Proud of Our Heros

Confessional: This is a stream of conciousness inspired by this video about the hero's who are sacrificing for our great country.



looking at the sweaty finger prints on my mouse pad

I really can't fathom the sacrifice of our soldier. I can't go away for a night and not miss my daughter. These people go away for more than a year. And maybe never come home. Why can I not fathom this? Why wasn't I taught this? I suppose it's unteachable. I'm a supporter. But there are people who watch this and don't feel the way I do - unspeakable, unthinkable pride?

You can't know this unless you take the leap and sacrifice. How can I sacrifice? And will I? Money? Time? What gave these people the courage to do it? Who taught them it was worth it?

They are heroes, not victims. They don't want pity. They want support. We should feel proud. We should feel sad for them. But not because they shouldn't be there, but because they have to be there and they do it voluntarily. I cry when I watch this - they are tears of pride.

None Die in Devastating Iraqi Car Bomb

Haven't seen this headline? Probably because you cannot accompany it with charred remains of children. (Jeff Emanuel)

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This weekend, for the first time in four attempts this year, Iraqi National Police in Samarra were able to avoid being hit with a devastating suicide car bomb (or ‘SVBIED,’ for Suicide Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device). Terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq (or ‘ISI’ – also known as ‘AQI,’ or ‘al Qaeda in Iraq’), attempting to drive a VBIED up to an NP outpost in the southwestern part of the city and detonate it, encountered a surprising amount of resistance from the National Police there. The NPs succeeded in destroying the rolling bomb before it was able to reach their position.
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Jeff Emanuel is an independent journalist working in Iraq. You will find success stories from independent journalist who seek to report the facts as they see them first hand and are not driven by ratings.

Radio Silence

I haven't heard much on the war since General Petraeus repoterd progress to congress. Is the war over? Did we win? Or is it only good news, and you can't sell that.

From Bill Roggio's new site The Long War Journal
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Coalition special operations forces continue to attack the Iranian-backed Special Groups operating inside Iraq with the same ferocity as it attacks al Qaeda. Twenty-five Special Groups fighters were killed during an engagement northwest of Baqubah this morning during a raid on a Special Groups leader.

Coalition forces called in an airstrike on a building after taking “heavy fire from a group of armed men fighting from defensive positions.” Special Groups fighters attacked Coalition forces with AK-47s and RPGs, and spotted what appeared to be a fighter “carrying what appeared to be an anti-aircraft weapon.” At least 25 terrorists are believed to have been killed in the airstrike. The engagement took place in a village near Khalis, a US military officer told The Long War Journal.