This is a New Strategy, what more do they want?

Cross-posted at Rosemary's Thoughts.

Opinion Journal has written a tremendous article about the new strategy that went into full effect on June 15, 2007. Today is July 11, 2007, and the Democrats have been decrying that this is a lost war. Have they spoken with the soldiers? No. Have they spoken with the generals who are on the ground? No. Have they read this article? I strongly doubt it. Why do I believe as I do? Because I have seen this movie before, as Sen. John McCain has put it.

This is the Baghdad Security Plan, and its mission is to secure the people of Baghdad. Even so, commanders are not ignoring the outlying areas of Iraq. U.S. forces have killed or captured many important al Qaeda leaders in Mosul recently, and destroyed safe havens throughout northern Iraq. Troops are conducting counterinsurgency operations in Bayji, north of Tikrit. And Iraqi forces have "stepped up" to secure some southern cities. The Eighth Iraqi Army Division has been fighting Shiite militias in Diwaniyah, an important city halfway between Basrah and Baghdad. As commanders stabilize central Iraq, they will undoubtedly conduct successive operations in outlying regions to follow up on their successes and make them lasting. [Read the whole article.]

I am so very proud of our brave men and women who are willing willing to wear the uniform of the USA and fight for our freedoms. They know what they are doing. They know the different between right and wrong, good and evil. Trust me, they have seen things no one should ever see. They know...and they continue to do the jobs that Americans won't do...oh, wait a minute...they ARE Americans! How about that, President Bush? Is this not the most honorable and toughest job? Hmm. Just as I thought, but getting beyond that...

Thank you, Military. All of you. You are in a class of your own, and you deserve to be there. That doesn't mean we will treat you differently, because we know that is not what you want. We just want you know how grateful we are to have men and women such as you. Thank God!

Forensic science gives edge to warfighters

11 Jun 07
by Sgt. Jess Kent
MNC-I PAO.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Since opening its doors seven months ago, the Multinational Corps - Iraq Law Enforcement Forensics Laboratory has been enabling warfighters to track down criminals and insurgents throughout Iraq.

"We're fully nested in the corps and are here to support every unit in the country," said Maj. Joseph Heffernan, coordinator for the MNC-I Law Enforcement Forensics Laboratory.

This forensics initiative taken on by the Army leads to a myriad of evidence routinely being brought into the laboratory, where specialists work with the motto "Defeat Sniper through Science."

"When the evidence is submitted for processing, I make sure that it's processed with the proper documentation," said Staff Sgt. Stephen Hall, evidence custodian NCOIC, MNC-I Law Enforcement Forensics Laboratory.

Evidence is not in the receiving area for long. The four forensics staff members work hard to get results and ensure that evidence gets to the right examiners.

"My job is to process evidence for the presence of latent prints to identify who was holding the weapon," said Stephen Greene, chief forensic latent print examiner, MNC-I Law Enforcement Forensics Laboratory. "I may perform up to a dozen processes on each item of evidence."

Those processes are designed to find latent prints to be compared to record prints of subjects or searched through the Automated Fingerprint Identifications System. Many AFIS assets are available to search, including Iraq's system. Although the Iraqis had a limited fingerprint database in the past, it is now being expanded.

"The end result we're hoping for on every piece of evidence we examine here in the laboratory is to identify the person associated with the evidence," said Staff Sgt. Hall. "When we're able to identify the person using the weapon and take him off the streets and out of play, we help make a safer environment for our Soldiers and the people of Iraq."

In an average day, forensics staff members work 14 to 18 hours to turn evidence around and enable law enforcement officers to track down criminals. Their biggest challenge is not having enough hours in each day.

"With the small number of workers we're pretty strapped right now, but that's our mission and that's what we do," Maj. Heffernan said. "I think the laboratory will continue to grow based on the amount of evidence we receive for processing. Last month we had a 112 percent increase in cases."

Some of the tools specialists use to exploit evidence range from lasers, forensic light sources, cameras and microscopes to a firing range.

"We work as a team to make identifications on tool marks, bullets, cartridge cases and guns," said Michael Kelley, chief forensic firearms examiner, MNC-I Law Enforcement Forensics Laboratory. "For example, if they grind out the serial number on a rifle, we bring it back."

Mr. Kelley, a former Army Criminal Investigation Division agent and chief warrant officer, is known for the shooting reconstruction case of Cpl. Patrick Tillman, a professional football player who enlisted in the Army and was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.

In one rewarding case, Mr. Kelley was tasked to identify the owner of a Purple Heart stolen and then found in 1990. After he brought back the medal's inscription, Mr. Kelley discovered that it belonged to Maj. Audie Leon Murphy, the military's most highly decorated Soldier.

Currently, Mr. Kelley routinely examines fired bullets and cartridge cases and links them to Dragunov sniper rifles used in attacks against U.S. Soldiers and Coalition Forces.

"I think we're giving the Soldiers a tremendous edge," he said. "What we do provides support for the warfighter's mission, and the science of forensics impacts what the warfighter does."

Photo - Michael Kelley, chief forensics firearms examiner, MNC-I Provost Marshals Office Law Enforcement Forensics Lab, fires a Dragunob sniper rifle into a machine designed to catch the round. Once the test round is caught and inspected, identifying marks can be compared with previous rounds fired from the same weapon. This method is essential in determining if the weapon was used in a certain crime. Photo by Sgt. Jess Kent.

OPERATION: THANKS FOR FREEDOM!

Fourth of July Card Drive for Troops

This will appear on top until June 9, 2007. If you have already read this and sent your cards in, skip down to read the most recent posts. Thank you.

Let's show our troops we love and support them! Starting NOW, I will be collecting cards to send to troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you wish to participate, please send light-hearted, silly, cheerful, and encouraging cards to this address:

Mrs. Kat Orr
Operation: Thanks for Freedom!
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, GA 30052

You may also send a e-mail of support to the following email address LoveFromHome@gmail.com. Any e-mail received to this e-mail account will be printed and mailed, together with the cards.

The cards can be handmade or store-bought... for that matter, they don't even have to be cards; a hand -written letter is just as wonderful! Let's all band together and overwhelm our heroes with support! This is a great project for Scout troops, churches, or other organizations to get involved with! *PLEASE DO NOT SEAL THE ENVELOPES*

ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 2007.

Thank you so much for supporting our troops!

If you have any questions about this campaign, please e-mail me at LoveFromHome@gmail.com. Also, you might wish join my Yahoo Group, groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome in order to receive updates about the progress of this and other card drives.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This is not a "dating service" of any type. Please do not send suggestive or otherwise inappropriate cards or pictures. I will be reading and screening every Card received to ensure that the above guidelines are adhered to (please DO NOT seal the envelope)! Any card deemed inappropriate will not be sent! Remember: This is strictly to let the troops know that we love them, we are proud of them and that we HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN them!

**IMPORTANT NOTE 2: This card drive is an individual effort and not done in conjunction with or on behalf of any organizations or groups.

This is for those of us back home who want desparately desire to let our troops know that we have not forgotten, and we remember them and their families. I thank you so very much for my freedom and for protecting my Liberty. God bless you.

U.S., Iraqi Troops Capture High-Ranking Aide to Sadr

This is a Fox News Report:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested one of Muqtada al-Sadr's top aides Friday in Baghdad, his office said, as pressure increased on the radical Shiite cleric's militia ahead of a planned security crackdown in the capital.

Al-Sadr said in an interview with an Italian newspaper published Friday that the crackdown had already begun and that 400 of his men had been arrested. La Repubblica also quoted him as saying he fears for his life and stays constantly on the move.

The raid came as Defense Secretary Robert Gates began his second trip to Iraq in less than a month, arriving in the southern city of Basra to consult with British and other allied commanders.

Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, al-Sadr's media director in Baghdad, was captured and his personal guard was killed, according to another senior al-Sadr aide.

• Visit FOXNews.com's Iraq Center for more in-depth coverage.

"We strongly condemn this cowardly act," said Sheik Abdul-Zahra al-Suweiadi.

The U.S. military said special Iraqi army forces operating with coalition advisers captured a high-level, illegal armed group leader in Baladiyat, an eastern neighborhood near al-Sadr's stronghold. It did not identify the detainee, but said two other suspects were detained by Iraqi forces for further questioning.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has pledged to crack down on Shiite militias as well as Sunni insurgents in a planned security operation. His reluctance to confront the Mahdi Army of al-Sadr, his political backer, has led to the failure of previous efforts to stem sectarian violence in Baghdad.

In the interview with La Repubblica, al-Sadr said his militias would not fight back during the Muslim holy month of Muharram, saying it was against the faith to kill at that time.

"Let them kill us. For a true believer there is no better moment than this to die: Heaven is insured," he was quoted as saying. "After Muharram, we'll see."

The Muharram starts Friday for Sunnis and Saturday for Shiites.

Al-Sadr said he is being targeted.

"For this reason, I have moved my family to a secure location. I even have had a will drawn up, and I move continuously in a way that only few can know where I am," he was quoted as saying by Repubblica.

Militia commanders have said the Shiite prime minister has stopped protecting the fighters under pressure from Washington and have described pinpoint raids in which at least five top commanders of similar standing were captured or killed in recent months.

The U.S. military accused the main suspect captured Friday of having ties with the commanders of so-called death squads, which have been blamed for many of the killings that have left dozens of bodies, often showing signs of torture, on the streets of Baghdad.

The suspect was detained "based on credible intelligence that he is the leader of illegal armed group punishment committee activity, involving the organized kidnapping, torture and murder of Iraqi civilians," according to the military statement.

It also said he was reportedly involved in the assassination of numerous Iraqi security forces and government officials.

"The suspect allegedly leads various illegal armed group operations and is affiliated with illegal armed group cells targeting Iraqi civilians for sectarian attacks and violence," the statement read, adding he was believed to be affiliated with Baghdad death squad commanders, including Abu Diraa, a Shiite militia leader who has gained a reputation for his brutality.

Al-Suweiadi did not give more details, but another official in al-Sadr's office said al-Darraji was captured during a 2 a.m. raid on a mosque in Baladiyat, less than a mile from a U.S. base.

The official and an Iraqi police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, also said one of the mosque's guards was killed in a firefight during the raid that damaged the mosque walls, while four other people who were with the sheik were arrested.

Abdul-Razzaq al-Nidawi, an al-Sadr aide in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, demanded that al-Darraji and other detainees from the cleric's movement, be released and called for demonstrations after the weekly Friday prayer services.

"America is playing with fire and our patience is beginning to fade," he said. "This savage barbarian act will not pass peacefully."

Gates, who met earlier with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, said they had expressed concern about whether al-Maliki can deliver on his promises to rein in the violence and "quite frankly, these are reservations that have been expressed in Washington, and we will be watching."

Highlighting the challenges, a rocket struck a British military base late Thursday in Basra, wounding six soldiers, spokeswoman Capt. Katie Brown said, hours before Gates arrived.

Britain, which has the largest troop contingent among the U.S. allies, with about 7,000 soldiers in the Basra area, is planning to withdraw a large portion of them this year.

A roadside bomb killed one U.S. soldier and wounded three others in an attack against a patrol that was escorting a convoy in northwestern Baghdad, the military said Friday.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are gearing up for a major neighborhood-by-neighborhood sweep to quell the spiraling violence in the capital...

Very good news. I hope to see much more news like this. You go guys!