Theodore's World

ACLU Accuses U.S. Of Human Rights Violations
ACLU released a report to the U.N. Human Rights Committee condemning the U.S. government for failing to comply with its treaty obligations to protect and preserve a range of human rights protections at home and abroad.

The report, Dimming the Beacon of Freedom: U.S. Violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, documents the U.S. record on human rights in five areas: national security, women’s rights, racial justice, immigrants rights and religious freedom.
The Human Rights Committee is the U.N. body of experts charged with monitoring countries compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the primary human rights treaty. The United States ratified the treaty in 1992. The committee will review the official submission of the U.S. government on July 17 and 18 in Geneva. The ACLU will send a delegation to present the report and monitor the proceedings.
Dimming the Beacon of Freedom provides a detailed description of human rights violations in the United States. In addition to the impact of these rights violations on other vulnerable groups in the U.S., the report highlights how in the wake on September 11, 2001, Arabs, Muslims and South Asians, and to some extent all immigrants, were victims of discriminatory targeting by the government. It draws attention to the erosion of the right to privacy, discussing expanded surveillance and the government’s growing use of the states secret privilege to avoid accountability for abuses.

The ACLU goes on to list their recommendations to the UN to urge the United States on. The list includes trials or “judicial remedies” for all persons detained in the war on terror.

Well, the treaty’s provisions call for protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure. Al Qaeda targets civilians for mass murder and intentionally destroys civilian infrastructure.
The provisions call for membership in a regular military force which carries its arms openly. Al Qaeda’s idea of a weapon in open view is a hijacked jumbo jet in the seconds before it crashes into a building. Otherwise, it favors roadside bombs or high explosives concealed in vans burrowed in underground garages beneath bustling civilian skyscrapers.
The provisions call for wearing uniforms in order to distinguish members as authentic soldiers. Al Qaeda’s jihadists dress and conduct themselves ostensibly as civilians — the better to hide from real armies and lull actual civilians to their deaths.
The provisions call for treating captured enemy soldiers with the dignity and respect accorded to honorable prisoners of war: accounting for them, keeping them safe, allowing the International Committee of the Red Cross access to ensure their proper treatment.
Al Qaeda tortures and slaughters them.
When it comes to the prisoners they capture, al Qaeda doesn’t much care about the Geneva Conventions, the approbation of the ICRC, or Kofi Annan’s latest grandiloquence on the post-sovereign alchemy of international law.
All it cares about is “the verdict of the Islamic court.” It was that verdict, and no other, that the Mujahedeen Shura Council — Iraq’s thugs-in-chief — announced had been “carried out” against our fallen heroes by their new Zarqawi, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer. Needless to say, the deed was done “with God Almighty’s blessing.”

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I choose this photo because it looks like an angel behind the planes.
Zarqawi’s replacement reportedly murdered the two soldiers using the same barbaric technique we’ve seen before:
U.S. soldiers’ bodies mutilated, booby-trapped
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The bodies of two U.S. soldiers found in Iraq Monday night were mutilated and booby-trapped, military sources said Tuesday.
Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker went missing after a Friday attack on a traffic control checkpoint in Yusufiya, 12 miles (20 km) south of Baghdad.
The sources said the two men had suffered severe trauma.
The bodies also had been desecrated, and a visual identification was impossible — part of the reason DNA testing was being conducted to verify their identities, the sources said.
A tip from Iraqi civilians led officials to the bodies, military sources told CNN. The discovery was made about 7:30 p.m. Monday.
Not only were the bodies booby-trapped, but homemade bombs also lined the road leading to the victims, an apparent effort to complicate recovery efforts and target recovery teams, the sources said.
It took troops 12 hours to clear the area of roadside bombs. One of the bombs exploded, but there were no injuries.(
The bodies were found in the Yusufiya area, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said, adding he believes the soldiers were mortally wounded, then moved.
It was unclear whether he meant the wounds were suffered in the initial attack on a checkpoint or afterward. “Where we found them was not based on their own movements,” he said.
The soldiers’ families have been notified of the developments, he said.
The bodies were transferred to a coalition base and were to be taken to the United States for DNA testing.
Group claims killings

Meanwhile, a claim posted on a Web site Tuesday said the soldiers were “slaughtered” in accordance with God’s will.
“We announce the good news to our Islamic nation that we executed God’s will and slaughtered the two crusader animals we had in captivity,” says the claim, reportedly from the Mujahedeen Shura Council, a group linked to al Qaeda. “And God has given our Emir, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the good fortune of carrying out the legitimate court’s command in person.”

Menchaca’s uncle, Mario Vasquez, said family members were distraught, and were waiting to receive the body before making any arrangements. Earlier, some family members heard of the possible discovery through the media, before being notified by the military, Vasquez said.
“I wish they’d punish the people that do these kinds of things right away, instead of taking forever and spending millions of dollars,” Vasquez said. “I think, you capture them, make them pay for what they did. Don’t think that it’s just two more soldiers. Don’t negotiate anything. They [the killers] didn’t. They didn’t negotiate it with my nephew. They didn’t negotiate it with Tucker.”
Another of Menchaca’s uncles, Ken MacKenzie, lashed out at the government Tuesday on NBC’s “Today Show,” saying it didn’t do enough to bring the men home safe,
Wild Thing’s comment……
What does Murthawi have to say on this? Is he concerned that these soldiers where killed in cold blood? Where are those who complain of panties on prisoner’s heads? Where are those who complain of suspected torture at Guantanamo? When real torture is used on our men, there’s not a peep out of the terrorist sympathizers. We will note how the democrats and Murthawi will not rile against the terrorists over this.
These people Murthawi, the media, etc. are most definitely aiding the enemy and putting our military people in graver danger by their anti-American sentiments and stance on the Iraq War. Don’t forget about Charlie Rangle’s claim that the U.S. acted illegally when it “assassinated” Uday and Qusay Hussein. “We have a law on the books that United States should not be assassinating anybody,” he said. They are abusing the freedoms that the soldiers are shedding their blood for and should be held accountable along with the insurgents.
As Col. David Hunt so wisely advises, the only way to fight this war is to kill kill kill the bad guys!! Overwhelming force SHOULD be used but we all know what will really happen here. If we did do what needs to be done we would probably have more soldiers sitting in the brig for doing their job.
It’s time to carpet bomb that ‘triangle’! Every building, every person within 50 miles of where they found our soldiers should be leveled or killed. To hell with playing nice. The left will no doubt figure out how to turn this into another anti-Bush, anti-war, and anti-Republican issue, instead of talking about the kind of enemy we confront on the war against Islam. Take those bastards by the bushel. Brute force is the only thing they understand!
Imagine a diagram of all Muslims. In one group we have our violent jihadists, in another those “moderate tolerant” jihadists. Just how much overlap is there in sympathy? There certainly isn’t a large group of Muslims asking us to help them rid their world of the jihadists. In the absence of a large, prominent group of such people when will people finally realize that indeed we are at war with all of Islam?
I have been really horrified by this story, like all of us, and at first I thought that the libs were probably going to draw out all the gory details and fixate on it to scare people out of Iraq. But then it occurred to me that what they will probably do is make it go away fast, the way they did 9/11.
No more gruesome details will come out, just as we ceased to see the awful 9/11 images, because it might make us angry and might make us even more committed to winning. No, there’ll be just a vague hint that something bad happened, but also an implication that it was somehow our fault. After all, the media wouldn’t want to make their terrorist darlings look bad, would they?
I flat guarantee the Screaming Eagles will be looking for- and will GET- payback on these raghead scum-sucking bastards. This makes me heartsick for those our men killed, and the great loss to their families. May God rest their souls. They will be avenged, without doubt. We are held to high standards, because we HAVE high standards. But having those High standards should NEVER take away from fighting a war the military way and NOT the PC way! Fighting a PC war gets American soldiers killed.
We owe it to their memories and to all our other troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
* Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler has a great rant to a leftie that does not want to blame the terrorists.

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This Category Bunker Notebook at Theodore’s World, 
will be about the things shared in emails from 
our troops and other Americans that are 
located in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Theodore’s World is very aware of how 
loose lips endanger our troops and other Americans 
working in the hot zones, so at all times great care will be 
taken in how much information is posted. 

Some notes will be directly from the troops 
and other notes from those such
as employees with Halliburton and others..

.

From an employee of Haliburton in Baghdad

“Thanks! Baghdad is being dealt with as we speak. We can hear the sounds,
of freedom. We’ve been hearing the same chatter about XXXXXXX for the last several days that we heard about Fallujah just before they whacked it in November 2004.
We have no electricity at the moment and this place is HOT. The Media reports, still the sameI have yet to see them ever tell the whole truth about events in Iraq. Why should they start now? WT, I know you and I agree on the media as other things I share with you.
What happened to our soldieres literally turns my stomach. This pisses me off.
Our guys get tortured while we tip-toe around trying to fight a PC war so as not to “offend” anyone. The “insurgents” need to suffer a mass slaughter in order to send a message.
I agree. We need to drop some more of the 500-pounders. They are routing out quite a few of them.

We fight an enemy that holds nothing higher than religion and it’s purposes for them, to include human life or the lives of their own people, and as military members who have been or are now deployed to these areas we must fight blindfolded and our hands tied around our backs vor fear of the ” CNN ” issues that we may face for doing our job.
Thank you for your support.I get a chance to read your blog and the comments are good. The Vets there for their support too.
Sincerely, Lt.
Scout Sniper Platoon Commander

We are still doing our best to get these [bad guys], they are definitely getting allot smarter though as far as tactics. [They] are hiding in crowds of people after throwing grenades at us. Its hard as hell to avoid an ambush because they always seem to know we are coming and the people don’t give us any accurate intel as to what and where the insurgents are. Anyway we were on a night patrol and one of the [Bad Guys] was hiding in an alley and tossed a homemade grenade in the middle of the element. one of my shooters got hit in the hand (non shooting hand). He is fine, its a million dollar wound, he was back doing missions the next day. We think he ran into a nearby crowd of people and then disappeared, but of course the crowd did not see anything.
thanks for the email and support. later.
SSG.A

Al Qaeda-Linked Group Claims Kidnapping of GIs
Fox News report
BAGHDAD, Iraq — An umbrella group that includes Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed in a Web statement Monday that it had kidnapped two U.S. soldiers reported missing south of Baghdad.
There was no immediate confirmation that the statement was credible, although it appeared on a Web site often used by Al Qaeda-linked groups. U.S. officials have said they were trying to confirm whether the missing soldiers were kidnapped.

“Your brothers in the military wing of the Mujahedeen Shura Council kidnapped the two American soldiers near Youssifiya,” the group said in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.

The Web site did not name the soldiers.
The U.S. military said Monday that seven American troops have been wounded, three insurgents have been killed and 34 detained during an intensive search for two soldiers.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles and dive teams had been deployed to find the two men. The men went missing Friday during an attack on their checkpoint in the volatile Sunni area south of Baghdad that left one of their comrades dead.

“We have surged intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms and employed planes, boats, helicopters and UAVs to ensure the most thorough search possible on the ground, in the air and in the water,” Caldwell said in a statement issued Monday.

He did not comment on reports that the two men had been seized by insurgents, saying only that they were listed as “duty status and whereabouts unknown.” He said seven other U.S. service members had been wounded in action during the search efforts that began Friday night.
The Defense Department identified the missing men:
Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. It said Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, Springfield, Mass., was killed in the attack. The three were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
Caldwell said more than 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops were participating in the search.

“While searching for our soldiers, we have engaged in a number of significant actions against the anti-Iraqi forces,” he said, adding that three insurgents had been killed and 34 taken into custody.

He also said the military had received 63 tips and had launched 12 cordon and search operations, eight air assaults and 280 flight hours were logged.

“Approximately 12 villages have been cleared in the area, and we continue to engage local citizens for help and information leading to the whereabouts of our soldiers,” he said, without elaborating.

Caldwell also said the military was still searching for Sgt. Keith M. Maupin, of Batavia, Ohio, who went missing April 9, 2004.
Maupin was captured when insurgents ambushed his fuel convoy with the 724th Transportation Co. west of Baghdad.
CNN report ( just click for complete article, thank you)
An al Qaeda-affiliated group on Monday claimed it kidnapped two U.S. soldiers south of Baghdad, although the captives were not named.
The group — Mujahedeen Shura Council — made the unverified claim in a statement posted on a Web site. It did not post images or video of the soldiers as it has in the past.
The statement said, “the strongest army in the world is turned around, ashamed of their failure to find the soldiers and we will give you more information on the incident in the following days.”
Update:…just click for complete article, thank you
Missing US troops in area where many live in fear

BAGHDAD – Two US soldiers missing in Iraq since Friday disappeared into a lawless Qaeda stronghold where residents describe being terrorized by unknown militants.
Military helicopters and divers are combing the rural Euphrates river area south of Baghdad for the troops who went missing after an attack on their checkpoint near the town of Yusufiya killed another US soldier.

Most people in the Sunni Arab region resent the presence of the US troops. But even if they wanted to help the two soldiers, doing so could be fatal.
“We live in fear. Gunmen always go to people’s houses asking about who works for the Iraqi army or police or the Americans,” taxi driver Abdullah Jassim told Reuters by telephone.

And this is very alarming:

Many more of your soldiers gonna be killed in the days and weeks ahead. Summary of death will be as follows: we’ll cut their genitals/boobs depending on their gender, disembowel their intestines and slit their throats and then post the videos of the executions/massacres on our newssites: www.kavkazcenter.com and english.aljazeera.net.
Comment by MansurAlIraqi 06.19.06 @ 1:00 pm

Wild Thing’s comment….
ENOUGH! Damn, damn, damn! The calls for withdraw (cut and run) embolden are enemy and are the cause of such attacks. Every call for withdrawl every negative statement about the effort spills the blood of good American Servicemen and women.
Prayers for these men and for all our troops. For their families and loved ones.
As for these vile pieces of flesh that have done this you are too evil even to be sent to hell. There will be a day soon when you will feel the rath of America on you and I pray it will be soon, very soon.

UPDATE:

I am so sorry to have this update. My sympathies to the families and other loved ones of these fine soldiers. They are true Americans, and they gave their all.
Bodies of Pvt. Kristian Menchaca and Pvt. Thomas Tucker Reportedly Found
Pvt. Tucker’s family released a recording of his last phone call home:

“Be proud of me Mom, I’m defending my country. Tell sis and my nephews hello for me, I’m OK, I’m on my way.”

Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed said:

the bodies were found on a street near a power plant in the town of Youssifiyah, just south of Baghdad.
Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Muhammed-Jassim, head of operations at Iraqi Ministry of Defense said the soldiers had been “barbarically” killed and that there were traces of torture on their bodies. He offered no further details.

Wild Thing’s comment……
To all you lefties, Murtha, Pelosi, etc. in government, and the rest of you anti-war traitors to America and to our military STFU! You are part of the reason these soliders are dead, YOU are working hand in hand with the enemy.
You have these soldiers blood on YOUR hands, you damn well better believe it.
Where are you now? Where are you callking your 15 minutes of fame press conferences to say how sorry you that we lost 2 soldiers lives? NO you are too busy bashing the military and the war against Islam!

Islam = Militants hack off noses, tongues
Islamist militants killed a villager in Indian Kashmir by slitting his throat and cut off the tongues and noses of four others, accusing them of being police informers, authorities said today.The attackers also beat up seven other villagers and set several houses ablaze…..

“These foreign militants are ruthless,” said a Police Officer, referring to guerrillas India says are Islamists who cross into its part of Kashmir from Pakistan, and sometimes even Afghanistan.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Take them out , to the last man….however long it takes.

Getting really close to an area you suspect may contain an improvised explosive device may seem counterintuitive, but that is exactly what engineers assigned here do each night.
IEDs – homemade bombs often planted along roads – are the leading killer of Americans in Iraq. They are the terrorists’ weapon of choice.
The American military is combating the threat on many fronts, and one of those fronts means soldiers go out on Iraqi roads and actively search for the roadside bombs. The engineers platoon is part of A Company, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 506th Regimental Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. The brigade, though, reports to 4th Infantry Division.

To check out potential bombs, engineers use a vehicle called the Buffalo. “Don’t worry,” said platoon leader Army 1st Lt. Richard Peacock. “This is the safest vehicle in Iraq.”

The South African-designed behemoth is heavily armored and has an arm that an operator inside can maneuver to check out suspicious areas. The Buffalo also is loaded with cameras and electronic gizmos. With the arm extended, the vehicle looks like a metallic dinosaur feeding on the side of the road.
The Buffalo doesn’t work alone. Another South African vehicle – the RG-31 – drives ahead and spots suspect areas or objects. Both vehicles were designed to find mines and render them harmless. They have been admirably adapted to their new duty, the engineers say.
Night after night, the engineers take to the roads in and around East Baghdad, Sadr City, Rusafa and Salman Pak to search for IEDs. “This platoon has found 14,” said noncommissioned officer in charge Staff Sgt. Jeremy Wagner.

“These engineers seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to finding IEDs,” Capt. Jim Krueger, the company commander, said. “People all over request them.”

Peacock said the engineers have technical means at their disposal, “but the best thing is the soldiers’ minds and powers of observation.” The soldiers spot things that are out of place or objects that have been disturbed.

That, and they have Chaplain (Capt.) Mike Griffith. “The one time the chaplain wasn’t here to pray with us, we got hit,” Krueger said. “We didn’t lose anybody, but we appreciate the chaplain’s words even more now.”

Here is more on the Buffalo: Good DOD article.
‘Buffalo’ Finds Explosive Devices, Saves Lives

06/18/06 – A U.S. Air Force B-2 bomber and 16 other aircraft from the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps fly over the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) carrier strike groups during a photo exercise in the Western Pacific Ocean June 18, 2006, to kick off the start of exercise Valiant Shield 2006.
The joint exercise consists of 28 naval vessels including three carrier strike groups and more than 300 aircraft and approximately 20,000 service members from the Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate Todd P. Cichonowicz) (Released)

Thank you Troops, I love you and am so very grateful!

* Something…..and Half of Something

A priest, a Pentecostal preacher, and a Rabbi, all served as chaplains
to the students of Northern Michigan University in Marquette. They would
get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk shop.
One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn’t really
all that hard. A real challenge would be to preach to a bear. One thing
led to another and they decided to do an experiment. They would all go
out into the woods, find a bear, preach to it, and attempt to convert it.
Seven days later, they’re all together to discuss the experience.
Father Flannery, who has his arm in a sling, is on crutches, and has
various bandages, goes first. “Well,” he says, “I went into the woods to
find me a bear. And when I found him I began to read to him from the
Catechism. Well, that bear wanted nothing to do with me and began to
slap me around. So I quickly grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and, Holy
Mary Mother of God, he became as gentle a lamb. The bishop is coming out
next week to give him first communion and confirmation.”
Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, with an arm and
both legs in casts, and an IV drip. In his best fire and brimstone
oratory he claimed, “WELL brothers, you KNOW that we don’t sprinkle! I went out
and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to read to my bear from God’s
HOLY WORD! But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. So I took HOLD of him
and we began to wrestle. We wrestled down one hill, UP another and DOWN
another until we came to a creek.
So I quick DUNKED him and BAPTIZED his hairy soul. And just like you
said, he became as gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the day praising
Jesus.”
They both looked down at the Rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed. He
was in a body cast, and traction, with IV’s and monitors running in and
out of him. He was in bad shape.
The Rabbi looks up and says, “Looking back on it,
circumcision may not have been the best way to start…”

Thanks Jack…Conservative Insurgents…….. this is so funny. I love bear stories.

Commenting on Karl Rove’s remarks in a speech in New Hampshire where he charged that Democrats are “wrong, profoundly wrong” in wanting to cut and run in Iraq, an increasingly rabid anti-war Congressman John Murtha resorted to a personal attack on Rove on Sunday.

“He’s in New Hampshire, he’s making a political speech. He’s sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big fat backside saying, ‘Stay the course,'” said Murtha, D-Pa., in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Obviously rattled by criticism from Rove, Murtha said:

“I disagree completely with what he’s saying. We need to change direction. We can’t win a war like this. This guy’s sitting back … getting paid by the public taxpayer and he’s saying to us that we’re winning this war … we’ve got to change direction. You can’t sit there in the air-conditioned office and tell the troops fighting in Iraq that we have to stay the course.”

Despite recent gains in Iraq, Murtha insisted the U.S. is losing the war in Iraq. When told by “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert that Rove had told the New Hampshire audience that “if Murtha had his way, American troops would have been gone by the end of April” and American forces wouldn’t have killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,.

Murtha downplayed the importance of killing the top terrorist in Iraq, saying dismissively: “They built Zarqawi up, they have a thousand foreign fighters” — that the intelligence “came from the outside” and that all the U.S. did was bomb his hideout and kill him.”

Turning to his own plan for cutting and running, Murtha became increasing irrational, suggesting that U.S. troops there be redeployed outside of Iraq yet close enough to be ready to go back in if the situation required it. When pressed by Russert to say where the troops could be deployed if neighboring countries refuse to accept their presence, as Rove had has said, he suggested they could be set to Okinawa, Japan, which is 5,000 miles from Baghdad.

“We don’t have to be right there, Murtha said. “We can go to Okinawa. We could redeploy there instantly.”

Wild Thing’s comment…..
Murtha is a walking, talking hate crime!