Saturday, March 31, 2007

DSU-3 USMC Riverines are Back In The USA!

DSU-3-- Dam Security Unit-3--the unit, previously known as Bravo Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, based at Pfc. Flair U.S. Army Reserve Center Fort Detrick, Md. is back in the USA! After months of separation from friends and family the 1oo plus riverines are ready to light the bar-bees and turn the "Party On" lights.
Since October, the riverines were patrolling and securing Iraqi waterways in Haditha and the Euphrates River Valley in search of Vampire Ocs. DSU-3 also ran security operations in Ramadi, the city west of Baghdad that is the capital of the Al Anbar province looking for weapons, bombs, Orc Masters and their mindless minions. At a time like this Jack Burton always says: "Well Done, Riverines! Thank you for your service!!"

Friday, March 30, 2007

Navy’s Resurrected riverine squadron to patrol Haditha Dam

Hat Tip SR---Who wrote me a note...good luck to the Navy Riverines





By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, March 24, 2007




Sandra Jontz / S&S
Navy Fireman Apprentice Jeff Theissing, left, and Marine Corps Pvt. Brandon Quinnelly take a smoke break Wednesday on Haditha dam. Theissing is one of 230 sailors who will make up Riverine Squadron One, the first of the Navy’s “brown water” forces in three-decades. Quinnelly, with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, is on his way home in several weeks after a seven-month deployment to provide security at the dam.
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Sandra Jontz / S&S
Haditha Dam, outside of the Iraqi city by the same name, provides a critical power source for much of Anbar province. The dam had repeatedly come under attack from insurgents, but mortaring against the dam has subsided recently, officials said. The U.S. Marine Corps has provided security for the dam and patrolled surrounding waters since the onset of the war in March 2003. Thursday, the Navy’s first riverine squadron, which hasn’t existed since the Vietnam War, took control of the patrols.
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HADITHA, Iraq — Few things are as humbling as making history, said 21-year-old Fireman Apprentice Jeff Theissing.

Yet, little more than a year into his U.S. Navy career, the hull technician is among the first to make up the Navy’s “brown water” forces following a three-decade void.

“I can’t believe I got lucky enough to do this,” he said while taking a cigarette break atop the mammoth Haditha Dam, overlooking the Euphrates River.

Theissing is one of 230 sailors who make up the Navy’s newly formed Riverine Squadron One, which officially took control Thursday from U.S. Marines of the protection of the Haditha Dam and patrol missions on the surrounding waterways.

The eight-month preparations for the water-based squadron could have been taken from training manuals for Marine and Army units — sailors attended infantry courses to learn to counter ambushes, mortar fire and insurgent attacks, said Lt. Cmdr. Douglas Flannery, the squadron’s operations officer.

They also learned to work the Small Unit Riverine Crafts, or SURCs, and had lessons in maritime interception operations. Some even attended a monthlong Arabic language course.

They trained at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Va., and at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

“Our primary mission is to have a waterborne presence to stop the insurgents from transporting weapons and explosives across and down the river,” Flannery said.

The Euphrates is a source of sustenance and means of travel for Iraqis, but for years has been used by insurgents to ferry arms from rural areas to cities such as Ramadi, Haditha and Baghdad.

The dam itself provides critical power to most of Anbar province and has received constant protection by U.S. forces since the outset of the Iraq war in 2003.

About a year ago, the Navy began plans to train sailors to resume river patrols after letting its riverine force become dormant after the Vietnam War. Ultimately, the Navy plans to have three riverine squadrons.

“Out here, we’re doing operations and missions, not the behind-the-scenes kind of job,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Kevin Shofner, 23, a gunner’s mate.

“I feel like I’m serving my country in a direct way,” said Shofner, who previously worked at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii.

RIVONE, as it’s commonly called, has three detachments, a headquarters element and “human exploitation team” that will focus on intelligence gathering, Flannery said. They also brought unmanned aerial vehicles to help patrol from the air, Flannery said. “That way, we can better see what’s ahead of us and what’s behind us.”

Mostly, they’ll take over equipment from the Marine Corps’ Dam Security Units.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Rick Necamp, 24, said he expected his living conditions to be much worse and was pleasantly surprised to learn he’d be living not just at the dam, but in it.

The dam has a gym, chow hall, social rooms and a soon-to-be-online Internet cafe.

“I thought I’d be sleeping in the sand,” Necamp said, “and when they said ‘Here’s your rack,’ I was pretty happy.”

Monday, March 26, 2007

Final Photos of Marine Riverine DSU-3 Before Heading into the Archives

Navy Sailors from Riverine Squadron 1 (RIVRON-1) and Marines from Dam Security Unit 3 (DSU-3), aboard a small unit riverine boat during an operation in Taqaddum, Iraq, March 15, 2007.
The operation will show the ropes to RIVRON-1 in the area that DSU-3 has been covering for the past six months. RIVRON-1 will be looking for Vampire Ocs in Anbar province of Iraq now that the Navy has, in its infinite wisdom, decided to recreate the brown water Navy. DSU-3 will return to the states and be disbanded.







Here they are getting ready
to launch the small unit reconnaissance craft during an operation in Ramadi, Iraq, March 15, 2007.








U.S. Navy Chief Boatswain's Mate Steven Mancini, from Riverine Squadron 1 (RIVRON-1), and Gunny Jason N. Shiflet, from Dam Security Unit 3 (DSU-3), navigate their small unit riverine craft to Taqaddum, Iraq,







U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. B.J. Keller, with Dam Security Unit 3 (DSU-3), 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, scans the area while conducting an operation in Ramadi, Iraq, March 15, 2007











Senior Airmen Michael Wilhelm, with Riverine Squadron 1 (RIVRON-1), Detachment 3, 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, scans the area aboard a small unit reconnaissance craft during an operation in Ramadi, Iraq, Ma rch 15, 2007.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Vampire Orcs Kill Their Young

Evil Orcs blew up an bomb-rigged car with two little kids in the back seat after US Joes let it pass thru a Baghdad checkpoint. At first, the car with two adult males was stopped but when our Joes saw the two kids in the backseat they waved them through according to Major General Michael Barbero of the Pentagon's Joint Staff.

"Children in the back seat lowered suspicion. We let it move through. They parked the vehicle, and the adults ran out and detonated it with the children in the back." Barbero said.

The murder by explosion of the two little kids occurred Sunday in Baghdad's Adhamiyah district.

After passing the checkpoint, the two Orcs parked next to a market across the street from a kids school.

The two adults were seen to get out of the vehicle, and run like hell from the vehicle which exploded seconds later.

"It killed the two children inside as well as three other civilians in the vicinity. So, a total of five killed, seven injured," the official said.

Nobody knows who the kids were. Nobody knows their relationship to the two Cowardly Ocs who fled the death car. Nobody has any information about their ages or genders. Nobody knows what dreams or hopes the kids. Their innocence served the Orc purpose. Sucker the Joes. Orcs. Hell. Is. Not. Hot. Enough. Nor. Whale Shit. Low enough.

"The brutality and the ruthlessness of this enemy hasn't changed," said Barbero, deputy director of regional operations of the Joint Staff. "They are just interested in slaughtering Iraqi civilians, to be very honest."


To be very honest. Adjust your clocks accordingly.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

The Matrix Defined--Excerpts from "When" an ongoing poem still open for additions...

via:Memri

"Reformist Saudi author and journalist Wajeha Al-Huwaider lamented what she regards as the conditions in the Arab world. In the introduction to this poem, she wrote:
"'When' is an ode to the troubles of the Arab citizen. Both men and women participated in its [writing], and it is still open to additions. This ode will be hung on the walls of the palaces of the Arab rulers, so feel free to add you contributions."


"When you cannot find a single garden in your city, but there is a mosque on every corner - you know that you are in an Arab country…

"When you see people living in the past with all the trappings of modernity - do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country.

"When religion has control over science - you can be sure that you are in an Arab country.

"When clerics are referred to as 'scholars' - don't be astonished, you are in an Arab country.

"When you see the ruler transformed into a demigod who never dies or relinquishes his power, and whom nobody is permitted to criticize - do not be too upset, you are in an Arab country.

"When you find that the large majority of people oppose freedom and find joy in slavery - do not be too distressed, you are in an Arab country.

"When you hear the clerics saying that democracy is heresy, but [see them] seizing every opportunity provided by democracy to grab high positions [in the government] - do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country…

"When monarchies turn into theocracies, and republics into hybrids of monarchy and republic - do not be taken aback, you are in an Arab country.

"When you find that the members of parliament are nominated [by the ruler], or else that half of them are nominated and the other half have bought their seats through bribery… - you are in an Arab country…

"When you discover that a woman is worth half of what a man is worth, or less - do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country…

"When you see that the authorities chop off a man's hand for stealing a loaf of bread or a penny, but praise and glorify those who steal billions - do not be too surprised, you are in an Arab country…

"When you are forced to worship the Creator in school and your teachers grade you for it - you can be sure that you are in an Arab country…

"When young women students are publicly flogged merely for exposing their eyes - you are in an Arab country…

"When a boy learns about menstruation and childbirth but not about his own [body] and [the changes] it undergoes in puberty - roll out your prayer mat and beseech Allah to help you deal with your crisis, for you are in an Arab country…

"When land is more important than human beings - you are in an Arab country…

"When covering the woman's head is more important than financial and administrative corruption, embezzlement, and betrayal of the homeland - do not be astonished, you are in an Arab country…

"When minorities are persecuted and oppressed, and if they demand their rights, are accused of being a fifth column or a Trojan horse - be upset, you are in an Arab country…

"When women are [seen as] house ornaments which can be replaced at any time - bemoan your fate, you are in an Arab country.

"When birth control and family planning are perceived as a Western plot - place your trust in Allah, you are in an Arab country…

"When at any time, there can be a knock on your door and you will be dragged off and buried in a dark prison - you are in an Arab country…

"When fear constantly lives in the eyes of the people - you can be certain that you are in an Arab country."

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

The Matrix from the Dark Ages begins to Crack....The St. Petersburg Declaration.

Released by the delegates to the Secular Islam Summit, St. Petersburg, Florida on March 5, 2007

We are secular Muslims, and secular persons of Muslim societies. We are believers, doubters, and unbelievers, brought together by a great struggle, not between the West and Islam, but between the free and the unfree.

We affirm the inviolable freedom of the individual conscience. We believe in the equality of all human persons.

We insist upon the separation of religion from state and the observance of universal human rights.

We find traditions of liberty, rationality, and tolerance in the rich histories of pre-Islamic and Islamic societies. These values do not belong to the West or the East; they are the common moral heritage of humankind.

We see no colonialism, racism, or so-called “Islamaphobia” in submitting Islamic practices to criticism or condemnation when they violate human reason or rights.

We call on the governments of the world to

reject Sharia law, fatwa courts, clerical rule, and state-sanctioned religion in all their forms; oppose all penalties for blasphemy and apostacy, in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights;

eliminate practices, such as female circumcision, honor killing, forced veiling, and forced marriage, that further the oppression of women; protect sexual and gender minorities from persecution and violence;

reform sectarian education that teaches intolerance and bigotry towards non-Muslims;

and foster an open public sphere in which all matters may be discussed without coercion or intimidation.

We demand the release of Islam from its captivity to the totalitarian ambitions of power-hungry men and the rigid strictures of orthodoxy.

We enjoin academics and thinkers everywhere to embark on a fearless examination of the origins and sources of Islam, and to promulgate the ideals of free scientific and spiritual inquiry through cross-cultural translation, publishing, and the mass media.

We say to Muslim believers: there is a noble future for Islam as a personal faith, not a political doctrine;

to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha’is, and all members of non-Muslim faith communities: we stand with you as free and equal citizens;

and to nonbelievers: we defend your unqualified liberty to question and dissent.

Before any of us is a member of the Umma, the Body of Christ, or the Chosen People, we are all members of the community of conscience, the people who must chose for themselves.


Endorsed by:

Mona Abousenna
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Magdi Allam
Mithal Al-Alusi
Shaker Al-Nabulsi
Nonie Darwish
Afhin Ellian
Tawfik Hamid
Shahriar Kabir
Hasan Mahmud
Wafa Sultan
Ibn Warraq
Mourad Wahba
Manda Zand Ervin
Bonafsheh Zand-Bonazzi

To: Cardinalpark at Tigerhawk---Ditto

From TigerHawk quote the CardinalPark
"I have held rather tenaciously to the view that the war in Iraq was 1) well chosen; 2) noble; 3) well fought and 4) won. .....Eventually, the left must come to embrace what we are doing and achieving in the Middle East. Defeating tyranny and genocide is the raison d'etre of liberalism, is it not?"

Handful of Islam reformers in Florida Make CAIR Squirm--What's CAIR Afraid Of???--Investor's Business Daily

The IBD, Investor's Business Daily is my go-to-guy for MSM reaction to regarding CAIR, Islam, the war. Unlike their mealy mouth compardes, the IBD pulls no punches and does not shy away from calling a high powered PR suit thugs--thugs. Old fashioned guts and my kind of newspaper on the war against the Dark Ages.



What Is CAIR Afraid Of?
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 3/6/2007

Politics And Islam: The first Secular Islam Summit was a success if for no other reason than it intimidated the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the PR machine of militant Islam.

The Washington-based group that boycotts airlines and bullies radio personalities and politicians into toeing the Islamist line is clearly worried about the message from Muslim reformers.

It dispatched its henchmen to Florida to shout the reformers down at their confab earlier this week. CAIR also posted on its Web site no fewer than four stories bashing the event and its courageous speakers, many of whom are women calling for an end to inequality and mistreatment under radical Islam.

CAIR declared the summit illegitimate because few of the participants are "practicing Muslims," and those who are, it claims, are merely pawns playing into the hands of "Islamophobes."

"In order to have legitimate reform, you need to have the right messengers," asserted CAIR spokesman Ahmed Bedier.

And who might that be? The four CAIR executives who have been successfully prosecuted on terrorism-related charges? The CAIR co-founder who said the Quran should replace the U.S. Constitution as "the highest authority in America"?

True voices of moderation are the delegates to the Secular Islam Summit, who insisted in their declaration that mosque and state should always be separate. They also called for tolerance for non-Muslims, and an end to violent jihad. CAIR should take notes.

So what if many of them are ex-Muslims? They risked their lives to leave Islam and now dare to openly criticize an ideology that everyone else is afraid to criticize. What these brave souls have to say carries far more weight than anything said by CAIR, which couldn't even bring itself to condemn Osama bin Laden in the wake of 9/11.

Yes, Bedier argued, but the summit's "funding is coming from the neoconservatives." An article posted by CAIR suggests "Israeli intelligence" is behind the movement.

In CAIR's kooky world, the Zionists are behind everything, even 9/11.

But if anyone was behind 9/11, it was the Saudis. And guess who bankrolls CAIR? Right: the Saudis.

Fittingly, CAIR's Bedier balked when summit delegate Tawfik Hamid, a former terrorist, challenged him to denounce Saudi sharia law for "killing apostates, beating women and stoning women."

"This is not about Saudi Arabia," he huffed. "We condemn any nation that misuses Islam, but we're not going to condemn an entire nation. That's like condemning London (sic)."

Another CAIR sugar daddy is the ruler of Dubai, which acted as the staging ground for the hijackers and the transit point for 9/11 cash.

Sheikh Mohammed, who before 9/11 requisitioned cargo jets to supply Osama bin Laden's Afghan camps, owns CAIR's D.C. headquarters through his foundation, which also holds telethons for Palestinian "martyrs."

The same foundation recently pledged $50 million to CAIR to boost its operations, which includes a legal shop set up to intimidate critics with vexatious lawsuits.

Radical groups like CAIR have been on the offensive, primarily because counterattacks by moderates have been few and far between.

But the Secular Islam Summit offers a ray of hope. Just a handful of reformers gathered in Florida made CAIR squirm. Imagine if hundreds of moderate Muslim voices rose up and challenged the Saudi-backed Wahhabi lobby.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

The IA on Patrol--Squared Away-- Near Fallujah Doing the Meet and Greet USMC Style



The IA on patrol in a grove near Fallujah. "Iraqi Soldiers have an advantage over the Marines who assist them on patrols; they know the local customs and speak the language. They have the ability to set the people at ease whose home is being used as an over-watch position, or during snap-vehicle check points. They can communicate exactly what they want the driver and passengers to do.

Many of the Soldiers made a point to speak and shake hands with any citizens who ended up getting caught inside of their patrol to let the people know they are in the city to provide security for the citizens of Fallujah."by Lance Cpl. Stephen McGinnis, Regimental Combat Team 6)

Monday, March 05, 2007

Orcs in the Wire:American Airlines Flt 62--Paris to Miami

Aviation Nation is reporting an second hand account of an Orc probe during a flight from Paris to Miami. Same route and same airline that Richard Reid took to set off bombs in his shoes. American Airlines spokesman John Hotard confirmed the incident on flight 62 to Annie Jacobsen of Aviation Nation:
"Flt 62, Paris to MIA [Miami], a few weeks ago. 2 maybe 4 mid-eastern types causing minor disturbance from the get-go. Nothing that the FAs [flight attendants] couldn’t deal with, but, in hindsight, they seemed to be pushing the envelope. Cross-cabin activity, hanging out in the forward galley, complaining about everything, etc. Mid-Atlantic, the FO [First Officer, or Co-Pilot] called to return to the cockpit after his crew-rest break. One of the perps [perpetrators] was in the forward galley, was instructed by a FA to go aft, but didn’t. As the cockpit door opened, another perp suddenly appeared from around the galley, dropped his shoulder into FO while the first one got in the way of the FO’s attempt to block the other…here I’m not certain…so….wait for the movie."

"FO (one of our first FFDO’s [Federal Flight Deck Officers*]) was about to pull his flashlight to use as a weapon in a counter attack, but thought better of it not knowing how many more perps he might have to fight, called “lockdown” to the FB [secondary “B” First Officer], inside the cockpit, who slammed the door. As soon as the perps heard the word lockdown, they retreated to their seats."


The unnerving part comes later...the Orc probe was kept strictly QT. Other AA crews have not heard of the incident nor has the Orc Lovers of the MSM either been informed or otherwise interested...more at Aviation Nation and LGF