Iraq- Is it time for change?

Did you watch the president's speech June 28 on Iraq? All day the White House had promised it would be somber, with plain talk on what was happening on the ground and what the future held.

Now, his critics (whose name is Legion) wanted him to say, "this is where we're screwing up, me and SECDEF Rummy, this is what we're going to do to change our plans, this is when things will start to change, and this is when the boys are coming home." Well, in case you didn't watch that certainly isn't what he said. What the president basically said was, "things are tough, told you they would be after 9/11, but if you'll hang in there it'll all turn out alright in the end cause no one can whup the US of A."

Let's put politics and politicians aside for a minute and talk about what it takes to win a war. We'll focus on Iraq and not the war on terror in general, which is a whole 'nuther subject. We have accomplished many of our objectives; Saddam is in jail, there's an elected government in his place, and Iraq is now counted as an partner in the war on terror. We've lost over 1,700 brave men and women in this war, but Iraqi police and soldiers and civilians are dying in much, much higher numbers. War is a dirty, brutal business which ideally (from the point of the warrior) has no room for political correctness. Collateral damage (the antiseptic term used for civilain causualties) should be considered whenever possible but...not at the increased risk to American and coalition soldiers.

With all due respect to my commander in chief and the SECDEF and everyone else involved in the planning and execution of winning the "peace" in Iraq (we have already won the war- see above) this is what he should have said and this is what I would do if I were king.

"As of today, June 28, 2005, I am taking these steps to resolve the continued violence in Iraq."

1) Immediately mobilize every combat and support soldier in Germany for duty in Iraq. We've been in Germany for sixty years. The Germans have their own army to protect their own country.

2) Immediately mobilize every remaining combat unit (with their supporting elements) of the national guard and reserve which has not served in Iraq until our total combat power reaches 250,000.

3) Position these added troops facing out toward Syria, Jordan, and Iran and close the border.

4) 30 minutes ago I informed the governments of Syria, Jordan and Iran through dipolmatic channels that until further notice no, and I mean no civilian traffic will be allowed to cross the Iraqi border. The same announcement will be made on CNN, Fox news, and Al Jihad-azzera with the addition that until further notice US and coalition warplanes will fly continuous, around the clock missions along their borders and destroy any and every vehicle attempting to enter Iraq that is not delivering supplies vital to trade and aid (i.e. fuel, food, medicine and materials for reconstruction) along designated routes of entry. These vehicles delivering aid will of course have to pass through well guarded checkpoints along said designated routes. Anyone attempting to enter on foot be will be detained, questioned, then either sent back to their point of origin or arrested. If they attempt to evade capture and detainment, they will be shot.

5) Announcements are being made in Iraq (through any and all available means of communication) that anyone not in the Iraqi police or military caught carrying a weapon larger than a slingshot will be subject to arrest, their weapon confiscated, and if they resist, they will be shot on sight.

6) With the border closed, the Iraqi, coalition and US forces will begin operations to sweep the country from border to border, city to city, and house to house, until all terrorist, foreign fighters and insurgents are either dead or detained.

Within 18 months, Iraq will be secure, their national army trained and battle ready, their constitution ratified, more elections held, their elected government stabilized, and our troops will begin to come home to refit, rearm and retrain for the next phase of our war on terror.

God bless our men and women in uniform and God bless America"

Would it be difficult? Yes. Would it be bloody? Yes. Would there be casualties? Yes. Would America still be The Great Satan? Yes. We always will be until we cease to exist. Would I be re-elected king? Probably not. But the war (and the peace) in Iraq would be over and we could turn our attention to....Syria? Iran? umm....dare I say what passes for Palestine?

That is my stinking opinion. Maybe it's a good thing I'm not in charge. What do you think?

Have the day of your choice,
SSG JDale

"We will not tire. We will not falter. We will not fail."
President George W. Bush 2001

The poor, innocent muslims at Gitmo Bay

Servicemen and women have taken a lot of flak from the news media and unfortunately...even from members of congress recently. That's okay. I volunteered to do this job. I work for congress, which is elected by the citizens of this great country. I can handle criticism when it's warrented. If you don't think I (or my comrades) are doing our jobs. Tell me. I mean...this is a free country, isn't it? We serve so that you are able to say what you want as long as it's true. Oh, wait...did I say "as long as it's true?"

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinios recently said that American soldiers treat our captives from the Global War on Terror (and I'm paraphrasing here) "no better than Nazis, or guards at Soviet gulags, or Pol Pot (who in case you don't remember was a Cambodian dictator who killed millions of his own people in the seventies). Whew...those are some strong words Senator. He later umm...apoligized because of the heat he was taking and said "If" he'd said anything that "may" have offended someone, he was sorry. That's what passes for an apology in Washington these days. That's okay Mr Durbin. If it helps you sleep at night, say that's an apology.

But before you say something like that again, let me tell you how it really is when a suspect in the GWOT falls into the hands of the US military. And I'm not talking about Guantanamo Bay where cameras and media and congressmen are always popping by. I'm talking about on the ground, just after bullets have been flying, in the far reaches of Afghanistan. If you're one of those misinformed people who think that poor, innocent muslims are being whisked off the dusty streets of Kabul, or Kandahar, or Mosul or Baghdad by the big bad US military and flown straight to Cuba to be tortured, let me clear something up for you.

For ten months during 2003 and 2004, I was a trainer and military advisor to an infantry company of the Afghan National Army. During my time in Afghanistan (which by the way, is still a hot spot in the war on terror) my Afghans went on numerous missions to root out and neutralize Taliban, al-Qaeda and other anti-coalitions forces. I speak from personal experience when I tell you that for the terror suspect, it's a long trip from your mud hut in Zobul Province to the steel cages of Gitmo.

It usually begins in the early morning hours (hopefully but not always before sunrise). A CH-47 helicopter loaded with a mix of US and Afghan troops flys thru some stark valley, mountain walls visible out the chopper's widows, to land outside some village where intelligence says someone who is doing bad things is hiding out. The troops pile out the back, hopefully without being shot at while we figure out exactly where we are, then spread out and surround the target area. From there, search teams go and look for bad guys. Now, we know women and children are here, so we don't go in with guns blazing unless we're shot at first. If that happens, as a Special Forces captain I worked with was fond of saying, "It's on like Donkey Kong." But usually it's much less destructive and with strict observance of the ROE (Rules of Engagement). Usually it's more like, "You're surrounded, come out with your hands up."

We search or shoot back (as the case may be) and if you're a suspected bad guy (which means we've found weapons on you or in your house or there are other reasons to hold you) you're segregated from the non combatants (the women and children) and your interrogated by a trained intelligence officer. If, if there is reason to hold you for further questioning, your loaded up and taken back to an FOB (Foward Operating Base) and questioned further by more trained military personnel. Your accommodations at the FOB aren't exactly the on par with the Hilton, but then neither are the accommodations of the US troops holding you. I spent many nights sleeping on the top of my Hummer, waking up to bang my head on a .50 cal machine gun at any suspicious noise. At the FOB, if it's determined that you aren't the threat we thought you were, you're released no worse for wear. I personally witnessed Afghans shaking the hands of US troops upon release and remarking with a greatful smile how well they were treated. (I suppose they had expected to be beaten, chained and oh...I don't know, have their head sawed off with dull knives. I wonder where they would get that idea? But I digress) If you're not released, you are sent on to Kandahar or Bagram Air Base for further questioning or handed over to Afghan authorities. (In Iraq only the names of the bases are changed, not the proceedures) From there, you are again either released or sent finally to Cuba for further questioning.

I suppose someone innocent of wrong doing may end up at Guantanamo Bay. But even with the best court system in the world and DNA evidence innocent people in America end up in US prisons. But even then most of them are eventually clearned. So there you have it. It's a long road from Zobul Province to Cuba. If you're at Gitmo, a large group of good, decent, freedom loving people have reason to believe you belong there. Trust me, it would be much easier to stand a terrorist against a wall and shoot him dead on the spot after he's been caught red handed. But that's not what happens. So the next time you hear Dick Durbin or someone else say American soldiers act like Nazis, or Soviet gulag guards or murderous dictators, you'll know the truth.

Of course that's only my stinking opinion. But it's the opinion of someone who's been out hunting bad guys in the wilds of Afghanistan. Do detainees sometimes get mistreated? I guess that would depend on your idea of how a terror suspect not covered by the Geneva Convention should be dealt with. But that's another subject or another day.


SSG JDale

Welcome to my mind

You've heard the saying, "Opinions are like a**holes. Everyong has one and they all stink." From time to time now you can tune in to this blog and find out my stinking opinion on current events. Should you value my opinion? You'll have to decide for yourself whether it's of any worth to you. I can only tell you that my world view and my view of current events is shaped from actually seeing the world, from the best of places, middle Tennessee, to the worst of places in Afghanistan, Iraq and other third (and forth world countries).

I woke up to the world around me in 1979 when I was a senior in high school in sleepy, uninformed Smithville, Tennessee. Radical Iranian students stormed the American embassy in Teheran and took fifty American hostages and kept them for 444 days. When that happened I went from being a long haired, dope smoker who talked bad about his country to someone who finally realized that there was a price for freedom. I spent the next two decades doing things that the easy going, long haired teen ager would never have dreamed of doing before he woke up to the real world. I spent the next twenty years learning the price of our freedom. With twenty years of learning, I can tell you plainly that the price of freedom is sacrifice. On September 11, 2001, the price for our freedom went up considerably. September the 10th was the last day any American could afford to place political correctness above defending our liberty. That was the last day we could worry more about offending someone or hurting someone's feelings than we could worry about protecting our borders, our homes, and our families and really paying the price for liberty.

I guess that's why I decided to call this site the "Price of Freedom." A man much wiser than me once wrote, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain, inalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." We have been endowed with these rights. That means they are a gift from God. They are free. But...sometimes we are asked to pay to keep these gifts. Sometimes it costs us everything we own, encluding our life. There are young American men and women in uniform paying everything they own, every day, so that we may keep the gift of freedom. Is the price too high?
Not in my stinking opinion.

SSG JDale