Posts Tagged ‘Iraq’

Daniel Foster at The Corner had a link to a photo essay of EOD teams from Iraq and Afghanistan which reminded me of one of the most outstanding photo’s of the Iraq War and that is……

Injured Marine Defies Attackers (1 finger salute)

Once Marine Gunnery Sgt. Michael Burghardt realized he could wiggle his toes and fingers, he had one message for the insurgents who wounded him – defiance. Burghardt, of Huntington Beach, Calif., disarmed two bombs that were found – quick action that probably saved the lives of several Nebraska soldiers. But he couldn’t get to a third.

Photo by Jeff Bundy of The Omaha World-Harold on assignment with Dave Kotok in Iraq. September 2005

There is no actor who can or could portray the heroic and defiant action of Marine Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt.

Also see: Gunnery Sgt. Michael “One Finger Salute” Burghardt Update

Iraq, EOD, Marine Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, Hurt Locker, Oscars

Will Muslims ever stop with their assault on the ‘Joos’? I am so sick of ISLAM and it’s followers. A Christian nation (that’s the United States, contrary to Obama’s statement that the U.S. is not a Christian nation)liberates Muslims from a murdering tyrant and these Muslims revert to their same old perverted culture of destruction. We expend our soldier’s blood and sacrifice to help these people and all they can do is turn on the ‘Jooooos’. And then Muslims wonder why Christians are suspicious and distrustful of them. This reprehensible action is what turns Christians against tyrannical Islamic states. This reprehensible action is what promotes the idea in U.S. that we all would be better off just nuking every Islamic state off the earth. I’m sick and tired of these people and their 7th century beliefs.

Here’s the latest move by those ‘peace’ loving Muslims in Iraq.

Iraq wants to turn ancient Jewish tomb into mosque

Some 2,500 years ago the prophet Ezekiel presented his Prophecy of Dry Bones, which according to various interpretations hailed the salvation of the Jewish people. According to recent reports, Iraq is currently trying to remove the Jewish traces from the prophet’s tomb and turn it into a mosque.

Ezekiel the Prophet, whose prophesy was recorded in the Book of Ezekiel, lived in Babylon at the time of Solomon’s temple. Tradition has it that he is buried in the village of Al Kilf, south of Baghdad, and followers of the three monotheistic religions continue to visit his tomb to this day.

“I received information from a senior Iraqi scholar pertaining to the local authorities’ intention of turning the tomb into a mosque under the guise of ‘preservation’ of the holy site,” says Professor Shmuel Morre, former head of the Arabic Language and Literature Department in the Hebrew University.

“The man who provided me with the information stressed that the Iraqi antiquities department has been under heavy pressure to erase any proof of the Jews’ connection to Iraq,” he notes.

Iraq also contains the tombs of the Ezra the Scribe, the Prophet Jonah and King Zedekiah. According to Prof. Morre, who himself was born in Iraq, his colleague informed him that local authorities have already began erasing Hebrew inscriptions off Ezekiel’s tomb in order to turn the site into a mosque.

For hundreds of years the tomb has been under the care of leaders of the Jewish community in Iraq.

Currently the country contains only eight Jews. The rest have become Muslim or are in hiding for fear of being murdered by terrorists upon embarking on a Jewish pilgrimage.

There’s this story along with this news about Iraq’s new dictator. Even though this is from the CATO Institute which was against the Iraq war from the beginning and pretty much has had nothing good to say about it there is some disturbing information in the story.

A New Dictator?

Barring Sunni candidates is not the only action by the Maliki government that has seemed high-handed. Over the past few months, the authorities in Baghdad have repeatedly cracked down on the Awakening Councils, the Sunni groups that the United States helped create and generously funded as part of the surge strategy in 2007 and 2008. The arrests of hundreds of Awakening Council members, including several prominent leaders, have fueled suspicions that Maliki aims to create a Shiite dictatorship and engage in payback for all the atrocities that Saddam’s regime committed against the Shiite population.

But signs of Maliki’s authoritarian tendencies are not confined to actions directed against the Sunni minority. Indeed, some of his actions suggest that he aims to be an equal opportunity autocrat. Over the past year, the government has harassed and attempted to muzzle the news media and anyone else it considers a critic. Officials have launched lawsuits against journalists and their employers for allegedly libelous (broadly construed) comments. The Maliki government also pushed through a law to close media outlets that “encourage” terrorism or violence. Even worse, that law imposes the same penalty for encouraging “tensions”—a vacuous category that essentially allows the government to ban media critics whenever it wishes.

If those measures weren’t enough, there are now new rules (with virtually unlimited discretion given to authorities who review the applications) to license television satellite trucks, censor books, and control internet cafes. Reuters concluded that such measures evoke memories of “the laws used to muzzle [the media] under Saddam Hussein.”

Maliki is certainly not yet as ruthlessly authoritarian as Saddam, but the trend is not encouraging. At a minimum, Iraq seems to be on the path to becoming what Fareed Zakaria aptly describes as an “illiberal democracy.” That outcome was hardly what U.S. leaders had in mind when they touted the Iraq mission as a success.

This is a result of a disconnected Obama foreign policy. Obama was not and never has been a supporter of the Iraq conflict. His response to this is neglect. Obama is more than happy to try to take credit for a successful surge that he opposed but is unwilling to continue what is needed to guide or coerce the Iraqi government to grow into a liberty loving government and society.

Iraq, Ezekiel’s tomb, Islamic state, Iraq dictator, Obama, Islam

Here are the facts prepared by the Victory Institute:

SEAL 3 Special Courts-Martial
Last Updated: Jan. 11, 2010

3 SEALs from SEAL Team 10 are charged with allegedly abusing an al Qaeda detainee Ahmed Hashim Abed
• Most-wanted al Qaeda terrorist, captured by SEALs in Sept. 1 nighttime raid
• Suspected mastermind of 2004 ambush on Blackwater security contractors
◦ All 4 were former commandos, including a former SEAL
◦ Men were shot, burned, desecrated, and hung from a bridge

Extent of Injuries, Lack of Evidence
• Military charge sheets(1) state his wound amounted to a punch in the stomach
• Al Qaeda training manual(2) tells members to claim they have been tortured and mistreated
◦ Documented that detainees abuse themselves and each other to accuse their captors
• Medical personnel determined that the injuries were not from the operation
◦ Source says3 that Abed was armed during his capture (no shots were fired)
▪ SEALs could have hit him then, but didn’t
◦ Abed was initially turned over to the Iraqi police
▪ If Abed’s alleged abuse took place, how do they know the SEALs did it?
• No corroborating evidence(4)
• Military has been withholding evidence like photographs, medical reports5

The SEAL 3:
• SO2 Class Matthew V. McCabe, 24, of Perrysburg, Ohio
◦ Only SEAL charged with striking Abed
• SO 1 Julio A. Huertas, Jr., 28, of Blue Island, Ill.
◦ Charged with impeding an investigation
• SO 2 Jonathan E. Keefe, 25, of Yorktown, Va.
• All SEALs charged with dereliction of duty and making a false statement

Judicial Process
• SEALs were initially faced with “Captain’s Mast” (Article 15)
◦ Non-judicial punishment – Commanding officer determines their guilt
▪ Viewed as an admission of guilt
▪ Permanent mark on their career
▪ Could have ended their career as SEALs
◦ SEALs opted for trial by courts-martial
▪ Could face up to a year in military confinement, discharge for bad conduct, and forfeiture of two-thirds of their pay for a year
▪ Could also be exonerated
• Military and political leadership’s handling has already had a negative effect6 on our national security
• Instead of being treated as heroes, they are being tried as criminals
• Where is the line between being awarded a medal and being court-martialed?

Now, the military judge has moved the trial of 2 of these SEALs to Iraq so the Iraqi terrorist will be able to testify lie about the alleged abuse.

SEALs should face accuser during trials, military judge rules

If the government won’t bring a suspected Iraqi terrorist to the United States to testify about alleged abuse at the hands of a Navy SEAL, the trials of two commandos accused of not safeguarding him will be held in Iraq, a military judge ruled Monday.

In back-to-back hearings at Norfolk Naval Station, Cmdr. Tierney Carlos said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe and Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas each deserve to face their accuser – alleged terrorist Ahmed Hashim Abed.

Continue reading

Previous Post:

Support The SEALs

Free the SEALs, SEAL Team 10, Ahmed Hashim Abed, SO2 Class Matthew V McCabe, SO1 Julio A Huertas Jr, SO2 Jonathan E Keefe

A nice New Years gift to the members of the Blackwater team who were accused of killing civilians in Nisoor Square incident in Baghdad in 2007. Two of the members of this team, Dustin Heard and Nick Slatten, are from Tennessee so a big Happy New Year to both of you and your family. This has been a travesty of justice from the get go, when you’ve got DOJ prosecutors with a grudge going after the employees of a specific company, Blackwater.

Here are some previous posts regarding this story:

Justice “shoehorning the facts” to indict Blackwater Contractors

Justice Dept. Advising Iraqis to sue to Blackwater???

Website now set up for Indicted Blackwater Contractors

Blackwater Down

Judge Dismisses Blackwater Case

A federal judge cited repeated government missteps in dismissing all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in a case that inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed the case against the guards accused of the shooting in a crowded Baghdad intersection in 2007.

How these Blackwater guards ever get back their reputations or careers after this legal assault by these prosecutors is the question?

Raven 23, Nisoor Square Incident, Donald Ball, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nick Slatten, Paul Slough, DOJ, Iraq