It Is The Soldier!

This is dedicated to all the milbloggers I have been priviledged to come to know through their writing, to all the soldiers and Marines, that I have met personally or through the cyber world, to those who served before, to those who will serve tomorrow, and to those who have paid the ultimate price, and to their families, I am forever grateful to ALL of you!

This is also an important message to those in the media, to those in Hollywood, to all the left wing liberals, moonbats, and anti war protestors; to politicians both democrat and republican, and to the liberal moonbat anti-american anti-military anti- Bush majority that lives in Canada:

It is the soldier, not the journalist, who guarantees freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the politician, who guarantees our democracy
It is the soldier, not the diplomat that becomes a tangible expression of a nation's willingness to extend its calues and its ideals worldwide.
And is the soldier whose flag drapped coffin vividly democnastrates the ultimate cost of representing our beliefs in difficult and dangerous places.

People who volunteer to become soldiers and take on those daunting challenges, represent the very best citizens our country has to offer.

Lt-General Rick Hillier,Canadian Chief of Defense Staff
Cmdr of the Int't Security Assistance Force ,Kabul AFG.
Eulogy at the memorial service for two fallen Canadian soldiers

"We didn't ask for a world that needs heroes, but truth is we do, NOW more than ever!"
(Chloe Sullivan to Clark Kent, Smallville)

THANK YOU to all the Canadian and American soldiers now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to those who came before, and who will come after:
You have my undying admiration, and my deepest respect, and my eternal gratitude.

To those in harms way:
Stay safe.
To those who have returned:
WELCOME HOME. Job Well Done.
To those who paid the ultimate price:
"Your souls shall be where the heroes are
And your memory shine like the morning star"

Wordsmith At War

A poetic "letter" from Lieutenant K to all Americans which shows the love he has for his country in an indirect way..

Elegant, evocative, honest. The message is powerful...and I can only hope it's truth resonates deeply with my friends in Hollywood...and the MSM elites.

Lt.K has returned home to face a more personal challenge.
I know you all join me in wishing him and his family much love during this time.

War.....What Is It Good For?

Peace Is Not The Answer
-Calls to end Iraq's bloodshed are hardly noble when those who would triumph slaughter teachers as children weep.
This piece by William Shawcross, author of "Allies, Why The West Had To Remove Saddam" appeared in LA Times, October 9th.

It seems unlikely that many of the so-called peace marchers who trooped through Washington and London two weekends back listened on Thursday — at least not with an open mind or sympathy — to George Bush's cogent explanation of why coalition troops are fighting and dying in Iraq.


You did not see in those demonstrations, after all, many banners reading, "Support Iraq's New Constitution," "No to Jihad" or "Stop Suicide Bombers." The crimes committed daily against the Iraqi people by other Arabs who wish to re-enslave them seem to be of little interest to Michael Moore, Jane Fonda and their followers. Rage against the daily assaults on children, women, anyone, by Islamo-fascists and ordinary national fascists is not fashionable. Only alleged American crimes are cool to decry.

It's hard to think of a more graphic illustration of the horror the U.S.-led coalition is fighting in Iraq than the mass murder on Sept. 26, in which terrorists disguised as policemen (a New York Times headline called these butchers "fighters") burst into a primary school in Iskandaria, south of Baghdad, seized five teachers (all Shiites) and shot them dead. Children stood weeping through this atrocity.

Why do crimes like this make so little impression on those Americans and Europeans who want the coalition to abandon Iraq? The demonstrators think of themselves as moral, but it is hard to think of any policy more amoral than abandoning Iraq to such an enemy.

Iraqis are dismayed by the mistakes made by the coalition. They don't like the continued presence of foreign troops. But they like the prospect of being abandoned prematurely to the terrorists even less.

One of the most publicized new icons of the U.S. peace movement, grieving mother Cindy Sheehan, has attracted attention in the vibrant new media that have grown in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. All the Iraqis I know totally disagree with her public declarations that her son died for nothing. Those fighting the coalition approve and exploit her words.

Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia," as the Islamo-fascists in Iraq call themselves, understands Western doubt and self-criticism. Its members are trying to create an impression of a country submerged in bloody chaos. They want to convince a world where understanding comes only from brief television images that Iraq has gone to hell. That is a lie.

Iraq was always complex — it is now vibrantly so. Despite the terrorist campaign to kill it, the country has become a school for free expression and for government elected by the people. The dread silence of half a century has given way to millions of opinions — as in the U.S., or any society that sees itself as free.

Sunni negotiators have refused to accept the draft constitution. That is certainly a setback. Now Sunnis' grievances — many of which are valid — need to be addressed peacefully. Fortunately, political discussion never stops. Three hundred conferences on the constitution have been held throughout the country, allowing 50,000 people to express their views. The 150 new, uncensored newspapers, the scores of radio stations and half a dozen TV channels that have been set up are all talking about this and other matters of political progress.

The constitution may not be perfect. But, as the commentator Amir Taheri points out: "This is still the most democratic constitution offered to any Muslim nation so far."

That is thanks to the sacrifice of Casey Sheehan and others. It should be a source of pride in the United States. Thanks to the coalition Iraqis have more confidence in their future than we do. Iraqi refugees are not fleeing abroad in vast numbers, as happened during previous crises. The Iraqi dinar has strengthened, not weakened, against the currencies of other oil-producing nations. The mistakes that have been made in Iraq since its liberation do not alter the fact that the overthrow of Hussein has given Iraqis a chance they never had before and has shaken the ramshackle, corrupt and dictatorial foundations of the Middle East.

That, of course, is why there is such bloody resistance. U.S. soldiers are being killed not by romantic nationalist insurgents (as some liberal journalists and marchers like to pretend) but by an unholy grouping of Saddamite gangsters furious at losing power, Syrian and Iranian agents intent on creating mayhem and then theocracy, and Islamo-fascists who want to enslave the world and whose local Pol Pot, Abu Musab Zarqawi, boasts of seeking to murder as many of Iraq's majority Shiite population as he can.

Zarqawi has also declared that if he is victorious, he will use Iraq as a base to drag down other regional governments and to mount attacks on the United States. Osama bin Laden has said that "the Third World War is raging in Iraq. The whole world is watching this war." All of which makes the antiwar opposition in the U.S. and Europe remarkably shortsighted and self-indulgent. We in the West have a vital stake in delivering on our promises and ensuring that terrorism does not move on to other victims, with even greater bloodlust.

The sacrifice of U.S. soldiers, of their coalition allies and of Iraqis is horrifically painful. But if we can stay long enough to enable the Iraqis to lay the firm foundation of civil society, their deaths will not be in vain. We should leave when the elected Iraqi government asks us to do so.

It is the promise of freedom that the fascists who murdered the Iraqi teachers last month want to destroy. It is astonishing and discouraging that those who think they were taking the high ground in marching though Washington do not understand this.

Make no mistake! Those in the MSM, at Code Pink, ANSWER, and those liberals and Hollywood elites, some of whom who marched at the above rallies, by their silence towards the atrocities of these mass murderers they call "fighters" or "insurgents" all bear the blood of the US soldiers, as well as civilian contractors, Iraqi children and women, Police officers, Iraqi soldiers, Margaret Hassan, and the many reporters kidnapped and killed by those opposed to the coalition, to a democratic Iraq, and to freedom around the world.

You don't get to pass yourself as 'Moral" people, while supporting those who have no morals and no decency, who oppose secularism,( the very ism you are fighting so hard to hold onto in the US- Hypocrites that you all are) and whoses purpose driven life is to enslave you, as well as the rest of us, under their theocratic dictatorship. Your silence against their atrocities makes you an accomplice to their crimes.

No matter what you make think, the Iraqi's have made it clear that THEY WANT democracy..they are willing to fight for their freedom, and they are prepared to walk down that long path to a new Iraq. The first democratic Arab nation!!!!!!
That you refuse to support their endeavor, makes you complicit with those that are attempting to undermine this process. You don't get to claim the high road because you are supporting Al Queda's attempts to derail the process by any means necessary including civilian Mass Murder/homicide bombings, IEDS, beheadings, and the ethnic related murders of innocent teachers in front of their horrified students.

Heart of Darkness

The remarkable thing about the terror in Iraq is the silence with which it is greeted in other Arab lands. Grant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi his due: He has been skilled at exposing the pitilessness on the loose in that fabled Arab street and the moral emptiness of so much of official Arab life. The extremist is never just a man of the fringe: He always works at the outer edges of mainstream life, playing out the hidden yearnings and defects of the dominant culture. Zarqawi is a bigot and a killer, but he did not descend from the sky. He emerged out of the Arab world's sins of omission and commission; in the way he rails against the Shiites (and the Kurds) he expresses that fatal Arab inability to take in "the other." A terrible condition afflicts the Arabs, and Zarqawi puts it on lethal display: an addiction to failure, and a desire to see this American project in Iraq come to a bloody end.

On August 28th, I wrote about Robert Averch (Help! He's A Hollywood Republican). The other day I dropped by his blog, and came across this piece, Heart of Darkness, by Fouad Ajami, who teaches International Relations at John Hopkins. This is the voice the liberal media should be listening too, instead of Juan Cole

It has not been easy, this expedition to Iraq, and for America in Iraq there has been heartbreak aplenty. But we ought to remember the furies that took us there, and we ought to be consoled by the thought that the fight for Iraq is a fight to ward off Arab dangers and troubles that came our way on a clear September morning, four years ago.

US Soldiers Are The Real Heroes In Iraq

Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Lauraute and East Timor's senior minister for foreign affairs and cooperation wrote this beautiful, eloquent, and honest piece in today's Asian Wall Street Journal.


Time and again as I watch the barbarity inflicted on innocent Iraqi
civilians, often women and children, pass with seeming silence and
indifference from the rest of the world, I ask where are those who are so
quick to take to the streets to protest every alleged U.S. sin -- be it real
or imaginary? If they are so appalled at the graphic photos showing the
depraved acts committed by a small number of American servicemen--photos that, never let it be forgotten, were unearthed as a result of the U.S. Army's own investigation --surely they should be even more appalled by the daily carnage inflicted on the Shia majority in Iraq. Instead, those who hate the U.S. seem to believe that every wrong committed by an American serviceman must not only be loudly condemned but portrayed as a deliberateact by the U.S. government, while the systematic and daily barbarities perpetrated predominantly by Sunni Muslims upon their fellow Muslims pass without comment.

Such hypocrisy and unwarranted attacks increase the pressure on the U.S. to cut and run from Iraq. In the face of a mounting death toll and growing financial burden, it's understandable that some have begun to have doubts about whether America should continue to send its brave young soldiers to die in a battle so far away.

To those who harbor such doubts, I say remember the lessons of history.
In Lebanon in the 1980s under a Republic Administration and Somalia in the 1990s under a Democratic Administration, the U.S. retreated in the face of American casualties. As a result, both countries fell into the grip of terrorists -- a state from which it took Lebanon many long years to emerge, while Somalia still remains mired in lawlessness. Any such instance of the
superpower vacillation emboldens its sworn enemies, while causing anxiety
among its friends. And Lebanon and Somalia are but small dots when compared with the vital strategic importance of Iraq.

Retreat is not a viable option for the costs would be far too high for U.S.
vital interests in the Middle East and the world as a whole. Iraq would
inevitably descend into a Somalia-like failed state with dire implications
for its neighbors. Oil prices would skyrocket, bankrupting many non-oil
producing countries, and triggering recessions in industrialized economies.

In addition to such strategic considerations, there is the moral and ethical
dimension of betraying the Shia majority and all those, Kurdish and Sunni
democrats who have put so much faith in the U.S. and in the international
community to stand with them in their struggle for a secular and democratic
Iraq. The Shia leadership, in particular, have shown enormous restraint in
the face of daily provocations and attacks, as they struggle to grasp this
historic opportunity to overcome many centuries of oppression by the Sunni
minority.

All these are reasons why it is in the world's interests to see the U.S.
stay the course. But other countries also have a part to play. In
particular, Iraq's neighbors need to do far more to prevent their territory
from being used as a training ground, safe heaven and transit route for
mercenaries and weapons. For all Syria and Iran's denials of actively aiding
the extremists in Iraq, at the very least they are not doing enough to
assist the democratic government in Baghdad win the battle against the
terrorists and the remnants of Saddam Hussein.

Europe too has a role to play. It is a great relief that the acrimonious
trans-Atlantic tirades over Iraq have given way to a far healthier
discussion on how best to assist the Iraqis. Many Europeans remain critical
of U.S. policies, and there are some who are never prepared to accept that
America can do anything good. But there are many more whom are realistic
enough to accept that there is no substitute for the U.S. as a guarantor of
international peace. They understand full well that America provides a vital
security umbrella and strategic balance, especially in areas of the world
where regional rivalries could easily escalate into open conflict without
the stability provided by a U.S. presence.

For all the present violence, in a few years Iraq could easily evolve into a
peaceful and democratic country. Whether that transpires ultimately rests in
the hands of the millions of Iraqis who defied the terrorists by bravely
turning out to vote earlier this year. But they cannot succeed if they are
abandoned. And the brave, young American soldiers whom we today see cruising the treacherous streets of Iraq, sometimes battling the terrorists,
sometimes conversing with ordinary Iraqis, will be remembered as the heroes who made this possible.

Commander In Chief aka HRC for President

In a piece I wrote three days ago on Stagegate, I mentioned that while the left was spewing out their tired tirade at President Bush, the real staged event was the hourlong weekly infomercial for Hillary Clinton called "Commander in Chief", aka as HRC for President!

Masquerading as a "spontaneously original idea with NO agenda" the show is home to a writing staff and producers that worked for the Clintons during Bill's presidency and whose mandate is to help americans psychologically prepare for a woman president in the not to distant future (say...2008?) The thinly veiled attempt at having Gina Davis portray an "independant" is as transparant as saran wrap! Make no mistake......this character is a democrat!!!

Add to that the continuous portrayal of a Republican speaker of the house as this "ambitious man who will stop at nothing to thwart her leadership" speaks loudly to just how determined the democrats are, along with their band of MSM, Hollywood fuckwits, and leftwing moonbats, to keep alive their skewed inflamatory image of Republicans and conservatives. Donald Sutherland HATES republicans, and his portrayal of an "a manipulative nasty " Republican is less acting skill, and more a manifestation of his personal feelings.

The shows creator, Rod Lurie, is a democrat yet contends he modeled his female president not on Hillary, but on Susan Lyne, the former head of ABC who now runs the Martha Stewart empire. "We don't want to be caught on just the left side of the world," he says. "Although I'm a Democrat, I'm certainly not happy with the party right now, nor fully with its politics. That's why I wanted to create an Independent character. We'll be able to straddle both sides of the world."

JB Williams wrote a great piece in MichNews.com Hollyweird PreEmpts Hilary's Bid

NBC successfully designed and launched a prime time series titled West Wing geared to provide an escape for millions of hardened socialist liberals Jonesing for a Clintonesque ideology fix in the post-Bush election era.

Commander-in-Chief seeks to connect Hillary with all those “soccer-moms” that voted her perverted husband into the oral office, twice. If anyone can do it, Hollyweird can. Wait till you see Geena and Hillary soon campaigning together on a stump near you!

Collective Memory Loss and Synaptic Misfires

Update 10/16/05

With Hilary Clinton making an OH SO FUCKING obvious bid to run in 2008, I thought I should bump this post I originally wrote Sept 9th 2005. Since she and Bill ran the White House as a "team" you can bet they would run it as a "team" should Hilary become elected! Since he will be HEAVILY featured in her campaign..so it might be a good time to look back fondly at his Presidency: Monica, impeachment, not accepting Sudan's offer to hand over Bin Laden, and.....

Iraq's Growing Threat

Saddam Hussein's continuing defiance of United Nations resolutions mandating inspection and dismantling of his weapons of mass destruction represents the most flagrant and protracted failure of President Clinton's foreign policy.

This was illuminated Thursday when Baghdad refused to accept even a diluted UN inspection commission 14 months after Saddam kicked out the original UNSCOM team under the conscientious Australian diplomat Richard Butler.

Since then Saddam has rebuilt facilities for his biological and chemical weapons programs as well as missile sites. Specialists suspect he has renewed production of anthrax, botulinum toxin and aflatoxin, and the organism that produces plague. Weapons inspectors and intelligence officials also have reason to fear that Iraq is working on even more sophisticated programs to develop viral agents for use as biological weapons.

In seven years, Clinton has tried to ignore, obscure, and misrepresent the threat from Saddam. Clinton's so-called containment policy has done nothing more than deter Saddam from invading his neighbors again.But that policy has not obliged the Iraqi despot to honor the UN's disarmament resolutions,has not protected the Iraqi people from the dictator's killers and tortures, and has not defended Americans against terrorists who may be acting with the veiled and deniable support of a vengeful Saddam.

While Clinton clings to his futile containment policy, seeking to avoid difficult decisions between now and the first Tuesday in November, the threat grows. Saddam's regime enriches itself with smuggling operations and by diverting money from the $10 billion in yearly oil sales allowed under the UN's oil-for-food program. And the common people of Iraq continue to suffer unspeakably from both sanctions and the dictatorship.

Saddam must be forced to permit weapons inspections or be removed from power. The failure to contain him should be a central issue in the current presidential campaign

*Bold added by me*

This Editorial appeared in The Boston Globe, Feb 13th, 2000.
Boston: Home to Sen.Kerry and Sen.Kennedy.
Now we know where Kerry learned how to play the "flip flop" game.

It would appear that the MSM, the Democrats, the Hollywood fuckwits, all HUGE supporters of Bill Clinton, have collectively suffered from memory loss and some form of synapic misfire! Serious medical attention must surely be needed!!

It's interesting how The Boston Globe led the democratc assault against Pres. Bush for DOING exactly what they themselves CONDEMNED Clinton for NOT doing, based on the same information that that they insist Pres.Bush "lied about".

Liberals: Hypocrites - Liars - Cowards.

A Major Step Forward: Marching Towards A New Iraq

-- To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength indefeatable.--

Today, the men and women of Iraq are deciding whether or not to ratify the FIRST ever Iraqi constitution- a constitution created by the people for the people. It's another historic step down the path of freedom and democracy for Iraq and Iraqi's, who are committed to deciding their own future, inspite of the incessant terrorist attacks against them personally, against the process, against democracy and against freedom.

Freedom is never free, and the Iraqi's understand the price that freedom extols, yet continue to march towards freedom inspite of the best efforts to deter them, not only by the terrorists, but sadly by American liberal left wing "progressives".

Since the election in January, the Iraqis have embraced the process of debate and dialogue needed in creating their constitution. Today Iraq's official news network, no longer a tool for Saddam's propaganda, is covering the referendum. The network airs talk shows that allow Sunni's, Kurds, and Shias, to express their opinions and engage in discussion. One would think that leftwing liberals who claim to "represent freedom and the values of democracy" would be rejoicing, and lending their voices in a loud chorus of support. But instead, Sean Penn, his band of merry Hollywood fuckwits, the MSM, and leftwing groups, like Code Pink, the ACLU, and ANSWER, are all silent.

Day in and out, the Iraqi's show more intelligence, courage, and determination than those Americans who have marched in the streets to voice their lack of support in our endeavor to help bring democracy to Iraq, demanding we abandon the Iraqi's, and in the case of Code Pink, ACLU, Hollywood elites, and the MSM, lending their continuous support to the terrorists,whether by money(Code Pink) or by their actions and words; tempering the truth of who they are supporting by calling them such mundane names as "insurgents", and "fighters". These Americans not only shame themselves, but are more shamed by the Iraqi's who are keeping their faces towards change, and choosing democracy and freedom.

"StageGate".

In response to the bullshit being perpetuated by the MSM dubbed "Stagegate":

1) I watched the the video conference LIVE, and it was clear that this the responses given by each soldier was NOT scripted. They were answering the questions TRUTHFULLY. Being prepared, knowing what questions were going to be asked of you, DOES NOT IMPLY your ANSWERS have scripted by those asking the questions!! Was there a rehearsal? YES! Is that wrong? NO. Does it mean the answers were scripted?

Staff Sergeant David Smith-Barry, 42nd Infantry Division, one-on-one to CBS: “The truth is that everything that was said was meant to be said, though it may have sounded scripted in some places. Nerves kick in, for one. Two, everyone puts their thoughts together. You put it down, you go over and over it a hundred times.

2) Take it from someone who has worked in an industry that PREPS people on what to say and how to say it-people being PREPPED on WHAT QUESTIONS will be asked, and to "take a deep breathe" before answering -is the NORM. Whether it be a press liason prepping a celeb, a politician, or a news producer on the phone prepping me as to what the opening question will be.

3) The ENTIRE MSM has deliberately and intentionally skewed this story in yet another hapless attempt to support their inane and untrue belief that the President is trying to sell a war that nobody wants, and that he wants to create the image of "success on the ground". BULLFUCKSHIT - the only nobodies that don't want it are the MSM, leftwing liberals, Code Pink(o) ANSWER, the ACLU, and the Hollywood fuckwits I used to work with- they are indeed NOBODIES.

HE DOESNT HAVE TO "CREATE" THE IMAGE OF SUCCESS ON THE GROUND YOU MORONS!!! THE SUCCESSES ARE THERE! BUT THE LEFT WING MEDIA AND ELITES CHOOSE TO IGNORE OUR SUCCESSES, AND INSTEAD LEND SUPPORT TO OUR ENEMIES: TERRORISTS WHO HAVE ISSUED A FATWA AGAINST AMERICANS, DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM ISRAEL, MODERATE ARABS, AND EVEN THE ARAB COUNTRIES THAT ARE PRESENTLY LENDING SUPPORT TO THEM!!

Believe me the Clintons staged many "spontaneous" media events, and let's not forget the staged the question a soldier asked DefSec - funny how the MSM was "strangely" silent about that staged moment!!!!

You want to know about "staged" events: Let's try the TV show "Commander in Chief", aka as HRC is President!

Masquerading as a "spontaneously original idea with NO agenda" the show is home to a writing staff and producers that worked for the Clintons during Bill's presidency and whose mandate is to help americans psychologically prepare for a woman president in the not to distant future( say 2008) The thinly veiled attempt at having Gina Davis portray an "independant" is as transparant as saran wrap! Make no mistake..this character is a democrat!!!

And the continuous portrayal of a Republican speaker of the house as this "ambitious man who will stop at nothing to thwart her leadership" speaks loudly to just how determined the democrats and band of MSM, Hollywood fuckwits, and leftwing moonbats, to keep alive their skewed inflamatory image of Republicans and conservatives. Donald Sutherland HATES republicans, and his portrayal of an "evil nasty " republican is far less acting skill, and far more a manifestation of his personal feelings.

That these Hollywood elites hold themselves up as beacons of democracy and freedom, yet they support terrorists who kill children, women, civilians, and have to pump up suicide/homicide bombers with drugs in order to have them carry out their mass murders; they support mullahs in Iran , and have a love affair with Castro- a dictator who imprisons and stifles the freedoms of artists, reporters, and Cubans who voice their opposition against his dictatorship! Their hypocrisy is endless!

The biggest staged events were those alleged "peace rallies" led and supported by the Democrats, leftwing liberals, Hollywood elites, the MSM, the ACLU, ANSWER, Code Pink(o), that wingnut Cindy Sheehan,who denounce our President, our Military, our desire to help the Iraqi's achieve democracy, freedom, and stability, and insist we leave Iraq imediately and leave iraqi's at the mercy of the terrorists! In truth these events aren't peace rallies, they are staged events aimed at supporting communism, socialism, terrorism , dictators, mullahs, and theocracies that breed people who hate secularists( a word aptly used to describe the Hollywood community, most democrats and liberals) and will stop at nothing to kill americans, jews, christians, moderate muslims, and " Extend the jihad wave to the secular countries neighboring Iraq" identified as " Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and the Gulf states that would ultimately culminate in the destruction of Israel".

Hollywood Calls It Quits

Universal Studios joined DreamWorks SKG, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Paramount, and Fox Monday, when CEO Ron Meyer announced that the company is shutting down operations and ceasing all film production, effective immediately.

Read More

Love My Rifle More Than You

Originally posted 9/25/05

While I've read several books written by male soldiers or embedded journalists, all of which offer up a very alpha POV on life in the sandbox, "Love My Rifle More Than You - Young and Female in the US Army ", Kayla Williams memoir of life as a Sgt with the US Army's 101st Airborne Division, is the first published book (as opposed to milblogs by female soldiers and Marines) that I ve read.

A self described ex-punk, vegetarian(thats two things we have in common) Chomsky reading liberal(definately not something we have in common...read Chomsky...can't stand him) she is fluent in Arabic(while Im not fluent...I speak Arabic) she became a terp(interpretor) and was sent to Kuwait in 2003.

Her description of day to day life is very candid: she and members of her unit alleviated boredom by making a game of throwing rocks at one anothers breasts and genitals; being a women proved useful during her interrogation and humilation of Iraqi prisoners in Mosul, where she would flick cigs at Iraqi prisoners, mock a naked mans sexual prowess, and ridicule his genitals; and writes that being a woman in the sandbox is a "desirable commodity"- she endured constant come ons( I can relate to that- its not exclusive to women in the sandbox..trust me!), and that sex between male and female combatants is very common- several soldiers even returned home pregnant- but she also manages to convey the hell of combat and the challenges of dealing with fear, bad weather, brutality, bravery, shitty meals, and periods of numbing boredom; common experiences shared by both male and female soldiers.

In her candor she admits to enjoying the perks of being female in the military while also being humiliated in front of her male brethern...but what I liked most was that while she remains patriotic, she is absolutely scathing in her critisicism of the military's ineptitude and lack of support for the troups....and trust me, she is NOT alone in her criticism. I support our reasons for usurping Shitdam and helping the Iraqi's to create a democratic Iraq but I know from the 100's of conversations Ive had with Marines and Soldiers who have now returned home and can speak frankly, just how terribly mishandled this war has been...and that many of our leaders in the military have proven to be incompetent, inept, and far more concerned about their own careers than the lives of their troups. Part of that comes from fighting this war in a way as to appease the MSM and Liberals....but the problem doesn't begin or end there!

Williams has managed to capture the paradox of the situation in Iraq "We're here to help you..oh and shoot you if we feel its necessary" . This book is bound to rub alot of people the wrong way, including the soldiers still in Iraq as well as the wives/girlfriends of those that were or are now still deployed.

Kayla has no regrets about her time in the Army, she met her fiancee during her deployment, and she makes it clear that as a woman she was capable of holding her own and is critical of anyone, male or female, unable to tough it out!

While there is a growing female presence in the military and not just in support roles but actually fighting side by side with men, Williams book helps to counter the "Private Benjamin" image we are used to rendering and offers up a reality that is far more complex than the Lyndie England/Jessica Lynch images the MSM perpetuates; a reality that recognizes the fact that women are not as strong as men and risk being raped if captured( as Jessica was) , while acknowledging that this is not a deterrent to women who truly want to pursue a career in the military that includes fighting in the trenches with their male counterparts.

Yet if you look at the pic of Kayla Williams on the cover of her book, dressed in gear, sporting shades and holding her gun, it becomes only too easy to transform her and by fiat the "female soldier" into the latest sex symbol.

I can already see who will be cast to play her in the SURE to be made movie of her book!


Update: 10/10/05: Kayla appeared on CNN Saturday nite to promote her book. I found her interview quite interesting. But I want to stress that while she has made mention of the many men that came onto her, (a scenario that is common place on the corporate homefront) in speaking with many deployed men, they have often shared stories of women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan that have very aggresively come onto them.

Hope Springs Eternal

While visiting Iran a while back, I wonder if that fuckwit Sean Penn took some time out from schmoozing with Iranian Mullahs, to sit down and speak with Mr. Fakhravar or Ahmad Batebi: two Iranian dissident from the Iranian student movement. Both these student leaders have warrants issued against them by the Islamic Republic, for the horrendous crime of wanting a regime change from a terrorist theocracy to a moderate democracy!

An article entitled "Iranian dissident plots escape to freedom from the Mullahs" appeared in the October 3rd edition of The New York Sun

"Until now, the idea of leaving the country has never crossed my mind. But we think at this time it is better to leave and live in a neighboring country for a little while. Our hands would be more open to organize others inside the country. In the interview, he also made a plea for American financial aid to be given to the Iranian student movement to help "get rid" of the regime in Tehran.

It's interesting to note that while Sean Penn lends his support to Mullahs and terrorists, the students of Iran are throwing their full support behind Pres Bush, and his vision of a democratic Iran.

Mr. Fakhravar then said that he felt close to President Bush and other American leaders who share his opinion regarding regime change for Iran."We feel in our heart and our mind that we are close to the leaders of the great countries like America, those who think this regime can no longer possibly remain and should be removed. We think as the leaders of the student movement are bonded with these leaders in the West that these leaders should help us financially to cover our expenses. It is the least expensive way get rid of this regime." But Mr. Fakhravar believes the time is ripe for America to support a regime change policy openly. In the interview yesterday, he said that he hoped the United Nations National Security quickly takes up Iranian violations of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and then imposes economic sanctions.

Are you listening, Sean? While you and the dumocrats want to cozy up to the Mullahs, Iranian students are leading the way for REGIME CHANGE. While you, the dumocrats and the Hollywood fuckwits you party with remain cowards, support terrorists and continue to spew out your anti Bush vitriol from the comfort of the democratic country you live in, and without fear of being arrested by the gov't, there is a groundswell grassrouts movement of students who are risking their lives and want America and the United Nations to help them force a regime change and bring democracy to Iran.

Gives People Hope

I'm only now getting around to posting this piece written by Meghan Clyne in the October 7th edition of The New York Sun.

The piece discussed Pres Bush speech on Oct 6th, in which he condemned Syria and Iran for collaborating with terrorists, warning that the regimes "deserve no patience from the victims of terror."

My friend, Banafsheh is quoted:

A New York-based Iranian activist, Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, said yesterday that the president's speech "gives people hope. The issues involved in bringing moderation and secularism to Iran, Ms. Zand-Bonazzi said, "must transcend the American anti-Bush clamor." "The masses in the Middle East seeking democracy and secularism find that this stance of the president, this language, and his constant hammering away at the issue is beyond helpful - it's completely correct," Ms. Zand-Bonazzi said.

Now That We Know The Truth.......

An interesting piece from the Telegraph UK by way of Gary Metz aka DoctorZin:

For the past two years it has been a Foreign Office mantra that not a word should be uttered that could in any way be construed as criticising the Iranian government. Having voiced his last-minute opposition to the invasion of Iraq, Mr Straw had taken it upon himself to find a "negotiated solution" to the West's stand-off with Teheran over its clandestine nuclear programme as an alternative to military confrontation.

Imagine the surprise, then, of Jack Straw and his officials the following morning when they opened their newspapers to discover that the future constitutional arrangements for Iraq had been completely superseded by official British confirmation that Iran's Revolutionary Guards were behind the deadly attacks that have recently claimed the lives of eight British soldiers.

Read More


Hat tip: Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi

Someone get these guys a universal translater!

One reason the military has trouble operating jointly is they don't speak the same language.
For instance:

If you told Navy personnel to"Secure the building" they would turn off the lights and lock the doors.

Army personnel would occupy the building so no one could enter.

Marines would assault the building, capture it, defend it with supressive fire and close combat.

The Air Force on the other hand would take out a 3 yr lease with an option to buy!

They aren't Anti War..they are pro-jihadism, fascism, communism, and Stalinism.

Christopher Hitchens, author, columnist, and the only reason to read Vanity Fair, has written a great piece for SLATE in which he exposes the ignorance that has permeated most of the writers at NY Times(and lets face it the fish sticks from the head down) as well as most left wing liberals especially those found in Hollywood(so much money yet so little intelligence) when it comes to their support and understanding of organization such as "ANSWER" and"United for Peace and Justice".

He quotes a paragraph from the NY Times, and then goes on to prove just how fucking ignorant the MSM is:

The protests were largely sponsored by two groups, the Answer Coalition, which embodies a wide range of progressive political objectives, and United for Peace and Justice, which has a more narrow, antiwar focus.
(quoting from the NY Times)

The name of the reporter on this story was Michael Janofsky. I suppose that it is possible that he has never before come across "International ANSWER," the group run by the "Worker's World" party and fronted by Ramsey Clark, which openly supports Kim Jong-il, Fidel Castro, Slobodan Milosevic, and the "resistance" in Afghanistan and Iraq, with Clark himself finding extra time to volunteer as attorney for the génocidaires in Rwanda. Quite a "wide range of progressive political objectives" indeed, if that's the sort of thing you like. However, a dip into any database could have furnished Janofsky with well-researched and well-written articles by David Corn and Marc Cooper—to mention only two radical left journalists—who have exposed "International ANSWER" as a front for (depending on the day of the week) fascism, Stalinism, and jihadism.

Futher into the piece, he writes:

To be against war and militarism, in the tradition of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, is one thing. But to have a record of consistent support for war and militarism, from the Red Army in Eastern Europe to the Serbian ethnic cleansers and the Taliban, is quite another. It is really a disgrace that the liberal press refers to such enemies of liberalism as "antiwar" when in reality they are straight-out pro-war, but on the other side. Was there a single placard saying, "No to Jihad"? Of course not. Or a single placard saying, "Yes to Kurdish self-determination" or "We support Afghan women's struggle"? Don't make me laugh. And this in a week when Afghans went back to the polls, and when Iraqis were preparing to do so, under a hail of fire from those who blow up mosques and U.N. buildings, behead aid workers and journalists, proclaim fatwahs against the wrong kind of Muslim, and utter hysterical diatribes against Jews and Hindus.

Throw in the lovely ladies of "Code Pinko" and you have just a small list of facist loving, despot supporting, jihadist embracing, anti american, anti democracy, organizations that the MSM, left wing liberals, most dimocrats, the so called "hollywood intelligentsia" and the ACLU support.

Disfuckingusting!