cbftw.blogspot.com/

This is by far the best war blog I've seen yet.  It's by a machine gunner in a Stryker Brigade.  Here's a sample from his August 05 entry, Men in Black:

Thursday, August 05, 2004 Men In Black This is what CNN wrote on their website about what happened yesterday here in Mosul: Mosul clashes leave 12 dead Clashes between police and insurgents in the northern city of Mosul left 12 Iraqis dead and 26 wounded, hospital and police sources said Wednesday. Rifle and rocket-propelled grenade fire as well as explosions were heard in the streets of the city. The provincial governor imposed a curfew that began at 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. EDT), and two hours later, provincial forces, police and Iraqi National Guard took control, according to Hazem Gelawi, head of the governor's press office in the Nineveh province. Gelawi said the city is stable and expects the curfew to be lifted Thursday. Now here's what really happened: I was in my room reading a book (Thin Red Line) when the mortars started coming down. Usually when we get mortared it'll only one, maybe two mortars. But this mortar attack went on for almost 20 minutes. Each one impacting the FOB every couple minutes. Something was up. My roommate ripped open the door and yelled "Get your guys, Go to the motor pool! The whole BATTALION is rolling out!" Holy shit, the whole Battalion? This must be big. So I ran over and woke my guys up, yelled, "Get your fuckin shit on and head down to the motor pool! Time: Now!" I grabbed my shit and started running to the motor pool, hearing small arms fire off in the back ground. By now everybody was running to motor pool. Putting their cloths on while they were running. At the motor pool, everybody was strapping on there shit and getting ready. One by one a Stryker was rolling out of the motor pool ready to hunt down whoever was fucking with us. People were hooting and hollering, yelling their war cries and doing the Indian yell thing as they drove off and locked and loaded their weapons. These guys that are attacking us just fucked with the bee's nest, and now they're getting the swarm. [...]

tagged for later

One by one a Stryker was rolling out of the motor pool ready to hunt down whoever was fucking with us. People were hooting and hollering, yelling their war cries and doing the Indian yell thing as they drove off and locked and loaded their weapons. These guys that are attacking us just fucked with the bee's nest, and now they're getting the swarm.

[warm-fuzzy]

Quoted: These guys that are attacking us just fucked with the bee's nest, and now they're getting the swarm. [...]

Hoo-ahh!!!!!!

Get some.

These KIDS make the old men media and Liberals look like the bed wetters they are.

Pull up your depends Lefties, and let the real men do the heavy lifting.

Been following this blog for a short time. Definitely the best I've seen so far.

Dude reads HST, listens to punk rock [the real kind]...my kinda guy.

Good read.

awesome

Once we got to the FOB, and parked near the motor pool to re-supply, a Sgt ran up to us holding all his gear and his kit and asked, "Hey you guys rolling back out? Do you have room for one more?" This guy who asked us if he could ride with us back out, was in that vehicle that was right in front of us earlier that got RPG'd.

THAT gives me a warm fuzzy. People who,. no matter how bad it gets, stick with their men and do what they can instead of hiding...... Give'm Hell boys, every damned day! hippie.gif

btt for the night crew

I've spent the last few days getting to know the FBCB2 commo system that currently used in the Strykers and being phased into every single Army vehicle.

With the amount of info we have at the fingertips of every vehicle commander and the instant communications it provides there is no more hiding on the battlefield of today.... the system just boggles my mind with the capabilities it has.

I’ve gotten a lot of good links here at ar15.com in the last few years.

Kill-nines link is without a doubt in the top five.

I hope this soldier has a bright future.

And I wish you the best Garand_Shooter. Stay safe, and thank you for your service.

Mike

That was some damn good reading.  Thanks for the link and God bless our boys over there.

Wow, good stuff!

You guys should go to that site and read his interview with an iraqi, it;s very good, and this guy says a lot of things that you won't hear about on the news.  

I like the guy's writing.  It's descriptive and flows well.  With a little schooling, I think think this guy could be a good writer.  And it would be sweet if he could publish a book about his experiences.  Seems like it would be a decent read.

SON OF A BITCH!

Definitely bookmarked.

Thanks for the link, I can already relate to the writer.  I'm in his sister unit at Ft Lewis, we'll fall in on their position soon, then he can relax a little I hope.

Quoted: Thanks for the link, I can already relate to the writer.  I'm in his sister unit at Ft Lewis, we'll fall in on their position soon, then he can relax a little I hope.

Damn, then what will he write about?  I've been following him for about a week now after seeing a post about him on one site or another I follow.  He really has a way of wrapping the reader into the events he goes through.

any chans of getting this guy an honorary ar15.com membership?

btt due to recent updates to the site

Is there a line of succession for this blog after this guy dies from a roadside bomb attack or something?  Iraq is one seriously screwed up place.

Quoted: Is there a line of succession for this blog after this guy dies from a roadside bomb attack or something?  Iraq is one seriously screwed up place.

You are one seriously screwed up dude to say something like that.  

Blessed is the person kicking ass on our behalf.

Thanks for the link

From one of the june entries entitled COLLATERAL DAMAGE LIKE A MUTHA FUCKA

Quote of the day: "You know Americans are cocky sons of bitches when, in a firefight, we fire TOW missles at a target, and everybody will stop shooting to cheer."

If you check it out the top entry on the page is about fatmoore boy. It's wierd yesterday when I read it, I could swear that there was a line in there from the guy about the best way moore could help the troops was by keeping his fat fucking mouth shut. but I don't see that anymore.


Check out the july entry about voting.
A small snippet

But I also can't vote for a person who threw his medals at the White House. You just don't do something like that. Like, if I did something like that, to protest this war, that would be a total slap in the face to all my brothers in my Platoon, all the people serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, all the people who lost their lives here, all the POW's, all the Vets, all the guys in all the other branches, and all my Drill Sgt's at Benning, and I wouldn't do something like that to them. It's hard enough as it is. Disagree with me all you want on this, but that's just how I feel.

Quoted: Quoted: Is there a line of succession for this blog after this guy dies from a roadside bomb attack or something?  Iraq is one seriously screwed up place. You are one seriously screwed up dude to say something like that.

I'll 2nd what RikWriter just said !!!       You need to be sure your Brain is engaged before you open your mouth

Quoted: Is there a line of succession for this blog after this guy dies from a roadside bomb attack or something?

Yeah.  How about you go over there and take over for the kid?

Quoted: Quoted: Is there a line of succession for this blog after this guy dies from a roadside bomb attack or something? Yeah.  How about you go over there and take over for the kid?

He'll get right on that as soon as his mommy lets him cross the street by himself.

uh-oh, his latest entry is ominous.  I'm betting The Army is about to shut him down:

Thursday, August 19, 2004 Stay Tuned Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. story developing...

All that drivel and he dosent even say what is really going on. How many kills did they have? Apparently he dosent know but they did shoot a bunch of watermelons and he almost shot his buddies 3 times.  What a buffoon.

hmmm nothing new the last two days......

Quoted: Once we got to the FOB, and parked near the motor pool to re-supply, a Sgt ran up to us holding all his gear and his kit and asked, "Hey you guys rolling back out? Do you have room for one more?" This guy who asked us if he could ride with us back out, was in that vehicle that was right in front of us earlier that got RPG'd. THAT gives me a warm fuzzy. People who,. no matter how bad it gets, stick with their men and do what they can instead of hiding...... Give'm Hell boys, every damned day!

Why do you do it, Hoot?

cbftw.blogspot.com/2004/08/ever-get-feeling-youve-been-cheated.html

"Over and Out"

Apparently he's done.

From his Profile Page under "Previous Posts"

please 26 August 2004 If i take something I write off my site, or re-word it, THERE'S PROBABLY A REALLY FUCKING GOOD REASON WHY I DID THAT! Please, dont be the F-ing moron that goes on the comments section and re-posts what I took down or re-worded. thank you.

It would appear that the higher-ups found something they didn't like and *zap* that's it.

Eh, so does anybody have the full text?

Quoted: All that drivel and he dosent even say what is really going on. How many kills did they have? Apparently he dosent know but they did shoot a bunch of watermelons and he almost shot his buddies 3 times.  What a buffoon.

Dude, show some fucking respect. This guy is over there making sacrifices for all of us. If you don't have anything positive to say about this fine young man, then keep your friggin trap shut, PLEASE! Once you go over and do a tour, we might feel you have earned the right to judge these guys.

Quoted: From his Profile Page under "Previous Posts" please 26 August 2004 If i take something I write off my site, or re-word it, THERE'S PROBABLY A REALLY FUCKING GOOD REASON WHY I DID THAT! Please, dont be the F-ing moron that goes on the comments section and re-posts what I took down or re-worded. thank you. It would appear that the higher-ups found something they didn't like and *zap* that's it.

I was actually wondering why he pulled the if michael moore really wanted to help the troops he would shut his fucking mouthline. I liked that one, it was in a june or july entry.


This sucks that he shut it down. I liked reading it. It's cool to get a prospective of all of this that you don't really see in the media. Oh well.
I wish him luck and hope he stays safe. Who knows maybe when he gets home he'll write a book about all of it and we will get better details about some of the stuff he wrote about on the BLOG.

The blogger was known to all only as "CB".  That is, until Eric Niiler of NPR stated the soldier's name and unit on the air in this segment on NPR's "Day to Day" program: www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3867981  Shortly thereafter, the Army shut him down.  

Hey I read that the other day after he linked to it from his blog and it actually had his name in the artical, now it refers to him as CBFTW only. NPR must have changed it. crazy shit.

I guess NPR couldn't have any good news coming out of Iraq. NPR is pablum for the mind.

Bob

Quoted: Eh, so does anybody have the full text?

just wondering that too booked marked it but never got the chance to read it

Hmmm, before we launched in DS1 we were given explicit orders not to have personal journals or diaries.

In case we were captured.

Quoted: Eh, so does anybody have the full text?

Go to the profile page and start scrolling down. it has all the log evtries, the titles are links to the full entry.

Also along the right side there is an archive section that ghoes to july

All of those links are now dead.
Bummer.

Quoted: Quoted: Eh, so does anybody have the full text? Go to the profile page and start scrolling down. it has all the log evtries, the titles are links to the full entry. Also along the right side there is an archive section that ghoes to july

But Google's cache still works!

Sunday, August 22, 2004
GGGOOOAAALLL!!!
"Please god, grant me the serenity to accept the fact that the human race is all things good, and all things evil. At the same time, grant me the courage, and strength to not give up what I know is right, even though its hopeless, and please give me the wisdom to take it day by day."
-Blood For Blood

Back when I was civilian, I lived in Los Angeles for awhile. Why I moved to LA I don't know, I just did. On random nights I used to go up to the historic Griffith Observatory up in the Hollywood hills, (usually on some mind altering stimulant) and I'd sit up there for hours and hours and stare off down at the illuminating lights coming off from the urban streets and buildings down below. For some reason I always thought LA looked really cool from way up there. Good from afar, but far from good.

Now years later, I'm constrained up in some fucking guard tower in Mosul, Iraq (itching for stimulants to help me cope with the boredom) staring off at the night lights radiating from this ancient Islamic city. Working the guard tower shift sucks. There aint shit to do up in that tower but stand there and stare off into that city and fight boredom as best you can. You always have to make sure that you bring a full pack of smokes with you up in the guard tower. You're in a world of pain if you run out of smokes up in the guard tower, because there is absolutely nothing to do up there except chain smoke cancer causing cigarettes one right after another until your lungs physically hurt and you get sick from having way too high of a toxic level of nicotine flowing through your blood stream.

Thinking about shit is also a good way to stay alert and pass time up in the towers, I usually spend my time thinking about what the hell I'm going to do with myself once I get out of the Army, and if this dream gone bad is ever going to end. Even though I've spent countless hours here thinking about that very subject, I have yet to come up with a good answer.
At one time tonight I tried to my blur my vision with my eyes while I gazed out onto the city, to pretend like I was staring out at Los Angeles again, but it just didn't work. No matter how hard I tried to pretend that I was somewhere else, I was unsuccessful. I was still in Iraq.

At night here in Mosul, all you can hear the faint barking of loathsome stray dogs coming from the city, and every now and then, all at the same time, this somewhat creepy recording in Arabic is blasted from all these shitty radio shack quality speakers mounted on various mosques scattered randomly throughout Mosul. Its kinda eerie hearing these recordings, which is some guy speaking Arabic, in a monotone voice, versus and parts from the Koran. It's one of those sounds and you'll experiences here in this country that you will never forgot. Every time I hear those recordings being played from those mosque speakers, it completely hits me with the realization that I'm on the other side of the planet far away from home, and that I'm stranger in a really strange land.

Like I said before, the sounds of gunfire is also a pretty common thing to hear coming from the city at night. Every now and then you'll also witness a burst of green tracers being fired up into the air. It's no big deal when it happens. After awhile here it becomes one of those things that you just accept as a "normal" about this place, and think nothing of it.

Another thing I remembered about Los Angeles, was on New Years Eve once, I was walking back home from the hidden bars tucked away in the Los Feliz hood of LA, completely inebriated, and I looked out over to the East Los sector of Los Angeles and I remember seeing celebratory gunshots being fired up in the air. The Iraqi's do the same mindless thing here too, but its every fucking night here. Religious holidays, Muhammad birthday, Saddams, birthday, weddings, job promotions, or just for the hell of it, they celebrate by firing a burst of AK47 rounds in the air. Well, tonight I was just chilling up in the tower, lighting another cigarette with the lit end of the cigarette I just consumed, when all the sudden the sounds of gunshots we're being fired from all over the city. Like everywhere. Far and near, left and right, over here and over there. I was like, holy shit what the fuck is going on tonight?!?! Is this like a signal for the start of some kind of all out fight to the death holy jihad on US Coalition Forces or something?

Bang, bang, bang, bang. So I started counting all the shots I heard fired: one, two, three, four, five, six... finally after a couple minutes the shooting silently dissipated. I was unable to count every single gunshot I heard fired, some overlapped each other, but the final tally that I came up with was 67 shots heard fired. I remember awhile ago I was up in a guard tower when it was some Islamic holiday here, like Mohammed's birthday or some shit like that, and there wasn't nearly as many celabratory gunshots fired up in the air that night as there was tonight. So I wondered to myself what the fuck was going on tonight to have all these shots fired all at once? Then, down by the bottom of my tower, a vehicle rolled up and the TC stuck his head out of hatch and yelled up to me, "Hey, I just heard over the radio that Iraq is up! One to nothing!"

Holy shit, that's right. The Olympic soccer games are going on, and these people here are just as fanatical, if not more so, for their soccer team, than they are for their religion.
Strange, very strange.

stay tuned. Story still developing...

The National Endowment for the Arts has a great program available right now called: Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, I encourage everybody to check out the site and be a part of this. I've known of this program for awhile now, but never considered submitting my personal written accounts of this war to them, thinking there's no way in hell they'd consider my stuff. But then I recieved an e-mail from the people involved with that program saying that some of you have been e-mailing them alerting them about my this website and of my writting , and they also said that they were interested in me submiting some of my work for consideration to the project. I would like to thank everybody who did that, sent them an e-mail. Way cool of you guys to do that. Tango Mike.

Thursday, July 08, 2004
FAHRENHEIT 7.62
I got a hold of a bootlegged DVD copy of the new Michael Moore Flick (FAHRENHEIT 9/11) from a haji out here. Paid 4 bucks for it. Watched the whole thing on my friend's laptop. Part of the movie that I thought was pretty accurate and good, was how they showed how the Armed Forces recruiters work, how they sucker youth to enlist and how they prey on targets of opportunity: The poor and the uneducated. And how they pressure kids into enlisting. A clever part of the flick was when Moore went to Washington and asked Congressmen if they could have their kids enlist in the military, and be sent over to Iraq to help out in the war effort. Only ONE congressmen in Washington currently has a kid in the military. Things might be different if THEIR kids were here in Iraq, getting blown to bits by IED'd and RPG'd.
I didn't care too much for Moores opinions on the military and Iraq. In the movie he tries to paint the picture of Iraq as of a bunch of happy people, holding hands, laughing, little kids playing in the playgrounds, a kid flying a kite, to show that Iraq was such a peaceful country before the evil Americans got here. I don't think that's how it exactly went down dude. There is a part in the movie where it shows a sweet and innocent little Iraqi school girl sliding down a park slide, then it suddenly cuts directly into graphic footage and clips of us bombing the shit out of Iraq and killing a shit load of Iraqi citizens by the truck loads. Dead torn to bits innocent bodies, women screaming "Why", destroyed buildings, kids with missing limbs, all the ugliness of war.
Dude, that's not exactly what its like here. My take on that is this: for every Iraqi that hates the United States and wants us the fuck out, there's 300 Iraqis that want us here, and are grateful for us being here. Ask any soldier here in Iraq, a majority of them will tell you the same thing I just did, that not all of Iraq hates us here. And of course they interview a bunch of Army idiots, to make it look like all military personnel out here are crazed lunatics that don't know shit about shit. That was embarrassing.
What I'm going to try to do out here, to show people what its really like, and to get an opposing view point is I'm going to get several of my Iraqi friends that are interpreters for us here, drag them into my room, set up the laptop, show them the movie and film them watch the movie and shoot a short documentary on their thoughts and reactions to Michael Moores biased movie. And maybe get small little interviews with people in my Platoon. Maybe do the same thing. I think I'll call my documentary: FAHRENHEIT 7.62 (7.62 is the caliber of ammunition the AK47 fires) I'll keep you guys posted on how that goes.
Anyways, the first half of this movie sucked ass. Irritating to watch at times. But the last 20 minutes of the movie I found very interesting. It shows how a lot of big businesses are making huge profits from this war and its kinda shady how its all going down. I'm always against the fat cats get even fatter, must be the Californian in me that hates big business. And what I don't understand is why are all these civilian contractors out here in Iraq? I don't get it. For example the global security guys, why the fuck are they out here? What business do they have here? Those guys are getting paid at least 5 times as much as I make, and they're doing the same shit that I do, and why? What the fuck is going on there? And every time those guys get in trouble or killed it's always us that goes in and saves their ass. Bottom Line: CIVILIANS HAVE NO BUISNESS HERE. (that was a personal opinion) There's something-fishy going on with all the civilian contracts and I'm glad Moore brings that up briefly in his movie. I found this movie entertaining and thought provoking, personally I didn't agree with 95% of this movie. I was angered and enraged by a lot of the things in this movie. Last night the combat medic and I stayed up all night discussing the movie, debating, analyzing, discussing, and tearing it apart. The only good thing about this movie is that it will definitely have people talking about the war. I'd rather have the people back home discussing and debating the war, then just not give a damn.

posted by CBFTW at 12:06 AM

19 Comments:
mikem said...
Great post, I enjoyed reading your comments. Thanks for serving and your sacrifice. I am not sure your MOS, but some contractors, especially logisticians, are over there because the force structure was cut to keep enough warfighters trained. I retired just over 2 years ago and want you to know most people in the US also support your efforts. I hope you get the chance to vote in this election, it is critical that all service members vote. Thanks again.

4:04 PM  
dponce80 said...
I don't know what to tell you buddy. Your take on the movie seems rational and balanced enough. Only one thing. Calling it biased. Of course it's biased. It's HIS movie. He's not pretending to be a journalist. He doesn't have any higher standard of objectivity to answer to. He can present whatever he wants, and make it sound however he wants. It's up to you to make up your own mind.

For example, when you have a trial in the US. You don't expect the prosecution to help the defense by presenting evidence for both, do you? They make their case with their own (I guess you'd have to call it biased) evidence. It's up to the defense to present their own stuff. And up to the jury to make their mind up.

Now, the Administration is the accused. Michael Moore is the prosecution. God knows there's a hell of a lot of people out there trying to be the defense. and the public is the jury.

So that's it... just trying to keep things in perspective. You know.

9:58 PM  
Ashley said...
Thank you for everything
Oh yeah, there is one more to add to the list of politicians with kids in the military
Joe Wilson R-SC has a son Alan
Congressman Wilson that is

1:04 AM  
Ron said...
Great blog. Michael Moore is a pisser, isn't he? A lot of the movie was jive, but you know he's got to be right about the war profiteers and mercenaries, because they've been around since the Trojan War.

I notice Moore said only one Congressman had a kid in Iraq as an enlisted person. Could be some officers.

GWB? Glad he's your boss, not mine. What a load.

4:02 AM  
Thomas said...
Personally, I'd like to see your little flick of F/7.62. Sounds very interesting.

I wonder how it would work out if you would send the tape to other squads and have them add to your rendition? Just the thought of a wide view from American AND Iraqi Soldiers entices me.

Personally, I'm not an MM fan. Just another stupid idiot with radical views, displaying portions of videos and thoughts to HIS own ideals, and not based on anyone elses. But, I guess it's okay. There's Freedom of Speech and those that are sucked blindly into his lies.

4:57 PM  
ewtotel said...
Great Idea for your 7.62 movie... follow through on that. I'd love to see what the Iraqi's really think, from an unbiased point of view.

12:59 AM  
Helen said...
More is a lying SOB. There are many congressmen who have relatives in the military. One of the guys he spoke with said Moore edited out his response about his nephew.

When a man labels a film a documentary, he is, in essence, saying that the film will present both sides of an argument. After all, a documentary is a debate on film. The film-maker's task is to present the facts, not his speculations, musings, biases, errors, lies, or fantasies. His business is to present the facts and let the audience think for itself. Moore is incapable of making a documentary, though he likes to attach that label to his diarrhoea.

Thanks for your service.

7:28 AM  
trista said...
Think of MM as a War Profiteer which is what he is. One other thing about his film on questioning congressmen about their children in the military - he asked MY congressmen who said: "no I do not have children in the military because they are not of age yet"..... That last part about not being of age was not included in the footage. That's what MM is all about editing out the parts that don't suit his agenda which is to bash conservatives. According to MM: "The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the Revolution, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win.''
All I can say is if this is the kind of supporter troops in Iraq want then have at it!

5:19 PM  
artbyruth said...
Thank you for your service to our country!

I read your comments on the Michael Moore film...and I am glad you see it the same way I do. I also am glad that you wrote how most of the Iraqis want you all there.

Most Americans here support you guys, but there are some so blinded by their hatred, they will do and say anything to make sure their agenda goes through (Moore) and that is hurting this country.

For a good review of the film, go to:

http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm

and:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723/

Anyways, looking forward to reading about your "Fahrenheit 7.62" movie. It sounds like a great idea.

Take care and stay safe!

P.S. Your Commander-in-Chief is a good man. He knows that evil has to be dealt with and not appeased because this war could be fought on our own soil. Unfortunately, George Tenet's CIA may have "screwed the pooch" so to speak...

6:23 AM  
rab said...
I'm glad you saw the Moore film and admit to digging some of it. Some of the people that post on your site are even more misled than you (of course, they're freer than you since they aren't consripted). Anyone who thinks a documentary must show different sides of an argument must never have seen a documentary. Besides, every fucking television station and newspaper in this country shows the other side every day.

I was wondering if you can email me your address...I have some books I'd like to ship out to you.

1:03 AM  
lyle said...
"For example the global security guys, why the fuck are they out here? What business do they have here? Those guys are getting paid at least 5 times as much as I make, and they're doing the same shit that I do, and why?"

I think you just answered your own question. It's the cash.

Either way, thanks for you blog and, more importantly, thanks for your service. Keep safe.

8:10 PM  
serenitynow said...
CBFTW-

just curious what you think of rab's comment you're a conscript

11:43 PM  
nochizmo said...
I question that entire movie. Seems after reading some sites like moorewatch.com and moorelies.com I'm starting to see a pattern of his BS. But I digress.

I do agree with what your saying about income, if they were to allow me to vote tomorrow i'd cut welfare in half and double your wages effective, yesterday. Hell if we cut welfare down maybe we could afford to pay you 3 x's more.

As for your movie about the movie I say get it on! Didn't Moore himself start as a little person? Now he's earning millions off of the backs of 3k dead people here in the US and 800 of my defenders over there. Calling the terrorists there the real "freedom fighters" and wanting my guys & gals to get killed in droves, I hate him for that alone.

Don't think we don't talk about the war here. Support the troops, there is no alternative. I'm adding this to my daily reading so keep me informed! And good luck with your movie, we're excited to see it.

Thanks, Sam.

2:34 AM  
Peter V said...
Moore is a fat turd who's politcal / moral compass points $. He talks the populist downtrodden man of the people talk but walks the kiss my rich ass you little peons walk.

Make the movie and keep up the blogging. I consider the blogs of folks like you, SgtHook, Line in the Sand, to name a few the real news from Irag / Afganistan.

Liberal media, Moore included, have an agenda.

I looking forward to F7.62

Stay safe. You are heros.

Greater love hath no man then he lays down his life for his fellow man.

9:36 PM  
ericb said...
Although I must agree that Michael Moore has edited and slanted his "docu-tainment" to lean against the war, HIS spin and misleadings didn't take our nation into a multi-billion dollar war and cost the lives of over 1,000 coalition soldiers (not to mention Iraqis, civil or otherwise).

Additionally, Moore's comments on the insurgents being "freedom fighters" and "minutemen" are not totally unfounded. In these people's minds, they are defending their land from foreign occupiers. Our nation preemptively decided to go into their nation and over throw the government. Of course Saddam was a horrible person but who's to say we had the right to do that? (Please spare me your argument on the non-existent WMDs or Iraq's "connection" to Al Qaida) If that were to happen in the United States, I know many would resist NO MATTER WHAT the other side had to offer. Mix that with religion phanaticism from all sides and it's naive to say that the people of Iraq will just buy into our culture without fear and apprehension.

I've been in Iraq for a long time now, serving in the Army. Everyday it becomes more and more frustrating to support the Iraqi people and the rebuilding of their country. They rocket, mortar, shoot, and ambush us daily. They kill dozens of their civilians for each American that dies but we're still to blame. It's hard but you have to put yourself in their shoes and substitute words like Iraq for America, Islam for Christianity, and coalition forces for foreign occupiers, then maybe you'll have a better understanding of Moore's "minutemen" theory.

Finally, I wish conservatives would get over the "liberal media" stereotype. I think with 50% of newspapers leaning toward the right, the conservative domination of talk radio, and the ultra-biased Fox News Channel, you have plenty of outlets to feed your right-wing propaganda needs.

10:35 AM  
h_bomb said...
Hey bro, just how much of F/911 do you disagree with?

Even as you point out how much of F/911 that sucks ass, you complement MM on his insight into military recruiting and the civilian contractor BS. Doesn't leave much to criticize.

Gotta take issue with you about the "Army idiots" they interviewed. Betcha there's worse interview content w/US Soldiers & Marines that didn't make the final cut. Yeah, dudes talking about which "Best of Ozzfest" tunes play best over the vehicle comms as they smoke Rags with the Bushmaster doesn't put the American Soldier or Marine in the best light, but it does illuminate the institutionalized bloodlust required to prevail on the ground in combat. As a vet of DS I, OEF and pending rotation to OIF when my dance card opens back up, the "guys on the ground" interviews were pretty tame stuff--guys dumb enough to go on-camera and on-record, smart enough to articulate the perspective of a trained & disciplined killer--probably without a PAO leash around their necks. And definitely much better than the average highly-scripted Fox/CNN/MSNBC interview with MAJ or LTC who talks about the great work his troops do as he cowers in his TOC.

Yeah, the juxtaposition of cavorting children against falling bombs is melodramatic, but it conveys pretty quickly that war is a lot messier than many media outlets are painting it. MM's point with this aspect of F/911 is that we as Americans tend to be fixated on American military deaths when we consider the cost of war. But there's other stuff to consider: "injured" stats don't indicate whether a WIA US troop is hospitalized for one day in-theater, or faces a lifetime institutionalized at the VA 'cuz his brains are mush and he's useless to his family. And the Iraqis, well that's another matter entirely. I only hope your 300:1 ratio of positive to negative preceptions of our presence among the locals holds for my rotation.

Stay safe, bro. Good luck on F/7.62.

H-Bomb out.

3:42 AM  
LiLjosh Wright said...
Hello !

I will not pay any money to see M.M. movie F/911. I'll wait until it comes out on HBO or some one I know gets a copy of it. I think you all are doing a great job. I only wish I could walk in your boots.

Check out my sit HTTP://liljoshwright.blogspot.com I hope you like it sir. If you would like to link it then please do so.

God Bless the USMC !!

5:47 AM  
firstbrokenangel said...
They give a damn, CB and Michael Moore is a total idiot with his head up his butt.

12:19 PM  
Victor S said...
Pretty damn impressive, thoughtful fucking blog. Seriously. Don't pack it in.

BTW, don't know if you read the Guardian, the UK newspaper, but today they've got an interview with two young muslim guys who were born in Iraq but grew up in London and who've come to Iraq to join the resistance. They're opposed to al Qaeda because they kill civilians, but they're happy to be in Iraq fighting the occupation.

I'm curious what you think of this. They're probably far from unique.

Here's the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1280616,00.html

As others have said, stay safe.

Jesus fuck. I can't believe that I'm reading the blog of a guy my own age in Iraq. This is a fucked up world.

Take care, man.

3:57 AM  

Ye not kidding that is a bummer.

Quoted: All of those links are now dead. Bummer. Quoted: Quoted: Eh, so does anybody have the full text? Go to the profile page and start scrolling down. it has all the log evtries, the titles are links to the full entry. Also along the right side there is an archive section that ghoes to july

KA3B keep posting them if you can find them. I want to save as many as possible when I get home from work.

I discovered his site just day before yesterday and printed out all 123 pages of his blog so I could read it off line. Today it's all gone. Sucks for sure. Thanks to this thread I got to see it before it disappeared for good.