Yon: Drilling for Justice

Drilling for Justice: Michael Yon's latest from Baquba and Operation Arrowhead Ripper, an operation that might have gotten ripped because of remarks made by senior military officials. Unfortunately, it sounds like they were ours. The 24 hr media and satellite dishes and all. There's a question of how many of the AQI leadership escaped because of it...there are also incredible stories like these:

Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) had tarnished its name here by publicly attacking and murdering children, videotaping beheadings, all while imposing harsh punishments on Iraqi civilians found guilty of violating morality laws prohibiting activities like smoking. The AQI installed Sharia court had sanctioned the amputation of the two
“smoking fingers” for those who violated anti-smoking laws. In part because local sentiment was shifting against it, AQI synthesized with other groups and undertook an image makeover, christening itself “The Islamic State of Iraq.” But the new name was just lipstick on a pig here.

On the evening of the 24th I spoke with a local Iraqi official, Colonel Faik, who said the Muftis would order the severance of the two fingers used to hold a cigarette for any Iraqis caught smoking. Other reports, from here in Diyala and also in Anbar, allege that smokers are murdered by AQI. Most Iraqis smoke and this particular
prohibition appeared to have earned the ire of many locals. After an American unit cleared an apartment complex on the 23rd, LTC Smiley, the battalion commander, reported that residents didn’t ask for food and water, but cigarettes. In other parts of Baqubah, people have been celebrating the routing of AQI by lighting up and
smoking cigarettes.

Other AQI edicts included beatings for men who refused to grow beards, and corporal punishments for obscene sexual suggestiveness, defined by such “loose” behavior as carrying tomatoes and cucumbers in the same bag. These fatwas were not eagerly embraced by most Iraqis, and the taint traveled back to the Muftis who sat in supreme judgment. Locals, who are increasingly helpful in pointing out and celebrating the downfall of AQI here, said that during the initial Arrowhead Ripper attack the morning of the 19th, AQI murdered five men. Townsend’s men found the buried corpses behind an AQI prison, exactly where they’d been told to look for the group grave. Locals also directed Townsend’s men to a torture house. Peering through a window, American soldiers saw knives, swords, bindings and drills. AQI is well-known for its macabre eagerness to drill into kneecaps, elbows, ribs, skulls, and other parts of victims.

There's so much more at the link. God bless the troops.

Yon: Death or Glory

This you gotta read. You simply must.

Death or Glory: Part I of IV: A Special Dispatch for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The latest dispatch from Michael Yon...

Searing and powerful as always. In a SMALL BATTLE IN THE MEDIA WAR, Michael Yon writes about the Brits 4/18 hand over of the Maysan Province to Iraqi control. An event that was lost in the mediasphere coming as it did during the Virginia Tech massacre.

"Some of the biggest battles in Iraq today are being fought not with bombs and bullets, but with cameras and keyboards. For whatever reasons—and there are many—today, when Western media is most needed here, it’s nearly gone."

Read it all, my friends.

From Michael Yon.

There must also be those who see tragedy.

Why we are in Iraq.

Announcing the effort to be lost does not help our cause.

[Book from the college library: highlighted electronically.]

Our new plan in Iraq involves our soldiers getting out more with the Iraqi people. A first test of its viability comes as a group of soldiers set out to meet their neighbors.

Our soldiers hand out these tip-line cards to local Iraqis.

Glints of the future: I look at the kids for clues to what their parents think about us. A few minutes from the Babel College—now COP Amanche—Iraqi families were waiting outside their homes for a chance to talk with soldiers from the 1-4 Cavalry

Iraqis love to show off their kids. Grandparents, mothers and fathers kiss their babies.

No translation is needed.

Kiss from Grandma: Iraqi women can be very funny about the showing off of their kids. The grandmother wanted to hold the baby, but mom came out and asserted her place.

There were many family members around, and though the men were happy to see us, they seemed skeptical that we are going to stay, voicing concerns that our soldiers have come there before, but not stuck around. As soon as the Americans leave, the terrorists move back in, which leaves the locals in the middle of what amounts to a gang war, and we are one of the gangs.

There's lots more at the link and as Michael says:

Thank you to bloggers for any links. There is no need to be here getting shot at unless people at home see the photos and stories of Iraqis, and our people at war.

Courtesy end link here. You gotta go there.