Wednesday Hero Blogburst 5-5-2010

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918 (amended by act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Keith Dewayne Andrews, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action during the ground assault of Operation DESERT STORM. Sergeant Andrews showed extraordinary courage once he observed that air support had by-passed two Iraqi machine gun positions, leaving a Humvee with five soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division pinned down by enemy cross fire. Sergeant Andrews negotiated a minefield while fighting his way to the top of the enemy bunker, destroying it with a fragmentation hand grenade. Being out of ammo, Sergeant Andrews resourcefully obtained the enemy machine gun using it to fight his way up the second Iraqi fighting position. Over all, Sergeant Andrews single-handedly killed some twenty-five enemy combatants to secure two enemy bunkers. This allowed for the quick evacuation of the five wounded soldiers thus saving their lives. These brave and selfless actions of Sergeant Andrews bring great credit to himself, his unit and the United States Army.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

General Patraeus Awakens Comatose Soldier...

More heroism in this video than you can shake a stick at:

Buffalo, MN Welcomes Home its Heroes

I participated along with a hefty contingent of Minnesota Patriot Guard in welcoming home nearly 180 heroes after a year-long tour of Iraq. I was there to send them off a year ago, and was overjoyed to see that they all came home safe and sound!

The 353rd TC out of Buffalo came back home today, and it was an honor to be among these brave men and women!

Among the dignitaries to speak at the event were Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, and a representative of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

But, of course, they weren't the stars of the show...
And the look on this soldier's face as he hugged his loved one said it all...

Welcome home, men and women of the Armed Forces-- and our unending gratitude for a job well done!

Breaking News...

This is the stuff of Tom Clancy novels, but the sad part about it, it is also the stuff of real life.

For some time, now, I have been keeping in personal contact with an associate of a man whom he believes was assassinated in Iraq. By his request, I've been keeping the story under wraps for quite some time now, but that time is finally over.

THE death of an American arms dealer in Iraq has led to one of the most intricate and far-reaching inquiries into corruption among US military officers in Iraq. Some suspect that he was killed because he was a whistleblower who knew too much.

When Dale Stoffel, 43, was gunned down on his way into Baghdad at the height of the insurgency in Iraq, his murder appeared all too predictable. He was an adventurer who seemed to have met his end at the hands of jihadists while engaged in one of the riskiest businesses on the planet.

However, it has emerged that Stoffel had complained to US authorities about a multi-million-dollar contracting office where two senior American officers had worked. The two officers are now under investigation.

Stoffel’s death in 2004, along with that of Joseph Wemple, 49, his friend and colleague, had all the hallmarks of an assassination. His black BMW was found with the bonnet smashed and windscreen shattered in a grim part of the Iraqi capital near the banks of the Tigris.

David Stoffel, his younger brother, who worked with him at his company Wye Oak Technology, said: “Joe [Wemple] was shot once through the eye at long distance while driving at 90mph. My brother was shot six times, in the front, the back, the shoulders and the head.”

Shortly afterwards, a rambling tape from an unknown jihadist group called him a “CIA shadow director” and “close friend of George Bush”.

“It was exactly like you see in the movies, with the guy in the black and white headscarf,” David Stoffel said. “I think it was a setup.” Since his brother’s murder he has received several death threats, warning him to stay away from Iraq.

Dale Stoffel had the swagger of a soldier of fortune. “This is what I was born for,” he used to say. He knew how to lay his hands on weapons from former Soviet bloc countries and saw the opportunity for rich spoils in Iraq. He had reckoned without the huge scale of corruption, not just among Iraqis but at the heart of the US military, which was securing a $125 billion reconstruction effort.

“We didn’t mind not winning contracts – it was not having the possibility of winning contracts that was the problem,” said David Stoffel. “These people were taking bribes just to put names on the bidders’ list.”

Dale Stoffel’s whistleblowing and line of work earned him many enemies in Iraq, including prominent Iraqis and Middle Eastern contractors with whom he had done business. There is no suggestion that the two US officers were involved in his killing.

Stoffel had passed on hair-raising stories to Stuart Bowen, the special inspector-general for Iraq reconstruction, about pizza boxes stuffed with tens of thousands of US banknotes being delivered to American contracting offices in the guise of takeaway food.

There were dead drops for cash in paper sacks all over the green zone, from which the Americans ruled Iraq, and Stoffel claimed he had been swindled out of $25m owed to Wye Oak for refitting Saddam Hussein’s tanks and armoured vehicles so they could be used by the new Iraqi army.

Stoffel made sure his complaints were heard at the highest level. Before his death he sent an e-mail to a senior assistant of General David Petraeus, the US commander, pleading for tighter controls. “If we proceed down the road we are currently on, there will be serious legal issues that will land us all in jail,” he warned.

Read the entire story. And a watered down version of the story at the New York Times.

Suffice it to say that this is merely the beginning of a scandal that will not only touch high ranking officers in the military, but elected officials in high office, as well.

This story, as they say, is developing.

Stay tuned

***UPDATE***

This just in from my source:

A new letter was written to the Senate Democratic
Policy Committee...and just yesterday they removed
access on their web site to the hearing in which
they accused his ( family of treasonous actions. No
response to us...the other hearings
are still there...just gone...no retraction...
no appology...

let's just erase the page amd maybe no one will
notice it is gone even though it was there for four
months...and quoted all over the web.

As I stated before, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE 2/22/08, 8:22am
This post will be bumped and updated as events develop.

It happened in Iraq--did you hear?

A Gold Star mom received an email from a Marine who was present in Iraq's recent elections. Read about it at Knotties Niche.

V.I.DAY!!!

Congratulations to our men and women in uniform, their commanders, and to President Bush!

My heartfelt gratitude toward those who gave all.

Thank you for establishing a stable democratic republic in what was a hotbed of terrorist oppression and expansion!

To you, our armed forces, we, the citizens of the United States, owe you our full measure of debt and gratitude!

HOOAH!!

Coming November 22nd... V.I. Day!

Zombietime makes the case for why it is so.

"Joe American" for President!!!

A couple of sticking points (i.e., buying into the global warming meme, universal health care), but in toto a lot of ideas that are head and shoulders above the three stooges that are running for POTUS.

I'd vote for him, or his ideas, in a heartbeat.

Our troops....

...kicking some serious jihadi ass:


h/t Blackfive.

Pearls before swine.

Debbie Lee, the mother of the first Navy Seal to give his life in Iraq, speaks to the self-absorbed, maggot-infested ingrates at the Berkeley City Council:

(h/t Matt Lira)

More news to wreck your buzz (if you're a commie lib, that is)...

For starters, let's look here....

BAGHDAD — Violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion, finally opening a window for reconciliation among rival sects, the second-ranking U.S. general said Sunday as Iraqi forces formally took control of security across half the country.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the man responsible for the ground campaign in Iraq, said that the first six months of 2007 were probably the most violent period since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The past six months, however, had seen some of the lowest levels of violence since the conflict began, Odierno said, attributing the change to an increase in both American troops and better-trained Iraqi forces.

"I feel we are back in '03 and early '04. Frankly I was here then, and the environment is about the same in terms of security in my opinion," he said. "What is different from then is that the Iraqi security forces are significantly more mature."

I don't know, it wasn't all that long ago that the dems in Congress, including one John P. "We can't win!!" Murtha, said that Iraq was a quagmire... that "George Bush's go-it-alone war" couldn't be won; that nothing would change and it would only get more violent the longer that we were there!

And yes, it's gotten so violent that..

BAGHDAD - British forces formally handed over responsibility Sunday for the last region in Iraq under their control, marking the start of what Britain hopes will be a transition to a mission aimed at aiding the economy and providing jobs in an oil-rich region beset by militia infighting.

With the handover of Basra, an overwhelmingly Shiite region home to most of Iraq's oil reserves, nine of the country's 18 provinces have reverted to Iraqi government control.

"I came to rid Basra of its enemies and I now formally hand Basra back to its friends," the commander of British forces in Basra, Maj.-Gen. Graham Binns, said shortly before he added his signature to papers relinquishing responsibility for the region in Iraq's far south. "We will continue to help train Basra security forces. But we are guests in your country, and we will act accordingly."

Mowafaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, said his government was ready and called on Basra's citizens to work together.

Okay, dhimmikrats... I know you were not only hoping against all hope, but doing your level best to ensure defeat in Iraq so as to score a political victory for yourselves; but since it just ain't gonna happen, perhaps now's a good a time as ever to repeat after Emily Litella and just say,

"Never Mind!"

Yes, Virginia, there are Republicans with spines...

Despite the exponentially growing tales of success, there are "the fifth column" of our nation who hope against hope that they can undermine and evince failure of the efforts of our troops and the commanders on the ground in Iraq.

Specifically, Harry Reid continues to choose to completely ignore all the successes made via the efforts of our troops, continuing rather to engage in the rhetoric and propaganda of defeat at all costs. Said Harry "The Undertaker" Reid today,

"We simply cannot buy victory in Iraq. This year has been the bloodiest year in the history of the war."

Of course in that statement Reid refuses to acknowledge that the last few months, largely in part due to the efforts of our troops and their commanders, have produced some of the least number of civilian and military casualties since the war began!

And the willing shills over at CNN Radio News simply parroted Reid's propaganda on their top of the hour newscasts, with no mention of recent and not-so-recent successes.

Earlier this evening, I was at the SD 15 BPOU meeting, where I lamented that I see no Republicans countering the defeatist, seditionist rhetoric coming from Reid and the other traitorous democrat scum that inhabit the hallowed halls of Congress and the Senate.

Thoroughly dejected, I spent the night wondering when someone on the side of victory would come to the defense of our soldiers and their mission.

And then my friend Gary Gross came through and emailed me this tidbit from a floor speech by Senator Cornyn:

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Mr. President, I want to join my colleagues from Georgia, Senator Chambliss and Senator Isakson, in talking about the news from Iraq. It's important as we discuss the challenges that we still face and that the Iraqi people still face in Iraq to talk about the complete picture.

And unfortunately, while we have heard much of violence in Iraq and the challenges that face us, we have not heard enough about the successes that the American military and our Iraqi allies are meeting with in that country. It wasn't that long ago that the surge that General Petraeus, the counterinsurgency strategy that he is the architect of and which he has executed was called a failure on the floor of the United States Senate.

It's ironic, looking back, that sometimes it's helpful to go back and learn from history. You don't have to go back very far; actually just the summer and the spring of this year when leaders on the other side of the aisle called the surge a failure. And the most ironic part of it is that General Petraeus, who is the commander of the multinational forces in Iraq, at the time said we haven't even started the surge yet. So let me have a few months.

Well, General Petraeus has now had a few months, and the surge has now had an opportunity to make a difference. And in fact, there is much positive news to report. I have to think that the biggest mistake the nay-sayers have made is to bet against the men and women of the United States military. That's always a mistake, because the the American military men and women have demonstrated that they can accomplish the goals that they set out to do, and they are making a tremendous difference in Iraq in eliminating terrorist strongholds as we continue to train the Iraqi military to take our place.

And as I've always said, Mr. President, we all want to bring our troops home. The question is: are we going to bring our troops home based on conditions on the ground and the Iraqis' ability to secure and stabilize their own country or are we going to do it regardless of the consequences in a way that will create the potential for a failed state in Iraq, another terrorist haven, and encourage our sworn enemies in Iran and elsewhere, embolden them to think that America cannot be trusted and America will turn its back on our allies?

Mr. President, in May, one of our senior colleagues said the surge was supposed to bring stability essential to political reconciliation and economic reconstruction. But he said at the time it has not, and it will not. One short month later the Majority Leader and the Speaker of the House in a letter to the President wrote, "as many had foreseen the escalation has failed to produce the intended results. The increase in US forces has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation."

We even bore witness to atrocious ads run by organizations like moveon.org, slandering General Petraeus before he even had a chance to come here and report on the status of the surge in September. Well, Mr. President, the numbers don't lie. To the dismay of many Americans, some of my colleagues have chosen to conveniently gloss over and try to explain away the progress that's been made by General Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy.

Far from being a simple increase in troops we learned, General Petraeus' strategy was a new way to attack the enemy in Iraq. That is utilize support from both local Iraqi citizens and tribal leaders to form an offensive against insurgent and terrorist groups. And this strategy has met with a resounding success. It's become a common story but one worth repeating that Al Anbar province, a Sunni strong hold, was virtually overrun and lost to American and Iraqi forces, because Al Qaeda basically had its way with that region, had terrorized the people so much that they would not stand up and fight them, and basically were being held as victims of terror.

Now, the so-called 'Anbar Awakening' has occurred. Tribal leaders have come forward and volunteered their people to serve in the Iraqi police force and the Iraqi security forces, and now Al Anbar province has essentially been rid of organized Al Qaeda strong holds. "The Washington Post" editorial page on October 14 recognized decreasing violence in Iraq and noted that the evidence of a drop in violence in Iraq is becoming hard to dispute.

In September, Iraqi civilian deaths were down 52% from August and 77% from September. The Iraqi health ministry and the associated press reported similar results, and we are thankful that American casualties are down as well. Numbers recently released by the Pentagon corroborate the progress occurring in Iraq. In and around Baghdad, the DOD reports, terrorist operations are down by 59%. Operations targeting Iraqi forces, more than 60%. Car bombs are down by 65%. Casualties due to enemy attacks are down by 77%. And violence during this last Ramadan period was the lowest in three years.

But perhaps the most convincing evidence that things, good things are happening in Iraq is the fact that the Iraqi people are beginning to move back into areas that they had previously left behind, hopeless that peace and security could ever be accomplished. According to recent news reports, even cab drivers are feeling it's safe tore drive around Baghdad neighborhoods where sectarian violence one made it impossible for them to enter.

Perhaps the most telling story of increased security in Baghdad is one told by the Iraqi people themselves. According to an Associated Press article from this past weekend, thousands of Iraqi refugees who previously fled their homes in heir home country. While it's easy for skeptics to doubt numbers and statistics, it is nearly impossible to say not long ago Iraqis living in a foreign country now feel safe enough to come home. this clearly indicates that there are good things happening in Iraq. And around Baghdad. The AP reports that in a dramatic turnaround, more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the past three months as sectarian violence has dropped.

The article goes on to quote one refugee who returned home to his neighborhood of Qadra. In Qadra, he said, about 15 families have returned. He said, "I've called friends and family and told them it's safe to come home." Where there was one widespread fear among Iraqi citizens, we're now seeing something new -- hope. Hope for a better and safer future. Nothing confirms this more than the return of refugees and the testimony that they've given that it is becoming safer in Iraq, while not yet safe.

No one is saying that the job has been completed, but surely an honest, objective appraisal would acknowledge the improvements in the security situation in Iraq as de demonstrated not only by these statistics, by these testimonials from Iraqis themselves. These heart-warming accounts of families reuniting in neighborhoods which not long ago had been written off as hopeless and businesses opening their doors is an important lesson for us all.

This strategy employed by this new commander, General Petraeus, has worked, and it's continuing to work. The efforts of our military men and women who have put their hearts and souls into this mission are now paying dividends and producing results. These security gains are not a fluke. What we're seeing is a direct result of a carefully designed strategy which includes ramped-up counterinsurgency operations, increased efforts to foster cooperation and reconciliation among local tribes and our continued backing of the hard work of the American military and our support for their families.

As we're presented with funding requests by the Pentagon to bring about a stable and peaceful Iraq, we are ensuring that our soldiers have the resources they need to bring peace and stability to a tumultuous land. And my hope, Mr. President, is that we will not use the funding request from the Pentagon for continued support for our troops as another political football, as has been used in the past, particularly in the face of such hopeful and promising news, for which I would expect that we would be grateful and to thank our men and women in uniform and their families who have sacrificed so much to help bring this about, along with our Iraqi allies.

General Petraeus told reporters this past weekend that, in general, we think there are no Al Qaeda strongholds at this point. While he was quick to remind us that they are still a potent threat, his assessment of the progress in Iraq can be nothing but reassuring. Mr. President, I shudder to think of what would have happened had we listened to the nay-sayers months ago who said, we have to withdraw all our troops, even before the surge was able to be fully im implemented. So far, we have voted 59 times on Iraq-related resolutions, most of which are non-binding Sense of the Senate resolutions.

59 times we have voted, even before the surge had a chance to be implemented. Now we see once again what a mistake it is to bet against the men and women of the United States military and thank goodness those resolutions were not successful and thank goodness our American soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, coast guard were able to carry out this new plan under the leadership of General Petraeus, and we now see at least some hope in a land where hope was in short supply.

So, Mr. President, although many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle prejudged the surge strategy and continue to oppose our efforts in Iraq, some of whom call even today for cutting off funds to support our troops, we see now substantial evidence of progress, and it is my continued hope that these positive developments may yet change the tone of the national dialogue on the global war on terror, including the campaign in Iraq.

It's time for all members of this body to take an objective look, not through our political lens, not through a lens which sees only to the next general election, but look objectively at what our troops are accomplishing in Iraq instead of focusing only on the challenges. We should at least be honest enough to acknowledge the accomplishments. Not the least of which are the indisputable gains in security that have been made through their sacrifices. I, for one, am proud to recognize and applaud the undeniable achievements of our troops in Iraq.

Their hard work and their tireless dedication has reminded us that a stable and peaceful Iraq is within reach. It's my fervent hope that my colleagues will join me in acknowledging and honoring the successes achieved by our military personnel and renew their support for them, for their commander, and for the counterinsurgency strategy that is bearing fruit and to always remember their family -- families here at home who wait for their loved one to return as soon as their mission is accomplished.

So, I was happily wrong in my assertion that there are no Republicans with the cajones to stand up for our troops and their mission.

Rather, there is a media cabal that is so hellbent on pushing their agenda that they haven't the balls to present an opposing view that runs counter to their defeat-at-any- cost-so-we-can-crucify-Bush template.

Between the media and the democrats, I feel as if I have ceased being a citizen of America, and am instead a citizen of Wonderland.

The active sedition on the part of not only a critical mass of American citizens but of elected officials sworn to defend the Constitution is getting to be all too surreal.

Where the hell is the looking glass?

And yet another AQI scumbag bites the dust...

Read about it here.



And a good riddance to you, kind sir :)

Wednesday Hero Blogburst 9-26-2007

Welcome to this week's installment where all the member bloggers of Wednesdays Hero found in my sidebar and theirs collectively honor many of the real hero's found in this country who's names and bio's have been provided to us for these humble tributes by blogroll creators Indian Chris @ Right Wing and Right Minded along with HooahWife.

Many of our soldiers feature here are those that have paid the ultimate price for this country, protecting it both at home and abroad from the many threats we face from our enemies wishing us and them harm, and some are not thank goodness..

In both cases they are the real and deserved American heroes of today that we now simultaneously salute while offering prayers to them and their sacred loved ones. To join us in any way you wish to or see fit please start by reading the memorial post and dedication below.

Provided by Wednesday's Hero's Creator, heart and soul both Indian Chris and Hooah Wife:

Lance Cpl. Cory Jamieson

Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

Personal Security Detachment, Headquarters and Support Company, Task Force 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, attached to Regimental Combat Team 2

Hippocrates once said, "Art is long, life is short".

Cpl. Jeremy David Allbaugh lived a short life. But, he was immortalized recently in acrylics by a Lance Cpl. Jamieson who painted a mural in his honor.

"I feel sad because it is for him, but it makes me happy because I can still do something for him," said Lance Cpl. Jamieson. "I thought about it during the ceremony in the chapel. I looked up at the stained glass windows and I thought 'I should do something like that'".

Along with help from family, a fellow Marine and a Morale, Wefare and Recreation manager, Jamieson had the paint and tools needed.

"I would paint eight or nine hours in the gym and time would fly by," Jamieson said.

Cpl. Jeremy David Allbaugh, 21 years old from Luther, Oklahoma, was killed by a roadside bomb on July 5, 2007 while conducting combat operations in Qaim, Iraq.

"He believed very strongly in what our country's doing," said his mother, Jenifer Allbaugh. "They were doing good things over there, and we don't see that in the news or media. There's a lot of progress being made. I wish more people would talk to our boys who are in it and not our politicians because they see it firsthand".

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go
here.

(Graphics and layout courtesy of ChicagoRay!)

Text of the Petraeus Report...

...can be found here.

A copy of the slides he utilized can be found here.

Not that any of the dem leadership will bother to read it.

After all, one should be careful not to confuse them with the facts.

An Open Letter to Senator Coleman

Dear Senator Coleman:

I am asking this both as a constituent, and as one whose son sacrificed nearly two years of his young life serving in Iraq: With all due respect, would you and Senator Warner quit trying to micromanage the Iraq conflict?

Your call for troop withdrawal, as "symbolic" as it may be, should not be yours, Senator Warner's, Senator Reid's, nor any other senator nor congressman.

That call should be made by the Commander in Chief, in consultation with the generals on the ground.

I can see no reason for your call for a "symbolic" troop withdrawal, other than for political calculation.

You seem to be trying to walk a fine line between pleasing the rabid anti-war folks who will settle for nothing less than unqualified defeat, and those of us who want to stay the course until the mission is complete.

In reality, you are "pleasing" neither side. In reality, you are only complicating things with rhetoric. Our enemy in Iraq (and, incidentally, around the globe) needs to hear the unequivocal message that there is no chance for him to succeed. He does not get that message when he hears heartening news that micromanaging politicians in the United States want to remove the force that is keeping him from achieving domination of Iraq and its oil-rich resources.

In the midst of what can only be called unqualified successes with regard to the surge, your timing couldn't be worse. Let the surge take its course; let General Patraeus and President Bush make their rightful decision of when it is proper to pull our troops.

Sincerely,

Leo Pusateri
St. Cloud, Minnesota

The end of the Insurgency in Iraq?

See Captain Ed's post for more on this heartening development!!

Al Douri has made moves to recognize the Maliki government, and thus the greatest bloc of insurgency may be no more!

AQI, who has been bombing the hell out of women, children, and a host of innocent Iraqis is now marginalized to the point of extreme isolation. Right now, it appears that dogs wouldn't join them if pork chops were tied about their necks!

It is indeed a time for celebration-- (or a time of mourning, depending on which side of the aisle you're on).

HORRIBLE NEWS!!! (if your name is Harry Reid)

From here:

US: Top al-Qaida in Iraq Figure Captured

The U.S. command said Wednesday the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested, adding that information from him indicates the group's foreign-based leadership wields considerable influence over the Iraqi chapter.

Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid, was captured in Mosul on July 4, said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a military spokesman.

Hear that sound, Harry Ried? It's the sound of your political fortunes going down the tubes when, despite your best efforts, our soldiers succeed in Iraq!

Vote for Christian Bagge!

Vote for SSG Christian Bagge

Finalist in the
Energizer "Keep Going" Hall of Fame

http://www.energizerkeepgoinghalloffame.com/

Click the link, click on 'Vote Today',
chose Christian's picture and follow the directions.

Vote through August 1, 2007.

To read Christian's story, click here

h/t Gazing at the Flag!

Pat Dollard's MAXIM interview

Read the whole thing at Pat Dollard.com.