A short update

Pete Hegseth over at The Tank has a good read called The Sounds of Silence that's fairly short.

• As the director of an Iraq & Afghanistan veteran’s organization, I follow the headlines from Iraq very closely. So, it’s always news to me when there is little news from Iraq…at least from the mainstream media.
  
  Over the last few weeks, with the exception of the unfortunate Blackwater story, headlines from Iraq have been few and far between.
  
  Why is this the case? There must be a reason. And I believe the reason is rooted both in what has happened and what has not.
  

Iraq update September 29. 2007

First off I'll start with Uncle Jimbo over at Black Five as he is commenting on the release this week of a transcript of a private conversation President Bush had with former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Aznar in 2003. The left is trying to use this transcript to paint the picture that the President was hell bent on war, but the real meat of it actually shows the opposite. There was an interesting piece in there also regarding the WMD's. So, go check out Uncle Jimbo's post Saddam asked to take WMD info into exile

• Bush lied about WMDs so we could invade Iraq and steal their oil, that is pretty much gospel here in the Mad City. The problem I always had with it was if we were lying then why didn't we plant some to be found? I realize they think W is a fool, but if you are gonna cheat the system, then plant a few chem or bio weapons and voila. Now we have a leak of a Spanish transcript from W's meeting with Aznar, which has been used to imply that W was hellbent on war no matter what. Well Jose Guardia does a full translation and it actually shows just how hard we were working to avoid war, while maintaining the realistic view that Saddam was not likely to comply. He also notes this important tidbit.

In reference to the battle with Al Qaeda from MNF-I is Al Qaeda in Iraq losing thanks to concerned local citizens

• BAGHDAD — Iraqi citizens are helping Coalition forces hunt down al Qaeda terrorists in a vast rural area south of Baghdad, a military commander said today

Also from MNF-I is this report of a high level AQ operative taken out called Coalition Forces kill likely successor to Abu Ayyub al-Masri

• BAGHDAD — Coalition forces positively identified a foreign terrorist killed in an operation Tuesday in Musayyib as a senior al-Qaeda in Iraq member.

  Abu Usama al-Tunisi was in the inner leadership circle of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq and was a likely successor to him.

From Pat Dollard we have Al Qaeda Launches 15 Ship Navy

• Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network has purchased at least 15 ships in the last two years – creating, perhaps, the first terrorist naval force, reports Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

And, from The Thunder Run is Attack “will not weaken good people”

• Ra’ad Hameed Al-Mula Jowad Al-Tamimi the Diyala Governor made a statement on Wednesday about the recent bombing of the Sunni and Shiite leader in Baqouba earlier this week saying that the attack, "would not weaken good people or keep them from doing their jobs."
  

Perspective of a Soldier in Iraq

This one has been up a couple of days, but in case you haven't seen it I thought I'd put up the link. It's from Lt. Colonel Chris Brady who is in Kirkuk. It's posted at The Christian Science Monitor (so I'm pretty sure unseen by any liberal eyes) called Why I want to keep fighting in Iraq

• Kirkuk, Iraq - Despite strong public appeals by Gen. David Petraeus and President Bush this month, American views on the Iraq war remain dim. The latest Pew survey shows that 54 percent say US troops should come home as soon as possible, while 47 percent believe the US will probably or definitely fail to achieve its goals in Iraq. Many experts and politicians, meanwhile, have suggested the war can't be won.

  I am a US soldier in Iraq. And I disagree. It's not too late to succeed. The stakes in Iraq are too high not to keep fighting for progress.

  As a National Guardsman serving on a Provincial Reconstruction Team, I've seen what is working on the ground in Kirkuk, a city in northern Iraq.

Those Wacky Iraqis

It's a blog site I get routed to from time to time. Today they have up one that seems well worth linking you to called What can YOU do to help?. Some of you may belong to a church that would have the ability to help out.

• One of my friends is the commander of a unit in Afghanistan and they are winning hearts and minds of the locals by being compassionate and caring. They have identified a group of Afghan children who are in dire need of winter clothing. I am including his info in the hope that some of you might understand that this is how we win. When we help a child they remember and maybe, just maybe, one of these children can make a difference in the future. Please help and while these children are Muslim the clothing is a fine, fine Christmas gift. There are 43 kids lsited here. You may not be able to help them all but i am sure you can help 1.

Iraq update September 27, 2007

Laughing_Wolf from Black Five is over in Iraq and has Iraqi's/U.S. Army 3, Terrorists 0 posted up at Black Five.

• Some days, life is good. When you have a majority of days when life is good, you know that you have it good and that things may even be getting even better.

  Where I am currently, life is good and there are many signs that it is getting better for everyone here. The larger reasons are for later, but for now I wanted to share one reason life is good for Echo Company ("Team Easy"). It's good because life is getting better for the local Iraqi's.

Pat Dollard has Joint Ops Continue to Kick Ass

• FOB HAMMER (MNFI) — The 1st Iraqi National Police Brigade recently cleared a road connecting al-Bawi and Stiyah during a combined effort with 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, resulting in the killing of six insurgents.

Also from Pat Dollard is Key Meeting On Maliki’s Day Of National Reconciliation

• Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki called for national reconciliation during his speech at the United Nations yesterday saying “We look at national reconciliation as a life boat, a perpetual peace project and a safe harbor for the political process and the democratic experience.” That was echoed with an historic meeting by Iraqi VP Tariq al-Hashemi and top shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani today

From Multi-National Forces - Iraq is Pushing the bad guys out

• BAGHDAD — A year ago the area to the east of Ramadi was a haven for insurgents who attacked the city. These days much has changed in the surrounding rural lands of the east.

Jeff Emanuel has Developing Iraqi Security Forces: A Long, Difficult, and Dangerous Process - But Not a Hopeless One posted.

• Samarra, Iraq
  The development of Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) – consisting of Iraqi Police (‘IPs,’ who are under regional control), National Police (‘NPs,’ who belong to the federal government’s Ministry of Interior), and Iraqi Army – has been both a priority and a point of frustration for the coalition forces who are trying to train them as quickly and effectively as possible to fill the role currently being served in Iraq by the U.S. military.
  

Dipnote

What the heck is Dipnote? Believe it or not, it's the State Department's blog site. I kid you not. I'm guessing they were counting on using Joe Schmo's but got derailed because it's already in use...

It's a little painful to read, in my opinion, as it's that annoying white text on black background that a lot of us have problems with. Anyway, if you're curious about it then go check out Dipnote.

• Welcome to the State Department's first-ever blog, Dipnote. As a communicator for the Department, I have the opportunity to do my fair share of talking on a daily basis. With the launch of Dipnote, we are hoping to start a dialogue with the public. More than ever, world events affect our daily lives--what we see and hear, what we do, and how we work. I hope Dipnote will provide you with a window into the work of the people responsible for our foreign policy, and will give you a chance to be active participants in a community focused on some of the great issues of our world today.
  
  With Dipnote we are going to take you behind the scenes at the State Department and bring you closer to the personalities of the Department. We are going to try and break through some of the jargon and talk about how we operate around the world.
  
  We invite you to participate in this community, and I am looking forward to stepping away from my podium every now and then into the blogosphere. Let the conversation begin.
  
  
  PS - We're new at this. It looks like we broke our own rule and used State jargon in our blog title. "Dipnote" refers to a diplomatic note. It is one of the many way in which governments formally communicate with each other.
  
  The dictionary definition of a diplomatic note is: "A formal communication between an ambassador and a minister (usually the foreign minister) of this host government or another ambassador."
  

10 minutes of humor

If you have the spare ten minutes, I ran across this at Op For called Video Of The Day: Achmed The Dead Terrorist

I've watched it three times and I'm still chuckling...