The groups have names like Adopt a Platoon, Homes for Our Troops, Soldiers Angels, Operation Mom and Operation Gratitude. The larger, traditional organizations are also there--the VFW, the American Legion and the USO. The Intrepid Museum Foundation, which runs the famous battleship site in Manhattan, has a strong program called the Fallen Heroes Fund.


OpinionJournal - Wonder Land

FALLUJAH, Iraq Two more U-S Marines have been killed in Fallujah.

The military says they were conducting house-clearing operations in the city yesterday when rebels hiding inside a house opened fire. Marines returned fire in a battle that killed the three insurgents and wounded two other Marines.

U-S troops have continued searching for holdouts in the city since the week-long assault to liberate it began November Eighth.

A Marine commander says about half the houses in the city have been cleared and says the operation will continue until all of them are secure. Lieutenant General John Sattler says the insurgents in Fallujah "are running out of places to hide."

KESQ NewsChannel 3 Palm Springs, CA: Iraq Marines Killed

A U.S. military Amphibious Assault Vehicle drives through a wall and locked gate to open a path for Marines assigned to the 2nd Platoon, India Company, 3rd Battalion, of the 1st Marine Division, to clear a building in the western Iraqi war-torn city of Falluja. Picture released on November 26, 2004. U.S. Marines have cleared over 50 percent of Falluja's houses of weapons caches after mounting an offensive that crushed the Iraqi city's rebels, their top commander said on Friday. REUTERS/HO/USMC/Lance Cpl. Ryan L Jones Yahoo! News - World Photos - Reuters

Iraq War News
They won the battle, but their losses will haunt: "FALLUJAH, Iraq — 1st Lt. Edward Iwan was taking a welcome break. Resting in a parked Humvee, he scrolled down a flat blue computer screen, mounted to the dashboard."

In Kansas City Star: Iraq



Four UK staff killed in Iraq attack: "Four former Gurkha soldiers working for a British security firm have been killed in a mortar attack in Baghdad's Green Zone."

In Ananova: War In Iraq



U.N.: 3,000 Iran Kurds Cut Off From Aid (AP): "AP - Nearly 3,000 Iranian Kurds at a decades-old refugee camp in western Iraq have been left without police protection as residents and local security forces flee fighting in the area, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday."

In Yahoo! News: Iraq



Insurgents at Fallujah claim to have Regrouped: "

From The Australian :

Insurgents in Fallujah have claimed in a statement that they have reorganised after a massive US-Iraqi onslaught against the rebel city and resumed their attacks.

”After reorganising, the Mujahedeen resumed their attacks Wednesday with the aim of shattering the myth of the invincibility of the coalition forces, and the traitors and collaborators who are under the orders of Allawi and Naqib.”
[…]
Friday’s Mujahedeen statement, posted on an Islamist website (www.al-moharer.net), claimed that clashes took place in northern Fallujah in recent days.

“The Mujahedeen will teach a memorable lesson to the collaborators who sold Iraq and prove to Arab regimes that only the language of guns and martyrs makes a difference,” it said.

Historically, whenever one side talks about the “Myth of Invincibility” of the other, it means they’ve suffered nothing but an unending series of military catastrophes so far.

(Enemy Bluster)"

In Command Post: Irak



Top general thanks troops in Afghanistan: "Gen. John Abizaid pulled on a pair of plastic gloves and took his place behind a counter to serve steaming Thanksgiving food to U.S. troops Thursday. (USATODAY.com)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



US troops find at least 12 more bodies in Mosul (AFP): "AFP - At least 12 more bodies were found by US troops fighting insurgents in Mosul, bringing to 40 the number of grim discoveries in the northern city over the past week."

In Yahoo! News: Iraq



Iraqi PM Allawi to visit Germany for Schroeder talks (AFP): "AFP - Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is to visit Germany next week for talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder."

In Yahoo! News: Iraq



IRAQ: IRCS delivered aid to Fallujah: "BAGHDAD, 26 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - After more than two weeks of conflict inside Fallujah, 60km from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the Iraq Red Crescent Society (IRCS) delivered aid to the heart of the city on Thursday."

In IRIN: Iraq Crisis

Fightin’ Words


You media pansies may squeal and may squirm,

But a fightin’ man knows that the way to confirm,

That some jihadist bastard truly is dead,

Is a brain-tappin’ round fired into his head.

To hell with some wienie with his journalist degree

Safe away from the combat, tryin’ to tell me,

I should check him for breathin,’ examine his eyes.

Nope, I’m punchin’ his ticket to Muj paradise.



To hell with you wimps from your Ivy League schools,

Sittin’ far from the war tellin’ me about rules

And preachin’ to me your wrong-headed contention

That I should observe the Geneva Convention,

Which doesn’t apply to a terrorist scum

So evil and cruel their own people run from,

Cold-blooded killers who love to behead,

Shove that mother’ Geneva, I’m leavin’ em dead.



You slick talkingheads may preach, preen and prattle,

But you’re damn well not here in the thick of the battle.

It’s chaotic, confusin’ it all comes at you fast,

So it’s Muj checkin’ out because I’m going to last.

Yeah, I’ll last through this fight and send his ass away

To his fat ugly virgins while I’m still in play.

If you journalist wienies think that’s cold, cruel and crass,

Then pucker up sweeties, kiss a fightin’ man’s ass.



Russ Vaughn

2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment

101st Airborne Division

Vietnam 65-66


Iraq War Today