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I woke up abruptly. Overzealous JROTC Cadets ran and yelled on the high school track across the street. I rolled over and grabbed my reading glasses. Time to return to the book which I’d fallen asleep reading. It’s Leo Strauss and the Politics of Exile by Eugene Sheppard. Thirty minutes later, I faced a tough choice. Should I go down and check on my children? Or watch an old Lomachenko fight on Youtube? Then my wife called up, “Babe, it’s garbage day. Take out the trash!” So I rushed downstairs. My typical Saturday ritual. As I dragged the trash out...

Brand New Episode of Covert Radio is now up and ready for you to download. This week, Brett talked to Bill Roggio from the Long War Journal. Bill just returned from Iraq a couple of weeks back and he has some great insight into Basra, Al Sadr, and the latest moves by Al Qaeda in Iraq in Mosul. Bill also shares his thoughts on the Northwest Province in Pakistan. You can download it directly from here. brettwinterble.libsyn.com or over at BrettWinterble.com

Received this via email from an ex-Navy Seal with friends in Iraq. Feel free to pass on to whomever -- I have Mike's approval. You can tell he was fired up. You may agree or disagree with this war, we all hate war and wish our boys weren't there, but how about some factual reporting. It's got me fired up! Many of you have written over the last two weeks, and I appreciate it. A lot of you have asked questions, based on what you’ve seen or read in the news. Since so many of you have asked many of...

A few weeks ago, in Britain's Prospect magazine, the paper's foreign editor, Bartle Bull, published a bold essay saying that the high tide of violence in Iraq was essentially behind us and that the ebb had disclosed some interesting things. First, the Iraqi people as a whole had looked into the abyss of civil war and had drawn back from the brink. Second, the majority of Sunni Arabs had realized that their involvement with al-Qaida forces was not a patriotic "insurgency" but was instead a horrific mistake and had exposed their society to the most sadistic and degraded element in...

http://www.aliveinbaghdad.org/ This site is nothing short of Brilliant. Its live in Iraq, from the perspective of the people living there, its right there at ground Zero. This is something that should show up on a lot of desks in Iraq, and Washington DC should be seeing. Want to fix Iraq and get out, well, here it is from the perspective of those living it. Their stories. I for one don't like a lot of what I see there, of a number of reasons. You will see yourself. And no I am not affiliated with the site! Danae

In late July when I visited a police station in the town of Mushadah just north of Baghdad, I worried that Iraq was doomed to become the next Gaza. As many as half the police officers, according to most of the American Military Police who worked as their trainers, were Al Qaeda sympathizers or agents. The rest were corrupt, lazy cowards, according to every American I talked to but one. No one tried to spin Mushadah into a success story. By itself this doesn't mean the country is doomed. How important is Mushadah anyway? I hadn't even heard of it...

Former Townhall.com columnist Jeff Emanuel is currently in Iraq, where he has been embedded on the front lines with the U.S. military since the end of July. A former tactical air controller in the Air Force, Emanuel participated in major combat operations in Iraq in 2003 as a member of a special operations task force. He has returned to Iraq multiple times as an embedded journalist, and he is currently in that country reporting from “inside the surge.” He will be there until the middle of October.Following General Petraeus’ testimony before Congress last week, Emanuel took a few moments to...

New GOP War Critic Describes Latest Iraq Visit  By REP. JAMES T. WALSH WASHINGTON — Editor's note: Rep. James Walsh, R-N.Y., recently made his first trip to Iraq in four years to meet with troops, American diplomats and Iraqi officials. Walsh visited a military hospital in Balad and a Baghdad neighborhood once controlled by insurgents. He met with officials overseeing the restoration of Iraq's infrastructure, including its feeble electrical grid. Walsh, who returned to Washington on Sept. 10, said he left Iraq convinced that the country's problems demand a political solution and that it is time to begin a more...

The subway train goes out of service on Kingston-Throop, and I ascend the stairs. Someone says that they're taking blood over at Hoyt-Schermerhorn (?) and a bunch of folks including me head there. Before getting in line, I go to a local restaurant and order some nervous eating food, a large burger and coke. In line, I fill out forms only to be rejected after medical exam shows I have an accelerated heart beat. Naturally, it was accelerated. I just walked a couple of miles and a big part of my life, the towers, were gone. But that don't cut...

IF you saw any news clips of intense combat last January, you were probably watching the fighting unfolding on Baghdad's Haifa Street: 10 days of grim sectarian violence. Until we put a stop to it. The boulevard of Sunni-inhabited high-rise apartments erupted in shootouts pitting the "Haifa Street Gang" and its al Qaeda allies against heavily Shia Iraqi army units. It was a recipe for massacre, as terrified residents - those who remained - cowered in their apartments. Then the U.S. Army moved in.

Baghdad, Iraq - On this, my latest trip to Iraq, I have been embedded with the US military on the front lines for the last month, spending about three weeks in Salman Pak (just south of Baghdad) with the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, from Ft. Benning, GA, and spending another several days near the Turkish and Syrian borders with a US Special Forces team and an Iraqi Police SWAT unit. As one of the very few journalists (out of the hundreds who come here) who actually spends time out on the real front lines, seeing with my...

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — It was 3 o’clock on a January morning when a convoy of Stryker vehicles rolled out of this protected American base near the main Baghdad airport. The discovery of 27 bodies on a part of Haifa Street, a meandering road that also goes through the Green Zone or, as it is now called, International Zone, meant it was time to help the Iraqis take back what has been called one of Baghdad’s meanest and toughest areas, a place, according to news reports, even henchmen of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein avoided. Sgt. Holly Jensen of the...

I spent a week in Iraq recently, and here's what impressed me most: the Americans. In particular, the quality and character of the American soldiers and Marines who are fighting there and trying to help rebuild the nation. I don't mean to slight, in some ethnocentric way, the steadfastness and courage of the Iraqi people. But it was meeting and watching the American soldiers at work that I found most interesting. I've served in government, and I'm familiar with Washington, and I'm not an uncritical cheerleader for the American military. Indeed, I'd say that some of our general officers--until this...

Hey oooo, How is everyone doing? It's been awhile since I wrote and wanted to catch you up on the glorious nation of make benefit of Iraq. the unit that is replacing us is starting to arrive and so the end is in sight. We are more than happy to see them here. We are now starting to do some turnover actions and will be doing so for the next few weeks. It has been typical July weather for the Middle East, that is to say hot. Although hot doesn't quite describe it, it's pretty close to southern CA or...

When context is other people’s children As I write these words just a few miles from the graves I saw, the resulting controversy about whether what the man said was true, or whether his words should have been written if the writer couldn’t verify them, seems precious. There is no imaginary line of credulity that al Qaeda might cross should it go from beheading children to baking them. No unnamed Iraqi stringer claimed that al Qaeda had taken over Baqubah. Al Qaeda said this through the press. I sit writing these words in Diyala Province just a short drive from...

On 29 June, American and Iraqi soldiers were again fighting side-by-side as soldiers from Charley Company 1-12 CAV—led by Captain Clayton Combs—and Iraqi soldiers from the 5th IA, closed in on a village on the outskirts of Baqubah. The village had the apparent misfortune of being located near a main road—about 3.5 miles from FOB Warhorse—that al Qaeda liked to bomb. Al Qaeda had taken over the village. As Iraqi and American soldiers moved in, they came under light contact; but the bombs planted in the roads (and maybe in the houses) were the real threat. The firefight progressed. American...

Where did they go? On June 29, American and Iraqi soldiers were again fighting side-by-side as soldiers from Charley Company 1-12 CAV, led by Capt. Clayton Combs and Iraqi soldiers from the 5th IA, closed in on a village on the outskirts of Baqouba. The village had the apparent misfortune of being located near a main road — about 3.5 miles from FOB Warhorse — that Al Qaeda liked to bomb. Al Qaeda had taken over the village. As Iraqi and American soldiers moved in, they came under light contact, but the real threat were the bombs planted in the...

Milblogger BlackFive has just released a new book that contains dispatches from our outstanding men and women of the US military who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. If it weren't for the milbloggers much of the good news from Iraq and Afghanistan would never become widely known by the American people. --- It is the work of over 50 Americans who tell their stories about the experiences around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In it you will meet: * The Warriors. Snipers, tankers, grunts. Readers who have never heard a shot fired in anger will come closer to...

Hugh, Our son, Boots Dunlap, is a Capt. in the 1-32 Inf Battalion (nicknamed Chosin Bn.). We just got this letter to soldiers' families from the Battalion Commander. These men and women are doing a great job and spilling their blood for us at home. I hope American appreciate their sacrifice. Charlie Dunlap Dear Chosin Family, As you all make your way back from summer vacations and travels, I thought I would welcome you back with some great information about your loved ones' exploits over here in Operation Enduring Freedom. It has been a long, hot summer here in AOR...

Freerepublic Exclusive: Photo Diary -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In port prior to boarding -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scenes from the muster point where evacuees check in and board buses to the Orient Queen.     -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Glimpse of Safety --------------------------------------------------------------------------------   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the bus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bus ride to the Beirut port from the muster point near the Embassy.   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In port prior to boarding -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Buses arrive at Beirut port, Orient Queen is in the background. British helicopters arrive, land, take on evacuees from buses, and then depart.       Lebanese soldier providing port security lights up a cigarette. Lebanese navy (both ships!)...