Flying Tigers in Iraq

Postscript - One Year Later

2006-11-19T20:31:00.000+03:00

More than a year ago, I recommended that US policy in Iraq be based on the democratic yearnings of the Iraqi peoples. Unfortunately, it looks like the leaders in the US State Department continue to cling to a vision of Iraq that is shared by very few of the people who live there. Specifically, I suggested that the US not fight to keep a unified Iraq – unfortunately, as late as yesterday, Dr. Rice has announced that a unified Iraq was their only choice. As if it is up to the US Secretary of State to dictate the form of government the people of the region will live under.

So much for democracy.

I suggested that instead of fighting the anti-Baathist and anti-Al Qa’ida militias, we work with the local militias to exterminate Saddamist and Al Qa’ida forces in Iraq. Instead of blockading the streets of Sadr City, the US military should be arming and training those same militias to fight in Ramadi, Fallujah, and other Saddamist and Al Qa’ida strongholds. Last week, Senator John McCain has called for an increase in US forces in Iraq in order to “break the back” of the largest Shia militia. Instead of working with the Kurdish Peshmerga and Shia Badr Corps to fight our mutual enemies, the Baathists and Al Qa’ida, US forces are once again taking fire from Shia militias in Baghdad. The largest monthly death toll inflicted on US forces since 2003 is the result. In the mean time, the US military has admitted that Anabar province, where Al Qa’ida and Saddamist forces are strongest, is “not under control”.

So much for defeating Al Qa’ida and Saddamist forces in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the newly elected leaders of the Senate and House are calling for a rapid withdraw of all US forces from Iraq. Senator Levin has even called for a “redeployment” of US forces in the next four to six months. Although the new leaders of Congress are quick to draw parallels between the fight in Iraq and the war in Vietnam, few mention the consequences of the rapid pullout of US forces from South East Asia. Recall, my friends, the utter genocide of the Montanyards in Laos and Vietnam, as well as the extermination of half the people of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge.

I wonder, do the ghosts of the hundreds of thousands who died at the hands of the terrible Khmer Rouge ever keep John Kerry awake at night? Whether they do or they don’t, if Senator Kerry gets his way, they will soon be joined by at least as many Sunni, Shia, and Kurds about to die in the bloodbath unleashed at his bequest.

So much for learning the lessons of the Vietnam War.

Democracy here at home is supposed to be a rational debate of various alternatives, where the public as a whole participates and in the end comes together over one coherent policy. Not a matter of sound bites and bumper stickers, but actual discussion. Instead, the recent election once again looked like nothing less than a bare knuckled power grab between political parties, reduced to all the rationality of a yelling match between opposing fans at a pre-Superbowl tailgate party.

This would not be the first time the national interest during time of war has taken a backseat to party politics. During the Civil War, US Commanding General McClellan, when ordered by President Lincoln to immediately attack Lee's weakened troops in Virginia, refused.

Many believed at the time that McClellan refused in order to further his own political ambitions, allowing Lee's army to escape and prolonging the war to make the President look bad. He wasn't shot as a tratior. He ran as the Democractic candidate for President against Lincoln in 1864 instead.

So, pleased don't be shocked when a political leader puts his, or her, political career ahead of fighting and winning the war. If there is anyone one of you who believes a savage bought of ethnic cleansing will not be the outcome of Senator Levin’s plan for a wholesale retreat, then it is definitely time to pull your cranium out of your rectum. Levin wants Bush to fail, and fail gloriously, so that the Democratic Party can gain control of the White House in 2008.

Is it possible the Democratic leadership of Congress does not know they are aiding the cause of Al Qa'ida when they throw up the white flag of surrender and retreat?

Perhaps it depends on what our definition of "is" is.

Regardless of the motives of others who should be looking out for the Republic and its citizens, perhaps I need to re-iterate exactly what we should be doing in Iraq.

1) Fight your enemies, not the whole world – US forces executed beautifully in the beginning of the war when actually fighting the enemy was the focus. Now, US policy seems to change daily. Don’t get bogged down in trying to solve all the problems of all the people who live there. We are the US military, not miracle workers. We didn't go there to provide health insurance coverage, or fix their bridges, or build their roads. They can do that themselves. They have more oil in the ground than we do. Our focus should be on destruction of our enemies, and nothing else: destroy the Saddam Fedeyeen, destroy Al Qa’ida, period.

2) Work with Shia and Kurdish militias, not against them. The success evident in Kurdistan is the product of years of CIA-Peshmerga cooperation. This model needs to be copied in the South. Attempting to disarm the anti-Al Qa’ida and anti-Baathist militias is foolish in the extreme. US forces should be supplying and training these militias, and readying them for a coordinated assault on pro-Al Qa’ida and pro-Baathist strongholds in Anabar Province.

3) Secure the borders – especially between Iraq and Syria. Arms and troops pouring in across the borders must be stopped. Allowing local tribes and Iraq customs agents to control the border clearly hasn’t worked. This is a war and needs to be treated as such. Mine, patrol, and otherwise stop all traffic crossing the Iraqi-Syrian border – immediately. We have the technology; all we lack is the will.

4) Be prepared for the division of Iraq – the vast majority (80%) of the people who live in Iraq are Shia and Kurds. The vast majority of the Shia and the Kurds want nothing to do with the nation-state of Iraq. We should be facilitating this desire, meaning the division of Iraq into three separate entities, not fighting against it because it does not fit our “strategic interests”.

5) Prepare for the long haul – Tony Blair’s MI Chief stated the war against terrorism will last at least a generation. She’s right. Doesn’t mean troop levels in Iraq need to be as high as they are now for the next 30 years, but don’t expect Iraq to turn into a Swiss democracy in the next four months just because it fits someone’s political schedule.

What am I doing these days? Still a citizen-solider – fiber optics engineer by day, US Army Reserve by night, so to speak. I’m no longer in the 8-229th. I’m in the 7/6 CAV, which is another Apache unit, this one in Conroe Texas.

And what exactly is the 7/6 CAV doing these days, you may ask?

Getting ready for the next round. Because, it ain’t over till its over.

And, Baby, this fight definitely ain’t over.

Epilogue

2005-10-28T19:36:00.000+03:00

The picture is of our last "home away from home away from home" in Iraq, what we called then The Tent of Tortured Souls and Eternal Darkness (photo by Alexis Geacintov.) Actually, the time there was anything but tortured, some pretty good friends lived there.

It’s been a few days since we got back to the States: still in the US Army, but no longer in Iraq. Gives one a chance to catch up a little on what the folks here in the US think about Iraq, and a chance to think back on what happened there, what we accomplished, what opportunities we may have missed.

According to the current media urban legend, we, as returning reservists, are supposed to be disillusioned. Sorry if we don’t fit the media’s “Broken Toy Soldier” stereotype, but, personally speaking, I feel rested, tanned, and fit. And, as to suffering from any malaise as a result of fighting what many political ideologues would like to describe as a hopeless war, let's take a look at the numbers, shall we?

1) regime change -- Saddam is under lock and key. His trial is underway.

2) weapons of mass destruction -- Iraq’s chemical weapons are now under US control – for example the huge chemical weapons complex southwest of Samarra. This chemical weapons complex was reported by Saddam to the UN back in the '90s. The difference is that now US forces are guarding it instead of Saddam's troops. According to UN reports, which are part of the public record, the complex houses about 5,000 122mm rockets filled with Sarin gas warheads. So, the next time someone tells you "There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq", ask him or her about the 5,000 nerve gas carrying rockets near Samarra.

3) democracy in Iraq -- with approval of the Iraqi constitution, following the elections earlier in the year, the process continues. The government there is slowly developing into a democracy, despite death threats from Zarqawi and his ilk. Even the Sunni minority participated in the October referendum.

That's three for three by my count. No so bad.

The job’s not done, but well under way. And, yes, we, the 8-229 AVN Flying Tigers, can take a little credit, I think fairly, for accomplishing this task. Of course, there are hundreds of thousands of other US military members who can, and should, make the same claim.

So, what happens next in Iraq?

I remember a friend of mine years ago arguing why Gorbachev should be the President of Russia. My response was that it didn’t matter who I thought or he thought should be the President of Russia. In a democracy, what was important was what the Russian people wanted. And, the vast majority thought at that time that Gorbachev was not the ruler they wanted to suffer under any longer.

Likewise, when someone asks me what I think should happen in Iraq, I’m likely to tell them it doesn’t matter what I think should happen there. What matters is what the people there think. But, we, as Americans, should be prepared to accept that the majority of Iraqis may not vote for something that we want.

For example, the very existence of Iraq.

One thing that strikes me is the fact that most people who live in the country we call Iraq really don’t give a hoot about the future of that entity. The vast majority, about 80% of the population, is made up of Shiites and Kurds. Mostly, they identify the nation of Iraq with the former regime of Saddam, and thoroughly hate his guts and his government. Their vision of the future is either a separate Kurdistan or some kind of an independent Shiite nation in the South.

The very odd thing is that two groups are very much opposed to this idea: the Sunnis (mostly pro-Saddam) and the US government.

Why it is that the US would desire the same thing as the 20% pro-Saddam minority is a little surprising, to say the least.

But, the US military has been winning the wars while the US State Department has been losing the peace for years now.

Hopefully, the American people will see the wisdom of letting the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis who live in the nation we today call Iraq choose their own future.

The Everyday Heroes of the Flying Tigers Head Home

2005-09-12T16:40:00.000+04:00

The 8-229 AVN Flying Tigers have been in Iraq since January, making this our ninth month here in the Sunni Triangle. And, like all ventures, our part of the story is coming to a close. In a few short weeks, the 8-229 AVN Flying Tigers will complete our battle handover to the 101st Airborne, the Screaming Eagles. This will be their second tour in Iraq.

I have to tell you, I’m proud of what the men and women who make up the Flying Tigers have accomplished. Our pilots, with support from our ground crews, have flown almost 1,500 separate missions here. The early ones were during the first national elections Iraq had seen since the ‘50s. Many more followed, covering the convoys, raids, and patrols of the ground units the Flying Tigers support every day.

The everyday heroes who make up this unit may not be the kinds of people you would ever see in a Hollywood movie. The main reason is that they are the kinds of folks you have for next door neighbors. So, I don’t expect to see the story of the Flying Tigers in Iraq made into a full length feature movie.

No, the everyday heroes who make up the Flying Tigers are just like the other everyday heroes who make up the police, the firefighters, the emergency response teams, and all the other teams of citizens back home who risk their lives for the rest of us.

For example, our hard working exectutive officer (XO), Major Mayflower. An honor to work with this guy. A real, honest to god, natural born leader. He has managed to work 12 to 14 hour days for the past 18 months to keep this battalion running, and some how keep his sense of humor, too. All the little tasks that need coordinated between and within this battalion and others fall under his domain. He is the Battalion Commander's key point man in all those organizational tasks.

And, there’s Staff Sergeant Butcher. This guy is incredible. Twenty-five years old, third time here in the war zone, and he volunteered. Not the whiny National Guard or Reservist who claims to be a “conscientious objector” four days before his unit deploys. This guy is smart, hard working, and solid. You couldn’t ask for a better soldier.

One thing I’ve learned from working with the men and women of the 8-229 AVN Flying Tigers. That is, if you want to find a real hero, don’t go looking in a paper back novel, or at the movie screen, or on TV. Those are only weak, 2-dimensional representations. Over simplifications of reality. Cartoons.

Nope.

Real heroes walk amongst us everyday. They’re at the mall, at the place you work, they’re in your Churches, Temples and or Synagogues. They’re all over the place.

Fact is, chances are, the next time you want to need a hero, go look in the mirror. He’s right there, waiting for you.

No sweat.

The Mosque, the Youth Center, and the Car Bomb

2005-08-28T11:25:00.000+04:00

In a city that lies in the heart of the Sunni Triangle is a mosque with a collapsed roof.

The roof collapsed because 100 to 200 pounds of high explosives that had been stored in the mosque blew up, pushing out all four walls, allowing the ceiling to meet the floor with high impact.

One might wonder which religious ceremony includes the use of high explosives, necessitating the storage all that C4. I’ve read parts of the Qu’ran, and can’t find any mention of such a religious rite. But then again, I don’t pretend to be a Muslim scholar of any kind. Just another infidel.

Of course, the Imam of the mosque came to the near by US base and complained that “someone” had blown up his mosque. I’m sure he was shocked, simply shocked, to hear that so much explosives were being stored in his mosque. Not sure if the Imam was detained or not. The rules of engagement and detention for US troops are very restrictive. The US commander would have to prove the Imam knew the explosives were being stored there. And, there’s plenty of political pressure on US commanders to “play nice” with religious leaders in Iraq, with all the delicate negotiations on the Iraq constitution and such. So, there’s a better than even chance that when the Imam was told of the explosives by the local US commander, he simply shrugged and walked away.

The next day, a US patrol was fired on from the building across the street from the mosque with the collapsed roof.

Big mistake.

Three M2 fighting vehicles, which look like tanks but also carry infantry inside, opened up on the building, which, by the way, was the Youth Center in town. Our rules of engagement do allow US troops to return fire, no matter what the sign on the building says.

And return fire they did. Using their 20mm chain guns, the M2s raked the building with a withering fire.

Then they called in the 8-229 Flying Tigers.

Two of our birds, flown by Captain Soup, Mr. South, Mr. Lunchlover, and Captain Coonskin, were up on patrol in the area and quickly arrived on station. They were guided in by the M2s on the scene, all of which, after the Apache attack helicopters were given clearance to fire, moved back a safe distance from the building.

You can imagine the Saddamists or Al Qa’ida inside the building, if they were still alive, got a real case of pucker factor when they heard two Apache helicopters droning overhead and watched the M2s back up and take positions far away from the Youth Center.

Bet they crapped their man-dresses, big time.

The Apaches each took a run at the building, preparing to fire one Hellfire missile each. I can tell you, after watching the gun tapes numerous times, our pilots take an amazing amount of care to make sure the missiles are launched in as safe a manner as possible. If you’re not actually in theater, this may be hard to believe. In previous wars, like WWII, the US used carpet bombing as preferred tactic, as in Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. This is no longer the case. We don’t just go in and level whole cities anymore.

We had a reporter from the New York Times come to the 8-229 Flying Tigers operations center a little while back. She asked our executive officer, the XO, “How much actual shooting goes on?” When the XO responded not a whole lot, she seemed oh so disappointed. I guess her knowledge of the tactics of helicopters in war is based mostly on watching the door gunner in Apocalypse Now firing at folks on the ground, all the while yelling, “Get some! GET SOME!” US Apaches holding fire when ever there is any question whatsoever as to the target just isn’t sexy copy. She seemed absolutely deflated.

This Youth Center is pretty much in the center of town. The Hellifires are guided missiles. Nonetheless, the pilots lined up their shots so that even if they missed, the missiles would not land on any homes in the city.

Both landed dead-nuts on.

After the second Hellfire exploded, the Youth Center became deathly quiet. All gunfire from inside had by now ceased.

Minutes later, US ground forces found a car they suspect of being a suicide car bomb. Again, they called in the 8-229 Flying Tigers, who had just finished their run on the Youth Center. Again, the Apache pilots took care to avoid any damage to homes or the historical Mosque not 300 yards away. One burst of rounds from the 30mm chain gun from the Apache, and said “suspected” car bomb burst into flames. Smoke quickly filled the sky, obscuring the afternoon skyline in this unique city. Obviously, the car had been carrying more than eggs and a gallon of milk in the front seat.

The Warrior Within

2005-08-17T15:48:00.000+04:00

This may sound a bit dated to some, but many people believe that a man cannot live his life as a man until he recognizes the warrior within.

This is supposed to be why guys watch football games, action movies, and talk at work like their casting for a part on “The Sopranos”. They may be wearing a tie and suit jacket, and they may only be making copies of last quarter’s sales. But, in their mind’s eye, they’re getting ready to fight some invisible enemy. Especially if the copy machine jams. Then the stock broker quickly becomes “The Terminator”, and that copy machine is going to need a serious tune-up. These guys aren't able to recognize the warrior within, and act screwy, lashing out at copy machines or traffic jams, in small random acts of violence.

According to this point of view, the tough guy thing is a deeply evolved response. Older than football, older than man himself as a species. Something that goes back over a hundred million years ago.

And, most of a guy’s early years are spent in which their mothers, their surrogate mothers at school, and later in marriage, try to train young men to not attack things they hate. Don’t punch other little boys. Don’t beat their mathbooks to pieces. Don’t throw their tools around the garage or their lawnmowers across the yard. One can understand why, of course.

Nonetheless, short of castration, either physically or chemically, repression of the inner warrior is futile. At least as long as testosterone is flowing through a man’s body, a guy is going to act like, well, testosterone is flowing through his body.

Men aren’t the only ones whose emotions are ruled by their hormone ebb and flow. Some woman, after menopause and their estrogen levels plummet, start to grow mustaches and get very, very grouchy. I don’t know if there is a correlation between menopause and becoming a serious football fan. But, the next time you see Grandma come swaggering out of her Lincoln Towncar like Tony Soprano, think about it. Don’t mention it to her, though.

She may just grumble, “Hey, show a little respect, okay?”

But in her mind’s eye, Grandma’s grabbing you by your crotch and throwing you across the hood of her car, ya’ freaking fat bastard punk.

In the book, and later the movie, “Fight Club”, the suppressed inner warrior is characterized as the lead character’s invisible friend who loves wild sex and fighting. In “Star Wars”, the man’s inner warrior is portrayed as The Dark Force.

I knew a guy up in Pennsylvania who was looking to join a week long retreat called something like, “The Spiritual Warrior”. For some number of thousands of dollars, he was looking forward to getting in touch with that inner warrior.

I told him, “I can help you become a warrior. Why don’t you join the Reserves or National Guard and become a door gunner on a Blackhawk helicopter, for example?”

His jaw dropped, his eyes widened, and he stared at me, and after a pause, he said, “You don’t have to actually fight anyone to be a warrior.”

“Uhm, yes you do. Otherwise, you’re just dressing up like cowboys and Indians, except it cost a lot more to do it as an adult. And, it looks kinda silly, everyone sitting around with their shirts off, sweating, while some guy sits in the middle and beats his drum and complains about his life. There are real enemies, you know. Like Al Qa’ida, the ones that killed three thousand of your countrymen on 9/11. It was in the all the papers and on the news a little ways back? If you want to get in touch with your inner warrior, why not fight them?”

No, he never signed up with the Reserves or National Guard. Don’t know whatever happened to him, to tell you the truth. And, with his serious drug and drinking problems, the Army is better off without him.

But, it’s sad, really. He’s like so many others. They just don’t get it.

Mr. President – Meet with Cindy Crawford

2005-08-16T17:34:00.000+04:00

I know, CNN, Jane Fonda, and Michael Moore want you to meet with that other Cindy.

Trust me, the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq would much rather watch an interview with you talking to Cindy Crawford.

A survey of soldiers in the 8-229 Flying Tigers I conducted resulted in 100% of the respondents favoring the Cindy Crawford interview. Though, I'm not suggesting the poll should sway your decision, Sir.

The other Cindy is rather old, fat and frumpy. Not what your soldiers want to see at all.

We all love our Moms. But even we get tired of their endless nagging.

We certainly don’t think watching you interviewing another emotional Mom is going to do a damn thing for our morale. Heck, many of us are here to escape that kind of nagging.

Whereas, a photo-op of you talking with Cindy Crawford, maybe by the pool, or playing volley ball. Now, that’s the kind of interview we’d like to see more of.

Just a thought, Mr. President.

Citizen Soldiers

2005-08-10T16:12:00.000+04:00

From what I’ve heard, originally the whole idea of democracy and the citizen soldier pretty much meant one in the same. At least, that’s the way it was in Athens, Greece, way, way back before there was a Untied States of America, or Thomas Jefferson, or the Bill of Rights.

Even before there were Christians and Muslims.

The idea, way back then, was that a citizen was a soldier, and a soldier was a citizen. Same same.

Any man willing to lift a shield, sword, and spear in the defense of Athens earned the right to vote on what the policies of Athens would be. Conversely, any man who wanted to vote on the policies of Athens would have to be willing, when the time came, to lift up his shield, sword, and spear in defense of Athens.

You might summarize this early form of democracy as: “You can talk the talk only if you can walk the walk.”

And, way back then, just as today, wives and children cried as the soldiers left. And Moms, Dads, sisters and brothers wept when some the soldiers didn’t return.

Didn’t mean, by the way, that a guy could pick and choose which wars he was going to fight in. If the democratic majority voted in favor of mobilizing the army, and a guy didn’t show armored-up, then he was quickly stripped of his citizenship and sent into exile, the punishment being worse than death for most of those citizens back then.

Yes, they loved their Athens that much. Not so much the buildings and the streets as the people who lived there, I’d guess.

Funny, eh?

Turned out to be an unexpectedly effective fighting unit.

We all have heard how the brave Spartans fought and died at Thermopolis, where the very undemocratic warriors of Sparta, home to a very strong professional warrior culture, were run over by the Persian army, some say a large as a million troops, in three quick days.

Whereas, the citizen soldiers of Athens totally routed the Persian army at Marathon. Kicked their sorry Persian asses, sent them packing back to Asia, never to return to Greece again. The same Marathon we honor today in foot races, retracing the steps of the one Athenian runner who brought back news to the cradle of democracy of the incredible victory.

Changed the whole of history on those plains of Marathon, they did. Tough as nails.

Not bad for a bunch of part-time, weekend warriors. The only reason Greek democracy survived was because of its citizen soldiers, and their willingness to back up their words with deeds, and, if need be, with their own blood.

You can see how the idea of the Athenian citizen-soldier influenced the original writers of the US Constitution. They didn’t want a large standing army, but instead envisioned a nation in which its citizens would, if the democratic majority voted to mobilize, pick up their muskets and show up at the town Commons as the local militia.

Which of course is why the 8-229th Aviation Flying Tigers are here in the middle of the Sunni Triangle. Here in the heat and the dust, with the cobra snakes, the camel spiders, Al Qa’ida, the Saddam Fedeyeen, Iranian and Syrian intelligence operatives, thousands of miles from our own country.

We got a long, long tradition to uphold, you see. Not so many shields, spears, swords or muskets. More automatic rifles, Hellfire missiles and Apache helicopters.

Doctors, lawyers, farmers, engineers, airline pilots, school teachers, animal veterinarians, truck drivers, college students, police officers, housewives, Mr. Moms, you name it.

We’re all here.

A bunch of part-time, weekend warriors, trying to change history.

Yes, we love our country that much.

Funny, eh?

Soldier Haters

2005-08-09T15:30:00.000+04:00

One of the members of the 8-229th Aviation Flying Tigers went home on emergency leave a few weeks ago. I’ll call him Sergeant Tom.

The Army allows its soldiers, in cases of urgent need, to go home for a couple weeks. The airplane ticket is paid for by the Red Cross, I believe, though I’m not sure. Anyway, it doesn’t come out of the soldier’s pocket. Which is a good thing, airline tickets halfway around the world being fairly pricey these days.

A number of others in the unit have gone home on emergency leave as well. This, unfortunately, is pretty much normal. One soldier went home to help burry his Dad. Another went home to take care of the kids while his wife was in the hospital for heart surgery. Another soldier left for three weeks to face a judge and his wife’s divorce lawyer. All the family emergencies and tragedies that happen in peacetime keep happening in wartime as well. Death and misery definitely do not take a holiday just because America sends its troops abroad.

We all know that.

The soldiers going home on leave are, for the most part, treated like heroes, by most of the folks they meet, anyway. An old guy will spot you in the airport, stumble over on his walker, and shake your hand like his pumping an old time fire engine. A young woman you’ve never met before will walk up, give you a firm hug, and plant a kiss on your stubble covered cheek. Some couple you don’t know will insist on paying for your dinner.

Each time, the soldiers get embarrassed, treated like they just came back from the moon or something. Nobody has a speech prepared. There’s no “One small step for man,…” or, “Ich bin ein Dallaser!” One soldier coming back from leave told me it got to where he and his wife stopped going out, avoiding all the attention he wasn’t sure he deserved.

Well, he’s a bit shy, really.

Sergeant Tom went home on emergency leave to go to court. Not divorce court. Family court. He was being accused by the County of abandoning his children. His three kids had been living with his Mom and Dad since he’d been called up to serve in the Global War on Terror.

It seems that one of his children’s school teachers made the accusation.

The school teacher had been telling one of Sergeant Tom’s three children, a little boy, whom I’ll call Billy, that his Dad didn’t love him any more. That Sergeant Tom had abandoned Billy. That little Billy’s Dad joined the Army so that he could dump little Billy, and his sister and brother, and never come home again.

Then the school teacher called County Social Services and made the same accusation. That Sergeant Tom had dumped his kids on his parents, joined the Army, and took off for parts unknown. Social Services searched Sergeants Tom’s home, interviewed his children, and took temporary custody of his three children.

All to protect the children, you understand.

Certainly with no poorly hidden political agenda in mind. That would be pure evil on the part of the school teacher. Wouldn’t be “Against the War but Behind the Troops”, as today’s political slogan goes.

Me, I think this goes just a bit beyond political discussion on the pros or cons of a war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not quite what most people would put under the category of Free Speech or even Thoreau’s civil disobedience. A bit beyond the pale. More like back stabbing viciousness against someone they truly hate.

We might speculate about the motivations of the school teacher. Perhaps the fact that there are those willing to risk their lives to protect family, home and country while he continues his everyday, comfortable life, somehow makes him feel less adequate. Less of a man. More like someone hiding behind those others. So, he strikes out. Demonizing those that make him feel bad about himself.

But, we don’t know, really. It may be that the school teacher himself doesn’t know why he hates soldiers so much.

And no, Sergeant Tom did not fly home, hunt the school teacher down, shoot off his legs, and throw a fire bomb into the Social Services front glass window. Although Hollywood likes to portray all veterans as psychotic killers and emotional misfits, unable to live in the REAL world after being emotionally destroyed by the war, Sergeant Tom went home on emergency leave and did the right thing.

He went to court and presented his case.

No surprise, Sergeant Tom won.

Send Home All the Lawyers

2005-08-05T18:05:00.000+04:00

If we’re not damn careful, US history could well repeat itself in Iraq.

Some people equate the current war in Iraq with the war in Viet Nam and our current President Bush with former President Nixon.

They’ve got it all wrong.

A much better comparison is the current war in Iraq with the previous war in Iraq and our current President Bush with former President Bush.

When you think about it, the similarities are glaring.

In both cases, a President named George Bush led a mostly American military to a smashing victory over Saddam’s Iraq with the complete annihilation of the Iraqi Army in a matter of days.

Followed by the State Department rushing in to turn a complete victory into something quite a bit less.

In the earlier case, the State Department warned former President Bush that by removing the Sunnis completely from power and letting the Shia’ and Kurds take control in Iraq, the nation of Iraq would be split into three, with the mostly Shia’ South becoming a pro-Iranian State, and an independent Kurdistan enraging Turkey, one of our long-time allies.

Today, the State Department is twisting the arms of the Shia’/Kurdish government to allow Sunnis in, otherwise, they’ve warned President Bush, Iraq may split into three, with the mostly Shia’ South becoming a pro-Iranian State, and an independent Kurdistan enraging Turkey, one of our long-time allies.

Personally, I can’t believe those people in the State Department have any credibility whatsoever with the current President. How he can restrain himself from kicking them squarely in the seat of their well-pressed pants, I’ll never know. In the ‘90s, they turned a complete victory over Saddam in to a horrible disaster that ended in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Shia’ and Kurds who truly thought we came there to end the tyranny of Saddam. And, they helped the former President George Bush loose an election to good ol’ President Bill Clinton. Who knows what kind of slimy geek will replace the current George Bush if he continues to listen to the same kinds of folks his Dad did.

I am just a simple soldier, one of many fighting this war in Iraq. My hope is that while we are putting our lives on the line each and everyday here in Iraq, we don't get set up for failure by well meaning but unrealistic American officials back home.

Let us fight the war.

How about Turkey, after killing so many Kurds within their own borders and doing next to nothing to get rid of Saddam, has nothing to say about Kurdistan? They said the same thing about an independent Armenia, after killing over a million. Turkey is the last country to have a voice in any future Kurdistan, were that to occur.

How about the Sunnis, who make up only 20% of the population of Iraq, after supporting Saddam in his thirty-something years of murderous rule and boycotting the election, sit down and shut up and let the 80% that won the election run Iraq for a while?

How about we put Saddam in front of a firing squad, today?

How about instead of negotiating with Al Qa’ida and pro-Saddam thugs and terrorists, we kill or imprison each and everyone of them?

How about we re-write those Rules Of Engagement to allow our troops to fire warning shots?

To NOT allow every Iraq household their own Kalashnikov?

How about we throw the “detainees” found digging holes for IEDs on the side of the road, or with explosives in their homes and back yards, or anyone caught carrying a weapon not in a uniform we recognize as one belonging to an allied Army in a prison camp till the end of the war, instead of for 3 days?

How about we enforce the curfews in Iraqi cities and along Iraqi highways with a “violators will be shot on sight” rule?

How about we apply the same rule to smugglers coming across the Iraqi border?

How about we send the lawyers in the US military and State Department who are better at winning debates than winning wars home, now, without delay?

If this Global War on Terror is war worth fighting, then it’s a war worth winning.

How about we treat this war like a serious war, fight it, and win it?

Kamikaze Bombers – Then and Now

2005-07-19T21:38:00.000+04:00

Some 60 years ago, when the Flying Tigers were involved in their first conflict, the Japanese unleashed a terrible weapon the likes of which the West had never seen – the kamikaze suicide bomber. Kamikaze, or divine wind, was named after the storm that arose to destroy Kubla Kahn’s Navy which was about to invade Medieval Japan. Rather than drop bombs on US and British ships attacking the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, the pilots of the kamikaze bombers flew their aircraft right into our ships – killing thousands of United Nations (that what we called our alliance back then) troops along with the pilots.

A strange and horrible weapon – but an understandable one. The target, after all, was the United Nations navies.

Fast forward to yesterday, to a Shia’ Mosque in al-Musayyib, Iraq. Here, the jihadist kamikaze doesn’t target US troops, but a mosque full of Muslim worshipers. Over 90 innocent civilian Iraqi Muslims were killed by a suicide bomber who, one can assume, claimed to be fighting the "Christian Crusaders" and their "Jewish Zionist" allies.

It would be as if the Japanese kamikaze of WWII spotted a US fleet, turned his plane around, headed back to Tokyo, and crashed his bombed-filled aircraft into a Shinto temple filled with Japanese worshipers.

Indeed, we are facing an enemy the likes of which we have never seen before. One, thankfully, that is doomed by his very irrational fanaticism that sees everyone on the planet (save a very select few) as falling into one of two categories of legitimate targets: either kifur (non-Muslims) or apostates (folks just not Muslim enough.)

Could there be an enemy more worthy of destruction and defeat? Certainly not. And the 8-229 Aviation Flying Tigers are proud to be doing our part to bring an end to such killers and their psychotic philosophy.

Al Qa'ida Crimes Against Humanity Continue in Iraq

2005-07-14T22:17:00.000+04:00

Yesterday, in a Shia' neighborhood of Baghdad, a US patrol stopped to hand out candy and toys to the local kids. I've been on a couple of these "meet and great" patrols. It's for PR, you might say. But, let me tell you something, most of us do it regardless of the political impact on the locals. We do it, simply, because we can't help but fall in love with the local kids.

But yesterday, on this particular patrol, a car-bomb drove into the crowd of US soldiers and Iraqi kids, killing at least 27 locals. One US servicemember was killed. According to a local hospital which collected the Iraqi bodies, 24 of the 27 Iraqis killed were kids.

You should all know that the vast majority of car bomb drivers aren't Iraqi. They're typically from Saudi Arabia, from Yemen, from Syria, or Algeria. They are Al Qa'ida operatives here killing Iraqis.

Just in case you thought Al Qa'ida crimes against humanity somehow came to an end because of their outrage in London, they haven't. The madness that is their Jihad continues to kill innocent men, women, and children, anywhere they can.

What the 8-229 Flying Tigers do in Their Down Time

2005-07-13T19:46:00.000+04:00

One of the readers of the Flying Tigers in Iraq blog, Lewis, wanted me to remind everyone that, even in an aviation attack battalion in the middle of the Sunni Triangle, there’s a lot of pretty normal activities going on here. Of course, Lewis is right. The soldiers here can spend their time doing things like going to the laundry, or working out at the gym, or just chillin’ during their time off.

We actually have a softball league on the FOB (Forward Operating Base.) And, there is as much free non-alcoholic beer as you want here, too.

Of course, we relax in shifts. You're not going to find the entire battalion taking a snooze at any given time of the day or night. That ain't happening. This is a war zone, after all.

As well, I want to thank the folks who send us Girl Scout Cookies. Okay, this might not rate highly on the Army’s list of health foods. But, it sure is a boost. Not that the Army food here at FOB Speicher is so bad. Ribs, steaks, and even lobster gets served at the Eagle’s Nest DFAC.

Still, Girl Scout Cookies are a nice break.

British Muslim Leader Blames Blair for London Bombings

2005-07-09T22:48:00.000+04:00

The following is an extract from Al Jazeera’s website:

Masoud Shadjareh of Britain's Islamic Human Rights Commission told Aljazeera.net that he was not surprised by the attacks. "Tony Blair has put his own citizens in the line of fire by his failed policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more generally in the war on terror. This is not being articulated at the moment by the British media, but it needs to be."

The Death of Jihad in Sudan

2005-07-09T17:38:00.000+04:00

Al-Bashir, the man that brought Jihad to Sudan, today signed a peace accord with John Garang, the Christian rebel leader, in Sudan. The peace treaty between the Islamic central government and the Christian rebel south calls for freedom of religion, abolishes the law that requires the President of Sudan to be a Muslim, and calls for elections.

The peace treaty is designed to put an end to a senseless religious war, a religious war egged on since the ‘90s by the likes of Osama Bin Laden, a war that has resulted in the death of two million, mostly Christian, Sudanese. The type of jihad waged by the Islamists in Sudan was particularly brutal, one in which food and famine were used as weapons.

All in the name of God.

Hopefully, the peace treaty puts a solid nail in the coffin of jihad, that murderous madness that masquerades as religion, in Sudan.

Sudan has decided to step out of the Dark Ages of religious warfare and into the bright sunshine of democracy and human rights.

We wish them well.

The Horror and the Shame

2005-07-08T22:40:00.000+04:00

Lest anyone forget who the 8-229th Flying Tigers are fighting in Iraq, it’s Al Qa’ida.

The same Al Qa’ida that planned and carried out the massacres on 9-11 in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.

The same Al Qa’ida that bombed tourists in Bali. The same Al Qa’ida that blew up trains in Madrid. The same Al Qa’ida that killed this week in London.

Yes, they are the same Al Qa’ida that sends car-bombers to kill Iraqis here in Iraq. The total death toll is in the thousands, 700 Iraqis killed by terrorists in May alone. Attacks have gone down in number since then, but the killing continues.

The horror, the horror.

And yet, there are Americans, believe it or not, who think the fight against Al Qa’ida in Iraq has nothing to do with the fight against Al Qa’ida anywhere else in the world.

Or, that’s what they say.

Me, I believe they know damn well who the fight in Iraq is against. They just don’t want to admit they haven’t the guts to stand up and fight Al Qa’ida. They would rather sit on their couches and make convoluted arguments about why NOT risking their own lives to defend their homes, their families, and their country is really A-Okay.

Such Americans truly are cowards, pure and simple.

The shame, the shame.

Unleash The Peshmerga and the Badr Corps

2005-07-06T22:14:00.000+04:00

What armies existed in Iraq when US forces rolled into Baghdad in 2003?

There were three: Saddam’s Army, the Kurdish Peshmerga, and the Shia’ Badr Corps.

The US military rolled over Saddam’s Army in a few short weeks, scattering the fourth largest army in the world, with all their troops, tanks, artillery and aircraft, to the four winds quickly and completely, a clear demonstration of “shock and awe”. It was magnificent.

But, the US did it with help on the inside, from the Peshmerga and the Badr Corps.

Even before US troops entered Iraq, the Kurdish Peshmerga had, with US Special Forces and CIA help, fought Saddam’s army to a standstill, and created their own Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, which they call Kurdistan. You don’t hear about a lot of terrorist attacks in that part of the country because the Peshmerga, the Kurdish militia, has pretty much wiped out the pro-Saddam terrorist groups in that part of Iraq.

In the South, the Shia’ Badr Corps had been fighting Saddam’s army ever since the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s. The Badr Corps is the military wing of the the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI.) In January 2005, the SCIRI has won the largest portion of votes in the election in Iraq.

It is the Peshmerga and the Badr Corps that have a stake in the future of a new, democratic Iraq. Politically, the Shia’ and the Kurds are in control of the Iraqi government

The policy of arming the Peshmerga in the North has been very successful in wiping out pro-Saddam and Al Qa’ida cells. And, in the Shia’ South, which is dominated by the Badr Corps, neither Al Qa’ida nor pro-Saddam forces have been very successful.

These two militias need to be armed to the teeth and brought into the Sunni Triangle to hunt down and destroy all Ba’athist and Al Qa’ida terror cells, just like they so effectively have done in the North and the South. This would allow US forces to move out of the center of Iraq and instead focus on closing the border with Syria, and shutting down the the dangerous flow of Al Qa’ida and Ba’athist terrorists that has been killing so many Iraqis up to now.

2005-07-02T17:13:00.000+04:00

Old Glory and 8-229th Aviation Flying Tigers Regimental Colors proudly displayed inside our Tactical Operations Center in the Sunni Triangle, Iraq.

Oh Say,…

2005-06-30T20:38:00.000+04:00

Does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave,
‘Or the Land of the Free,
And the Home of the Brave?

2005-06-28T23:05:00.000+04:00

Perhaps you may have seen the American general on TV last night describe the mortality rate of the foreign fighters in Iraq as “very high”. Oh yeah. It’s high alright. American soldiers have been very successful in killing thousands and thousands of enemy here in Iraq. So many, that another insurgent killed here or there doesn’t even make the news anymore. There’s simply too many to interest the public at large.

We Few. We Happy Few.

2005-06-27T21:30:00.000+04:00

The question gets asked so many times, “Should the US send more troops into Iraq?”

I think Shakespeare said it best, so I’ll quote him, from the play Henry V, in which one of his Dukes, Westmoreland, bemoans the huge number of French the English are about to fight, something like a 5-1 advantage, on St. Crispian’s Day:

WESTMORELAND O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England That do no work to-day!

KING HENRY V What's he that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin: If we are mark'd to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.

But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive. No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England: God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour As one man more, methinks, would share from me For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more! Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made And crowns for convoy put into his purse: We would not die in that man's company That fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is called the feast of Crispian: He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say To-morrow is Saint Crispian: Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

By the time the 8-229th AVN Flying Tigers leave this theater, it will have been a year. Then for us, upon which every day is another battle somewhere here in the Sunni Triangle of Iraq, everyday is St. Crispian’s Day.

Yes, we few. We happy few

The Media in Iraq

2005-06-24T19:42:00.000+04:00

Like everything else, the actions of the Media here in Iraq range from the very best of human efforts to the very worst.

At the top of the list goes those folks who daily risk their lives, without the aid of their own weapons, to get the real story of what's going on here out to the world.

One such individual is Michael Yon, with his own blog at :

http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/

Brave, honest, I can't say enough good things about him, and all other good journalists like him. These guys are the best that America has.

And, then there is the other side of the coin. Those journalists that conspire, knowingly, with the Anti-Iraqi terrorists so they can get good copy. Mostly, they go for shocking pictures of the blood, gore, and pain immediately following a car bomb explosion.

I know video clips of the aftermath of car bombs are scary to watch on TV. They make for dramatic scenes; flames rising from burning, twisted wrecks of vehicles smoking in some hard to pronounce Iraqi city center. But, they are more about killing Iraqi civilians to scare you, the viewer, than actually shaping the battlefield or killing US soldiers.

For these people, the scum of the reporter pool, the news is strictly a commercial enterprise. “If it bleeds, it leads” is only a more recent version of their old slogan: “Dog Bites Man” isn’t news – “Man Bites Dog” is news. Of course they emphasize the bizarre, the twisted, the blood and the gore and the tears. For them, it’s a video freak show. Barnum & Bailey with commentary talking heads spliced between scenes from Hell. That’s what gets viewers attention long enough to watch the beer, truck, and hemorrhoid ointment commercials. The Media isn’t the message – it’s an electronic billboard to get you to buy their trash. Pure and simple, it’s dollar and cents, nothing more, nothing less.

For example, at a foiled car-bomb attempt near Tikrit, in which the Iraqi Army spotted and shot up an on-coming car-bomb before it could take out its intended victims, who should “happen” to be standing by with camera in hand, ready for his "scoop"? Why, a fellow carrying press credentials from the Washington Post.

And, who was it that drove wounded terrorists to the hospital after another failed attack near Baqubah? Three reporters, all of whom “happened” to be on scene when the attack commenced: two from Al Jazeera, and one from ABC News.

I kid you not.

This is bloody business, this war. But, to these type of media creeps, in their blind rush towards better and better ratings, business has never been better!

Obviously these reporters had prior knowledge of the attacks. The same kinds of attacks that resulted in over 1,000 Iraqi deaths last month. Did these reporters feel they should report to the Iraq or US Army that these terrorist attacks were about to occur?

They did not.

No, they stood there, waiting for the blood and the gore, with dreams of Pulitzer’s dancing in their heads. Rather than dime out their Al Qaeda sources, they stood by and filmed the approach of the terrorists in each case, hiding, the whole time, behind Iraqi bushes and American First Amendment Rights.

2005-06-22T21:08:00.000+04:00

8-229AVN (ATK) Flying Tigers showing off Old Glory.

2005-06-21T20:31:00.000+04:00

An 8-229 Flying Tiger ground crew member prepping an Apache for the next mission. No wonder he looks so happy!

2005-06-21T19:55:00.000+04:00

One of the 8-229th Flying Tiger's Apaches lifting off on another mission. These guys fly enough missions over here, they probably know Iraq better from the air then they know Texas or Kentucky. And, the next day, they put on their gear, go to their briefings, pre-flight the aircraft, and yes, by God, do it all over again.

2005-06-21T19:14:00.000+04:00

Saddam-era Iraqi MiG-15 at the dump. Kind of like Saddam and his dreams for conquest, power, and glory. They all ended up trashed.

What the Marines Found

2005-06-16T21:22:00.000+04:00

Of course, the focus of this blog is the 8-229th Flying Tigers. Obviously, we’re not the only unit fighting in Iraq. There are thousands of other good soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines here as well. And, each of them has a story worth telling.

So, today, I wanted to let you all know what the Marines found.

Now, as happens so many times in this country, a patrol of Marines or US Army soldiers is sent out to a particular place with intelligence gleaned from various sources to search for weapons. And, on this particular patrol, many weapons were found. Hundreds of artillery shells, and mortar rounds, and anti-tank mines were discovered, along with a large cache of small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

But, the Marines found something they never expected to ever see. Not in Iraq, and not anywhere but a horror movie.

They found four young children. Each of the children were between ages four and ten years old. And each one of the children were chained to a cinderblock.

The Marines took a picture of these four young children, sleeping, huddled under the plastic ponchos the Marines threw over them. It's a strange sight, because, they just look like anybody's little kids taking a nap.

As far as anyone can tell, the children were chained up because they had illnesses, either physical or mental. In this poor, backward village in Iraq, a nation that has almost as much oil as Saudi Arabia, oil that should allow the people here to be rich as kings, chaining the mentally ill to a cinderblock is pretty much the standard "treatment".

It was not a typical find.

But then again, this is not a typical war.

2005-06-11T23:55:00.000+04:00

SSG Tuel in typical attire. You can't tell, but he's really a very friendly guy. Okay, to his FRIENDS, he's a friendly guy. Not so friendly towards terrorists.

2005-06-11T23:53:00.000+04:00

Iraq, as seen from space. Note the sandstorm down South in Kuwait.

2005-06-08T18:18:00.000+04:00

Former Saddam era weapons are scattered all over Iraq. Lots of cash down a dusty hole. This is one captured anti-aircraft piece.

The Madness of Al Qaeda

2005-06-08T17:37:00.000+04:00

QUESTION: Are the people running Al Qaeda truly mad?

In general, when does religion become madness?

In the extreme, it’s easy to spot. When “Son of Sam” tells the world that his neighbor’s dog told him the people he killed were the Anti-Christ, well, it’s pretty easy to label this as pure madness.

Or, in the case of any number of people Israelis doctors pick up on the streets of Jerusalem each week, people who believe they are either the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ, depending on the individual’s gender, most of us are fairly confident these folks are off their respective knoodles in a most serious way.

Now we turn to a more still troubling example, the suicide car bombers that plague Iraq.

First, a few facts that may or may not be generally known to the public. Not because the information is secret, but because the media can’t help but focus on the blood and the flames and the pain, and less on the details of how the killings are planned and carried out. It’s only natural to stand and stare at such a horrible act, dumbfounded.

Fact number one: by far the largest percentage of people killed and wounded by the car bombers are Iraqis, not US service men or women. Hard to tell why such a brutal act could be considered part of an insurgency against US occupation if the very target of these attacks is most often Iraqi civilians. And, I mean by the hundreds. These are not isolated misfires of the car bombs resulting in the accidental wounding and killing of innocent bystanders. This is the cold blood execution of Iraqi men, women and children. The very ones Al Qaeda claims to be defending.

Fact number two: a large majority of those driving the car bombs aren’t even Iraqi. They come to Iraq, often across the Syrian border, from Yemen, Jordan, Libya, and yes, of course, Saudi Arabia. So, it’s not a case of Iraqi nationalism that drives these young men to drive into a crowd of Iraqi civilians and turn themselves and those innocent people around them into scattered piles of burning human flesh.

Fact number three: Though some of the car bomb drivers may be killed against their own wills just like the Iraqi civilians around them, many other of the vehicles used in car bomb attacks have the detonation button right next to the steering wheel. Yes, some of the car bombs themselves are remotely detonated. Suggesting that many of the car bomb drivers probably don’t even know they are about to commit “suicide”. And, yes, like the Japanese kamikazes of WWII who were locked into their cockpits flying aircraft in which the wheels could retract on take off but not come back down, there is amble evidence that backing out is made very difficult by the car bomb designs. We have even found feet of car bomb drivers strapped to the vehicle’s accelerator. If the young man changes his mind, fleeing will only set off the bomb anyway. Nonetheless, the button next to the steering wheel says loud and clear that many of these people, without argument, know what they are about to do. The martyr brigades are real. This is undeniable.

Fact number four: The largest portion of the car bomb drivers are trained, funded, and directed by Al Qaeda. Zarqawi has declared to the whole world that he works for Osama Bin Landen. It’s less of a secret and more of a boast.

And so, the questions: Who are committing these killings?

They are Al Qaeda operatives killing innocent people here, just as they did in New York and Washington a few short years ago. When you see those dead Iraqis in Baqubah, Baghdad, or Tikrit on the evening news, you should know the same people who planned the mass murders that happen daily in Iraq are the same people that planned to kill as many Americans as they possibly could on 9-11. Al Qaeda each time.

Why do they kill?

Religion, according to their own words. It is to bring about a more religious world that they kill so many. Though they may not share the same believes, it is the same basic motivation that led Son of Sam in his killings in New York that leads these people to kill in America, Iraq, Pakistan, Spain, or Indonesia.

Why do they kill so many Iraqis, who are also Muslims?

Again, according to their own words, because many of the killers are Sunni, while the majority of those killed are Shia. Differences, at least to the madmen running Al Qaeda, large enough to spill blood for. Gallons and gallons of it.

Are thy truly mad, or is their madness, like that of Hamlet, a cover for something else?

It is noticeable that neither Zarqawi nor Osama have offered up the scent of their own spilt blood as “the perfume of martyrdom.” In each and every case, though their words are of absolute faith that paradise is the result of suicide and murder, it seems more convenient that others prove their point.

Suggesting, then, that their actions are not at all based on religion. Instead, one might assume there are more earthly rationales for their doings.

Like power, or money, or fame. There is, after all, a lot of cash pumping out of the Iraqi ground every day.

Iraqi Ink, that is,
Kuwaiti Koolaide,
Saudi Suds.

And who ever controls Iraq, when all is said and done?

Well, the first thing you know,
Old Zaraqwi’s a billionaire!

No, the brand of blood thirsty religion that they preach is no more than an evil con game that they use to induce others to die and kill so that those cheering on the young men to die may accrue the riches of the earth.

Which means, the folks running Al Qaeda aren’t mad at all.

Not in the least.

2005-06-07T22:28:00.000+04:00

Flying Tigers prep for a night time raid somewhere in the Sunni Triangle.

2005-06-07T22:01:00.000+04:00

Leave your troubles outside. Here at FOB Speicher, life is beautiful!

2005-06-06T18:22:00.000+04:00

2005-06-06T17:58:00.000+04:00

8-229th AVN (ATK) hard working ground crews keeping the Flying Tigers flying in Iraq.

2005-06-06T17:28:00.000+04:00

Evening in the Desert

2005-06-05T23:17:00.000+04:00

On occasion, it gets a little dusty here. Ask 1LT Todd. He'll tell you!

2005-06-05T21:04:00.000+04:00

AH-64As ready to rock in Iraq.

2005-06-05T20:59:00.000+04:00

Who doesn't love a cool drink of water, especially one that smiles back at you!

2005-06-05T18:25:00.000+04:00

Many operations involve both Blackhawks, seen here, as well as the Flying Tigers' Apache helicopters

Salam Alakeum - Peace be with you!

2005-06-03T22:38:00.000+04:00

Someday, Iraq, believe it or not, will make a heck of a great tourist spot. The climate is a lot like Arizona. The historical sites around here are incredible. The Iraqis I have met are fairly friendly, especially considering I usually am carrying an M16 automatic rifle and an M9 semiautomatic pistol when they greet me. They smile and wave. Funny.

They’re greeting is “Salam Alakeum”, “Peace be with you”.

When the war settles down, by which I mean when the freaks sending car bombs into Iraq to kill innocent Iraqis finally either quit or are all killed, and the economy here starts going again, and these people FINALLY get a chance to feel their freedoms, well, this place is going to take off, Brother. That’s for sure.

I guess that’s what so many of Iraq’s non-democratic neighbors are worried about.

That a Free Iraq will be a free, strong, and very, very rich.

Me, I say, "Good for them!"

2005-06-03T22:06:00.000+04:00

One of Saddam's many palaces, this one along the Tigris River, in Tikrit, Iraq.

2005-06-03T21:28:00.000+04:00

Sunrise over desert in Kuwait. The Flying Tigers were stationed there before coming to Iraq.

2005-06-03T16:45:00.000+04:00

The guy here, whom we dubbed "Flagman", was spotted by the pilots of the 8-229th AVN (ATK) Flying Tigers on his walk from Mosul to Baghdad. Heck of a guy, don't you think?

2005-06-03T16:42:00.000+04:00

Spiral Minerette in Samarra, Iraq, is about 1,200 years old. Almost new compared to other structures in this country.

2005-06-03T16:23:00.000+04:00

Iraqi children running up to get toys from soldiers of the 8-229th AVN (ATK) Flying Tigers

The Hit on Zarqawi

2005-06-02T15:37:00.000+04:00

There seems to be a bit of uncertainty as to who exactly shot up Zarqawi. Much less doubt that indeed, "Zonker", the hashish smoking religious fanatic who uses God's name as his excuse to kill hundreds of Iraqi men, women and children, was shot up pretty good.

As far as the Flying Tigers are concerned, we have a message to pass on to Zarqawi, if he isn’t already dead:

Mr. Zarqawi, please recover from your wounds quickly and return to Iraq. The 8-229th Flying Tigers are anxious to shoot you again!

The Battle of the Palm Groves

2005-06-01T20:32:00.000+04:00

An air weapons team of two Apache attack helicopters from the 8-229th Aviation, the Flying Tigers, no less, were providing aerial security on a raid somewhere in the Sunni Triangle. A near by ground unit had surrounded a group of insurgents in a small building in a palm grove, had been exchanging small arms fire the whole while, and requested aerial security from the team of Apaches.

“No problem, Gentlemen, help is on the way”, was the calm reply to the request. Troops in contact, as one might imagine, is going to be at the top of anybody’s “to do list”. The two Apache helicopters flew immediately to the fire fight, directed by ground forces to a particular building in the palm grove.

“Is this the right building?”, Mr. Krystal, one of the pilots on the mission, asked the ground unit’s commander.

“That’s it. We’re still taking fire from it. Fire it up.”

As the attack helicopters flew lower and closer to the small building in the palm grove, one of the pilots spotted one of the insurgents sticking an AK-47 out a small window directly at the helicopter. Without hesitation, the front seater pulled the trigger, and fired up the hut.

The Apache weapons team began to rake the small building with their chain guns. An unbelievable number of rounds exploded, punching holes through the mud brick walls. Rockets were drilled in the walls as well, bursting in bright flashes. The surrounding palm trees shook each time a shock wave from a near by explosion detonated.

“They just fired an RPG [Rocket Propelled Grenade] at you guys”, one Apache called to the other, “We’re you hit?”

“An RPG? Nope. We’re still here”, was the answer.

The RPG had been fired, but it flew harmlessly between two Apaches, exploding too far from either one to cause any harm. The gunfire from the two aircraft, their rotors beating the air, continued to pound the small building, killing all inside.

At the end of the short engagement, a number of insurgents lay dead, next to piles of weapons. No US losses or wounded that day.

The Apaches returned to base.

For the dead terrorists who lay inside the destroyed building in the palm grove that morning, their days of blowing up market places, mosques, and slaughtering unarmed Iraqis had come to a sudden, and very violent, end.

2005-06-01T20:12:00.000+04:00

Gunsight view, Battle of the Palm Groves

2005-05-31T21:34:00.000+04:00

Mr Krystal, Apache fighter pilot, at the range.

2005-05-31T20:50:00.000+04:00

Patch of the 8-229th AVN (ATK)

2005-05-31T19:34:00.000+04:00

8-229th AVN (ATK) Battalion Cmdr

A Soldier's Letter Back Home

2005-05-31T17:52:00.000+04:00

Yo Brother!

Sounds pretty good, you getting married and all. Much happiness and joy to you and your bride.

Still enjoying my crazy "vacation" out here at the-beach-that-has-no-shore.

Hard to sum it up in words. It's not like The Longest Day or Bridge Too Far and those other war movies. And, nothing like Full Metal Jacket ("Get Some, Get Some!")

Pilots here throw toys out of the helicopters to the kids. The kids here chase helicopters, waving their hands in the air, running as fast as their little bare feet can carry them. It's hilarious.

I heard one soccer ball fell down and hit a chicken in somebody's backyard. Sent feathers everywhere. Guess they had chicken stew for dinner that night at that house.

Hours and hours of tedium with seconds of pure terror. Okay, maybe not so pure terror. Actually, the last several times we took rounds around here, people pretty much went on with business as usual.

I know that sounds weird. Don't know whether to call it bravery under fire, or just getting used to another situation.

Anyway, thought you'd enjoy hearing about my "vacation".

take care, bro.

SIGNED

2005-05-31T17:27:00.000+04:00

MAJ Condor, Aviation, 8-229th

2005-05-31T17:00:00.000+04:00

Flying Tigers! Attack!

2005-05-31T16:47:00.000+04:00

History is EVERYWHERE in Iraq

2005-05-31T16:43:00.000+04:00

Ballot Boxes - day before the election, Iraq

2005-05-31T16:38:00.000+04:00

Apache Sunrise

2005-05-31T16:24:00.000+04:00

Operation "One Hundred Smiles" in Iraq

Zarqawi - Retard or Moron?

2005-05-30T21:49:00.000+04:00

I’ve been reading a little from Zarqawi. According to his own words, he pretty much has decided that 80% of the Iraqi population is anti-Iraqi. Considers the Kurds and the Shia’ worse than the Americans.

Maybe he had trouble with math as a kid at the madrassa, but 80% is more than half. That's a sizable majority.

And, his tactics reflect it. Running car bombs into crowds of civilians at market places and Shia’ mosques. Unbelievable bloodshed, with 700 civilian deaths this month alone from car bombs and such. He threatened those who wanted to vote in the elections this past January with death. Again, blood thirsty tactics. People who express their desires in an election are anti-Islamic, according to the kook.

Hardly the tactics of a revolutionary. Clearly, those providing the outside money funding Zarqawi care little for the people who live in this country. Those outside of Iraq have their own agendas, and the people here are just so many pawns to push across the board.

Or, blow to smithereens.

And, it turns out most of the support for the so called insurgency inside Iraq comes from the Sunni population. Read "the guys who backed Saddam". Yeah, them. The folks who helped kill some 300,000 Shia' and Kurds in the '80s and '90s.

If you read either Al Jazeera or the New York Times, you’ll read about the Sunni’s fear of a backlash from the Shia’ against the Sunni insurgent leadership.

The same folks that backed Saddam’s purges and slaughter for thirty years are now worried that some of the relatives of those purged might be looking for revenge.

You think?

2005-05-30T21:17:00.000+04:00

Local Art Work at FOB Speicher

2005-05-28T22:38:00.000+04:00

The Apache attack helicopter, aka AH-64A

Flying Tigers in Iraq

2005-05-24T14:54:00.000+04:00

Sunrise in Tikrit

FLYING TIGERS

A little about the unit I am serving with. It's the 8-229th Aviation Regt, the Flying Tigers, no less. Great bunch of people.

The focus of so much of the modern literature of warfare is on the machinery of war. In this case, that would be the AH-64A Apache attack helicopter. All kinds of stats in JANES, if you need to know things like altitude, max. range, etc. Suffice it say, though, it is an awesome bit of flying firepower. More than a dozen Hellfire missiles can be launched from a single helicopter, for instance.

But, the weapon systems aside, it's really about the people.

Doesn't really matter if you're talking about an attack helicopter battalion or working at Walmart, you end up working with people.

So, rather than give you the facts about the Apache, I'm going to focus on the people here, instead.

More later. Take care.

Gary W Pearson

Sunrise in Tikrit

2005-05-23T06:26:00.000+04:00

This blog is devoted to those who have given their lives to make a better world.

I know that sounds dramatic. But, being in what could be called the epicenter of the Sunni Triangle in the middle of this war, perhaps the drama is not misplaced.

Tikrit, the heart of the Sunni Triangle, is on the verge of a new day. As is the rest of Iraq, no doubt.

More later. For now, take care.