Anyone Catch The Footage Out of Najaf?

[TennesseeCarl]

U.S. troops enter the city and the populace is cheering. As we proceed, the Mosque of Ali becomes visible. (Ali was, I believe, the nephew of Muhammad and the Shiites look to him as the heir of the Prophet. He is buried in Najaf, I believe.)

The crowd confronts the Americans and clearly does not wish them to proceed toward what may be the holiest place in their faith. They are jeering and waving their hands in a dismissive manner.

The U.S. commander on the scene turns his weapon upside down with the barrell pointed to the ground to demonstrate they are not a threat. Then he orders his troops to 'take a knee', to further demonstrate there's no assault planned.

It works. There's no gunfire. No dead Iraqis. I took a lot of courage, I thought, on the part of our guys to do what they did. Had there been a fedayeen contingent, it would have been a great opportunity for a massacre.

I didn't think this was a war that needed to be fought, but I'm d#mned proud of the way American troops are conducting themselves.

In Vietnam, we saw images of U.S. forces going into battle with swastikas painted on their tanks....with Jolly Rogers flying... that crud isn't happening in Iraq. This is a professional crew that seems to wage war with compassion. Maybe other countries don't see it that way, but that's the impression I'm getting.

[Mad Mike]

I agree 100%. Yet one more reason we should not re-enstate the draft. These are profesional soldiers at work.

[NavyDave]

The commander was on a bullhorn saying to troops to smile then the Iraqi people afterwards were saying they didnt know they heard propoganda about how evil we were.

But these guys are tearing down all kinds of stereotypes and may end up having the Iraqis as our stronges allies next to Qatar and Kuwait

[Soliloquy]

NPR (yeah,yeah) had a reporter with those troops (this unit goes by the nick "No-Slack Soldiers") when this occured. He was overflowing with praise for the commander. According to the reporter, the situation was VERY tense until the commander ordered "No-Slack Soldiers, take a knee", "No-Slack Soldiers, point your rifles at the ground", "No-Slack Soldiers, smile".

It was like flipping a light switch, and the locals started smiling and patting out guys on the back.

God bless our troops.

[The Consigliere]

But Tennessee, I loved that good old Jolly Rogers , LOVE IT, and I think we have, or had a Fighter Wing of F-14's on either the Nimitz or the Enterprise that bare the Jolly Rogers insignia. Agree on the other cr@p though, and that story was beautiful. I may have seen it, but i had the volume down on the TV so I couldn't tell what I was seeing. It's an amazing story, and a beautiful contrast to our enemies, not just in Iraq (who use their own holiest places culturally (Mosques, ancient historical treasures) and societally (schools and hospitals) and our sense of honor and respect against us) but also in the supposed Occupied Territories where Palestinian Terrorists last year used perhaps the holiest and oldest of Christian Churches in the world as a shield against Israeli soldiers.

Again, they demand that we respect their cultural heritage more than they themselves do, and as the Iraqi's, Palestinians, and the Taliban in 2001 (The Buddhist Monuments that were shelled out of existence) showed, honor, and a sense of respect only stretch as far as their own safety is concerned. When their murderous lives are on the lines, their misguided sense of cultural superiorty goes out the window. It's a shame that the people who do cherish these holiest and most treasured of sites require us to free them from their own leadership. I certainly hope that democracy in Iraq may create a genuine sense of accountability with all the citizens so that when their leaders begin to share an uncanny resemblance to Mullah Omar, Ayatolla Khomeini, Hussein, whatever jackarse is currently running Syria, or Arafat, they'll have the wisdom to elect others to office and if a coup is attempted, have the strength of heart and strength of mind to fight to defeat that coup if and when it comes.

[TennesseeCarl]

I can probably live with the Jolly Rogers, but the lack of discipline displayed in Vietnam was unacceptable and probably assisted in the war's futility. We haven't been raising the Stars and Stripes in Iraq and frankly, I think that's a great choice on our commanders' part - we're not an army of conquest.

And respecting the ancient civilization of Iraq and it's historical sites (as well as the sites regarded as Holy in Islam) is just a mark of our maturity as a world power. Hopefully some of it will rub off.

[Mad Mike]

Originally posted by TennesseeCarl

I can probably live with the Jolly Rogers, but the lack of discipline displayed in Vietnam was unacceptable and probably assisted in the war's futility. We haven't been raising the Stars and Stripes in Iraq and frankly, I think that's a great choice on our commanders' part - we're not an army of conquest.

And respecting the ancient civilization of Iraq and it's historical sites (as well as the sites regarded as Holy in Islam) is just a mark of our maturity as a world power. Hopefully some of it will rub off.