Iraq - Hell on Earth

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DISCLAIMER: THIS COMMENTARY AS WELL AS ALL MY PREVIOUS COMMENTARIES ARE PUT UP AT MY DISCRETION, CREDIT IS GIVEN TO THE AUTHORS AND WHAT I WRITE IS MY OPINION AND PERSONAL VIEWPOINT ONLY AND IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WORLD.

courtesy, DLewis - Read ISAIAH 34.6

GATES OF FIRE:
The following is excerpted from Gates Of Fire; A Warrior inIraq... the story of LTC Erik Kurilla, a leader of the DeuceFour as told by Michael Yon. Yon is author of "Danger Close,"and is an independent, informed observer chronicling the monumentally important events in the efforts to stabilize Iraq.

Gates of Fire, The top leaders of the Deuce Four are CSM Robert Prosser and LTC Erik Kurilla.Mosul, Iraq Combat comes un expectedly, even in war. Although the situation in Mosul is better, our troops still fight here every day.

This may not be the war some folks had in mind a few years ago. But once the shooting starts, a plan is just a guess in a party dress. When a soldier is killed or wounded, the Department of Army calls the loved ones, and despite their attempts to be sympathetic, the nature of the calls has a way of shocking the families. There is just no easy way to say, "Your son got shot today".


LTC Kurilla likes to call before the Army gets a chance, to tell parents and loved ones the true circumstances. Kurilla is direct, but at least people know they are getting an accurate account. Operation Surge We loaded the Strykers and headed downtown. Automatic weapons fire started coming from at least two places. Bullets were kicking up the dust, and we got a radio call that troops were in contact at Yarmook Traffic Circle.

Kurilla's reluctance to allow anyone outside Deuce Four ride with his soldiers--including writers--is well known. Partly because of writers, people hearing about Deuce Four in the news might think of Mosul as some kind of thrill ride where everything will end okay after a few hairpin turns. This is not true.

Some months back, Kurilla spotted three men walking adjacent to where Major Mark Bieger and his Stryker had been hit with a car bomb a week prior. The three men looked suspicious to Kurilla. who's legendary sense about people is so keen that his soldiers call it the "Deuce Sixth-Sense." His read on people and situations is so uncanny it borders the bizarre.

That day, Kurilla sensed "wrong" and told his soldiers to check the three men. As the Stryker dropped its ramp, one ofthe terrorists pulled a pistol from under his shirt. Mark Bieger was over watching from another Stryker and shot the man with the first two bullets, dropping him to his knees. LT Flynn was first out of the Stryker, and both he and the airguard CPT Westphal, saw the pistol at the same time and also shot the man.

The other suspects started running. Chris Espindola also shot the man. Amazingly, despite being hit by four M4's from multiple directions, the man still lived a few minutes. Soldiers out ran and tackled his two associates when they made a run. During their interrogation on base, both admitted to being Jihadists. One was training to be a sniper, while the other was training for different combat missions.

They also admitted that the terrorist who was shot down was their cell leader,who had been training them for three months. They were on a recon of American forces when Kurilla sensed their intent. We were searching the area for the source of that automatic weapons fire when Kurilla spotted three men in a black Opel and his sixth sense kicked.

When Kurilla keyed in on them, he pointed his rifle at the car and signaled them to get out. The driver tucked his head and gunned the gas. The chase was on. Strykers are fast, but Opels are faster. We were roaring through little streets and along roads, horn blaring, cars zipping off the sides, the steady chatter of multiple radio channels colliding inside the Stryker. A Kiowa helicopter pilot radioed that he spotted the car.

As the chase continued,the Kiowa pilot said, "It's going about 105 mph." How can the pilot know it's going 105 mph? I thought. As if in reply, the pilot radioed that the Opel was out running his helicopter. Opels may be faster than Kiowas on straight-a-ways, but when the car made turns, the helicopter quickly caught up. Kurilla ordered the Kiowa to fire a warning shot, then quickly authorized the Kiowa to disable the vehicle.

The pilot swooped low and the "co-pilot" aimed his rifle at the Opel, firing three shots and blowing out the back window. The Kiowa swooped and banked hard in front of the car, firing three more shots through the front hood, the universal sign for "stop." The car chase ended, but the men fled on foot up an alley. We approached in the Strykers and I heard Kurilla say on the radio, "Shots fired!" as he ducked for a moment then popped back up in the hatch.

Kurilla continued, "Trail section clear the car and clear south to north! I'm going to block the back door on the north side!" About fifteen seconds later our ramp dropped. We ran into combat. Shots were fired behind us but around a corner to the left. LTC Kurilla began running in the direction of the shooting. He passed by me and I chased, Kurilla leading the way.

There was a quick and heavy volume of fire. And then LTC Kurilla was shot. Kurilla was running when he was shot, but he didn't seem to miss a stride; he did a crazy judo roll and came up shooting. Kurilla, though down and unable to move, was fighting and firing. Kurilla was in the open, but his judo roll had left him slightly to the side of the shop. "Erik! Do you need me to come get you!" I shouted. But he said "No." (Thank God; running in front of the shop might have proved fatal.)

"What's wrong with you!?" I yelled above the shooting. "I'm hit three times! I'm shot three times!" Amazingly, he was right. One bullet smashed through his femur, snapping his leg.His other leg was hit and so was an arm. With his leg mangled, Kurilla pointed and fired his rifle into the doorway, yelling instructions to the soldiers about how to get in there. This was happening in seconds.

Several times Inearly ran over to Kurilla, but hesitated every time. Kurilla was, after all, still fighting. A man came forward, trying to shoot Kurilla with a pistol, apparently realizing his only escape was by fighting his way out, or dying in the process. Kurilla was aiming at the door way waiting for him to come out. Had Prosser not come at that precise moment, who knows what the outcome might have been.

Prosser shot the man at least four times with his M4 rifle.But the American M4 rifles are weak--after Prosser landed three nearly point blank shots in the man's abdomen, splattering a testicle with a fourth, the man just staggered back, regrouped and tried to shoot Prosser. Then Prosser's M4 went "black" (no more bullets). A shooter inside was also having problems with his pistol, but there was no time to reload.

Prosser threw down his empty M4, ran into the shop and tackled the man. I saw only Prosser's bloody leg lying still, just inside the darkened doorway, because most of his body was hidden behind a stack of sheet metal. I looked at LTC Kurilla who was bleeding, and saw CSM Prosser's extremely bloody leg inside the shop, the rest of him was still obscured from view.

At that same moment four soldiers from Alpha Company 2nd Platoon were arriving on scene.The soldiers from Alpha Company were heading toward him when LTC Kurilla yelled out that he was okay, but that CSM Prosser was still in the shop. The Alpha Company soldiers ran through the dust cloud and swarmed the shop. Prosser— who I thought might be dead because of all the blood on his leg—was actually fighting hand-to-hand on the ground.

Wrapped in a ground fight, Prosser could not pull out his service pistol strapped on his right leg, or get to his knife on his left, because the terrorist—who turned out to be a serious terrorist—had grabbed Prosser's helmet and pulled it over his eyes and twisted it. Prosser had beaten the terrorist in the head three times with his fist and was gripping his throat, choking him.

But Prosser's gloves were slippery with blood so he couldn't hold on well. At the same time, the terrorist was trying to bite Prosser's wrist, but instead he bit onto the face of Prosser's watch. (Prosser wears his watch with the face turned inward.) The terrorist had a mouthful of watch but he some how also managed to punch Prosser in the face.

Prosser had nearly strangled the guy, so he released the terrorist's throat and snatched out the pistol from his holster, just as SSG Konkol, Lewis, Devereaux and Muse swarmed the shop. The shots had brought the terrorist back to life, so Prosser quickly re holstered his pistol and subdued him by smashing his face into the concrete.

When Recon platoon showed up about a minute later, SFC Bowman asked LTC Kurilla to lie down. But Kurilla was ordering people to put out security, and directing action this way and that. When the very experienced medic, Specialist Munoz, put morphine into Kurilla, the commander still kept giving orders, even telling Munoz how to do his job. So SFC Bowman told Munozto give Kurilla another morphine, and finally Kurilla settled down, and stopped giving orders long enough for them to haul him and the terrorist away to the Combat Support Hospital.

The Surge operation continued as we returned to base. The Commander was being prepped for surgery, when LTC Kurilla said, "Tell Major Bieger to call my wife so she doesn't get a call from the Army first." But someone gave the Commander a cell phone, and I heard Kurilla talking to his wife, Mary Paige, saying something like, "Honey, there has been a little shooting here. I got hit and there was some minor soft tissue damage.

" The X-ray on the board nearby showed his femur snapped in half. "I'll be fine. Just some minor stuff. "When Kurilla woke in recovery a few hours after surgery, he called CSM Prosser and asked for a Bible and the book: Gates of Fire. Kurilla gives a copy of Gates of Fire to every new officer and orders them to read it. He had given me a copy and told me to read it. In my book, there is a marked passage, which I thought rather flowery.

But I have it beside me on the table by the map of Iraq. "I would be the one. The one to go back and speak. A pain beyond all previous now seized me. Sweet life itself, even the desperately sought chance to tell the tale, suddenly see medunendurable alongside the pain of having to take leave of these whom I had come so to love."

A short time after he gave me the book, following the death of one of his soldiers, when Kurilla said to me, "I want you to write about my men. You are the only one who might understand," the passage finally registered in my mind. The next day, Iraqi Army and Police commanders were in a fury that LTC Kurilla had been shot. Some blamed his men, while others blamed the terrorists, although blame alone could not compete with disbelief.

Kurilla had gone on missions every single day for almost a year. Talking with people downtown. Interfacing with shop owners. Conferencing with doctors. Drinking tea with Iraqi citizens in their homes. Meeting proud mothers with new babies. It's important to interact and take the pulse of a city in a war where there is no "behind the lines," no safe areas. It's even dangerous on the bases here.

In order for leaders of Kurilla's rank to know the pulse of the Iraqi people, they must make direct contact. There's a risk in that. But its men like Kurilla who can make this work. Even and especially in places like Mosul, where it takes a special penchant for fighting. A passion for the cause of freedom. A true and abiding under standing of both its value and its costs.

An un wavering conviction that, in the end, we will win. Make no mistake about Kurilla--he's a warrior, always at the front of the charge. But it's that battle-hardened bravery that makes him the kind of leader that Americans admire and Iraqis respect. Like the soldiers of Deuce Four, Iraqis have seen too much war to believe in fairy tales. They know true warriors bleed.

Iraqi Army and Police officers see many Americans as too soft,especially when it comes to dealing with terrorists. TheIraqis who see the over the shooting of Kurilla know that the cunning fury of Jihadists is congenite. Three months of air-conditioned reflection will not transform terrorists into citizens.

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AFTER Reading some of the news articles and comments by these Hollywood BS artists I do not see them going down to New Orleans to help out with anything but conversation. One women singer telling the world that its ok to loot.
www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46143

Well in my opininion had these POLITICIANS had the "GUTS" to issue an order that all looters carrying anything but food and water were to be shot on sight, it would not have gone this far. IF YOU SHOW WEAKNESS THEY WILL KILL YOU.

This terrible tragedy in the gulf coast states is just the beginning. Prepare now and if you have limited funds as many of us do, just buy a 22 rifle chambered in 22 long rifle. Cost will be a little over $100.00

It will not matter if you buy a Ruger or a Marlin or a Remington or a Savage etc, etc. Just get something with a proven track record that shows reliability.

YOU SEE IN NEW ORLEANS THAT 200 POLICE QUIT THEIR JOBS AND 2 POLICE COMMITTED SUICIDE. There are reports that there are Police shown stealing from Walmart that was on Video, I do not know if this is true. Must see video
www.infowars.com/articles/new_orleans/police_loot_walmart.htm

WHO WILL PROTECT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY WHEN WE GET HIT AGAIN AND FROM WHERE AND BY WHOM. NOW OUR ENEMIES KNOW OUR WEAKNESSES.
www.stevequayle.com/News.alert/05_Photo_of_Day/050902.photo.of.day.html


Make no mistake, we are in trouble, and do not tell me that your wife will not allow a gun in YOUR HOUSE. Who wears the pants, who calls the shots, its your very survival that is at stake.



GET OFF HIS BACK!!
By Ben Stein
UPDATED: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.

A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:

1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.

2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.

3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.

4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world’s worst polluters—China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.

5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush’s fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It’s not George Bush’s fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.

6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.

7.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.

8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.

9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.

10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.

11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.

12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care.
God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.

**** UPDATE: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.:

More Mysteries of Katrina:

Why is it that the snipers who shot at emergency rescuers trying to save people in hospitals and shelters are never mentioned except in passing, and Mr. Bush, who is turning over heaven and earth to rescue the victims of the storm, is endlessly vilified?

What church does Rev. Al Sharpton belong to that believes in passing blame and singling out people by race for opprobrium and hate?
What special abilities does the media have for deciding how much blame goes to the federal government as opposed to the city government of New Orleans for the aftereffects of Katrina?

If able-bodied people refuse to obey a mandatory evacuation order for a city, have they not assumed the risk that ill effects will happen to them?

When the city government simply ignores its own sick and hospitalized and elderly people in its evacuation order, is Mr. Bush to blame for that?

Is there any problem in the world that is not Mr. Bush’s fault, or have we reverted to a belief in a sort of witchcraft where we credit a mortal man with the ability to create terrifying storms and every other kind of ill wind?

Where did the idea come from that salvation comes from hatred and criticism and mockery instead of love and co-operation?

Teddy