Posted on 04/02/2004 12:43:50 AM PST by kattracks
But, as you suggest, the general thrust was that the Arabs burst forth from Arabia on their mission of conquest by the sword. The Byzantines stopped them for a time in the North, so they moved West across Egypt and Roman Africa. It had been a couple of hundred years since the West really fought (against Attila the Hun) and they folded like a cheap suit.
By LAUREN HOWARD
The Leaf-Chronicle
A representative from Mike Teague's security firm arrived at his Clarksville home at 1 a.m. Thursday to notify family members the former Fort Campbell soldier was one of the American civilians killed the day before in a grisly attack in Fallujah, Iraq.
Teague, 38, was always devoted to defending his country. He had returned from his military deployment to Iraq in December, but he still had more to accomplish, said friend Johnny Ratliffe.
So Teague applied for a position with Blackwater Security Consultants to provide security for food deliveries in the Fallujah area, according to a news release from the company. He left Clarksville two weeks ago for a four-month assignment.
"We will miss him beyond measure," Rhonda Teague, 30, said through a family friend last night. "Mike was a proud father, soldier and friend."
Teague, a former member of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, died along with four other Americans civilians Wednesday after they were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades. The men's bodies were mutilated and dragged through the streets.
Ratliffe tries to focus on his friend's mission, rather than his own anger.
"He was aware of the conditions. He volunteered his services to try to help more people," he said.
A Blackwater Security statement on the attacks read, "The graphic images of the unprovoked attack and subsequent heinous mistreatment of our friends exhibits the extraordinary conditions under which we voluntarily work to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people. ... Our jobs are dangerous and while we feel sadness for our fallen colleagues, we also feel pride and satisfaction that what we are doing makes a difference for the people of Iraq."
Teague was a 12-year Army veteran who received a Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan, his wife said in a statement.
He also served in Panama and Grenada and reached the rank of staff sergeant before becoming a reservist.
"It doesn't really change my opinion one way or another," said friend Johnny Masters of the U.S. occupation in Iraq. "I'm behind America whatever we do."
But it doesn't lessen his anger toward the killers. "Your first reaction is you want to go over there and blow up the whole city," he said.
Teague recalled as a man of faith and giving
Charlotte Myers said her friendship with Teague stemmed from a common love of softball, but over the years she considered him like her family.
"Mike was like one of my boys. He was a very giving person. He loved the game of softball. He loved life. He loved being out," she said.
Teague was the "prettiest boy on the playing field," Ratliffe said.
Myers said Teague showed much pride in his appearance and his equipment on game days. She said everyone used to joke about his tidiness, and once she asked him about it.
"Mike told me that he grew up with not having a whole lot and that taught him the value of what he did have," she said.
Myers said Teague liked working with children and helping them learn.
Masters, wrestling coach at Kenwood High School, said Teague had a gift with people.
"Mike was always the type of person that treated you like you were the most important person in the world," he said.
Teague donated many hours to the Kenwood wrestling program, of which his 16-year-old son is a member. "He was giving of himself to what he thought was right and expected nothing in return," Masters said.
He likened his friend's strength and dependability to the person holding your rope from a cliff top. "Mike would be holding my rope."
Friends said Teague, who was a member of Cumberland Drive Baptist Church, had a strong faith.
"Just before he left, he talked to me a lot about his family and what he wanted to do for his son and his wife," Myers said. "I know Mike was a Christian and he was doing what he loved doing. That's what helps get me through this."
Ratliffe said his friend echoed the sentiment in his last e-mail correspondence, which read, "I love what I'm doing," before signing off.
Staff writer Thomya Hogan contributed to this report. Lauren Howard can be reached at 245-0236 or by e-mail at laurenhoward@theleafchronicle.com.
Prayers for his family.
We don't have a bottomless supply of them, and we don't cover even every major military convoy with them. You'd probably be astonished if you know how few there are. More have been ordered and are being built.
Most of them are not armed. It is most useful as an ISR tool (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) although even there it has its limitations. (And yes, I have used it).
Our military may not have known that this contractors' convoy was even moving. I think it's interesting that Agence France Press was in position, though. Fallujah is not a major city. It's a small burb, a bump on the highway west of Baghdad. The reporters were there because they had prior knowledge of the attack, period.
The attack was carried out by a small group of men. Less than ten. The mutilations were done by a mob incited by the reporters and two or three adult ringleaders -- that's all.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
The [f]rench foreign minister and a [f]rench bank were deeply involved in the Oil for Food scam.
Modern [f]rench weapons were found in Iraq, manufactured after the sanctions, and fired in terrorist attacks.
[f]rance has precisely the "foreign leader" Jean-Fraud Keri claims endorses him, and it is to [f]rance that Keri would entrust our fate.
Coulter was less hyperbolic than previously thought in her cry, "Attack [f]rance".
There is an unholy alliance of al Qaeda, [f]ranco-Germanic Ameriphobes, and domestic demunists ululating over these incidents.
As AFP has chosen unwisely, let its reporters be embedded with Fallujahstan.
But we've only got guys in one hundred and twenty-three countries, with the Balkans, Western Europe, South East Asia and now the Middle East as temporary turned permanent military outposts.
As the greatest debtor nation in the world, we're not doing enough as 'peacekeepers' according to the American subsidized United Nations. Now we've got a world court telling us we can't kill Mexican who snuck into our country and murdered American citizens. We're taking it left, right, and sideways. Just can't seem to get screwed enough by so many good friends, now can we. We're paying for it in more ways than you can count on one hand. But hey, we're the most powerful nation in the world. Right? Wrong! We create the stuff, and never use it. We'd rather let our fighting men be used as a shooting gallery.
First time in history a military was made to lie with the enemy - get our collective throats slit, and call it a victory for democracy.
Time for a reality check, say I.
It is a comfort to know that Mike Teague was a Christian and is now with the Lord.
It better be!
Did you serve with this guy?
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