The General of the Central Command in charge of Iraq pointed that we could have done better after taking Baghdad to begin with. I agree. He also said one thing that I must echo. Every time he goes to sit before Congress in Washington D.C. he feels despair. He was taken to task by two soon two be Presidential candidates, Senators McCain and Hillary Clinton. They both say that the status quo here in Iraq could not continue and that the status quo was what votes voted against. I would like to point out that neither one have come to Iraq to see what is that we do here nor have either one of them come up with a solid strategy that is going to help us.
I have an idea that I think will go along way in helping us cut down on the sectarian violence. I must say that this idea is not my own, I have spoken with some of the Iraqis that I work with and this is what they have made a suggestion.
One thing that can be done is to move the Iraqi police and Army out of where they live. If a soldier or police officer lives in Baghdad send them either north or south and bring those who do not live in Baghdad to Baghdad. Also we need to press the government to disband the militias, especially the militants in Sadr City.
Now in order for you to understand the logic behind this plan you must understand that the Iraqi people are very tribal and put family and tribe ahead of everything. For example, if my cousin or relative is placing road side bombs or shooting mortar rounds at area bases, I will not turn them in even if I am an IA or IP, because they are family. That’s how it works here. That is why this is such a tough and difficult fight.
If congress does a “phase redeployment” Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is already claiming victory because of how the election turned out, will claim that they single handedly drove out the American “occupying forces.” This would do great damage to the United States in the Middle East Region because perception is everything. We will be perceived as weak, and no one will respect the United States military if Congress goes ahead and throws in the towel. My suggestion to all of you in Congress, let the Generals who have more time at lead troops in battle than you do run this war. They have eyes on what is going on over here and they have the will, as do we all, to win this fight, not just tuck tail and run.

Thoughts for Election Day

I’ve almost quite reading the news paper over here because I am sick and tired of politicians and the news media telling everyone how terrible it is over here, how the administration is on the brink of losing this war all the while you offer up no real solutions. You say you have them but you never tell us what they are. If the only plan you can muster is firing Mr. Rumsfeld come up with a new plan because President Bush isn’t going to. The only other plan I have heard is that if and when the Democrats take back control of Congress they are no longer going to fund the war. Hey that makes sense; punish the troops by not giving them the funding they need to fight the war. That sure will teach President Bush. Then more of those people who “didn’t study hard” that are “stuck in Iraq” will die. Is that really your plan? This war should not be a political hot button issue for the elections being held today back in the United States today. As I said before give us a solid no nonsense plan.
I would also like to expand on something things I think people fail to realize. Winning a war especially a war when the enemy does not wear a uniform and hides amongst civilians takes time to win. They cost money to pay people to get the job done. We soldiers are sacrificing time away from our families our friends, putting our careers on hold. It is the soldier not the politician that is the one who dies over here so don’t you dare sit back there in comfy chair and pretend you care. If you did, you would encourage your children to enlist and help not threaten to cut funding and putting the soldiers over here at greater risk.
The thing some people fail to realize is that we are rebuilding a nation and that too takes time, money, and other resources. That is what we are doing right now, trying to help the Iraqis rebuild their nation from the ground up. We are assisting them in rebuilding their government, their army and police forces, their economy, their infrastructure, bridges, roads, schools, hospitals, the list goes on and on. No nations, including Iraq, or Babylon as it was known thousands of years ago, has ever been good at nation building. Most of the time a nation was conquered, its spoils carried off by the victor and its defeated people were either carried off into slavery or killed on the spot. Times have changed and we are in a tough spot right now. Right now we have about 140,000 troops here in Iraq. Do we need more troops? Maybe, but what we really need is a solid plan on how we are going to assist this nation rebuild its self and a willingness to let the soldiers finish the job we started. It doesn’t matter if you think this war is legitimate or not, the fact is we are here now. We must finish what we started, we soldiers know how we can win this war, so stop arguing give us a plan and we will execute it. That’s what we do, complete the mission we are tasked to do.

What the guys think of Kerry

Josh asked me to post links to the "Desert Bull" pictures.

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