever makes you feel good... that's what most people believe so it is not difficult to understand why so many may buy the lie. I'll be satisfied when they are out of Iraq... and the occupation of Iraq is redefined to be exactly what it should be and no more.

If Bush wanted a permanent occupation of Iraq and permanent bases there he should have been forthright about it and not lied to make it happen. Of course not many would have bought it... and it probably would have never happened. Truth can be a bitch.

It is what it is and believing something else doesn't change the truth. \


BTW - Soldiers are going to believe what they are told to believe... or else all that training they undergo would be a failure.... and not just that... they are psychologically invested in it. They are defined by it and their lives are measured by its value... so how would anyone expect the majority to believe any differently ? That's just the way it is...

Bill Clinton was AWOL during Vietnam,Indianhead.
He was not inhaling (another lie) in a foreign country mocking America.

Bush43 did nothing but slouch off too, now killing 1.45 million of God's Children. (probably more, but who's counting?)

Why did Hillary say YES to Iraq, david?
Had she had guts to say NO, maybe this never would have happened, and that water tower would have been built already.

I do like your 12:58edt comment. Damn right. God-Dammit, you are 100% correct there.

Take your money and stick it up where the sun don't shine.


Edited by Snuffysmith

I'm a twice-wounded Viet Nam combat veteran with a Silver Star, Marine, and BY GOD, I think that I just might do that, take you at your word here, and do just like I have been doing since DAY ONE of this IRAQINAM FIASCO, go tell these people that YES, they are sacrificing NOT MERELY FOR A LIE, BUT FOR A DAMN BIG LIE, the biggest that we have been fed here in America since Viet Nam ...

And if they want to kick my @$$ for speaking some truth here, THEN GET IT ON ..

AND BRING A BRIGADE WITH YOU WHEN YOU COME TO DO THE JOB!

EACH of those troops, Marine, has a duty to OUR Constitution, 24/7 ..

Unless and until they can show as individuals how their service in IRAQINAM or anywhere was for the principles that they swore to uphold when they took that oath, then their service in IRAQINAM is in questiion in my mind as an American veteran ...

The IRAQIS were not endangering either America OR OUR Constitution ...

That threat comes from the Washington White House ...

And I am sick of this CULT OF THE MILITARY mentality you peddle in here, Marine ...

THOSE TROOPS ANSWER TO US!

WE DO NOT BOW BEFORE THEM!

And if they don't know that as YOU do not know that, THE BIG BAD MARINE that you are, then they had better start learning it if they want my respect for their service ...

And so ...

Damn well said, cutecat ...

But you are talking facts and history, here ...

Not IDEOLOGY ...

All Marine knows is IDEOLOGY ...

He gets his orders on what to think each day, and what to say from the DOD ...

And then he regurgitates that PROPAGANDA to us as if he had been sent down to us from on high by god to enlighten us ignorant savages ...

BUT ...

Marine's ignorance does not in any way negate the truth of what you are saying here ...

And the truth above here that we are being PLAYED here, just like the Soviet Union was played ....

We are going to BANKRUPT America to save America, and these troops from IRAQINAM are going to come home to ruin ...

BUT ...

It will be finally safe here, then ...

When all has been sacrificed for another BIG SHINING LIE ...

Sing HALLELUJAH!

Say AMEN!

And so ...

GO DOWN AND HONOR THIS GUY, MARINE ...

HERE IS THE IRAQINAM LEGACY COME HOME TO AMERICA IN SPADES ...

GIVE HIM A GREAT BIG HUG, Marine, AND THANK HIM FOR HIS SERVICE TO AMERICA ...

AND HIS DAUGHTER, OF COURSE ...

"BUT LITTLE GIRL, YOU GOT TO UNDERSTAND, YOUR DADDY WAS A REAL WAR HERO ..."

And so ...

"War vet pleads guilty to attempted child abuse - Iraq war veteran accused of raping 3-month old girl pleads guilty to attempted child abuse"

Associated Press

Last updated: 6:12 p.m., Saturday, May 31, 2008

JACKSON, Mich. -- An Iraq war veteran accused of raping his 3-month-old daughter in Michigan has pleaded guilty to attempted child abuse.

Former Army paratrooper Kirk Coleman's plea came Friday after prosecutors agreed to drop charges of criminal sexual conduct and child abuse.

Authorities say Coleman attacked the baby in September in a home west of Detroit.

She suffered brain damage and broken bones.

The 27-year-old faces up to five years in prison.

AND HERE IS A GUY THAT WE CAN WELCOME HOME, Marine, AND THANK HIM FOR HIS SERVICE IN IRAQINAM IN DEFENSE OF GEORGE
W.(ar monger) BUSH'S GIGANTIC MOUNTAIN OF LIES ...

HE'LL BE THERE WAITING ...

FOR ETERNITY ...

Sooo ...

WELCOME HOME, SOLDIER ...

OR WAS HE JUST A "WEAK SISTER", Marine?

A BIG WAR HERO LIKE YOU WOULD SURELY KNOW ...

And so ...

"At home, but locked in war - Haunted by what he saw in Iraq, a former soldier takes his life"

By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, June 2, 2008

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- The war in Iraq never ended for Jonathan Michael Boucher.

Not when he flew home from Baghdad, not when he moved to Saratoga Springs for a fresh start and, especially, not when nighttime arrived.

Tortured by what he saw as an 18-year-old Army private during the 2003 invasion and occupation, Boucher was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and honorably discharged from the military less than two years later.

On May 15, three days before his 24th birthday, the young veteran committed suicide in his apartment's bathroom, stunning friends and family, including more than three dozen cousins.

There was no note.

He was buried in the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery just days before Memorial Day.

His death came even as Pentagon officials prepared to release numbers showing an increase in suicide and PTSD rates among active-duty troops.

Some 115 killed themselves in 2007 -- a 20 percent increase since 2005.

PTSD, an anxiety- and stress-related disorder, has afflicted some 40,000 American troops since 2003.

The military, in last week's report, acknowledged lengthy and repeated deployments are taking their toll.

"I (have) been shot at by AK-47s, rocket launchers, mortars and tanks," Boucher wrote to his family in May 2003.

"I didn't think I was going to make it."

Boucher's short but intense life was marked by an adventurous spirit and a love for his family, his country and its military.

He grew up with a zest for the outdoors and snowboarding and often visited family in the Saratoga area.

He had an enormous work ethic and moral compass, family members said.

"He really loved angels," said his mother, Janet Boucher, 50, of Corinth.

Mom and son spent weekends walking together in downtown Saratoga Springs and admiring his favorite art piece, the Spirit of Life statue in Congress Park.

Johnny Boucher joined the Army right after graduating from East Lyme High School in Connecticut in 2002 because he was emotionally moved by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"He felt it was his duty to do what he could for America," his father, Steven Boucher, 50, said.

Shortly after enlisting, the 6-foot-2-inch soldier deployed with the "Wolf Pack" -- 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery -- and fought his way north in Iraq.

He landed with his unit at Baghdad International Airport and was responsible for helping guard it.

The battalion earned a Presidential Unit Citation for "exceptional bravery and heroism in the liberation of Baghdad."

But it was during those early months of the war that Johnny Boucher had the evils of combat etched into his mind.

The soldier was devastated by seeing a young Iraqi boy holding his dead father, who had been shot in the head.

Later, near the airport, the soldier saw four good friends in his artillery battery killed in a vehicle accident minutes after one of them relieved him from duty, his father said.

Boucher tried to rescue the soldiers.

Their deaths and other things his son saw deeply impacted his soul after he returned because he was sensitive about family and very patriotic, Steven Boucher said.

He also loved children.

But when the sun set, memories of combat and lost friends rose to the top, causing the former artilleryman severe nightmares.

Sometimes he would curl up in a ball and weep, causing his parents to try to comfort him, they said in separate interviews last week.

He was extremely disappointed that his disability led to a military discharge, but he refused to take medication for his illness, Janet Boucher said.

"At nighttime, he was just haunted," Steven Boucher said by phone from Connecticut.

"Haunted, I think, by war."

Bitterness about the war had crept in, and the troubled former soldier started drinking to calm himself, Steven Boucher said.

The young veteran had gone to electronics school in his native Connecticut and moved to Saratoga County in an effort to re-adjust to civilian life.

His drinking intensified after he moved to Greenfield Center into a home owned by his uncle and aunt, Tom and Susan Parker.

Family members managed to get him counseling.

But he carried on independently.

He eventually got his own truck and took a job as a locksmith at Mangione Locksmith in the city last summer.

"Some family members never realized that there was anything wrong with him," Steven Boucher said.

Supported by a huge family he adored in both states, Johnny Boucher recently got his own apartment on Franklin Street and appeared to be getting back on track.

He seemed to be calm and enjoying life.

But it was difficult to tell, and he was still fearful of sleeping, his father said.

They had plans for a hike, a birthday party and attending his brother Jeffrey's graduation.

Then, without warning, Johnny Boucher was gone.

He hanged himself next to a Bible, his Army uniform and a garden statue of an angel, said his mother, who discovered him after he failed to show up to work for two days.

She said she believes her son took his own life during the night.

Dennis Yusko can be reached at 454-5353 or by e-mail at dyusko@timesunion.com.

Here is a "VIET NAM-TYPE ATTITUDE" expressed by a West Point graduate who served at least twice in IRAQINAM ...

BEFORE George W.(rong at every turn) Bush and PROPAGANDA and REPUBLICAN IDEOLOGY came to rule the DOD and PENTAGON, this book was required reading in the American miltary ...

Which was before it became the REPUBLICAN's miltary, at which point this book fell off the bookshelf and into the trash ...

BECAUSE IT WAS A COUNTER OR ANTIDOTE TO THE POISONOUS LIES THAT THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE WAS PEDDLING HERE IN OUR AMERICA ...

What you apparently don't like, Terra, IS THE TRUTH ..

What you are apparently for is the SUPPRESSION of the truth and its replacement with LIES and PROPAGANDA as was the case when your husband came home from Viet Nam ...

But it takes more than you and Marine to suppress the truth here in OUR America ...

Even though you devote your full-time efforts to your endeavor ..

And so ...

THE WAR IN VIETNAM .....

WAS NOT LOST ....

IN THE FIELD .....

Nor was it lost on the front pages of the New York Times .....

Or on college campuses ......

IT WAS LOST IN WASHINGTON, D.C. .....

EVEN BEFORE AMERICANS ASSUMED SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FIGHTING IN 1965 .....

AND BEFORE THEY REALIZED THE COUNTRY WAS AT WAR .....

INDEED ....

EVEN BEFORE THE FIRST AMERICAN UNITS WERE DEPLOYED .....

THE DISASTER IN VIETNAM WAS NOT THE RESULT OF IMPERSONAL FORCES .....

BUT A UNIQUELY HUMAN FAILURE .....

THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHICH WAS SHARED BY PRESIDENT JOHNSON ......

AND HIS PRINCIPAL MILITARY AND CIVILIAN ADVISERS.

THE FAILINGS WERE MANY ......

AND REINFORCING:

ARROGANCE ....

WEAKNESS .....

LYING IN PURSUIT OF SELF-INTEREST .....

AND ABOVE ALL .....

THE ABDICATION OF RESPONSIBILITY TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ....

- Pages 333,334, Dereliction of Duty - Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, AND THE LIES THAT LED TO VIET NAM by H.R. McMaster ......

How the facts do change in just eight years SINCE the REPUBLICANS themselves were fighting to keep John McCain off the ballot in New York State so that George W. "MUSLIM THUMPER" Bush could become THEIR president ....

I don't know what being a "career officer" is supposed to mean in the case of John McCain ...

He didn't complete his mission in Viet Nam, that is known ...

John McCain is a military failure in that regard ...

And he was a "career officer" in the captivity of the North Vietnamese during the Viet Nam war ...

WHAT DID HE LEARN ABOUT AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY WHILE UP THERE, I WONDER ...

WHAT DID HE LEARN, OR EVER KNOW IN THE FIRST PLACE, ABOUT FIGHTING AN INSURGENCY ON THE GROUND?

WHAT IN THE HELL DOES JOHN McCAIN KNOW ABOUT "WINNING WARS", SINCE JOHN McCAIN HAS NEVER WON ONE?

These are all the questions that the REPUBLICANS themselves raised about McCain back in 2000, and they have never been answered to date ...

As an American soldier who did fight on the ground in Viet Nam, I was schooled in "escape and evasion" and the CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES, which presumably would have included John "CAREER OFFICER" McCain ...

A point raised in 2000 by the REPUBLCANS themselves was that John McCain was in apparent violation of the CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES during his captivity in North Viet Nam, and that fact was covered over after McCain returned to America, later on, as "DAMAGED GOODS", according to the REPUBLICANS themselves AT THAT TIME ...

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES SECTION III states:

If I am captured, I will continue to resist by all means available.

I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape.

I will accept neither parole NOR SPECIAL FAVORS from the enemy.

According to the REPUBLICANS in 2000, John McCain did in fact accept "special favors" from the North Vietnamese, and he made DID NOT MAKE any efforts to escape, nor did he try and aid others to escape ...

THAT IS WHAT THE REPUBLICANS SAID THEN ...

And it is a matter of public record, now ...

SO WHY IS THE STORY NOW CHANGING?

In my copy of the SOLDIER'S HANDBOOK from 1968, which I have here in my hand right now in 2008, CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES SECTION VI states:

EVEN AS a prisoner of war, YOU are still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

WHEN YOU RETURN, your conduct will be investigated to see whether you surrendered or were guilty of misconduct DURING your captivity.

YOU must remain loyal and never give up hope.

And here is where the REPUBLICANS themselves hung John McCain out to dry among the veteran's community up here in 2000 ...

According to the REPUBLICANS, in the case of John McCain when he returned to here from North Viet Nam, THERE NEVER WAS AN INVESTIGATION of John McCain's conduct during his captivity in Viet Nam as there would have been in the case of a common soldier like myself had I been captured, which I wasn't ....

THERE WAS A COVER-UP, instead, so as to not embarass the McCain family ...

According to the REPUBLICANS in 2000, there was a HUSH JOB about John McCain allegedly obtaining special favors for himself while a POW in North Viet Nam ......

THAT IS WHAT THE REPUBLCANS SAID BACK THEN ...

Soooo ...

Indianhead, why is the story changing now, do you think?

HOW IS JOHN McCAIN BEING CONVERTED OVER INTO BEING A "WAR HERO" WITH THE "LEADERSHIP SKILLS" AND JUDGMENT NECESSARY TO LEAD AMERICA IN A TIME OF WAR, WHEN JOHN McCAIN DID NOT ALLEGEDLY ABIDE BY THE PROVISIONS OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES WHICH GOVERNED MY ACTIONS AS AN AMERICAN FIGHTING MAN IN VIET NAM?

Is it a case of what is good for a common American fighting man with no rich parents and pedigree is not good for John McCain?

I'm curious ...

And I'm also glad that I did not have to depend on John McCain for my survival as a fighting man in Viet Nam ...

BECAUSE I DON'T THINK JOHN McCAIN CAN BE DEPENDED ON TO KEEP ME SAFE ...

And that thought is inspired by the REPUBLICANS themselves in 2000 ...

AND JOHN McCAIN ...

Who can certainly puff a lot of hot air about being a "WAR HERO" ...

But who cannot in anyway substantiate that ...

Since he failed to complete his mission in Viet Nam ...

AND SO WEAKENED US OVER THERE, BY HIS FAILURE AND HIS LOSS OF AN AMERICAN AIRCRAFT IN THE PROCESS ....

And here, based on a faulty presumption that the Vietnamese were some kind of threat to America that required more competence from John McCain on his failed mission over there than he was able to muster up at that time ...

And so ...

So, is it your view that all of this spreading democracy in other countries is a good idea? I guess if you keep the warring sides sequestered in their own little areas, and if enough of the rest of the people have already left the country, then it's easier to keep order.

I personally don't think it's worth the cost, and I don't understand the mentality of anyone who would.

Oh, and I forgot - it helps A LOT if you put the insurgents who were shooting and killing our troops on the U.S. payroll.

OK, so I guess the more than a million US troops who have cycled through Iraq have graduated from being baby killers to baby rapers now.

Do something about it then; next plane load a GI's coming back from Iraq march your hiney down to the airport and spit on a few, I bet you have had some practice at it from about 35 years ago.

Let us know when you do it, I'd like to watch.

How true. Yep... well, if we can't get rid of 'em all let's give 'em jobs.

Whose genius brainstorm was that ? What a freakin' joke.

Not eveyone buys the military line... which is, by necessity, the government (BushCo) line.

Iraq was based on an agenda, the PNAC agenda, with all the key players in place, built upon fabricated evidence, initiated before 9/11 ever happened, and was, in essence, a lie.

Put the blame where it belongs... squarely on Bush.

I don't think the solution of not going into Iraq will work.

A little late to make the right decision now... but the basic truth remains.


I'm just waiting to see who will come clean and tell the whole truth. So far I'm not hearing it.

I totally agree. It is not even good pirating away of others' resources for our benefit. It is just keeping the cheap Iraqi oil in the ground and destroying Human Infrastructure so a few special friends can make money replacing it and burying the dead.

The whole truth is we have to disengage but we can't bring all the troops home. The whole truth is it isn't as complete a disaster as it was a year ago but we haven't made the progress on the diplomatic and (Iraqi) economic fronts needed to avert disaster that dwarfs what we've seen. The whole truth is Iraq will be a loose federation and we'll lose an ally over it but we can use the situation to reduce worse tensions.

No politician can afford to say that.

That's pretty much how I see it.... but, as you say, nobody will come clean and spell it out within the context of the election.

Would't having someone actaully lay the truth out before Americans be refreshing ?

It would be even more refreshing if the public showed a willingness to hear the truth instead of demanding self destructive extremism on both sides.

Edited to add: Biden told the truth about it, look what it did for him.

The Blame Game won't be an effective strategy. It has no end game. The US public must demand of the next President, before giving him the keys, that the first order of Business is to declare Peace and a Universal Cease Fire. That the USA will neither protect nor trade with a Country that allows Warfare.

At Nurenburg the US declared that wageing a war of aggression was a war crime. What has changed? That we did it is what has changed.

Biden would have been my first choice. He's been an outspoken truth-teller all along. He was right on Iraq and it's solution... and had the real right experience for the job. But that's just my .02.

I'm absolutely with you on that! I was bummed out after he had to drop out then read the shocking news that Tony Lake was backing Obama, I'd assumed he'd be a Biden backer because they're so much alike.

]

Thanks a lot for making that exact point, Beamer ...

This is the Barbary Coast pirates all over again in IRAQINAM ....

It is a matter of record that we American taxpayers are PAYING the Sunnis to NOT FIGHT us ....

This is like Britain in the early days of America's history, circa Thomas Jefferson, PAYING the Barbary Coast pirates to not bother them at sea ...

I believe that America was doing the same until Jefferson as president refused ...

And John McCain surely cannot be ignorant of the fact that WE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS are PAYING or BRIBING the Sunnis to NOT FIGHT us in his capacity as a U.S. Senator and PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL, although I truly believe that he is, since John McCain and his campaign staff seem sadly out of touch with reality both here in America and in IRAQINAM, as well, OUTSIDE OF PHOTO-OPS for John with people like David Petraeus ...

And as to the reality that we are paying the Sunnis, or BRIBING them to not fight us, as well as the fact that as a U.S. Senator, John McCain should not be ignorant of that reality, that information is easily found in news articles such as this following one ...

"Senate panel votes to block money for Iraq reconstruction projects worth more than $2 million"

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:22 p.m., Thursday, May 1, 2008

WASHINGTON -- A Senate panel has agreed unanimously to block the Defense Department from funding Iraq reconstruction projects worth more than $2 million and to begin to force Baghdad to cover the costs of training and equipping its security forces.

We want to send a very powerful message to the Iraqis and to the administration as to the cost of this war and the absurdity that a country which is exporting 2 million barrels a day of oil, for which we are paying when it gets to the pump now $3.50 a gallon" is not fully paying to rebuild itself, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

Instead of flatly prohibiting aid to the Iraqi security forces, the bill says the U.S. "shall take actions to ensure that Iraqi funds are used" to cover those costs, including the salaries of the forces and any payments to Sunnis who are part of the Awakening Movement.

end quotes

Or this one ...

"Iraqi oil windfall keeps growing - Iraqi oil revenues expected to bring in a windfall of $70 billion this year"

By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:42 p.m., Wednesday, April 23, 2008

WASHINGTON -- New data on Iraq oil revenues suggests that country's government will reap an even larger than expected windfall this year -- as much as $70 billion -- according to the special U.S. auditor for Iraq.

The previously undisclosed information is likely to strengthen the hand of U.S. lawmakers complaining that Iraqis aren't footing enough of the bill for rebuilding their nation -- particularly in light of rising oil production and world prices.

U.S. lawmakers have said it is time for Iraq to pay for more of its needs.

Many lawmakers have suggested restricting future reconstruction dollars to loans instead of grants and asking Baghdad to pay for the fuel used by American troops as well as take over U.S. payments to predominantly Sunni fighters in the Awakening movement.

end quotes

What the Sunnis are AWAKENING to, of course, is the fact that America, mighty America, will BRIBE them with good money to not fight against us ...

And while America is paying those BRIBES, REPUBLICANS like George W.(orst commander-in-chief ever) Bush and John "I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO WIN A WAR WITHOUT BRIBING PEOPLE TO NOT FIGHT US" McCain have the gall and temerity to try and tell us that "THE TROOP SPLURGE" is responsible for the decline in violence in IRAQINAM ...

Anyone who even cursorily follows the news, and that would include kindergarten students up here where I am, would have seen the following reasons for the decline in violence reported time after time after time, to wit:

"Officials: Clashes in Iraq's Sadr City kill 11 - Iraqi hospital officials say clashes break out in Sadr City; 11 killed, 19 wounded"

By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:32 a.m., Tuesday, May 13, 2008

BAGHDAD -- A fragile cease-fire failed to stop fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City where the latest clashes between Shiite extremists and U.S.-backed Iraqi forces killed 11 men and wounded 19, Iraqi hospital officials said Tuesday.

The majority of the 60,000 strong Mahdi Army has not openly participated in the fighting.

Instead, they adhered to a general cease-fire ordered last August by al-Sadr, which has been one of the key factors causing a steep drop in violence in the country.

end quotes

I have gone easy on John McCain in here, largely because I think that he is an unelectable dinosaur, and I am not sure that John McCain is in full posession of his faculties anymore, and I don't want to be seen as kicking around an old man in his dotage, when he is no longer fully possessed of his senses ...

But every now and then the raft of **** that John McCain and his followers are slinging in this presidential campaign demands some type of response, rather than silence ....

And thank God we have that opportunity in this forum ...

At least until Marine has some of his troops hunt us down to beat the **** out of us for speaking truth in here, and debunking the PROPAGANDA from the White House, DOD and Pentagon that people like Marine depend on for their talking points in favor of keeping the IRAQINAM war going, which is making their friends quite rich, while we Americans sacrifice OUR future in this fool's war over there in IRAQINAM, where we pay people to not fight against us ....

And so ...

Marine, with all due respect, you have to be one of the BIGGEST @$$***** on the face of the earth ...

You totally lack comprehension ...

And you are a complete fool ...

I don't spit on people, Marine ...

If I did, you would be a prime target ...

But I would be demeaning my spit to let it touch you or your shadow ...

And I don't prey on the weak, Marine ...

So you are safe from me ...

And so ....

Your witless blather above here does remind me of coming to home to America from Viet Nam, though ...

Getting spit on in San Francisco ...

And YOU remind me of a Marine just out of boot camp who I encountered when I got off the plane at Kennedy Airport down in NYC ...

As I was walking along, I heard these beastial, semi-human sounds coming from up ahead, and when I turned the corner, there was this big, drunk Marine hassling and haranging the civilians and pilgrims sitting there waiting on their planes ....

"GET DOWN AND GIVE ME TEN!" with spittle flying from his muzzle ....

And then he turned my way and fixed his red porcine eyes on my Army uniform ....

And before a further thought could come into his booze-filled, otherwise empty head, I sent him a mental message that I would scatter his **** all over Kennedy Airport if he even thought of taking a step in my direction ...

And the message went home, Marine, because I RAMMED it there, deep inside the puny consciousness that that drunk Marine possessed ...

He slunk away like a coward and stayed away from where I was, until I boarded my flight and left ....

YOU remember that, don't you, Marine?

That was you, wasn't it?

Or were you too drunk to remember?

And so ...

The truth?

Here is some truth for you that has been layed out before the American people ...

"Some Iraqi insurgents agree to reconcile - Peace dividend for Iraqi insurgents: reconciliation program offers path around detention"

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press

Last updated: 2:52 p.m., Friday, May 30, 2008

BALAD, Iraq -- School teacher Raad Mohammed Mahdi used to take on another role after classes: foot soldier in the Sunni insurgency north of Baghdad.

He grew weary of his double life last year and wanted to lay down his arms.

The problem was he didn't know how to surrender formally without facing possible jail time.

Last week, Mahdi entered a U.S. military base and signed a form that amounts to a personal truce.

It marked some of the first steps in a new U.S.-Iraqi program to offer a way out for those who renounce violence -- part of widening attempts at national reconciliation as sectarian violence shows signs of easing.

The latest offer promises a clean slate for fighters if they claim their only targets were American troops.

end quotes

TALK ABOUT AN ADMISSION OF FAILURE, ALRIGHT ...

And talk about an admission to the candid world by General David Petraeus, the BUSH White House, the DOD and the Pentagon that the BUSHIAN invasion and subsequent military occupation of IRAQINAM has no solid legal footing ...

The latest offer promises a clean slate for fighters if they claim their only targets were American troops.

That OFFER, of course, is FROM America ...

George W.(itless) Bush's FRINGE of it, anyway ...

And according to that offer, as I read it, in IRAQINAM, killing an American is now like killing vermin, or criminals ...

THERE is where BUSHIAN General David Petraeus has brought OUR American military down to in IRAQINAM ....

To the status of vermin ...

Like going to the dump here in America to shoot rats ...

And I would say that this agreement is something that John McCain should be grilled about extensively by the press ...

HOW ABOUT THE FACT, SENATOR McCAIN, THAT IN IRAQINAM, THE LATEST OFFER TO THE SUNNIS FIGHTING AGAINST US TO MAKE THEM STOP FIGHTING AGAINST US IS A PROMISE OF A CLEAN SLATE, SO LONG AS THOSE FIGHTERS WERE ONLY KILLING AMERICANS?

How does that make America safer?

Help us out here, Senator McCain ...

Explain this REPUBLICAN STRATEGY for winning the IRAQINAM WAR by capitulating to the Sunnis ....

If we lay there on the ground before the Sunnis like a whipped dog with our paws in the air, and our tail between our legs, giving them amnesty for killing us, WHY WON'T THE REST OF THE ARAB WORLD THINK WE ARE WEAK?

OH!

BUT THEY DO ALREADY ...

Which is why George W.(eak sister) Bush was treated like a dime-store cowboy recently over in Saudi Arabia when he went over there to beg for more oil ...

George W. Bush - ALL HAT, NO CATTLE ...

And so ...

Thanks from this veteran, Mr. A.B., for having the COURAGE to speak out in here on behalf of America's men and women in uniform ...

I feel sorry for those who had to go to Iraq because they happened to be in the Army when Bush was elected. Not so much for those who enlisted or reenlisted when they knew what was going on. I have no respect for those people. They are part of the Bush Army. The stink of Bush will stay with them the rest of their lives.

David, I served under six different presidents and No one there is any president's army.

Well coming from you being the biggist @$$***** on the face of the earth is indeed a compliment.

It probably wasn't me; I only went through NYC one time while Vietnam was going on and I was with about twelve other Marines going up to a reserve unit on Long Island because they had requested some training. Two of the twelve were Gysgt's and you don't get drunk within the reach of a Gysgt.

Based on your descrition of the event I'd guess you might a been hallucinating again.

TALK ABOUT THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND, ALRIGHT ...

OR THE TERMINALLY WITLESS FOLLOWING A FOOL OFF A CLIFF LIKE LEMMINGS GOING INTO THE SEA ...

THE WITLESS GEORGE W.(orst president of America, ever) BUSH, ALONG WITH THE WAR-MONGERING REPUBLICANS AND THEIR OVER-THE-HILL PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE JOHN "I'M NOT SURE WHAT YEAR THIS IS, OR WHAT COUNTRY I'M IN" McCAIN ARE GOING TO BLUNDER OUR WEAKENED AMERICA RIGHT INTO THE MIDDLE OF A SUNNI-SHIITE RELIGIOUS WAR .....

And so ...

"Saudi clerics criticize Shiites for destabilizing - Saudi clerics accuse Shiites of destabilizing Muslim countries, blast Hezbollah"

By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press

Last updated: 3:12 p.m., Sunday, June 1, 2008

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Hardline Sunni clerics accused Shiites Sunday of destabilizing Muslim countries and humiliating Sunnis, just days before a Muslim interfaith conference called by Saudi Arabia's king.

The attacks on Iran, Iraq and Hezbollah -- though contrary to official policy -- highlight the sharp, growing distrust between Islam's two arms, and its potential to cause more unrest.

In a strongly worded statement, the 22 clerics savaged Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants, saying the Lebanese Shiite group has tricked other Muslims into believing it is against Jews and Americans.

The statement appeared on several Web sites Sunday, including http://www.almoslim.com, which is run by Sheik Nasser al-Omar, one of the signers.

The 22 clerics are known for their radical views and have previously released virulent anti-Shiite statements.

A Saudi official told The Associated Press that the clerics who issued the statement do not represent the official Saudi religious establishment, and their views do not reflect those adopted by the government.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

But the clerics' anti-Shiite diatribe reflects growing Sunni distrust of Shiites and Iran.

The trend surfaced with the sectarian unrest in Iraq over the past year and escalated dramatically after Hezbollah, in a show of force, overran predominantly Sunni areas of Beirut last month.

Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri has accused Iran in recent messages of seeking to extend its power in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and through its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

In their statement the clerics accused Shiites of abusing Sunnis under their control.

"If they (Shiites) have a country, they humiliate and exert control in their rule over Sunnis," said the clerics, specifically citing Iran and Iraq.

"They sow strife, corruption and destruction among Muslims and destabilize security in Muslim countries ... such as Yemen."

The Yemeni government is engaged in a fight against rebels from the al-Zaydi sect of Shiite Islam and officials in Yemen and Saudi Arabia suspect Iran of supporting the insurgency.

Najib al-Khonaizi, a Saudi Shiite writer, called the statement "dangerous" and damaging to national unity.

"This statement in its essence is a cheap call for incitement," he told the AP.

Shiites make up an estimated 10-15 percent of Saudi Arabia's 22 million people.

The statement is potentially embarrassing for the government because it comes a few days before the opening of a much-touted Muslim interfaith conference in the holy city of Mecca that aims at closing Muslim ranks and discussing dialogue with other faiths.

Over 500 Islamic scholars -- reportedly including former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani -- are expected to attend the three-day conference, which begins Wednesday.

The event is the first step of a wider interfaith dialogue between Muslims and adherents of other religions, notably Christians and Jews, that King Abdullah called for a few months ago.

Saudi Arabia, which follows the severe Wahhabi interpretation of Sunni Islam that considers Shiites infidels, is worried by the growing regional influence of Iran's Shiite government and its allies in Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.

The 2003 U.S-led war to topple Saddam Hussein's Sunni-run regime in Iraq has rekindled the centuries-old divide between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

The historic split, which resulted from a succession dispute after Prophet Muhammad's death in 632, reopened in Iraq as Sunni extremists began targeting Shiites allied with the U.S. in Iraq, who retaliated with death squad killings of their own.

As the numbers of Sunnis killed by shadowy Shiite death squads in Iraq mounted, outrage grew around the region, reaching its peak when tensions between Lebanon's sects flared into gun battles in May.

Some Arab media outlets and Web sites have portrayed the Lebanese street fights as a Shiite incursion against Sunnis -- a claim Hezbollah has denied.

They have also said that Hezbollah and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, have lost the admiration they won across the Arab world when the group bombarded northern Israel with nearly 4,000 rockets during a 34-day war with Israel in summer 2006.

"Today, more than 200 million Arabs see him (Nasrallah) as fighting the Sunni enemy," wrote Abdul-Rahman al-Rashed, head of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV, in Asharq al-Awsat newspaper a week after violence erupted in Lebanon.

"Nasrallah ... has pushed the region into a Sunni-Shiite conflict for at least the next 10 years, not only in Lebanon, but also in the rest of the Arab and perhaps Islamic world," he added.

"Millions of Sunnis feel that he has gone too far in humiliating Sunnis."

Hallucinating again?

Not me, Marine ...

I don't hallucinate ...

And poor you ...

You're not sure if you were that drunk Marine that night ...

It could have been ...

But maybe not ...

You're just not sure ...

Talk about hallucinating, Marine ...

You're getting close ...

If you are not already there ....

And so ...

AND THEY SAY THE AMERICAN TROOP SPLURGE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DOWNTURN IN VIOLENCE IN IRAQINAM ...

IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE THE IRAQIS ARE GETTING TOGETHER TO BAND THEIR FORCES AGAINST THEIR COMMON ENEMY -THE FOREIGN INVADER, GEORGE W. BUSH ...

And so ...

"Iraqi forces expanding control - Government troops cut violence in Mosul but allow insurgents to flee"

By ANDREW E. KRAMER, New York Times

First published: Sunday, June 1, 2008

MOSUL, Iraq -- The recent successes in quieting violence in Basra and Sadr City appear to be stretching to the long-rebellious Sunni Arab district here in Mosul, raising hopes that the Iraqi army may soon have tenuous control over all three of Iraq's major cities.

In this city, never subdued by the increase of U.S. troops in Iraq last year, weekly figures on attacks are down by half since May 10, when the Iraqi military began intensified operations here with the backing of the U.S. military.

Iraqi soldiers searching house to house, within U.S. tank cordons, have arrested more than 1,000 people suspected of insurgent activity.

The Iraqi soldiers "are heady from the Basra experience," Brig. Gen. Raymond A. Thomas III, the commander of U.S. forces in Mosul, said in an interview.

"They have learned the right lessons."

The crucial lesson, in fact, over the past month appears to be that all sides -- the Iraqi military as well as various insurgent groups -- prefer, at the moment, not to fight.

Rather, as in Basra and Sadr City, the huge Shiite enclave in Baghdad, the Iraqi military appears to have allowed many insurgents to slip out of Mosul, after scores of negotiations with militias and their leaders.

This approach could make any gains temporary:

The insurgents, here as elsewhere, are alive to fight another day.

And little progress has been made on political reconciliation among rival sects and ethnic groups that could help reduce violence in the long term.

But the negotiations have allowed the military to expand both its area of control and the government's zone of sovereignty, burnishing the once-poor reputations of the Iraqi military and Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki.

While the U.S. military was never far away -- it offered air support and additional firepower -- the operation here was largely led by Iraqis.

And that paid dividends here in Mosul.

More than two dozen insurgent leaders who might not have surrendered to the Americans turned themselves in to the Iraqi generals.

Out in the dusty streets, for example, Gen. Nooraldeen Hussein, the commander of the Iraqi 8th Brigade, hunted one insurgent leader until the day he sat down and had tea with the man.

The insurgent, whom Hussein identified as Muhammad Saffo, living in the Rashadia neighborhood, was suspected of killing five Iraqi soldiers with a roadside bomb.

At a meeting with his American advisers two weeks ago, the general said he arrested 14 members of Saffo's tribe and killed three others, before Saffo came forward to negotiate along with six other tribal members.

"I have all his numbers right here," Hussein said, tapping his cellphone.

He would call, he said, and negotiate the amnesty in the presence of a tribal sheik.

The American advisers glanced at one another, not quite sure what to make of this new twist to the American effort to tamp down the Sunni insurgents in the city.

"If the Iraqis are comfortable, we are comfortable, too," Thomas said of the negotiated surrenders of insurgent leaders sometimes described as members of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni insurgent group that American officials say is led by foreigners.

As the decline in attacks in Mosul became clear in late May, Ryan C. Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Iraq, said, "You are not going to hear me say that al-Qaida is defeated, but they've never been closer to defeat than they are now."

U.S. and Iraqi officials have called Mosul the last urban bastion of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia and other Sunni jihadist groups.

Nope, GySgt Saida, heck of a nice fellow unless you pissed him off, wouldn't a given you the chance to mess with me cause he'd been busy kicking my butt and would a probably kicked your's too if you'd got in the way of him disciplining one of his Marines.

I bet he could a done it too; black belt Judo, had been on the USA Olympic team when he was a bit younger, and used to be the close combat instructor at PI. Them little Japanese Americans can fool you.