received this e-mail yesterday from a church friend
who’s been in Iraq for awhile. Political and religious
views aside, I’m forwarding it to just about everyone
in my address book so you’ll get a front line
perspective on what our guys are going through over
there. -Heidi

************************************************************************************************

Howdy from the City of Fallujah, Iraq, 28NOV04.


I have to thank so many of you again for your
continued prayers. Your support really does count and
we do appreciate it. I will tell you a little more
about our attack into the city, but I want you all to
know that your prayers have brought great strength,
peace and protection to each of us as you will read.

If you don't know by now, I am a foreign military
advisor with the Iraqi Army and my team has been with
an Iraqi battalion for nearly six months now. On the
eve of our attack, I was comforted at the amount of
peace I had in my heart. I knew that it was going to
be a difficult fight into the city and for many of the
marines and soldiers that participated in the attack
that is exactly what they faced. Quite a few of them
died in this battle, but the evil in this place has
been defeated.

When those heroes are finally laid to rest back in the
United States, their families will here the words from
a military representative, "on behalf of a grateful
Nation" their son died." Please be grateful to those
men who gave their lives to rid the world of evil
people and pray for the strength of their families.

I am not aware of any women that died here, but I know
many of them have given their lives in other places
around Iraq. The evil here is real, I have come face
to face with it on a few occasions. On the first night
of the battle, I could only sit in amazement and think
about Frances Scott Key as he sat and watched the
bombardment from the boat were he penned what would
later become our National Anthem.

I sat on a hilltop about three kilometers away from
the edge of the city. My Iraqi Battalion was lined up
behind a US Marine battalion and we were waiting for
the order to move forward to start our ground assault
into the city. As the sky lit up with artillery, bombs
from F16s, C130 gunships, helicopter gunships, and
whatever else rained destruction, I could only sit and
watch in utter astonishment.

My unit was in the second wave behind a battalion of
Marines. As the morning light came, we advanced into
the city. My Iraqi Battalion had the job of going
house to house, searching for pockets of resistance
and discovering caches of weapons, ammunition and
explosives left behind by the insurgents. The marines
that we followed into the city did such a professional
job of clearing out the bad guys, that all we had left
in my zone were a few stragglers that were more than
ready to give up the fight. We took about 50 bad guys
into custody after they surrendered from various
locations. Civilians were told for three weeks
straight to leave the city, so anyone left in the city
was a bad guy.

Unfortunately, some of them kept their families in the
city to use them as shields and try to say that the
Americans kill innocent people for no reason. Some
families did survive and I have seen U.S. and Iraqi
soldiers go to extraordinary lengths to help them. As
we searched many of the houses, we found a lot of
evidence of the evil that persisted in this city. Many
of the residents had sympathized with the insurgents
until even they were forced to leave their homes by
the bad guys. The insurgents had been "digging in"
since last April when the Marines originally pulled
back from the city. This fight had been brewing since
then, and everyone knew it.

To say we found caches of arms, ammunition and
explosives is a complete understatement. The bad guys
stocked many houses with weapons so they could run
from house to house. They even had makeshift hospitals
and food supplies. These were not a bunch of city
dwellers bent on keeping Americans out, they were well
organized, well equipped and in many cases, well
trained insurgents. We found that most of the groups
of fighting Iraqis were broken down into smaller
elements, but controlled by foreign fighters from
Syria, Jordan, Sudan, Egypt, and Yemen.

The Iraqis that I serve with have been an excellent
source for exploiting the propaganda left behind by
the insurgents. I have seen many DVDs of beheadings,
torture, and other killing films made by the
insurgents. Fallujah was the breeding ground for much
of what is taking place around Iraq. We found evidence
of one of the Japanese hostages that was beheaded here
to include some of his personal affects. We have
uncovered several of the "clubhouses" for the
insurgents where the evil lived and reached out from.

The military advisors took it pretty hard in this
battle as well. My Marine Captain was shot in the leg,
but thanks to your prayers, the bullet went only skin
deep and he was able to rejoin us four days later
after a quick surgery to remove it.

Another advisor was killed during combat and a few
others have been hurt as well. In all, the men you
have been praying for have been safe. As I was walking
through the street one day with the unit, I saw a dove
flying above me and I instantly knew the God had
brought peace here. I thought in amazement how God
used a dove as a sign of peace to me as he uses a dove
in the bible as a sign of peace for the world. There
is still a lot of work to be done here and there is
still shooting that goes on almost every day and night
throughout the city. Many of the insurgents from other
areas are trying to get into the city for more
fighting, but usually get stopped by a bullet before
they get in.

Again, I must thank each of you for your prayers. I
have said many times that we are able to stand the
strongest when you are on your knees praying for us. I
really do believe that we are all in this fight
together. Please continue to pray that the enemy would
be confused and make mistakes that allow our forces to
take the advantage. May God give you a blessing of
peace today and a joy in your heart knowing the world
is a little better off today because evil was defeated
here.


Iraq War Today