[An.American.Expatriate]

PLEASE SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC

Donate Here By Secure Server

Or mail checks to
FreeRepublic , LLC
PO BOX 9771
FRESNO, CA 93794

or you can use
PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com

Become A Monthly Donor
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD

[Unknown Freeper]

Are we there yet?

[Maedhros]

I wonder how many replies I'll get to this post.

[umbagi]

Another great job, Expat. Thanks! I hope everyone scans all you've put up in this new one.

[Sacajaweau]

US Coast Guard??

[ChadGore]

"deeply"

[prairiebreeze]

Nice page. And so it begins another day. Prayers and humble gratitude going out to all allied coalition service members. Let Freedom Ring!

Prairie

[Mo1]

FOFL ... LOVE IT!

[TomGuy]

Did I hear right? Did Shep just call Saddam's palace Kelly's Palace? That'll chap Hussein's rear...lol.

[angelwings49]

Um, could we gals see the pic of SPEC OPS GUY?? Pretty Please???

[reformed_democrat]

Good Morning, All.

Checking in later than usual, and was wondering if anything further had been said about Allan's post #3917 from yesterday's thread regarding the retired Russian generals running the Iraq offensive.

'Retired' Russian generals Atelov and Matsov have been in charge of Iraqi command and control. That is why no communications from Iraqi command and control have been intercepted since the start of the war. The Russians have been directing everything.

[nicollo]

I don't have cable, and I don't have DSL. That is to say, as I peek over my rock for the first time today, I wonder if the incident of killed journalists yesterday has yet been described as "friendly fire"?

My guess is never. We've lost too many to this oxymoron, and I don't see why it doesn't apply to this one -- other than to fulfill an agenda. Had we the 24-hour head-bang over U.S.-to-U.S. losses?

The press righteousness disgusts me.

[Prince Charles]

Shep Smith just decided to lecture his viewers the constitution and freedom of the press, and how the poor slobs at the Palestine hotel are being gagged (in effect) by Iraqi minders. And that we all show bow down and thank them for being there for us. He even equated their service with that of the actual guys doing the fighting.

Excuse me, Shemp, but the journalists in Baghdad were warned on multiple and continuing occasions that the city is a war zone.

Your argument does not hold up.

[quietolong]

Follow up to Afghanistan helicopter crash...Crash victims identified

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/887755/posts

[Centurion2000]

bump

[TheConservator]

Shep Smith, media cheerleader.

[Kip Lange]

A little bit of blatant heartwarming anecdotal story from the embed in a unit w/ a family friend (it's a day late, but I love the story) -- taken from www.pilotonline.com (as far as I know I'm not violating anything here by posting this, please feel free to take it down if I am, or excerpt, Admin Mod)


Marines receive welcome surprise in ''enemy'' town
By DENNIS O'BRIEN, The Virginian-Pilot
© April 9, 2003
Last updated 10:11 PM Apr. 8

AMARAH, Iraq -- The Marines of Charlie Company did not sleep well Monday night.

The next day's mission was their most serious yet -- a probable tank battle with an Iraqi armored division in this city on the Tigris River. That night and the next morning, many Marines talked openly about the possibility of dying.

At dawn Tuesday, the company rolled out, a vanguard of a task force planning to attack the Iraqi tanks. But not much goes according to plan these days, and that's not always such a bad thing.

When the convoy approached this alleged enemy stronghold, the company was hit, all right -- by an army of jubilant children that mobbed the Marines like they were rock stars.

``Mis-tah! Mis-tah! Bush good!'' they shouted at the stunned Marines.

Charlie Company spent the next four hours wading through swarms of children asking for candy and men offering cigarettes -- hardly what the Marines had prepared themselves for in the hours leading up to the assignment.

``This place is a zoo,'' company commander Greg Grunwald said as he tried to make his way through the crowd after they realized he was the leader.

After a little research, Grunwald discovered what had happened.

``There is no enemy,'' Grunwald said. ``The general got shot yesterday and they quit.''

American airstrikes on the tank division outside town had killed or wounded its general and persuaded the soldiers to desert. About the same time, the townspeople apparently had thrown out the ruling Baath party officials.

That left the task force facing a welcoming party instead of a firefight. As the people of Amarah clamored around the light armored reconnaissance vehicles, laughter filled the air.

Among the throng was one boy who knew a bit of English, and how to use it. ``What's your name?'' he would say over and over. His payoff was having a disproportionate number of packs of Big Red and Dentyne gum thrown his way.

Many of the smaller children were nudged out of the way by bigger kids, but the patient ones were rewarded with M&Ms.

Some of the adults offered smokes to the Marines. Others asked for whiskey -- of which there is none, much to the Marines' chagrin.

For the first couple of hours, women and girls hid in the background. But once it was clear that Charlie Company meant no harm, little girls began jockeying for position among the boys and men. Their mothers and older sisters hung back near the doors to their houses, but they waved enthusiastically as the Marines moved through town.

The corpsmen of Charlie Company had come to Amarah expecting to patch up battle wounds, but instead they wound up treating Iraqi residents for conditions such as chicken pox and asthma.

In all, it was a touching scene for many of these tough-guy Marines.

``I was talking to all the little dudes, just teasing them and stuff and laughing,'' said Lance Cpl. Brian Norman, 19, of Troy, Mont. ``There was this cute little girl back there -- she couldn't have been more than 6 or 7. I just waved to her and she got pushed to the front of the crowd, and the next thing you know she's all talking to me in Arabic. I was surprised they let me talk to her.''

For days, some in Charlie Company had been lamenting the lack of combat action. But after Tuesday's surprise ``engagement,'' most of the Marines seemed relieved.


``It was like the kind of liberation scene they show in war movies,'' said Lance Cpl. David Ploughe, 21, of Cloverdale, Ind. ``Stuff like this makes me glad we're here.''



Staff writer Dennis O'Brien is with Task Force Tarawa in Iraq. He has been with the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based Marines since they left the coast of North Carolina in mid-January. You can reach him at dobrien@pilotonline.com

[TomGuy]

Looks like the Iraqi citizens are trying to drive the Coalition forces out with smiles and waves.

Aaaahhhh, it is kind of nice to see them looting the fed/Saddam buildings--freedom.

The liberal media/hollerweirds/Dems are going to have a difficult time with this. Some mornings it just sucks to be a liberal!

[TomGuy]

but...but...but....Reuters said.....


U.S. Land Advance Could Pause for Weeks - Military

Posted by HAL9000
On 03/30/2003 3:11 AM CST with 49 comments

Reuters | March 30, 2003
CENTRAL IRAQ (Reuters) - Some U.S. troops said on Sunday they had been told a pause in land advances toward Baghdad could last several weeks. They said they were digging trenches, laying mines around camps and camouflaging vehicles, but that the aerial and artillery bombardment on Iraqi positions in and around Baghdad would continue unabated. "It looks like they are going to be in this position for at least two weeks, the sergeant says," said a Reuters reporter with U.S. forces in central Iraq.

[TomGuy]

Lady on CBS webcam....

"there's anarchy in many parts of the city"

[Lady, it's called LIBERATION from TYRANNY.]

[TomGuy]

Am betting that, within a week, the following will "surface":

"Ahh had a plan to get Saddam. Ahh missed him by just that much [finger and thumb showing approximately 1/2 inch of space]."

If you thought x42, you are a winner. Opppsss Achmed Mohammed just took off running and smiling down the street of Bagdad with your prize.