[antimedia] antimedia: One Marine's View has published....

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Posted by antimedia:
One Marine's View has published....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1168230504.shtml


   ....a [1]must read email from a Marine in Iraq. Here's some excerpts
   that caught my eye.

     Most Surreal Moment â Watching Marines arrive at my detention
     facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be
     exact. We had put the word out earlier in the day to the Marines in
     Fallujah that we were looking for Bad Guy X, who was described as a
     midget. Little did I know that Fallujah was home to a small
     community of midgets, who banded together for support since they
     were considered as social outcasts. The Marines were anxious to get
     back to the midget colony to bring in the rest of the midget
     suspects, but I called off the search, figuring Bad Guy X was long
     gone on his short legs after seeing his companions rounded up by
     the giant infidels.

   ......

     Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province â Any Explosive Ordnance Disposal
     Technician (EOD Tech). How'd you like a job that required you to
     defuse bombs in a hole in the middle of the road that very likely
     are booby-trapped or connected by wire to a bad guy who's just
     waiting for you to get close to the bomb before he clicks the
     detonator? Every day. Sanitation workers in New York City get paid
     more than these guys. Talk about courage and commitment.

   This made me immediately think of my reader, EOD Dan, who may be
   somewhere in southwest Asia right now, defusing terrorist IEDs. Dan,
   if you can read this, you're in my thoughts and prayers and I look
   forward to your return which we will celebrate at Ruth's Chris Steak
   House.

     Biggest Surprise â Iraqi Police. All local guys. I never figured
     that we'd get a police force established in the cities in al-Anbar.
     I estimated that insurgents would kill the first few, scaring off
     the rest. Well, insurgents did kill the first few, but the cops
     kept on coming. The insurgents continue to target the police,
     killing them in their homes and on the streets, but the cops won't
     give up. Absolutely incredible tenacity. The insurgents know that
     the police are far better at finding them than we are â and they
     are finding them. Now, if we could just get them out of the habit
     of beating prisoners to a pulp...

   As we say in Texas, some of them probably needed beatin'......

     Highest Unit Re-enlistment Rate â Any outfit that has been in Iraq
     recently. All the danger, all the hardship, all the time away from
     home, all the horror, all the frustrations with the fight here â
     all are outweighed by the desire for young men to be part of a band
     of brothers who will die for one another. They found what they were
     looking for when they enlisted out of high school. Man for man,
     they now have more combat experience than any Marines in the
     history of our Corps.

   Love to see the liberals explain that......

     Biggest Hassle â High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work
     than a rocket attack. VIPs demand briefs and "battlefield" tours
     (we take them to quiet sections of Fallujah, which is plenty scary
     for them). Our briefs and commentary seem to have no effect on
     their preconceived notions of what's going on in Iraq. Their trips
     allow them to say that they've been to Fallujah, which gives them
     an unfortunate degree of credibility in perpetuating their
     fantasies about the insurgency here.

   The more things change......

     Biggest Outrage â Practically anything said by talking heads on TV
     about the war in Iraq, not that I get to watch much TV. Their
     thoughts are consistently both grossly simplistic and politically
     slanted. Biggest Offender: Bill O'Reilly.

   Yep, O'Reilly is an ass.....

     Best Chuck Norris Moment â 13 May. Bad Guys arrived at the
     government center in a small town to kidnap the mayor, since they
     have a problem with any form of government that does not include
     regular beheadings and women wearing burqahs. There were seven of
     them. As they brought the mayor out to put him in a pick-up truck
     to take him off to be beheaded (on video, as usual), one of the Bad
     Guys put down his machine gun so that he could tie the mayor's
     hands. The mayor took the opportunity to pick up the machine gun
     and drill five of the Bad Guys. The other two ran away. One of the
     dead Bad Guys was on our top twenty wanted list. Like they say, you
     can't fight City Hall.

   We need a few mayors like that here....

     Proudest Moment â It's a tie every day, watching our Marines
     produce phenomenal intelligence products that go pretty far in
     teasing apart Bad Guy operations in al-Anbar. Every night Marines
     and Soldiers are kicking in doors and grabbing Bad Guys based on
     intelligence developed by our guys. We rarely lose a Marine during
     these raids, they are so well-informed of the objective. A bunch of
     kids right out of high school shouldn't be able to work so well,
     but they do.

   You want to know the real deal? Talk to the guys who are dodging
   bullets. They don't have time for BS nor patience for fools.

References

   1. http://www.onemarinesview.com/one_marines_view/2007/01/the_secret_lett.html