Theodore's World

Famous country music star Toby Keith performs a free concert for Soldiers at Freedom Rest in central Baghdad on Memorial Day. Hundreds of Soldiers turned out to watch the performance and to remember the legacy of the nation’s fallen heroes.
June 01, 2006
By Master Sgt. Denise Slater – 138th MPAD
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 28, 2006) –Soldiers from Forward Operating Base Marez started lining up three hours in advance to get a good seat for the appearance by Toby Keith on his yearly United Service Organizations tour.
As the temperatures neared 100 degrees, Morale, Welfare and Recreation personnel passed out water to cool the crowd, and pulled out as many folding chairs as they could to make room in the MWR tent.
Contests that were held during the month afforded a lucky few front-row seats for the event. Sgt. Wayne Morey and Staff Sgt. James Sullivan from the 511th Military Police Company, Fort Drum, N.Y., won their front row seats during a volleyball tournament.

“It shows his support for us.” Morey said.

Keith arrived by helicopter, and after taking a short break was whisked away for a ride on a Stryker vehicle. Meanwhile, the doors were opened to hundreds of fans who were happy to come inside and take a break from the rising temperatures. Seats filled quickly and isles were taken up by a standing crowd anxiously awaiting his return.
Keith came back to a packed house, and was a big hit with the audience. He played songs new and old but, the biggest hit was the song “American Soldier.”

“This is a salute to every one of you sitting here today,” he said before he started playing.

The song was interrupted several times by applause from the crowd and ended in a standing ovation.
“This is a labor of love for us, we really appreciate what you guys do over here,” Keith said.
Between songs Keith talked about making time in his schedule every year to perform for Soldiers. This tour had Keith performing six concerts at six bases in two days. It was a short engagement at FOB Marez, but there was a big impact on the Soldiers.

“It’s a big moral booster,” said Spc. Renee McFarland, 47th Combat Support Hospital out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

At the end of the show, Keith was awarded several plaques for his support. It was then announced that he would be sticking around to take some photos with Soldiers. Long lines again formed to wait to see the performer and get some one-on-one time.

“It was awesome of him to come and support the troops,” said Spc. Jamie Guillen, 47th CSH out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

Country singer Toby Keith stands in an air gunners hatch of a Stryker Brigade Combat Vehicle. Keith performs for Soldiers and civilians on Forward Operating base Marez, Mosul, Iraq.

This photo released by the Iraq Government on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 is said to show Ahmed Hussein Dabash Samir al-Batawi, who was arrested by a terrorist combat unit on Monday in Baghdad, according to the Iraqi Prime Minister’s office. The Iraqi Government said in a statement that terror suspect al-Batawi confessed under questioning that he beheaded hundreds of Iraqis in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces. (AP Photo/Iraq Government)
Wild Thing’s comment…..
Let’s see, our troops are finding these people from hell, protecting the people so they could vote for the first time, building schools, bringing them better living conditions with running water and electricity where it had not been before, fixing roads and bridges, the list goes on and on. And at the same time fighting the Islamic Fascists, IED’s everywhere, and summer heat of 130 degrees with all their 80 pound gear on.
Yessss our troops ROCK alright, they are why the sun shines brighter and the smiles are broader and the sleep is safer for all of us. Thank you!

Thu Jun 1, 9:38 AM ET – Eddin Barakat Yarkas (C), also known as Abu Dahdah, during a trial of suspected Islamist militants in Madrid, September 26, 2005. Judicial sources on Thursday said Abu Dahdah would serve 12 years in jail for leading a terrorist group rather than the full 27 years to which he had been sentenced. (REUTERS/Juanjo Martin/Pool)
6/1/2006 – 8:18:00 PM
MADRID, June 1 (UPI) — Spain Thursday acquitted a man who had been suspected of helping plot the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, El Mundo reported online.
Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas will, however, serve 12 years in prison for leading a terror group.
Yarkas was originally sentenced to 27 years for being a member of al-Qaida, and for playing a role in plotting the attacks while being the leader of the terror group in Spain.
Wild Thing’s comment….
Oh Man don’t get me started on this one! More touchie feelie justice! Helloo Spain, don’t call us we’ll call you.(not)

Soldiers Discover Weapons Caches & Capture Terror Suspects
DOD
WASHINGTON, June 1, 2006 –
In separate incidents in Iraq, U.S. soldiers discovered a large weapons cache May 30 and captured 10 suspected terrorists May 23, military officials reported today.
Soldiers from Multinational Division Baghdad’s Troop A, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered a large weapons cache and ammunition aboard a wheat dump truck northwest of Baghdad May 30 at about 6 p.m.
Soldiers had stopped the truck May 9 and discovered seven fuses, 15 mortar tips and wire commonly used in roadside bombs. However, it wasn’t until May 30, while the unit was looking for more evidence, that they found the weapons hidden under bags of wheat in the bed of the truck.
The cache consisted of Katusha rockets, anti-personnel land mines, rocket-propelled grenade rounds, an RPG launcher, mortar systems, mortar rounds, rocket-propellant sticks, and other bomb-making materials.
The driver of the truck was detained May 9.
Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, also discovered a weapon cache while conducting a cordon and search operation of buildings in western Baghdad yesterday at about 11 a.m.
The cache consisted of four Russian-made bombs and three hand grenades.
Elsewhere, while conducting multiple assaults along Southern Lake Thar Thar on May 23, coalition forces captured 10 suspected terrorists and destroyed two vehicles and one tent used as a terrorist safe house.
The troops also found ammunition and electronic equipment used for making improvised explosive devices at the terrorist camps.
All family members at the scene were unharmed and released once the area was secured.

Please click HERE to wacth this VIDEO, you will not be disappointed.
Wild Thing’s comment……..God bless all our troops may God watch over all of you and keep you safe.

To all our troops…..Thank you for all you do! Prayers for you and your loved ones! Stay safe and know how much you mean to all of us, we owe you so much! —- Wild Thing

Headquarters of 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division



“Currahee” is the battalion motto. It means “stands alone” in Cherokee.



This is proudly displayed at 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, First Division heaquarters. Note bullet pock marks behind. Our guys They caught the terrorist who painted the sign!



That “fencing,” labeled a “cheese grater,” causes rounds to explode before they can strike the armor. This greatly reduces their penetrating power



A 122 mm mortar shown in contrast to various fire extinguishers



Humvee with back end ripped off by RPG. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. (Photo courtesy of 1st of the 506th, 101st Airborne.)



Photographer checking out Vietnam-era M14 7.62 mm rifle. They’ve been brought back into limited use because they have greater stopping power than the 5.56 M16, have longer range, and are more accurate. Pfc. Tony Wickline of A Company looks on.



Another view. I’m looking tough to impress the girl on the calendar. Incidentally, both nude photos and alcohol are forbidden to US troops in Iraq so as not to offend our Muslim allies — though the British have no such rules.



Note the wooden-barreled Vietnam-era M79 grenade launcher, affectionately known as a “Thumper.”



Pfc. Robert Killion of A Company marks his position with a friend-foe identifier panel. Only the coalition knows what color should be up on any given day.
Photos taken by Michael Fumento , he also a regular contributor to Townhall.



Wild Thing’s comment……
Take a human being, a person that loves this country, that knows that Freedom is not just given to us from some politican on his campaign trail or a teacher at school. For whatever reason that HUMAN BEING goes into the military is his own, but somewhere within his own very personal reason(s) he/she knows this is the greatest country in the world and the reason he/she grew up in the land of the free is ONLY because of the BRAVE!

* Grouchy Old Cripple

The above banner and slogan is quite deceptive and an utter joke to those that are truly aware to the ACLU’s workings. Just in the past week the ACLU has launched a massive campaign against the NSA’s efforts to trace terrorist phone calls into the U.S. This campaign with full page ads has even been denounced by media that usually defend the ACLU as completely lacking in context. In just the last few days the ACLU has pounced at the chance to bash America, applauding the decision of an EU Court that struck down an anti-terrorism agreement that allows the European Union and the U.S. to share information on airline passengers. And in the same day the ACLU of Florida came out against a new law that restricts colleges and universities from using state funds for travel to countries classified as terrorist states by the U.S. government.
The ACLU consistently allign themselves with groups like CAIR, and other organizations that have known terrorist ties. They have turned down donations from some of their most generous donors because of anti-terrorism stipulations. They can always be seen defending our enemies. It is no wonder that they fight to exempt lawyers from anti-terror supporting oaths.
A while back, my friend Kathy wrote about how deceptive this banner is, and it still applies today.

So now the ACLU is promoting itself as a champion of both safety for our citizens and of freedom. What a joke! When 9-11 occurred what measures did the ACLU take to ensure our safety? None, zip, nada. This organization has done nothing to ensure our safety, in fact it has chosen to sue our government on behalf of terrorists outside of their legal jurisdiction while they were located in prisons on foreign soil.
They have since then demanded that the government release and make public top secret security information regarding not only the activities of our military, but also that of our intelligence forces. They have also initiated one lawsuit after another against the government to stop the searching of individuals for security purposes in mass transit situations, to stop what they call profiling (we will never see a Protestant white middle-aged woman as a terrorist working with an extremist Islamic organization) by race, sex and religion, and to stop the government from detaining and questioning or interrogating individuals who have ties or contact with known terrorist individuals and organizations.
They want to kill the Patriot Act because they see the rights of an individual who may or may not be an American citizen as more important than the safety of the nation at large. They want the borders open because they see that as an infringement of the rights of non-Americans to become Americans however they can manage it. They want to have military and intelligence sources, activities, and planning revealed to the public so they can “watch dog” and ensure freedoms of individuals and/or groups are not being compromised, but in doing so will enable those very individuals and/or groups under surveillance the ability to avoid surveillance and possible capture before they do something destructive to American citizens.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay or Gribbit. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board

* Stop the ACLU

Lawyer: Haditha Marines Were Fired On
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 11:38 p.m. EDT
Contrary to claims from Rep. John Murtha, Marines accused of executing 24 innocent Iraqis in the village of Haditha last November were indeed fired upon after their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb – according to a lawyer involved in the case.
“There’s a ton of information that isn’t out there yet,” the lawyer said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Washington Post.
He said contemporaneous radio messages reviewed by military investigators will show that Marines accused of unprovoked retaliation after the blast had, in fact, come under small-arms fire.
Rest of story HERE

BACKGROUND:
Throughout her legal career, Lynne Stewart has represented terrorists, both domestic and international. From the notorious Weatherman of the 1960s to the islamic terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in the 1990s, Lynne Stewart has made a career out of representing and supporting those who are sworn to destroy our Country.
On February 10, 2005, Lynne Stewart was convicted of helping terrorists by smuggling messages of violence from one of her imprisoned clients — a radical Egyptian sheik — to his terrorist disciples on the outside.
Lynne Stewart was convicted of providing material support, through a press conference and allowing access by her translator, to a terrorist conspiracy to kill persons outside of the United States and conspiring to defraud the U.S. government when acting as counsel to Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric who was convicted in 1996 of plotting terrorist attacks against various sites in the New York City area. Finally caught in the snares of justice, Lynne Stewart is now facing sentencing for her crimes, and your help is needed to be sure she receives the maximum sentence allowable by law.
This woman is truly an enemy of America.
In her own words:

“I don’t have any problem with Mao or Stalin or the Vietnamese leaders or certainly Fidel locking up people they see as dangerous. Because so often, dissidence has been used by the greater powers to undermine a people’s revolution.” Lynne Stewart

“I don’t believe in anarchistic violence, but in directed violence. That would be violence directed at the institutions which perpetuate capitalism, racism, and sexism, and the people who are the appointed guardians of those institutions, and accompanied by popular support.” Lynne Stewart

NO LENIENCY – LOCK HER UP AND LOCK HER DOWN!
ON SEPTEMBER 25, 2006, LYNNE STEWART WILL BE SENTENCED AND YOU CAN HELP LYNNE RECEIVE THE MAXIMUM SENTENCE ALLOWED FOR HER CRIMES AGAINST AMERICA.
The sentencing is now set for September 25, 2006 and we can help lock Lynne up for life by writing the Judge and asking him to show no leniency to Lynne Stewart for her crimes and asking him to impose the maximum sentence allowed for plotting with terrorists.
The Judge’s address is:
Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
Also you can send a copy of your letter to the lawyers who prosecuted Lynn, so they can present them all to the Judge at sentencing time, they will have the maximum impact as he considers the matter:
Joseph E. Bianco, Esq.
Christopher T. Morvillo, Esq.
Assistant United States Attorneys
Southern District of New York
United States Attorney’s Office
One St. Andrews Plaza
New York, NY 10007


* Something….and Half of Something