B36 News - 12 October 2006

I think that one of the larger reasons that so many Americans think that the war isn't going well is because they've adopted what I like to call the "microwave mentality" or M&M for short. Some people call it instant gratification, but I like to keep things simple and easy to understand so that the M&Mers don't have to waste time thinking about it for it to make sense.

Think of it like this: you grab a Crispy Crust Hot Pocket out of the freezer, toss it in the microwave, set the timer for 3 minutes and presto, you've got dinner. What the M&Mers do is apply this same logic to pretty much everything else including war; grab some troops, toss them into Iraq, set the timer and presto, you've got victory. What's so deceptive about this is that it's almost true. Take out the step where the timer is set and you've got it.

Perhaps a short review of what happened to other countries after we beat them militarily would help M&Mers understand how well we're doing:

Germany - 10 years from the end of combat ops to sovereignty despite having previously had an elected government. US troops still present.

• 8 May 1945 - Surrender
• 23 May 1947 - Establishment of West Germany Government
• 5 May 1955 - West Germany is sovereign
• 12 October 2006 - US troops still present

Japan - 6.5 years from the end of combat ops to sovereignty, never previously had elected government. US troops still present.

• 2 September 1945 - Surrender
• 3 May 1947 - Constitution is ratified
• 28 April 1952 - Japan is sovereign
• 12 October 2006 - US troops still present

Iraq - 3 years from the end of combat ops to elected government despite decades of tyranny. US troops still present

• 1 May 2003 - End of combat ops against Iraq
• 15 October 2005 - Constitution is approved
• 8 June 2006 - Democratically elected government is seated
• 12 October 2006 - US troops still present
  

Patience M&Mers, we're doing good over here.

IED Hunters
Raise your hand if you'd like to go looking for IEDs today. Anyone? Here's what SSG Ramon Martinez says about that,

“I want to go out there and find bombs,” said Martinez, a native of Yuma, Ariz. “It’s our job to look for, and contain, bombs. We get hit hard sometimes, but we still continue to sweep. We take it upon ourselves to look at every little thing.

“You get an attitude that comes from (terrorists) trying to blow you up. When (terrorists) put an IED out there, I’m gonna find it! That’s my contribution to this war.”

At the time this story was written, SSG Martinez had personally survived 19 IED explosions and his battalion was responsible for finding 310. It's reported that when SSG Martinez returned to his FOB he backhanded Chuck Norris who then sobbed like a little girl.

SWIFT, Iraqi Style
SWIFT was the secret program that the US used to track terrorist finances right up until the NY Times made the world aware of it. The spies of WWII wish they had it so easy as the American media.

Well the Iraqis conducted their own version of the SWIFT program on 9 October when they shut down a hawala, an informal local financial system for banking and money exchange. Bad guys were laundering money and using it to get their hands on weapons that would be used against us.

But wait, that's not all! This particular operation was kicked off because local Iraqis provided tips to the good guys. This is how it's supposed to work.