Progress in Iraq? Not the only indicator of progress, but certainly a good sign.

Jules Crittenden and Small Wars Journal has related. Thanks to Larwyn.

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Above is a map which bears the flag (upper right corner) of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), al Qaeda's front group, captured by U.S. troops near Samara last month. It shows what the ISI claims is al Qaeda contolled territory. This is what al Qaida claims, not what the Administration claims.

Just keep that in mind, and be sure to point this out to those questioning the extent of al Qaeda's presence in Iraq. Gateway Pundit compares al Qaeda's map with reality here.

Hat tip: Larwyn

Posted by: Rusty at 10:19 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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via Kathryn Lopez at The Corner.

News stories like this make me wonder whether we'll be able to stop the march of surrender.

I do believe, however, we can at least slow it down. Even if we ultimately lose the struggle, it seems that we will have at least bought our troops more time to do what they need to do in Iraq. Whether that will ultimately matter in the grand scheme of things, I don't know.

What I do know is that millions of Iraqis have defied bloodthirsty militant Islamists to engage in a grand experiment in democracy. They did this because we gave them hope. They did this because we promised them

We are here for you. We will protect you. We will not let you down.

We are here for you. We will protect you. We will not let you down.

Oops! We changed our mind. Good luck!

Posted by: Ragnar at 10:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I never thought I'd live to see the day when I could honestly say that the words of the leader of the 1920s Revolution Brigades brought tears to my eyes.

"This is a free area. We will not allow any kind of occupation. And even al Qaeda, we consider them an occupation force." --- Abu Ali to Michael Yon.

Al Qaeda is an occupation force. Hat tip: Andy Breitbart

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A hearing officer in the Haditha case has recognized the absurdity of the persecution prosecution's case and recommends dropping the charges: more...

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Let's invite Iran to a peace conference. Then everything will be fine.......

The suspects were captured in the Shia dominated Sadr City region of Baghdad and they are believed to be connected to the Iranian Quds Force. more...

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My apologies for not picking this up earlier. Michael Yon is embedded with US forces in Baqubah. They are coming across all kinds of evidence of al-Qaeda in Iraq's brutal treatment of the Iraqi people.

Mr. Yon is concerned that these war crimes by the enemy are being ignored by the main stream media. I can understand his frustration, we have been exposing these types of crimes for years.

I heard a report on NPR's ATC this afternoon that included some information on torture houses and bodies found in the wake of al-Qaeda's retreat. Hopefully more outlets are taking notice and these war crimes will the attention in the media they deserve. About a thousand times more than that other story.

Via Michael Yon: Since the publication of “Bless the Beasts and Children” many questions have arisen: some of which I can and will answer here, and some whose answers lie elsewhere.

Today, late afternoon on 3 July in Baqubah, Colonel Hiduit from 2nd Brigade 5th Iraqi Army was able to provide some additional details about the murders, as the ongoing investigation begins to yield more facts. The name of the village was not on any maps I examined while preparing the dispatch, but Colonel Hiduit said the name is al Hamira. Coordinates to the area of the gravesites are MC 679 381.

In my dispatch, I reported that six people were killed, but mentioned that Iraqi soldiers were still digging out bodies when I left. A few hours ago, Colonel Hiduit put the number at 10-14, and said the search for bodies had ended. I made video of the graves, bodies and of interviews with Iraqi and American soldiers while we still were at the scene and have been working to make material from this available on this website.

Posted by: Howie at 07:39 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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The MSM has replaced the phrase, "obvious signs of torture" with "beheaded".

AP Via Yahoo News: BAGHDAD - Twenty beheaded bodies were discovered Thursday on the banks of the Tigris River southeast of Baghdad and a car bomb killed another 20 people in one of the capital's busy outdoor bus stations, police said.

The beheaded remains were found in the Sunni Muslim village of Um al-Abeed, near the city of Salman Pak, which lies 14 miles southeast of Baghdad.

The bodies — all men aged 20 to 40 — had their hands and legs bound, and some of the heads were found next to the bodies, two officers said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

I'd praise them for finally doing so, except for the fact that they are about 3 years late.

What gives? Opinions?

Update 06/30/07: Whoa! Fake Alert! Interesting, a fake decapitation story. The terrorists in Iraq regularly claim to have beheaded people and I'm sure they still do at times. After all choppin off heads is second only to soccer as sport in the Arab world.

What really sucks is all those times people really were beheaded the MSM chose to say, "obvious signs of torture." The only time they actually used the word beheading was in a badly sourced, fake story.

I knew something was fishy abuot this. Just could not put my fingerin on it. Confederate Yankee has the story on the fake story.

The Associated Press, Reuters, and a small Iraqi Independent news agency called Voice of Iraq released stories Thursday about the massacre of 20 men near Salman Pak, who were supposedly found decapitated on the banks of the Tigris River.

But something seemed inherently wrong with the accounts I read from the Associated Press. The only two sources for the Associated Press article were anonymous police, not located in Salman Pak, but from Baghdad (more than dozen miles away) and Kut (more than 75 miles away).

Because of this odd sourcing, I asked Multi-National Corps-Iraq and the PAO liaison to the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior to investigate.

I published their preliminary findings as they came out in Bring Me The Head of Kim Gamel.

Posted by: Howie at 06:00 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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He is also known as Chemical Ali

Via CNN: BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An Iraq court on Sunday sentenced three former aides to Saddam Hussein, including the man known as "Chemical Ali," to death by hanging for their role in a 1980s genocide campaign that that killed up to 100,000 Kurds.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, Hussein's first cousin, earned his nickname for atrocities committed in a military campaign code-named Operation Anfal during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.

In the scorched earth attacks, poisonous gas and chemicals were used against the Kurds.

Also sentenced to death was Sultan Hashem Ahmed, Iraqi army commander during the war with Iran. In 1988, he was named chief-in-charge of the Anfal operation.

The third defendant to hang is Hussein Rashid Mohammed, former deputy general commander of the Iraqi armed force, assistant chief of staff for military operations, and former Republican Guard commander.

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Tehran, Insurgents, Copy.....

Speaking of Iran, Check the progress on Iranian Divestment in California and Florida here at Rocket's Brain Trust. My apologies for not keeping up with this.

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An update to this post.

The 24 mentally disabled orphans rescued by the 82nd Airborne are getting the care and treatment they deserve:

BAGHDAD - The 24 boys found severely malnourished in a Baghdad orphanage have been moved to a different building in the same facility and are being properly cared for, Iraqi officials said Thursday.

Thank you again, the good men of the 82nd Airborne.

Excrement question: What song did the title of this post come from?

Posted by: Vinnie at 12:52 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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What the al Qaeda in Iraq front group wants you to see vs. what is really happening on the ground in ongoing operations.

First: Raw footage from the Islamic State of Iraq (the al Qaeda umbrella group). Notice the journalist taking pictures at the beginning of the film, and the way the terrorist pose, as if they're really fighting someone and not just standing around looking "menacing" in their track suits.

Compare that to the videos that follow, and you tell me who looks more menacing. more...

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Mental note: if you find a Milky Way candy bar in a dead insurgent's pocket, it's probably best not to eat it. Probably...... more...

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Because it's funny, that's why.

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Hmmm, what could an al Qaeda bombmaker want with 500 gallons of toilet cleaner? Oh, yeah, chlorine...as in the main ingredient of al Qaeda improvised WMD.

Your War on Terror News in a nutshell, uncensored by the MSM: more...

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Of course, USA Today is just a right-wing propaganda machine. That's what Rick Ellensberg and the Nutroots told me. So it must be true.

Anbar province, once among the most violent regions in Iraq, is held up as an example of how local politics can reduce violence. "A year ago we were about to write off Anbar province," Everett said. "We have turned it completely around."

A key part of the turnaround was an effort to work with tribal leaders. A growing number of the leaders, sometimes called sheiks, have joined with U.S. forces and turned against al-Qaeda militants. The average weekly attacks in Anbar province dropped from about 250 last year to about 100 last month, according to the U.S. military. This year 12,000 Iraqis volunteered for Iraqi security forces in Anbar, up from 1,000 in 2006, Odierno said.

"Anbar could be a microcosm of what could happen in the rest of country if the right elements come into play," said Army Col. Ralph Baker, a former brigade commander who served two tours in Iraq and now serves at the Pentagon.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 10:56 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Err I think we got em. Of course the ISI or the Mahdi Army, whomever these blong to will complain, "They didn't return the Martry's body." Excuse me, I think at least part of him must have made it home right away. Have you checked for anything resembling hamburger on the roof?

Update: Credit where credit is due. I ran across the press release for this video while loooking around this morning. These were Mahdi Army thugs who bought the farm.

Via MNF-Iraq.com: CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — Attack helicopter crews from the 1st “Attack” Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, in a coordinated operation with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, killed four terrorists, apprehended six suspects and destroyed one van and multiple rockets that were aimed toward the International Zone in eastern Baghdad June 2.

The Apache helicopter team was alerted to the area when terrorists were spotted setting up multiple rocket firing positions aimed at the International Zone.

“This operation against an enemy rocket team shows the awesome capability and lethality my aircrews display every day,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Walach, commander of the 1-227th Aviation Regiment.

In all, four terrorists were killed, one vehicle destroyed and 10 rockets destroyed in the Apache Longbow engagement. There was no collateral damage observed during the engagement.

Following the destruction of the equipment by the attack helicopters, Soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team pursued six suspects observed fleeing the scene of the foiled rocket attack. They tailed the suspects to a residence inside Sadr City and apprehended them.The six suspects were then transported to the nearby Sadr City Joint Security Station for questioning.

Posted by: Howie at 04:10 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Here's a story that somehow slipped through the censors:

BAGHDAD - A battle raged Thursday in west Baghdad after residents rose up against al-Qaida and called for U.S. military help to end random gunfire that forced people to huddle indoors and threats that kept students from final exams, a member of the district council said.

The two groups, teams actually, were later identified; on one side there's al-Qaeda and the Islamic state in Iraq and on the other there's the Islamic army and 'Jaish al-Mujahideen' (The brigades of the 1920 revolution in another account), the latter are know to be largely military and intelligence officers of the former regime as well as members of the Baath Party.

Hmmm, maybe we should help both sides.

Omar still considers AQ in Iraq to be in a bad way:

Either way, al-Qaeda is under pressure on more than one front and it has lost a bunch of its commanders and fighters and this is always good news.

Posted by: Bluto at 05:05 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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An Iraqi child seeks safety behind an American soldier following a terrorist suicide attack.

Thanks to Gateway Pundit.

Hat tip: larwyn.

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With Sadr back in Iraq, only bad things can happen. I'm not sure why we didn't kill him long ago. I almost hesitated and said that it was probably too late to kill him, that he's too entrenched and that his death would almost certainly lead to civil war, but then I have this funny feeling that in a year from now I'll look back and say, how come we didn't kill him last year?

Al Jazeera's original headline said U.S. and British Battle Mahdi Army, but they've since changed it to Sadr's Mahdi army in Iraq clashes:

British and US forces in Iraq have clashed with armed supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, a major Shia religious leader.

At least five people were killed in a pre-dawn raid in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad on Saturday, while in the southern city of Basra "a number" of al-Mahdi Army fighters died in an air strike.

The U.S. military in Iraq says Iraqi and coalition forces have detained a suspected terrorist cell leader and killed at least five insurgents during raids in Baghdad's Shi'ite district of Sadr City.

A military statement said the person detained Saturday is believed to be the suspected leader of a cell known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosives from Iran as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for training....

In the southern city of Basra, military officials said British forces came under attack for more than two hours from insurgents in retaliation for the killing of their leader, Mahdi Army commander Wissam Abu Qader, on Friday.

Separately, U.S-led forces said they killed two terrorists, detained 23 suspected insurgents and destroyed a cache of explosives during operations Saturday against al-Qaida in Iraq, southwest of Taji.

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As hard as it may be to believe today, it wasn't that long ago that Kerrey's opinion wasn't that rare in the Democrat Party:

No matter how incompetent the Bush administration and no matter how poorly they chose their words to describe themselves and their political opponents, Iraq was a larger national security risk after Sept. 11 than it was before. And no matter how much we might want to turn the clock back and either avoid the invasion itself or the blunders that followed, we cannot. The war to overthrow Saddam Hussein is over. What remains is a war to overthrow the government of Iraq....

Suppose we had not invaded Iraq and Hussein had been overthrown by Shiite and Kurdish insurgents. Suppose al Qaeda then undermined their new democracy and inflamed sectarian tensions to the same level of violence we are seeing today. Wouldn't you expect the same people who are urging a unilateral and immediate withdrawal to be urging military intervention to end this carnage? I would....

The key question for Congress is whether or not Iraq has become the primary battleground against the same radical Islamists who declared war on the U.S. in the 1990s and who have carried out a series of terrorist operations including 9/11. The answer is emphatically "yes."

This does not mean that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11; he was not. Nor does it mean that the war to overthrow him was justified--though I believe it was. It only means that a unilateral withdrawal from Iraq would hand Osama bin Laden a substantial psychological victory.

Posted by: Ragnar at 09:50 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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FIVE IRAQI HOSTAGES FREED

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Five Iraqis who were held captive and tortured by terrorists were freed Monday morning during a Coalition Forces raid on the site where they were imprisoned.

Coalition Forces targeted the building northeast of Karmah during continued operations to disrupt the al-Qaeda network operating in the area. After a thorough search of the building, ground forces found a padlocked room. Inside were four men and a boy who had been kidnapped and severely beaten with chains, cables and hoses. The four captives also showed signs of torture, and the boy stated the terrorists had hooked electrical wires to his tongue and shocked him.

Coalition Forces evacuated the five individuals and provided treatment for their injuries. The hostages indicated their captors were foreign fighters who spoke with different accents. The hostages, who are from different tribes, will be turned over to their respective tribal leaders for repatriation.

“The brutality and viciousness of these acts demonstrate the complete disregard terrorists have for human life,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, MNF-I spokesperson. “We will continue to hunt foreign fighters who bring this violence into Iraq.”

Source MNF-Iraq.

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The Army Times reports that Azhar al-Dulaimi has been killed:

BAGHDAD — U.S. forces on a raid in northern Baghdad killed a Shiite militant believed to have been the mastermind of a brazen January attack in Karbala that led to the capture and subsequent killing of four U.S. soldiers, the military said Sunday.

Speaking on CNN’s “Late Edition,” Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the spokesman for the U.S.-led forces in Iraq, said U.S. troops had been pursuing Azhar al-Dulaimi “relentlessly,” since the Jan. 20 attack.

Posted by: Bluto at 03:49 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I received this from some folks with Soldier's Angels:

It is time to get out the hammer and nails to help one of our Heros. CPL Jeremy is currently being treated for moderate TBI. He may get to come home soon to his Panama City, FL home but not until their home is repaired. Therein lies the problem! While Jeremy was serving our country his wife was unable to repair the roof of their home. Now the roof needs to be replaced and with the roof in such disrepair there is now water damage inside the house. The lowest estimate on the repairs is almost $13,000. The family simply does not have the money for such a huge expense. If you can help with the repairs, construction, monetarily or know someone what might be able to, please email me.

Posted by: Ragnar at 11:19 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Ever wonder what constant hyperbole, years of willful distortion, a chronic lack of proportion, and ongoing inflated one-sided outrage in the mainstream media/Democrat Party looks like? Wonder no more.

Look at the graph below, and then look at any major daily newspaper or newscast.

ht: Insty

Posted by: Good Lt. at 08:23 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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