http://northshorejournal.org/index.php/2007/10/lt-michael-murphy-usn

A great American

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001523.html

Once the last remaining 500 soldiers based in Basra city at the Basra Palace had withdrawn - early last month - the level of violence began to fall. Today, the difference is tangible. British troops no longer patrol in Basra, that role is now left to the Iraqi security forces, but they still transit through the city en route to the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Yet apart from the odd small arms fire, none of the troops so far have been attacked.
With all the troops now based at the Basra air station a few miles northwest of the city, they are no longer viewed as a provocative occupying force¦
The key to the change in atmosphere which led directly to Gordon Brown"s decision to cut troop numbers by half to 2,500 next spring followed a secret deal reached between a new Iraqi army commander and Shia militia leaders in Basra, senior British military officers told The Times¦
The reason why the Shia militia agreed to the secret deal was that General Mohan and General Jalil had both been appointed by Baghdad. It demonstrated to the Shia power-brokers in Basra that the government was determined to play a dominant part in the politics of southern Iraq, something the leaders in Baghdad had failed to demonstrate hitherto.
It needed two strong men from out of the Basra area to bash heads together in Basra and to persuade the rival and feuding Shia militia to stop killing each other and to leave the British troops alone. So far it has worked spectacularly well, although the rocket attack on the British airbase camp outside Basra on Monday evening was evidence that not all the Shia groups are happy with the Mohan deal.

BAGHDAD, Oct. 11 " In a number of Shiite neighborhoods across Baghdad, residents are beginning to turn away from the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia they once saw as their only protector against Sunni militants. Now they resent it as a band of street thugs without ideology.



Johan Spanner for The New York Times
A prayer book for a neighborhood council member from Topchi who was killed on Sept. 26. Residents blame the Mahdi Army.
The hardening Shiite feeling in Baghdad opens an opportunity for the American military, which has long struggled against the Mahdi Army, as American commanders rely increasingly on tribes and local leaders in their prosecution of the war.

The sectarian landscape has shifted, with Sunni extremists largely defeated in many Shiite neighborhoods, and the war in those places has sunk into a criminality that is often blind to sect.

In interviews, 10 Shiites from four neighborhoods in eastern and western Baghdad described a pattern in which militia members, looking for new sources of income, turned on Shiites.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/world/middleeast/12mahdi.html?ex=1349841600&en=99b9cbf75663ad43&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

If the military is supposed to win conflicts and not be "traffic cops" between warring factions and be lead by capable sensible leadership, then this article makes a lot of sense. No military individual wants to be lead by someone who does not know what they are doing... especially with foreign policy.

We need for the marines to remove that criminal from the White House and arrest the republican crime syndicate congress members and thier enablers.

The whole Corps can breathe easier now that the traitor Pace is gone.

On a side note. Anybody care about the number of civilians we have killed while trying to kill that one alleged terrorist. For every single terrorist we kill around 50 civilians. At this rate we will better Hitler in a few years.

10/11/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. Jason M. Lantieri, 25, of Killingworth, Conn., died Oct. 10 in Iskandaryah, Iraq, of injuries suffered during a vehicle accident Oct. 9. He was assigned to the 725th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne...

10/11/07 MNF: MND-C Soldier killed in eastern Baghdad
One MNC-I Soldier died of wounds suffered during combat operations in eastern Baghdad Oct. 10. The name of the Soldier is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release from the Department of Defense.

10/10/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Cpl. Gilberto A. Meza, 21, of Oxnard, Calif., died Oct. 6 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.

10/10/07 MNF: MND-B Soldier dies from non-combat related cause
A Multi-National Division " Baghdad Soldier died from a noncombat related cause in a southern section of the Iraqi capital Oct. 10. This incident is under investigation.

10/10/07 MNF: MND-C Soldier dies of non-combat-related injuries
An MND-C Soldier died from a non-combat related event Oct.10. The name of the Soldier is being withheld pending notification of the next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luLGWaEVJhs&mode=related&search= Heil Bu$h

Why does the US Marine Corps want to go to Afganistan so bad? Perhaps its because one can get the best poppies in the world there?

I want the Marines out of Iraq, too.

The Marines are war fighters.

The war in Iraq was over when Saddams' Army surrendered en mass - again.

The Iraqis are free of Saddam. They should be allowed to settle their own differences then proceed from the 13th century to the 21st, as soon as possible.

If they can't do it for themselves they can be another Somolia or Sudan for as long as it takes for them to get their heads out.

So exactly what do the Marines know about crop eradication and heroin labs?

The mission has mutated in Afghanistan from the hunt for alQaida to the hunt for poppies and heroin. Hardly the objective of an expeditionary invasion force.

Could it be that the Pentagon needs to give the Marines more experience at drug interdiction so that we can invade Colombia and Mexico?

Same old USMC...whatever glamor is available in a war, they want it for themselves. They'll gladly leave the poor old Army soldiers to keep hopelessly driving around Iraq waiting to be blown up by an IED.

I didn't read all the comments, but I'm astonished that nobody seems to have noticed the main point of all this.

PAY ATTENTION CLASS:

The Marine brass has moved to take themselves away from Presnit Boosh's direct command! They are asking to be under NATO.

The military is learning they are under the direction of an idiot who is dangerous and the Marines are the first to find a way out of that.

GOOD FOR THEM!

I've said for a long time that there are only two ways out of this administration's madness:

1 - Impeachment of them all

2 - Military refusal to accept illegal and stupid orders and to stand down because militarily there is no solution to this. There never was.

Now the Marines, smart warriors that they are, have found a third way - remove themselves from the direct command of this President!!!!

Something does not sound right.