Posted on 05/20/2007 7:22:55 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
"If we don't finish this, it will follow us home," Command Sgt. Major Neil Ciotola says about the mission in Iraq. As the senior enlisted leader for the Multi-National Corps - Iraq, he oversees more than 158,000 service members and serves as the principal enlisted advisor to the commanding general, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno. Ciotola gave his assessment of the situation in Iraq as well as candid observations on the troop surge, Congress' vote to establish a withdrawal timeline and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's recent comments on the war.
With 31 years in the U.S. Army, Ciotola is on his third deployment. He called from Baghdad and spoke recently with Tribune correspondent MyLinh Shattan.
Tell us about your role as the Command Sgt. Major? My responsibility is to keep discipline in the corps, provide advice on all enlisted matters for soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. I provide perspective to the commander of troops on the ground. Most of the time I'm out of headquarters rather than in. I returned from Kirkuk where I was conducting ground operations along with them. I provide assessments on the way ahead, and I physically represent the commander on the street. You can't have general officers running around so I do that for him.
What did you see in Kirkuk? In Kirkuk one brigade combat team of approximately 5,000 multi-service personnel has a profound effect on one of the larger geographic zones in the theatre. Kirkuk stands in stark contrast to things here in Baghdad. Things in the North are quite beautiful. There are huge portions of cultivated land. It's not a dangerous place. Though one of the FOBs had mortar fire, in that part of Iraq the streets are clean; a lot of essential services are being performed. Iraqi police forces are by every measure very professional. They embrace American counterparts and don't wait on them to get out into operations.
How is troop morale in Iraq? Morale depends on the nature of the operation that day. If you have good intelligence and go out and capture a bad guy, you accomplish something; you feel good about yourself. If you're sitting inside an observation post for a four-, six- or eight-hour shift in body armor in 120- to 135-degree temperatures, it's not that good.
When soldiers are executing non-kinetic operations, like helping build a school, supplying medical services for a community, they feel great about doing stuff. When you turn on pumps that turn on fresh water where there never was any before, those especially are uplifting. When you work with Iraqi Army counterparts and they exhibit a greater sense of self-confidence; that's very gratifying, and it sustains you for another day.
How has the troop surge affected the situation in Baghdad? For the general populace, it's safer. I won't say there aren't murders every day. I get the report from military police and operations center that murders are down. Whenever we see Americans here, people sense it's OK to come outside. In some places, we let soldiers take off their body armor for a little while. Based on what I see every day, the numbers prove that we've achieved a modicum of success. But I won't say it's time to strike up the band.
In Kirkuk, issues center around the Kurds. You don't have all the issues associated with the melting pot we call Baghdad. As you move into Al Anbar, you have violence which is prevalent. I'm not trying to paint a rosy picture. Fortunately, they're buying into what the Marines have done out there; the Americans are trying to do some good. People think there's more murder, oppression, deaths if they side with AQ [al-Qaida] or AQI [al-Qaida in Iraq]. There's a lot of power-brokering going on.
With so many combat troops on the ground in Baghdad, we represent a target-rich environment for the bad guys because we're everywhere. But part of the payoff for having us on the ground all the time is I can go into various neighborhoods, and when you see paratroopers and infantryman on the ground in force, you see shops open, people going about with a "life is OK" type of atmosphere.
What's been the reaction to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's comment, "this war is lost?" I saw that reported and for the second time in many days I felt compelled to pull out my sidearm. I won't mention any names, but I'm downright disappointed; it's debilitating when I see what's going on back there. It would appear they only get a small piece of it. What we see is in stark contrast to what they see back home. I won't say this won't cost us more if we commit ourselves. I would just ask the elected constituency to keep in mind there's a time to be partisan, but there's a time you just need to shut up and keep committed.
I wonder if the same folks that are supposed to represent us today had been alive during the American Revolution, if they would have exhibited sufficient amounts of character to see that through. It's frustrating. I talk to privates, buck sergeants; we experience one thing, then see something else on TV.
A senior officer told me, "Don't watch TV, you won't get an ounce of truth out of it. It's all bad news."
How do you feel about the congressional legislation mandating a timeline for withdrawal? I was with a young private driving me around in Kirkuk who asked, "If we leave now, why did we commit ourselves if we don't have the commitment to see it through?" What did I tell the family of sergeant so-and-so who was killed here a couple days ago? We're playing to party policy. That's not just me, it's the young people. These men and women are phenomenal; they are self-effacing to a fault. It's called DUTY, a four-letter word. If they were that opposed, if this was a hopeless cause, why do 99.7 percent come back from leave?
There's a perspective back home that the sky is falling. Now, don't get me wrong, in Diyala, the infantry and cavalry, they all have one heck of a fight on their hands, but they're not quitting. We just had nine killed in Diyala, but they'll say, "Don't you dare think about pulling us off the line." These are men that have been out there fighting. They're the testimonial that people should be paying attention to. Every day that goes by that we do what we do, we give this country a chance.
Anything else you wish to share? One thing strikes me as profound: We're in our 5th year in this war in Iraq. Every time I go out, I get shot at; I'm not going to tell you otherwise. I don't worry for me; I worry for the youngsters. Even while our travels take us everywhere - Basrah, Mosul, the Syrian border, all the way out to the Iranian border, Ramadi, Kirkuk, Tikrit - everywhere you go, there are kids that wave. What makes them wave? We can't be evil.
I'd like to add one more comment. I believe if we don't finish this, it will follow us home.
MyLinh Shattan can be reached at mylinh@mylinhshattan.com.
ping
People need to understand the agenda of Islam is total world domination under a fascist state. It took over 70 years to defeat communism. It will take as long or longer to defeat Islam. This is going to be a long war. Get used to it.
Democrats = Al Qaeda = Increased Iraqi/US Troop Death Count
US Military/Contractors = Victory = Heroes
I like your math.
No more Viet Nams.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1806555/posts?page=8#8
"BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi militant group has produced an elaborate video of what it said were attacks on U.S. troops, in the latest example of the increasingly sophisticated propaganda war being waged by Iraqi insurgents.
The U.S. military said earlier this week that recent intelligence indicated al Qaeda in Iraq was refining its strategy by producing propaganda and adding a political base to its violent campaign of suicide bombings.
Lifting scenes from Michael Moore’s anti-war film “Fahrenheit 9/11”, Rashedeen’s narrator taunts President Bush in softly spoken English over graphic images of Humvees being blown up by roadside bombs, and purportedly dead U.S. troops."
Micheal Moore’s agent was none other then Congressman Rahm Emanueal’s brother Ari Emanuel who is a ______, well I'll let you decide for yourself.
“Manufacturing Censorship
Posted by Lee on 05/03 at 01:34 PM • E-mail this to a friend
David Hardy emails over a link to this revealing article on the relationship between Michael Moore, Miramax, and Disney over the F9/11 distribution controversy.
With the presidential election heating up, Moore needed to get his movie into theaters. Although Weinstein had told Eisner and Murphy that he planned to sell the film’s distribution rights after it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, Moore had a more expedient strategem. On the Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD, Moore says he resolved to get the film seen in America “by hook or by crook.” His hook was censorship.
On May 5, 2004, the New York Times ran a front-page article headlined “Disney Is Blocking Distribution of Film That Criticizes Bush.” The story included the sensational charge that Eisner “expressed particular concern that [choosing to distribute Fahrenheit 9/11] would endanger tax breaks Disney receives for its theme park, hotels and other ventures in Florida, where Mr. Bush’s brother, Jeb, is governor.” The source for this allegation was Moore’s agent, Ari Emanuel. Two days later, Moore claimed on his Web site that Disney’s board of directors rejected Fahrenheit 9/11 “last week.” In fact, the Disney board had not made such a decision in 2004—the project had been vetoed in 2003.
Moore’s excursion from reality proved a boon at Cannes. On May 22, 2004, the Cannes jury defied putative efforts to censor Moore by awarding Fahrenheit 9/11 the prestigious Palme d’Or. Moore now had a golden palm in his hand and the media at his feet—with more free publicity than any Hollywood studio could afford to buy, Fahrenheit 9/11 now stood to rake in a fortune. And Disney, which still controlled the movie’s rights through its subsidiary Miramax, now got to decide who was going to profit from it.
Read the whole article. It’s right in line with everything we’ve been saying here at MOOREWATCH for the past year or so: that the entire “censorship” controversy was manufactured as a marketing ploy, and that the gullible media and Mikey’s gullible fans believed every word of it.”
May 3, 2005 post
http://www.moorewatch.com/index.php/weblog/C18/
What's been the reaction to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's comment, "this war is lost?"I saw that reported and for the second time in many days I felt compelled to pull out my sidearm.
Uh-oh.
Watch out Command Sgt. Major Ciotola. A JAG lawyer will be calling on you soon. How dare you have a sidearm! And then 'threatening' to use it?!?!
My God man, do you think you're in a War or something???
(semi sarcasm off)
bttt
“If we don’t finish this, it will follow us home”
The most important line in the whole interview.
The muzzies won’t stop until they have everything, whether it takes 20 minutes or 2 centuries. The demonrats are just postponing the inevitable when they want to turn tail and slither home. And when the muzzies are over here blowing things up, the ACLU will be sure we can’t do anything to stop it then, too.
The lefties I know think this is a Middle Eastern problem that will never affect us here. If we don’t stop the muzzzies bad behavior now, a lot more kids will get killed later. One way or the other.
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Another Command Sgt. Major of note: “WE WERE SOLDIERS” Sgt. Major BASIL PLUMLEY
(See 1st Photo)
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set3.htm
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Bump
“If we don’t finish this, it will follow us home,”
HOO-AH!!
And Custer WAS a pussy!
HOO-AH!!!
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Quitting a then Free South Vietnam and then cuttng off all funding for it’s fight for its own Freedom against invading Communists from the North =
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Pictures of a vietnamese Re-Education (SLAVE LABOR) Camp
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts
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..”JOURNEY from the FALL”.. MoviePremieres = Fall of Saigon CLARITY..
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1806248/posts
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What Price to pay now by the still Free, I wonder, in a new time of war with our own Freedom now directly at stake right here at home..?
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12 Million suddenly missing Iraqi purple voting fingers on our TV Screens for starters..?
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BET ON IT.
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http://www.Freerepublic.com/~anita1/
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~aloharonnie/
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set1.htm
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003705064&zsection_id=2002107549&slug=haditha13&date=20070513
Please don’t go, Haditha mayor tells U.S. Marines
“The people of Germany and Japan would not have made progress without the Americans,” Mayor Abdul Hakim M. Rasheed told the U.S. Marine officers who recently came to his heavily guarded home. “The people of Iraq deserve the same.”
The Marines, including three generals, assured Rasheed that they had no plans to abandon him and his city. Don’t be distracted by the political debate in Washington, they urged Rasheed, who listened and nodded.
Since 2004, Iraq’s western al-Anbar province — the center of the Sunni-led insurgency — has been the most dangerous part of the country for U.S. forces. But Marines here have been experiencing a respite in recent weeks. Attacks against Marines and soldiers are at their lowest point in four years.
In the six weeks since his battalion arrived, Lt. Col. James Bierman, commanding officer of the 1st regiment, 3rd infantry, has seen only five of his troops wounded and none killed; the battalion that preceded his suffered 24 killed and 230 wounded in seven months.
But Marine commanders are convinced the current lull will pass. They predict a counteroffensive by insurgents in the Euphrates River valley, possibly including attacks on civilians and U.S. forces....
In 2004, Marines twice pulled out of Haditha to fight in Fallujah. Both times, insurgents took bloody revenge on residents who had cooperated with the Americans. Some were rounded up, marched to the town’s soccer field and executed.
As Marine commanders reassure Rasheed and others that they will not be abandoned again, their strategy can be described as “more”: more engagement with tribal sheiks, more efforts to train Iraqi security forces, more troops, more patrols to find and rout members of al-Qaida in Iraqi and other insurgent groups, and more positioning of Marines amid the civilian populace.
Excerpt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh1dWrf-k_E
From an Army Rangers mouth about Iraq
Yes, they are patient, and yes, they want it all. People like Ron Paul and the libs are fond of telling us 9/11 was our fault because of all the bombing. They don't stop to think that one of the MAIN reasons they attack us is because of what they perceive as cowardice. Read Osama's "fatwa" from 1996:
However, when tens of your solders were killed in minor battles and one American Pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you. Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge , but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut , Aden and Mogadishu.
If we do as the left wants, we invite more attacks, most likely far worse than 9/11. These people hate much about us, but they despise cowardice (real or perceived) far more than anything else.
“The muzzies won’t stop until they have everything, whether it takes 20 minutes or 2 centuries. The demonrats are just postponing the inevitable when they want to turn tail and slither home. And when the muzzies are over here blowing things up, the ACLU will be sure we can’t do anything to stop it then, too.”
All too true. The thing is, there’ve been so many times I’ve gotten my hopes up, so many times I’ve thought, “This is it. The American people won’t stand for this,” and then the American people have just greased up and bent over again...
I’ve had my hopes raised and dashed so many times that I have hopelash.
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NEVER FORGET
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“WE WERE SOLDIERS” - The REAL Deal
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...Using lessons learned there, one of our fellow Veterans from the Battle in the Valley of Death known as a then Free South Vietnam’s IA DRANG Valley of November 1965...
...Lt. RICK RESCORLA went on to accurately predict the Attacks of 9/11 and give up his own life while saving 1,000’s on that Day of Infamy:
http://www.RickRescorla.com/The%20Statue.htm
http://www.ArmchairGeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24361
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NEVER FORGET
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Yes, the Democrats and the media are doing an extraordinary job of trying to demoralize our country.
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In a written letter released to the world’s media in early 2003...
...OSAMA bin LADEN himself defined this new World War as being:
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“It’s now...
...the Communists & Muslims of the World
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verses
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...the Christians & Jews of the World”
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I'm sure there were Marines, and Soldiers, including more than a few Generals, who said the same thing to mayors and other leaders in South Vietnam. Sadly, it's not their call.
Whoa there Sgt. Major, that sort of statement can get you in deep do-do, especially if there are any JAGs around when you say it..
Not that I don't feel the same way, but I'm a PFC (Private FReeping Civilian), unless they choose to pull me off the retired reserve list, in which case I'm a Captain, and have a little more leeway.. although in this case not so very much more.
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