***Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - Day 17 - LIVE THREAD***

EVERYWHERE!!! | 5 APR 03 | An.American.Expatriate

[prairiebreeze]

It is really sad to think of the grief of the families and friends of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for country. I was thinking just last night of the holes that are now in the lives of those families. Holes that will never be completely mended and lives that will never, ever be the same again.

Devastating. And humbling. I pray every day for them.

Prairie

[Consort]

He's a phony, Tony.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

 

You're welcome, z.  FSU can't be all bad. (^;

 

More light reading:

Vet sends 40,000 decks of playing cards to soldiers

[prairiebreeze]

And speaking of terrorists:

"Bomb explodes in Afghanistan army base; five servicemen injured"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/886040/posts

Prairie--sigh

[Poser]

Do you think that's a substitute Tony? Hmm. We did see a picture of him today that didn't look like this Tony.

[Fracas]

They're everywhere! They're everywhere!

This is a quote from Karl Zinsmeister (AEI):

"Most of the media embeds, however, are typical reporters--that is, left-wing, cynical, wise-guy, Ivy League types, many with a high prima donna quotient. There are numerous studies showing that the major media are now nearly as liberal, politically and culturally, as university professors. And those are the journalists I've been seeing in a month spent in Iraq and Kuwait with the 82nd Airborne.

...Unfortunately, I have not seen the reporters here make much effort to earn greater trust with the people doing the dirty work of fighting. Many of the journalists in this war theater are bursting with knee-jerk suspicions and antagonisms for the warriors all around them. This is aggravated by their tendency to club together, passing far too much of their desert sojourn gossiping with fellow reporters, snidely mocking military mores, chafing at the little disciplines necessary in the military's life-and-death work, banding off as a clique to watch DVDs on their computers in the evening, rolling their eyes at each other when ideas like honor, sacrifice, or duty enter the conversation."

I know many think the embedded reporters have had a universal change of heart, but I'm more cynical. I think they're after a story, and when they return, the experience will fade into a rather long, bad vacation. One or two exceptions, perhaps, but they've had a lifetime to build disdain for the military, and many old habits are hard to break.

[nicmarlo]

Holes that will never be completely mended and lives that will never, ever be the same again.

All the pride in the world won't fill those holes....I hate war, I wish this war wasn't necessary.....but I love more that we have brave and willing men and women to protect us all from danger.....may we NEVER FORGET.

[ztiworoh]

It's gone down hill academically in the last 10 years, it's basically only a football-party school now

UF is similar, but still has a decent academic program, but it has 40,000 undergrads, which scares me a bit, which is why Im not going there. Plus Ive lived in Fl all my life andwant to see other parts of the country

[Consort]

Vet sends 40,000 decks of playing cards to soldiers

That is a big deal.

[Miss Marple]

Well, if that's how they're acting with the 82nd Airborne, perhaps when they cluster together to gossip en errant missile mught come their way.

I have no more patience with people like this.

[Fitzcarraldo]

The wind is now so strong it shook a car and triggered its alarm.

[nicmarlo]

Arnott reported these were the fiercest fighters, probably because they aren't from Iraq, have no place to go home to and define natural born killers.

I heard that, perhaps by Arnott the other day.....desparate people with hatred in their hearts are capable of doing the most evil and wicked things.

[null and void]

Seminoles OK use of name by Florida teams

Florida Indians aren't PC. (^:

No need to be. The Seminoles never signed a treaty with the US gov't. We're still technically at war...

[Catspaw]

"Bomb explodes in Afghanistan army base; five servicemen injured"

SOB! The Taliban want "their" country back. We are going to make sure they don't get it and terrorize those people again.

Somewhere on FR is a report a close friend of Hamid Karzi was killed yesterday as well.

[Texas Tea]

That wasn't the wind...it was the jets.

[aloysius89]

Good post. I remember I was mad about a reporter not bothering to learn the flashes of even the most famous units involved in this war. He was describing the yellow on black flash of the 7th cav and he didn't know who they were. I log onto Free Republic and somebody here knew what company it was (the Vampires).

Free Republic is the best.

[Howlin]

CNN's Nic Robertson, reporting from Jordan

Is this guy pretending to be in Iraq sometimes?

[prairiebreeze]

It's disturbing that somehow our base security isn't "foolproof". And I know nothing in life is. We're going to see plenty of this garbage in Iraq, I'm afraid.

Prairie

[null and void]

Kirk: Bones, what about Ensign Book?
McCoy: He's read, Jim.

[Chemist_Geek]

From the reports coming in, the fedayeen are at least half non-Iraqi (Bob Arnott reported this today)--they're coming in from Syria and Jordan (probably Palestinians, probably Hamas and Hezbollah), Sudan, Egypt and other countries with large Sunni populations--and a possibility some are al Qaeda or with al Qaeda affiliated groups. Arnott reported these were the fiercest fighters, probably because they aren't from Iraq, have no place to go home to and define natural born killers.

This may be a good thing; let all the Bad Guys get together in one place; it'll make our targeting easier...