If You Didn’t Read or Hear This, Part I

Column by Max Friedman

There is a prayer in the Jewish service celebrating Passover, the liberation of the Hebrews from slavery in ancient Egypt, that is called “Dyannu,” roughly translating into “It would have been enough for us” ( i.e. “good enough”).

It is recited at the end of each short verse of the prayer thanking God for bringing the Hebrew people out of Egypt, but it goes on to list the other things God also did for them, such as, “Had He divided the sea for us and not brought us through it dry-shod, It would have been enough for us.” Or “Had He fed us manna and not given us the Sabbath, It would have been enough for us.”

You get the idea. It is a continual thanking of God for what he did at that time in history, put into lyrical verse, each one ending with “Dyannu.”

I’m going to do a little “Dyannu” on you, the reader, in this column, because I want to remind you of what you have probably been missing in the printed media, and more likely in the audio (radio) and visual (TV) daily news mediums. So join in on the chorus of “If You Didn’t Read or Hear This, You Can’t Trust the Mainstream Media” at the end of each group of stories from the news about the war on terrorism, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.

From The Advisor, March 10, 2007, (the Official Weekly Report for the Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq, www.mnstci.iraq.centcom.mil), “Iraq Security Forces/in brief” section:

“Iraq Army (IA) keeps VBIED from entering Sadr City” (VBIED = vehicle borne explosive device). “After the vehicle was forced to stop, the explosives in the vehicle were detonated”, killing “six Iraqi soldiers … and approximately 20 Iraqi civilians were injured.”

“IA detains six in Sadr City”, in an operation “against rogue elements of Jaysh Al-Mahdi” … “allegedly responsible for coordinating and carrying out numerous kidnappings and murders of civilians.”

“IA captures high level militant leader” of “the insurgent group Islamic State of Iraq March 9 in a raid in Baghdad.” “Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked group, was captured along with a number of his aides and lieutenants… Baghdadi and his group claimed responsibility for the recent execution of a large group of Iraqi policemen and the downing of U.S. helicopters.”

“IA captures 32 insurgents” in Tikrit. “The operation began at the request of the local residents.”

“IA discovers weapons caches” in Hurriyah and “received tips from citizens on the whereabouts of suspects March 7.”

“IA finds Katyusha rockets” in Mahmoudiya (23 of them) and “IA finds rockets and mortar tube” in Yusufiyah”, (22 of them), plus rocket-propelled grenades, explosives, and ammunition.

Not bad for an army that the news media says does nothing nor loses any soldiers or policemen.

“If you didn’t read or hear this, you can’t trust the mainstream media.”

***

Associated Press, “New U.S. Air Campaign South of Baghdad”, Aug. 2, by Kim Gamel.

” Lynch” (Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who leads the 3rd Infantry Division) and other military officials also have said that the Shiite-dominated Iran is providing support to some Sunni insurgents fighting American forces in Iraq, while cautioning that it was unclear whether the Iranians were supplying the weapons directly or whether the Sunnis were buying them on the black market.”

“The general said his troops had found mounting evidence of Iranian involvement, and he planned to step up efforts to fight Shiite extremists in his area, which covers the southern rim of Baghdad and mostly Shiite areas to the south.”

***

Have you heard the whole story about the “Baghdad Diarist” hoax in The New Republic, wherein a U.S. soldier who is related to a NR staffer wrote stories accusing U.S. soldiers of acting like animals in Iraq? He has now admitted that he lied about almost everything he wrote. Shades of the communist-led National Commission for a Citizens’ Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam 1970/71 (see Human Events, Feb. 6, 1971, “Darlings of Radic-Libs Opens ‘War Crimes’ Show”) and it’s the better-known traveling atrocities-accusation show, the “Winter Soldier Investigation/Hearings,” featuring John Kerry and a cast of dozens (1970/71).

- “The Baghdad Diarist, ‘Shock Troops,’ and Fabrications”, “Human Events.com,” July 27, 2007, Jeff Emanuel, a former embed with the 1-4 Calvary, FOB Falcon, who is on his way back to Falcon to work with the 4th IBCT (Infantry Brigade Combat Team).

- “Pvt. Beauchamp: Proud of Being Ashamed?”, Paul McNellis, “Real Clear Politics”, Aug. 6, 2007, www.realclearpolitics.com. Paul, an old acquaintance, writes about the moral issues of Beauchamps’ lies and motivations. Oh, I forgot - though he is one of the Vatican’s topic scholars on religious ethics, he was at one time an Army advisor to the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN), and later returned as a, shudder, mainstream media journalist. He now teaches philosophy at Boston College, with the title of Rev. Paul. W. McNellis, S.J. Paul was one of our “best and brightest” in Vietnam, and his intellectual honesty still shines brightly today.

“If you didn’t read or hear this, you can’t trust the mainstream media.”

***

“Task Force Analyzes Detainees’ Motivation in Iraq”, American Forces Press Service, Jim Garamone (posted at www.freerepublic.com on 8/06/07).[Articles from around the world are posted at FR, and you can search for those mentioned here by title in the search box].

“Forces in Iraq are studying detainees to find out what motivated insurgents and terrorists in that country, the general overseeing detention operations there said today (8/06/07).”

“Marine Maj. Gen. David M. Stone, chief of the MFI’s detainee operations and commander of Task Force 143, spoke to online journalists and ‘bloggers’ from his headquarters in Baghdad.”

“Stone’s task force has launched an extensive study into just who detainees … are, what motivated them and what their morale is like. ..”

“The detainees fall into several groups, but the common trait is that most are unemployed. The largest percentage of detainees are those attacking the Iraqi government or coalition because they are paid to do so, Stone said.”

“The second largest type of detainees is those committing violence because of intimidation. ‘The terrorists are threatening them or their families,’ the general said.”

“Others are nationalists who see the coalition as an occupying force, and the smallest group, but the most powerful, are jihadists, Stone said. These are men who ‘are wedded to a very corrupt view of Islam.’”

“The Iraqi legal system is performing well, Stone said. … He said the main problem facing the criminal court is protecting the judges.. “In the last three years, 26 of these guys have been killed. We do our level best to ensure the courthouse has that protection, because many people would like to see these honest judges dead.”

This is such an important article that it should be made into a highlighted front-page story in every major newspaper, and on every major television news network in the country, but it won’t.

***

Sidebar: When I went to South Vietnam and Cambodia in the fall of 1970, one of my major objectives became the interviewing of both North Vietnamese and Viet Cong POWs and defectors (known as “Hoi Chans,” or “ralliers”). I was interested in their driving motivations for joining either of these forces, or if drafted, what did it entail. Those I interviewed ranged from 18-year-old kids fresh off the farms in North Vietnam, to high-ranking PAVN defectors (a general, colonel, major) and long-time VC soldiers. Their stories gave me a tremendous insight into the indoctrination and propaganda programs they had gone through in their lifetimes, the harsh draftee program of Hanoi, and why they defected in the end (because they realized that they were losing, and that their Communist leaders had lied to them about conditions in South Vietnam and Cambodia) The NVA captured in Cambodia thought that they were in Vietnam fighting the Americans.

In addition, I uncovered new historical information about a revolt in North Vietnam that was previously unknown by our intelligence people. However, as word of what I had uncovered in talks with the three NVA/PAVN officers got to U.S. intelligence officers, they followed up on it and uncovered still classified information about Hanoi’s heroin supply efforts into So. Vietnam, as well as an armed indigenous resistance to the Red Army in parts of the North.

Never underestimate what you can learn from talking to your enemies or former enemies when they are under your control or have come over to your side.

“If you didn’t read or hear this, you can’t trust the mainstream media.”

***

“Citizens Oust Terrorist from Mosque, Help Uncover Weapons Cache”, AFPS, 8/06/07 (posted at www.freerepublic.com).

[Baghdad] “Fed-up with violent and indiscriminate terror tactics, a group of more than 80 residents of the Adhamiyah district, on the east side of the Iraqi capital, banded together yesterday to oust suspected terrorists from a local mosque.

This uprising led to a string of events over the next 12 hours that ultimately resulted in the arrest of 44 suspected terrorists and the capture of three weapons caches.”

Aided by several tips from the locals, the Iraqi Army’s 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 11th Infantry Division, found several major weapons and explosives caches both inside the mosque(the Al Assaf Mosque) and its cemetery and captured scores of suspects who had been pointed out by the area’s residents.

Interestingly, the raid on the mosque was led by a “prominent local sheik” whose relatives had been recently murdered by terrorists, some of whom were inside the mosque, “long believed to be a sanctuary for terrorists operating in the area.”

“I think this was a turning point,” said Army Lt. Col. Jeff Broadwater, commander of 3rd Battalion, 7th Cavalry. “The people of Adhamiyah have made their stand, and they’ve showed by their actions that terrorists are not going to be able to come into their backyard and engage in violent acts any longer.”

Love the term “turning point”, which is a direct result of the “surge,” the increasing effectiveness of Iraq military and police forces, and the realization by the average citizen that the terrorists do not represent the future that they want for themselves and their families. Shades of Vietnamization in Iraq, and working.

Frontpagemagazine.com, Aug. 6, “War Blog: Iraq Report, Daily Edition”, “Samarra mosque bombing ringleader killed,” by the often on-the-grounds Bill Roggio, one of the best bloggers on Iraq in the world. (Selected paragraphs)

“As Iraqi and U.S. security forces are conducting clearing operations in Samarra, U.S. Special Forces killed Haitham Sabah Shaker Mohammed al Badri, Al-Qaeda’s emir in Salahadin Province. Al Badri was a high-value target who was behind the February 2006 bombing of the Golden Dome of the Al Askaria mosque in Samarra and this year’s destruction of the two remaining minarets at the mosque. He was ‘in charge of an Al-Qaeda unit consisting of two Iraqis, four Saudis and a Tunisian,’ Reuters reported.”

“Meanwhile, Iraqi and US security forces were active against Al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Mahdi Army. The bulk of the engagements against Al-Qaeda are occurring in northern Iraq. Multiple operations in Kirkuk and the Tigris River Valley on Saturday resulted in 33 Al-Qaeda suspects captured, including the emir believed to administer sharia law in the northern Belts around Baghdad and a media emir in Kirkuk. On Aug. 3, 17 Al-Qaeda operatives were captured in the Tigris River Valley, including associates of the sharia law emir in the northern Belts. Also the Al-Qaeda commander of Mosul was killed by Iraqi troops on August 3.”

“On August 2, Coalition forces captured 22 Al-Qaeda operatives and killed four in operations nationwide. The sniper emir of Mosul and a media emir in Baghdad were captured during the raids. A raid in Mosul on August 1 resulted in the capture of four Al-Qaeda operatives, while another in Kirkuk resulted in the capture of 5 operatives, including the leader of a car bomb cell.”

Summarizing here: Other raids against the Mahdi Army and Special Groups, resulted in over 22 killed or captured. Of importance here is Roggio’s inclusion of the description of the “Special Groups” (SP). “the SP operatives are suspected of coordinating logistical support from Iran for rogue Jaysh al Mahdi (Mahdi Army) and Special Groups operating in Iraq” (as quoted from a MNFI press release). “The captured Special Groups operatives are also believed to have been involved in improvised explosive device attacks and explosively formed penetrator (EFP) attacks against Coalition Forces.”

In other words, these are the people who are receiving the very deadly shaped explosives from Iran that have caused so many casualties among American troops.

Other operations killed and captured members of the Mahdi Army in Dinwaniyah, Shia insurgents, and “On July 31, the Iraqi Army and US Special Forces captured three ‘terrorists with ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) from Iran’ during a raid in Shulah.”

Roggio provided more information on who the terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are in one article than most newspapers do in a month, if at all. Televisions’ news stations provide almost nothing - no details, depth, or analysis.

Again, the “surge” of American troops, combined with increasingly effective Iraqi armed forces, intelligence tips from local citizens, and captured enemy personnel and documents, has allowed the Coalition to go on the offensive throughout much of Iraq, severely damaging Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and nibbling away at the Mahdi Army and other essentially armed bands of psychopaths.

“If you didn’t read or hear this, then you can’t trust the mainstream media.” Dyannu!