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By Buzz Patterson

Operation Arrowhead Ripper, as the latest American offensive is called, has successfully swept into al Qaeda-infested Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad, killing and capturing hundreds of terrorists.

The battles in Iraq and Afghanistan time and time again have resulted in significant, but often untold military successes.

Realities on the ground often go unnoticed or under-appreciated.

The American soldier has often lacked a voice to articulate his mission and his successes amidst the cacophony of defeat in Congress and public opinion polls.

I invited warriors to weigh in with their perspectives, interviewing hundreds of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, many on the battlefields of Iraq.

Together, their interviews constitute much of War Crimes: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy the Military and Lose the War on Terror. And the picture they paint of their fellow citizens at home is anything but rosy.

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Author: Michael Kraft
The Charlotte Conservative News
Published: June 23, 2007
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The Time Magazine Debacle

It is interesting to note just how erroneous the media’s reporting on that incident was as exemplified by Washington Post reporter Ellen Knickmeyer who six months later took the word of a so-called “Iraqi witness” from Haditha and reported that the men in the cab “happened upon the scene inadvertently” while riding in the
cab.

Nat Helms is author of a new book, “My Men Are My Heroes” which provides an account of the incredible bravery of Sgt. Brad Kasal in the second battle of Fallujah.

He [Helms] stated that Knickmeyer wrote about a witness who said that the taxi driver turned onto the street and saw the wrecked Humvee and the Marines, and then the cab driver tried to back away at full speed. The Marines opened fire from about 30 yards away, killing all the men inside the taxi. Dela Cruz reportedly pumped his 30-round M-16 magazine into the car when they tried to run.

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Japan changes Iwo Jima name

By Hans Greimel – The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jun 20, 2007 14:58:05 EDT
  
TOKYO — Japan has rechristened the island of Iwo Jima, site of one of World War II’s most horrific battles, with its prewar name in an attempt to rectify a misnomer proliferated for a half-century by such movies as Clint Eastwood’s “Letters from Iwo Jima.”

The new name, Iwo To — pronounced “ee-woh-toh” — is the same as that used by the island’s original inhabitants and the one still preferred by residents in the area. It was adopted Monday by the Japanese Geographical Survey Institute in consultation with Japan’s coast guard.

The change was championed by surviving islanders evacuated during the war, who wanted to reclaim an identity they said had been hijacked. But others said the overhaul cheapens the memory of a brutal campaign that today is inextricably linked to the words Iwo Jima.

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By Kimberly Johnson – Staff writer Marine Corps Times
Posted : Thursday Jun 21, 2007 5:57:26 EDT
  
Marines are getting too comfortable at their dug-in bases in Iraq, the Corps’ top officer told an audience at the Naval War College on June 13.

“Due to the available infrastructure in the Al Anbar and the longevity of our presence, Marines are getting used to living at fixed bases and with more comforts of life than we really need,” Commandant Gen. James Conway said in comments provided to Marine Corps Times.

Larger, more fortified Marine bases in Iraq, such as Al Asad Air Base in Anbar province, have amenities that stand in stark contrast to more remote outposts. Those amenities include a post exchange, fast-food restaurants and a movie theater.

Keeping the Corps light and agile in combat is an increasing challenge, Conway said.

“Because of the force-protection requirements in the Middle East, we are getting ‘heavier’ in terms of vehicle weight and equipment,” he said.

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http://www.insightmag.com/ME2/Default.asp
(To read the entire article you have to have a subscription to Insight)
 
U.S.  agent says Iraqis led him to Saddam’s WMD
By William Hargrave
 
There were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when Americans invaded in 2003.
 
This claim comes from Dave Gaubatz, who served for 12 years as an agent in the U.S.  Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations.  He says he was “hand-picked” to locate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 

Between March and July 2003, he identified several of Saddam Hussein’s WMD sites in the immediate aftermath of the Iraq invasion.
 
Where were they?  Huge caches were located within the city limits of the southern Iraqi city of Nasariyah, and were also discovered in another location 15 to 20 miles south of Nasariyah between two canals and near Um Qasr in the Basra region 284 miles south of Baghdad.
 
Some of this information has been published by The Spectator (London), The New York Sun, and other U.S.  newspapers and Internet news sites.  But the mainstream media have chosen not to inform readers and viewers of the credible reports of WMDs discovered in Iraq.
 
According to these reports, Saddam’s WMDs were apparently smuggled to Syria, Iran and other destinations under the nose of American forces. 

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