Majority Of Shia Say Kill U.S. Troops Now

[A majority of Sunni have been for killing U.S. troops for months.  Now the Shia have swung over to the same action plan.  That would seem to be a subtle indication that it’s time to get the fuck out.  The majority has spoken.]

November 22nd, 2006 Worldpublicopinion.org [Excerpts]

All Shias polled in Baghdad (100%) believe that the U.S. military presence is “provoking more conflict than it is preventing.”  Outside of Baghdad, this view is slightly less common: 74 percent of Shias in the rest of the country say the presence of U.S. troops provokes conflict while 25 percent say the troops are a stabilizing force.

At the same time, the number of Shias who approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces has jumped 24 points.

In January, about a third of Shias (36%) polled in Baghdad expressed approval of such assaults.  By September, the proportion of Shias in Baghdad saying they approved of striking American-led forces had risen to 60 percent. In the rest of the country, Shia support for attacking foreign troops rose 20 points, from 43 percent to 63 percent.

Shibley Telhami, a Middle East expert at the University of Maryland called the increase in support for attacks on U.S.-led forces disturbing, adding that he has found similar trends in polls he has conducted in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.

“What’s most troubling is that the United States is not only seen in a negative light but as an enemy,” Telhami said.  “When asked to name the two countries that pose the greatest threat, the vast majority, about 80 percent, name the United States and Israel.”

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

“No, It’s Not Worth It,” 1st Sgt. Says:

‘People Are Up In Arms” Major Says

[As Falluja Rises Again]

November 24, 2006 By Scott Peterson, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor [Excerpts]

FALLUJAH, IRAQ: From Observation Post Blazer, marines view Fallujah through a thick sheet of bullet-proof glass, already tested with numerous impacts.

Or they stare through night-vision goggles or a thermal imaging scope that can pick up the heat of a dog hundreds of yards away.

The marines still patrol key roads.

But with just 300 marines, the US military footprint is smaller in this Sunni stronghold of more than 300,000 than it has been in two years.

"A lot of us feel like we have our hands tied behind our back," says Cpl. Peter Mattice, of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment. "In Fallujah, (insurgents) know our (rules of engagement) - they know when to stop, just before we engage."

During this transition, frustration runs deep in this fortified bunker, and at a handful of posts that now dot Fallujah.  They are designed to watch the main roads where marines travel, to prevent the laying of roadside bombs.

"They say we are here to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, but I just don't see that happening," says Corporal Mattice, of Gladwin, Mich. OP Blazer is perched on the northern edge of the city, looking due south down a main street known to the marines as Ethan, site of numerous roadside bombs.

That fear has been fueled by a spike in insurgent attacks since summer, against both Iraqis and US troops.

The 1/24 Marines, a reserve unit headquartered in Detroit and recently arrived, suffered nine dead and more than 40 seriously wounded in their first month in Iraq. Another marine died Sunday from a roadside bomb.

The 300 marines here are attacked five to eight times each day.

That presence is a significant drop from the 3,000 marines posted here in March 2005, and the 10,000 that took part in the late 2004 invasion.

Another metric: Officers say the number of direct fire incidents against US forces has shot up 650 percent in the past year.  Three marines had been hit by snipers in one 48-hour span earlier this week.

"It is no secret," Col. Lawrence Nicholson told the Fallujah City Council during their regular Tuesday meeting.  "My mission is to do less, every single day, as Iraqi forces do more."

Senior officers now refer to Fallujah as a "gated community" - putting a deft gloss on the fact that Fallujah has for two years had only six entry points, and entering Iraqi residents still require US-issued biometric cards with retinal scans and fingerprints on file.

But among those Iraqi residents are 150 newcomers a week, fleeing the sectarian violence in Baghdad to a known "Sunni safe haven," in the words of one officer. Others say hundreds of highly trained insurgents, Iraqis from outside Fallujah, have also recently moved in to step up attacks.

"Fallujah has an iconic value to the Marine Corps," says Colonel Nicholson, commander of the Regimental Combat Team 5, which covers Fallujah and a populated swath of Anbar Province, in an interview.  "Fallujah falling would be like Iwo Jima falling to the Japanese again after World War II - it would be intolerable."  [No.  More like Yorktown falling to Americans resisting Imperial occupation.  Which no doubt King George found “intolerable” too.  But what a Col. finds “intolerable” has nothing to do with reality on the ground.  Never has, never will.]

Preventing that from happening is a top priority for the Bravo and Charlie companies of the 1/24 that are now in Fallujah. But local Iraqis know the territory better than US forces ever will.

"The insurgents are creative and have advantages," says Maj. Jeffrey O'Neill, the Bravo Company commander from Novi, Mich. "If the Chinese invaded your [American] neighborhood, you would know where to hide, which dumpster behind the 7-11 to stash things. If we don't catch them red-handed, they will probably be on the street again."

"Each precinct in Chicago or Detroit, makes 100 to 150 arrests per night per 300,000 people," says Major Kolomjec, a lawyer who notes that Fallujah's population is similar. 

"Here you take 12 to 40 people per day, and people are up in arms.

[Oh Shit, look what just popped out of his mouth.  “People are up in arms.”  Not foreign fighters, not some “terrorists,” not “militia” members, not Al Qaeda: “people” are up in arms!  Well, there goes the neighborhood.]

“You can't expect stability, when you are not even doing the same level of policing as Detroit."

Another source of frustration: Pursuit in mosques is forbidden without the presence of Iraqi Army units. Marines say some of Fallujah's 76 mosques are used to hide weaponry. Some broadcast messages such as, "God help us defeat the Americans."

"Many would ask: What other war would we allow the enemy to broadcast calls for our defeat, for the sake of cultural sensitivity?" says O'Neill.

But even as insurgents step up the violence, marines make themselves harder-to-hit targets.

"No, it's not worth it," says 1st Sgt Andrew Tomelleri, of Kansas City, when news came of the death and injuries from another roadside bomb.

The three-time Iraq veteran had been at the exact location a day earlier.  Such patrols are seen as "magnets" for IEDs.

"But it would be (worth it), if we could fight them muzzle to muzzle, man to man," says Sergeant Tomelleri.  "They know they can't beat us that way."  [Exactly what King George’s soldiers said when the Minutemen hid behind trees and stone walls at Lexington and Concord.  But they were fighting to win, not engage in silly movie dramatics.]

Soldier Killed, Three Others Wounded By Salah Ad Din IED

Nov. 22, 2006 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20061122-08

TIKRIT, Iraq:  A Task Force Lightning Soldier assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, was killed and three others were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle while they were conducting operations in Salah ad Din Province Tuesday.

The three Soldiers wounded in the blast were transported to Coalition Forces’ medical treatment facilities.

Task Force Lightning Soldier Killed

Nov. 22, 2006 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20061122-01

A Task Force Lightning Soldier assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, died of a non-battle injury in Salah ad Din Province Tuesday.

Soldier Was On 3rd Tour In Iraq;

Martinez Was Killed Saturday

Misael Martinez

Nov 16, 2006 Lisa Hoppenjans, Staff Writer; The News & Observer

CHAPEL HILL:  Today, Juan Antonio and Rosal'a Martinez are preparing to bury their son, who was killed in Iraq.

In two months, another son will leave for his first tour of duty there.

Army Staff Sgt. Misael Martinez, 24, was on his third tour Saturday when a bomb exploded near his vehicle in Ramadi and killed him.

He last called his parents Oct. 31.

"He said he probably wouldn't be able to call for a couple days, or maybe more," Rosal'a Martinez said.

Martinez was a combat engineer assigned to the 1st Battalion, 16th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division in Giessen, Germany.  He joined the Army in 2000, soon after graduating from Orange High School.

"He said he needed someone to discipline him. He said he wanted to do something for people," Rosal'a Martinez said.  "I think he did it because he's a hero."

But Juan Antonio Martinez, weary after sleepless nights, said Wednesday that the Army should not have demanded so much of his son.

"[He] went there already, twice," he said.

Misael Martinez, the second of four children, was born in Dallas. His family moved to Orange County 19 years ago.

He grew up fishing in University Lake and playing pickup basketball games with friends. His father said he was always a "big joker" but also humble and respectful. Rosal'a Martinez said her son had hoped to attend college with help from the Army and had planned out a timeline for starting work on his degree.

"You know the rest," she said.

Franklin Co. Soldier Dies In Iraq

November 16, 2006 Amelia Hines, WNEG

Private First Class Daniel Joseph Allman, II was due to come home for Thanksgiving.  But only a week before his trip, his hummer ran over a roadside bomb in Iraq.

“They were in my yard and I asked how bad he was hurt, cause they didn't have on white gloves like my son told me; if he got killed they would have on white gloves.  And they told me then that he had been killed,” Allman’s mother tells News Channel 32.

Only 20 years old, Daniel leaves behind his 2 year old daughter Haleigh.

“Now she's got to grow up without her daddy.”

He also leaves behind his younger brother, Michael, and his step dad and his mom...who says she remembers when he first told her in April he was leaving Germany to go to Iraq.

“When he called and told me that he was being sent to Iraq, I was scared and he was scared too,” Amanda remembers.

But he told her if anything happened he would go down fighting.

“There was one thing Danny taught me...you'll never get no where in your life running scared,” his younger brother, Michael says.

Daniel's mom says that he didn't need to put on this uniform to become a man.  She says that from a very young age, he took care of responsibilities and gave his little brother advice.

“He kept telling Michael, you've got responsibilities and you've got to take care of them.

Just like he did for his daughter and his country.

“Just pray for us and be proud of our troops for what they're doing because my son scarified his life not only for us but for everybody,” Amanda wanted to add.

And until his body arrives, she will hang on to anything that shows her Daniel is near.

Daniel's mom found a yellow balloon in a field today.

She says it's a sign that's he's with her.  She was told her son's body has to go to Dover, Delaware before it can come home to her.

The earliest his body would be back in Franklin County would be next Wednesday.

His burial has not yet been scheduled.

Expectant Father Is Killed During First Tour In Iraq

November 18 2006 BY COLLIN NASH STAFF WRITER; Cara Tabachnick contributed to this story.  Southern Connecticut Newspapers

With his wife of just over a year expecting their first child in three months, Spc. Justin R. Garcia had bubbled with excitement and expectation at the thought of being a parent.

But Garcia, of Elmhurst, Queens, who started his first tour of duty in Iraq in late June, was killed Tuesday when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee during combat operations in Baghdad, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday.

"He wanted all those crazy things, a home, a family, all those things we take for granted," said his older sister, who asked not to be named.  "He couldn't wait to be home with his baby."

Garcia, 26, a mortar man, enlisted in the Army in July 2004.  He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis in Washington state, at the end of November 2004.

"He wanted to go into the service because he had compassion and he wanted to serve his country," Garcia's grandfather, Sam Lim, said Friday, fighting back tears outside the modest, two-story frame house in Elmhurst where his grandson grew up. "He loved being a soldier."

Garcia spent his childhood in Florida, where he lost both of his parents when he was 12, said his grandfather, who declined to elaborate.

Growing up in Elmhurst with his grandfather, Garcia attended St. Agnes Boys High School on the Upper West Side.

While earning a bachelor's degree in criminal justice at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Rockland County, he met his wife-to-be, Michelle, Lim said.

Ever the "protective" one, as his sister described him, Garcia aspired to become a state trooper.

"He's my little brother, but I always felt he was protecting me," she said. "I always felt safe when he was around."

He was a pillar, but he was also a regular guy, a rabid New York Knicks and Mets fan and ever the cutup, his sister said.

"He was a ham," his grandfather said.

Notes From A Lost War #1:

“The Insurgents Live Here.  They Know Almost All The Best Places That Have Been Used”

“Before We Even Get Here, They Know Where We Are Going To Go.”

November 22, 2006 By C. J. CHIVERS, The New York Times Company [Excerpts]

KARMA, Iraq, Nov. 16:  The sniper team left friendly lines hours ahead of the sun. They were a group of marines walking through the chill, hoping to be in hiding before the mullahs’ predawn call to prayer would urge this city awake.

They reached an abandoned building.  Two marines stepped inside, swept the ground floor and signaled to the others to follow them to the flat roof, where they crawled to spots along its walls in which they had previously chiseled out small viewing holes.

Out came their gear: a map, spotting scopes, binoculars, two-way radios and stools. The snipers took their places, peering through the holes, watching an Iraqi neighborhood from which insurgents often fire. They were hoping an insurgent would try to fire on this day. The waiting began.

If the recent pattern was any indication, the waiting could last a long time. This was this sniper team’s 30th mission in Anbar Province since early August.  They had yet to fire a shot.

More than three years after the insurgency erupted across much of Iraq, sniping — one of the methods that the military thought would be essential in its counterinsurgency operations — is proving less successful in many areas of Iraq than had been hoped, Marine officers, trainers and snipers say.

The gap between the expectations and the results has many causes, but is in part a reflection of the insurgency’s duration.  

With the war in its fourth year, many of the best sniping positions are already well known to the insurgents, and veteran insurgents have become more savvy and harder to kill.

“A lot of Marine battalions have rotated through these same areas for six or seven months at a time,” said Staff Sgt. Christopher D. Jones, the platoon sergeant of the Scout Sniper Platoon in the Second Battalion, Eighth Marines. 

“But the insurgents live here.  They know almost all the best places that have been used. Before we even get here, they know where we are going to go.”

Moreover, the insurgents have developed safeguards, using shepherds and children to look for snipers in buildings and heavily overgrown areas, and networks of informants to spread the word when a sniper team has taken up a new position.

“These days we’re lucky if we can go 12 hours without getting compromised,” he said.

With almost no Iraqi police officers available in Anbar Province to check loiterers and suspicious cars, the snipers said, the insurgents have moved freely, making it difficult to tell from afar which people are dangerous, even when they have been violating the law.

Some of their difficulties were evident on the roof on a recent day, when the battalion’s Fourth Sniper Team sat, watching through holes in the wall.

Karma is a scene of frequent violence, and below them was a favored insurgent area. Once during the day they thought they had been spotted, and three marines swept the building below to make sure they were safe.  They were.

They returned to peering through the holes.  Other holes could be seen in buildings nearby; previous sniper positions, and a sign that insurgents probably knew the area is often watched.

“I’ve got a shady-looking guy,” Lance Cpl. Nathan D. Leach, the assistant team leader, said as he observed a suspicious man.  “He’s got his hand behind him. Looks like he’s got something under his shirt.”

Lance Cpl. Keeghan O’Brien, the radio operator, interjected, “You see where that guy went?”

Cpl. Jason A. Dufault, the team leader, responded, “No, he walked behind a building and disappeared.”  A few hours later, several shots were heard from the neighborhood, and rifle-launched grenades sailed through the air.

They landed behind the snipers, near a platoon-sized Marine position, exploding with a series of thunderous cracks.

The snipers peered around, seeking a shot.  Another sniper team was also in the area, watching over the Marine position, too.  No one saw a thing.

The insurgents were within a few hundred yards, but had found a seam.  Several hours later, in the blackness again, the team picked up and moved, still waiting for a target after more than three months in Iraq.

REALLY BAD PLACE TO BE:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

U.S. soldiers from 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team at a checkpoint in Baghdad, October 26, 2006. (Namir Noor-Eldeen/Reuters)

TROOP NEWS

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, who sent this in.]

Iraq Vets Condemn The War:

“I’m Merely A Voice For Those Who Cannot Speak, Those Who Are In The Military Who Cannot”

[Thanks to Michael Letwin, who sent this in.]

November 12, 2006 By Ofelia Casillas, Chicago Tribune staff reporter.  Tribune staff reporter Charles Sheehan contributed.  [Excerpts]

As Mayor Richard M. Daley hosted a Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony and memorial at Soldier Field, a Vietnam veterans group rallied only blocks away to speak out against the war in Iraq.

Talk at the gathering, at Wacker Drive and Wabash Avenue near the Chicago River, focused on taking a stand against the war in Iraq and highlighted the struggles of young soldiers trying to adjust to civilian life after their discharge. 

Speakers stood at a podium, near banners that read "Honor the warrior, not the war" and "Troops Out," and addressed the audience, made up of many formerly in the military. 

"Thank God for election results," said Adam Navarro-Lowery, 28, a DePaul University student.  "Voters do not support the war."  Navarro-Lowery, who was in the military for three years, said it was important for him to speak out on Veterans Day to lend support to veterans.

"I'm merely a voice for those who c