Winning Hearts & Minds Pt.371

[cracked]

insurgents.

[wrongway]

Dear Greg w

It sounds like you’re a little bitter and self absorbed. Apparently you have nothing to better to do then make hasty generalizations about people intelligence which means your ignorant yourself, just because I made a comment about how are leader George w is a idiot doesn’t make me ignorant. Let’s not forgot why we are at war because are leader thought they weapons of mass destruction which they didn’t and still haven’t found any proof of it yet. Because of bush we are at war and my opinion is because he’s mad that sadamm tried to kill his father, and maybe bush Jr thought it would get the general population to forget about the hole our economy is in. Anyways Greg maybe we can end this fued, I think we are both assholes.

Wrongway

Ps. Maybe we can take out some argession on a counter strike sever

[tele_nut]

Spring skiing in Whistler is pretty amazing right now, but there is a certain amount of anxiety as I am redeploying in a few days.

 

I had surmised to many people that the situation in Iraq was going to get worse as the date for handover gets closer. Well, it certainly seems that this is occurring. It was inevitable I'm afraid.

 

Two things. One is that yes, Blackwater has it's own aviation assets. I flew counter sniper role in an MH-6 for a month and I am still considered an areial counter sniper for the close protection detail. I posted a picture at another website dedicated to former and current special operations types. I once tried to image link it here, but it kept failing probably because of the size of the image? I would post it here, but I simply cannot run the risk of crossloading the other website with some of the curious who would hit that site. They are notoriously belligerent to outsiders. The helicopters are the same birds that you saw in the movie Blackhawk Down. They are sometimes called "Little Birds" and have various configurations for lift transport or gunship config. One of the guys I work with was in SSG Eversmans chalk for the Mogadishu raid. Many of the pilots flew in TF-160. Very good crew to be with, but certainly not bullet or RPG proof. Fly fast. Speed is security in the little birds.

 

The other thing is that I just received an email from a friend of mine who was one of the 8 Blackwater contractors engaged near Najaf in intense fighting. He said that they had made the resistance pay for the lives of our 4 friends and that there were over 50 bodies outside the wire. I understand that for some that is a revolting thought, but for those that share in the understanding that sometimes war can rouse the bravery of the weakest person and turn the strongest man into a crying child I thought it would be appropriate to share.

 

Tele

[willstrickland]

An interesting assessment of the situation:

 

http://windsofchange.net/archives/004826.php

[wrongway]

tele

be safe over there and remeber anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice

[tele_nut]

Will, that was an excellent article and pretty much sums up the various power grabs and self interests going on in that country.

 

Sadr city, which was formerly called Saddam City, is a relatively poor sprawling urban jungle east of Baghdad proper. I think that most of the people there are simply wanting to participate in SOMETHING they can sink their teeth into. I am not totally convinced that they even understand exactly what it is they are fighting for.

 

Fallujah has been a stronghold of Baathists for a long time. Fallujah was the first major Iraqi city I entered. We came in through Jordan and made the "Desert Dash" through 11 hours of uncontested Iraqi space. There was only myself and one other American, along with our Jordanian driver. We had no weapon other than a pocket knife a piece. We had only basic communications ( A Thuraya satellite phone) and no maps. If something had happened to us it is possible we would never have been heard from again. It was a calculated risk and one well worth it.

 

We saw very little military presence until we got near Fallujah, where also the dangerous driving conditions become very apparent on congested 2 lane highways at high speeds. Fallujah was and continues to be one of the places that stands out vividly in my mind for the overt threatening stares and gestures of the nationals. I fully anticipated that someone was going to walk up to the window of our Suburban and unload a magazine of AK into us.

 

The other was the highway outside of Basra where young children made slashing gestures at their throats as we passed by and imitated rifles pointing at us. Can you imagine your 7 year old standing on I-5 and doing the same thing to invading foreigners?

 

I saw no bomb damage in Fallujah and a very light handed military presense mostly on the outskirts of the city. In essense they were being allowed to continue their life as formerly. For whatever twisted reasons or influences they have chosen to cast stones time and time again despite being treated with dignity, respect and restraint in our operations there.

 

I will do my best to try to be more informative from over there this time. Hopefully everything will calm down or finally just boil to a head so we can finish what we started. The many headed hydra...

 

Tele

[tele_nut]

Emailed from a buddy of mine this morning. Names removed for security reasons.

 

Mail:

 

-This kid fought like a angry bastard. When he was shot in the arm he simply took cover, changed belts of ammo, and got back to the fight. We had to force him to get in the helo for medevac.

 

 

Send him an email and thank him for his bravery.

 

>Subject: Thanks

>Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 14:11:05 +0400

>

>Ben,

>My name is Cpl *****. We met on a rooftop in Najaf. I would just like to take the time to thank you guys for helping me out and giving me the oppertunity to work with the most high speed civilians I know. You guys were

>awesome up there! Keep up the good work and stay safe. Every one of you that I met up there will always be remembered and be considered a brother

to me. I owe you my life.

>

>Thanks!

>Cpl *****