Remember, according to Right-wing hacks that have never been there, Northern Iraq is as safe as can be. While the paper-tiger Right sings Northern Iraq's praises, the Left-wing Orwellians stand to the side with their thumbs of one hand in their mouths while holding their crotches with the other hand. - Have your attention now?
Iran is allegedly making military incursions into Northern Iraq ( link ) . And, ten days ago the worst bombing yet in the Iraq war occurred in Northern Iraq ( link ); you know that safe part of Iraq the paper-tiger Right-wing innuendos about as a victory for us. And that so-called safe Northern Iraq the Left-wing Orwellians see as a success story and a poster-child reason to get out of Iraq. Both the Right and the Left have their heads up their asses.
It is not our military decisions in Iraq, nor our government at large, or the Kurdish situation in Northern Iraq ( link ) that necessarily bothers me about the Iraq war. But rather, it is the nitwit Republicans and Democrats and their national and local do-nothing media pundit water-boys that are the real disgrace.
Our Right and Left template of politics does not over-lay on to the construct that is Iraqi politics. The Turks, the Kurds, the Yazidi, the Sunni, the Shiite, the Assyrians, the Eastern Kurds, the Western Kurds, the Islamic Kurds, the Iranian Kurds, the Iraqis, the tribal sects, and the Turkish Kurds. They all are quite capable of killing each other; and, us too if we are not careful. I hope if our Right and Left and their media pundit lackeys ever get to "safe" Northern Iraq, that they have a nice experience looking over their shoulders all day and night like I endured.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is U.S. Marine Corporal Adrian V. Soltau, 21 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Corporal Soltau was on his second tour of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was killed in an explosion Monday, September 13, 2004 near Fallujah, in Anbar Province, Iraq. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stated that, Adrian followed his older brother Andre, 23, onto the football team and honor roll at Milwaukee Madison High School, then into the Marine Corps. The Journal Sentinel went on to say Corporal Soltau was nearing his time to come home. Adrian Soltau has seven siblings. He went to boot camp in August 2001 two years after his brother entered the Corps. Corporal Adrian V. Soltau was in Company A, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He was killed in combat action. Adrian was the 21st soldier from Wisconsin and the second graduate of Milwaukee Public Schools to die in the fighting since the United States entered Iraq in March 2003.
3,732 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
27,662 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
78 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
112 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
