5 October 2004

First of all, I wish to thank everyone who has read my posts. It means a lot to me that you would listen to an old soldier. In the five days that I have been posting to the site, I have already had nearly 500 hits. So, at least someone is getting the message. Thank you.

In the news today, Mr. Paul Bremer, the former head of the US occupation of Iraq has said that he feels that we did not have enough troops in Iraq when we first ousted Saddam, leading to widespread looting and crime. I agree with him. However, I disagree with his follow on statment that we now have enough people in country. We may have enough troops on the ground IN THEATER, meaning, Iraq, Quatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, however, there are NOT enough combat troops to effectively erradicate the insurgency to its fullest extent here on the battlegrounds of Iraq. I say battlegrounds very carefully, for every day, there is violence somewhere in this impoverished country. I have voiced my opinions in an earlier posting about the lack of intelligence being gathered from the local poplulace, however, if there were a greater presence here, we would effectively be home sooner. I further disagree with the final statement he made in his closing remarks about planning. He stated that there was planning for a contingency which did not arise. He didn't know if it could have been done better for he didn't spend alot of time looking back. Well, I understand that forward thinking is an excellent viewpoint in the birth of democracy, however, how can we learn from our mistakes if we do not look back and figure out what was done right or what was done wrong and how we can fix things? This seems to be the prevailing attitude, especially among the political arena, who continually harangue each other about the key issues surrounding Iraq. It is all well and good to talk about things, however, where there is not action, stagnation is sure to follow. They speak of what COULD have been done, what SHOULD be done, but not what WILL be done.

Today was kind of a break for myself and my soldiers. We had a rare opportunity to go up to the Baghdad International Airport, where we get to sample a little taste of home. Meaning, Burger King. It is always a great morale booster among my soldiers to have a BK Whopper, fries and a coke after eating the same dang thing in the mess hall constantly. Believe me, veal cutlets, braised beef get a little old after a while.

Thank you again for all of your support. I will post again soon.