One of Ours

MR. SENOR:...Fallujans must work to remove foreign fighters, drug users, former Mukhabarat, Special Republican Guard, former Fedayeen Saddam, and other serious, dangerous, violent criminals operating out of Fallujah....

Q: ...who are these drug users, and what kind of drugs are they using, and what is their role in the insurgency up there?

MR. SENOR: On your second point -- or your final question -- I'll let General Kimmitt handle the front end -- we have been told by -- our delegation has been told by Fallujan leaders that many of the individuals involved with the violence are on some -- are on various drugs. It is part of what they're using to keep them up to engage in this violence at all hours. And the Fallujans leaders, the political and civic leaders with whom we've been talking, have repeatedly expressed this to be a serious problem, that the drug use by those engaged in the violence is something that we need to address. And so it was based on those recommendations that that was included in the communique, the joint communique. And it is one of the issues that we want to take on...

Today a new alarming terrorist tactic has started; they are now lobbing rockets and mortars randomly at residential areas in Baghdad. They are attacking the Baghdadis at their homes. The message is: Don’t think that by staying home and locking your doors you can escape our intimidation. Two houses in Dawoodi, one in Palestine Street and one in Dora were thus struck by these missiles. Now it is a direct assault on people in their homes. Now is the time to start “draconic” counter terrorist measures...

Does being pro-Israel mean that you also have to be anti-Palestinian? That's an interesting framing of the question, and when you put it that way the answer is pretty obviously no. So why, then, does the Bush administration insist on doing nothing for Palestinians?

Walter Russell Mead poses this question in the New York Times today and suggests that this posture is buying us unnecessary trouble. Dan Drezner and Greg Djerejian seem to agree.

...There's a curious turn of phrase in this BBC piece on [Steven] Spielberg's plan to make a film about the '72 Olympic assassinations. It seems the Israeli athletes were kidnapped by activists, not terrorists; and their deaths, while chronologically subsequent to the abduction, were of unspecified causes":

The Israelis died after being taken hostage by Palestinian activists at the 1972 summer games in Munich.

...Perhaps the BBC needs to get some new instructors at its impartiality seminars:

BBC reporters are receiving training in impartial journalism following criticisms made by the Hutton Report into the death of Dr David Kelly.

The 'impartiality seminars' aim to encourage reporters and producers at BBC News to think outside of the 'left-leaning liberal' mentality traditionally associated with the corporation.

...But Hamas faces a larger problem. The Palestinian people are becoming disillusioned with the terror tactics. The main reason for the disillusionment is poverty. Before the current “intifada” (uprising) began in late 2000, some 20 percent of Palestinians lived in poverty. Now that figure is over 80 percent. Per capita income for Palestinians is about a thousand dollars (although 30 percent of that comes from foreign aid). Business investment in the Palestinian territories (and their 3.5 million population) is only about ten percent of what it was before the intifada. The Palestinian economy depends on Israel for jobs and trade. By sending suicide bombers into Israel, the movement of Palestinians and Palestinian goods into Israel was interrupted.

Hamas has cultivated support among Palestinians with their extensive social welfare operations. But this work is supported by charitable donations, and a portion of that money is diverted to terrorist operations. So, in the last few months, Israel has interrupted the flow of money to Hamas. This has resulted in social programs being stalled, or even stopped. Hamas has lost public support because of this. Palestinians are becoming less grateful to Hamas for helping them get through their poverty, and increasingly blaming Hamas for causing all the misfortune...

Poland is ready to keep its 2,500 troops in Iraq until Baghdad holds free general elections, which should be organized by the end of January 2005, Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said on Thursday.

“Our mission in Iraq with same number of troops has…sense in forthcoming months,” he told reporters. “The situation will be different when Iraq holds general elections. From this moment Polish forces could be significantly reduced.”

Prime Minister Leszek Miller said on Wednesday Poland was reviewing its engagement in Iraq, although it would not pull its troops out suddenly or without the agreement of the United States.

Poland leads a 9,500-strong multinational force in south-central Iraq. Spain and some central American states plan to withdraw their troops from the force, leaving Warsaw scrambling for ways to keep peace in the region...

One of the other jobs our brigade legal team has here in Iraq is to review and provide some oversight for the brigade's detention center and make sure it is being run properly and the detainees are treated in accordance with international law. We review each detainee's packet and provide recommendations to our commander on whether they should be released or continued detention is warranted. The goal is to have sufficient evidence on the real bad guys so that we can eventually try them in an Iraqi court. Our units are actually doing pretty well at getting evidence and preparing statements...Now we have to prove to them that a judge can make a fair and impartial judgement based on the evidence. If we don't have the proof then they should go free.

Today I received an email...The author believes that too many US soldiers have been killed because we are showing restraint. It's the opposite of the current media hogwash that we've been intentionally targetting women and children in Fallujah. The author has a valid point. We are doing the best we can to not kill innocent civilians. And that often puts our soldiers at greater risk. But honestly I believe that that extra risk is part of what being a soldier is about. Every one of us volunteered to join the army. The risk of being shot at and killed is inherent in being a soldier. And so it is important for us to go the extra mile to be sure we don't endanger or kill civilians who, for the most part, just want to get on with living their lives. It is, I think, the morally correct thing to do and it's also mission essential. How can we hope to succeed unless we are able to convince the Iraqis that we are here to help them. I think this ties into how we handle our detainees. We do put a heavier burden on our soldiers but it is not a sign of weakness. Rather it is an example of democratic virtues in action.

Today I made my first trip out into "indian country." We travelled from Balad up to Tikrit where I'll be staying for the next year. Originally we were supposed to fly up but the helicopter fell through so we drove up in a three HMMWV convoy. I rode in the back of a cargo HMMWV with four other soldiers. The unit we rode with had "uparmored" the HMMWV with steel plates that had a number of slots for you to fire from. As soon as we passed the gates of the camp the gunners in the other vehicles charged their .50 caliber machine gun and Mark-19 grenade launchers and we loaded magazines in our M16s and chambered rounds. This was the first time in my ten year army career that I've been allowed to ride around in the back of a HMMWV with a bullet in the chamber. For the next year that's about the only way I'll be riding around in a vehicle.

The countryside in north central Iraq is truly unremarkable. It's far more lush than Kuwait. While the ground is still sandy, there are farmfields, grape vines, and fruit orchards all over the place. I spent the trip scanning the sides of the roads and the first 100-200 meters on my side for anything suspicious but didn't see anything at all. I don't know what I expected to see but the people were simply going about their lives. Farmers in the fields, women hanging clothes to dry, children playing soccer. We passed a lot of children waving to us from the side of the road so I'd smile and wave back. We also passed a number of Iraqi vehicles with women and children in them. At first they would stare with a somewhat apprehensive look on their faces. I can imagine the image we presented to them. US soldiers with helmets, vests, weapons pointed out and sunglasses that hide their eyes can be imposing. But nine times out of ten when I'd smile and lift my hand they would burst into smiles and wave right back. The adults would then smile and give me a quick thumbs up.

Altogether it was a good trip. I'm glad to be here now so I can get settled in and get to work.

Yasser Arafat expelled 20 wanted militants from his compound Thursday out of fear Israel planned to break in and snatch them, a further sign that the Palestinian leader worries he might be Israel's next target...

...about 40 fugitives from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militia affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement, sought refuge in the compound, hoping Arafat's presence would deter Israel from coming after them.

Last summer, amid persistent Israeli demands, Arafat threw the men out, but 26 of them returned to the compound in recent months...

They sought refuge in a filthy, half-demolished back room with a collapsed wall covered by a blanket. About a week ago, five of the most wanted militants were thrown out after Israel threatened to raid the compound and get them, "even if they are hiding in Arafat's drawer," a Palestinian security official said on condition of anonymity.

About 3 a.m. Thursday, Arafat, apparently spurred by the movement of Israeli troops in Ramallah on Wednesday night, personally visited the 20 remaining militants and demanded they leave immediately, according to one of them, Ali Barghouti.

"We became fugitives to defend (Arafat) and now that we have become a burden, he is throwing us away...

...John Negroponte deliberately falsified State Department human rights reports throughout his time in Honduras. U.S. missionaries and many people of faith and conscience were murdered by the CIA-trained Honduran Battalion 3-16, which Negroponte at best overlooked and at worst oversaw. His nomination is an outrage, but sadly, it will pass through with minimal resistance unless constituents do something about it...