Posted on 03/10/2008 7:40:58 AM PDT by neverdem
Mosul, Iraq
Men crept in darkness to plant a bomb. They moved in an area where last year I was helping to collect fallen American soldiers from the battlefield.
Terrorists. The ones who murder children in front of their parents. The ones who take drugs and rape women and boys. The ones who blow up schools. The ones who have been forcibly evicted from places like Anbar Province, Baghdad and Baqubah by American and Iraqi forces. Terrorists are here now in Mosul. They call themselves al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). AQI cannot win without Baghdad, and cannot survive without Mosul. The Battle for Mosul is evolving into AQI’s last great stand.
And there were the men planting the bomb. It is unknown if the men with the explosives were al Qaeda, but they were planting a bomb and that was enough. Many terrorists murder only for money. Like hit men. They might have nothing against the victim. It’s just business. Although understanding enemy motivations is key to winning a war, out on the battlefield, such considerations can become secondary, as divining the motives of a would-be killer is less important than stopping him.
The bombers were being watched. Invisible to them, prowling far overhead, was a Predator.
The Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) whose eye sees through the darkness. The night sky is the jungle where it hides. The Predator strikes with more suddenness and force than any tiger. I often watch the live feed streaming down into the Tactical Operations Centers (TOC) around Iraq, while crosshairs track the enemy, and the screen lists data such as altitude, azimuth, ground speed, and the precise grid coordinates of the target. The Predator carries a deadly Hellfire missile, but also has other weapons, like the crosshairs on its eye, which...
(Excerpt) Read more at michaelyon-online.com ...
No else over there even comes close to the caliber of his work.
L
Mr Yon is a worthy successor to Ernie Pyle!
Wow. Who is this guy, Yon? Never heard of him, but that was great writing. Put me right there.
A great account!
mark
Check out his site. He’s been in and out of Iraq quite a bit and is taking great pictures and writing great stories.
I second that.
God bless our brave men and women. Shield them in the goodness of your everlasting and divine protection. In Jesus name, amen.
bump
ping
Michael Yon is the best.
I don’t know why I have a full chair at my desk, cause i was only using the front part of it while I was reading this.
Thank God for our fighting men and women and for Michael Yon.
Ernie Pyle is smiling up in heaven. His ring has finally been passed to Mr. Yon.
We need a special tax on Priuses (PRIAI?), mountainbikes and Birkenstocks to buy more of these wonderful machines and to train more crews.
Another great article from Yon.
He is an outstanding writer and analyst.
Godspeed to all our brave men and WOMEN fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Michael Yon is completely and studiously ignored by the Lamestream media for all of the obvious reasons. If they recognized Michael it would only serve to show how totally inept and cowardly their own reporting is. They would much rather continue to sit in the Green Zone and make stuff up that follows the quagmire BS that their editors expect and demand.
Not only is Yon a true patriot, he has a real gift for writing, something that is missing from both the NY & LA Slimes.
Go to Michael Yons website and sign up for a free e-mail notice of new dispatches.
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/
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