A happy and prosperous New Year to all! USMC wins the dance contest IMHO!

Salaam eleikum!

All the best to you and yours, too.

This thread is petering out, so I thought I’d offer a reading selection. Just finished “Sniper One” by Sgt Dan Mills:
http://www.amazon.com/Sniper-One-Scope-Under-Siege/dp/0312531265/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230911424&sr=1-1

The 23 day at CIMIC House detailed in the book was the longest sustained combat of any British unit since the Korean War. We never heard much of the Brit’s battle in southern Iraq here in the US, and apparently there was very little mention of it in the UK either. Don’t want to stir up the newly minted “peace movement” heh.

Though the writer is commander of a sniper platoon, most of the book is infantry patrols, some mechanized assaults, one memorable night battle with a couple of Spectre gunships helping out, and god-awful seige under mortar, RPG and ground attack. CIMIC house was a CPA site for rebuilding Iraq, but it became more of a story like Khe Sanh. It is shocking how cut off these 106 troops in this group were, how rough their living conditions, and how insane their adversaries known as the OMS, aka Mookie’s loonies were.

Equally shocking were the ROE, where besides that night with the two gunships, the only air support they received was one single F-16 dropping one single Mk 82 on a mortar site. There was no artillery support. There were no helicopters. They had to be re-supplied with enormous columns of Warriors led by Challenger tanks. Quite a bit different than Khe Sanh in that regard.

Speaking of the “anti-war movement” – I suppose that’s over now. There was no “anti-war movement” thoughout the ’90’s, when we were constantly at war in multiple theaters, when cooperation between Iraq and Al Qaeda on WMD’s was a give, when Iraq’s WMD programs were a globally recognized world threat. It is sadly immoral how these “peace activists” donned the noble cloak of humanitarianism as simply a disguise for their abject hatred of Bush, Republicans and conservatives. Now that Bush is gone, the wars will be fine with them, once again.

Mahola, Wretchard et al.

…and occasionally there is a Mad Hatter serving tea with a hedgehog tucked under his arm.

It’s good to know Sully did at least one good thing, if his blog brought you here… and yes, sometimes it takes an effort to recall that Fallujah I was not that long ago.

Here’s your poetry fix: Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit– some day, perhaps, it will be pleasant to remember even this [present moment]– a happier new year to you and yours.

It’s so kind of you to notice.

I first stumbled into the Belmont Club through Andrew Sullivan’s blog, when he was so sensibly militant after 9/11. Strange route to the BC, eh?

I fell into Wretchard’s unique topographic/intel analysis of the Marines first intense sustained assault of First Fallujah. He described lines of fire, he used publicly available images, it was wild.

Do you remember that? It was not so long ago.

Wait a minute. Is this the Poetry, Philosophy, Writing blog? Prof W teaches this one, right?

C’mon – Lifeo’ – you love it here!