A video of a ‘friendly fire’ incident that happened in Iraq has surfaced recently. In the March 2003 attack, American pilots mistakenly fired upon a British convoy on the ground. This CNN transcript shows that of the three U.S. Marine Air Controllers involved in the incident, one is called MANILA HOTEL and and the other, MANILA34.
Listening to the radio about the bipartisan Iraq Study Group releasing their final report today, I kept on hearing “Rock Steady Crew” instead for some reason. So when I got home, I put this together:
I know, I know, James Baker’s not in it but hey maybe he hasn’t perfected his head-spin yet.
(original photo here)
The Philippines, with 13 murders last year, is the second worst place for journalists. Iraq is first.
From a flyer that my son brought home from school the other day:
FLIP FLOP A-THON!
My name is Jennifer, I am a 6th grader here at Brookvale. I am trying to make a simple wish of an American Soldier in IRAQ come true. His wish:
To put a pair of flip-flops on every child in Iraq.
Due to the war, they don’t have anything to put on their feet! Please help me by, donating ONE pair of NEW flip flops…
I’ll have my son bring a pair of tsinelas to school but I just can’t help but snicker at the flyer’s unintended(?) irony. A scan of the original can be viewed here (note the superscript th. heh).
According to this, pinned outside the wall of a hut close to Saddam’s hiding hole was a “cardboard box depicting biblical scenes such as the Last Supper and the Madonna and child with the English inscription “God bless our home”.” What was that about? Was it designed to throw off the American soldiers and to discourage them from inspecting the area? (”Move along guys… Saddam couldn’t possibly be here…”) With that, you’d expect Hussein to come out of his hole dressed as jolly old St. Nicholas (well, with his long, grey beard he was halfway there!).
Update: after publishing this post I wondered if I was being mean-spirited, even to a tyrant such as Saddam. Well, after reading this post, I am compelled to strike out the offending lines (leaving it for all to see where I erred). Matthew 5:44 hit the spot. Saddam also needs our prayers.
