The last few mutilated American stories were made up, so I'll go by the usual rule and see if it's still being reported in 48 hours.

Out.

I just saw the footage of those fucks dancing on the cars. Fucking assholes. I'm so fucking torn. I want to bomb the shit out of them on the one hand. On the other hand, I want to know how the hell we got caught up in this crap in the first place. I remember when all the conservatives were calling Clinton a dumb shit for trying nation building in Somalia and the Balkans and how they said that rebuilding a Iraq would be a cakewalk. Was Saddam an asshole to his people? Fuck yes. Do a majority of Iraqis give a shit that we took him out? Do they appreciate it enough to do anything for us in the future? Has the Arab world started to look to Iraq as a beneficiary of American leadership? Are suicide bombers turning around because of our overwhelming success? You be the judge.
I'm sorry, I'm just fucking pissed.

PS. Don't forget that this is adding about 80 Billion a year to our deficit.

yes Steve, but you can take comfort in the fact that the bloodthirsty tryrant, Sadaam, is no longer in power and ummm, his problems are now our problems. That's a good thing, right?

Actually, Steve, the Iraq reconstruction is $84 billion this year. There is no annual budget item for that; it was a one time request. They could ask again, yes. But it's not $80 billion a year.

And I understand you're pissed. I am too. I may know a couple of those guys (unconfirmed at this time -- but it's possible). But don't let this incident shake you. Those pigfuckers *want* to shake you, to scare you. That's why the assholes are dancing in front of the camera, thanks to our objective media. They know they can manipulate people. Stay the course.

Dethpundit:

Yep, Saddam is gone, and that's a good thing. But, y'know, we always had this little problem of terrorism. It's just that it's out in the open now. And so are the terrorists, where they make excellent targets. And that's the REALLY good thing.

Sorry, I hit POST too fast....

God, up to 129 rapes by their so-called comrades? That's pathetic. Too bad the UCMJ forbids corporal punishment. A suitable sentence would be ordered to clear mine fields with a fork.

Note to the DoD leadership -- do *NOT* drop this one in the "pending" file.

Gee, Sarge, how do you expect to ever get promoted again, using language like that, knowing that the B0yz@ftM3ade, and their junior imitators, know exactly who you are and what you're saying?

Actually, I kinda agree with you, but don't wanta use language which might make Sgt Mom angry. I'll speak my mind, anyway; here goes:

On the "World Court": As P.J. O'Rourke said, "What the fucking fuck?"

On Fallujah: Clearly that part of the world suffers from a geological wrongness:

They obviously have too much oil and

Not Nearly Enough Trinitite!

On the Copper-Clad Frenchwoman in New York's harbor:

Don't really care; my folks all got here before steamships were invented, let alone Ellis Island.

On the splatter in Uzbekistan: Really, really don't care much at all.

On the "raped by their comrades" thing: I dunno, I've met some guys who'd put the thing to anyone or anything,the more violent the better. I've also met some gals to whom I was careful to mention that there's a witness or two, right there.

I got a buddy who just cross-trained into computery-type stuff going to Ft. Meade.

Anyway, I've pretty much given-up hope of ever being promoted. I mean, it is the Air Force, so if I hang around long enough, the TIG and TIS will eventually put me over the top, anyway. In fact, I'm amazed I've lasted as long as I have. I'm a smart-ass, which I've found to be detrimental to my career, but I've basically said "fuck-it" to the career. I made a choice awhile back to focus on taking care of my people in any capacity available to me, and doing whatever it takes to ensure the job gets done quickly, safely, and correctly (no matter what). So far, this choice has proven to be incompatible with military service.

In other words, I'm burnt-out, I know I'm burnt-out and all that matters to me anymore are the people and the mission.

You gotta be shitting me. The World Court actually thinks it has the right to determine legality of shit done in the USA? Fuck those transnational progressivist bastards. String 'em up on a pole and burn the little pederasts. Sorry Frog bastards.

"In other words, I'm burnt-out, I know I'm burnt-out and all that matters to me anymore are the people and the mission."

Umm... if caring about your people and the mission is a sign of being burned out, light the fires. We can use a few more burnouts like you Sarge.

As for the rape charges, I would like to point out that being accused is not the same as being found guilty.

About Fallujah: A liberal friend of mine was asking why we just don't nuke the place. I got upset about this, reminding this "friend" that its folks like him who have been riding the President's ass on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING he has done, that makes such an event unlikely. And even if Bush were to apply a bit of radiation treatment to the cancer that is Fallujah, he would be the first one to bitch and moan about that! Perhaps if the liberal left actually showed support for the President and our efforts in Iraq, instead of being the ankle biting parasites they are, maybe the job would be a lot easier.

This is the same guy who was bitching about Bremer shutting down Sadr paper in Baghdad. The paper that was calling for the killing of American troops. Tell me again how you can support the troops, and bitch about them shutting down a paper advocating the killing of those troops.

I'm committed to staying the course until we finish the mission. Of course it would be nice if the Pres actually said when we're mission complete.

I can't stand John Kerry, but there is no way that I'm voting for GWB until he states:

1. The real reason that we invaded Iraq. It wasn't WMD and we all know it.

2. Real goals that we need to accomplish before we start drawing down the troops.

3. A no-shit best estimate on what the troop timeline is. If we're going to have Soldiers over there for the next couple of decades, we need to start building bases for that timeframe.

Finally, they're not trying to shake us in Falluja. They hate us and they're trying to kill us.

"Umm... if caring about your people and the mission is a sign of being burned out, light the fires. We can use a few more burnouts like you Sarge."

Well, there's the ideal world, and then there's the one I operate in. I don't really want to get into it.

"3. A no-shit best estimate on what the troop timeline is. If we're going to have Soldiers over there for the next couple of decades, we need to start building bases for that timeframe."

As far as that particular point goes, I doubt you'll ever see it, and if you do, it will be some bullshit number that's politically appealing and palatable to the electorate. I remember President Clinton stating that we'd only be in the Balkans for one year in order to satisfy Congressional Republicans, who opposed the deployment. We're still there, and now most of the arguments(or type of arguments) employed by conservatives for that affair are now used by liberals in regards to Iraq.

It's really hard sometimes to take any of it seriously, knowing that most rhetoric has to do with the "who" rather than the "what."

Steve:
Yes, they hate and want to kill. But some of them, the smarter ones, the organisers, want to shake people to. They've seen "Black Hawk Down" (maybe some were even in Mogadishu at the time) and figure they can trigger either over-reaction, or withdrawal.

So, do neither; send a force to Fallujah large enough to lock down the whole town, and shoot anyone who so much as spits.

Arrest every last person on those TV shots, pump them all for intelligence, clear out the insurgents that get flushed, have the leaders of the murderers tried and executed, and the rest (all of them, the whole dancing mob) imprisoned.

Then blow up that bridge.

Ummm...
So those tapes and photos, plus the unpublished ones, will be handed over to the Iraqi Police ( I believe that such a thing exists now ) so that they can work on getting ahold of the murderers ? And try them ? Like AP and Reuters support the rule of law, yes ?

On the rape allegations. Please note that they are not actually talking about rape. About sexual abuse. One is still defined as forcefully sticking one's cock where the stickee does not desire, the other as " Yo Mamma, nice pair " to a co worker. Agreed that neither are desirable, but to conflate them, to state that both are equally evil : I mean just how PC is the USMC supposed to be ?

I say threaten to give the Saddamites exactly what they want, a pull-out from Iraq. Then al-Sadr could have his way with them.

There was this line in a movie about "commiting the oldest sins in the newest ways"...Knights Tale I think..okey movie, great one liners. Poetic.

On the rape accusations.
I'm sure that many of these are justified. I'm equally sure that many of them happened something like this. It was brought to the attention of the chain of command in a way that could not easily be ignored that SSG Smith and SPC Jones were having sex behind the motor pool. When confronted SPC Jones knew (or had it made clear to her) that the only way to avoid a career ending punishment was to claim that said sex was of the nonconsensual nature. So cry Rape, and let slip the dogs of the AG. Don't get me wrong, people like Delmar Simpson need to go to Leavenworth, I just think that to call their crimes rape cheapens the word.

ICJ...international law...hmmm...wasn't that what GWB was claiming gave the invasion of Iraq validity? Anyway, you've got to think that it would be a rare moment of diplomatic humour if they took it to the security council and asked them to stop America executing Mexicans.

JSF's right on Faluja, incidentally. If I was Iraqi, and there were people in my country I didn't want there, I'd do as much made-for-TV bad stuff as possible. He's also right on how to combat it; it's just a question of whether the interim administration's got the nerve to do it properly (ie without razing it to the ground and playing into the hands of every Islamist terrorist organisation's recruiting department the world over).

Shitholastan though...LOL!

"If the United States doesn't abide by the ruling, Mexico intends to take further legal steps, according to a Mexican diplomat. Countries that fail to comply with court rulings can be referred to the U.N. Security Council for "appropriate action," according to the court's statute."

Hee. The Security Council. Where the US has a veto. Ah, the wonders of "international law".

Al: No, GWB never said international law (or, rather, the UN's blood-soaked seal of approval) would give the invasion validity; in fact, he seems to have been quite clear all along that the UN's approval was merely useful (in shutting up the carping whiners in France and on the far-Left), rather than either morally or practically necessary. His opponents, however, have often claimed that "international law" (ill defined as always!) is the only thing that could justify the invasion, though. They were, of course, wrong.

On the "rape" thing; as others have pointed out, we don't even know how many of those 129 reports are of rape, rather than "sexually abusive language" or "assault" (while I don't know the UCMJ really well, I suspect that any sort of physical contact could count as "assault", just like in civilian law, but still be nowhere near what sane people would call rape). I'd like to know the actual breakdown of the reports, personally. (And if there was any actual rape, I'd like to see some people strung up, or at least sentenced to 20 years hard labor in Leavenworth.)

Ummm, guys? I know all the words, too, and I've even used them myself... not in everyday conversation, of course, and NEVER on the air, but for emphasis, and in the heat of intense emotion, like when I have dropped the final shelf-support screw down behind a heavy piece of furniture. Or when I skip over Maureen Dowd's latest vaporings....
Seriously, you can have a lot of fun with the last couple of years in the military, when you are burnt out. You can be honest about stupid ideas, instead of diplomatic. What can they do to you, when you're retiring in a year? Not getting an award, or a good APR no longer means diddly.
Believe me, the unvarnished opinion of a 19-year E-6 with retirement papers already fired scared the living c**p out of a lot of higher-ups. It was fun, and I sorta wished I'd started earlier...

Steve –

Before editorializing, I am first recognizing that yesterday’s dead civilians and U.S. servicemen, those charred bodies, are someone’s brother, someone’s son, someone’s grandson. It is despicable to see in the worst terms and incites people of goodwill to feelings of swift massive violent revenge on the worthless bastards who did it and their cheering supporters.

May the dead rest in peace and their families be comforted.

The trogs in Fallujah and the rest of the Sunni Triangle who desecrated the bodies, have been doing this to each other for 1200 years, did it to their own people for 30 years, created the mass graves near the Shia cities, did it to the Kurds 13 years ago and tried to do it to the Iranians.

There are some Sunni’s who would like a return to normalcy and would be willing to participate in the new government. Those Sunni’s that are smart keep their mouths shut. The leftovers from the old thugocracy, tens of thousands of criminals Saddam released from prison just prior to the war, AND the foreign jihadist streaming into the country, are mainly concentrated in Fallujah et al in the Sunni Triangle.

In the Short Run -- Expect a really nasty operation soon in Fallujah to put down the pukes as “pre-emption” of the puke’s promised “Tet Offensive” promised as the lead-up to the June handover of civilian government.

In the intermediate term – gird yourself for a lot of fighting and casualties leading up to and after the handover of the civil authority to the Iraqi’s.

It is a bad deal all around. This country is still 65% Shia and 32-37% Sunnis & Kurds. The Shia and Kurds have 35 years of reasons to hate the Sunni’s. This country was balkanized, long before we were born. Like Yugoslavia, it held together as long as there was a repressive Thugocracy in power. Without a tough U.S. presence, a civil war is likely with Iran exploiting the South and Turkey conquering the Kurdish North. In order for reconstruction to succeed, don't be surprised if Tikrit, Fallujah et al become Kurt Russel "Escape from New York" style "Gated Communities".

How did we get into this? Dick Morris, you know Hilly & Billy’s old advisor, spelled it out to O’Reilly a week ago. When Al Quida had just developed the Afghan camps and were intent on breeding 100,000 clones, Clinton was too weak politically because of Paula-gate and Monica- Gate, et al, to mount the kind of popular political support to send in the Army Navy Airforce Marines into a place most people in this country couldn’t identify in 1994-1998. A weak president fighting for his political life over soliciting BJ’s can’t mount a pre-emptive war let alone enforce U.N. mandates. Remember the “wag the dog” accusations from right and left for cruise missiles on a Sudan pharmaceutical Factory? Remember the gloating Saddam over Monica-gate? Even if WJC had a pair to go into those places, Clinton was too weak over his peccadillos to mount the support necessary to go to a land war, any land war.

George W. Bush as the winner of the torture test in the Long Count Election, has to do a hurry-up transition, then in 8 months presides over the worst single day attack in the history of the republic. So Afghanistan first, Iraq second.

Even Madeline Albright said last week she believed Saddam had the WMD’s. War for the democracies is a long political process. We have “limited government” on purpose, the Thugs know it and consider it a weakness. We got a war in Iraq because everyone, even Hans Blix, believed in 2002 Saddam had the WMD's hidden or would develop worse and use them. Last year was the only opportunity to get Saddam for maybe 2 or three election cycles, or when the mushroom cloud roze over L.A., Or, NYC, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, London. It was now or later after the "Islamic" bomb.

LINK...

All people of goodwill support getting rid of Saddam, Kim Il Jong, thug mullahs of Iran, Al Quida….but a lot of them just object to paying for it, It costs blood and treasure. Why us, why are we in their crosshairs? It matters, but at this stage we fight them over there now, or later after more hits on Park Avenue, Wilshire Boulevard, & Michigan Ave.

Sgt. Mom - I gotta write it out like people talk it. Cussing's so common no one even notices it. And what I put up was relatively sanitized.

don't let my mother fool you Stryker, she was the one that taught me to curse in the first place(city highways in Texas will get you everytime) But by the time I got back from MOS School I was more than happy to share with my mother what I had learned.

At sunset, some nurses from a nearby hospital tried to recover the bodies. Men with guns threatened to kill the nurses.

The nurses left. The bodies remained.

Hours later, the bodies were cut down, tossed onto a pile of tires and set afire.

The bodies were then dragged behind a donkey cart to Fallujah's municipal building, dumped there, tied to the bumper of a car and dragged away to an unknown location.

LINK. . .

On Thursday, Fallujah residents said they were ready to take on the Americans if they now try to enter the city.

"We will not let any foreigner enter Fallujah," said Sameer Sami. "Yesterday's attack is proof of how much we hate the Americans." ... "We wish that they would try to enter Fallujah so we'd let hell break loose," Ahmed al-Dulaimi said.

"They will soon get their wish" said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.

Link . . .

You know, the only reason that I don't think the US can be a successful colonial power is that we're not mean enough. Extremists on the left and right don't care for human rights, but the US is full of moderates who believe that the means justify the ends, and there are certain things that we will not do. And in a pre-emptive war, where we are seen as the aggressors, the world will only accept certain actions as well.
It's going to be very hard to win the hearts and minds of Falluja with bread and circuses, or today's equivalent of electricity and infrastructure. The Sunnis are too angry that we took away their ability to bully the rest of the country, too angry that we took away their chosen son, and too angry that another nation is occupying theirs.
Traditional colonial powers used shear brutality in order to pacify their renegade provinces. I have a lot of faith in General Kimmitt, but for all of his tough talk, he is a principled and compassionate man, as are all military leaders I've ever dealt with. We will never be brutal on the scale of the old empires. I just hope that we can convince the Iraqis that kindness does not equate to weakness.

Sarge, as I've mentioned before, you know what happens to smartasses. (Takes one to know one)
I imagine you, sometime in the future, saying "Damn, this hemlock shit tastes awful! Could somebody bring me some beer to wash it down with?

Owhell.

Unlike you, I was warned away from the AF in time. The datum which tipped my mind over on to the NO side of the joining-up question was provided me at second, or maybe third hand, by a senior (in age) and junior (in rank) AF officer. I'd had the first two years of ROTC like everyone else and they were trying to get us to sign up for the serious, senior, course, wherein one had to Swear the Oath, and everything. In furtherance of such things the naive college kids were invited to dinings-in-or-out. One of my fellow students reported to me after attending one of those that, late in the evening, when all were well fed and well drunk, and dispersing to go home, the above-mentioned overaged Major took him aside in the parking lot and said something like, "So, kid, ya wanna join the Air Force?" ("Yes sir!") "Sure that's whatcha want?" ("Yessir!")

Grumpy Old Drunken Major: OK, kid, lemme givya some advice, then. Jest one thing yuh gotta remember: You just play ball with the air force, and the air force

will stick the bat up yer ass!

P. S.

Had I continued, I would inevitably have been pitched into the ancillary, don't-get-no-respect part of the AF, my eyes not being good enough for me to fly for them.

Dude, I love the Air Force! I'm just not thrilled with the corner I'm currently in right now. I'll move on probably this year or the next, so it's no big deal.

Seriously, I'd recommend anyone join. You'll learn more about people and the ways of the world in just one year than most people will figure out in a lifetime. Plus, it's just plain cool.

..."the TIG and TIS will eventually put me over the top..."

Or, just a thought, you could study and make it next time.

And trust me, I'm coming up on 20 years, you are not burnt out. Burn outs are the ones who have quit caring about their people and their mission and are just coasting through, trying to keep themselves and their people under the radar. Burnouts are just biding their time until they can retire and get that GS or contractor job where they can stick their head in the sand even further. Not all of them, but a LOT of them.

And I know you know this, but sometimes I need to hear it myself, which is why I say it so often, "Never make a decision about your career based on one assignment."

The best thing about a bad assignment is that it frees you up to concentrate on the important things. You know it's messed up, you know there's very little you can do about it, you concentrate on the things you have influence over, namely yourself and your people. What sucks is that when you're in the middle of it, you keep thinking you should be able to do more to change the whole thing. Change like that comes from the top down. Focus on your circle of influence, ignore the rest. (Hat tip to Stephen Covey.)

Get yourself promoted and get to the top, then you do what you've always done, influence your people...but now you've got more people and that's when the fun begins.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a smart ass. One of the best Chiefs I know has been a smart ass ever since we were airmen together. The difference between him and I? He looked around, said "Fuck this shit." and hit the books. I was a SrA, he was an A1C, now I'm a MSgt and he's a Chief. Most of the good Senior NCOs I know are STILL just grownup versions of that smart ass airmen they were when they came in. Being a smart ass implies that you still have your sense of humor.

Steve-

All that colonial power business is a straw man, easy to knock down -- not the same. The Marshall Plan countries, Japan, Korea, the Phillipines etc. have independant democracies, independant of the U.S. by our intent and design. Reconstruction and pacification is uglier here. Iraqi Civil War will be likely for a long time due to regional thugocracies wanting to exploit trouble.

I have a son graduating a top college next year who is still intent on enlisting in the Marine corp. (as an enlisted man.) He (& I) have friends in Iraq now. So this is personal to me, not armchair blather. Chances are good (or bad) that the boy will be over there 24-28 months from now.

I was here for the Rodney King Riots and the looting. Tanks and Marines and the business end of M-16's has a very "Pacifying" effect. Fallujah isn't south Central L.A. In Fallujah there are Maniacal thugs, foriegn Jihadist thugs, teenage coming up thugs, Saddam leftovers, and a majority of the people in a town of 150,000 who just want some kind of peace and working situation, love us or hate us.

I am glad that this army and marine force is different this time, learning constantly how to re-develop and adjust intel, tactics, strategy and policy. I hope the they do a powerful response and soon, and I hope it gets some of this week's specific cannibals. And with good Intel it will go on and on. As for the routine house to house searches, I think they will pick the best Iraqi military men they have, Shia, Sunni and Kurd maybe 1,000-2,000 for those searches.

Fallujah hasn't seen real war yet. Fallujah got bypassed. All this will probably have to be repeated in a couple of other cities, maybe Tikrit and Sammarah. As the thugs come down, Marine operation by operation, it will take a lot of heat out of the Sunni Triangle.

It's going to be ugly for some time yet, especially with teenage foreign jihadist (still streaming in) who want to "make their bones" killing a marine (hey I got one). I know some Marines over there now, and oneday soon one of those Marines will be mine.

"`God-sized challenge' faces Marines in Sunni Triangle" - L.A. Times

LINK . . .

Bring it on. I know Marines there now, and we adapt, we face one challange and move on to the next, "God-sized" or not.

A very interesting take on the news. My hubby and I were spewing rum all over our monitor. Jeez! Well, I guess you did warn us. Shitholistan, indeed!