Area417

Someone Call The ACLU!

Torture alert! World Net Daily is reporting that U.S. Marines are making Saddam Hussein watch the South Park episode where Saddam is portrayed as Satan's lover.

That according to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the animated series, who spoke at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

Parker and Stone say U.S. Marines are making the ousted Iraqi dictator watch the episode "repeatedly."

Expect those morons at the United Nations to call this a war crime when they get wind of it.

WMD & Iraq

A substantial cache of WMD, found in Iraq, gets some press. These aren't new findings, so the question is, why didn't we hear about it sooner?

I asked my son that question when he told me that he had seen WMD while in Iraq. He couldn't answer that, so I guess we have to ask Bush WHY DIDN'T THIS COME OUT EARLIER?

Link: Captain's Quarters.

What If The Islamists End Up On Top?

the will to exist has an idea. The post speaks for itself.

Maupin's Mother Supports Others While Waiting For Her Missing Son

Carolyn  Maupin still waits for news about her son, Matt. After 2 years, he's the only member of our military who remains unaccounted for.

"I honestly thought he'd be back by now," she said. "I didn't think it would take this long.

Pictures of Matt are placed inside the boxes of goodies sent to troops in Iraq by the Maupins' Yellow Ribbon Support Center - a storefront operation near the Sam's Club where Matt used to work.

Sgt. Maupin has been missing since April 9, 2004, when his convoy was ambushed near Baghdad.

A week later, Arab television network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing Maupin sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.

The Maupins have been busy getting computers to soldiers stationed in Iraq and hope to raise $100,00 to fund scholarships in the name of area soldiers who have died in Iraq.

"They have a great deal of courage," said Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt, an avid supporter who lives in Loveland near the Maupins' hometown. "They've kept the candle burning for Matt; they're also keeping it burning for every member of the military."

Matt's brother, Micah, is a Marine Cpl. stationed in California.

Please keep all of our military members and their families in your prayers.

Links: Missing Soldier's Mother Hopeful, Area 417 : Remember Those Who Serve, Cincinnati.com: Hometown holds on to hope, Blackfive: Sgt. Matt Maupin, Ohio's Veterans Assoc. Heroes: Tribute to Sgt. Matt Maupin

Michael Yon To Be On CNN Tonight

Last night, Hugh Hewitt was on CNN with Anderson Cooper, as part of a segment about the media coverage of the Iraq war. In the brief discussion, which also featured Time magazine Reporter Michael Ware and CNN’s Nic Robertson, a lot of ground was covered and it quickly became clear that the topic requires a more extensive and comprehensive treatment.

Tonight, I will be part of a return to this topic. Starting at 11 pm, Eastern Standard Time, I’ll be joining Anderson Cooper and his guests Hugh Hewitt, Nic Robertson and Michael Ware.

Link: Michael Yon : Online Magazine � Blog Archive � The Full Picture?.

Saddam's WMD Tapes

The Intelligence Summit now has a PowerPoint presentation of Saddams's personal recordings.

Saddam's Tapes

Back in January, I posted about tapes of Saddam Hussein's meetings that were to be presented this month. Weapons of mass destruction were discussed on those recordings.

Now the tapes are out and the UK's News Telegraph has an article on line.

Saddam told his lackeys that the West would suffer a WMD attack, but that Iraq "would not be involved."

The dictator was briefed on how his county was hiding it's weapons of mass destruction and Iraq's biological weapons program--the program that he always maintained didn't exist.

Saddam's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, was captured on tape:

Sir, the biological is very easy to make. It's so simple that any biologist can make a bottle of germs and drop it into a water tower and kill 100,000. This is not done by a state. No need to accuse a state. An individual can do it.

Saddam's Tapes May Shed Light On Weapons Of Mass Destruction

On February 17th of this year, a cvilian contractor (who was once a military intelligence analyst) intends to present private audio recordings of Saddam Hussein's office meetings.

In regard to these highly confidential audiotapes, Attorney John Loftus, President of the Intelligence Summit^sm, recently stated that, "Saddam's secret office recordings continued well into the year 2000.  In all, they contain at least 12 hours of totally candid discussions with his senior aides.  Clearly, after these tapes have been verified and corroborated, they will be able to provide a few definitive answers to some very important-and controversial-weapons of mass destruction questions."  Loftus went on to say that the contractor who found and recovered the tapes has requested that his identity remain anonymous until he makes his presentation.

Link: Intelligence Summit.

Farris Hassan's Iraq Adventure

Florida teen Farris Hassan, who was taking a class on immersion journalism, decided to really get into his topic by taking a trip. Without his parent's knowledge. By himself. To Iraq.

Read the story here.

MoveOn.org: Just Stupid or Do They Think YOU Are?

MoveOn.org  has a new TV ad. The problem is, that while they are crying alligator tears over "our" soldiers, the men they show in the pictures are Brits. One Army Captain is not amused:

These are not your normal everyday U.S. soldiers though. If you look at the frame they are actually British soldiers. One is in shorts (we don't have shorts as a normal combat uniform) and the others are all clearly wearing British pattern fatigues. So, my point is that these [turkeys] pretend to argue on my behalf and bash the president in the name of my crying wife, and they don't even know what an American soldier looks like! Anyway, it really [ticked] me off.

The only thing that would have made this more galling is if the ad had mentioned   that the liberation of Iraq was "unilateral." (Emphasis added)

Link: OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today.

A Different Iraq

Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) had this to say about his visit to Iraq.

First and foremost: the war that we saw is not the same war that we are reading in the media everyday. In fact, our soldiers are very frustrated that the media is only reporting the bad news instead of highlighting the progress being made. (Snipped)

He continues:

Over the past two days we talked with generals, soldiers, Iraqi officials, and Iraqi people. The unifier among them is that they are very optimistic about what is going on in Iraq and what the future of Iraq will be. They are not saying that we are out of the woods yet, but they are saying that we have made a lot of progress with things like infrastructure (hospitals, schools, electricity, water) and politically.

The Iraqi's are stepping forward. In fact, one of the commanders tells me that they are currently training 9,000 Iraqi's to be soldiers, and they have 10,000 citizens in-line ready to be trained.

Which is exactly what others who have been there have said.

Link: || RedState.org.

Help Our Troops Make a Difference

Update: Kevin's wheelchair is on it's way! Link:The Military Vote

I'm bumping this post and updating: According to Camp Katrina, donations for the Wheelchair for Kevin, have reached $500. After his wheelchair is purchased, remaining funds will go toward his medical bills.

As a dividend, your donations are doing the hearts of some of our soldiers good too, as noted at The Military Vote.

PLEASE DONATE! Go to The Military Vote, find the post entitled "Kevin's New Wheelchair" and hit the donation button embedded in that post. All they are asking for is $10-$20 dollars, max. (Hint: copy the email address below the donation button; you'll need to insert the addy when you fill out the form at Pay Pal.)

Same Ole' Different Day writes of the injuries suffered by Kevin, an Iraqi acting as an interpreter for our troops:

Seeing him in the condition he was in was the first time during this whole deployment made me realize how lucky I have been. Kevins injuries consisted of a broken arm, two broken legs, a removed kidney, and a removed spleen. The month prior to the blast Kevin had been working for the military as an interpreter, and he was here to pick up his check. Upon seeing Kevin I was extremely happy, but it pained me to see him sitting there in such pain. Not being able to walk yet he was sitting in a folding chair that doubles as his wheelchair. Wherever he had to go two people had to pick the chair up and move him because he cannot afford a proper wheelchair. We asked him if he needed anything, and his reply was that our friendship was all that he needed.

H/T Camp Katrina

Cindy Sheehan's Anti-War Marine Lying

This is the face of a liar. This is former Marine Sgt. Jimmy Massey.

He, as a part of the Cindy Sheehan traveling circus, has been going about the country (and even France) telling people of the atrocities that our marines have been committing.

The jig is up. Gateway Pundit has more.

Iraqi Constitution Likely to Pass

A partial count reveals that passage is likely, in spite of high Sunni turnout.

Link: Top News Article | Reuters.co.uk.

Updates: Saddam's hometown of Tikrit voted 70% against the charter; U.N. says the voting was incredibly peaceful

Saddam Hussein’s Trial

Saddam Hussein's trial is scheduled to start on Wednesday in the first case brought against him.

The trial will center on the 1982 massacre in Dujail, where Saddam's troops killed about 150 people and imprisoned and tortured approximately 1,500 more as pay-back for an assassination attempt against the dictator.

Link: Newsday.com: Saddam Hussein’s trial; Shiite retribution.

News Items from Iraq

U.S. military troops announce the capture of two senior al-Qaeda members.

The polls in Iraq have closed. There were far fewer terrorist attacks than anticipated and turn out was good.

What happens next.

A son goes to Iraq

Wish I'd written this:

My son and his fellows are producers of freedom, not mere consumers of
it. And those who only consumed freedom will one night lie in their
beds and think themselves accursed that they didn’t serve with them.

Link: One Hand Clapping � To war: Lance Cpl. Stephen Sensing.

Open Forum: Michael Yon in Iraq

Michael Yon has a new site up; one where his readers can leave feed back. Below is an exerpt from his newest dispatch.

This enemy is smart and they are deadly, but they are also losing. Iraq can become a strong and free nation. But it will take the constant application of pressure over time to stem the flow of blood. If we back off too soon, they will rebound. If we cut our losses and run, they will follow us home. Peace can prevail here, if we can use our strength to maintain our progress.

Link: Open Forum: Michael Yon in Iraq.

Hostage rescued in Iraq

After ten months in captivity, Roy Hallums is free!

Status of Michael Yon

Does anyone know if Michael Yon is O.K.? His last blog entry was August 31st.

Must read

Check out Michael Yon's post from yesterday.  If you can, hit his tip jar while you're there.

Muqtada al-Sadr calls on followers to end violence

Al-Sadr urged his followers to end fighting so that work on the new constitution can move forward by saying "I urge the believers not to attack innocent civilians and not to fall for American plots that aim to divide us," al-Sadr said. "We are passing through a critical period and a political process." (Emphasis added)

Link: Iraq Cleric Urges Followers to End Clashes - Yahoo! News.

What would Democrats say if..

Normally, I'm not a big Ann Coulter fan, but this paragraph in yesterday's column caught my eye:

On the bright side, Sheehan shows us what Democrats would say if they thought they were immunized from disagreement. Sheehan has called President Bush "that filth-spewer and warmonger." She says "America has been killing people on this continent since it was started" and "the killing has gone on unabated for over 200 years." She calls the U.S. government a "morally repugnant system" and says, "This country is not worth dying for." (Emphasis added)

Read the rest:  CINDY SHEEHAN: COMMANDER IN GRIEF - Yahoo! News.

Supporting our troops? Please...

Wednesday evening, Sharon Ash intends to hold an anti-war, candlelight vigil near Olde Town Center in support of Cindy Sheehan--at least she doesn't try to claim she's supporting our troops. 

Ash and Willard resident Joan Collins are members of the Peace Network of the Ozarks, a group that formed three years ago to try to stop the invasion of Iraq before it happened.

Collins said she'll be at Wednesday's vigil.

"It's important on a personal level because I can't imagine losing a child to a war that shouldn't have been launched," she said. Along with backing Sheehan's effort, Collins said Wednesday's candlelight vigil will be "in support of our troops and the families who have suffered losses." (Emphasis added)

I can tell you right now, had my son come home in a coffin, I would not be pleased with the sort of "support" that these women are showing.

Perhaps they mean to support the terrorists by raising their hopes that we'll pack it up and go home. It has been done before.

You want to support our troops? Look over there on the side bar--there's plenty of opportunities starting with American Snipers.org and ending with the Wounded Warrior Project.

Just know one thing; Sidle up to me with your little candle, sister, and you're likely to start a war on a whole new front.

Link: News-Leader.com | Politics/Elections.

al-Qaeda plot against troops uncovered

Jordan has arrested 17 with ties to al-Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and a group know as the Brigades of the Holy Shrines.

They were planning attacks on foreign officers in the kingdom," said one security source, referring to a plot to attack U.S. military personnel who frequent five-star hotels while on leave from duty in neighboring Iraq.

Read the article: Jordan uncovers al Qaeda plot to attach U.S. troops

Michael Yon : Online Magazine: Empty Jars

Anyone who has any interest in Iraq needs to be following  Michael Yon's  compelling narrative.

And the calm man, who appeared so clever and confident while standing there comforting a crying infant? How the picture changed when a young American solider stepped into the frame, reached for and gently took the child. Without his prop, the actor faltered, his illusion cracked and shattered as he shuddered before the soldier. This man who cowered behind a crying child was one of the top terrorist leaders in Mosul.

I remember the Kashmiri Mohammedan and his three jars. While terrorists on earth do their best to keep us down, men and women boarded a space ship in Florida today, and flew into space.

Iraqi Foreign Minister says country will move forward

Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari says the writing of the constitution will proceed with or without Sunnis, but they would do well to participate.  Link: Iraq will recover despite Sunni boycott-Zebari - Yahoo! News.

Iraq tribunal lays first charges against Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein , along with Barzan al-Tikriti, Taha Yasin Ramadan, and Awad Hamad al-Bander , has been charged with the killing of Shi'ites in Dujail.

These murders are the first formal charges  to brought against the former dictator.