Theodore's World

Long post for a reason see my comment at the end.

Evidence against Marines called weak
San Diego Union-Tribune ….for complete article
July 12, 2007
For months, military officials expressed confidence in their case against several Camp Pendleton Marines accused of murdering 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq.
But now, legal analysts say the prosecution’s case is in jeopardy. They spoke after investigative officers recommended that two of the seven Haditha defendants should be spared courts-martial, largely because of weak evidence.

A third defendant was recommended for trial yesterday. “I think that unless they get a Marine eyewitness to roll over, they are going to have a hard time prosecuting the cases,” said Jane Siegel, a former Marine judge and longtime defense lawyer in San Marcos. “The government has to know that as the investigation gets older and older, the case gets colder and colder and harder and harder to prove.”

The final decision on courts-martial rests with Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. Last month, an investigative officer recommended that Capt. Randy Stone not be tried on charges of failing to investigate the Haditha killings. The officer issued his report shortly after Stone’s pretrial hearing.
A report made public Tuesday by Lt. Col. Paul Ware, a career Marine prosecutor who strongly urged that all charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt be dismissed.

Sharratt is one of three Marines accused of going on a rampage against the 24 Iraqis after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine on Nov. 19, 2005. In his report, Ware labeled allegations against Sharratt “unsupported” and several times called them “incredible.”

He also suggested that some of the dead Iraqis were insurgents, as the defendants have maintained.
Ware, who presided over the pretrial hearing for Sharratt last month, said accounts by Iraqi witnesses seemed inconsistent with the forensic evidence available.

Such evidence showed that “each was shot facing forward, from a distance, and with a 9 mm pistol, which I find inconsistent with an execution or persons reacting to an execution,” Ware wrote.

He noted that relatives of the dead Iraqis refused to allow the U.S. military to exhume the bodies to conduct autopsies. He also said the Iraqis had a powerful motive to lie, given that the Marine Corps would sometimes pay $2,500 to the family of an Iraqi civilian killed by U.S. forces.

Giving credence to the statements of these Iraqi witnesses would set “a dangerous precedent that, in my opinion, may encourage others to bear false witness against Marines as a tactic to erode public support of the Marine Corps mission in Iraq,” Ware wrote. “Even more dangerous is the potential that a Marine may hesitate at the critical moment when facing the enemy.”

Lawyers for other Haditha defendants hailed Ware’s findings as a possible turning point in the case.
The investigative officer who oversaw the pretrial hearing for Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the highest-ranking Marine charged in the case, recommended that he be court-martialed for dereliction of duty and other similar charges. Chessani led the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, which included all the defendants.

Prosecutors have accused Chessani of failing to properly investigate the killings. His lawyers say he trusted his subordinates, who told him that the Iraqis died in a battle between U.S. forces and insurgents. The recommendation to court-martial Chessani “glorifies paper-pushing over fighting and has the unintended consequence of dampening the spirit of the most ferocious fighters on Earth,” said Richard Thompson, an attorney for Chessani.

Wild Thing’s comment………

I know this is a long post and I apologize, sometimes I just have to put certain things together……. It all comes from my heart so I hope you understand.
Coverage of this is hard to find. The main newspaper covering this is the San Diego Herald Tribune as the San Diego press is covering the hearings. Can you imagine any American citizen being prosecuted for murder when prosecutors aren’t even sure who was murdered? The Hamdania Marines might as well be citizens of a Third World country for the all the justice they’ve received. And this isn’t even newsworthy outside of San Diego? This disgrace to the Corps and our country just keeps on rolling along, well below the radar.
Most of the evidence that has been sited is from the enemy. People that have been proven to aid the insurgents, liars, fakes more lies upon lies.
I support the Haditha Marines and impact of these cases on our Rules of Engagement, our will to continue the war, is already being felt. I daresay we could never have fought and persevered in WWII with the same PC mentality. The war against radical Islamicism is a war worth fighting. They represented me in this war, I will stand up for them.
They volunteer to put their lives on the line to save ours. The media and the Left has gone over and above to portray them as the “bad guys” since the war started.
Murtha’s “cold blooded murder” comment hit a raw nerve with me and the inconsistencies just didn’t add up. The more I read and heard, the madder I got. The rush to judgment and the deliberate failure by many to look at the facts
only made me madder.
Esprit de Corps” and “Semper Fidelis”. Never turn your back on those who taught you what duty, honor and courage were all about.
I was reading a speech by Patton and even though he was Army and not a Marine his speech is awesome and has a lot of things in it that pertain to what is happening with these Marines as well as those in our government and citizens not wanting to fight the terrorists but have stupid sit downs and talk with them which is a totally insane idea. So I am putting Patton’s speech here for you to read. He had me cheering and laughing as well.
God bless our past warriors, Patton and Chesty and others like them that knew how to lead the hearts of men and spoke the truth always.

General Patton arose and strode swiftly to the microphone. The men snapped to their feet and stood silently. Patton surveyed the sea of brown with a grim look. “Be seated”, he said. The words were not a request, but a command. The General’s voice rose high and clear.

“Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight. When you, here, everyone of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American.”

The General paused and looked over the crowd.

“You are not all going to die,” he said slowly. “Only two percent of you right here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men. Yes, every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he’s not, he’s a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base. Americans pride themselves on being He Men and they ARE He Men. Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are, and probably more so. They are not supermen.”

“All through your Army careers, you men have bitched about what you call “chicken shit drilling”. That, like everything else in this Army, has a definite purpose. That purpose is alertness. Alertness must be bred into every soldier. I don’t give a fuck for a man who’s not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn’t be here. You are ready for what’s to come. A man must be alert at all times if he expects to stay alive. If you’re not alert, sometime, a German son-of-an-asshole-bitch is going to sneak up behind you and beat you to death with a sockful of shit!”

The men roared in agreement.
Patton’s grim expression did not change.

“There are four hundred neatly marked graves somewhere in Sicily”, he roared into the microphone, “All because one man went to sleep on the job”.

He paused and the men grew silent.

“But they are German graves, because we caught the bastard asleep before they did”.

The General clutched the microphone tightly, his jaw out-thrust, and he continued.

“An Army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats, and fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is pure horse shit. The bilious bastards who write that kind of stuff for the Saturday Evening Post don’t know any more about real fighting under fire than they know about fucking!”

The men slapped their legs and rolled in glee. This was Patton as the men had imagined him to be, and in rare form, too. He hadn’t let them down. He was all that he was cracked up to be, and more. He had IT!

“We have the finest food, the finest equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world”.

Patton bellowed. He lowered his head and shook it pensively. Suddenly he snapped erect, faced the men belligerently and thundered.

“Why, by God, I actually pity those poor sons-of-bitches we’re going up against. By God, I do”.

The men clapped and howled delightedly. There would be many a barracks tale about the “Old Man’s” choice phrases. They would become part and parcel of Third Army’s history and they would become the bible of their slang.

“My men don’t surrender”, Patton continued, “I don’t want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he has been hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight back. That’s not just bull shit either. The kind of man that I want in my command is just like the lieutenant in Libya, who, with a Luger against his chest, jerked off his helmet, swept the gun aside with one hand, and busted the hell out of the Kraut with his helmet. Then he jumped on the gun and went out and killed another German before they knew what the hell was coming off. And, all of that time, this man had a bullet through a lung. There was a real man!”

Patton stopped and the crowd waited. He continued more quietly.

“All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don’t ever let up. Don’t ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain. What if every truck driver suddenly decided that he didn’t like the whine of those shells overhead, turned yellow, and jumped headlong into a ditch? The cowardly bastard could say, “Hell, they won’t miss me, just one man in thousands”. But, what if every man thought that way? Where in the hell would we be now? What would our country, our loved ones, our homes, even the world, be like? No, Goddamnit, Americans don’t think like that. Every man does his job. Every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important in the vast scheme of this war. The ordnance men are needed to supply the guns and machinery of war to keep us rolling. The Quartermaster is needed to bring up food and clothes because where we are going there isn’t a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man on K.P. has a job to do, even the one who heats our water to keep us from getting the ‘G.I. Shits’.”

Patton paused, took a deep breath, and continued.

“Each man must not think only of himself, but also of his buddy fighting beside him. We don’t want yellow cowards in this Army. They should be killed off like rats. If not, they will go home after this war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the Goddamned cowards and we will have a nation of brave men.”

“One of the bravest men that I ever saw was a fellow on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of a furious fire fight in Tunisia. I stopped and asked what the hell he was doing up there at a time like that. He answered, “Fixing the wire, Sir”. I asked, “Isn’t that a little unhealthy right about now?” He answered, “Yes Sir, but the Goddamned wire has to be fixed”. I asked, “Don’t those planes strafing the road bother you?” And he answered, “No, Sir, but you sure as hell do!”

“Now, there was a real man. A real soldier. There was a man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty might appear at the time, no matter how great the odds. And you should have seen those trucks on the rode to Tunisia. Those drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they rolled over those son-of-a-bitching roads, never stopping, never faltering from their course, with shells bursting all around them all of the time. We got through on good old American guts. Many of those men drove for over forty consecutive hours. These men weren’t combat men, but they were soldiers with a job to do. They did it, and in one hell of a way they did it. They were part of a team. Without team effort, without them, the fight would have been lost. All of the links in the chain pulled together and the chain became unbreakable.”

The General paused and stared challengingly over the silent ocean of men. One could have heard a pin drop anywhere on that vast hillside. The only sound was the stirring of the breeze in the leaves of the bordering trees and the busy chirping of the birds in the branches of the trees at the General’s left.

“Don’t forget,” Patton barked, “you men don’t know that I’m here. No mention of that fact is to be made in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell happened to me. I’m not supposed to be commanding this Army. I’m not even supposed to be here in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the Goddamned Germans. Some day I want to see them raise up on their piss-soaked hind legs and howl, ‘Jesus Christ, it’s the Goddamned Third Army again and that son-of-a-fucking-bitch Patton’.”

“We want to get the hell over there”, Patton continued, “The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit.”

The men roared approval and cheered delightedly. This statement had real significance behind it. Much more than met the eye and the men instinctively sensed the fact. They knew that they themselves were going to play a very great part in the making of world history. They were being told as much right now. Deep sincerity and seriousness lay behind the General’s colorful words. The men knew and understood it. They loved the way he put it, too, as only he could.
Patton continued quietly.

“Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin”, he yelled, “I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I’d shoot a snake!”

“When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a German will get to him eventually. The hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don’t dig foxholes. I don’t want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don’t give the enemy time to dig one either. We’ll win this war, but we’ll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans that we’ve got more guts than they have; or ever will have. We’re not going to just shoot the sons-of-bitches, we’re going to rip out their living Goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We’re going to murder those lousy Hun cocksuckers by the bushel-fucking-basket. War is a bloody, killing business. You’ve got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it’s the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you’ll know what to do!”

“I don’t want to get any messages saying, “I am holding my position.” We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy’s balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!”

“From time to time there will be some complaints that we are pushing our people too hard. I don’t give a good Goddamn about such complaints. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood. The harder WE push, the more Germans we will kill. The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing means fewer casualties. I want you all to remember that.”

The General paused. His eagle like eyes swept over the hillside. He said with pride.

“There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you WON’T have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, “Well, your Granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana.” No, Sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, “Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named Georgie Patton!”

The latest on Iran:
Iran locked on to 600 targets in Israel
Israel Today

Iran has marked 600 targets for its long-range missiles inside Israel, the Qatari newspaper Al Watan reported on Sunday.
According to the report, Iran is threatening to hit the Jewish state with a massive missile strike if either Israel or the US attack the Islamic Republic or its allies in Syria.
Recent political talk in Jerusalem and Washington indicate the time is rapidly approaching that Israel and the US will have no choice but to intervene militarily to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Likewise, Israeli military experts are predicting a full-scale war with Syria sometime in the coming six months, possibly set off by a renewal of low-level cross-border Hizballah aggression.

Teheran says it will continue its nuclear activities
Iranian missiles aimed at US base found in Iraq
Jerusalem Post

Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan reported that Iran claimed to possess enough missiles to strike 600 Israeli targets and that it wouldn’t hesitate to use them in the wake of an attack by the United States or Israel.
The report followed two claims by the US army over the weekend implicating Iran in attacks against US forces in Iraq.
According to an announcement on Saturday night, US troops in Iraq uncovered a field containing 50 Iranian-made rocket launchers, all aimed at a US army base.
The discovery came after the US claimed that an explosively formed penetrator – a high-tech device that the US military believes is smuggled from Iran – was used against US forces in the Baghdad area earlier Saturday.

Vp Cheney Being Resisted by Condi Rice and Robert Gates, but Bush now listening to Cheney
VP Cheney on Iran

The White House claims that Iran, whose influence in the Middle East has increased significantly over the last six years, is intent on building a nuclear weapon and is arming insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The vice-president, Dick Cheney, has long favoured upping the threat of military action against Iran. He is being resisted by the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates.
Last year Mr Bush came down in favour of Ms Rice, who along with Britain, France and Germany has been putting a diplomatic squeeze on Iran. But at a meeting of the White House, Pentagon and state department last month, Mr Cheney expressed frustration at the lack of progress and Mr Bush sided with him. “The balance has tilted. There is cause for concern,” the source said this week.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Their ideology tells them to kill, murder and destroy all Jews and Christians. Their demented minds won’t allow them to see how wrong they are. They are a real danger!
One of the concerns I have is that as the muslim and mexican illegal alien presence grows in the US, support for Israel will decline, add in to that factor the NAU when it is set up. When America goes down under this NAU idea, Israel will go down too. They very well might have it where Israel has to be denied help from America. I pray this does not happen, but it does make one think it might.

“Tonight” show – Carson confronts Rickles – broken cig box!!
This was taped from the 15th Anniversary of the Tonight Show (1977), when Johnny Carson confronted Don Rickles about his broken cigarette case – on the set of CPO Sharkey.

Just for some fun. LOL

Iraq PM: Country can manage without U.S.
BAGHDAD
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave “any time they want,” though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and training.
The embattled prime minister sought to show confidence at a time when congressional pressure is growing for a withdrawal and the Bush administration reported little progress had been made on the most vital of a series of political benchmarks it wants al-Maliki to carry out.
Al-Maliki said difficulty in enacting the measures was “natural” given Iraq’s turmoil.

But one of his top aides, Hassan al-Suneid, rankled at the assessment, saying the U.S. was treating Iraq like “an experiment in an American laboratory.” He sharply criticised the U.S. military, saying it was committing human rights violations, embarassing the Iraqi government with its tactics and cooperating with “gangs of killers” in its campaign against al-Qaida in Iraq.

Al-Suneid’s comments were a rare show of frustration toward the Americans from within al-Maliki’s inner circle as the prime minister struggles to overcome deep divisions between Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish members of his coalition and enact the American-drawn list of benchmarks.
In new violence in Baghdad on Saturday, a car bomb leveled a two-story apartment building, and a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-packed vehicle into a line of cars at a gas station. The two attacks killed at least eight people, police officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorize to release details of the attacks.
Thursday’s White House assessment of progress on the benchmarks fueled calls among congressional critics of the Iraqi policy for a change in strategy, including a withdrawal of American forces.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned earlier this week of civil war and the government’s collapse if the Americans leave. But al-Maliki told reporters Saturday, “We say in full confidence that we are able, God willing, to take the responsibility completely in running the security file if the international forces withdraw at any time they want.”

But he added that Iraqi forces are “still in need of more weapons and rehabilitation” to be ready in the case of a withdrawal.

On Friday, the Pentagon conceded that the Iraqi army has become more reliant on the U.S. military. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said the number of Iraqi batallions able to operate on their own without U.S. support has dropped in recent months from 10 to six, though he said the fall was in part due to attrition from stepped-up offensives.

Al-Maliki told a Baghdad press conference that his government needs “time and effort” to enact the political reforms that Washington seeks – “particularly since the political process is facing security, economic and services pressures, as well as regional and international interference.”

“These difficulties can be read as a big success, not negative points, when they are viewed under the shadow of the big challenges,” he said.

In the White House strategy, beefed-up American forces have been waging intensified security crackdowns in Baghdad and areas to the north and south for nearly a month. The goal is to bring quiet to the capital while al-Maliki gives Sunni Arabs a greater role in the goverment and political process, lessening support for the insurgency.
But the benchmarks have been blocked by divisions among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders. In August, the parliament is taking a one month vacation – a shorter break than the usual two months, but still enough to anger some in Congress who say lawmakers should push through the measures.

Al-Suneid, a Shiite lawmaker close to al-Maliki, bristled at the pressure. He called Thursday’s report “objective,” but added, “this bothers us a lot that the situation looks as if it is an experiment in an American laboratory (judging) whether we succeed or fail.”

He also told The Associated Press that al-Maliki has problems with the top U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus, who works along a “purely American vision.”

He criticized U.S. overtures to Sunni groups in Anbar and Diyala, encouraging former insurgents to join the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq. “These are gangs of killers,” he said.

“There are disagreements that the strategy that Petraeus is following might succeed in confronting al-Qaida in the early period but it will leave Iraq an armed nation, an armed society and militias,” said al-Suneid.

He said that the U.S. authorities have embarrassed al-Maliki’ government through acts such as constructing a wall around Baghdad’s Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah and repeated raids on suspected Shiite militiamen in the capital’s eastern slum of Sadr City. He said the U.S. use of airstrikes to hit suspected insurgent positions also kills civilians.

“This embarrasses the government in front of its people,” he said, calling the civilian deaths a “human rights violation.”

Wild Thing’s comment…………
Earth to Maliki, earth to Maliki, you would get pummeled by Al-Qaeda in a NY minute.
The Parliament had a vote of no confidence on Maliki scheduled for today. I heard this last week and haven’t heard any more about it since, so I don’t know if it’s still on.
He said that the U.S. authorities have embarrassed al-Maliki’ government through acts such as constructing a wall around Baghdad’s Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah and repeated raids on suspected Shiite militiamen in the capital’s eastern slum of Sadr City. He said the U.S. use of airstrikes to hit suspected insurgent positions also kills civilians.
He doesn’t care about the civilians. He cares about his Iran-backed Mahdi Army buddies. He has a hissy-fit every time our troops (justifiably) go into that cesspool called Sadr City and cleans out some of the trash.
They’re all reacting, to our Congress, and to Bush I think. There is a lot of dissatisfaction with Maliki in the Parliament and among the Iraqi people, Shia and Sunni alike.
Nouri al-Maliki is reacting to several things I think. To our Congress and their vote, to Bush and the list of what Nouri al-Maliki was supposed to have accompolished by now not being completely done. Back in Dec. of 2006 the Iraq’s were discussing replacing Nouri al-Maliki and he mouthed off then too. But imo, Nouri al-Maliki better be careful with his words. He is supposed to be a leader and not be a reactor, but a person that thinks things through and looks down the road for his country to win against the insurgents.

Sergeant Travis Tollison, 3rd platoon guide with India Co. stands with the 7.62mm round that hit him in his back SAPI plate while performing operations in Al Anbar Province earlier this month. The Marine Corps is constantly making advancements for better and more efficient body armor. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Timothy M. Stewman

By Lance Cpl. Timothy M. Stewman, 13th MEU
NEAR KARMAH, Iraq
(July 14, 2007)
Over the past decade there have been significant advancements in body armor. During that time there have also been heated debates concerning the performance and effectiveness of the body armor being used by Marines.
One Marine with Battalion Landing Team 3/1 got to see first-hand just how effective his issued body armor is.

“We were out doing a vehicle mounted patrol and we dismounted, that’s when I heard the first shot,” said Sgt. Travis Tollison, India Company, 3rd platoon guide. “I tried to find out where the original shot came from and I heard a second shot. I went into the prone position when I realized that I had been hit. I reached to my lower back and was beginning to feel pain. The round had gone through my Camelbak and I felt the water which, at the time, I thought it was blood. When the corpsman looked me over I only had a bruise on the left side of my lower back. The round had embedded into my back SAPI (Small-Arms Protective Insert) plate. I believe without the plate, I would be telling a whole different story.”

The Marines in his platoon don’t hesitate to give Tollison a hard time about the incident. It usually consists of an impression of how he looked when he realized that he had been hit. The guys get a good laugh from the incident, but they know just how fortunate Tollison is that his gear did what it was supposed to.
With all the controversy surrounding civilian companies claiming to have more effective gear for combat, Marines and their family members have considered the use of civilian body armor over government issued. Recently Headquarters Marine Corps made the decision to prohibit the use of civilian body armor in combat. Marines on the front lines understand the functionality of the body armor and have confidence in the protection it provides.

“There are always going to be things to complain about when it comes to body armor, especially with the addition of the side SAPI plates,” said Tollison, an Anderson, S.C. native. “Though the weight isn’t exactly pleasant, the payoff is protection that is combat tried and tested.”

One thing about combat body armor is that technology is constantly advancing. The Marine Corps continually researches and develops new and more effective ways to keep the men and women who serve in combat safer. For now, the body armor being used today is holding its own, protecting Marines.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Thank God he is ok!!

Linda gave me a very special present, a signed first edition copy of Faith Under Fire. The author Chana Besser, is Linda’s friend, and lives in Israel.
Chana’s book is about living through the 33 day war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. As the brave IDF soldiers fought back and then suddenly had to stop because of the weak Olmert caving in and then the terrorists claiming victory.
Thank you Linda for such a special gift and thank you Chana.

Hillary & Edwards’ Secret to 86 Other Dems in Pres. Debates (Conspiring Caught On Tape!!!)

At the end of an NAACP Presidential Forum in Detroit in which fringe candidates Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich repeatedly upstaged the top two tiers, John Edwards approached Hillary Clinton at her podium and, perhaps forgetting that microphones were still on, can clearly be heard saying “we should think about at some point… maybe some time in the fall, we’ll try to have a more serious debate with a smaller group of people.”
Hillary agreed with Edwards, saying “We’ve got to cut the numbers of these, because they are just being trivialized.” Edwards responded “And they’re not serious. They’re not serious,” then walked away. Hillary caught up to him to add “I think there was an effort by our campaign to do that, but it somehow got detoured,” saying “We’ve gotta get back to it.” While shaking Dennis Kucinich’s hand, she added “our guys should talk.”

But wait…….there’s
more……….

Feeling “Betrayed,” Kucinich Rips Edwards on Debate Remarks
An angry Dennis Kucinich lashed out at John Edwards on Friday, saying his Democratic rival showed “a consistent lack of integrity” by suggesting fewer candidates should participate in presidential forums and then trying to explain his remark to reporters.
“This is a serious matter and I’m calling him on it,” Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, said in a telephone interview Friday. “Whispering, trying to rig an election, then denying what’s going on and making excuses. It all reflects a consistent lack of integrity.”
He is sending Edwards a letter challenging him to “direct one-on-one debate on the most critical issues facing the American people: the war in Iraq; healthcare, trade and the environment.”
The Ohio congressman has also done the same with Clinton. Copies of both letters were provided to ABC News by the Kucinich campaign.
Although former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel was by far the biggest bomb thrower at Thursday’s Democratic forum sponsored by the NAACP, the Edwards-Kucinich angle is a juicy one.
Edwards and Kucinich struck a deal on the eve of the 2004 Iowa caucuses: they agreed to send their supporters each others’ way if one of them was not getting the votes needed to remain “viable” under Iowa’s arcane caucus rules. (LINK)

“Both of us believe in a lot of the same things,” Edwards said at the time, “and we like each other very much.”

All of that has now changed.

“He feels betrayed,” Kucinich spokesman Andy Juniewicz tells ABC News. “He supported Edwards in the past, especially in Iowa, and now the senator seems to be engaging in a course of action that would exclude the congressman from being able to address the American public as a presidential candidate.”

In a Friday interview with Radio Iowa about his caught-on-tape moment, Edwards said he’s “happy to consider any option” when it comes to debates, “anything that will allow the voters to have more specific information about what we want to do as president.”

Wild Thing’s comment……..
LOL this Video is so funny. Caught in the act! My favorite part is right in the middle of Hillary conspiring with Edwards over dumping the lower tier candidates.
Evidence Hillary is a backstabbing candidate that has been weened on the ideals of socialism. Clinton desires to squelch freedom of debate, freedom of speech and free thought.
And regarding Kucinich ……
Cat fight! One wuss, calling another wuss a wuss. Wuss I hadn’t said that.
Betrayed by a Democrat – who would’ve believed it (certainly not our troops in Vietnam and Iraq!, right not much just on a regular basis) ——- lie down with dogs, gst up with fleas, Dennis!!!!!

Bush like Hitler, says first Muslim in Congress
telegraph uk.co
America’s first Muslim congressman has provoked outrage by apparently comparing President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and hinting that he might have been responsible for the September 11 attacks.
Addressing a gathering of atheists in his home state of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, a Democrat, compared the 9/11 atrocities to the destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1933. This was probably burned down by the Nazis in order to justify Hitler’s later seizure of emergency powers.

“It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that,” Mr Ellison said. “After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”

To applause from his audience of 300 members of Atheists for Human Rights, Mr Ellison said he would not accuse the Bush administration of planning 9/11 because “you know, that’s how they put you in the nut-ball box – dismiss you”.

Vice-President Dick Cheney’s stance of refusing to answer some questions from Congress was “the very definition of totalitarianism, authoritarianism and dictatorship”, he added.

Mr Ellison also raised eyebrows by telling his audience: “You’ll always find this Muslim standing up for your right to be atheists all you want.”

A convert to Islam who was previously linked to the extremist Nation of Islam, Mr Ellison, 42, has cultivated a moderate image since being elected last November, concentrating on issues such as health and education.
He is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. But he angered his own anti-war supporters by voting for a budget bill that aims to end the war over the next 18 months. His followers want an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
After his speech was reported, Mr Ellison said he accepted that Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11. But his demagogic comments threaten to plunge him in controversy.

Mark Drake, of the Republican party in Minnesota, said: “To compare the democratically elected leader of the United States of America to Hitler is an absolute moral outrage which trivialises the horrors of Nazi Germany.”

Wild Thing’s comment……..
One day, my head is going to explode. When is this country, my America going to learn. The SANE people in this country are getting extremely fed up. Jesus was slow to anger, but he threw the money changers out of church. It’s getting closer, closer to the time when patriots will rise up and throw all of the malcontents out of America….one way or another.
“Keith Ellison, a convert to Islam, has cultivated a moderate image..”
Muslim and Moderate are contradictions in terms.

DECATUR, Ga.
A former Marine, already irritated about the disappearance of $100 from his bank account, tackled a suspected robber who came into the bank wielding a fire extinguisher and demanding cash.
Timothy Armstead was waiting at the Washington Mutual Bank branch on Tuesday to discuss the missing money when the man came in and told bank employees he had a bomb. The man gave them five minutes to get $2,000 in $50 bills, DeKalb County police said.
As the employees went to the vault to comply, the unidentified man began loudly counting down the minutes, which attracted Armstead’s attention, police spokesman Michael Payne said.
When the man then tried to walk out with the money, Armstead, 27, knocked him to the ground. He held the man down – lecturing him on his poor decision – until authorities arrived.

“I just told him it was a very stupid decision and now you get to spend 20 years of your life just for taking some money,” Armstead told WSB-TV.

The man was taken to the DeKalb County Jail on suspicion of armed robbery. Jail officials declined to comment on his case Friday. A call to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s office was not immediately returned.

Wild Thing’s comment……….
I confess I changed the title of the article, they had it as EX-Marine and that is something that does not exist.
I am sure glad we have our Veterans around, they have knowledge, experience and a lot of the time with all of that can take a situation and keep it from getting worse. I love stories like this!!

……..Thank you Bob for sending me this story.

Marines assigned to Mobile Assault Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, patrol the city of Haqlaniyah during a mounted patrol

Charlie Company conducts mounted patrols
HAQLANIYAH, Iraq
By Cpl. Rick Nelson, 2nd Marine Division
(July 13, 2007)
Marines assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2, continue to conduct operations throughout Haqlaniyah with ongoing mounted patrols throughout the city.

“Our mission is to keep the main service routes clear and stop locals from smuggling weapons and [improvised explosive device] making material (into the city),” said Sgt. James C. Faraci, platoon sergeant, Mobile Assault Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/3. “We also provide security for dismounted patrols, re-supply check-points and do IED sweeps.”

Faraci describes his platoon as the “jack of all trades.”

“When we first got here there weren’t many people in the streets, now they’re everywhere, and a lot of the shops are opening back up,” said Faraci, a Brooklyn native. “I think we make it a lot safer for them to move about as they please. The biggest thing is the constant patrols; they are helping out a ton.”

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan E. Knotts, corpsman, MAP, Charlie Company, 1/3, said the dismounted patrols help keep the enemy from running free throughout the city.

“They know we’re here, which gives the insurgents a lot less room for maneuverability,” said Knotts, a Fort Collins, Colo., native.

At any given time Charlie Company will have a mounted unit patrolling in Haqlaniyah, added Faraci.

“We usually do (several) patrols a day,” said the 27-year-old Faraci. “So we’re outside the wire a lot.”

Faraci said the biggest threats for his Marines are the IED’s in the area.

“We’ve been lucky so far with the IED’s,” he said. “But now we have to worry a lot more about grenades being thrown in the turret and [rocket-propelled grenades] being used.”

Although threats in the city remain, Faraci said Haqlaniyah has changed a lot since their arrival in late March.

“When we first got here and I went on my first patrol, I was really knit picky and all I wanted to do was get to know the area to see who’s supposed to be there and who’s not supposed to be there,” Faraci explained. “Now that I know the area I’m still very cautious, but the Marines can just tell if something’s not right. If the people shy away and won’t talk to us, then we know someone who isn’t supposed to be there is around.”

Knotts said he’s pleased at the rate the deployment is going so far, but it isn’t what he expected.

“I was a little unsure, not knowing what I was getting into,” said Knotts. “We heard our area was pretty intense, and it was when we first got here but not nearly what I imagined. It’s calmed down a lot since then.”

Knotts recalled his second day in Haqlaniyah when a grenade landed in the vehicle in front of him during a patrol.

“It was a pretty crazy feeling, but now I know what to expect and can deal with it a lot more,” Knotts said.

Although the tempo of hostile actions has slowed down, Knotts said he knows there’s always a threat of attacks picking up any day.

“I come back after a convoy and relax and just prepare for the next patrol,” Knotts said. “This helps me to stay alert and not become complacent. I realize I have a job as a corpsman to take care of my Marines, and keeping that in mind would keep anyone alert.”

Faraci, who deployed to Iraq in 2004, said the thought of the Marines who were killed in action during his first deployment to Iraq is what keeps him going.

“I expected this deployment to be going just like it was in Ramadi in 2004,” Faraci added. “I thought we’d be getting attacked all the time, but all I can say is if it stays like this I will be really happy. I just want to get all of my Marines back to their families in one piece.”

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Thank you Charlie Company, you are all in our thoughts and our prayers.