Free Republic

Families of American troops are asking national newspapers and television news networks not to ignore the three-year anniversary Sunday of the day Saddam Hussein fled Baghdad and his statue was toppled. "We are keenly aware that the national media is drawn towards covering milestones and we respectfully request that you not ignore this historic date," Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission wrote to four news network presidents, National Public Radio and four national newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 8 — They were a father and son shopping for a car for the young man, a family ritual as common as any in the United States. It was unfolding on a recent evening here, though, to the cadence of distant gunfire and explosions. Aadel Kadhem, 43, and his 23-year-old son, Mohammed, walked around a pair of black BMW's, opening the doors, staring through the windows. Aadel Kadhem paints automobiles for a living, and his income has risen tenfold since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government, he said, allowing him to squirrel away $3,000 for a car...

<p>Air Force Capt. Kim Campbell assigned to the 23rd Fighter Group was flying over Baghdad in her A-10 Warthog fighter jet when it was hit by enemy ground fire.</p> <p>Large chunks of her plane shot away, the hydraulic control system dead, Air Force Capt. Kim Campbell pushed and pulled at a backup set of manual controls, struggling to keep the anti-tank aircraft from crashing as it limped away from an ambush over Baghdad.</p>