Small Victories

You will never read about things like this in the US media, I'm afraid. And that really is too bad. Stories like this illustrate that Iraq, complicated as it is over there, is not a hopeless cause. Which is, unfortunately, exactly why you will not read stories like this in the major media. It doesn't fit the narrative they have imposed. But with disgusted viewers increasingly turning to the internet for news, there is at least a chance to get stories like this out to the public.

A telephone system might be unnecessary in the Iraqi tribal culture.  Local news spreads faster when it runs word of mouth, from mother to daughter, uncle to nephew, or sheik to sheik.  Because of this networking, when the Marines of 4th Platoon, Golf Company, 2/8 raided a house last night, they managed to hit a jackpot.  They arrested someone who they had been looking for.  More importantly, they also found someone who had been looking for them. 

Under the command of Captain Mark Broekhuizen, Golf 2/8 had been making slow inroads in Saqliwiah (“sack-la-wee-ah”), a village on the northwestern outskirts of Fallujah.  Finding Iraqi partners to step forward was tough, primarily because of an inability to locate and deal with the local Sheik.  Lacking active cooperation from the Sheik and his people, it was difficult to gain the Intel necessary to drive both Islamic fundamentalist and Shia-oriented terror groups from the land. 

“AQI is both feared and hated,” Capt Broekhuizen said, referring to Al Qaeda in Iraq.  “They’ve been running a brutal terror campaign.  No city leaders are left here who will take a leadership role.” Marines from Golf Company said they recently fished two bodies out of the local river: a man had been decapitated, and his 4-year old tied to his leg before both were thrown into the river and the little boy drowned.  The killings were a product of Al Qaeda terror. 

Marines say that they are making progress.  Humanitarian missions, census operations, and security patrols have, according to the grunts, reduced the level of AQI violence by over 60% since they arrived in theater a few months ago.  But absent local leadership, this progress cannot be sustained. 

Last night, 4^th Platoon won a small victory in the battle against AQI.  Under the command of Lieutenant Anthony Friel, four Marine humvees on patrol spotted a white Toyota parked close to a house along the Euphrates River.  Both the Toyota and the house looked suspicious.  Quickly, the Marines surrounded the latter, and knocked on the door.

 Inside the house were several young men (with dubious identification), women and children, as well as an older man.  The squad leader, Corporal Jon Bates, and his Marines thoroughly searched the young Iraqis.  After discovering one ID marked in English “Progressive Mosque Security,” a subsequent search of the young man's Toyota turned up sophisticated IED triggering devices, a pressure plate and an AK-47. Two were detained.

The media does not, I think, understand the enormous damage that al Qaeda took to its image in the Middle East when their media inflated invincible warriors ran (excuse me, walked briskly) like rabbits in Somalia. And they steadfastly refrain from reporting acts like the horrifying murder detailed above. They duly report body counts but never expose the hideous facts of what exactly these monsters are doing to Muslims. They also never explain how we, as a nation, can afford to walk away leaving a genocide behind us.

But you might want to bookmark sites like OnPoint and Central Command to get the news that the media squelches. (Ans do read that whole article, there really is more positive news than the media is reporting.