Military Ring Info

The big question in Iraq is whether its army will be able to stand in the face of their situation with the terrorists who plague the country and the fact that most of the US soldiers are gone. Many Iraqi and US officials feel that they won’t be able to survive but I believe that they will.

US officials who have dealt with the Iraqi government are critical of many phases of their operations. The army seems tobe pretty sound tactically but support aspects of their operations are lacking.

I think that the Iraqis will make it because they are not fighting a sustained slug it out war. They are fighting insurgents who live among them. The battles that they begin are normally only skirmishes which only last foe a short while. They bomb crowded areas and dissappear back into the crowds. Yes they have caused massive casualties with their bombings but I just can’t see them as a force which is viable enough to topple the Iraqi government. Our military ring customers did an awesome job while they were there, and there is a contingency of combat troops who remain to assist mainly as advisors, but for the most part the ball is in the hands of the Iraqis. It’s time for the little birdie to get kicked out of the nest and fly.

The good news for us is that our combat mission in Iraq has officially ended. Although our government says that all of our combat forces have left the country there is no doubt that we have some contingency troops there as a fighting reserve if necessary, but for the most part our combat mission in that country has ended.

This is the end of an era for our Operation Iraqi Freedom ring customers and the beginning of an era for the people of Iraq. Al-Qaeda has really ramped up their violent attacks in that country because if they want to topple the government now is the best time. The US departure is bittersweet for the Iraqis because they didn’t want us in their country for the most part and I don’t blame them, but they will have to fiend for themselves now that we are gone and it is a fearful proposition for them.

I believe that they can make it but it definitely not be easy. They are in unfamiliar territory and al-Qaeda will definitely use every trick in their power to trip them up. They will have to learn quickly if they are to survive this super critical stage in their history.

The cost of this campaign to the Iraqi people, the US economy, and our military ring customers has been phenomenal. I don’t know if the cost has been worth the effort but the good thing is that it is over.

a The latest situation in Iraq is that a suicide bomber has successfully attacked a military headquarters which was being used as a gathering place for Iraqi men to sign up as recruits for its security forces. The bomber posed as a potential recruit and detonated his bomb in the early morning hours. He managed to kill sixty people and injured one hundred and twenty five.

The Iraqi’s are at the point of the proverbial bird who gets kicked out of it’s nest. They will have to fly or die. They are apprehensive because most of our military ring customers who were stationed there are just about to leave.

Personally I believe that the Iraqis are capable of taking care of themselves but they need to realize that the baby bottle has been taken away and act accordingly. They will have to make some big moves real soon and their growth is going to have to skyrocket but I believe that they have what it takes to win. They just need to realize it and act accordingly.

Al-Qaeda has been blamed for the bombing and has conducted an all our attack since our custom military ring customers have began to pull out in earnest. They want to topple the new Iraqi government but my prediction is that it won’t happen. The government is entrenched better than they and al-Qaeda are aware of. So go ahead and fly little birdie fly

If there were a motto to this post it would be darned if you do. The reason that I make this statement is because Tariq Aziz who many of you might remember from the days of the first offensive of Operation Iraqi Freedom is critical about the US withdrawal. Now I’m a bit confused here because I thought the Iraqi people wanted us out of their country. This just goes to show that no matter what you do someone won’t be pleased.

Mr Aziz thinks that we are leaving Iraq to the dogs. In his opinion we have torn the country down and left it in a demolished state. He went on to say that Saddam Insane spent many years building the country before we came in and destroyed his work.

He goes on to say that the Iraqi people are the victims of the US and the British and that President Obama is a hypocrite because he isn’t leaving the troops longer. Well I don’t think that he would have been able to say those things to Saddam and live if Saddam were still the President of Iraq.

You know my military ring customers some people would complain even if we had passed out one hundred dollar bills so what can you do?

Al-Qaeda in its latest attempt to destabilize the newly formed Iraqi government has been targeting Iraqi traffic cops for execution because they are an easy target. They are out in the open directing traffic so they are very vulnerable. The terrorists have been executing them drive by style with silenced pistols. They have been able to execute ten cops so far by pulling up close to them and firing at them. The cops are asking to be armed with large caliber weapons which is what the new Iraqi government will do. The problem here is what if a shootout occurs on the crowded city streets.

Some of the cops are now working in pairs so that they can better protect each other. The new government and the policemen will not back down from this pressure which is good. They are going to need to show some strong resolve in the future, especially with our custom military ring customers leaving in such large numbers. Although we will have forces there for some time to come they will be more of a reactionary force. A reactionary force is only there to bolster the existing police force when they need help

A US Army soldier was arrested for passing over 260,000 classified or sensitive State Department cables to wikileaks.org which is a whistle blowing organization which specializes in posting that type of information. Most of the information was from incidents which ocurred during the last presidential administration.

I have read news accounts of this incident as I’m sure many of you have also and I am not surprised about anything that it contains. One point that I would like to clarify is that the news reports state that there were over one hundred incidents of innocent civilians being killed thet weren’t reported. I don’t think that these incidents were hidden from the public they were just not made known pubicly. The difference is that you dfinitely don’t want to publicize information which will give your enemy propaganda to use against you. I know from my military experience that there are many incidents that happen that the American public never hear about. The US and Afghanistan have instituted many new rules of engagement to prevent the killing of civilians. Anyway thats enough said on that subject. Let’s move on.

SPC Bradley Manning was the soldier arrested for passing the information but there was not much that I saw that we didn’t know about already. The only thing that I wasn’t aware of was the existence of Task Force 373. It was no surprise that there is such a force operating in Afghanistan but I just had never heard it mentioned.

The problem is that a soldier would pass sensitive information so easily that might jeapordize the lives of our military ring customers. He even bragged about it to the person who turned him in. The other thing which disturbs me is that an organization would make this information public knowing the negative consequences that it could have for our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers serving in Afghanistan.

The US is completing its drawdown from Iraq and as one of the last acts many prisoners who we have had in custody are being turned back over to the Iraqi government. The latest batch to be turned over is a bunch of the motley crew who were once known as Saddam Hussein’s innrer circle. Do you remember how they were being caught one by one during Operation Iraqi Freedom? Our military ring customers who were serving in Iraq during that time were given decks of playing cards with their pictures on them. They seemed to fade out of mind after the war but they were quietly being held in custody by the US military.

The chief of this group of Saddam’s thugs who were just turned over is Tariq Aziz. You may remember him during the last days of the war pubicly declaring how the Iraqis had maintained control of the airport. He must have been on his way to wherever he had to go to try to escape as he made that speech.

Mr Aziz is terrified that once they have been turned over into the hands of the Iraqi government that they will be very harshly dealt with. This just reinforces my saying that what goes around comes back around. When I think about how they raised all kinds of hell when they had Saddam to back them. They did it without fear. One thing that Mr Aziz neeeds to keep in mind is this; If he had not raised so much cain with those civilians when he was in power they would not want to kill him today.

General Ray Odierno has beefed up security around US compounds in Iran due to an expectancy of increased attacks by Iranian militants. The drawdown is in full effect and it won’t be long before our Operation Iraqi Freedom ring customers are pretty much out of the country. General Odierno is confident that Iranian backed militants want to use the withdrawal as an excuse to say that the US is retreating rather than withdrawing. They would love to increase their attacks to make it seem that way.

The Iranians are seeking to boost their props in Iraq before the Americans leave and this looks like a good opportunity. Of course the Iranian government is looking to gain some control over the region. Remember that the Iranians and Iraqis fought an eight year war just prior to Operation Desert Storm. The times may have changed but I can assure you that their agenda remains the same. This is just a new and different opportunity to take advantage of the struggling Iraqi government before it can get its feet on the ground.

Insurgents have attacked Iraqs central bank recently, in an attempt to humiliate the Iraqi government more than anything else. I think robbery was a motive in the attack but I do not believe that it was the only motive.

The attack was accompanied by several bombings which seem to have been more of a distraction than anything else. There was also about three suicide bombings in the attempt. There was an ensuing gun battle which lasted about three hours. The militants are suspected to be al-Qaeda and the attack resulted in twenty six dead and sixty injured. In the end the militants were not successful although they were able to destroy a few documents.

US forces were not mentioned in the incident since our military ring customers are being brought back from the country. Most of the control of the country has been turned over to the Iraqis. The insurgents are attempting to undermine the effectiveness of the new government in order to cause it to crumble.

Have you ever heard of this operation? Well grasshopper if you haven’t let me drop some knowledge on you. This is the name that al-Qaeda in Iraq has given to its practice of harrassing and tormenting the population of that country. They have really been feeling the bite of our relentless pressure on them in the last few months. We have come across excellent intelligence which enabled us to put the bite on them.

I think that this operation is their answer to our relentless pressure. The operation seems to target Iraqi security officers and army personnel. I guess the terrorists consider them to be puppets of the US government. I believe that this operation is their way of showing that they still run things in Iraq.

In one incident they lined up security personnel and executed them in public. They taped the event to show the world while people on the street went about their normal business. Some even stopped to watch.

I think that our military ring customers would agree that these type of tactics won’t do a thing to win the hearts and minds of the civilian population. Al-Qaeda doesn’t seem to know of any tactics other than fear.