Theodore's World

A leatherneck with 1st Marine Division mans a post in the streets in the center of Baghdad, April 11, 2003. First Marine Division and other elements of the Marine Expeditionary Force secured the capital city less than three weeks into Operation Iraqi Freedom. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Joseph R. Chenelly
Three Years After Baghdad’s Fall, Troops Note Progress

Three years ago April 9, the world looked on, captivated by compelling television images of Iraqis ripping down a towering statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, and burning images of the Iraqi dictator on the streets.

The statue of Saddam Hussein topples in Baghdad’s Firdos Square on April 9, 2003. Three years later, Iraqi forces increasingly are taking the lead in securing their country.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld lauded it as an important sign of things to come. “We’re seeing history unfold and events that will shape the course of a country, the fate of a people and potentially the future of the region,” Rumsfeld said during an April 9, 2003, Pentagon press briefing. “Saddam Hussein is now taking his rightful place alongside (Adolf) Hitler, (Joseph) Stalin, (Vladimir) Lenin and (Nicholae) Ceausescu in the pantheon of failed brutal dictators.
“And the Iraqi people are well on their way to freedom,” he said.

The toppling of Saddam’s statue in Baghdad’s Firdos Square was just one — but perhaps the most symbolic — part of the city’s fall from the grip of the brutal dictator who had ruled it with an iron fist for more than three decades. Days earlier, coalition troops captured the city’s airport, named after Saddam, and renamed it Baghdad International Airport. They also took the Presidential Palace in downtown Baghdad and began moving freely through the city.
Eight months after his larger-than-life image was pulled from its podium in downtown Baghdad, Saddam was pulled from a “spider hole” near his hometown of Tikrit on Dec. 13. About 600 members of the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, along with special operations forces, captured him after receiving intelligence that the former dictator was in the area.
Saddam is now standing trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Three years later, as the anniversary of Baghdad’s fall is commemorated as “Iraqi Freedom Day,” troops serving in Iraq say they’re proud of what it paved the way for throughout the country.
Army Lt. Col. Thomas Murphree, who was serving in Kuwait at the time as theater distribution commander, said seeing images of Iraqis pulling down Saddam’s statue in Baghdad assured him:
“They didn’t like him or his regime.” “We did the right thing then, and we’re still doing the right thing,” said Murphree, who returned to Camp Victory, Iraq, in January as deputy transportation officer for Multinational Corps Iraq.
Army Sgt. Maj. Linda Allen, remembers the shock she experienced rolling into Iraq from Kuwait in late April. “I remember how devastating it was coming up to Iraq and running across the civilians,” she said. “They were hungry. They had no place to live and no water to drink. Every child we passed was motioning to their mouth because they were hungry.”
The soldiers say they’re witnessing evidence of that better life throughout the country. “You see a lot of new buildings going up and police stations being built and improvements in the health-care system,” said McCoy.
“It’s getting better day by day,” agreed Murphree. “But it doesn’t all happen overnight.”
Since liberating Iraq, the United States has helped the Iraqis build or repair aging sewage treatment plans for 5.1 million Iraqis and funded projects that have improved access to clean water for 3.1 million people.
These infrastructure improvements are important to assuring that Iraqis have the basics that Americans take for granted – “a job, the ability to take care of their families and have a roof over their head and a safe place to live,” Murphree said. And he said it’s also a critical component to establishing a new, democratic government in Iraq.
“There’s still a ton of work to do, and we’re not leaving anytime soon,” she said. “But there’s a lot of progress and it’s a whole lot better than it was three years ago.”

Thank you to everyone in our military!

The obstacles Arabs have erected for themselves are enormous. For all of the oil revenue that has flowed into the wealthier Arab countries, consider the overall state of the Arab world:
It does not produce a single manufactured product of sufficient quality to sell on world markets.
* Arab productivity is the lowest in the world.
* It contains not a single world-class university.
* The once-great tradition of Arab science has degenerated into a few research programs in the fields of chemical and biological warfare.
* No Arab state is a true democracy.
* No Arab state genuinely respects human rights.
* No Arab state hosts a responsible media.
* No Arab society fully respects the rights of women or minorities.
* No Arab government has ever accepted public responsibility for its own shortcomings.
So the foreign policy of Islam is to use weapons they could never have designed themselves, manufactured with technologies they have never mastered, and developed in wars fought largely against them.
It’s really like their economic policy, where they sell us their oil they have no way of exploiting themselves, by people who have skills and knowledge they don’t possess, to use in technology they didn’t develop.
Exactly what (besides reams of empty rhetoric and brainwashed murders) do these guys produce for the world? No wonder the leftists love them. They’re equally useless.

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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..

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The author of the video is the soldier standing looking at the paperwork with the two terrorists handcuffed and blindfolded in one of the images you will see.
Please click HERE is his video and parts of his email are below…..

” The the one standing was real cocky about wanting to kill Americans. He was double checking the paperwork to make sure there were no problems. The one sitting on the ground with his back to the camera is bawling like a baby. Seems Jihad was all fun and games for this clown until our guys slapped the blind fold and plastic cuffs on him.
As usual we were doing our routine patrols and as we were heading back to Mares. We saw that the IP’s (Iraqi Police) had one of the main roads closed. Shortly after, we realized that they were working on an IED placed on the right of the road exactly where we normally pass by to make a right turn. This people have a great sense of bravery, because even with the limitation on the equipment that they were using to deactivate the IED, this IP’s worked with it fearless. There were basically about 7 IP’s on the ground, one with binoculars, two with a string with a hook in the middle of it and the rest of them pulling security for the ones working directly with the IED. The technique used to deactivate the IED was merely simple. The used the hook to extract the ignition device away from the round (one 155mm). After the ignition device was away from the round, then extracting the round out of the whole was “piece of cake”. I’m glad and thank God for these men, because it could hit any of our Stryker and cause other tragedy like on February 26, 2006.
A couple weeks ago when a SVBIED blow up and couple minutes later an IED went off about 200 meters away from the SVBIED site. When we there about 15 minutes after all this happened, but the must interesting part is who an IA (Iraqi Army) guy crawled like a snake into the hole just to peep and see what was the status of the remaining UXO (Unexploded Ordnance). After he (IA) realized that this rounds didn’t represented a threat (at least to him), he just pulled them out like candies. Even an explosion took place, it had 5 unexploded rounds inside the IED hole and we heard that the explosion from the EID was quite loud. Now you can imagine how much damage this IED would make if it would go off completely.”…………Sgt. Colon

Happy
Birthday Rodger

of the most wonderful

Curmudgeonly
Skeptical Blog

Have a very special Birthday
and many, many more!

Wishing
you all the best!
A year of fun and happiness
is my birthday wish for you
You are someone special
and your birthday should be too!

Happy Birthday!

from,
Wild Thing

and everyone here at
Theodore’s World

 

Photos HERE
And HERE
Photos
Photos
Photos

Wild Thing’s comment……
If and when we do attack Iran, can we send jimmah catah over there first for a pow-wow, and them attack them!
I have read that some have warned that bombing Iran could provoke “a chain reaction” of attacks on American facilities and citizens throughout the world and might also reignite Hezbollah.
Let’s see……….
Door Number One: “A chain reaction of attacks on American facilities and citizens throughout the world”
Door Number Two: An Iran capable of killing millions with nuclear tipped missiles
I’ll take my chances with Door Number One.
The wishy loser types ALWAYS, ALWAYS worry about the ‘bad guys’ getting mad and what they’ll do to us. Winners make the bad guys WORRY about what’s happening to them.

Aaron, of Aarons.cc got the terrorists so angry they hacked his blog, not once but twice in less then 48 hours.
Linda at Something……and Half of Something was able to capture the original hacking image the terrorists had put up at Aaron’s blog. You can see the image HERE at Something….and Half of Something.
Aaron’s comments regarding this can be seen at Beth’s blog ….MVRWC:

“If you have any moderate Muslims,
send them to my hacked blog.
Been down for 30 hours.
Hosting Matters has traced
the attack to Saudi Arabia.”

“The site was restored while I was
away for the Sabbath and it’s been re-hacked.”

As Linda states, It is the equivalent of an internet fatwah and she is right. And as Beth said too, be sure to back up your Blogs!! Save, back up and save!

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During training exercises, the lieutenant driving down a muddy back road encountered another car stuck in the mud with a red faced colonel at the wheel.
“Your jeep stuck, sir?” asked the lieutenant as he pulled alongside.
“Nope,” replied the colonel, coming over and handing him the keys, “Yours is.”

A Navy Chief and an Admiral were sitting in the barbershop.
They were both just getting finished with their shaves – the barbers were reaching for some after-shave to slap on their faces.
The admiral shouted, “Hey, don’t put mess on me! My wife will think I’ve been in a whorehouse!”
The chief turned to his barber and said, “Go ahead and put it on. My wife doesn’t know what a whorehouse smells like.”



Murphy’s rules for combat: #5 When in doubt…empty the magazine



The General went to the doctor for a physical. Before he began, the doctor asked him the standard questions – age, height, weight and then he asked when was the last time the General had sex.
“Oh”, he mused, “It was 1955.”
“Isn’t that a long time to go without sex?” the doctor asked.
“I don’t think so. According to your clock, it’s only 2113.”



A tourist walked into a pet shop and was looking at the animals on display.
While he was there, a platoon sergeant walked in and said to the shopkeeper, “I’ll have a PFC monkey please.” The shopkeeper nodded, went over to a cage at the side of the shop and took out a monkey. He fit a collar and leash, handed it to the customer, saying, “That’ll be $1000.” The platoon sergeant paid and walked out with his monkey. Startled, the tourist went over to the shopkeeper and said, “That was a very expensive monkey. Most of them are only a few hundred dollars. Why did it cost so much?”
The shopkeeper answered, “Ah, that monkey can fire expert with small arms, score 300 on the APFT, and perform Drill & Ceremony and Small Unit Tactics with no mistakes, well worth the money.”
The tourist looked at the monkey in another cage. “That one’s even more expensive! $10,000! What does it do?”
“Oh, that one’s an NCO monkey; it can instruct BRM, CTT, PT, D&C and SUT, and even do some paperwork. All the really useful stuff,” said the shopkeeper. The tourist looked around for a little longer and saw a third monkey in a cage of its own. The price tag around its neck read $50,000.
He gasped to the shopkeeper, “That one costs more than all the others put together! What on earth does it do?” The shopkeeper replied, “Well, I haven’t actually SEEN it do ANYTHING, but it says it’s a Colonel.”



A C-141 was preparing for departure from Thule Greenland, and they were waiting for the truck to arrive to pump out the aircraft’s sewage holding tank. The Aircraft Commander was in a hurry, but the truck was late in arriving, and the Airman performing the job was extremely slow in getting the tank pumped out.
When the Aircraft Commander berated the Airman for his lack of speed and threatened him with punishment, the Airman responded: “Sir, I have no stripes, it is 20 below zero, I am stationed in Thule, Greenland, and I am pumping shit out of airplanes. Just what are you planning to do to punish me?”



Marching in the cold rain, the drill sergeant tells his soldiers, this is good sh*t..
Marines marching 20 miles in the cold rain, “This is great sh*t!!”
Navy SEALS crawling through cold swamps for 20 miles: “I love this sh*t!”
Airborne Rangers crawling through cold swamps infested with snakes and gators: “I live for this sh*t!”
Air force pilot, in his carpeted room, cable TV, after a 2 hour mission in his F-16, Fridge humming, full of cold beer,
and the AC goes out: “What kind of sh*t is this?”



What is the difference between a fairy tale and a war story?
A fairly tale begins with “once upon a time” and a war story begins with “and this is no $hit”.



Divert Your Course
This is the actual radio conversation of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. Radio conversation released by the chief of naval operations, 10-10-95.
CANADIANS: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
AMERICANS: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision.
CANADIANS: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
AMERICANS: This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.
CANADIANS: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.
AMERICANS: This is the Aircraft Carrier US LINCOLN, the second largest ship in the United States Atlantic Fleet. We are accompanied with three Destroyers, three Cruisers and numerous support vessels. I DEMAND that you change your course 15 degrees north. I say again, that’s one-five degrees north, or counter-measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship.
CANADIANS: This is a lighthouse. Your call.



The 5 Scariest Things in the Army!
1. A Private saying, “I learned this in basic training…”
2. A Sergeant saying, “Trust me, sir…”
3. A Second Lieutenant saying, “Based on my experience…”
4. A Captain saying, “I was just thinking…”
5. And a Warrant Officer chuckling, “Watch this $%!#…”



Two airmen were driving across country on leave. They come to a Marine Corps base and decide to visit. They approach the gate and the Marine Guard walks up to the driver’s window, and taps on it with his nighstick.
The driver rolls down the window, and the Marine smacks him in the head with the stick. The driver says, “Why’d you do that?
The Marine says, “You’re on a United States Marine Corps Base, son. When I come up to your car, you’ll have your ID card ready.”
Driver says, “I’m sorry, We’re in the Air Force, and we didn’t know.”
The Marine examines the I.D. card and gives it back to the driver.
The Marine walks around to the passenger side and taps on the window. The passenger rolls his window down, and the Marine smacks him with the nightstick.
The passenger says, “What’d you do that for?”
The Marine says,”Just making your wishes come true.”
The passenger says, “Huh?”
The Marine says, “I know that as soon as you pull away you’re gonna say, ‘I wish that sucker would’ve tried that stuff with me!'”

U.S. Marine Corps ‘Hummer’
‘Devil Dog’ Steps in as New Depot Mascot
Hummer, the new mascot for Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, is undergoing his obedience training. The puppy will follow recruits through several trainings events before earning the title of depot mascot. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Kester)
By Cpl. Brian Kester – Parris Island

PARRIS ISLAND, S.C., April 7, 2006 — He is only 12 inches long, covered with white and brown hair and barks at the wall. Yet, the Marine Corps wants him to be one of the few, the proud.
His name temporarily is Hummer, and soon he will be going through recruit training to earn the title of Marine. He will then stand among a long list, including Lance Cpl. Mac and Cpl. Hashmark who have served as mascots and represented the proud tradition at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island.

“They are going to try to get him attached to a platoon,” said Cpl. Jenna Bender, logistics clerk, Headquarters and Service Battalion and depot mascot handler. “They want to have him in the spotlight, so he can become a Marine.”

Hummer will accompany recruits at various points during training, simulating his transition into a Marine. At the early age of 11 weeks, Hummer already demonstrates he has a keen mind for absorbing instruction

“He is one of the best puppies I have ever had,” said Bender. “He learned to sit the first week I had him. I think he is going to be a great dog to represent Parris Island.”

To simulate the transformation into a Marine, Hummer will follow recruits through several trainings events before earning the title of depot mascot.
Bender, with the help of Lance Cpl. Steve Crabbe, animal control officer for Parris Island Military Police District, will teach Hummer how to stay, come when called, lie down and roll over.
The pup will also go through obedience training to learn the discipline it takes to perform his duties without barking or acting up in a public scenario.

“Right now he is working on learning who the boss is,” said Bender. “He is being socialized. It helps (him) to have interaction with other dogs.”

Hummer’s responsibilities aboard the depot begin by spending time every week in the depot’s Douglas Visitors’ Center, where he will greet the graduation day visitors.

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Jenna Bender, logistics clerk, Headquarters and Service Battalion and depot mascot handler, plays with Hummer, the depot’s new mascot, March 24. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Brian Kester)

“He will also have to be at the Eagle, Globe and Anchor Ceremony, graduations and morning colors,” said Bender, who has been around dogs her whole life. “Anytime we are told to have him somewhere, he will be there.”
Hummer even has his own “barracks” inside the Douglas Visitors Center where he has room to roam freely.

“It is cool to put something together that everybody on the base will see, it took a lot of work,” said Sgt. David Carlson, Weapons and Field Training Battalion maintenance carpenter.

The pen was constructed with a puppy in mind and contains the mascot’s doghouse.
The Mascot’s ceremonial handling duties will be rotated out to the Headquarters and Service Battalion non-commissioned officer of the quarter.

“Their responsibilities will be to handle and escort the dog during his duties at the Eagle, Globe and Anchor Ceremonies,” said Dixon.

Hummer was born in Valdosta, Ga., to the same individual who breeds the University of Georgia mascots, said Bender.

“One of his cousins is working at the University of Georgia,” added Bender. “(Hummer) could easily have been a show dog.”

That being said, Hummer is a show dog of sorts, and will proudly carry on the duties of depot mascot.

Wild Thing’s comment……
This dog is so cute I just want to ((((hug))) him. He will do a fine job and make everyone proud I am sure.

OFFENSIVE CONTINUES DESTRUCTION OF TALIBAN LEADERSHIP
News Release
MacDill AFB, Fla
4/8/2006

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Afghan and Coalition offensives continued to maintain pressure on Taliban extremists this morning, striking a second blow to enemy leaders in southern Afghanistan.
The Coalition first reported a senior Taliban commander killed during offensive operations last night.
Then, during the early morning hours today, Coalition forces used close-air support to destroy an insurgent headquarters in the Sangin District of Helmand Province, killing a second known Taliban commander and one subordinate.

“We conducted an air assault into the known enemy compound following the air strike to gather intelligence,” said Army Maj Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, commander of the Coalition’s Combined Joint Task Force – 76. “Once our ground forces seized the objective, we confirmed that two Taliban were killed, and we captured two terrorists. These extremists offer nothing to the people of Afghanistan but violence, intimidation and fear.”

There were no injuries to civilians, Coalition forces or the Afghan National Army forces that participated in the operation.
The operational-level terrorist leader promoted fear and intimidation and was directly tied to attacks on Afghan civilians and government officials. He was also linked to several improvised explosive device attacks targeting Afghan civilians, government security forces and Coalition forces in the region.

“Afghan and Coalition forces have the initiative, and we will continue to conduct offensive operations in southern Afghanistan to disrupt and destroy Taliban leaders and their cohorts so long as they pose a security threat to the people of Afghanistan,” Freakley said.

Coalition forces are confident that Taliban extremists in southern Afghanistan can be located, targeted and destroyed.

Democrats call off rally McKinney was to attend
Sarasota Herald Tribune
By JEREMY WALLACE
jeremy.wallace@heraldtribune.com

Days ago, Cynthia McKinney was a heroine to local Democrats because she was standing up for disenfranchised voters everywhere.
The controversial congresswoman from Georgia was even worthy of taking center stage at a rally at one of area’s most identifiable events: the Sarasota Film Festival.
But that was before McKinney was accused of striking a Capitol police officer and became this week’s target for late-night comedians.
Now, Democrats are doing everything they can to distance themselves from McKinney, including canceling the rally.
It wasn’t public pressure that caused the cancellation, said Democratic Party Chairman Henry Bright. It was the fact that McKinney was becoming too much of a distraction from the original reason they put on the rally: fair elections.
McKinney is in town to promote “American Blackout,” a movie she stars in that accuses Longboat Key Republican Katherine Harris of helping Republicans steal the 2000 presidential election for President George W. Bush.
But the message of the movie was going to be overshadowed by McKinney’s recent troubles, Bright said.
Since March 29, McKinney has been defending herself for striking a police officer who tried to prevent her from walking past a security checkpoint. Members of Congress usually don’t pass through the checkpoints, but McKinney wasn’t wearing an identification pin that members of Congress are issued.
McKinney called a press conference after the event in which she said she was a victim of racial profiling. McKinney is black.

“This whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me — a female, black congresswoman,” she said at a press conference.

Federal prosecutors are investigating the encounter.
On Thursday, McKinney took to the floor of the House to apologize for the incident.

“I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all, and I regret its escalation,” McKinney said.

But the latest apology wasn’t enough to stop Bright from canceling Saturday’s rally.
Bright also said earlier press releases that called McKinney a heroine and included her name in big bold print didn’t mean the rally was going to be all about her. It was the message of the movie she was involved in that was being celebrated, he said.
Republican Party Chairman Bob Waechter said he was disappointed that Democrats were canceling their event with McKinney.

” The Democrats choose odd heroes, and those heroes always seem to energize Republicans,” Waechter said.

Wild Thing’s comment…..
OMG Please…. she is NOT wanted here! I about died when Nick saw this article in the paper this morning. That she even came here with her agenda makes my air less clean.
And then looking back she gets reactions like this as well. LMAO She is sooooo NOT right in the head. haha

More than two-thirds of the state House walked out of the chamber in protest today as Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Atlanta) spoke against the U.S. attack on Iraq and declared that President Bush “ought to be ashamed of himself.”
Ms. McKinney, speaking from the well on a point of personal privilege just 16 hours after the war began, called the U.S. attack the “most inane use of American will that I have witnessed in a long time.”
A dozen legislators immediately rose and left. They were followed by a steady stream of others, leaving less than 50 of the 180 seats occupied in the unusually quiet chamber.

“She’s in there talking trash,” said Rep. Fred Aiken (R-Smyrna) as he reached the hallway.

“George Bush ought to be ashamed of himself,” Ms. McKinney said. “I for one am not convinced that this is the most effective and productive use of American resolve and American will. I will not be led to the slaughterhouse for any one of George Bush’s reasons.”

After the 15-minute speech, Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) hugged Ms. McKinney in an anteroom. She said she had not expected the walkout but was not surprised.
–Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 17, 1991

Let’s review, then, what we know about the McKinneys:
~ When black people disagree with Billy Tauzin (her father) , they’re “Uncle Toms.”
~ When Cynthia McKinney disagrees with U.S. foreign policy, she gets up and starts ranting about how the president is leading us to the “slaughterhouse.”
~ During Cynthia McKinney’s 1996 campaign, her father calls her opponent a “racist Jew.”
~ When Cynthia McKinney loses loses her seat in Congress in 2002 because she took money from pro-terrorist donors, Billy Tauzin blames it on Jews.

When asked to explain his daughter’s political difficulties, he responded: “J-E-W-S.”

~ Cynthia McKinney then takes even more money from pro-terrorist donors to win back her seat in 2004.
~ When she (allegedly) evades security at the Capitol and then (allegedly) disobeys a policeman’s order to stop, Cynthia McKinney is entitled to hit the policeman — and then portray herself as a “victim.”

She’s worried about Haiti, she’s worried about Tupac Shakur, she’s worried about the Palestinians, she’s signing petitions for Mumia and Tookie, she’s blamed Bush for 9/11 and took campaign contributions from radical Muslims, she gets 3/4 of her campaign contributions from out-of-state donors — hey, Cynthia, have you ever thought of worrying about people in Georgia for a change?