New Video

Got some new video posted over at my MDG Video.

It is a montage of photos compiled while in I was in Iraq. I have many, many photos, and hopefully this will be the first of at least a few pictures slideshows I publish.

SCOUTS OUT!!!!

MDG...OUT.


UPDATE: The link above is now fixed. Thanks for the heads-up, Karl.

U.S. House Resolution

Click here to read the new resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives, about the fallacy of setting an artificial timeline for the redeployment of U.S. Forces from Iraq.

I believe that this is a very needed gesture, and it reads very well. Call your Congressman, and tell him or her to vote in favor of this resolution.

You can find their contact information RIGHT HERE.

Please, voice your support for this resolution. Call your Senator, maybe we can get something like this done in the Senate.

SCOUTS OUT.

MDG.....OUT.

Momentus..

Today, a significant leap towards democracy was taken in Iraq.

I won't re-hash the turnout numbers too much, except to say that the high turnout is a testament to the 'state of the war', that we are winning!! It says that people feel secure enough to go out and stand in line and not fear reprisals.

Sunni Arabs turned out en-masse, which is a considerable turnaround. Sunni's are seeing and understanding that they hold the key to their own freedoms in their hand, and, while sometimes fighting for it is the only option, voting for it and abiding by the decisions of the general populace is a pretty darned good way to go about deciding how your government should work, and who should be a part of your government.

Today is an especially good day for me, and should be for all the men and women who have served over in Iraq. Not just Americans, but everyone who is a part of the "Coalition of the Willing". Every person who has toiled, bled, sweated, and cried in the sands of Mesopotamia should rejoice today. Today is what we worked for. The groundwork laid by us has proven solid, and a democratic nation is being erected on that foundation. I spent a year of my life in Iraq, doing my part to secure the country, that democracy and free will might be given a chance to flourish in a part of the world where those things are rare, and to allow a formerly repressed people to live in peace. Every soldier wonders wether his contribution will be wasted, will the Iraqi people squander this opportunity we have given them?.
Today they raised their purple index fingers again and said "NO!!! We will not waste what you have given us!!!" A year of my life in that desert, and today I see that my sweat was not in vain. My fallen comrades blood was not spilt in vain.

A while back, on the first election day, in January, I wrote on my buddie's site, that the seed of democracy had been planted. A fitting analogy, as the fertile crescent is some of the most fertile ground in the world. In October, that seed of democracy pushed through the crust of the Earth and showed its green stems to the world, under sunny skies. Today, that young shoot has become a tree, and has begun to unfurl leaves, leaves that are red on top, black on bottom, and have green stars and arabic writing on a white center stripe. This tree will soon bear fruit, and that fruit will be sweet to the Iraqi people. Victory and Freedom.

I think back to the Iraqi guys who worked with us as interpreters. Doc, Jay, Bob, Omar, and Adam. I think about how they were on the last election day. I think about their purple fingers, and how Jay, in particular, made an effort to show his purple finger to every soldier in the platoon, and to shake their hand or hug them and show his appreciation that he was able to vote for his own life, to express his own free will.

Finally, I want to leave all you who oppose this war and our efforts in Iraq with this question:

How does unprecedented voter turnout and very sporadic attacks or violence look like we are losing??

SCOUTS OUT!!!

MDG...OUT.

Yes, I know I am a Nerd

 


Just wanted to post some gun pictures...this is my daily carry setup...the gun changes regularly, though. 

Can you believe...

Apple wants to charge a person $49.95 just to talk to someone about any problem you have with your iPod, if you call after the first 90 days you have had the thing.

Anyone know what the little icon on the iPod means if it shows an iPod with "x"'s for eyes and a frowny face, and a triangle with an exclamation point next to the picture of the iPod?? My users manual is in our conex that is somewhere between here and Kirkuk, and the online manual does not address that icon.

Anyone who knows anything about iPods, please HELP!!!

Scouts Out!!!


MDG...OUT.

"Dude, Where's the Beach" has a great photoshop up...

Here.

It really is exactly what needs to happen to Howard Dean.

Remember Pearl Harbor

Some people compared the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US to Pearl Harbor. An unprovoked attack on sovreign US soil. We went to war over it, and fought three different enemies, on all hemispheres of the globe. World War Two.






This was a illustration of our resolve after Pearl Harbor.

Where has it gone? Where has the American Fighting Spirit gone?? I know millions of us still possess it. I know millions of Americans support our effort. I want to know this:

What would have happened to someone back in 1944 or 1945 who, three years after an attack, and three years after we had been fighting our enemies, decided they had had 'enough' of the war, and wanted us to stop fighting before we completely defeated the Japanese or the Germans??

The poster says "OUR BULLETS WILL DO IT". That is the only way, sometimes.

 


Today is the 64th anniversary of the event that drew us into World War Two...the Japanese sneak attack against the U.S. Navy fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

My wife and I had the priviledge to visit the USS Arizona Memorial 8 days ago. It is an amazing tribute, steeped in reverence and remembrance. Having lived in Hawaii from 1994-98, I had multiple visits to the Memorial, whenever family would visit. This visit, although the memorial, the museum and the program for the tour has not changed, was more moving than it had ever been before. I am not sure why. Because I have seen war? I have seen tradegdy, loss, death, and the joy of seeing your buddy emerge from the cloud of black smoke and fire unscathed. Freedom is sweeter, a little more touching, to those who have seen the face of battle.

MDG...OUT. 

Ok, Howard, Enough Already

Howard Dean has really gotten out of hand. Seriously. If he has a leash and a muzzle, will someone courageous at the DNC (is that possible) put it back on him??

"Bring the 80,000 National Guard and Reserve troops home immediately. They don't belong in a conflict like this anyway."

Having been an Army Reservist and a current National Guardsman, he insults me and every citizen soldier who has or is wearing the uniform. He does not understand the structure of the United States Armed Forces and how our force works. Furthermore, his thinly veiled assertation that somehow the National Guard or the Reserve may not be 'up to snuff' enough to do the job correctly is downright incredulous. Every NG and AR unit has performed quite well over in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I've seen this before in my life. This is the same situation we had in Vietnam. Everybody then kept saying, 'just another year, just stay the course, we'll have a victory.' Well, we didn't have a victory, and this policy cost the lives of an additional 25,000 troops because we were too stubborn to recognize what was happening."

Somehow, Howard thinks that we will have 12 times the casualties in the coming years than we have had in the past three and a half.

Staying the course is the only option. The cowardly thing to do is to cut and run, to let the Iraqis take off in a plane with only half the rivets fastened and half the wires connected.

Does anyone else feel like I do on this subject?? The worst thing is that this man thinks that he speaks for America.

I believe that the anti-war, anti-Bush folks see that when we are successful in Iraq, that they will look like morons. They are now trying to make it so that we pull out of Iraq without finishing the job we have started, without completely defeating the terrorists and ensuring that the ISF can secure their own country, and if Iraq, after our pull-out, devolves into a civil war or similar totalitarian regime, they will say 'Look, we were right all along.'.

The democrats and the anti-war folks are seeing that we are going to win. When we do, they will have lost whatever credibility they might have now. They want us to fail, because success will invalidate every word that has come out of their mouths in the last 5 years.

I believe that many people oppose this war and this President for the simple fact that it is 'politically fashionable' or 'socially fashionable'. Honestly, who can think that freedom in not worth fighting for?? Do they seriously believe themselves?? Or are they saying sensational things to turn the spotlight upon themselves??

SCOUTS OUT!!!!

MDG...OUT.

One more thing:

Howard Dean, you make me sick.

Luau Time