Archive for September, 2007
The Beginning of the End
I’m currently in transit from Patrol Base Olson, Charlie Company 2-505’s home in Samarra, to Baghdad — a two-day trip. Saturday evening, Red Platoon drove myself and Franco, an Italian photographer who works for TIME magazine (who showed up at Olson a few days ago) from Samarra north to Forward Operating Base Brassfield-Mora, where we [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 8 so far )Developing Iraqi Security Forces: A Long, Difficult, and Dangerous Process – But Not a Hopeless One
Note: Click here for the rest of Jeff’s reports from the front lines in Iraq
September 27, 2007
Samarra, IraqThe development of Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) – consisting of Iraqi Police (‘IPs,’ who are under regional control), National Police (‘NPs,’ who belong to the federal government’s Ministry of Interior), and Iraqi Army – has been both a [...]
My very own South Park Character
Facebook has a new application: the South Park character creator. I took a few minutes and made one in my own likeness, which shows my unbridled patriotism and sometimes uncontrollable Viking side (stemming from my maternal Norwegian heritage).
I think it’s pretty studly. Then again, I’ve been wrong before. Wait — I thought that I [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Seriously? THIS is "a very big deal"? (or, "In Search of the Next Scott Thomas Beauchamp")
According to the Associated Press, Josh Gaines is giving back his “Iraq War medals.” This, says some “Students for a Democratic Society activist” in Madison, who helped organize some protest at which Gaines will formally “mail [his] Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and National Defense Service Medal to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,” “will [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 5 so far )Military Success, Political Stalemate: Peace and Security are More Important than Democratic Government when Moving Forward in Iraq
September 26, 2007 Samarra, Iraq — While the significant military progress made in Iraq this year is being acknowledged (either triumphantly or begrudgingly, depending on political orientation) by those who have been paying attention, that country’s fledgling [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )How they Live: A Guided Tour of (most of) Patrol Base Olson in Samarra, Iraq
September 24, 2007 Patrol Base Olson, located in the northwest corner of Samarra, is home to Charlie Company 2-505 Parachute Infantry Regiment, from Fort Bragg, North Carolina’s 82nd Airborne Division. The unit, whose Company-plus sized unit of paratroopers arrived at the beginning of August 2006 and has now been there for nearly [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 5 so far )Raids, Ramadan, and Supporting Iraqi Police as they Perform their Own Missions
September 23, 2007
Samarra, Iraq — Though they are roughly a month from heading back to the States (after their grueling 15-month combat tour), Captain Buddy Ferris, commander of Charlie Company of the 82nd Airborne’s 2-505 Parachute Infantry Regiment, hasn’t allowed his unit’s preparations for redeploying (or for being replaced by the 101st Airborne) to slow [...]
Iraqi National Police Break Up al Qaeda Rape, Terror Cell in Samarra
Homosexual al Qaeda Member arrested, confesses to mass kidnapping and raping of Iraqi womenSeptember 21, 2007
Samarra, IraqLike their hardline Islamist brethren in other nations – such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia, among others – the Islamic State of Iraq (or “ISI,” the name under which al Qaeda in [...]
Picture of the Day 9/21/07
Iraqi contractors work on the new National Police barracks and training center north of Samarra. When finished, the center will house (and serve as the operations center for) over 1,500 Iraqi and National Police. The 52-meter high Spiral Minaret of the Great Samarran Mosque (built in 852 AD), once the largest mosque in the world, [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Iraqis Show Courage
September 17, 2007 Samarra, Iraq — The ‘Surge’ in Iraq, and the counterinsurgency strategy that the increase in forces was designed to support, has succeeded, in a very brief span of time, far beyond what most familiar with the situation there would ever have imagined – let alone realistically expected. A [...]
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