Nothing To Do With Israel

I'm glad Dr. Harari's speech made such an impact- I didn't realize that so many people had never seen it. It really should be required reading. I thought it was a little eerie when I learned that Iraq saw one of it's bloodiest days soon after I posted it. Just as Dr. Harari said- these attacks had nothing to do with Israel. It was simply Muslims killing other Muslims for the sole purpose of attaining wealth and power. In this case, it appears to be the work of operatives from neighboring countries- something we expected to see during the run-up to the elections. I do have to point out one part of this AP article (if I may):

The deadly strikes highlighted the apparent ability of the insurgents to launch attacks almost at will, despite confident assessments by U.S. military commanders that they had regained the initiative after last month's campaign against militants in Fallujah.

Right- except that the number of attacks per day have decreased by more than 50% since the Fallujah operation. I guess the AP person who wrote this article forgot to tell us that- you see, that information would contradict the assertion that the insurgies can "attack at will." When spewing pro-terrorist propaganda, one must be very careful to eliminate certain key facts from their reporting. Every effort must be made to achieve the terrorist's desired effects- scare the hell out of the Iraqis! Nice job, AP- you've once again proven yourselves worthy competition for Al Jazeera.

Those silly U.S. military commanders- how can they possibly claim to have the initiative when they've only reduced the enemy's output by one half? Absurd!

This is Just Great

As most of you know, I took several hours of video footage during my time in Iraq. One of my favorite scenes has my buddy (let's call him Jimmy- our brigade Intel Officer) picking up a Stars and Stripes newspaper when we were sitting about 10 miles south of Baghdad. Michael Moore was on the top right corner of the front page- he had recently caused a stir with a lame Bush-bashing speech at the Oscars (he was jeered off the stage as you'll recall). Jimmy pulled out his knife, and unceremoniously removed Mr. Moore from the newspaper- his picture fluttered slowly to the dirt. As Jimmy walked away, my camera focused on Moore's ugly mug looking up from it's new sandy surroundings- and (this is my favorite part) Jimmy's voice trailed away with, "I hate that $#%*head..."

I'm so glad I caught that on tape, because it really captured how we feel about this man- and this was way before F9/11. I can't speak for all of us, but if I were to guess the ratio of military folks who are pro-Moore versus hardcore anti-Moore, I'd have to put it at about 1 to 1000. That's not an exageration- that's what my experience tells me. Of course Moore has a book and movie that would paint a much different picture (he's a professioinal fictionologist- propagandist- whatever), but trust me- we can't stand that guy. Michael from A Day in Iraq puts it in more colorful terms (I had to censor- my mom reads this stuff!):

Guess what fat ass, I'm not a pawn either. A pawn is defined as a person used by others for their own purposes. No one is using me, not the government, or the Army. On the contrary, I'm using them. I'm using them for the opportunity to fight. To fight against terrorists. To fight for my brothers-in-arms. To fight for my country. To fight so that stubble faced, fat asses like you can spew your filth. The only pawns are those soldiers that you used in your movie for you purpose of gaining wealth. God forbid if I ever unknowingly show up in one of your films. I'm not your bitch, and if I'm ever on one second of one of your ****** films, you will become my bitch.

Read the whole thing- it's just priceless. (warning- language!)

And As Long as We're on the Subject of Moore-Bashing

Here's another great blog I found recently. Great writer...

Don't look at this if you have a heart condition...

Drama in the Blogosphere

What's up with Iraq the Model? As you all know, brothers Mohammed and Omar made a highly publicized trip to the U.S.- met the Prez and all that. But back in Iraq, Ali (who opted out of the trip) just dropped this bombshell:

This is the last time I write in this blog and I just want to say, goodbye. It's not an easy thing to do for me, but I know I should do it. I haven't told my brothers with my decision, as they are not here yet, but it won't change anything and I just can't keep doing this anymore. My stand regarding America has never changed. I still love America and feel grateful to all those who helped us get our freedom and are still helping us establishing democracy in our country. But it's the act of some Americans that made me feel I'm on the wrong side here. I will expose these people in public very soon and I won't lack the mean to do this, but I won't do it here as this is not my blog. At any rate, it's been a great experience and a pleasure to know all the regular readers of this blog, as I do feel I know you, and I owe you a lot.

Best wishes to all of you, those who supported us and those who criticized us as well.

Yours sincerely,

Ali.

Wrong side of what? And who will he "expose?" Like sands through the Iraqi desert, these are the blogs of our lives. Stay tooned!

And Last But Certainly Not Least

Thanks to all of you who donated to the Spirit of America Friends of Iraq Blogger Challenge- no matter which team you decided to go with. Special thanks to Jim Hake for spearheading the effort, Quilly (fellow LGFer) for starting up the team, and our wonderful teammates:

Carolina Girl, Modern Crusader, TheCO, and ThooLou's Lair. We raised over $1150 big ones! Overall, the challenge netted a cool 90 G's- way to go everyone! Thanks to all who gave...