Dear Dr. Ahmadinejad,

Today you wrote me a letter, the text is found on MSNBC.COM. Thank you for your concern with all of us who are God Fearing. Since we are pen pals now, I am writing you in return. First off, the formalities. Al-salaam-alaikum, halet chetore?

In your letter you wrote a few things that I would like to comment on, and ask a few questions of my own.

Both [of our countries] greatly value and readily embrace the promotion of human deals such as compassion, empathy, respect for the rights of human beings, securing justice and equity, and defending the innocent and the weak against oppressors and bullies.

We all deplore injustice, the trampling of peoples' rights and the intimidation and humiliation of human beings.

May I ask then, why is it that you have state control over the media, and have banned high speed internet access to your citizens? Why also have you banned western music and dancing? If you feel we should protect the weak, why do you help al-Sadr murder innocent Sunna muslims?

You also say:

Hundreds of thousands of my Iranian compatriots are living amongst you in friendship and peace, and are contributing positively to your society. Our people have been in contact with you over the past many years and have maintained these contacts despite the unnecessary restrictions of US authorities.

I have to agree with you there. The real question is, why do they try so hard to get out of Iran? Why is it that my good Irani friend has told me time and time again that you were a horrible man? Why does he fight so hard for his wife and children to come away from there?

The legitimacy, power and influence of a government do not emanate from its arsenals of tanks, fighter aircrafts, missiles or nuclear weapons. Legitimacy and influence reside in sound logic, quest for justice and compassion and empathy for all humanity. The global position of the United States is in all probability weakened because the administration has continued to resort to force, to conceal the truth, and to mislead the American people about its policies and practices.

If that is the case, why do you constantly test your new missiles, and why are you trying to get nuclear weapons? Where is your compassion and empathy for the people your own government has helped kill in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Iraq?

Now that Iraq has a Constitution and an independent Assembly and Government, would it not be more beneficial to bring the US officers and soldiers home, and to spend the astronomical US military expenditures in Iraq for the welfare and prosperity of the American people?

That is a simple answer, we aren't done yet. There are still suicide bombers killing people everyday, and our compassion and empathy won't let us leave in good conscience knowing that things would be worse the day we were gone.

Dr. Ahmadinejad, how I wish you would follow your own advice...if:

It is possible to govern based on an approach that is distinctly different from one of coercion, force and injustice.
It is possible to provide welfare and prosperity without tension, threats, imposition or war.

Then why do you call for Israel to be wiped off the map? Why can you not try to help the region find peace, instead of threaten them with war? You threaten us with war, people in your country chant "Death to America" every friday at their prayers. That is not Islam. The root of the word Islam, in Arabic, is S L M. Salaam. Peace. Not death.

It is possible to lead the world towards the aspired perfection by adhering to unity, monotheism, morality and spirituality and drawing upon the teachings of the Divine Prophets.

Is it? Israel is a state of Monotheism. It is a state that follows Moses, one of the Divine Prophets, just like Jesus, and Mohammed salla Allahu alaihi wa-sallam. Yet, you call for their destruction. America is a country of religious freedom, but it was founded by People of the Book, and yet you call for our destruction...

I am confident that you, the American people, will play an instrumental role in the establishment of justice and spirituality throughout the world. The promises of the Almighty and His prophets will certainly be realized, Justice and Truth will prevail and all nations will live a true life in a climate replete with love, compassion and fraternity.

Finally, one thing you have said that makes absolute sense. We will play an instrumental role. We will secure Iraq, we will fight terrorism and evil with liberty and justice for all.

Hada Hafez Doktoor Ahmadinejad

T. Mitchell

Future Presidential Candidate of America

I'm Still Alive!

Hello again everyone! I hope that you all had a very happy Thanksgiving and filled your belly with plenty of turkey and pie. I had a wonderful time back in Florida, I got to see my niece and family and it was also my father's birthday, so we got to roll all of the celebrations in one hectic weekend.

Amazingly, my introduction to my one day father-in-law went much better than my girlfriend and I thought. I went to his house, and brought him a case of baclava (bachlawa in Arabic). The first 30 minutes were very stressful with your typical father questions:

"So, what attracted you to S, her face? Her shape? Her characteristics?"

"Well, everything honestly"

"And what do you do for a living?"
"Your father? What is his name? What does he do?"

From there, he started telling me stories about his days in the soccer team and universities, his house in Baghdad that his niece is watching over, and a few cute stories about S's past. He was impressed with the little Arabic I knew, and offered to start talking to me in more Arabic to teach me.

Apparently I made a good impression on him. Instead of Mr., or Dr., he asked if I could pronounce his first name (which I had practiced quite a bit) and told me to call him by that. Also, when we left I went to shake his hand and he pulled me into a hug, showing me the traditional way to do it. As if that wasn't enough of a sign to say that he liked me, he even showed me the proper way to kiss a guy in a traditional Middle Eastern way. (Obviously not on the lips, left cheek, right cheek, left cheek) He said, "You can do it, because you are younger, but I cannot do it to you because I am older."

That is a sign of closeness over there that I was not expecting to get from him on our first meeting, least of all being able to call him by his first name.

So, all in all, it was a very pleasant experience, I drank coffee (with my right hand), talked, and exchanged phone numbers. Earlier I called it a job interview, and I think that I definitely got set up for a follow up interview, and I'm banking on the job!

But, now I'm back in California, and already things are winding up to make for a very interesting next couple of weeks. Nothing terribly interesting in the news today, but hopefully I can find something that will inspire a less personal post later on!

Anxiety

So tonight my flight leaves California bound for home (Florida). I leave at 8:10 tonight, and my flight lands in Tallahassee at 11:00 tomorrow morning. I have a layover in Las Vegas and in Charlotte before I get home.

When I first started my job, they flew me to Houston from Cincinnati to finish my training. That was the first time I had ever flown, and I was extremely excited. I wanted to sit by the window, and looked out the window the whole time. Now I've flown so much that all I care about is putting me on an aisle sit as close to the door as possible. I hate waiting for other people to get their luggage out of the overhead compartments when I've got a 20 minute window to catch my next flight.

Anyways, that's kind of an unrelated tangent. If you've read any of my earlier posts, you know how awesome I think my girlfriend is. Well it is finally time for me to meet her dad. That is a little informal however, a little more aptly put I have an appointment, or interview with him.

My girlfriend has not once in her 29 years introduced one of her boyfriends to her dad. He is an old fashioned middle eastern male, who lived all but the last 10 years of 70 in Iraq. He went through the overthrow of the monarchy, the rise of Saddam, the Iran/Iraq war, and the first Persian Gulf War. He was a fairly important person in society, a law school graduate from American Universities, a member of the Iraqi Olympic Hopeful Soccer Team, a Professor, and a true patriot to Iraq the nation. He could have had his pick of anyone to marry his daughters. Money, power, education...any or all of that.

Now she has told him that she plans on marrying a white American who dropped out of high school and got his GED. Needless to say this was a hard thing for him to swallow. Again my girlfriend showed her strength in staying true to her convictions in the face of such an intimidating man. His initial reaction was one of anger and disappointment. I can understand, you go through what he has gone through and now you go from picking your daughter's husband to not having any control over the situation.

Not to mention that my girlfriend is his youngest daughter, and I'm a full 7 1/2 years younger than her, with no college to her two degrees.

When she told him that she wanted him to meet me, he agreed, in Arabic. Then he switched to English, "I'm gonna be tough!"

I appreciate that. I know how I'm going to be to any guy who tries to date my daughter. I'll be sure to take him through a tour of my gun cabinet the first time he takes her on a date, and I've even thought about making them drink from a can of soda so I have their DNA. My little princess will hate me, but that's a long way off.

Well, I'm nervous. I don't know the proper etiquette to even go into a traditional Middle Easterner's house, much less tell them I'm interested in marrying his daughter. Yesterday I bought a new pair of slacks, a button up shirt, and polished my dress shoes. The only way I can think of it is like any other job interview, only this position is "Husband to your baby daughter". I have been complimented on my manners before, and I've been told that I'm not a bumbling idiot, but still I'm anxious. I was nervous when I met my last girlfriends parents, and this is a whole new beast.

So tomorrow I will dress up and shave, buy a box of bachlawa, and go off to meet him. I know he will tell me I'm not good enough for his daughter, and I know he will instill the fear of God in me, and I know that he will more than likely be pretty mean to me.

All I can do is tell him he's right. No one is good enough for his daughter. I don't deserve someone that is so wonderful, but I love her more than anything in this world, and would gladly spend every day trying to deserve her. That is all I can promise him. That I'll love and treat her with respect, and grow old with her. I will do my best to win him over, but she is afraid for me, as is her sister. I'm traveling in uncharted territory now. My girlfriend wanted to be with me while we had this talk, but something told me that was a bad idea. The last thing I need when trying to earn the respect of an old fashioned man is to have a girl jump in and try to protect me when he is rude or mean to me.

So off I go, into the darkness, with no real guide. Here's hoping.

I Hate to Say It...

But, I told you so. Here comes big saviour Iran riding white horses from the East. Curb the violence! Or in other words...

"Ahmedinejad, quick America is acting like they're willing to talk to us about Iraq, the paper tiger is weakened, now's our chance! Call Talabani, get el-Iraqi over here, get the Syrians over here also!"

The sharks were circling, and now they have struck. It frightens me what Iran will propose to help "stabilize" the region that they helped destabilize. Irani troops in Iraq? More funding to the militias? And at what cost? An unsurmountable one.

Now we are really beginning to lose.

Our weakness has given our enemy a chance to invite our Ally to their bed. Iran will step in just in time to save the day (and order their militias out...maybe). Then what will happen? The only thing left between another Shi'a theocracy and a democratic free Iraq will be the Sunnah insurgency that America has focused all of it's efforts on destroying.

Just in time for Tehran to mop up the pieces. This turn of events does not bode well for the region, or the rest of the world. If Tehran "saves" Iraq, it will gain more legitimacy, more strength in the eyes of the Arab world. "America couldn't do it, but Iran did!"

In other news American leaders are now pondering an increase in troop strengths, but is it too little too late now?

Not All Are Heroes

Earlier I wrote a post regarding the heroes of our men and women of our armed forces. Today I was reading the news and stumbled upon this article. It was about a man who pleaded guilty to the charges of raping a 14-year old Iraqi girl, then helping cover up the murder of her and her entire family. They set this poor girl's body on fire. At least four marines have been indicted in this case, and it got much publicity when it was first uncovered.

The marine in question was sentenced to 90 years in prison, with a chance of parole after 20 years as part of his plea agreement to testify against the others. He said that he knew what he did would help undermine trust in American forces in Iraq, saying:

“I do not ask anyone to forgive me today,” he tearfully told the judge. “I don’t know how that would be possible after what I have done. I do ask the Iraqi people not to blame my brothers still fighting in Iraq.”

I do not think that he has any rights to call them brothers. He made their jobs 1000 times harder. But then, honestly I think that he forfeited his rights as a human being the day he decided to go along with those monsters to gang rape a little girl.

He proved that he was a monster, not just by his actions, such as deriliction of duty, leaving your post, murder and rape; but also by his reactions, or lack thereof.

Barker, 23, showed no reaction when the sentence was read. Afterward, he smoked a cigarette outside as a bailiff watched over him. He grinned but said nothing as reporters passed by.

What does he have to smile about? He stole the smile of that little girl and the rest of her family. That little girl was not a Mujahadeen, or part of Jaish al-Mehdi. That little girl didn't set IED's or call out to the Al-Qaeda banner. She had enough to deal with living in a war-torn country without having to worry about her protectors killing her out of malice.

The defense attorney tried to pull the "Combat Stress and lack of supplies" defense. I'm sorry, we have 150,000 troops over there and you don't see the vast majority of them doing this. Not a single one of them is stress free. There is no excuse for that. There is no pardon for that. It enrages me to the point that if I ever passed him on the street knowing it was him I would lose myself, I would only see red. Unfortunately his life is worthless compared to that little girl's, and not even his death will settle the score. He is not even worth the price to keep him in prison, much less worth ever calling himself a man. He is barely worth the cost of a single .45 caliber bullet.

At no point was he too stressed to know that girl was barely a teenager. At no point was he so stressed with combat fatigue that he didn't know raping her while people were shooting her family in the background was wrong. We are there to help them, and his single act just made everyone related to that family, or everyone who knew that family hate us. Hate me, who they don't even know, because of this man without a conscience.

Had I been there, had I heard those men talking about what they were going to do before they changed clothes and left their post, I would have reported them. Had I seen them walk off of their post with their weapons, I would have followed them. And had I seen any of them trying to hurt that little girl, I would have shot every one of them, or died trying.

It is things like these that make me believe in a heaven and a hell. Nothing we can do to these men will give them the punishment they deserve, and nothing we could do in this world could make that girl receive the peace she deserved.

I try to be in the middle. I know I lean a little to the right, in a more true sense to the word than people who claim to lean to the right today. I believe that the government should do its best to uphold individual rights. Which is where I get most of my beliefs, gun rights, pro-choice, freedom of religion...all because those are individual rights that should be respected as long as they don't infringe on other people's individual rights.

These men infringed on her rights, forfeited their own, and I hate them down to the marrow. One thing that does bring me a little closer to knowing they will get their due are the stories I have heard about what people in prison do to people who hurt little kids.

There was something I read a long time ago about Islam that I vaguely remember, but can't quote exactly.

"To those who go to Paradise, Earth was their hell. But for those in Hell, Earth was a paradise."

In memory of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, ali'ya hamha, who had more than her share of hell in her short 14 years.

Did I Miss Something?

There were two gems on MSNBC.COM today. One was so horribly written and brought so much anger that I'm not going to comment on it today, I'll check back to see if they correct all the typos and mistakes later on in the week. This is the one I'd like to talk about today.

Basically it states that the new Iraqi government has called for the arrest of a top Sunni Cleric in Iraq for inciting violence and other such extremist moves. I thought that I would set up a table comparing this cleric to Muqtada Al-Sadr, to see perhaps why he was more of a threat to Iraqi security.

Things Of Interest	Muqtada Al-Sadr	Harith al-Dhari
Sunna	No	Yes
Shia	Yes	No
Allegedly Incites Violence	Yes	Yes
Accused of Murder	Yes	No
Known Leader of Militia	Yes	Not Known
Known Supporter of Death Squads	Yes	Not Known
Ties to Maliki	Yes	No
Arrest Warrant	No	Yes

So let me get this straight...these two guys are the Sunna and Shia versions of each other, but only one of them has an arrest warrant? Anyone else think that's strange?

And So It Begins...

Today CNN.COM posted this article. The top General of forces in the Middle East was grilled on Capital Hill. Gen. Abizaid is a military man, who I expect has little use or care for politicians on any given day. Following are some quotes and commentary from that article.

In opening remarks, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, said responsibility for Iraq's future should be put "squarely where it belongs: on the Iraqis. We cannot save the Iraqis from themselves."

Ok, aside from the fact that we can save the Iraqis from themselves, sort of like how we saved Germany from the Nazis...we can definitely save them from the influence of Iran, and we can definitely save them from the influx of foreign fighters fighting under the banner of Al-Qaeda, can we not? Is Sen. Levin forgetting that there are other forces at work here than just the Sunna-Shi'a conflict, or the fact that this very same conflict was construed by the aforementioned parties?

"The only way for Iraqi leaders to squarely face that reality is for President Bush to tell them that the United States will begin a phased redeployment of our forces within four to six months," Levin said.

Wow, Senator you have opened up my eyes. You're right, saying that America is going to back out on it's word and leave you alone after we helped create a mess in your country is a way better way to make them face reality than say...mortars landing in the Green Zone, family members getting executed because you joined the political process, sending your wife and daughters to Jordan because of how unsafe your own home is, worrying about car-bombs on your ride to work, or getting assassinated by al-Sadr's goons because you tried to be an honest cop. Why didn't we throw them into confusion and just leave in the first place, it would be a shining beacon of democracy by now, with flying carpets and Robin Williams the Genie!

Abizaid said he was encouraged by what he saw when he visited the region recently. "I remain optimistic that we can stabilize Iraq," he said. "While sectarian violence remains high and worrisome, it's certainly not as bad as the situation appeared back in August," he said.

Wait, Abizaid, a person who climbed his way up the military, was born to a Christian Lebanese family, is fully fluent in Arabic, graduated from West Point, also got his Masters from Harvard, spent time in the University in Jordan, was a squad and platoon leader as a paratrooper jumping into Grenada, and has over 12 medals and awards. Senator, thank you for knowing not only combat, but also Arabic culture better than him. I was worried that he wasn't qualified.

Now this General may say it's possible, and that the situation has improved...but what about American troops, should we start a phased reduction?

Asked whether more troops are needed in Iraq, Abizaid said, "I believe that the troop levels need to stay where they are."
He added, though, that "it is possible that we might have to go up in troop levels in order to increase the number of forces that go into the Iraqi security forces, but I believe that is only temporary."

Now that's a start! If you include this, and this we'll be getting somewhere fast! Back to making them face reality, how about the fact that Sunni Policemen in the Anbar province haven't been paid in three months, but are still out there doing their job? Is that a group of people who have earned our men and women fighting next to them, or a group that deserves to be left in the dust?

Recently they have been talking about pursuing diplomatic solutions with Iran and Syria on Iraq. They are open to the possibility of talking to Iran, but not Syria because of their support of Hezbollah during the recent Israel affair. Again, I'm dumbfounded. We will be willing to talk to a country that wants to get a nuke and has said it is time to "wipe Israel off the map", but we won't talk to Syria? This sounds like something that will make Iran happy as can be. I can hear Ahmadinejad's speech now.

"My Shi'a and Sunni (read: Shi'a and soon to be Shi'a)brothers around the globe, the paper tiger of American imperialism has failed to instill peace and security to Iraq. Fear not, for the great Irani Nation is here to support you (Shi'a) rise in the face of this desolate situation! We will save the day, and then drive on to wipe Israel off the map and reinstate the Persian Empire! For more information, check my blog!"

Let us hope that we continue to allow our Soldiers the time and flexibility they need to make this work, because it can, and it is worth it. Not for oil, not for keeping Iranian aggression in check, not for terrorism. Those reasons are there, and they cannot be denied, but the one that screams louder than any are the cries of the civilians in Iraq. Let us hope that we let our military leaders the ability to make the decisions they need, and not lawyers from Michigan.

Veteran's Day

My post yesterday dealt with veteran's on a broader scale, and three in particular that didn't make it home. Today, I would like to talk about a veteran that I know personally.

My father was a Sgt. in the United Sates Army. (Honestly I might be off by a rank.) He spent a total of 14 years in the military. The earlier years of his enlistment I have no real recollection of, being as that I wasn't born yet. I know that he spent time overseas before my birth, in Korea sometime in the '80s. I was born in Ft. Polk Louisiana in 1985, but shortly thereafter we left for Birmingham Alabama. There my father took a few years stint as a recruiter. After a few years there, he transferred to the 1st Cavalry Division based out of Ft. Hood Texas.

At this point his MOS (military occupation specialization) was as the commander of a Bradley fighting vehicle. Named after Omar Bradley, the famous general. My fondest memories of that time period involved the military in some way, shape, or form. There was the PX and the commissary (basically a wal-mart and grocery store) where I would sit and guard the cart like a little soldier while my parents picked out the best cuts of meat. "Hut two three four!" and turn around, "Hut two three four!" and turn around.

Then there were the endless barbecues and cook outs with other military families, Easter egg hunts. Family days on base where you would be able to sit in Apache attack helicopters, or crawl inside of Chinooks and C-130's. Some times you could even take rides in tanks to different areas of the base. From as young as I can remember I was enthralled with the life of the military. Take Your Son to Work days were a special treat, seeing your father in the day to day, from making sure you don't walk on the grass or to the virtual simulators. For Halloween I always had a great costume, just take his BDU's (his camo fatigues) and a ton of safety pins to make them fit and you're off. Add a smidgen of blood and you're a zombie soldier.

There was a fair share of sadness also. Every so often my father would have to go to "the field" for a week to practice making war. He would pack up his duffel bag and I would ponder whether or not I could climb in there without him knowing until it was too late. I never tried, because by the time he left it was stacked to the brim. As he was gone, you could hear the sounds outside at times. The rattle of a machine gun or the boom of a cannon. Unlike my girlfriend, who lived where those sounds inspired fear, to me it inspired awe.

In the lead up to the Gulf War we found out that him going to the field for a week was light work. It wasn't long before we were notified that he would be deployed to Kuwait. When the day finally came we watched them line up on buses. I was standing there, not more than 5 or 6, waving an American flag as he boarded the bus. I was singing the song, "And I'm Proud to be an American" and tears were unchecked as they flowed down my face and the face of my family. When he got on the bus, he pressed his hand against the window. That memory sticks with me, my father's hand outlined on the dark glass of the window, bright white from the pressure he was exerting, as the buses rolled away.

We went home and began tying yellow ribbons on a maple tree outside of our house. A large one around the trunk, and smaller ones on the branches as time went on. From then on it was the news, the signature bright green flashes of gun fire above Baghdad from the nightvision cameras. birthdays and holidays went by. Every so often we would get letters, or the bright yellow cards with writing on the back. I will always remember the beautiful cursive that my father wrote in, the long flowing script, with a left-handed slant. Sometimes a true gem would come, an audio tape. Or, like during Thanksgiving, the holy grail came. A video. "Happy Thanksgiving from the 1st Cav!" with a short 30 seconds or so of each man talking to his family. We watched, listened, and read all of those correspondences over and over.

My father came back after spending several months in Kuwait/Iraq. At the time he didn't really talk to me about his experiences (I was still very young). We went to pick him up and when the ceremony was done they cut the ribbon separating the families from the soldiers, and there was a rush of people trying to find their loved ones. My mother ran right past my father not recognizing him in full battle dress, and my brother had to point him out.

As I grew older, I began getting used to my father jumping at the sound of clattering pans and the other subtle differences you notice in people who have been to war. Only recently has he begun telling me stories of what happened while he was over there. Once I asked him how he knew who to shoot at...his reply, "Well son, I was on the front line as a scout. If they were in front of me, I knew they were bad guys." Other snippets include stories of people surrendering, walking for miles in the desert with shirts above their heads while my father watched them in a powerful scope.

Another funny story was one where he had crawled into a cave and found a brand new AK-47 under a mattress. Black and silver, he said it was beautiful. A lot of the guys were grabbing up AK's for souvenirs to take back home, he had some, and he knew a few of his men also had some. He wrapped his in black plastic and attached it to the inside of his Bradley with a warning tag, "High Pressure Line: Do Not Touch." It wasn't long before an order came down the line that everyone needed to get rid of them. My father threw his in a trash can and told his men, "This one is mine, and when I get back I expect this trash can to be full."

Then there were the smaller stories, such as us sending him a pair of clippers that he could use to cut guys hair in his unit. Sometimes, my father was in command of several Bradley Linebackers at once, so he had quite a few heads to trim.

To those who have others serving overseas I know the feeling of your absence and the meaning of this day to you. To those of you have served, I've never been there, so I won't try to say I understand, but I do appreciate it. Happy Veteran's Day!

Heroes

April 4th, 2003
Baghdad International Airport

Sergeant First Class Paul Smith was involved in creating a PoW camp when his force of 100 soldiers was attacked by a numerically superior enemy. Realizing the danger this put his comrades in, he jumped to action. He organized a defense, and helped evacuate 3 soldiers from a disabled APC (armored personal carrier). He personally attacked a tower that had been garrisoned by enemy soldiers with anti-tank weapons and grenades. Worried that their defenses would be overrun , he ran under "withering fire" to man the .50 caliber machine gun mounted on the disabled APC, continously exposing his position until he was mortally wounded from small arms fire to his neck. He was personally credited with killing at least 50 enemy troops, as well as covering the withdrawal of wounded and endangered soldiers.

SFC Smith was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. He was 34 at the time of his death, and left behind a wife and two children. He liked cats, skateboarding, and football, among other things. This was his second time in the region (the first being Kuwait in 1991). He had also been in Kosovo and Bosnia. In the last letter that Paul Ray wrote to the parents from Iraq, he told them '..now that he was a father himself, he realized just how much they had sacrificed to make his life a good life and he thanked them for that special effort.' He spoke of being prepared to give—as he said—'all that I am, to ensure that all my boys make it home.'

He did. SFC Smith was the only soldier to die during that battle.

April 2004
Near the Syrian Border, Iraq

Corporal Dunham was on patrol with his comrades when they met a convoy of vehicles leaving the scene of an attack on fellow marines. One of the occupants attacked Dunham, and as Dunham scuffled with the insurgent he yelled, "No! No! Watch his hands!" to his squadmates. At this point, the insurgent dropped a grenade. Without hesitation, Cpl. Dunham jumped on the grenade, covering it with his helmet. The resulting explosion left him critically wounded, but saved the lives of his friends. He died eight days later in a Maryland hospital. Corporal Dunham would have turned 25 years old today. He recently had extended his enlistment and volunteered to stay in the fight.

"All he wanted to do was make sure his boys came home." Lance Corporal Mark E. Dean. Cpl. Dunham will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

September 29th, 2006
Ramadi, West of Baghdad

Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael "Mikey" A. Monsoor was in a rooftop hideout providing sniper security while working in conjuction with Iraqi security forces. He was near the only door when a grenade flew through the opening and bounced off of his chest, landing on the floor in front of him. Instantly he threw himself on the grenade, absorbing the main blast with his body. Two other seals were injured, and another was unhurt. A 28 year old Lieutenant was quoted as saying, "He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs' lives, and we owe him." This SEAL suffered shrapnel to his leg. His brother and father were both former Marines.

He was posthumously awarded a Silver Star for previous actions where he pulled a wounded SEAL to safety under enemy fire, and undoubtedly will be the third member of our Armed forces to be awarded with the Medal of Honor for his sacrifice that day. He was 25 years old.

These men, along with countless other unrecognized acts of courage and sacrifice, make up the bulk of our armed forces. As much of an honor as the Medal of Honor is, Paul Smith's wife won't be able to cuddle up to its warmth on a cold night, nor will it be able to teach his son how to throw a football. Medals won't be able to trade war stories with Mikey's father and brother over a glass of whisky. They will never replace these brave men, but they will honor their lives, and the sacrifices of all men, women, and families who have given up years of their lives to deal with this on a daily basis.

There is nothing we can do to bring them back, and there is nothing we can do to truly show our thanks to them. This is heroics. It is not run and gun, I'm a glorious hero I'll save the day and get the girl. It is Ms. Smith's empty bed. It's Audie Murphy's springboard to fame. It's Ira Hayes' slip into alcoholism. It is the embodiment of not just the actions, but the results and consequences thereafter. The good, the bad, the tears, and the lonely nights.

As you push your politics and policies like drugs, from the left or right, think about the brave men and women who carry them out. Let them fight like they need to fight, and give them the support they need. Tomorrow we will pass another Veteran's Day, a day that is close to my heart. I will call my father, and thank him.

To those of you that know anyone who's served, remember this, and take a moment to let them know we appreciate it. To any who have served and read this, thank you.

Call Me A Little Girl

Sen. Lieberman...where's your back bone? You won as an independent. The Democrats shunned you, told you to quit the race. (Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton). You lost the primary, and said that it wasn't good enough that you, "Couldn't let that result stand." You ran without their support, and without any major party's backing, and you won. You beat the person you lost the primary to. You beat the Republican.

Why is it now, you say, "Call me a Democrat!" Why are you so worried that they will still give you your seniority? Why not give them the ol' Cheney "Go *expletive* yourself"? I don't mean this to be so rough, but how can you let them throw you out to the fire, expecting you to lose, then stomp their pick and grovel back to them? You are on the high ground now! You are a hot commodity. You have one of the most coveted positions possible in an almost evenly divided senate. You're conservative enough to swing votes either way. Yet you're going to give yourself for free to the people who didn't even look back when you were dropped, the people who told you to quit and go home...

I know most senators don't care about the people who voted them in, but look at who it was Lieberman. More Republicans than Democrats. I'm not saying be a republican, I'm saying don't you owe something to the people who voted for you, and not just the people with power? Don't you ower yourself something as a man, something we like to call pride? Oh wait...nevermind, I forget I'm talking about politicians, they don't care about so called constituents, and they don't care about pride. Voters are just numbers, and pride is up for sale. Makes me sick.

Did They Win or Lose?

So the election results are out. "Unofficially", Democrats took a majority of the Senate and the House, Bush seems to have taken a beating, and Mr. Rove was no where to be found. Rumsfield resigned from the Pentagon, and the people's voice was heard. It wasn't a landslide, many of these races are within just hundreds to thousands of votes with each other. As one NPR broadcaster put it "They weren't necessarily voting for Democrats, they were making sure that they were not voting for Republicans". (I would credit him if I knew his name...)

I understand that, I voted against Kerry more than I voted for Bush. I have my share of issues with Bush, but it was far outweighed by my thoughts on Kerry. Since I try to keep my language fairly clean here, I won't go into any of that.

Some good definitely came after the vote, but I'm not sure if it was attributable to the vote itself. Rumsfield has been on the chopping block for months, and his head was finally swiped off. But that was in process before the election. This is amazingly good, I hope. I hope that Robert Gates will have the kind of strong voice we need in the leadership of our military, however that is yet to be seen.

What is also yet to be seen is whether or not pushing so hard for Democrat control was the best thing the Democrats could have done at this point. This is pure speculation on my part, but I think that they might have just lost. For the next two years, with a Democrat controlled Congress, they are accomplices to the Bush administration. They don't have enough of a majority to really pass things on their own, and they will have to be very concilliatory with Bush and the Senate/House Minority to get anything passed. They don't have enough stopping power to override a presidential veto, and the Republicans can still filibuster a vote because the Democrats don't have enough seats to force a vote on any measure without at least a few Republicans supporting it. So in order for her things to really happen, they may have to be watered down versions.

From the 2004 Predential elections forward, the only thing we have really heard from Democrats is "We need to do something different. We need a new plan. Vote for us!" Not once did Kerry propose a better plan, just that we needed one. It is now 2006 and still you have not heard any coherent plan for what needs to be done, still just the same "We need a new plan, vote for us cause the old way isn't working!" Pelosi has promised quite a few feats in the first 100 hours of Congress, but promises aren't much without a path to get there. And if the Republicans don't like the plan, I'm sure they can stall each of those promises a nice amount of time, making her break her promises.

When it gets to be 2008, and still we haven't seen anyone from the Democratic side do backflips, are people going to say, "Look we gave you a chance in '06, now you want us to give you the presidency as well? At least we know where the Republicans stand" If they don't get anything done, it will be worse for them than if they lost. Then at least they could say, "Told you so." As a weak majority they may be digging their own grave.

Still though, I have my fingers crossed, maybe them being weak will make them think, and maybe this has shaken the President enough to make him want to work with them to find new avenues of approach. My biggest hope is that Robert Gates will be wise enough to really and truly begin cleaning up Iraq.

Allow Me To Introduce Myself

Hi, my name is T. Mitchell, and I am an American. I could say, I am an Irish-Anglo-Celtic-Norse-Cherokee-Slightly Republican - With a Hint of Libertarian - American. But that really bothers me. Why do we have to put so many labels on our nationality? I've never seen or heard of an African-Britain. Or a Chinese-Frenchie. Why in America, the biggest melting pot in the world do we have to identify ourselves by subcategories?

By categorizing ourselves we divide ourselves, and propagate racism. I hate racism horribly, it's just like any other type of extremism. Some people may say, "Well, you have it nice because you are white!" Sorry, racism is a two way street, I have felt the effects and been the target of racism myself.

I remember growing up near a military base when my father was in the army, you never saw racism. We all bleed the same color, and those were men trained to fight together, and families that knew how to support each other. Then I moved to a rural county in Florida, and there it was, like a cold sore that you can't stop but look at even though you know it's polite not to do so.

Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and plenty of other people, black or white, male or female, have fought for decades in America for equality. Fought for desegregation, the ability to drink out of the same water fountain, or the ability to vote. When I got to Florida, the first day I got on the bus, all of the black people were at the back of the bus. When I went to lunch, or while we waited for the doors to open, people segregated themselves, black people in one cluster, white people in another. I didn't understand it....no, I don't understand it. There were those few exceptions of course, people on the football team for example. But why is it after so long fighting for intermingling, now we have drifted back to a voluntary segregation? Was it that segragation wasn't a problem, we just wanted it to be our choice, and not by force?

Now you see prejudice coming out even more, splintering us into even smaller fractions. I'm a republican, he's a democrat. He's a black republican, she's a native American democrat. And some of these people are bitter just because someone is a republican/democrat. It's ridiculous. I'm a southerner, he's a northerner. He's a southern-black-democrat, she's a northern-Chinese-Japanese-republican-American.

And that doesn't even begin to include Religion...

As long as we classify ourselves as being different, then we help to promote recognizing our differences. I say, let's identify with our similarities. I say, "Hi, my name is T. Mitchell, and I'm an American. Nice to meet you, American!" Cut out the hyphens. You were born in/immigrated to America. Your nationality is American. Not a plurality, you didn't sign up for ""American subsection A, part 234B Half Japanese Half Chinese" I'm not saying deny your heritage, or forget your roots, but to embrace your present.

Be proud of where you came from, but also be proud of where you are. This country is by no means perfect. We have murders, corruption, crime, and our share of skeletons. I don't mean to claim that we have never done wrong. We have done countless things that are scars on our record, from the native Americans to slavery to putting Japanese people in camps to countless other quagmires.

You can't walk forward with your head turned backwards. You move forward, and stop every once in a while to think about your path, looking back to make sure you don't get lost, but you have to look where you are going and where you want to be.

Red Fish Blue Fish

Iraq. (pronounced -eerahk-) The word of the day. Violence and bloodshed, a test for new democracy that now closes down news channels and forces women to prescribe to a level of Shari'ah that Iraqis have not had to work around for many years, possibly not since the times of the Khaliph. We see the same thing in Afghanistan. Americans went in and crushed the government, and just let them have at it. Men raised without freedom, trying to write something that is supposed to be free.

Example 1)

Recently a Christian Afghan was imprisoned in Afghanistan for being an Apostate. Owning a bible made him a criminal. Where is freedom in that equation? Regardless of your religious affiliation, whether you be Christian, Muslim, Jew, Atheist, Deist...how can you guarantee any freedoms without granting basic freedoms, such as freedom of speech, religion, press, and the ability to peacefully assemble?

Example 2)

In Iraq, women are afraid to drive cars, or be seen without a hijab (even Christian women!). Here, a place that even under Saddam's cruel tenure women were allowed to walk around outside in jeans and a t-shirt without reprehension. How can you proclaim freedom without granting basic equality between the sexes and races and religious differences?

Give me one term. One term as president and I would fix it all. Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, N. Korea, the UN. Give me two presidential terms, and I would fix more, immigration, taxes, welfare. Give me two terms, and I would make Washington proud. Not the place, not the capital, but our model president.

How would I fix Iraq you ask?

1.) Reinstate the occupation of Iraq. If all of these people want to call us an occupying force, then we need to be. Send more troops, and take Maliki's power away from him. He is abusing it anyways. This will give us the power to deal with the militias, and the insurgents without having someone from the government barring our path when dealing with people "on his side".

2.) Re-write the Iraqi constitution. A constitution that allows the state to have power over the press is not something that guarantees freedom. All it does is set up a framework for legal means to quiet the people. We wrote the Japanese constitution, and look where they are now. We did not allow the emperor, or generals, or people who have been in exile and out of touch with the people for 15 years the ability to write their constitution. Re-write the constitution to include the basic freedoms of the people in that country. From women's rights to religion, there's no point in starting a democracy that is 50 years behind our own.

3.) Follow that constitution. Enforce all parts of that constitution, disarm Muqtada, and let everyone know in a clear voice that an enemy who attacks Iraqi civilians or coalition forces is an enemy that will be dealt with no matter the circumstances. If you will disgrace a Masjid by using it as a fortress, then we will attack it. I think God would understand. If you cared enough about the masjid, then you wouldn't be using it to hide weapons and people. In WWII the first thing we did upon reaching a town would be to blast the hell (quite literally) out of church belltowers, which were perfect perches for snipers. I don't claim to be an Islamic scholar, but I know you aren't supposed to conduct business inside of a masjid, so I'm pretty sure that trying to kill people in them is a one way ticket to hell.

4.) Once steps one through three are complete, begin redoctrinating the Iraqi forces. Give them something to unify them with, reach out to former military members. Not "Chemical Ali" but the run of the mill grunts. Then instead of sending them into their home towns where they are ingrained tribally and religiously to one side or another, line them up on the borders with Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Syria. They may hate each other, but they hate those coming in even worse. Let them fight an outside enemy together, which will unify them in their national identity and harden them in battle. Not to mention the side effect of stemming the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq. When they have served enough time there, send them back and rotate in new troops on the borders. Now when they get back they will be able to fight, and be able to remember who they are.

5.) Now that you have a constitution in place, an army that is beginning to become a cohesive unit, and have let the insurgents know that there is no place for them in Iraq, now is the time to begin reconstruction. What we do now is build them million dollar targets, just to rebuild them in three months. Make sure they have basics, such as medical care, food, and water of course, but you can wait until step 5 to begin working on the Oil industry, and schools and other infrastructure. No point in having schools when you are out of school half the time for fear of death. Give these contracts to Iraqi companies. They can do it much cheaper and much more efficiently than we can. They don't have to set up shop for 5,000 workers 9,000 miles away from home.

6.) Now that you have secured the borders, have troops that have been tempered in battle, have a constitution that guarantees individual rights, an infrastructure, basic security, and have begun tackling their unemployment, you can begin transferring power. We should have never tried to transfer power while the country was in the middle of hell, all that did was tie our remaining hand behind our back. Make sure that the people are educated about their choices, and that they realize that their vote is secret, so even if your Husband, Father, or Imam tells you to vote for Bob, you can vote for Joe and no one will ever know.

That would work. Don't you think?

More MSNBC.COM Love

Maybe
Someday
No
Body
Censors

The other day msnbc.com's Jane Arraf posted this (credit: msnbc.com)story about a Hunting Club in Baghdad where people go on Saturdays, and no one discusses religion, politics, or anything. They play bingo, the kids run around and have fun, and they even have a bar. Some girls wear dresses and bright lipstick, others might be dressed more conservatively.

After she posted it, a bunch of people sent in comments such as "this bit of marshmallow is just fluff, we need more of the blunt truth" and other comments that just make you say....huh? As if the blunt truth means only show me death and destruction, and not the truth as a whole. Poor Jane is damned if she does anything. When she posts the bad they scream for the good, and when she posts the good they scream for the bad. One of the comments there in particular made my blood curdle. This came from a guy in Connecticut named Sean, who I have a polar opposite view with. Here is his comment in full:

"But my government told me there would be no sectarian violence...my government told me that the experts who spoke out in the media had an agenda.

The situation in Iraq was predicted almost perfectly by the real experts on the region. Let the mentally-slow and easily-led clean up this mess. They screamed for it, they
got it, they can pay for it.

I'll be doing my best as an educated liberal professional to earn money and pay taxes to *laugh* help pay back the nearly ONE TRILLION DOLLAR WAR DEBT.

You war-supporters who can't earn very much money (i.e. at or below the national average) can do your part by enlisting.

It really galls me that the loudest supporters of this failure in Iraq won't enlist and don't make enough money to really impact the cost of the war...they all seem to be from the poorer southern states which are dependent on Federal Welfare to stay afloat."

I sent my reply into msnbc, but yet again they didn't decide that it was worth posting, so I'll put it here:

"You war supporters who can't earn very much money (i.e. at or below the national average)"

It's good to know you think that the majority of the US is worthless because they may make less money than you. We get a national average because it is the average. You know, the mean of multiple numbers? Such as, this is what MOST people make. To belittle them because that doesn't seem like much money to you is very elitist.

"It really galls me that the loudest supporters of this failure in Iraq won't enlist and don't make enough money to really impact the cost of the war"

Sean, if the war debt is "one trillion dollars!!" not even the likes of you can single-handedly effect the war debt, it's the efforts of a whole country. Even if you made $1 Million a year, your federal taxes (let's even say they are 30%) would be 300,000. And only a fraction of that would go to the war debt. Even if all of it went, $300,000 is a pebble in the river. 1,000,000,000,000. That means your 300,000 contribution would take it down to... 999,999,700,000. Thanks for paying for the war!

And your prejudice against the Southern states is very factionalized, are you sure you don't belong in Iraq yourself? Perhaps as a member of Jaish al-mehdi?

That post was very rude and condescending. I don't live on welfare, I'm based out of Florida, I make more than the average national income, yet you don't see me attacking people's income. Did you write Kerry's recent "Idiots are stuck in Iraq" joke?"

I don't know...for such an educated guy you would think he would be able to make an intelligent argument on his point without resorting to belittling other people. Perhaps because his point is only one of emotion, and not one of any rational thought that is all he can use to defend it. Oh well.

Ana Hem Astath Tariq Al-Hashimi

Today CNN.Com posted this article.

Basically it goes on to say that one of the Vice Presidents of Iraq, a Sunna named Tariq Al-Hashimi, is worried that by loosening up the checkpoints around Sadr City it is allowing the Shia militia's to move freely again. Yet another order directly from the Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. (Like the one to release the known bomb maker and killer of American and Iraqi forces because Muqtada asked him to)

My unease with Al-Maliki is growing more and more by the day, as he begins to assert more and more authority over the US efforts to crack down on the militias that violate the country's own constitution, which he is under oath to uphold. He seems to be worrying more about those 30 seats that Muqtada holds in their Congress than the 240 other seats that are there to deal with.

Because of the recent checkpoints there was a downtrend in violence. The day they loosen the checkpoints there are bombs going off all over the place. One source quoted the inconvenience it caused Iraqis daily...I'm sorry would you rather have someone search your trunk or have a bomb go off while you were at the market?

While the US military has one hand tied behind their back to deal with Sunni insurgents, they are hog tied to deal with the Shia militia. If we were doing something that was working to quell the violence, why would al-Maliki stop us, if he didn't have some ulterior motive? Where is his case for disarming Muqtada? Where is his case for national unity? His mandate is until 2010...will there be any Sunni left in Iraq to vote him out?