Army Officer refuses to deploy...

Comments to follow.......

TACOMA, Wash. - An Army lieutenant who refuses to deploy to Iraq with his Fort Lewis Stryker brigade said he's prepared to face the consequences, including a possible prison term.
1st Lt. Ehren Watada, who joined the Army in March 2003, said he researched the reasons behind the U.S. involvement in Iraq and concluded the war is illegal and immoral.
"We have violated American law," Watada said. "We can't break laws in order to fight terrorism."
Watada said he would be willing to serve in Afghanistan or elsewhere, but he said he believes intelligence on whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was manipulated "to fit a policy that was already implemented prior to 9-11," and he cited "mistreatment of the Iraqi people," saying it was "a contradiction to the Army's own Law of Land Warfare."
Army officials said Watada's decision to publicly declare his intent to disobey orders "is a serious matter and could subject him to adverse action."
His unit - the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division - is scheduled to begin leaving later this month for a mission in Iraq.
Watada sent a letter to his command in January, saying he had reservations about the Iraq war and felt he could not participate, his lawyer Eric A. Seitz said. Months later, he resubmitted his request to resign, Seitz said.
The Hawaii native was told last month his request had been denied. The Army said it was because Watada's unit is in a stop-loss category, and he has not fulfilled his service obligation. His commission requires that he serve as an active-duty Army officer for three years ending Dec. 3, his lawyer said.
Watada said he would submit another request to resign but added, "I feel it is inevitable ... I will be charged and I will be punished." He said he could face prison time for failing to deploy.
Peace activists, veterans and clergy have come out in support of Watada, whose commanders barred him from attending a news conference Wednesday because it occurred during his duty hours.
Watada did not apply for conscientious objector status, defined by Army regulations as a "firm, fixed and sincere objection to participation in war in any form or the bearing of arms, because of religious training and belief." He said he objected only to the war in Iraq.
An Army fact sheet dated Sept. 21, 2005, the most recent available, said 87 conscientious objector applications had been approved and 101 denied since January 2003.
"I know that my case has brought a lot of attention and scrutiny on me by my superiors," Watada said. "I'm probably very unpopular, if not the most unpopular person on Fort Lewis. But I know out there are people who believe in what I'm saying."

I don't care who you are. When you swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and obey the orders of the officers appointed over you, you have to have some idea in the back of your head that you may be going to war some day. You have most likely had your college tuition paid for and you and your family have enjoyed the free healthcare and other benefits. Now your Country, your President and the very soldiers you have lead are asking you to give a little back yet you refuse. Not all of us necessarily agree with how things are being done here but we signed a contract and made a verbal commitment. Shame on you Lieutenant Watada. You get the ol Roper and Ebert Thumbs Down!

Bet you won't see this on CNN

BALAD, Iraq – Soldiers from Logistical Support Area Anaconda in Balad saved the life of an abandoned, near-death baby June 9. Staff Sgt. Donald White, patrol leader 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers, and his team came across a box on the side of the road while on patrol. Initially, he thought it was an improvised explosive device until he heard crying coming from the box. White made sure there were no wires protruding from the box and made sure it was not booby trapped. Then he picked it up. “I ran as fast as I could, snatched the box off the ground and kept on running, thankfully nothing blew up,” White said. White then asked Spc. John Sullivan, healthcare specialist, 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery, to evaluate the child and assess its medical needs. The skin was literally hanging off the child and we could see it was massively dehydrated and malnourished. Sullivan told me we needed to get the child to a hospital right away and we jumped into the trucks and drove to the hospital as fast as we could, Smith said. In transit to Balad Air Base hospital, Sullivan turned the air conditioning vents in the baby's direction so the air would cool the child. I was nervous because I have never had to professionally treat a sick child before, Sullivan said. “(He) did not cry at all in the vehicle but his eyes rolled in the back of his head and I thought ‘oh my goodness he is starting to die on me.'” By the time the patrol made its way to the Balad Air Base hospital the staff was already waiting for them when the vehicles pulled up. The Air Force medical staff treated the child by putting a feeding tube into him to replenish lost fluids. After a while the baby regained its strength and was in stable enough condition to be released. A civilian liaison with the Iraqi hospital in Balad was called and the child was released to hospital care. White credits the success of the rescue to the members of his patrol, not just himself and Sullivan. In all this mess of arresting people, killing people and getting blown up, finally something good has come out of it, Smith said. Hopefully as a result, God will bless us for the next few months we are here. The baby was reunited with his mother June 19. The mother of the child told Iraqi Police she left the child in her daughter's care. The daughter was carrying the baby on the road near the LSA when she was chased by wild dogs and left the baby so she could run faster, according to reports given to Capt. Lance Awbrey, commander, Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery.

Operation AC

I certainly don't use this Blog as an advertisment for any compnay or product, but I truly believe one group needs heavy recognition. Many people ask me if there is anything I personally need. The answer is always the same. I have been very fortunate this tour to be stationed at the US Embassy. The State Department has gone to great strides to make the IZ as comfortable living situation as possible. There are, however soldiers, sailors and Marines out there who are not as fortunate as we are.

During OIF I, there was a big need for air conditioners here in country. Here is the story of Operation AC.

Operation AC has raised $2,876,392.00 and has sent 9,400 air conditioners, 14,500 heaters and $1,901,960.35 in Morale, Welfare and Recreation supplies to US troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not too bad for a soldier's mom and his family and YOU our contributors.
Operation AC has suspended sending air conditioners to our troops as of 9/1/05. We send combat boots, socks and wicking t-shirts now. We send to US forces only. Any donations we receive go directly to the support of US troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa fighting the Global War on Terror.
We at Operation AC send our US Troops mostly anything else they ask for or need. We have been at this since June 2003 and we have adapted to the needs of our troops. We send them items they are low on in supply and just are a help to them. Please adopt a soldier or marine serving and help us with our effort.
Our soldiers are humble people and they only ask for what they need like the boots we send, the socks and glove kits, morale raising items and mostly matching them up with an American who cares about what they are doing. Our troops are volunteers and they are still serving in the same place - do not forget them. Many of the ones going back now are from OIF 1 and remember me from when we started. I'm still here and I promised I would not quit till the last one comes home. My son has been back now for a year and he works here with me now that he is out of the Army helping his brothers and sisters still serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is my hope that we make their existence in Iraq during their deployment as safe and as easy on them as possible given the job they are there to do.
After sending over 9,400 air conditioners since we started - we are happy we have made an impact on the situation there. Now we have to adapt to the ever changing need of our troops and the safety of the troops given the items we send. Logistics and Delivery of Air Conditoners is now a danger to our troops. i can not risk the lives of the civilians delivering the air conditioners nor can I put safety of our troops at risk by allowing the chain of custody of these electronic items to be compromised. As Iraqis take control of their own country and our troops begin to scale back, we still need to be there for those who serve and send them what we can to help them during their deployment.

For those of you who wish to adopt a Soldier, Sailor or Marine, this is a great way to do it. This group has gone from simply Air Conditioners to anything a military member in the field could need from uniforms, and boots to MP3 players. If you get chance or want to adopt someone, log into http://www.operationac.com

My personal thanks goes out to all who have supported the troops here and a special thanks to Mrs. Frankie Mayo, President and FounderOperation AC Inc.

Is Baghdad Safe?

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military issued a sober assessment Tuesday of the Baghdad security crackdown, saying violence had decreased slightly but not to "the degree we would like to see" in the two weeks since 75,000 Iraqi and American troops flooded the capital.

The evaluation came as 18 more Iraqis fell victim to sectarian and insurgent violence, including five people whose bodies were found dumped in Baghdad. The U.S. military also announced the deaths of a Marine and three soldiers; three of the deaths were west of the capital in volatile Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said the overwhelming security operation launched two weeks ago to rein in violence in Baghdad was moving more slowly than hoped.

"It's going to take some time. We do not see an upward trend. We ... see a slight decrease but not of the degree we would like to see at this point," he said at a news conference in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

However, Caldwell added, "we don't see this as turning into a civil war right now."

U.S. officials hope the willingness of leading Sunni Arabs to withdraw support for the insurgency will help heal the nation.

On Tuesday, an influential Sunni Arab cleric endorsed the Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's 24-point reconciliation plan.

Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie, the head of the Sunni Endowment, the state agency responsible for Sunni mosques and shrines, applauded the provision that calls for the release of all prisoners who have not been charged with crimes.

He called on the government to implement the plan quickly, but emphasized that it should include the disbanding of armed Shiite militias. Minority Sunnis have accused Shiite-led militias — who have infiltrated the police and armed forces — of random detention, torture and killing.

"We bless this initiative," al-Samaraie said. "We see a glimmer of hope in this plan, but at the same time we are noticing that some people are pushing the armed groups to attack some areas in Baghdad, spreading terror and chaos in the city in order to make this plan a failure. ... The government will not be able to enforce the law while those militiamen consider themselves above the law."

Al-Maliki's plan is vague on this issue, saying only that the government should address the "problem of sectarian militias and illegal armed groups through political, economic and security measures." Al-Samaraie urged the government to provide more details about the plan, which parliament will debate.

Al-Samaraie's endorsement came a day after key lawmakers said seven Sunni Arab insurgent groups offered the government a conditional truce. The seven groups do not include al-Qaida or Islamic terror groups. They are mostly made up of former members or backers of Saddam Hussein's government, military or security agencies.

On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie said he had met secretly in Jordan with exiled Sunni tribal leaders from Anbar province to win their support for al-Maliki's plan. Al-Zubaie said the meeting took place before al-Maliki unveiled the plan Sunday.

"We have reached positive results so that they can try to persuade members of the honorable resistance to join the political process," al-Zubaie told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Many Iraqis refer to those who have attacked only foreign troops in Iraq as the "honorable resistance" because they do not target Iraqis.

"There is no dialogue with those who targeted Iraqis," said al-Zubaie, a member of the influential Sunni Arab Zubaa tribe.

He said the tribal leaders called for the release of detainees, an end to military operations in Sunni areas and a halt to detentions.

The Justice Ministry, meanwhile, said 453 more detainees were released from U.S. detention centers across Iraq, part of al-Maliki's plan to free 2,500 by the end of June as a goodwill gesture.

In the first tangible step after al-Maliki's reconciliation plan was announced, the Council of Ministers said it will reinstate the jobs of government employees who were detained and recently released. It said the government will consider their service uninterrupted when considering bonuses, promotions and retirement privileges.

The ministers said they will allow freed students to return to school and take final exams, and that their absence in the 2005-2006 academic year will not be held against them.

Separately, the Iraqi High Tribunal announced that Saddam Hussein and six members of his former regime will be put on trial Aug. 21 for a 1980s campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds and saw thousands of their villages razed. The trial will be the second for Saddam and top officials of his Baath Party regime. More trials over crimes committed during his 23-year dictatorship are also expected.

An American soldier on a foot patrol south of Baghdad was killed Tuesday in a bombing, and a Marine died Tuesday in fighting in Anbar province west of the capital. The military also announced the deaths of two soldiers killed Monday in Anbar fighting.

In other developments:

• A suicide car bomb struck a busy gas station in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least three people and wounding 17.

• A parked car packed with explosives blew up at an open-air market in a Shiite section of Baghdad's predominantly Sunni Dora neighborhood, killing three people and wounding 10, police said.

• A university professor was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad's upscale Mansour neighborhood. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Studies said it will stage a sit-in at all universities Wednesday to protest kidnappings and violence against its employees.

• Gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying a tribal leader in Dujail, north of Baghdad, killing him and four drivers.

• A tribal chief in the southeastern town of Amarah was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt. Sheik Kadim al-Sebahawi's 22-year-old son died in the attack.

Associated Press writers Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, and Sameer N. Yacoub, Bushra Juhi and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.

We need the help of whom?

The mentality of Saddam truly amazes me. He doesn't realize there is someone out there right now rope shopping for a special event.


AMMAN, Jordan - Saddam Hussein believes the United States will have to seek his help to quell the bloody insurgency in Iraq and open the way for U.S. forces to withdraw, his chief lawyer said Sunday.

Khalil al-Dulaimi argued in an interview with The Associated Press that the former leader is the key to returning stability to Iraq.

"He's their last resort. They're going to knock at his door eventually," the lawyer said. Saddam is "the only person who can stop the resistance against the U.S. troops."

There is no indication U.S. officials have considered seeking his help. While Saddam's once dominant fellow Sunni Arabs are the backbone of the insurgency, the Shiite Muslim majority and Kurds repressed by his regime would be enflamed by his presence.

The comments from Al-Dulaimi, the head of Saddam's defense team, portrayed a deposed leader who seems to hold out hope he can bargain his way out of trials that threaten him with the death penalty.

Al-Dulaimi said Saddam brought up the topic during a meeting Tuesday, and indicated he would be willing to help the United States — "for the sake of saving both peoples — the Iraqis and Americans."

He quoted Saddam as saying:

"These puppets in the Iraqi government that the Americans brought to power are helpless. They can't protect themselves or the Iraqi people. The Americans will certainly come to me, to Saddam Hussein's legitimate leadership and to the Iraqi Baath Party, to rescue them from their huge quandary."

Although he would not say exactly what Saddam might ask in return for helping, al-Dulaimi said it would not necessarily involve being reinstated as president of Iraq — a nation he ruled brutally and plunged into three devastating wars.

The lawyer suggested, though, that Saddam might be willing to negotiate such help by making the verdict in his trial a bargaining chip.

Saddam and seven of his former officials are on trial in the deaths of 148 people during a crackdown on a Shiite village, and Iraqis widely expect the ousted leader to be sentenced to be hanged. He also is due to begin a second trial that could end with the death penalty.

When Saddam mentioned he expected the Americans to seek his help, al-Dulaimi said he asked the former leader if he would really be willing to help the country who toppled him from power.

Saddam replied that he would, said al-Dulaimi, a Sunni who considers Saddam to remain Iraq's legitimate president.

"We will do that for the sake of preventing more bloodshed, for the liberty of all Iraqis," al-Dulaimi quoted Saddam as saying.

Saddam predicted Iraq would "flourish within five years," saying that was the time that would be needed for reconstruction that would transform the country into the envy of the region, the lawyer said.

He said Saddam also believes he will be given the death penalty in the current trial, which began in October. The prosecution summed up its case last Monday, and defense lawyers are to begin their final arguments July 10, after which the five judges are expected to take several months to reach a verdict.

Al-Dulaimi claimed the outcome of the trial has already been determined.

"The ongoing trial and verdict, which are already decided by Washington, are expected to result in the death penalty," he said.

"The death penalty is political blackmail to pressure President Saddam to help the American forces out of their predicament in Iraq and to rescue it from the mess it created there."

Al-Dulaimi said Washington also should look to Saddam as the only person who can stop the growing influence of Iran and radical Shiite Muslims in the region.

Pointing to Saddam's 1980-88 war with Iran — a conflict in which the United States and others backed Iraq — he said Saddam served as a counterbalance to Iranian power.

The Bush administration should recognize the "hard reality" that the U.S. invasion of Iraq delivered the mostly secular Arab nation into the hands of Shiites strongly sympathetic to their larger Iranian neighbor, the lawyer said.

"Iran is the enemy of Arabs, Islam and the United States, and the only person who can stand in the face of Iran is Saddam Hussein," he said.

What's happening in Baghdad

It is absolutely amazing how things do a 180 in a matter of days.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew Friday after insurgents set up roadblocks in central Baghdad and opened fire on U.S. and Iraqi troops outside the heavily fortified Green Zone.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered everyone off the streets of the capital. U.S. and Iraqi forces also fought gunmen in the volatile Dora neighborhood in south Baghdad.
A car bomb ripped through a market and nearby gas station in the increasingly violent southern city of Basra, killing at least five people and wounding 18, including two policemen, police said.
A bomb also struck a Sunni mosque in Hibhib, northeast of Baghdad, killing 10 worshippers and wounding 15 in the town where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was slain this month, police said.
At least 19 other deaths were reported in Baghdad.
Throughout the morning, Iraqi and U.S. military forces clashed with attackers armed with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and rifles in busy Haifa Street, which runs into the Green Zone, site of the U.S. and British embassies and the Iraqi government.
Four Iraqi soldiers and three policemen were wounded in the fighting, police Lt. Maitham Abdul Razzaq said.
The region was sealed and Iraqi and U.S. forces conducted house-to-house searches.
The prime minister's office said the curfew would last from 2 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday but later shortened to end at 5 p.m. Friday.
The state of emergency includes a ban on carrying weapons and gives Iraqi security forces broader arrest powers, Defense Ministry official Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohamed Jassim said.
"The state of emergency and curfew came in the wake of today's clashes to let the army work freely to chase militants and to avoid casualties among civilians," he said. "They will punish all those who have weapons with them and they can shoot them if they feel that they are danger."
Gunmen also attacked a group of worshippers marching from Sadr City, the Shiite slum in eastern Baghdad, to the Buratha mosque on the other side of the city to protest a suicide attack a week ago on the revered Shiite shrine. At least one marcher was killed and four were wounded, Lt. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said.
The U.S. military also said two U.S. Marines were killed during combat in the volatile Anbar province in separate attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, and a soldier died elsewhere in a non-combat incident on Wednesday.Their deaths raise to at least 2,515 members of the U.S. military who have died since the
Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Al-Maliki has been trying to rein in unrelenting insurgent and sectarian violence. He launched a massive security operation in Baghdad 10 days ago, deploying tens of thousands of troops who flooded the city, snarling traffic with hundreds of checkpoints.
Police said they found the bodies of five men who apparently were victims of a mass kidnapping from a factory on Wednesday. The bodies, which showed signs of torture and had their hands and legs bound, were floating in a canal in northern Baghdad, police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said.
A police raid on a farm Thursday freed 17 of the captives
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it killed four foreign insurgents in a raid north of Fallujah. Two of the dead men had 15-pound bombs strapped to their bodies. The military said an insurgent thought to be an Iraqi also was killed in the raid, which was launched on the basis of information from a suspected arrested in the region in previous days.
Separately, the military said, it detained a senior leader of al-Qaida in Iraq and three other suspected insurgents Monday during raids northeast of Baghdad, near where al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air raid earlier this month

Baghdad Violence Dips As Government Cracks Down

BAGHDAD — Government forces that fanned out across Baghdad on Wednesday set up checkpoints, frisked motorists and caused traffic jams on the first day of the largest security operation in Iraq's capital since Saddam Hussein's ouster three years ago.
Violence dipped slightly in the capital. Baghdad was hit by just one car bombing that killed four people and injured six, police Lt. Ali Mitaab said.
Many stores were closed in Azamiyah and Dora, both strongholds of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
Operation Forward Together, involving 75,000 Iraqi army and police forces backed by U.S. troops, began a day after President Bush visited Baghdad to reassure Iraqis of Washington's continued support and a week after the death of terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
It was the first major action by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki since his new government of national unity was sworn in May 20.
Tackling security in Baghdad has been the aim of several past counterinsurgency operations, including one a year ago. That operation, code-named Lightning, failed to have any impact on the almost daily bombings, shootings and killings in Baghdad.
Al-Maliki pledged Wednesday not to negotiate with those who have shed innocent blood, the latest in a series of tough statements he has made since American bombs killed Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, sought to reassure Sunni Arabs that Operation Forward Together would not indiscriminately target their community, which is the heart of the insurgency.
“We are only going to attack areas that are dens for terrorists,” al-Maliki said.
Launching the operation in a televised news conference, al-Maliki said he was prepared to hold talks with insurgent groups opposed to Iraq's U.S.-backed peace process. He made clear that his offer was conditional and excluded terrorist groups.
As part of a national reconciliation initiative he planned to detail this week, the prime minister also offered amnesty to detainees found not to have been involved in violence.
“There is also a space for dialogue with insurgents who opposed the political process and now want to join the political process after offering guarantees,” al-Maliki said. He did not specify what guarantees he seeks. “On the other hand, we are not going to negotiate with the criminals who have killed the innocent.”
The security crackdown in Baghdad includes a curfew extended by 4½ hours — from 8:30 p.m. until dawn — and a weapons ban.
The government did not say how long the crackdown would last and declined to provide the precise number of checkpoints and troops involved.

Gold AK

A quick picture from my journey to Mosul. You can see the disappointed look on my face when I found out I couldn't take this gold...That's right, GOLD AK-47 home with me to use for a hunting rifle.

Several of these have been captured around the region. Evidentally they were given as gifts to members of the Baath party by Saddam and his sons.

Family Lashes Out

As the families of two missing soldiers waited to hear from the U.S. military Tuesday, the uncle of one lashed out at the government, saying it didn't do enough to bring the men home safe.
"Because the U.S. government did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid for it with his life," Ken MacKenzie, uncle of Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, told NBC's "Today" show.
Earlier Tuesday, a senior Iraqi military official announced that the bodies of the two missing soldiers had been found.
U.S. military officials would not confirm the report Tuesday morning. Military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the military had "an obligation first and foremost to those families who have either lost or have someone missing."
Menchaca's mother, Maria Vasquez, was sobbing when she answered the door of her Brownsville, Texas, home.
Her niece, Felipa Gomez, said the family had been watching television news reports of the Iraqi military announcement about the bodies but were still waiting for U.S. military officials to talk with them.
The report that the soldiers had been found came from Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, who announced that the bodies of Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Army Pfc. Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., had been discovered on a street in Youssifiyah, just south of Baghdad.
The two soldiers had been manning checkpoints when they were attacked Friday. Another soldier with them was killed.
A group that includes al-Qaida in
Iraq claimed Monday it had kidnapped the two soldiers, but it did not name them and the U.S. military was skeptical of the claim. The group posted another statement found on the Internet Tuesday saying it killed them.
"I think the U.S. government was too slow to react to this," MacKenzie said Tuesday. "They should have had a plan in place."
MacKenzie said the government should have offered a $100 million reward and offered to exchange mujahideen detainees for the soldiers' lives. It seized enough money from
Saddam Hussein to afford it, he said.
The military has said more than 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops were searching for the missing men.
In Madras, Ore., Tucker's hometown, yellow ribbons adorn the trees and store reader boards offer prayers of hope for his safe return.
Tucker's relatives declined interviews but released the text of a phone message Monday that Tucker recently left on an answering machine, telling his mother to be proud of him.
"I'm defending my country," Tucker says on the recording. "Tell sis and my nephews hello for me, I'm OK, I'm on my way."
The family said in a statement Monday that their son had joined the military because he wanted to "do something positive." They also sent their sympathy to the family of Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., who was killed in the attack.
Lyndsay Kowaleski, a high school classmate of Tucker's, described "a sense of helplessness" after learning Tucker was missing.
"Our hearts are broken with our friend being in this situation," she said

Bodies of missing US Servicemen found.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The bodies of two U.S. soldiers who had been reported kidnapped have been found near the checkpoint where the men disappeared after an attack, a senior Iraqi military official said Tuesday. A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq has refused to confirm or deny reports that remains of missing soldiers were found.

Back Again

Wow...Where have I been for almost a month? Well, I had a great visit to Mosul where I visited a detention facility and the Mosul Iraqi Police Provincial Police Headquarters.

After that, I went back to the US due to the death of my grandmother and now I am back.

Quite a bit has happened since I have been gone. The President visited folks here at the Embassy and best of all....Zarqawi is dead! I am happy he is dead simply because he was one little piece in a big puzzle of the insurgency. Does that mean thing are better here now? Like a magic trick; POOF; no more attacks? No.... I believe they have slowed down somewhat but they certainly haven't stopped. As a matter of fact, two American soldiers are missing. We all hope for their safe return.

It is a cool 126 degrees at 7:30pm here today. But, it's a dry heat...If you believe that makes a difference.