Posted on 12/13/2004 3:35:54 AM PST by The Mayor
Read: Psalm 142
Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low. —Psalm 142:6
Bible In One Year: Hosea 12-14; Revelation 4
David was stuck in a cave (Psalm 142). Some Bible commentators think this was when he was running from King Saul, who wanted to kill him (1 Samuel 22:1). Trouble and troublemakers hounded him. Hemmed in by his circumstances and smothered by danger, he turned to God for help.
What cave surrounds you today? A cave of despair brought on by grief or illness? A cave of difficulties caused by your own poor decisions? Are you stuck in a cave of questions or doubts that rob you of joy and confidence?
Here's what David did when he was trapped in his cave: He asked God for mercy, he sought refuge in Him, and he promised to use his eventual freedom as a way to praise God. In the end, he looked forward to the comfort of fellow believers.
Complaint followed by faith. Desperation followed by praise. Loneliness followed by fellowship. We can learn a lot from a cave man. —Dave Branon
Morning Gail!
Good morning FReepers everywhere.
Good morning Mayor.................
Morning!
Good morning, Mayor! Thank you for the interesting information about the Hollywood Heroes.
Good morning, Mayor. Any snow yet where you are? Dreary and rainy here.
Good morning, Mayor, everyone. Winter has arrived in North Texas, finally.
Military families helping others
FAYETTEVILLE | Old hands in this military city have learned to cope when spouses and friends are called to duty with little or no notice.
As the holidays get into full swing, they’re also learning how to bring cheer to what could be a gloomy time for separated families.
Laurrie White invites soldiers and families to dinner during holidays when they’re away from their loved ones. Her husband, Norbert, a staff sergeant, has been deployed during three of the past four Christmases.
The Whites and their five children squeeze in holiday spirit when they can.
Last year, family members opened some gifts before Norbert White was deployed in early December. This year, the family rushed the wedding of one of his daughters, 19-year-old Tiffany.
“The Lord knew and made sure her dad was with her,” Laurrie White told The Charlotte Observer.
She said she worries more about younger wives who don’t have family around to comfort them. Some of the younger ones say they worry about wives who are raising children alone.
The advice from and for both: Ask for help.
Jane Bride learned that lesson over the past two Christmases, while her husband, Maj. John Bride, has been deployed.
The couple has spent much of their relationship apart: She is from Scotland and they met in Arizona, then decided to settle in New Hampshire.
Maj. Bride, a doctor, joined the military and was sent to Texas for training while his wife settled in Fayetteville. He had been on the job at Fort Bragg’s Womack Army Medical Center only three months when he received deployment orders.
While he was away, they exchanged frequent e-mail and spoke by telephone a couple of times a week – often about the difficulties of raising two children, under 4 years old, in an unfamiliar place.
“I felt alone and didn’t know what to do,” Jane Bride said.
She’s countered that feeling this time by becoming more active. She volunteered to call other spouses when the military passes along information. She’s also coaching another wife who is moving to Fayetteville while her husband is deployed.
And thanks to a cheap fare she found, she’s taking the children to her home – Glasgow, Scotland – during the holidays. Her excitement has given her husband something less to worry about.
“He realizes we’re going to spend New Year’s with family that we love,” she said. “It’s hard|er for them than it is for us.”
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2004 - One year after U.S. forces found him hiding in a
spider hole near his hometown of Tikrit, former dictator Saddam Hussein remains
imprisoned at an undisclosed location awaiting his trial on charges of war
crimes and crimes against humanity.
Saddam is in the physical custody of Multinational Force Iraq officials,
although the Iraqi interim government maintains legal custody, according to Air
Force Maj. Michael Shavers, a DoD spokesman.
The former dictator faced an Iraqi investigative judge July 1, and will be
tried according to Iraqi law, Shavers said. A panel of Iraqi judges will
determine his fate at the Iraqi Special Tribunal, yet to be scheduled.
Saddam's status as an enemy prisoner of war ended after an Iraqi judge notified
him June 30 that he was facing criminal charges under the Iraqi criminal code,
Shavers said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has visited Saddam twice since his
capture by U.S. troops : Feb. 21 and April 27, Shavers confirmed. Officials say
he is receiving appropriate medical care and is in good health.
The upcoming tribunal will bring closure to more than three decades of
brutality by the former dictator, who has been linked to hundreds of thousands
of Iraqi deaths. Removing him from power was a major objective of Operation
Iraqi Freedom, due to the threat he posed not only to the Iraqis, but also to
the region and the United States.
One year ago today, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, civilian administrator of
the then-Coalition Provisional Authority, uttered three words that brought a
close to the manhunt for the former dictator: "We got him."
U.S. forces captured Saddam, whom they found hiding in a manmade hole in the
ground inside a remote hideaway near the village of Adwar on Dec. 13, 2003.
About 600 members of the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, along with special
operations forces, had launched Operation Red Dawn after receiving intelligence
that Saddam was in the area. A tip from someone inside the dictator's secret
circle led the U.S. forces to him.
Saddam, who had eluded coalition forces since the war had begun March 19,
surrendered without resistance. No shots were fired during the operation.
He was discovered huddled with a pistol and $750,000 in U.S. currency. Also
with him were documents that outlined the structure of Saddam's network and its
financial network - information officials said offered valuable insights to
coalition troops.
President Bush said on that day the capture marked "the end of the road," not
only for Saddam, but also "for all who bullied and killed in his name." He said
during a televised national address that the capture "was crucial to the rise
of a free Iraq" and that it sends a clear message to Baathist holdouts in Iraq.
"There will be no return to the corrupt power and privilege they once held," he
said.
Bush assured the Iraqi people that "a dark and painful era in the history of
Iraq is finally over."
"You will not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again," he said.
"The former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions."
Shortly after the capture, Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central
Command, called Saddam's capture "a huge psychological blow" to the insurgency
that he said "will pay dividends over time."
"We've got a lot of fighting ahead of us," Abizaid acknowledged. "But this is a
big win for the young soldiers that made it happen, and for the young
intelligence professionals that are smart enough to put the information
together to lead us to the right place."
During his recent Dec. 7 visit to Camp Pendleton, Calif., President Bush
praised the Marines for their role in Saddam's capture. "You drove Saddam
Hussein from his palace into a spider hole," the president told a cheering
crowd of Marines and family members. "And now he sits in an Iraqi prison,
awaiting justice."
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2004 -- Three U.S. servicemembers were killed over the
weekend as Iraqi and coalition forces battled against continued attacks in
Iraq.
Military officials in Baghdad reported that a Task Force Baghdad soldier died
from wounds sustained following an improvised-explosive-device attack on a
patrol in northern Baghdad Dec. 11.
The soldier was evacuated to a medical facility and died later. Three other
soldiers were wounded and returned to duty.
Also, two Marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force have been killed
while conducting security operations in Anbar province. One Marine was killed
today, the other Dec. 11. For security reasons, the Marines provided no further
information about the attacks.
The deaths followed a weekend of repeated attacks by insurgents on Iraqi and
coalition forces.
In Mosul, Iraqi security and coalition forces repelled two separate attacks, in
which insurgents attempted to seize a police station and ambush a coalition
convoy on Dec. 11.
During the ambush, approximately 20 insurgents opened fire using rocket-
propelled grenades and small arms. Military officials reported 10 insurgents
were killed.
The ambush happened near an area where U.S. soldiers were destroying a large
weapons cache containing several roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and
ammunition.
In a separate incident, the military reported that Iraqi police successfully
repelled an attack by insurgents on a police academy in southern Mosul. And in
southeast Mosul, six people suspected of planning and conducting attacks
against Iraqi civilians working with the coalition were detained.
In other news, insurgents used mortars and rocket-propelled grenades to attack
Iraqi National Guard troops in central Baghdad today. No casualties were
reported.
Following the attack, a Task Force Baghdad patrol discovered two recoilless
rifles and two 155 mm artillery rounds outside a nearby mosque.
In Tikrit, 1st Infantry Division soldiers conducted "deliberate operations"
against anti-Iraqi forces in the Baqubah area on Dec. 11, military officials
reported.
Officials said that more than 50 individuals were arrested during "Operation
Centaur Backbreaker III Zeus."
Two other operations in the region led to five individuals detained and several
weapons confiscated.
They were heroes then, losers now!
The snow is working it's way toward us, ski country in the south will get 12+ inches today.
It's cold and starting to snow, this weekend we had a wet mix, it makes it hard to do siding on a house..
Good day to you Texagirl!
Winter in Texas? Can't be like winter in Buffalo.. : )
Bump to ya Dubya!
Thank you....
Snow at this time of year is nice and fitting so enjoy it. The crabbie family wouldn't mind having a white Christmas after everyone's driving is done.
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