This blog will be going silent for at least a few days. I mention this for those of you who check in daily. I’m OK, thanks for caring!

This morning started off with a bang. Our first bomb woke me promptly at 6 AM. Since that is my normal rise and shine time, I got in the shower and went to work. The bombs don’t stop daily life here, unless you happen to be in the immediate vicinity of the blast. We heard two more by 8 AM. The only thing worth mentioning about them is that they are the first I’ve heard in almost two weeks.

Iraq is floating the middle of a sea of carefully orchestrated violence. It’s awash in disinformation campaigns. Everyone here has an agenda. Bearing that in mind, remember that the coalition’s mission is to provide basic infrastructure, security and what boils down to hope for humanity by providing choices in government. In particular this involves creating a government that respects human rights and values life. For three years, the old guard evil that lives in and around Iraq has been fighting against these things. It’s not in the interests of men who need complete control of a society to allow rebuilding and prosperity. Freedom of movement, freedom of information and freedom of thought are incompatible with rule by fear and ignorance.

Well fed, well clothed and well educated Iraqis who are happy in their daily lives represent a great threat to the status quo in this part of the world, especially in Syria and Iran. If we can all be convinced to give up on Iraq, the destroyers and parasites will again take power here, and the daily hopelessness of 26 million Iraqis will fade from the world stage for a time. Bad things will breed inside corrupt minds in that forgotten darkness. One fine day, you’ll be on your way to work and the world explode in flames around you, like it did for thousands of us on September 11, 2001.

Iraq may not have been the direct source of the twisted minds of the 9-11 hijackers, but the same mentality they had was born here more than one thousand years ago, and continues to breed wherever resolute men are unwilling to fight it.

You would think the CPT organization would find it in their hearts to at least offer thanks for the rescue. Nope. This is the statement released by the Christian “Peacemakers” after their remaining three hostages were rescued from captivity and almost certain torture and murder and given free medical care:

Harmeet, Jim and Norman and Tom were in Iraq to learn of the struggles facing the people in that country. They went, motivated by a passion for justice and peace to live out a nonviolent alternative in a nation wracked by armed conflict. They knew that their only protection was in the power of the love of God and of their Iraqi and international co-workers. We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end.

Today, in the face of this joyful news, our faith compels us to love our enemies even when they have committed acts which caused great hardship to our friends and sorrow to their families. In the spirit of the prophetic nonviolence that motivated Jim, Norman, Harmeet and Tom to go to Iraq, we refuse to yield to a spirit of vengeance. We give thanks for the compassionate God who granted our friends courage and who sustained their spirits over the past months. We pray for strength and courage for ourselves so that, together, we can continue the nonviolent struggle for justice and peace.

Throughout these difficult months, we have been heartened by messages of concern for our four colleagues from all over the world. We have been especially moved by the gracious outpouring of support from Muslim brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. That support continues to come to us day after day. We pray that Christians throughout the world will, in the same spirit, call for justice and for respect for the human rights of the thousands of Iraqis who are being detained illegally by the U.S. and British forces occupying Iraq.

During these past months, we have tasted of the pain that has been the daily bread of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Why have our loved ones been taken? Where are they being held? Under what conditions? How are they? Will they be released? When?

What an incoherent, rambling set of thoughts.

I just visited the CPT site again, and they did post the “first of several addendas” in which they very grudgingly thanked the people who risked their lives to save three people who couldn’t save themselves and were counting on God to intervene on their behalf. Well, I guess God did intervene in the form of men with guns who were willing to use them. The CPT author(s) couldn’t resist throwing in some meaningless crap about how happy they were no shots were fired during the rescue. Guess what, the harsh reality is that the only shots you should have been worried about were fired into the body of your colleague. Those bullets were fired by radical Muslims, not “the illegal occupiers” who, by the way, are only still here because Iraqis have asked them to stay. The history of inhuman violence and the cheapness of life in Iraq (Mesopotamia) goes back at least 1,200 years and probably much further. Your captors didn’t care that you were here to “help them” or whatever it was you thought your were doing.

You help people by giving them a good solid education. You help people by teaching them useful skills that put food on the table. You help people by providing them with positive memes. You help people by teaching them not to think in terms of old tribal disputes and by helping them focus on nationalism instead of sectarianism. You help people by making sure they’re fed, clothed and healthy and giving them the tools they need to take care of those things themselves in the long term. You don’t help people by getting kidnapped by thugs and then blaming your rescuers for the bad things that happened to you because you were misguided.

But that’s just my unofficial opinion. I guess I could be wrong. Maybe if I threw away all my guns, my enemies would too. I think I’ll keep them though, just in case.

The Forever War is primarily the story of a soldier named William Mandella. Mandella is a time traveling space warrior who jumps from battle to battle over a period of hundreds of years, fighting an inhuman enemy called the Taurans. As he fights, those around him die, and everything he knows back on Earth changes. Mandella is a draftee and when his initial compulsory service ends, he tries to make a go of it on back home on Earth. Things have changed too much, and so he and his paramour, Marygay, find themselves voluntarily rejoining the war in progress.

Without giving everything away, I will say that the ending to this novel was highly disappointing to me. There are many fascinating ideas explored within the book itself and the battle scenes kept my interest. The idea of societally mandated homosexuality was particularly interesting as author Joe Haldeman explored what it would be like if everyone’s sexual “polarity” could be switched from one preference to another at will.

Don’t read any further unless you want the ending spoiled. The fatal flaw of this novel, in my opinion, is that a 250 page novel was wrapped in the last eight pages as our hero, now a major, finds out that his thousand year war was all a mistake perpetrated on purpose by the military brass who wanted to boost the economy of Earth. For 200+ pages we are treated to war, war and more war. Then it the last eight pages, we find out a thousand year life has been nothing but a mistake perpetrated by amoral men. The Forever War was an interesting read, but the plot wrap didn’t sink in too well for me. I’m in the middle of a real war in Iraq and there are two groups here who have been killing each other for about 1,200 years on and off. They are called Shia and Sunni. I’m not sure how realistic it is to ever expect that a war, once begun, will end with a societal epiphany like “Oh, it was all just a giant miscommunication. Everyone stop fighting.”

War may be a monument to human stupidity, but we’ve got a lot of stupid left to kill off and some of us seem to be breeding even more stupid. Until we fix that, war is going to be a fact of being human. The Forever War is an enjoyable read but it didn’t really change my worldview any.

By Trevor Snyder | willtoexist.com

A large majority of blog readers think traditional media sources should withdraw completely from reporting within a year. The Will to Exist reports that the poll of 100 bloggers, conducted by Will to Exist International, found that only three percent of blog readers felt the traditional media sources continue to remain unbiased and/or relevant as reliable sources of accurate reporting about world events. Although the poll, conducted in March of 2006, was carried out without Pentagon approval, The Will to Exist International said they did have the approval of commanders in Iraq.

Of the 100 blog readers who participated in the unpaid opinion gathering poll, 75 percent felt that traditional media sources have become “increasingly biased and irrelevant” leading some experts to conclude that many newspapers and television stations may soon face serious financial woes. Twenty percent of poll participants believed the media was “a mixed bag.” Three percent said traditional media sources were “doing a great job” and only 2 percent weren’t sure what the hell was going on.

The poll was funded by an unknown and mysterious organization called the Center for Citizen Empowerment, which received money for the project from an anonymous prowar activist. Trevor Snyder, the president of The Will to Exist International, said the donor had no imput on the content of the poll, or how it was conducted. Of those surveyed, 75 percent visited blogs multiple times, 62 percent had stopped using traditional news sources such as daily newspapers and network news stations, and 25 percent were angry at pollster John Zogby, whom they believe to be biased.

One surprising finding in the poll is that 85 percent of those surveyed believe that liberals display a surprising inability to harness the power of logic when making decisions and that that might be one primary source of the increasing backlash against a perceived or perhaps real bias in reporting from traditional mainstream media news sources. Numerous commissions and studies have been unable to prove that polls have much scientific value, or that elected leaders should use them as a guide for making important decisions. Meanwhile, 18 percent of bloggers said that they wished someone would invent a keyboard that wouldn’t get sticky when soft drinks (also called soda pop in some parts of the United States) are accidentally spilled while blogging.

“We were surprised by that, especially the 18 percent [figure],” Snyder said. “Clearly too many people are trying to drink and type at the same time, and the public certainly deserves, at a minimum, a keyboard which can be run through the dishwasher.”

In discussing the findings on its website, Will to Exist International said that when bloggers were asked why they think that some Americans want better reporting and less bias from news sources, said:

“I think it’s the fact that they hire people who are pretty instead of intelligent. Maybe that’s a symptom of a larger problem. Perhaps Americans are too focused on being pretty or at least looking at people who are pretty and not focused enough on having some sort of meaningful substance to the fabric that makes up their lives. Don’t ya know?”

Editor’s Note: The above blog entry was copied directly from a “real news story” and then re-written to suit the tastes of The Will to Exist International. All poll results cited above are mostly real. Margin of error +/- 5 percent (margin of error is completely made up and not based on any mathematical formula.)

I’ve interviewed one of the soldiers in my unit, SPC David Claffey, who just returned from Tal’Afar. Here are some of the things he had to say:

“. . .Since the war began it seems that city has been a focal point for conflict. . .Al-Qaeda of Iraq once had their headquarters there. . .”

“. . .From every indication I got, the letters (from the mayor of Tall Afar) were certainly not fake. . .we did ask him. . .he was very adamant. . .he said they came right from his heart. . .”

“. . .It’s just a complex situation here. I personally feel that we’re doing a great job here (in Iraq). I really think that we are making a difference. . .”

Listen to the full interview with SPC Claffey. It’s unofficial, not sugar coated and uncensored. The partial quotes above are some of the more positive portions of the interview. You’ll have to listen to all of it to get Claffey’s opinion in full context.