Ten years on. What say we?
Heroes With Four Legs
For several years, Rebecca Frankel has been writing a weekly column about War Dogs and their contributions to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is a link to her latest installment. I have for a number of years believed that our military ought to have a way to officially recognize the heroism of these dogs. I also am of the belief that we owe them a great deal and that our nation can afford to care for them when they are no longer able to serve as Military Working Dogs. As soldiers their only fault is they are loyal to a [...]
Failing to Remember History
Neither the United States nor the United Kingdom understands their history! Given the shock of both liberals (e.g. Tony Blair) and neo-conservatives (William Kristol) to the events unfolding in Egypt, Libya, Iraq, they should take pause in urging the United States to involve itself in the affairs of Syria. In the United States Government there are those who think intervening to end the violence is Syria is the right and proper course. Of course most have never served in uniform. Most can speak about the absolutes of counter insurgency having never had to make it work. Most believed that democracy [...]
Afwan, Iraq
And so it ends. Here’s one retrospective. I leave it to you to add yours. Feel free.
Leaving On a Jet Plan, Won’t Be Back to Iraq No More
The governments of the United States and Iraq failed to reach an agreement on a continued presences of US troops in Iraq post December 31, 2011. Here is a link to the Washington Post story. Comment: Good for the Iraqi government. It is their country, we invaded, we deposed Saddam, we have spend billions of dollars and countless lives doing all we can. Will Iraq become a stooge for Iran, probably. Will it experience a Civil War, most likely as it divides into at least two countries perhaps three. Will the Middle East be less or more stable–probably in the [...]
Thoughts on Stanton S. Coerr, “Ten Years Gone.”
Mr. Coerr, whose Ten Years Gone” was published at the Small Wars Journal Blog (22 June 2011), is a well thought out, and compelling narrative. I would properly classify it as being revisionist history; I do not use that in a pejorative sense, rather use it as compliment. He challenges accepted interpretations of the Kennedy years in order to link President Kennedy to President Obama and the similarities of their conduct of foreign policy. While I agree with much of what he says, I have problems with other aspects. However the purpose of this essay is not to critique Mr. [...]
Uninspiring
Against my own better judgment, I watched POTUS’s speech on Iraq tonight. I did not come away inspired. “”Ending this war is not only in Iraq’s interest, it is in our own,” Obama said… NO! THE WAR IS NOT OVER. The combat phase of this campaign might have been declared over, but The War goes on– it predates 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq. What is our plan to wage it and win it? “”The United States has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people.”” That is true, but nowhere that I could [...]
Last Combat Brigade Leaves Iraq
Fox News is reporting that the last US Army combat brigade has left Iraq: “When 18-year-old Spc. Luke Dill first rolled into Iraq as part of the U.S. invasion, his Humvee was so vulnerable to bombs that the troops lined its floor with flak jackets. “Now 25 and a staff sergeant after two tours of duty, he rode out of Iraq this week in a Stryker, an eight-wheeled behemoth encrusted with armor and add-ons to ward off grenades and other projectiles. “”It’s something I’m going to be proud of for the rest of my life — the fact that I [...]
"Home from Iraq, Safe and Sound"
Great news out of the Old Dominion– “The best part: Everyone came back. No Virginia Guard members were killed or injured during the 229th’s tour, Lt. Scott Campbell said. “”It’s like a miracle. It’s like a blessing to have him back,” said Jessica Downing of Roanoke, who’d come to greet her nephew, Cpl. David Downing, a 24-year-old who has twice interrupted studies at Virginia Military Institute to deploy overseas. “The 229th is based in Virginia Beach, and most of the unit’s members ended their deployment there Thursday. But 37 reservists from Western Virginia rode to Patrick Henry, where they walked [...]
Nasiriyah revisited
It is hard to believe that it has been seven years since Jessica Lynch and the 507th Maintenance Company rolled through the dusty streets of An Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003. Eleven of Jessica’s fellow soldiers were killed that morning, five were captured and a dozen more injured. Lynch was critically injured and near death when she was brought into a military hospital near the site of her ambush. Watch for Richard’s newest book, “New Dawn: the Battles for Fallujah”, available in bookstores in May and read the complete story of the battle for Nasiriyah in “Marines in the Garden [...]
