Attack in Mosul

I'm sure you've all heard about the recent attack in Mosul- the situation is still developing, and I won't comment on any of the specifics that I know at this time. We are now in that "pre-notification" period during which time thousands of family members agonize with grief and worry about their loved ones who are stationed there. We all hate days like these.

I can tell you that rocket and mortar attacks are not new. They occured almost every other night (sometimes during the day) when I was there last year, and I'm sure it's no different today. Some poor Iraqi guy pops off some rounds and collects $220 from a local terrorist financier. Usually the rounds impact harmlessly somewhere in the AO. The general consensus was that the worse case scenario would be a direct hit on the dining facility during meal hours. It would take a carefully coordinated attack to pull that off, and it seems that this might be what happened. We'll see how the facts pan out. It's just a sad situation, and I'm sure you'll all join me in expressing condelences to all the victims (casualties and their loved ones) involved in this attack.

Iraq the Model Saga and Roger Simon

Looks like Omar and Mohammed are unhappy with Ali's decision. Still no explanation as to why he suddenly departed. In his most recent post, Omar talks about meeting Roger L. Simon (he's one of those really well-known "superbloggers")- I followed the link to Roger's site, and you won't believe what I found:

Two People Have Sent Me This Link Today from April 2004
... my wife Sheryl and frequent commenter on here Charlie (Colorado)...So maybe that's a sign. In any case, this speech by theoretical physicist and Weizmann Institute President Haim Harari entitled "A View from the Eye of the Storm" is certainly worth a look to those (like me) who have missed it. People of this intellectual depth rarely opine about politics. (There's a thought - Haim Harari on Crossfire.)

Is the blogosphere amazing or what? Maybe "it's a a sign"- or maybe 2Slick brought it back to life! One of his "commentators" (I just invented that word) mentioned that "Den Beste blogged it -- at length, of course -- back in the day."

I figured somebody must have circulated this thing before- of course, I didn't even know what the blogosphere was back in April of 2004. Anyway- good info. I just thought that was really cool when I saw that.

Iraqi Elections

Der Commissar strikes again! Here's your one-stop shop for any and every update about the Iraqi elections.

Another Iraqi Blog Controversy

Some of you may have noticed that I removed Najma's "A Star from Mosul" site from my blogroll. I don't want to make a big an issue of it, but our friend Hoot wrote a great post about it- I'd recommend checking it out.

It's certainly not a "black and white" situation. Najma is a young girl, and she's still very impressionable. I discovered her blog a few months ago, and when I found an entry where she talked about her desire to attend Mosul University- I obviously felt an immediate connection. I sent her a heartfelt email, and encouraged her to study hard and become a great leader in her new country (she really is bright for her age). As you can imagine, I was saddened to find her saying that US Soldiers are "irresponsible" baby killers and that we should "shoot ourselves." I don't really blame her for this- I blame the Islamosfascist culture that surrounds her, the former regime for "dumbing down" the general population with information deprivation, and especially the Al Jazeera propaganda machine that is still very much in effect even today.

I respect her right to call us baby killers, and as I mentioned in the comments in her post- US soldiers will continue to fight and die for her right to accuse us of such things- but it should surprise nobody when soldiers like me choose not to support her in such endeavors. As far as I'm concerned, she is a young Islamofascist and I hope she changes her ways. I've already done enough to encourage her to make the right choices in life- many other soldiers supported and encouraged her as well. One of those soldiers who supported her (and felt equally betrayed) is a Stryker guy who is currently stationed in Mosul- calls himself "monkeyman." I really hope he's OK.

Today was not a good day in Mosul- there was also a demonstration at the University today. That's not good. Don't worry, though- the US and Iraqi troops will prevail up there- the good guys always win. Everyone knows that...