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| Iraq |
| Michael Yon: General Petraeus visits Baqubah |
| 2007-07-10 |
| When distinguished visitors come to where the action is, it can be disruptive to the point of wasteful. I’ve heard commanders grumble all over Iraq about the steady streams of VIPs who, while intending to be seen observing operations, instead seize the mechanics with their clumsy footprint. These are called “dog and pony shows.” But on D+18, when a most important “visitor” came to Baqubah, not only did he not seem to cause a hiccup, but everyone I talked with was happy to see him. General Petraeus came to Baqubah on July 7, 2007, amid practically zero fuss. The day wasn’t much different from any other. Mine began with an unrelated mission with the Brigade deputy commander, from which we returned around noon. General Petraeus had lunch with commanders, followed by a couple of interesting briefings that the tag-along press — there for only those few hours — were allowed to attend. After the briefings, General Petraeus headed downtown to an area where many of the buildings had been made into bombs. Most VIPs will not dare leave base, but the top generals and command sergeant majors in this war all roll downtown taking their chances with getting blown sky-high. When I wrote the dispatch “Be Not Afraid,” I thought at least dozens of soldiers might be killed when we attacked on June 19, and that hundreds might be wounded. After years of experience, the terrorists had prepared Baqubah to an extent greater than either Fallujah or Ramadi had been. During one of the briefings Saturday, General Petraeus mentioned that Baqubah was probably the most rigged city of the entire war. Another officer at the briefing said there is so much explosives residue in Baqubah that the bomb dogs get confused. Since the beginning of Arrowhead Ripper — with the loss of one 3-2 SBCT soldier killed in action — troops found more than 130 bombs planted in ambush, about two dozen buildings rigged to explode, and more than half a dozen car bombs. (That’s only the beginning.) Yet street by street, house by house, step by step, the infantry soldiers cleared Baqubah, working under intensely stressful conditions. They cleared block by block, no place to sleep but the ground, no showers to wash away the sweaty grit of war. This combat-experienced brigade outsmarted the enemy. I’d like to say more, but the enemy will get no help from these pages. . . . |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #3 I saw Wallach go blank and silent. He stopped interpreting for a moment. I asked Wallach, “What did he say?” Wallach said that at these luncheons, the families were sat down to eat. And then their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family. If 'moderate muslims' cannot react to this, then genocide becomes a viable resolution. END Islam NOW ! |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-07-10 15:05 |
| #2 But on D+18, when a most important “visitor” came to Baqubah, not only did he not seem to cause a hiccup, but everyone I talked with was happy to see him. I think we [at least those of us who are actually paying attention to the real war and not the one painted in the MSM or by the Wormtongues] are witnessing real combat leadership not seen on the field of battle by a senior commander since Gen. Ridgway turn the 8th Army around in Korea after the collapse with the first Chinese offensive in 1951. In this case the collapse has been a political one in Washington, but the shift in strategy and operational execution by someone willing to go down into the line to show the troops that we can still beat the enemy, anyplace and anytime, has the stuff that in early times would have been 'the news' of the day. Of course, that was a time when the MSM thought of itself as part of the country, not agents of the enemy's war machine to demoralize the American public. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-07-10 13:27 |
| #1 Even for some of you who have seen inhumanity in war up close, reading the whole article, especially the end piece may be a little too much. Michael being ex SF's understands what his writing will mean if taken in context. But if it is true his interpretation of what the elder told him then we are certainly dealing with an enemy more monsterous and evil than anything faced before, including the Nazis or suicidal Japanese (i.e. Iwo Jima and Attu, etc.). The only way then is total annilhation of the vipers nest starting at about 53E-38N. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-07-10 11:30 |