Damn — I’ve got goosebumps!

The enemy was holding a video camera. Enemy videotape was recording, and the camera was panning from the left side of Stryker, far past the other two lanes, because Krauss and crew were about to drive over a culvert the enemy had packed with explosives.

{…}

I don’t know which Kenny Chesney song they were listening to before the bomb exploded, but I played my favorite—“Me and You”—over and over while writing their story, wondering what might have been going through their minds just before the detonation. Although the bomb was massive, they couldn’t have seen it. It was hidden and packed into a culvert under the road.

{…}

For Krauss and crew, the great dream of a great song was interrupted:

As the bomb detonated beneath it, the General Lee arced like a dolphin from the sea of Hell. LT Brad Krauss can be seen flying out like Superman, if you look closely and imagine real hard. PFC Devon Hoch can clearly be seen standing in the back hatch. And that was it. Our guys’ lives seemed to be reduced to propaganda. The terrorists published reports that the soldiers were killed.

But this is Michael Yon writing here, and you damn sure don’t want to miss the rest of the story!

The video shot by the enemy is harrowing. Thank God for the Strykers!

Technorati Tags: General Lee, Michael Yon, Strykers

               Michael YonMichael Yon’s latest, Al-Qaeda on the Run: Feasting on the Moveable Beast, is full of information that I’d bet a bundle you’ll never see printed in the LA Times.

The focus on al Qaeda makes sense here, where local officials have gone on record acknowledging that most of the perhaps one thousand al Qaeda fighters in Baqubah were young men and boys who called the city home. This may clash with the perception in US and other media that only a small percentage of the enemy in Iraq is al Qaeda, which in turn leads to false conclusions that the massive offensive campaign underway across Iraq is a lot of shock and awe aimed at a straw enemy. But as more Sunni tribal leaders renounce former ties with al Qaeda, it’s becoming clearer just how heavily AQ relied on local talent, and how disruptive they have been here in fomenting the civil war.

Pretty heady stuff, this. As far as our local kitty-box liner, a search on their website for “Michael Yon” nets you the following:

LATIMES.COM ARTICLES
No matches found on search for: michael yon
Try broadening your search criteria.

Of course, our esteemed waste of ink and paper isn’t silent on the Iraq War, not at all.

NEWS ANALYSIS
Key goals in Iraq elusive

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: BAGHDAD’S FRUSTRATION; U.S. RAIDS
Iraqis chafe at U.S. deadline pressure

Administration foiled by own Iraq goals

GOP senators seek middle ground on Iraq

‘Spectacular attacks’ in Iraq expected

Court-martial urged in Haditha case

&

Pentagon criticized for Iraq armor contracts

And that’s just today!

Not a single mention anywhere online about the effectiveness of Operation Arrowhead Ripper — and as Yon reports in his initial post of the battle for Baqubah, “Alexandra Zavis from Los Angeles Times is down in the heat of the battle bringing home information.” The LAT has its own embedded reporter and they aren’t telling the story! That’s outright, damaging-to-the-troops anti-war bias taken to the max!

Hey LA Times — try broadening your editorial and journalistic criteria!

Pathetic!

[Update -- to be fair, I did find an article by the LAT embed, Alexandra Zavis, from June 26. Why they haven't followed up with further info about the routing of al Qaeda is a mystery -- or, maybe it isn't. That would make Bush's "surge" look like it just might be working -- can't have that now, can we LAT?]

I hate it when classified reports are “leaked”. But now that it has been, if what Breitbart reports about the increased strength of al Qaeda is accurate — this ain’t good! Not good at all.

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded al-Qaida has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, The Associated Press has learned.

The conclusion suggests that the group that launched the most devastating terror attack on the United States has been able to rebuild despite nearly six years of bombings, war and other tactics aimed at crippling it.

Still, numerous government officials say they know of no specific, credible threat of a new attack.

A counterterrorism official familiar with a five-page summary of the new government threat assessment called it a stark appraisal that will be discussed at the White House on Thursday as part of a broader meeting on an upcoming National Intelligence Estimate.

The official and others spoke on condition of anonymity because the secret report remains classified.

Of course, that sure didn’t keep them from flappin’ their yaps. But, unlike with the exposure of the NSA & phone intercepts and the SWIFT-terrorist-financial-tracking program, maybe something good will come out of this one. Maybe Bush’s dogged persistence on the war will come into some kind of more positive focus for those not consumed by Bush Derangement Syndrome. However, it sure looks like Pakistan is gonna either have to step up in its own efforts to contain/control the terrorists in their midst, or become another entry on the master target list.

The threat assessment says that al-Qaida stepped up efforts to “improve its core operational capability” in late 2004 but did not succeed until December of 2006 after the Pakistani government signed a peace agreement with tribal leaders that effectively removed government military presence from the northwest frontier with Afghanistan.

The agreement allows Taliban and al-Qaida operatives to move across the border with impunity and establish and run training centers, the report says, according to the official.

It also says that al-Qaida is particularly interested in building up the numbers in its middle ranks, or operational positions, so there is not as great a lag in attacks when such people are killed.

The part about the four European countries that are a part of the U.S. visa waiver program and also have “arrangements” with the Pakistani government to ease access between them is a recipe for destruction on a 9/11 or greater scale.

What will be the reaction from the Left? Probably a big yawn — just another bumper sticker to them . . .

Technorati Tags: al Qaeda, al-Qaida, National Intelligence Estimate, Taliban, U.S. visa waiver program

Michael Yon posts an update to his Bless the Beasts and Children narrative where he shows us the horrific scene at the villiage al Hamira as found by Charley Company 1-12 CAV, with which Yon is embedded in Iraq. This post is not for the feint of heart or weak of stomach. [Warning -- Graphic pics of the dead, mutilated villagers!] Yon is also wondering about something that keeps coming up in my mind, why is this not getting ANY coverage by the MSM? Why does a search at the LA Times come up with, “No matches found on search for: al Hamira?” Why does a LAT search for “iraq massacre” come up with all this, but not one story about what Charley Company found? Not even an aside in a broader piece has been presented by our local “paper of record”. However, they did deem it page-one, above the fold, important to again run another story about alleged U.S. Marine atrocities from back in 2004 in this morning’s dead-tree excuse for cat-box liner.

Here’s Yon:

In my dispatch, I reported that six people were killed, but mentioned that Iraqi soldiers were still digging out bodies when I left. A few hours ago, Colonel Hiduit put the number at 10-14, and said the search for bodies had ended. I made video of the graves, bodies and of interviews with Iraqi and American soldiers while we still were at the scene and have been working to make material from this available on this website.

As the investigation unfolds more pertinent details, I’ll continue to update the story. But the biggest question rippling across the internet—“Why hasn’t the mainstream media picked this up?”—is something only representatives of mainstream media can answer.

We all KNOW “why” the MSM won’t cover this story — it doesn’t fit into their carefully crafted narrative: that everything that we do in Iraq is a disaster, and that maybe the Islamists aren’t really so bad, maybe they’re just misunderstood, maybe they have a good reason to react the way they do, maybe if we just get the hell out of there NOW, this will all go away and then Iraq can become a wonderful place again, like before, under Saddam.

For a citizen-journalist that self-funds his embeds with donations, Michael Yon has made a most generous offer:

Although I can’t answer to the cause of the problem, I humbly offer permission to media outlets to republish excerpts of the dispatch or the dispatch in its entirety, including my photographs from the story (if used as they are in the dispatch) at no cost during the month of July 2007. I only ask that the site receive proper attribution and that any publication taking me up on the offer email the website with the details.

God bless and keep Michael Yon — ex-special forces, current writer with balls of steel, a fine eye for a picture, an amazing gift of narrative and the heart of a lion.

Technorati Tags: Michael Yon, al Hamira, Charley Company 1-12 CAV, LA Times

Michael Yon is embedded with our guys and reporting from the battle in Baquba. His pre-battle post, Be Not Afraid, was riveting. Operation Arrowhead Ripper: Day One is more so. Here’s a short excerpt:

The enemy in Baqubah is as good as any in Iraq, and better than most. That’s saying a lot. But our guys have been systematically trapping them, and have foiled some big traps set for our guys. I don’t want to say much more about that, but our guys are seriously outsmarting them. Big fights are ahead and we will take serious losses probably, but al Qaeda, unless they find a way to escape, are about to be slaughtered. Nobody is dropping leaflets asking them to surrender. Our guys want to kill them, and that’s the plan.

Sounds like a good plan to this ol’ Okie! Our prayers are with all you guys, Michael. Now, readers, follow that link and read it all — don’t come back until you do now, ya hear?

[Addition]

In a follow up post, Arrowhead Ripper: Surrender or Die Yon shows that even in this day of modern communications, during military operations you still have a chance to experience the big SNAFU.

All those reporters flooding out here are about to flood into difficult reporting terrain. Cell phones do not work in Baqubah.

Public Affairs should have known this months ago. Valuable stories about our soldiers and the battle are being lost and will never be filed because reporters, after a long day of being on the battlefield, cannot make a simple phone call, or file a story. Why be here? It’s pretty dangerous, and insurance is expensive. I had to skip a mission this morning because I cannot make communications, and am down to filing stories on the fly again without time for editing. There is no other way to keep the flow open, and if you are reading this, it’s only after I’ve wasted hours trying to upload it. Hours I could have been with our soldiers, telling about their days in one of the most important battles of this war.

Godspeed, Michael — and good luck to all in Operation Arrowhead Ripper!

Technorati Tags: Michael Yon, Operation Arrowhead Ripper, Baqubah, al Qaeda

ABC News is reporting that the latest graduates of the Al Qaeda/Taliban School of Witchcraft & Wizardry Suicide Bombings, Death & Destruction have been set loose upon the world with missions to pursue attacks in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Germany. Gee, that’s encouraging.

Large teams of newly trained suicide bombers are being sent to the United States and Europe, according to evidence contained on a new videotape obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

{…}

“It doesn’t take too many who are willing to actually do it and be able to slip through the net and get into the United States or England and cause a lot of damage,” said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism official.

No duh! And to think that our aspiring presidential candidates across the isle either don’t believe that there’s a global war with terrorists going on, or that we can deal with this as a police action. Yeah, after they blow up a mall full of women and kids, we can arrest the grisly mess that’s splattered all over the walls!

That’ll teach ‘em!