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3/11/2012 11:16 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/my-journey-to-iraq.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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My Journey to Iraq

Greetings from Iraq, My deployment to Iraq has already been a great learning experience, beginning here in the states at Winchester, Virginia where I was processed, briefed and issued equipment. The Army Corps of Engineers takes civilian deployments seriously. In addition to desert camouflage uniforms, I received a Kevlar helmet, hats, boots, belt, t-shirts, long underwear, cold-weather clothing, chemical gas mask with a spare filter, ballistic eyewear, ear plugs, sleeping bag, an assortment of other gear and a duffle bag. They expect you to tote your own duffle bag with all this gear and when I weighed mine at Dulles Airport, it was 47 pounds! A sixty-year old grandma was not meant to carry a duffle bag, but I was determined to carry my own. That was before I weighed it and confirmed the obvious -I was crazy! You pack a duffle bag by jumping on it to get all that stuff into the bag and make it so dense it feels like a rock. I learned there is a trick to carrying these duffle bags, you treat them like you would a back pack. You lift the duffle onto a chair and get one arm positioned into the strap fling it sideways around and up across your back and hope to catch your arm in the other strap when it is flying by without propelling yourself across the room into your teammates. I carried my own-- but only until I located an airport baggage handler. One really neat thing about deploying is getting to wear the uniform. It was a thrill just to try it on in Virginia when my daughter Annette came to help me pack the duffle bag. Note, in the picture I still have my blonde hair. I consider it an honor to wear the uniform and I want to wear it correctly. My last name is sewn above my right pocket and USACE Civilian (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) is sewn above my left pocket. I have two patches, one is the American flag. The other is a What's RSS? Contact Us

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3/11/2012 11:16 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/my-journey-to-iraq.asp

triangle with US in the middle and it signifies noncombatant. I wonder if the insurgents know that triangle means noncombatant or if they care? Back to the duffle bag, I didnt have to worry about carrying it once I got here because thanks to several hours delay in London, my flight was late getting into Abu Dhabi Airport. I barely made the connecting flight to Kuwait International Airport. My bags didnt! Now Ive lost my luggage in some of the finest airports in the US, but never did I imagine filling out a claim form in Kuwait and I had no clue where Abu Dhabi was located. I didnt even have a local contact or address where they could deliver my bags. Unfortunately, not only did I lose my bags, I also lost my traveling buddy. My fellow Corps employee from St. Louis District was on his second deployment to Iraq and said dont worry, I know the ropes, just stick with me. Well he didnt stick with me, didn't make the flight and ended up spending the night at Abu Dhabi Airport! My buddy personally knew our local contact and had his phone number, I didnt! So I asked questions. Finally with my lost luggage claim form and carry-on luggage, I proceeded through customs. When I opened the door, I faced a gauntlet of bearded, staring strangers wearing robes. Each one was anxiously awaiting the arrival of their friend, family or business acquaintance. No one was holding a sign with my name or the Army Corps of Engineers castle, our usual airport identification sign. It was just about midnight local Kuwait time and Id had little or no sleep for the past 36+ hours. I was finding it challenging to even think about negotiating a long distance phone call using the Kuwait telephone system with no dinar currency. Just then my knight in shining armor showed up, a Corps employee named Todd, asking if I was Suzanne. Not only does the Army start their day at 0-dark-thirty before anyone else gets up, but they are 24/7. At the Kuwait base camp, the world continued at full speed with bus loads of soldiers processing in and out of the country. Todd took me to one warehouse-size tent after the next, signing me up on the manifest for the next space-available flight to my duty location, signing out my 30+ pound Individual Body Armor (IBA) vest and signing me up for deluxe room reservation in tent # 6225. After Todd left, my only thought was getting some sleep, but first I went on a scavenger hunt to find the only two female latrines in the Army's tent city with hundreds of 8-bunkbed (air-conditioned) tents. I hit the pillow for two hours before the young female soldier from the manifest desk popped her head in the tent and said get your stuff together and be at my office in 15 minutes, we have space available. So much for sleep, a shower and breakfast. From there it was hurry up and wait for a noon flight on a C-130 Hercules aircraft with dozens of young soldiers and a couple other civilians. I landed at Tallil Air Base, but sadly-- no one was there to pick me up. I waited until two soldiers approached me saying, We were told to pick up a blonde! See kids thats what I get for dying my blonde hair black the night before leaving the states. More later --posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 12:13 PM 0 comments

3/11/2012 11:18 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/different-world.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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A different world

It is a different world here. The air is so dry here and everything is tan-- the ground, the buildings, the air and the trees. Yes, even the trees, because everything gets coated with the fine dust-like sand. The winds blow nearly every day from the northwest at about 10-30 miles an hour. It is rather like living next to a major construction project running bulldozers all day and night. Im lucky Im not a compulsive cleaner, because you can never get rid of the fine dust coating on everything. I tend to be allergic to dust, so I clean the air conditioner filter in my room every other day. It helps me think Im in control of the situation. Ballistic sunglasses are one of the necessary accessories to cope with the sun and keep the dust out of your eyes. Most people who wear contact lenses find it challenging, if not impossible. I wear hearing aides and find it demanding to keep them clean. They tell me temperatures have cooled off. We are only getting up to 110-118 in the middle of the day and about mid-70 at night. It rather reminds me of opening your oven when the heat reaches out, engulfs you and sears off your eyelashes. The answer is to drink lots of fluids. I drink so much water, I feel like I can float. This requires regular use of our European-style bathroom. Ladies, that means it is unisex. Equality at last, men cant bond the same way at those executive restroom discussions. Fortunately, we live and work in air condition rooms. My office is located in a renovated Republican Guard officers barracks and my sleeping quarters were brought in and set up as basic mobile home bedrooms I do mean basic. Ten, 12x12 rooms to a building, but I feel luckier than many who live in tents. And no more scavenger hunts for

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My Journey to Iraq

3/11/2012 11:18 AM
female latrines, I have my own bathroom.

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/different-world.asp

Meals here are really tasty and there is far more selection than I imagined. We arent eating MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) at this location, but of course some people in the field still depend upon them. We have a smorgasbord of food at every meal. They have a salad bar, several entrees, vegetables, sandwiches and my personal favorite, lots of fruit. We also have a large desert selection and an ice cream bar. Im going to gain weight on this high carbohydrate diet meant for 20-year-old soldiers. These healthy young men and women can put food away. Hey Moms -- you will also be glad to hear that you cant go into the dining facility without washing your hands with soap. There are 15 sinks with soap dispensers at each entrance. Eating with the troops is a unique experience. I really enjoy seeing the smiles, flirting, teasing, cheerful exchanges between soldiers, airmen and coalition forces from Italy, Ukraine, Australia, England and Poland. I do have to be careful though, more than once Ive nearly tripped carrying my dinner tray when I didnt see an M-16 rifle laid under a chair. Most people walk on the base and since the speed limit is ten miles an hour, vehicles dont get places much faster than people. It is convenient to walk to the chapel, post office, bank, post exchange and house of pain (exercise gym) because everything is located here in the community. Many local Iraqi people are employed here in technical and support jobs. The Coalition presence has provided employment for thousands of Iraqi citizens. The Corps of Engineers has Iraqi contractors bidding, managing and leading hundreds of reconstruction projects and they in turn hire Iraqi workers. Each job helps a family and together with reconstruction partners, it helps the Iraqi people rebuild their own country. For the next six months, Ill be reporting on my trips to schools, health clinics, hospitals, electrical, transportation, water and security projects being built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers here in Iraq. These are being completed in partnership with the coalition forces and the Iraqi people. Until later --posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 1:35 PM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:19 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/ancient-world.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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An Ancient World
Iraq means the land between two rivers the Tigris and Euphrates but you wouldnt know it here, it is clearly arid desert terrain. It is hard to believe that this area around Nasiriyah used to be marsh land before 1990. Saddam Hussein deliberately drained and burned the marshes destroying the villages to punish people who opposed his regime and to clear the way for his tanks to advance during the Iran-Iraq war. Im told that the barren areas I see now were once thriving wetlands. The canals and dams Saddam installed throughout this region dried up to 90 per cent of the marsh. This area was previously home to 70 per cent of Iraqs dairy industry, building and paper-making industry and commercial fish nurseries. After the fall of Saddam, local Iraqi people tore down earthworks and opened floodgates to allow water to surge on to the land that Saddam drained. Although this area will never be marshland again, one of our local Iraqi workers who lives in Nasiriyah said the fish nurseries are re-established and fishing is flourishing once again. Time stands still in Iraq and it seems as though thing arent much different than in biblical times. Many historians believe this was the Garden of Eden and it is also referred to as the Cradle of Civilization or the Cradle of Mankind. Present-day Iraq occupies the greater part of the ancient land of Mesopotamia. Iraq has a long series of civilizations and is said to have 100,000 archaeological sites; many are not yet unearthed. I visited the city of Ur of old Mesopotamia, the Third Dynasty. The primary remains are a 3-level ziggurat, a pyramid-like structure that can be seen for miles across the desert. In the shadow of the ziggurat, just a blocks walk over ancient cobblestone foot paths, past crumbling foundations of temples to the moon god and burial tombs of ancient kings and queens, is the ancestral home of Abraham. His home in southern Mesopotamia, is mentioned four times in the Old Testament. After 4,000 years Abrahams home still stands with multiple graceful arches, without a roof, but otherwise completely undisturbed by the turmoil in the countryside surrounding it.

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A different world My Journey to Iraq

3/11/2012 11:19 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/ancient-world.asp

I stood in awe as I realized this was Abraham, the father of Isaac and the grandfather of Jacob this was here before Christianity. No wonder the rest of the world believe our country is in its infancy in the true historical sense of time. The British conducted many archeological digs here around the turn of the 19th century. When the British left Iraq in 1922, the leading scientist asked a local Iraqi to protect the ruins until they returned. In 1961, this mans son took over as protector of the ziggurat ruins and in 1995 his grandson assumed these responsibilities. The grandson still watches over the ruins. He gave seven of us a personal tour of the ruins and related every detail of history as if he, rather than his grandfather, worked to unearth the treasures that are now found in museums around the world. Dhaif Muhsen Naes is a knowledgeable, gracious tour guide who taught himself to speak English, German and French. His hope is that someday more people can travel to this special holy place and walk the path of Abraham. Even though we live worlds apart, that hope for peace is one we both shared. He is shown here pointing to Abraham's home.

More tomorrow as I tell you about the people and the pilgrimages to Karbala. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 12:48 PM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:19 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/traveling-in-iraq.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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Traveling in Iraq
Recently I went on a 90 minute drive to a meeting between the US Army Corps of Engineers, an Iraqi contractor and his customer, an Iraqi railroad official. Along the roads were thousands of Shia Iraqis walking to attend the anniversary birthday of the one of their most noble martyr,12th Iman for Shia, Inmam Al-mahdi. Leading up to Sept. 20, three-million Shia Iraqi men walked to Karbala, a desert city located 105 kilometers, about 68 miles, southwest of the capitol city of Baghdad. That means depending on where you live in Iraq, you could walk 100, 200 or 300 miles. The history of this sacred city begins in Babylonian time, the word Karbala means nearness of God or sacred precinct of Allah or other interpretations depending on your research source. It was inspiring to see hundreds of men walking on the roadside, carrying Iraqi flags or green, red, white and black flags. Green is the color of Islam and is supposed to be particularly meaningful for the Shia religion, red means sacrifice, white is purity and black is martyrdom. Hundreds of men in groups of five or twenty, just walking in this desert heat in the middle of no where. Every five to 10 miles, a hospitality tent is set up along the road with signs in Arabic offering greetings to the pilgrim walkers and hospitality to rest and quench their thirst. I found myself asking if anyone in the states would have this much religious conviction to walk for days to celebrate a religious holiday. Or would those of us at home encourage pilgrims by offering them drinks at our refreshment stands. The security guards driving and escorting us to our meeting were nervous with so many people on the roads, especially when traffic got congested and people walked so near our cars. In addition, there were miles of convoy truck traffic going both directions. Finally our driver swerved over into the ditch between the lanes of traffic and drove onto the opposite lane heading toward oncoming traffic. I clenched my seatbelt, but my fellow passenger said this is a common occurrence in Iraq. If things get too congested, there are no rules of the road and drivers take to the shoulders, ditches and yes, the incoming traffics lane. At one point we were forced to drive over into the other lane because some enterprising businessman decided that the two-lane road next to

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3/11/2012 11:19 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/traveling-in-iraq.asp

his business was his private parking lot so he pilled eight feet of dirt around a two-block area and put concertina wire on top the dirt. I guess that means Im homesteading, this turf is mine! The serene deserts passed by quickly as I watched more men on their journey, while the women appeared to be herding the sheep and the children, carrying water jugs in huge vases or laundry from a nearby stream. I even saw a watering hole with dozens of black, white, tan and brown camels. I didnt know camels came in such a wide array of colors. Naturally, I had my camera ready and wanted to ask the drivers to stop so I could take pictures. Unfortunately the Sunni extremists could take advantage of the Shia Muslims religious holiday moving in such large numbersso I knew there would be no stopping. The business meeting was no different than any Ive experienced in the states. The customer wanted more, the contractors says-- you want more you pay more! I need to make a profit. All the while the government is trying to arbitrate and negotiate a fair and equitable agreement. I listened carefully to both perspectives and thought all this was new territory, until after the meeting when the project manager showed me the minutes from last month. The same issues, same haggling over the same machinery or other features such as getting a brick fence instead of a wire fence. Im coming to understand a little part of the Middle East culture and the honor that comes from striking a fair bargain and saving face with your business associates. We really arent that different are we? posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 1:20 PM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:20 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/schools-in-iraq_26.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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Schools in Iraq
This is a picture of a Mud School. Until recently many rural school children attended schools like this made of mud, reeds or both, with dirt floors, no windows, electricity or bathrooms. That means damp, dark rooms with little or no light, mud walls and dirt floors that become mud when it rains. The schools are small with 80 to 150 students in rural poor areas. Mud schools are a new term for most Americans. American pioneers used mud to build homes when they first made their way west ward. I recall hearing stories about my great grandparents coming to South Dakota from Luxembourg and spending their first winter in a dirt dugout with several small children. I could never imagine how they survived that first winter in freezing temperatures. Take the other extreme, I wonder how school children and teachers survive the 130+ temperatures here in Iraq in a Mud School. I spoke to one of our Iraqi interpreters who taught at a Mud school for senior students, 12 to 16 years of age. He kept repeating that it was very unhealthy, dark and damp. Once he was conducting a mid year exam when it started to rain, before long the students books, paper and copy books (test books) were all muddy because the ceiling was leaking. Another time he was trying to correct a student who wasnt listening because the student was distracted trying to get his leg out of the mud. Clothes were muddy, shoes and overall it was a very unhealthy place for the students as well as the teachers. After my friend graduated with a 4-year teaching degree from the University of Baghdad English Department in 1994, he taught in a Mud School for two years. As a teacher, he said, you count the minutes until you can get out of such an unhealthy place. They started school at 12 noon and went until 5 oclock in the afternoon. Finally, coalition forces came and built a new school next to the Mud School so the children and teachers came with a new attitude about learning since they now had a cleaner, happier and safer place to learn. Not all schools are Mud Schools, but even permanent structure schools are rundown and dilapidated, dismal buildings in need of much repair.

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3/11/2012 11:20 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/schools-in-iraq_26.asp

Sometimes it didnt even make sense to renovate these buildings and others could be salvaged with an investment of $30,000 to $100,000. School reconstruction requests come from every provincial government in Iraq. Renovate the schools, invest in the future of Iraq and put school children into safe, healthy environments for learning. Nearly all contracts awarded to repair, restore or construct schools are going to local Iraqi contractors. They hire local workers and purchase local construction materials so the majority of the money goes right back into the local economy and helps to build community pride in the school. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding and rehabilitating schools all across Iraq. In the southern nine provinces, where I work, contracts have been awarded for 363 school construction projects-- 317 schools are completed and students are now learning in a healthy, happier environment. Those two-room Mud school are being replaced by six classroom schools, a headmasters office, bathrooms and a safe courtyard. Depending on the school enrollment, some school replacements are l2 classrooms or larger. In some areas, the coalition forces cooperate to build school desks or provide school supplies, backpacks or other services for the students. It is a wonderful celebration of smiling student faces and rewarded American and coalition forces. Unfortunately, security risks in the some areas prevent the community from celebrating opening day ceremonies with the students, but there is still satisfaction in knowing that smiling students are back to school all over the country with renewed enthusiasm. More on what the new schools look like later. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 9:12 AM 1 comments

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At 2:46 AM, Brian J. Phillips said... It's great to hear some good news about Iraq. Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:21 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/new-schools-in-iraq.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2005

New Schools in Iraq


Friends, Before I start, let me tell you that I've been having some technical difficulties putting pictures up on the blog. I've talked to the technical support folks at the Enquirer and we are working to resolve the problem. Sometimes my picture files have been too large for the blog, so I need to size and compress the photographs. Together, we'll master the technology and add pictures to these files later if I can't do it right now. I know some of you have wanted to add comments to the blog and I've reported that to the blog designers too. So we will try to accommodate the pictures and the comments as soon as possible. Right now, let me go on telling you about the schools. Al Zahra Mud School construction site was the first project I visited shortly after I arrived here in Iraq. I saw the Iraqi contractor and his crew working to renovate a 2-room mud-brick school to six class rooms. Mud brick is better than just mud, but it is what it sounds like, the brick is made out of mud and used as construction material. The school appears to be in the middle of no where, but it has 83 school children enrolled in first to sixth grade. Here is the contractor proudly showing off his work, school desks and chalkboard are stacked in the courtyard waiting for the classroom work to be finished. The children are waiting too-- waiting for school to open. This is typical of the 317 schools that the US Army Corps of Engineers has built or renovated here in the southern part of Iraq. This school is located near Nasiriyha in Dhi Qar Province. To equip the schools the Corps of Engineers teamed with the 194th Engineers, Civil Affairs, National Guard Unit from Tennessee. The 194th made the desks and delivered them to the Al Zahra School and also supplied three computers and back packs for the school children. The Corps provided school supplies donated by school groups across the United States. Virtually every Corps office I talked with across the nine provinces have been trying to connect military units and American school children with the Iraqi schools. Many generous donations have reached across cultural and geographic boundaries to help these school children who have only the bare necessities. These school supplies bring big bright smiles as the children go back to school in their brightly painted, clean, healthy and

3/11/2012 11:21 AM
safe schools.

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/09/new-schools-in-iraq.asp

Safety is so apparently missing in many ways in this country and what I see in these schools is a renewed effort to keep children safe. You saw the picture of the Mud School with a fence made of straw and reed-- it cant provide any level of protection from the winds, heat, dust and animals coming right into the school yard. Now children play on tiled floors and brick walled courtyards. Today I visited a Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital and I'd like to show you pictures and tell you about how hospitals are being renovated here in Iraq. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 1:53 PM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:21 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/heres-original-mud-scho...

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 01, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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Here's the original mud school mentioned earlier in this blog. posted by C.E. @ 7:41 PM 0 comments What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman Paul Daugherty

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3/11/2012 11:22 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 01, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman Paul Daugherty Al Zahra Mud School construction site was the first project I visited shortly after I arrived here in Iraq. I saw the Iraqi contractor and his crew working to renovate a 2-room mud-brick school to six classrooms. Mud brick is better than just mud, but it is what it sounds like, the brick is made out of mud and used as construction material. Here is the contractor proudly showing off his work. Desks and a chalkboard are stacked in the courtyard waiting for classroom work to be finished. Read more farther down in the blog. posted by C.E. @ 7:59 PM 0 comments Pop Culture Review Politics Extra N. Ky. Politics Photographers Television Roller Derby Diva Art Classical music Reds Bengals High school sports NCAA

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Here's the original mud school mentioned earlier... New Schools in Iraq Schools in Iraq Traveling in Iraq An Ancient World A different world

3/11/2012 11:23 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/friends-we-now-have-r...

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 01, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman Paul Daugherty Friends, We now have a roundabout way to send photos from Iraq to Kentucky to the blog. Here's the first of three photos from the school construction. Al Zahra Mud School appears to be in the middle of nowhere, but it has 83 children enrolled in first to sixth grade. They're waiting for school to be built and open. This is typical of the 317 schools that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has built or renovated here in the southern part of Iraq. This school is near Nasiriyha in Dhi Qar Province. posted by C.E. @ 8:04 PM 0 comments Pop Culture Review Politics Extra N. Ky. Politics Photographers Television Roller Derby Diva Art Classical music Reds Bengals High school sports NCAA Bearcats CiN Weekly staff blog

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Al Zahra Mud School construction site was the fi... Here's the original mud school mentioned earlier... New Schools in Iraq Schools in Iraq Traveling in Iraq

3/11/2012 11:24 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/healthcare-in-iraq.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2005

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Healthcare in Iraq
Reconstruction of Iraq is happening on many different fronts. Many coalition partners and non-governmental agencies are cooperating to help the people of Iraq. I dont want anyone to think that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is alone in accomplishing positive changes here. Everything is happening with cooperation and partnerships between agencies and with the Iraqi people. All I can do is tell you about the projects that I personally visit and since I work for the Corps, the projects I talk about are those the Corps is leading. Yesterday I went to the 200-bed Nasiriyah Maternity and Pediatric Hospital in the city of Nasiriyah, Thi Qar Province. This is one of only two hospitals serving the 350,000 people of Nasiriyah. This project will cost nearly $8 million and is scheduled for completion April 15. Quite frankly, I was taken aback by what I saw. The hospital is being completely gutted and redone. The main reason is that every system in this 22-year-old hospital failed. The sewer, water treatment, heating, air conditioning and even the laundry failed, only one washing machine was working when the Corps project manager, who was with me, visited the hospital to assess renovation needs. I cant imagine how challenging it must have been for the medical staff to continue working under these conditions. I dont know what happened. Is it because there was no maintenance done on the hospital? Or didnt they have trained engineers and maintenance crews? Was it looters, vandals, saboteurs and bandits who went rampant in the southern provinces after the war? All I can tell you is that after decades of neglect and punishment under the Saddams regime, the health care system is in terrible condition despite many humanitarian efforts since the Coalition forces established their presence here. The good thing is that it is being repaired. Yesterday there were no patients, no doctors, nurses, x-ray machines or medical materials. The hospital is empty, except for approximately 250 workmen in blue coveralls and hardhats who are removing old drywall, floor tiles, pipes, and equipment or installing replacement equipment and painting walls. Every sink, toilet and plumbing pipe is being replaced. The heating, air conditioning, electrical and communication systems will also be replaced or repaired. All the inner works of the hospital systems are starkly exposed with no ceiling tiles to cover their bare pipes and wires.

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3/11/2012 11:24 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/healthcare-in-iraq.asp
Traveling in Iraq An Ancient World A different world My Journey to Iraq

Elevators, that didnt work, will be repaired and extended to the third floor pediatric wing. Finally, a new sanitary sewage lift station will move waste to a nearby treatment plant to make this a complete, functional and healthy hospital again. When this hospital is fully functional, it can more effectively serve mothers giving birth, their newborns and treat sick children-- hopefully preventing needless death. Preventable diseases such as diarrhea and respiratory infections account for 70 percent of childrens death or 58,000 children in Thi Qar Province alone. Save the Children, an international aid agency, reported that before the war began, conditions in Iraq were deteriorating. Millions of Iraqi children and their families lived in deprivation as a result of decades of neglect. Already under severe strain and under sourced, hospitals, water plants and sewage systems were further crippled by the conflict and looting. Nearly half of Iraqs 26 million people continued to live in chronic poverty with the majority of adults unemployed and 60 percent of families dependent on public assistance for most of their food. Clean water continued to be a problem as sewage is often dumped untreated into the water sources. These are their statistics on children in pre-war Iraq: Nearly half (44 percent) of Iraqs population of 26 million is under the age of 15, and an estimated 4.2 million are under the age of five. Among children under five years old, about one in four are chronically malnourished. One in eight children dies before the age of fiveone of the highest mortality rates in the world. 70 percent of child deaths are caused by diarrhea and acute respiratory infections. On average, each child under five years of age suffers 14 bouts of diarrhea annually. An estimated 20 percent of school age children did not attend primary or secondary school Sadly these figures speak to how desperate conditions were before the Coalition forces arrived in Iraq. I know changes have made conditions better, because I see them with my own eyes. Especially with regards to schools and changes are happening every day in healthcare not as fast as anyone would like, but changes are moving forward.

In the southern nine provinces of Iraq, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is building or renovating 63 health clinics and 10 hospitals. Three of the 10 hospitals are completed and the health clinics are in various stages of completion. I look forward to seeing mothers and children being treated at renovated health facilities while I am here in Iraq. I want to show you pictures, but until then, here are some pictures of the renovation of the Nasiriyah Maternity and Pediatric Hospital. Next time Ill talk about putting the Iraqi people back to work. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 2:36 AM 1 comments

3/11/2012 11:24 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/healthcare-in-iraq.asp

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At 2:11 PM, Middle Class Mom said... Suzanne- It is Sunday afternoon here in Cincy. While my husband and boys are out in the other room watching the Bengals game (Bengals 3 Texans 3, top of the 2nd), I'm out in the living room scourring the Enquirer online. This is were I came across your blog. At first your blog caught my attention because of the photos. I then came across this entry. I read with interest your description of the medical conditions in Iraq and the work you are doing. Over here any news concerning Iraq is so politicized, your news isn't. I like that. When we first entered the war I was all for it and supported Bush's actions whole hearted, now I'm not so sure. Is it really worth the loss of life for so many sons and daughters, husbands and wifes? Your writings reminded me (and hopefully others too) that politics aside, we are helping so many less fortunate than us. The work you are doing is benefiting common Iraqi citizen; mothers and children who are probably are probably mostly concerned with just living and being a mom or a kid. I really wish some ongoing press would be give to your efforts there. I'll say a prayer for your safety and continued progress tonight. Go Bengals! Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:24 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
Home Cincinnati.Com Workman is digging up the floor in the laundry room to replace pipes and drains

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posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 3:16 AM

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3/11/2012 11:25 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/painting-patient-rooms.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2005

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Home Cincinnati.Com Workman is painting one of the newly renovated patient rooms. I call your attention to his hard hat and respirator mask because safety standards for workmen were not common before Americans came to this country.

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posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 3:27 AM

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3/11/2012 11:26 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/hospital-wall-mural.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2005

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This image was painted in the stairwell of the Nasiriyah Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital. Even though the painting has scars, it gave me hope. It could be repaired, much like the plumbing, water treatment, sewer and healthcare treatment for new mommies, their newborns and sick children. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 3:34 AM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:27 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/helping-iraqi-workers.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2005

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Helping Iraqi workers


The majority of small business contracts are being awarded straight to Iraqi contractors and even when the main contractor isnt Iraqi, the majority of sub contractors are Iraqi businessmen. In addition to rebuilding Iraq, this reconstruction mission is about teaching and eventually turning reconstruction over to the Iraqi people to rebuild and maintain their own country. Putting Iraqi people to work is a high priority. I recently visited a construction site where between 125 to150 workmen were employed each day building a military compound with barracks, bathrooms and dining facilities for the Iraqi National Guard. Eventually this compound will hold 400 military soldiers whose presence will also generate economic activity for a depressed rural region. The work is taking longer than the Iraqi contractor hoped because the workmen are untrained. They are mostly farmers who are learning a new trade in construction. The hope is that these new skills will help local farmers gain future employment in order to support their families. The Iraqi contractor faces other challenges besides untrained workers. Building materials are not always available locally and that means convoys to transport equipment and building materials with armed security guards, because insurgents target positive reconstruction projects. We had one construction site just south of Baghdad that was destroyed twice by insurgents bombs. Finally materials were delivered by an armed convoy that stayed on site while construction was completed and turned over to the local police. One of the greatest challenges for American engineers is to emphasize appropriate safety procedures and equipment. Some Iraqi farmers started construction jobs wearing robes and sandals that jeopardized their safety on a construction site. At this construction site the Corps hires two Iraqi civil engineers to conduct quality assurance and maintain checks on whether construction is meeting standards. They were conscientiously pointing out workers in hard hats, but I saw the American engineer nod and then note the lack of safety railings for third-floor construction. Iraq will be a long time getting to the point where the United States is

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3/11/2012 11:27 AM

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site was the fi... Here's the original mud school mentioned earlier... New Schools in Iraq Schools in Iraq Traveling in Iraq

for OSHA standards, but engineers and inspectors can insist upon basic safety to demonstrate the value of each worker and the contractors obligation to protect his workers. On another subject-As you may know, the religious month of Ramadan starts today on Oct 4 and concludes on Nov 3. Ramadan is a special month of the year for over one billion Muslims throughout the world. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. Muslims are to fast during the daylight hours, read the Qur'an, give charity, purify one's behavior and do good deeds. Muslims in many parts of the world prepare favorite foods during this month. Since Ramadan emphasizes community, Muslims often invite each other to share in the Ramadan evening meal. Weve been asked to respect their religious fasting by not eating food in front of our Muslim friends during their religious month. Over the past few years, Ramadan has been a time of increased tension for the Coalition forces here in Iraq. We expect this year to be the same. In addition, we also have the Constitution Referendum vote here in Iraq on Oct 15 and scheduled on Oct 19 is the trial of Saddam Hussein. It makes me pause and reflect on how fortunate we are to practice our religion, in peace, and exercise our right to vote without fear of intimidation or harm. Next time --- paying out $ millions in cash to Iraqi contractors! posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 11:15 AM 1 comments

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At 4:07 PM, Dick/Bluegrass said... Suzanne....please let me know if and how I can help. Need any supplies, comfort items, etc? How about candy for the local kids? Let me know what I can do. Dick Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:28 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/iraqi-workers-on-job.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
Home Cincinnati.Com Workmen wear safety hard hats at Iraqi National Guard construction site.

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posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 11:34 AM

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At 2:07 PM, SkeetsV said... Hi Susanne! I can't help but notice that you spelled "Corp." wrong at the top of your blog. Anyway, I hope you're doing well. At 5:56 PM, Ann Gallegos said... Great to hear from you. Since I'm now retired, I don't even know what a BLOG is, but I'll see if I can figure out how to get your messages. Glad you're doing okay. Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:29 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2005

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Doing Business Iraqi Style


Working in Iraq requires initiative and creative thinking on many different levels, even when it comes to banking. Iraq is a cash-driven society where banks are seldom viewed as reliable. When Saddam ran out of money, he used the banks money. Obviously, trust in the banking system will take time. If you recall, the U.S. had similar challenges after the 1929 bank crash. I recall my Dad, a small town banker, talking about how it took time for South Dakota residents to trust banks with their hard-earned wages. Times change, reputation and credibility is re-established and this becomes the accepted way to do business again. I believe the same will happen in Iraq, but we have to give them time. I recently witnessed business Iraqi style--- lots of cash. Hundred, thousands or millions of dollars delivered in cash. How is it possible to give someone a million dollars in cash? The largest U.S. bill in circulation is the hundred dollar bill, and it takes 10,000 of those to make one million dollars. Ten thousand bills! How about $22 million? That is the amount of cash that my friend Roberta Bobbie West, accountant here with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer, and three young soldiers from the Massachusetts Army National Guard, paid in cash to hundreds of Iraqi contractors. Bobbie is responsible for paying contractors who complete portions of their onstruction contracts for a school, hospital, road, police station, fire station, water plant or electrical system. She prepares paperwork for transfer of cash after engineers notify her that work is complete. Sgt. Craig Chisholm, Spec. Luis Alvarez and Spec. Theodore Giannino of the 747th Finance Detachment of the 18th SSG Airborne, Massachusetts Army National Guard, brought a suitcase full of cash to the table. These three young soldiers had a huge responsibility and were thoroughly professional when dealing with Iraqi contractors who were two or three times their age. Craig, Luis and Teddy are back home in Massachusetts now, do you think their buddies believe they gave away $22 million in cash? I saw smiling Iraqi contractors as they signed receipts for bundles of

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3/11/2012 11:29 AM

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roundabout way to send pho... Al Zahra Mud School construction site was the fi... Here's the original mud school mentioned earlier... New Schools in Iraq

cash. In this way, more small contractors are able to bid and complete construction contracts. They can buy materials, conduct business without cash flow problems and pay their workers who deal only in cash. Small contractors hire local Iraqi workers, so the money goes back into the local economy through families that reside in the vicinity where the work is being done. The cash payments may seem unusual, but keep in mind we arent talking business American style, Iraq doesnt have 14,000 banks with branches in every neighborhood and ATMs at every convenience store. The electronic capabilities arent here yet. The people of Iraq are getting stronger every day. Iraqis are building upon these and other efforts to achieve their goals for economic growth, political stability, security and justice the real foundations of freedom. This is a big week for freedom here in Iraq. Saturday, October 15, the people will vote on their constitutional referendum. Starting Thursday, the Government of Iraq has declared a holiday for four days. Government ministries and offices will be closed and none of our Iraqi workers will be here at work. There is a curfew during evening and night hours, a weapons ban and closure of the borders with neighboring countries. The day before election, movement between the 18 provinces will be banned. On voting day, 15 October, international borders, airports and ports will be closed -- and all vehicle traffic will be banned. We hope people will be allowed to vote without fear of intimidation and violence. This is a giant leap toward the establishment of a solid government here in Iraq. Theyve made great strides. Sometimes we fail to realize that although our country declared independence on July 4, 1776, it wasnt until 15 years later on Dec 15, 1791 that the new United States of America adopted the bill of Rights and the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution confirming the fundamental rights of citizens. Freedom and government didnt happen over night here in America. Until later -posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 1:23 PM 1 comments

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At 11:52 AM, Wally McRae said... Great post. I'm glad I found you. It's is nice to hear that things are happening in Iraq other then bombings. Looking forward to other posts Wally McRae wallymcrae.com

3/11/2012 11:30 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2005

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Giving Cash to Iraqi Contractors

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What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman Paul Daugherty My friend Roberta Bobbie West (standing) points out terms of the contract to an Iraqi contractor before he signs acceptance of the cash sitting on the table. Spec. Alvarez, Spec. Giannino, Sgt. Chisholm (left to right) of the Mass. Army National Guard are waiting to give the contractor his cash payment. (See story below) posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 1:00 PM 0 comments Pop Culture Review Politics Extra N. Ky. Politics Photographers Television Roller Derby Diva Art Classical music Reds Bengals High school sports NCAA Bearcats CiN Weekly staff blog

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3/11/2012 11:30 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/camels-in-iraq.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2005

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Camels In Iraq

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Here are the camels, white, black, brown and tan. I told you I would get a photograph, but I wish it was closer. I'm told getting close to camels is risky. They are smelly, dirty, attract insects and if you bother them, they spit at you! Adventuresome friends have told me the camel's spit aim is good, and he can leave substantial amounts of unidentifiable fluids on your clothing. Oooohhh I don't think so! posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 2:31 PM 0 comments What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman Paul Daugherty Pop Culture Review Politics Extra N. Ky. Politics Photographers Television Roller Derby Diva Art Classical music Reds Bengals High school sports NCAA Bearcats CiN Weekly staff blog

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3/11/2012 11:31 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/village-roads-in-iraq.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2005

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Village Roads in Iraq

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What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman Paul Daugherty Pop Culture Review Politics Extra US Army Corps of Engineers' Robert Vanoer, Chicago District, and Robert VanWinkle, Louisville District, cut the ribbon with Iraq community to open their new asphalt road replacing a dirt, winding, congested road. The new road will provide safe, reliable transportation for 25,000 Iraqi residents. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 2:03 PM 0 comments N. Ky. Politics Photographers Television Roller Derby Diva Art Classical music Reds Bengals Post a Comment << Home High school sports NCAA Bearcats CiN Weekly staff blog

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3/11/2012 11:31 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/silk-road-reached-to-ira...

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2005

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Silk road reached to Iraq


Id like to spend a little time talking about transportation in Iraq. One of the more interesting tidbits of history is that Baghdad was at the western end of the Silk Road, a trade route built in the eighth century that reached to China. The Silk Road established routes for silk trading. The Silk Road wasnt actually only one road, but many different branches depending on where water or oasis settlements existed and it wasnt only for trading silk, but for many commodities. It was considered a safe route to travel. As times changed, it became easier and safer to transport goods by water rather than over land, but people continued to use these same roads to get their products to market and trade regionally. Well you may wonder where I am going on this road. Well many roads in Southern Iraq havent progressed much beyond those old village roads. Many of Iraqs rural roads are little more than one-lane dirt paths that are impassable when the rains come. These roads, often referred to as farm-to-market roads, are vital to the economy of the rural areas because they provide a reliable route to transport goods. Likewise, it is their only means to get supplies and transport children to schools, families to medical care, social events and religious services. We are involved in improving 360 miles of road segments in Iraq. The majority of the new two-lane asphalt roads are being built over existing dirt village roads. As with nearly all our reconstruction efforts, rebuilding roads is being accomplished by using local Iraqi contractors. The work directly supports the rebuilding of Iraqs infrastructure, provides work for the local businesses, hires local workers and puts money directly into the local Iraq economy. Reliable roads will enhance local opportunities for education, economic and social activities. Most of southern Iraqs cultivated land is in the valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Farmers rely upon ground transportation to get wheat, barley, rice, vegetables, dates, cotton, wool, cattle and sheep to regional markets. Most of Iraqs modern roads were built in 1970s and 1980s, but little or no maintenance was done in the past decades. Overall Iraq has an extensive road network extending more than 25,000 miles. Most of their

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3/11/2012 11:31 AM

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Painting patient rooms Hospital Laundry room renovation Healthcare in Iraq

roads are paved, but just as in other countries, if roads aren't maintained they will break up and deteriorate. Roads systems are important, especially now as reconstruction is gaining momentum. The need for a reliable transportation network to efficiently move construction materials, equipment, fuel, and other supplies is essential. The Coalition forces arent repairing all the roads in Iraq, but they are giving roads a boost in the right direction, putting people back to work and fostering opportunities that didnt exist in the recent past. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 2:14 PM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:32 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2005

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Recognition for Civilian Service

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3/11/2012 11:33 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2005

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Election in Iraq + Bunker time


The election is over and most news reports say the turnout was highly successful. It appears that the referendum passed, but the last I saw, they were recounting the votes sound familiar? Im going to remember I was here when democracy took root in the Middle East. This referendum on the draft constitution is a very important step toward democracy that would not have been possible under the Saddam regime. It was an opportunity for the Iraqi people to have their say in the future of a new Iraq. I have to hand it to the Iraqi government; they took some firm actions to establish a safe and secure situation for people to vote. They banned vehicles, weapons and imposed transportation limitations. There were 6000 polling places throughout Iraq requiring a good deal of security by the Iraqi Security Force, supported by Coalition forces. I was so excited for the Iraqi people to have this chance at democracy and I couldnt wait to hear how it went when our Iraqi employees returned to work after their 4-day travel restrictions. One of our women engineers excitedly told me that she didnt have a purple finger any longer because her mother had her cleaning all weekendit is so sad that most of the evidence is gone. The only remaining ink was visible around her fingernail. Her smile told it all, it was huge as she explained how her she and her mother had voted. I asked another engineer, he said, I didnt vote. So I asked why, feeling a little disappointed for him. He said because the government turned off our electricity to keep us from voting. I wasnt sure I understood, so I pressed him further. He felt it was unsafe for his mother to walk 30 minutes to the polling place and back another 30. Then he said he didnt agree with everything in the referendum, the people in Baghdad were trying once again to take everything away from us, just as they did under Saddam. Well, I said, I guess this is freedom, because you chose not to vote and that is like many Americans. Later I read in an Iraqi translated news account that insurgents cut some of the electric lines in Nasiriyah. I asked our cleaning crew of eight young men. They all flashed big grins, showed me their voting fingers saying yes they voted. I see their smiles and hear their friendly greeting nearly every day. Since I took

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3/11/2012 11:33 AM

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Helping Iraqi workers Hospital Wall Mural Painting patient rooms

their picture recently and gave them copies, Ive had the cleanest room in our building. It makes my day to see their smiles. During this 4-day period, US forces were put on high alert and we kept pretty close to home. It isnt hard to keep us close to home because we were required to wear our protective gear every time we went outside. Well our restroom isnt in our building, it is outside and so is our dining facility. So every time, you got your flak jacket, or IBA (Individual Body Armor) or Battle Rattle, as some folks call it, and Kevlar, the helmet. Im telling you, it is challenging to plan your day around wearing these protective contraptions. They arent light; we women figure it weighs about 35 pounds- maybe 50! Weve agreed that a woman just isnt built to carry that much weight on her shoulders for any period of time-- at least not a woman my age. I told some friends, you know this reminds me when I was pregnant because it throws off your balance, but at least then, I kept the weight all in front of me so I could balance better. Recently, I was Basrah and after a great day of seeing the renovated Basrah International Airport and interviewing people, the sirens went off. Thats one way to spoil a perfect day. I grabbed my battle rattle, threw it on and followed the rushing movement to the closest shelter. I ended up in a dusty concrete bunker made for 12 and there were 13 of us. Lucky me, I was in the middle of the 13, most were British men that Id never set eyes on before and for that matter I couldnt see them now. We were sitting on a bench, facing a concrete wall. After the first rush, they started sounding out with numbers and alphabetic letters. When it came to me, I didnt know what they wanted. The room number where Id slept last night, fortunately I remembered. Then for 90 minutes, we sat in the dark, sirens going off and listening to the Operations Center call each bunker to get a full accounting of the people. As I heard, Calling Alpha 1, Calling Alpha 2, Calling Alpha 3 up to 6 or 7 and then go through the same routine for Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot and Golf. Each bunker as they were called gave a full rundown of room numbers of people present in their bunker. We went through this routine several times until I guess they figured out the names of who was missing and why. Finally, we heard an armored vehicle approach and drive by. Some accented murmurs about that being the patrol and how much longer were they going to keep us in here, dinner was waiting, old Chap. Since I dont normally find myself with 12 British men in a concrete bunker on a Saturday evening, I started thinking about other people that have found themselves in similar situations. How frightened the parents of these British men must have been during WWII attacks in London, these men would have been children, babies or perhaps not born yet. We as American are so blessed. Do we ever think about having to go to a shelter because insurgents are attacking with incoming rockets or gunfire? Do we ever question after hearing a loud boom, if it is a suicide bomber at the gate? This time the insurgents were firing harrassment rounds, but fortunately nothing found a target.

3/11/2012 11:33 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/election-in-iraq-bunker-...

Let me end this session by showing you a certificate for a pin that dozens of Army civilians received last night here in a ceremony. These are presented to US Army Corps of Engineer volunteer civilians, instead of a military patch or ribbon for serving in a combat zone. One of my well-meaning friends in D.C. told me earlier in the day by email that he didnt think we should get this because it will infer we are in combat. Hummmmmmm. All the civilians here welcomed the recognition. No one is expectating accolades, but clearly, this isnt business as usual. Were glad we volunteered to be here during this historic time to help the Iraqi people. This is real. It isn't always as comfortable as it might be at home watching scenes roll by on the 24-hour news channel. Until later -posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 3:17 PM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:33 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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3/11/2012 11:34 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2005

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3/11/2012 11:35 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/10/traveling-by-plane-in-so...

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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Traveling by Plane in Southern Iraq


I was talking about transportation in Iraq before the election and I would like to return to that topic. Eventually I hope to see the railroads and the Arabian Gulf port, but until then, let me tell you about the airport I saw. I visited Basrah International Airport, when I was there recently. It is a beautiful show place, marble and majestic. It outshines most of our western airports. It was built for Saddam in the early 1980s, by German contractors, to serve this city of two million residents. Depending on which source you believe, Basrah is either the second or the third largest city in Iraq, competing with Mosul. I have heard several stories about the airport, one was that Saddam had it built as his personal airport, another for military purposes and finally to encourage business in the southern Rumaila oilfields. The Basrah airport has the potential to be a very busy international destination and regional Middle Eastern hub. I was taken by the grandeur of the airport, but haunted by its vast emptiness-unfortunately, this airport was never used! Although it was finished in 1986, several complications kept it from use by Iraqi and global travelers. UN sanctions were part of the reasons and the systems to support the airport were not operated and maintained properly. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had a role in renovating the airport. The Corps was responsible for installing visual and navigation aids and renovating the 12-story high control tower. We also put the air conditioning, water chillers, water treatment and process water plants back into operation. One of the reasons they failed is because water from the water treatment plant had metallic particles that clogged tubes and chiller units. In addition, the water in Southern Iraq has a high salt content, causing corrosion and problems for many building systems. The salt content in Basrah, I am told, became more of a problem after the Saddam regime drained the wetlands. Wetland vegetation naturally removes contaminants from water, including salt. One of the project managers brought me on a tour of the airport. As we walked into the vaulted ceiling entry, the clicking of our shoes echoed on the marble floors and our voices bounced back at us from different

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3/11/2012 11:35 AM

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Giving Cash to Iraqi Contractors Doing Business Iraqi Style Iraqi workers on the job

directions. Aside from a few bored-looking British soldiers watching television and a couple of Iraqi police officers, the place was deserted. We walked from one empty cavernous room to the next. Although covered with dust, everything appeared to be new. Several modern, Mideastern motif restaurants have no diners, the serving lines stand empty and tables are stacked with chairs. The kiosks should be selling magazines, sodas and souvenirs, but they have no headlines or Iraqi t-shirts. The sculptured, curved marble bars with ornately carved teak wood are conveniently located for travelers, but there is no ice, soda, beer, liquor or bartenders to wipe the bar asking, Whatll it be for you Maam. A colorful, decorative mural welcomes travelers to pick their luggage off the conveyor belt, before hailing a cab and heading for the city-- but the belts convey nothing but silence. Waiting room lounges waited years for passengers that never arrived. The dozen walkways to waiting planes are unique Arab-architecture and yet no one hurries to board a flight to a far off destination. Overhead signs direct passengers to gates, customs and baggage claims; security cameras and televisions are lifeless; and escalators motionless. The airport is a clash of conflicting normalcy. Out on the runway, a hand full of passengers leave a bus and walk up the wheel-away stairs to board one of the few weekly Basrah to Baghdad flights on Iraqi Airways. Iraqi Airways kept flying out of Basrah until the day before Coalition troops took control in March 2003 on their infamous trek to Baghdad. Iraqi Airways is the only commercial airline; other flights are military, as this is the primary base of operation for British troops in Iraq. A number of international airlines have indicated they plan to use the Basrah International and under a stable, secure government, more flights will be scheduled and the airport will finally be a reality for the residents of Basrah. Basrah International Airport has a 4,000-meter long runway and is capable of handling two million passengers a year and 25,000 tons of cargo. This may not turn into a bustling airport over night, but one day I hope to see a television news broadcast live from Basrah International showing passengers standing in long ticket lines and families holding sleeping children, pulling wheeled-luggage, as they arrive for a family vacation to see the cradle of civilization in the democracy of Iraq. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 8:31 AM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:35 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/11/bulldozer-duo-gives-me...

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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What's RSS? When I aim my camera, construction workers grin and gesture for me to take their picture. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 9:22 AM 2 comments Contact Us

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2 Comments:
At 4:49 AM, azucenamaryam said... are you really in Iraq? Why At 4:32 AM, Suzanne Fournier said... Yes I am seriously in Iraq. I've been here for two months and I have four more months to go. I'm here because I have been very blessed in my life and I think this is an opportunity to give something back for everything I have received. I am in a unique position because they need people with my skills and so I figured six months is really not long in my life. Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:36 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 06, 2005

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Iraqi Army Barracks + Halloween in Iraq


An American woman in Iraq comes across interesting encounters. I get to construction sites on a regular basis and it stuns Iraqi construction workers when they realize that I am a woman. I am almost 54 tall, but Iraqi people arent very tall so my height doesnt immediately give me away as being female. Wearing a uniform with baggy pants, body armor and a helmet really camouflages whether you are a male or a female. I have my hair cut very short (and black instead of blond), so when I take my sunglasses off to aim my camera, I get astonished, curious looks. I can almost understand the Arabic murmurs oh my gosh this is a woman! There are only three of us women in my office who regularly go to Corps construction sites in southern Iraq. One is a petite blonde from Alaska who goes to the oil field construction, another is an African American woman from Detroit who is a construction representative and me, the Grandma from Kentucky and/or Wisconsin. I get to a variety of construction sites because my job takes me there. I do public affairs, which means taking pictures, communicating the progress and accomplishments of our projects, writing news releases, planning and conducting media events, escorting reporters, ceremonies and you name it. Last week we were inspecting a barracks compound being built for a brigade-size Iraqi army unit of 755 soldiers. I was with two Army Majors from the Corps of Engineers who were doing a final inspection of the buildings. They were checking all the systems, opening doors, turning on air conditioners, flipping circuit breakers, eyeballing alignment of walls, tiles on the floors, all those things you would do on a walk through with the builder of a new home. We were rapidly making our way a dozen buildings within the perimeter security wall. Accompanying us was very nervous young Iraqi engineer who works for us as a quality inspector. He was busy taking notes to ensure that all the items on the punch list would be taken care of before the building was officially turned over to the Iraqi Army. Australian soldiers joined us to check construction progress because they are working with the British and other Coalition forces to schedule furniture delivery and military equipment for the Iraqi soldiers. As I looked around I thought--- here I am in the Arab desert with

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3/11/2012 11:36 AM

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Recognition for Civilian Service Silk road reached to Iraq Village Roads in Iraq Camels In Iraq Giving Cash to Iraqi Contractors

hundreds of male construction workers, another couple dozen male Iraqi engineers, a dozen male Australian soldiers and a half dozen American men from my office, plus our usual team of male bodyguards from South Africa. Now Im accustomed to occasionally being the only female in meetings in the states -- but this ratio is extreme. After going through numerous building, we get to the mens toilet buildings. The Majors are turning on all the facets and checking for leaks, flushing toilets, which by the way are not the same fixtures we have, but are like a hole in the floor with a pull chain-flushing tank. I glanced at twin water heaters and saw the first thermostat registered a high temperature, but the other one had none. So I casually mentioned it to the Majors. Soon the topic of conversation turned to why wasnt the water heater working. The Iraqi engineers start investigating pipes, switches, lots of Arabic chatter and a couple Iraqi men glanced my direction -- indicating amazement that it was the woman who saw it! I continued taking picture and the chatter went on. All the while Mohammed takes notes adding this to his checklist. I had to smile and chuckle to myself. Here I am in a mens locker room or toilet room with about three dozen foreign men I guess that is called breaking the glass ceiling or at the very least, breaking customary Middle Eastern tradition or expectation. Speaking of the Australians-- I tried to explain to a visiting Australian officer about the American Halloween tradition. He laughed responding with his quaint downunder accent saying Australians have some unusual celebrations too. Then one of our Gurkha guards from Nepal asked me why people are dressed in strange costumes. He speaks some English, but isnt completely conversant. Although, he speaks better English than I do Nepalese. So try explaining All Saints Day, All Souls Day, angels, demons and children trick and treating to get candy from strangers -- to a warrior from Nepal. He smiled, shook his head and looked at the stange adults in the pictures I'd posted on the bulletin board. This is a large melting pot of Coalition forces here in Iraq. Each day I hear unique accents or a language I dont recognize. I see distinctive desert camouflage uniforms with foreign insignia and patches. I've come to know the British, Australians, Polish, Italians, Romanians, Iraqi and Japanese, but there are many more that I have yet to identify. I saw in the Iraqi media today that Japan agreed to write off 80% of Iraqi debts, which amounts to $6 billion out of $7 billion. They also announced the Japanese government is expected to give Iraq a $3.5 billion loan for the Iraq reconstruction program. It is a great time to be in Iraq, every day I see positive steps toward Iraq reconstruction and advancement of freedom here. The memorable referendum election is history now and Ramadan religious month is over, the the celebrations of freedom continue as Iraqis prepare for an even bigger display of democracy in December. Ill get to see more smiles after the December vote and Iraqis proudly displaying their purple fingers -- can you believe that in this short time Iraq is electing

3/11/2012 11:36 AM
their own leaders! posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 11:12 AM

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3/11/2012 11:37 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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Cookie Halloween house given to Iraqi children

The cookie Halloween house that was used for our Halloween party was given to a local national Iraqi who works for us. She took it home to the neighborhood children and they enjoyed every morsel. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 10:42 AM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:38 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/11/veterans-day-in-iraq.asp

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2005

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Veterans Day in Iraq


I have fond memories of Veterans Day as a kid in my home town of Bridgewater, South Dakota. My Dad always took us kids to visit the cemeteries where the American Legion and the rest of the community were gathered. At each location, the veterans, ministers and priest said a few words, put flags on the graves and played taps for all our fallen heroes. As the haunting bugle notes faded in the brisk November breeze, we would move to my uncles grave. My Dads brother Leo died in World War II and we would all take a few moments to say a prayer for him and for my Grandpa, buried next to him. Last Saturday night Veterans Day got a little more real for me. While attending Mass in our tent chapel with flapping sides, wooden plywood floors and make shift altar, the priest talked about his painful day. We lost one of our own from this base, an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel died in a roll over accident and they called our priest to the officers bedside to deliver the last rites. A quiet consumed the chapel. This reality is with us each day and more so for the soldiers and airmen with weapons strapped on their thighs and M-16 rifles laid aside on the floor while they bow their heads in prayer for somebodys father, son, brother, uncle and friend who will no longer serve beside them. Veterans Day will never be the same for me after being deployed to Iraq. It isnt just a holiday off from work, it is truly a time to thank those who wear the military uniform and are willing to pay the ultimate price for our freedom. Each person, whether soldier or civilian is at risk here and are making many sacrifices, as are their families, but they are in Iraq because of commitment to something bigger than themselves. Id like to tell a few stories about some of these people. Major Andrew Rogers is not one to miss school. As an elementary principal in Jackson, Missouri, he places importance on good attendance. When his National Guard unit was called for duty in Operation Iraq Freedom for 545 days, he was going to miss a lot of school. He was also going to miss graduation, his son's high school graduation and his own. Rogers just finished his course work and dissertation on his doctoral degree from Saint Louis University. One afternoon all his students gathered in the gymnasium, the teachers

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3/11/2012 11:38 AM

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Basrah International Airport Ticket Counters without Flights Election in Iraq + Bunker time Recognition for Civilian Service Silk road reached to Iraq Village Roads in Iraq

handed him a cap, gown and tassel and Rogers walked down the aisle in his own special graduation ceremony the students and teachers arranged for their special principal. I was teary eyed. The students and staff were all so patriotic and proud of me. It was the greatest graduation in the world, said Rogers who wife and three children were all present. The war on terrorism is not popular and no one wants to be reminded of the daily terror we face, said Rogers. "I think of the students and our way of life. I want to protect our liberties and our freedoms. Rogers not only missed graduation, he missed the birth of his fourth child. Fortunately, when his wife gave birth to their son on July 14, the nurses gave him a play-by-play commentary by speaker phone from half-way across the world so he could be a part of the memorable event. He wont see his newborn son until he returns home next summer. Three weeks later, he received word that his closest friend died, he grieved alone with no chance to be with family and friends. There are personal sacrifices for the freedom and future of the Iraqi people. The ultimate sacrifices of over 2,000 of my fellow service men and women are not in vain. All service men and women must believe that what we are doing is important and that this effort advances democracy over the tyranny of terrorism, said Rogers. The successful conduct of the recent referendum has sent a clear message to every terrorist you cannot stop the democratic process. Each step we take and each day we press forward is one closer to achieving our goals. here is a special story from Trey Barron, who was deployed to Iraq and is now back home in Indiana. I arrived in Iraq on the 2nd of July, an Army civilian, sent from the US Army Corps of Engineers to help with our part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Iraq was like no other place I had been before; it was hot, dusty and windy. The heat was so intense that after only a few minutes in the sun my skin felt like it was burning. A place so barren that the only colors displayed are various shades of brown. I spent my entire 4-month tour behind a desk and in the air conditioning. However, for the thousands of military men and woman on this same base, their days werent spent behind a desk or in the comforts of air conditioning. There jobs differed from mine greatly. And one particular day reminded me just how much. As I was leaving the chow hall, I saw a small group of about 25 soldiers gathered in a circle much like they were in a huddle before a football game. Most were young, but all displayed tanned faces from the hot dessert sun, weapons and dirty uniforms. With their hats in their hands and heads bowed they were deep in prayer. Nothing around them seem to matter as they stood praying and I watched in solemn respect. None of them moved and you could feel the absolute sincerity in which they prayed. I couldnt hear a word they said, but their body language was loud and

3/11/2012 11:38 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/11/veterans-day-in-iraq.asp

clear. Be with us Father as we leave the security of this base and go into harms way. Bring us all back safely together as we are now. Afterwards they all stepped back, smiling at one another, shaking hands, hugging like brothers and saying goodbye. They began putting on flak jackets, Kevlar helmets and weapons. I could sense fear in the faces of some and confidence in others. They loaded up on their vehicles and I felt as though I was watching the making of some movie. They filed out of the parking lot and headed towards the other side of the wire. They were going on a mission and they began that mission with a prayer. I never met any of these men but prayed for them all. I have thought of them often and can still see them standing there with their heads bowed and hats in their hands. For more stories of service and projects for Iraqi reconstruction, check the link to the Gulf Region District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. http://www.grd.usace.army.mil/index.html posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 10:49 AM 1 comments

1 Comments:
At 3:53 PM, Wally McRae said... Suzanne, I am overwhelmed by your blog. Please keep up your good work. I'm going to pass your information on to as many people as I can. Thank you and God Bless you Wally McRae wallymcrae.com Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:39 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman Here I am with Iraqi school children at a ribbon cutting in Diwaniyah, Iraq, just south of Baghdad. Aren't they beautiful? I was so touched when the little girl next to me took my hand and held it while we took pictures. This is as close as I get to being with my own grandchildren and I wanted to hug every one of them. The US Army Corps of Engineers renovated this school with new electrical systems, ceiling fans, clean water, toilets, floor tiles, plaster and paint. This school has 1400 students, 700 go to school in the morning and 700 in the afternoon. This split schedule is very common in Iraq. The children don't have much in the line of books and supplies. Americans have been sending school supplies over to us to distribute, but 1400 children is a lot of supplies. This school is in a very poor area and there appeared to be as many children on the streets who apparently don't have the necessary clothes to attend schools. These children were selected to participate in the ribbon cutting and were all decked out in their best clothes. I toured the 14 crowded classrooms where three children sat at each desk. The children have delightful smiles and the teachers shared their gratitude for a clean, safe and healthy school. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 11:54 AM 1 comments Paul Daugherty Pop Culture Review Politics Extra N. Ky. Politics Photographers Television Roller Derby Diva Art Classical music Reds Bengals High school sports NCAA Bearcats CiN Weekly staff blog

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At 11:31 AM, David F said... It's amazing, isn't it, to see how these children, in a place as far away from America (in so many ways), are the same (in so many ways) as children we might find in any classroom accross our own nation? Truly, the hatred, bigotry, and religious intolerence that some in the world

Cookie Halloween house given to Iraqi children Iraqi Army Barracks + Halloween in Iraq Bulldozer duo gives me a thumbs up Traveling by Plane in Southern

3/11/2012 11:39 AM

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Iraq Basrah International Airport Ticket Counters without Flights Election in Iraq + Bunker time

exhibit is a behavior they weren't born with. I think America's actions in these parts of the world is a beacon of hope for children in Iraq and elsewhere, to grow and learn and thrive, free from the hatred that has permeated this area for so many centuries. Post a Comment << Home

Recognition for Civilian Service Silk road reached to Iraq

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3/11/2012 11:40 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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Schools need help in Iraq

week I have gotten a little closer to the Iraqi people. In addition to the school ribbon cutting and visiting the children in their classrooms, I was able to see neighborhoods in Najaf, Hillah, Wassit and Diwaniya. I visited numerous Corps of Engineer construction sites including schools, police stations, train stations, hospitals and primary health care facilities. Here is the ribbon-cutting school for 1400 children all pouring into the playground. It was so delightful to communicate with kids. Id smile, tease them a little and give them a piece of candy. Well remember I'm a Grandmas and that our job isnt it? They were all smiles. I wanted to hug every one of them. The teachers were equally receptive to me. I smiled and we started connecting immediately even though we didnt speak the same language. They were quick to pose for a picture, show gratitude for the school supplies and proudly parade past fleshly painted classrooms to show off their students. After the ribbon cutting I sent the picture with the students to my adult children in the states. I told them about the lack of school supplies. They wanted to know how they could connect my grandchildren and their American schools to the Iraqi children and Iraqi classrooms. Many soldiers, Corps civilians and their families have been helping support Iraqi schools. Just last week when I was in our Diwaniya office, I saw 25 boxes of schools supplies arrive from Laura and Emily Osborne, of Jumping Branch, West Virginia. Their Dad, Michael, is a resident engineer here. He has delivered countless boxes of school supplies to Iraqi students. Right now, the Osborne sisters are reaching out to their Iraqi sisters leading a campaign to collect white blouses for an all-girls

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3/11/2012 11:40 AM
school with 650 students.

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up Traveling by Plane in Southern Iraq Basrah International Airport Ticket Counters without Flights Election in Iraq + Bunker time Recognition for Civilian Service

Many schools have little or no school supplies and students share books. Three children sit at one desk and at this school they have two shifts, one in the morning for 700 children and another one in the afternoon with another 700 students. Chalkboards are the means of teaching with old-fashioned white chalk. If you imagine going back to Laura Ingles Wilder days and think about what students from the Little house on the Prairie era needed, then you could appreciate what Ive seen. Although the Wilder family kept their distance from Indians, what they feared more was not having enough food and firewood to make it through a South Dakota winter. Here families fear not having water and food. They try to maintain a distance from the violence of radical suicide bombers, mines, gunfire and their own people causing them harm. They dont fear Americans, in fact, they embrace us. I see little children running toward us and the soldiers with big smiles waving and cheering. They give us the thumbs up signs every time we drive through the cities or rural farm roads. These children are grateful to Americans, as are their parents, grandparents and teachers. I know there are a lot of people in the United States who think we shouldn't be here in Iraq, but quite frankly, they haven't seen what I have seen. I am here, I know better. I see we are building more than structures, we are building hope and a future for these people. They tell me how grateful they are for Americans being here and for the freedom and opportunities they now have to make a future for themselves and their children. Tonight, say a prayer of gratitude that we as Americans have so many freedoms and our children never had to face the torture and repression that these people faced under the Saddam regime. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 11:50 AM 2 comments

2 Comments:
At 12:31 AM, strykeraunt said... Your blog is more than what I have been looking for (and I found it by accident!!). A couple of months ago I applied for a couple of jobs with the Corp of Engineers in Afghanistan. Recently, to my disappointment, I found out that I apparently do not qualify for either position. Then a couple of weeks ago, I decided that I am going to apply for a job with the Corp in Iraq (Hopefully I will qualify for this position). Some who do not really know me think I am crazy, but friends and family understand that this is something I need to do. I have followed the Iraq situation since the beginning in 2003. However, I have learned a long time ago not to rely on the MSM as my primary news source. I know there is a lot of good occuring in Iraq that isn't reported or mis-reported. Two of my nephews have served there, one in Tikrit and one in Mosul. It

3/11/2012 11:40 AM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2005/11/schools-need-help-in-ira...

truly amazes me the sacrifice these soldiers make to serve our country. I am in awe of their strength in character. Their sacrifice helped me to truly understand that freedom is not free. And, no matter how bad I may seem my life is, I have never truly sacrificed. If you are willing, I would like to email with you. If you agree, you can email me at agavette@comcast.net. If you choose to send me an email could you please put your blog name in the subject area (so I don't think your spam email)? At 12:38 AM, strykeraunt said... One more thing... The link below is one that I use as my primary source for information. Ironically, he posted something today very similar to you. http://www.michaelyon.blogspot.com Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:41 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman Paul Daugherty Pop Culture Review The schoolchildren Ive been picturing are the fortunate children of Iraq. Classrooms are crowded, but renovated schools with upgraded electricity and new bathrooms are healthier, cleaner and safer. These children have clothes, shoes and parents who get them to school. Many poor children cant attend school, they live in places like this. There are families living in shacks and tents along the roads. There are children in orphanages with only the bare necessities. These families and children are very destitute. It is overwhelming to see little ones with little or no clothes and no shoes. Many areas here in the South are so destitute-- they have nothing. I see smiles of gratitude for a bottle of water--- such a basic need. Water is a valued commodity here in Iraq. We Americans can't begin to understand not having every basic convenience, like faucets with hot and cold running water and flushing toilets. Hygiene in Iraq is so lacking. The idea of sending our children off alone to walk a mile to the nearest drainage ditch to bring back contaminated water seems repulsive, but it is a common occurrence here for many families. That is why there are so many reconstruction efforts on water treatment, water delivery, sewage collection and treatment. These coalition efforts are saving lives every day, but they dont make headlines because Americans take this for granted. A person would have to be blind not to see how great the need is when Politics Extra N. Ky. Politics Photographers Television Roller Derby Diva Art Classical music Reds Bengals High school sports NCAA Bearcats CiN Weekly staff blog

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3/11/2012 11:41 AM

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Bulldozer duo gives me a thumbs up Traveling by Plane in Southern Iraq Basrah International Airport Ticket Counters without Flights Election in Iraq + Bunker time

people live in mud, straw and tent houses. Every time I leave the base camp, I see children in rags and no shoes. A ghetto is too good a word to use for houses with partial walls, no roofs or tents made with rags and left over trash. I asked, what do they eat and drink? How do they keep warm now that it is getting cooler? How do they stay dry now when it rains almost every night? I asked myself, what can I do to help? Then, I discovered an outreach effort getting donations to areas where the poorest of the poor live. I asked this group, what is the greatest need? I kept hearing-- shoes and clothing. I asked about medical. Yes, the need is great - many hospitals reuse needles because they have no choice. It is heart- wrenching to see people lined up in the hallways at hospitals waiting for treatment knowing how bad it is in every other element of their lives. There is always hope and efforts to change. Reconstruction efforts are building hospitals and public health clinics, but progress is painstakingly slow. I want to tell workers to work 24/7, but of course, I cant. The outreach group I am working with showed me a chart with Arabic writing and diagram teaching people how to brush their teeth with the donated toothbrushes and sample toothpaste. It is a small start. The poor people can use bottles of shampoo, lotion and bars of soap, big or small like the ones you get from a hotel. All the stuff we throw away every day is still useable by the poor. The nomadic tent families frequently have one cup and they share it. If you live in a tent, you cant keep much and many families are vagrant, going where ever they find seasonal shelter and food. I asked my husband and children to send their used clothing and shoes for the poor this holiday season; it would be the very best Christmas gift for me. My family started organizing and shipping boxes of clothes and shoes. My family encouraged me to share this effort with my blog readers. All things can be used, but particularly used clothes and shoes for children and adults either winter or summer, blankets and coats. When I left Northern Kentucky to come over here, the Enquirer dubbed me as the Grandma going to Iraq and Grannys blog, so Id like to call this effort Grannys Kids. Perhaps we can offer hope, change peoples lives for the better by an outpouring of love and concern from Americans. I am limited on traveling to the locations they call poor kids corners, orphanages and families living in the ruins, but I have confidence in this outreach group. I know that it doesn't matter who delivers clothing and shoes to the poor, as long as they get it.

3/11/2012 11:41 AM
Suzanne Fournier Grannys Kids APO 09331 AE

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Give thanks to God for all his blessings of freedom and prosperity this Thanksgiving Day and remember, What so ever you do for any of My people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for Me." posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 2:36 AM 2 comments

2 Comments:
At 8:50 AM, Rebecca F. said... I am organizing a Holiday party for my son's 5th grade class. We were given your blog site address to learn about the Iraqi children. I read your request, and I am going to present this idea to my son's class today to see if we can get a box of supplies to send to you for the children and families. You are doing a great job relaying your story, thanks. At 11:02 AM, Suzanne Fournier said... Thanks Rebecca, The children in Iraq have big smiles and are so grateful for school supplies and help. The teachers and school boss, as the principal is called, beams when we bring in boxes of supplies for the school children. Regards, Suzanne Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:41 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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will never be the same after having dinner with nearly 7,000 men and woman in uniform. Wow, this is out of sight. What an awesome experience. I thought we had commotion at our house for the holidays, but it was nothing like this seeing all these energetic young soldiers put away a big dinner. The lines to get in the door were very long, but senior NCOs were greeting us out in front and cracking jokes. Inside we had the traditional turkey, ham, steak, yams, two kinds of stuffing, macaroni and cheese, beans, corn of the cob, collard greens, shrimp cocktail and a full-sized roasted pig. Deserts flourished with pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cherry pie, a variety of cookies and cakes. Two one-star generals were manning the ice cream shop wearing unconventional soda jerks aprons and hats, smiling and joking with the soldiers as they scoooped out the ice cream. I have to say the management out did themselves to make this festive and special. The soldiers were really enjoying themselves, as were all of us. We had turkey decorations on plastic thanksgiving tables cloths with brown, orange and gold crepe paper steamers hanging from the ceiling. Ice and fruit sculptures, gingerbread houses and beautifully displayed fruit adorned the center serving table. Servers were wearing freshly-pressed blue and white striped shirts with bow ties and white chef hats. They busily resuppling the bottles of red and white sparkling grape juice to tables so we could propose a toast with our little plastic wine glasses. For those of you who don't know, General Order #1 prohibits American military and civilians from consuming alcoholic beverages during deployments. It seemed out of place in Iraq to hear strangers greeting each other with a cheeful Happy Thanksgiving, but it made the day for all of us. A friend

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3/11/2012 11:41 AM

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Iraqi Army Barracks + Halloween in Iraq Bulldozer duo gives me a thumbs up Traveling by Plane in Southern Iraq Basrah International Airport Ticket Counters without Flights

and I went out to the ziggurat to feel the peace and quiet of Abrahams home and watch the sun sink slowly down across the desert landscape. A very unusual, but memorable Thanksgiving day enjoying the company of new friends while missing our loved ones back home who are gathering for a big feast, watching football and sharing annual family traditions. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 8:27 AM 2 comments

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At 2:13 PM, George&Jeannette said... We just found your blog today. Our daughter's family and our family have set aside a box to gather school supplies and other necessities for the children of Iraq. We are proud to know you....and maybe to share a little bit in your good works. George and Jeannette At 9:16 AM, KY_Rush said... That is great to hear that our men and women serving were able to enjoy a little piece of home for the day. God be with you all. Keep up the great work you're doing. -Chuck Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:42 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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Traveling South from Nasiriyah to Basrah

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I want to tell you a little about traveling in Iraq because it might help you understand the landscape and appreciate normal procedures we take for granted driving in Kentucky or any state of our country. Pictured above you will see an unusual scene for a war zone. Along the main highways at regular intervals are normal-looking little picnic areas with eight round concrete tables with umbrellas that are made of several different materials, some concrete and some wood particle. The umbrellas are tilted reminding me of little ladies lined up in sun hats. Some hats are gone and some are broken or thrown aside on the ground. These picnic tables are abandoned and so completely out of place. They shock you back to the normalcy that families should be stopping here for picnic lunches on their journey--but no one stops at these rest stops, except an occasional military vehicle. Much like the US, Iraq has a diverse landscape. As I journey from Nasiriyah to Basrah on the highway, there is a type of sagebrush scattered across the otherwise barren flat land. There are random piles of dirt, a sort of clay-like sand. My best guess is that through the years people were trying to channel the now nonexistent water. Remember the area around Nasiriyah is where Saddams regime drained the marshland, so there isnt a lot of water. Water is a valued commodity in this arid, desert terrain, so if it rains overnight, anything you can dig or build, might hold that water for use by your family, animals or plants. Along this highway there are burned-out vehicles that litter the roadsides. Anything useable was stripped from the cars, trucks, buses and all that remains is a skeleton body frame. I even saw a tank abandoned from an earlier age. These vehicles spot the landscape so much in this part of the country that they blend into the scenery and one hardly notices them after a while. What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman Paul Daugherty Pop Culture Review Politics Extra N. Ky. Politics Photographers Television Roller Derby Diva Art Classical music Reds Bengals High school sports NCAA Bearcats CiN Weekly staff blog

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3/11/2012 11:42 AM

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Iraqi children Iraqi Army Barracks + Halloween in Iraq Bulldozer duo gives me a thumbs up Traveling by Plane in Southern Iraq Basrah International Airport

Close to Nasiriyah, you can see herding nomadic people living in tents, some manufactured tents and some that seem thrown together with whatever blanket or piece of salvaged wood or junk that is still useable. In the evening you will see a campfire with several women in their black robes hustling around apparently getting dinner and a few children running toward our cars to wave greetings. I dont know how they can survive on what appears to be nothing. I understand they move around the country, set up housekeeping wherever it appears they can live for a while. I assume they try gardening, since I have seen small green plants appearing near their tents now that we are getting a little rain at night. Some of these people own a donkey, a few goats and the richer ones own sheep or camel herds. I ask what do they do with the camels and I get a variety of answers, including that they eat them. Most people see camels as their pride and honor. You are rich if you own camels and if you own a white camel, that is the most prized possession considered even more valuable than a human life. You dont see family vehicles out on the major roads and rarely see a one-person vehicle. They almost all have multiple passengers and their favorite vehicles seem to be a mini-bus, which holds about 12 people. Vehicles are almost all filled with men, few women travel. Many vehicles appear to be operating on their last leg, which explains the frequency of cars broken down on the side of the road with flat tires or hoods raised. Many cars carry extra tires on their roof because a break down or flat tire in terrorists country can be a deadly experience if you arent prepared. One very common scene are the truck convoys. Countless truck convoys of 25-30 trucks travel the Iraqi highways. Convoys are always accompanied by armored vehicles with weapons guarded by US, British or Italian soldiers. The northbound trucks are loaded up, full of supplies or fuel, while the south bound trucks are empty, their burdens left behind. Gas stations are few and far between, certainly not on every corner. The government owns and runs all gas stations. Whenever I see lines of vehicles on the sides of the road, I am sure there is a gas station up ahead. At every gas station line, there are a few little mud huts with merchants hoping to sell water, rugs or some concession to those waiting in line. Gas is very cheap, 7-cents a gallon for the benzene used in Iraqi vehicles. You wait hours to get gas. Some smugglers still try to buy it at 7-cents a gallon and drive down to Kuwait and sell it for a couple dollars a gallon, but Iraq border controls are cracking down on these illegal activities. There is also lots of trash. Since insurgents are known to use common items as booby trap with explosives, Americans are reluctant to pick up any trash and the Iraqis, like many third world countries, are content to let it lay.

3/11/2012 11:42 AM

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Some areas have light poles littering the center divide between the two multiple-lane highways. The light poles look like a childs game of pick-up sticks dropped carelessly along the route, or like trees laid out in the same direction similar to Mt. St. Helen areas. I see no visible towns or communities along these super highways and no highway safety or directional signs to the nearest town, gas station, motel, restaurant or rest stop. There are no speed limit signs. yield, curve ahead or stop signs. The short wooden posts, designed to keep vehicles on their side of the road or from going over into the desert, are missing or broken randomly along the highway. Some of these are broken down because drivers do not hesitate to move over to the oncoming lanes of traffic if they are frustrated with progress on their side of the highway. If the road up ahead is congested, all the vehicles will cut across the center meridian over into the oncoming traffic and casually drive the wrong direction toward on-coming traffic. The oncoming traffic just moves into their left lanes (European-style driving). When it looks like traffic congestion has cleared up, cars cross back over and return to their normal traffic lanes continuing on their merry way. As we journey southward, there are even more dry streambeds, similar to the Southwest states of the Arizona and New Mexico. These streambeds stand dry and deserted, waiting for seasonal rains. An occasional cell phone tower, power transmission line or pipe line criss-cross the landscape, but otherwise it is barren until you are close to Basrah and then off in a distance you see flames burning off the gas from the oil production stacks. It is estimated that Iraq burns off approximately $10 million a day in natural gas. Right now they are incapable of capturing this gas and using it for their own needs. When the country becomes more stable and secure, they will entice foreign investors to build refineries to maximize the use of this natural gas and be capable of exporting oil products such as benzene, kerosene and LPG. Eventually these oil products, as much as oil itself, will help Iraq to be a self-sufficient sovereignty. There is a viable global demand for oil products and when Iraq gets a stable government they can move forward building adequate infrastructure to support all these industries. The Corps of Engineers has several ongoing initiatives in the Southern oil fields, but these facilities werent built over night and they cant be restored quickly. Many of the pipelines, pumps, equipment for this complex process of extracting and processing oil are more than three decades old, weren't maintained and were purchased from different global markets, so you can only imagine the challenges in trying to repair or find replacement parts. Just like fixing a classic old car, you have to search for the right spare part or have it specially made, then when you fix one part of the engine, it blows out the hoses some place else. Ill try to write more about this later. As you drive through the oil field region, the terrain is even more

3/11/2012 11:42 AM

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desolate and you rarely see an animal or a human being until you arrive down south near the ports at Khor Az Zubayr and Umm Qsar. In the next blog Ill tell you about the activities I saw at the ports and a few of the projects the Corps has there. Still later, Ill relate how the terrain changes as you journey to the north. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 12:11 PM 2 comments

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At 11:22 AM, Carla from Cincinnati said... Mrs. Fournier, I just ran across your "blog" by accident, but as a mother who home schools, it is such an interesting and educational journal. I will have my children read your entries and follow your progress. On a personal note, we will keep you in our prayers, and are so proud of the work you are doing over there! Take care and Merry Christmas! At 10:59 AM, Suzanne Fournier said... Thanks Carla, I'm glad you and your children are finding the information useful. If you have any questions, please ask and I'll try to respond in the blog or as a comment. Merry Christmas to you and your children. Suzanne Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:43 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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A picture of democracy in the works

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What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman Paul Daugherty I took this picture last week when I was out in Nasiriyah Province. To me, this picture speaks a thousand words about progress toward democracy in Iraq. Here you see election campaign posters for one candidate on a concrete barrier, while two people supporting a different candidate post their candidate's picture on the concrete barrier right next door. Just like we do in America! In the background is a police guard watching from his security post and Iraqi policemen standing in formation. As a side note, the US Army Corps of Engineers is renovating the police station and you can see that it isn't completely painted. In Iraq all police stations are blue, there is no question about the purpose of the compound. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 1:04 PM 3 comments Pop Culture Review Politics Extra N. Ky. Politics Photographers Television Roller Derby Diva Art Classical music Reds Bengals High school sports

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At 11:25 AM, David F said... I think this photo is truly remarkable. When you consider that the simple act of posting competing political displays could potentially have resulted in detention, torture, or even death at the hands or Iraq's former leadership, it bodes well for the future that Iraqis are taking the baby steps to show some diversity of political thought. I think whatever form the Iraqi governing body takes in the coming years, the Iraqi people will never be so easily pushed around, now that they've had a taste of freedom. At 6:04 PM, Cincy said... Hello Suzanne!

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3/11/2012 11:43 AM

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Veterans Day in Iraq Cookie Halloween house given to Iraqi children Iraqi Army Barracks + Halloween in Iraq Bulldozer duo gives me a thumbs up Traveling by Plane in Southern Iraq

Thank you for your messages. They are great to read. After seeing your photos, an idea donned on me that a project I have been working on could be very beneficial for you and our troops. It's a free online video sharing website that would be a great way for the troops to communicate with their loved ones. Being from Cincinnati, I always hear about how people would love to be more in touch. This site allows users to share videos of each other. It's very neat. Check it out. www.sharkle.com. You are also able to post videos in yoru Blog postings! At 10:37 AM, MF said... Suzanne: I have been following your journal. I want you to know you and Gil are always in my thoughts and prayers. I think what you are doing is wonderful and I am so proud of you (and maybe a little jealous). I get so frustrated by the one sided coverage of the situation in Iraq, which we get here. I do hope we can see you in Wisconsin when you return. Mary Fran Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:43 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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Traveling South out of Basrah


Let me continue to explain how Iraq appears to me as I continue my journey south from Basrah Airport. The Basrah area is patrolled by British Coalition Forces. The US Army Corps of Engineers Office in Basrah is co-located with the British forces at the Basrah Airport. As I travel out of the Basrah gate heading toward the ports, I see a row of abandoned, burned-out tanks, assembled almost as if they are preparing a battle line with an unforeseen enemy. The empty carcasses are remnants left from the first Gulf War--a stark reminder of how many conflicts this region has endured. After we journey a short distance down the road I am struck by strange mirage-like rippling ponds on the desert sand. As we drive closer, I realized they are agricultural fields with plastic tunnel-like cylinders running down in even parallel rows. These fields are visible in every direction, some are hidden behind reed fences and others are surrounded by piled dirt walls. On closer examination, I see the clear plastic cylinders hold their shape with wire circular hoops and the plastic is concealing rows and rows of tomato plants. These cylinders act as miniature greenhouses to thriving green plants, making the most of cooler temperatures, over night rains and sunny days. Ive never seen plants grown this way, but Im told the Iraqis have grown tomatoes this way for many years. There are many US efforts providing farm equipment and assistance to increase productivity for Iraqi farm families who till the desert land. Staggered across the land are family houses, much like Middle America, only with much smaller parcels of land. I have pictures somewhere in my computerized world, but can't seem to put my fingers on them right now, so I'll add a picture later. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 8:31 AM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:44 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2005

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Umm Qasr Port at the Arabian Sea

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What's new at Cincinnati.Com Jim Borgman The picture is the newly renovated Security Operations Building at Umm Qsar Port. The main road leading southeast will eventually reach the Persian Gulf. Iraq has two main ports, Umm Qasr and Khor Az Zubayr, both are located on the Shatt al-Arab or Khor Az Zubayr Waterway, depending on which map you reference. This waterway is a combination of water flowing down from Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The waterway is a dredged canal allowing Iraq to grant ocean-going vessels port access maximizing their limited Persian Gulf shoreline. If you recall, better access to the Persian Gulf is one of the reasons why Iraq invaded Kuwait during the first Gulf War. Iraq has only 58 kilometers or 36 miles of coast on the Gulf and most of this land is marshy and unusable. There is a lot of commotion as you near the ports with truck traffic, convoys, construction, cars and security checkpoints. After we proceed through Iraq police checkpoints, we drive straight to one of the Corps construction projects, perimeter fencing around the North and South Ports at Umm Qasr. A fence doesnt sound like a big deal until you hear the rest of the story. Both ports are extremely busy these days, but could be much more effective. The limitations are primarily because Iraqs ports arent certified by the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS). So why should that matter? Well if shippers want access to international ports they must follow new maritime regulations designed to help Paul Daugherty Pop Culture Review Politics Extra N. Ky. Politics Photographers Television Roller Derby Diva Art Classical music Reds Bengals High school sports NCAA Bearcats CiN Weekly staff blog

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Schools need help in Iraq Grandma with Iraqi school children Veterans Day in Iraq Cookie Halloween house given to Iraqi children Iraqi Army Barracks + Halloween in Iraq

detect and deter threats to international security. The rules, implemented July 2004, also apply to all port facilities serving certified ships. If a shipper uses an uncertified port, his insurance rates are much higher and he may not be able to dock at the next international port if his last stop was at an uncertified port. If Iraq wants to import, export, and be a competitor in the global market, they must get ISPS certification. Both port facilities must have security assessment, plans, trained security staffs, security drills, coast guards and communication links to ships. Iraq's Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Oil and Ministry of Interior and of course port authorities all have roles to get ISPS port certification. The Corps is building chain link perimeter fencing with access roads, perimeter lighting, telecommunication conduit, observation posts, controlled entries and staging areas. I saw the entire chain link fencing being installed and the observations towers standing tall ready for installation into the fence line. Then we passed into the actual port area, through more security guards and stopped at the newly renovated operations building. The contractor is on hand supervising the final punch list items that needs to be completed before final payment. The present condition of the renovated building is a drastic contrast to the deteriorated before picture of the building. The building is renovated with new electrical, water and sewer systems. The offices are brightly painted cream and yellow interior with sparkling cream terrazzo marble tile floor offices and porcelain, marble bathrooms. These renovations also fit into the ISPS certification because computers, audio and video communication equipment are being installed to serve as the hub for controlling port activities. The Iraqi civil engineer the Corps employs is on hand to give us his quality assessment of working with the contractor to finish the last few items. The building is beautiful, but every light switch, faucet and circuit breaker must work as designed before the final payment is paid. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 3:38 AM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 11:44 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2005

Grandma in Iraq
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Umm Qasr Cranes at the Port

Leaving the Operations building we can see the lines of cranes looming over the docks where freighters are unloading. We journeyed around the north port to the other side of the waterway across some rugged dirt roads out to the lands end where the Corps is constructing a Coast Guard facility. I understand Iraq didnt previously have a Coast Guard, but Im not certain of my information. The British Navy is busy training the new Iraqi Coast Guard on how to handle boarding and inspecting vessels and maneuvering the river and shorelines currents. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 3:50 AM 0 comments

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2005

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Home Cincinnati.Com There are many activities out at the Coast Guard construction site and when show up

Coast Guard Forward Operating Base at Umm Qasr

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unannounced, we find a supervisor overseeing concrete placement for the boat ramp, building forms for the 2-story barracks buildings and an adjacent 3-story administration building. Welders are working on portions of the pier, others are constructing the three guard towers and bulldozers are moving the dirt. After a few minutes, the Corps Iraqi civil engineer shows up at the scene proudly giving us a run down of the days activities as if he was a teacher showing off his honor student's achievement. These engineers have a lot of pride in the work they are doing with us and in their personal commitment to reconstruction to help their own country. My reason for being at the site is to escort a Stars and Stripes reporter and as she interviews the supervisor and our civil engineer, starts to take pictures, I remind her that although the Iraqi men speak some English, they may not understand her plan to print their pictures, statements and names. We recently had one of our engineers and his family threatened by insurgents after a well-meaning coalition force distributed their publication with his face on the front page. Im extremely sensitive to the risk our Iraqi employees face by working for us and I dont want to put any of them or their families at risk. Weve had contractors kidnapped, murdered and threatened; these arent idle threats in Iraq. This construction contractor for the Coast Guard base has experienced some unusual threats. Several times gangs of men have shown up at the construction site claiming the land is theirs because they used to run a smuggling ring off this shoreline location. We've had some interesting land ownership dispute here in Iraq, but I question if that real estate claim will hold up in any court of law.

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I followed our Corps resident engineer down to the pier as he inspected the welding underneath and I continued down to the waters edge. I wanted to put my hand into the Persian Gulf; the water had a milky appearance and was very warm. On the horizon I can see a connex-loaded vessel waiting to enter the port and the derricks almost beckoning him to enter one of their empty docks. These docks and warehouses are busy now bringing in goods to support American forces, but many commodities must be brought into other ports because ports like Kuwait are certified. This means that Iraq is missing revenue generated by shipping imports and exports. These projects are just another way the US Army Corps of Engineers, using Iraqi Reconstruction and Relief Fund, is helping Iraq to prepare themselves to be self-sustaining in the future. We cant do everything to correct three decades of neglect, but we are jump-starting the Iraq ports to position themselves for certification as ISPS ports and start earning more revenue to support themselves. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 3:55 AM 1 comments

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3/11/2012 11:45 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2005

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Situation Report - Camp Adder 24 Dec 05

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respnsibilities here is to provide a drum beat on media or communication activities for the day. My report is added to the Sit Rep or Situation Report. This is my report that was approved by my commander and sent forward on Christmas Eve.

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Base Camp Adder, Dhi Qar Province. (Project $$$- Priceless) The Shepherds with their flocks of sheep were keeping watch just outside Camp Adder. Camels stood by the wise men, called Coalition forces, who were keeping all safe and secure. This venture started several months ago and is likely to remain in the hearts of Gulf Region South employees for their lifetime. This project renovated an existing bunch of Corps employees, upgrading their spirits, changing their hearts and replacing all their fear and doubt with energy to give hope to the people of Iraq. Work is ongoing and will continue throughout the next year, replacing old schools with healthy, safe places where the young can learn; building water distribution and treatment facilities to reduce

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waterborne illness; and helping police, border guards, highway patrolmen and soldiers to be safe and prepared to protect all of Gods chosen people. Vital structures are continuing to be upgraded to protect the smallest angels by providing health care to lower infant mortality rate; roads, rail stations, airports and ports to transport vital commodities to families; and electricity to light each heart and home. These renovations will bring peace, joy and hope to Iraqi men, women and children so that one day the desert that gave birth to Abraham will thrive, blossom and grow fertile again. The cradle of civilization can again flourish as an advanced culture fed by the flow of freedom and peace. The people who live in the land known as Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, will be self-sustaining, full of hope and free. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 3:50 AM 1 comments

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At 12:08 PM, Ms.V said... I really enjoyed reading your blog, please keep the very intresting and insightful information coming. Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:46 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2005

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Christmas in Iraq

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This is just a peek at Christmas here in Iraq. The dining facility puts on a spread of food, festivities and celebration that is fabulous as you can see from the pictures of the ice sculptures, cakes and vegetable carvings. The commanders act as greeters and serve up ice cream and deserts. We get sparkling grape juice rather than wine, so we can toast to each other's good health. The other picture is part of our singing group in front of the Christmas tree in the office lobby. About ten of us sang Christmas carols throughout the building several times on Christmas Eve and at our Christmas party last night. We were scheduled to sing for the soldiers at the mess hall today, but it rained so hard we couldn't stay outside. I don't know how much rain we got, but there are puddles everywhere and the mud is sticky like glue. This is a special Christmas for me to be in the land where the Star actually appeared in the East. Iraq still has shepherds, sheep and camels grazing right outside our camp and that makes the Christmas story very real to me. Midnight Mass was serene and beautiful with soldiers and airmen all praying and singing with people from many other countries. As a final closure, I'd like to share an email I received from one of the Iraqi civil engineers who works for us to rebuild Iraq. His English isn't perfect, but it is a whole lot better than my Arabic. I believe his message is a perfect closing to my Christmas Day in Iraq. Ladies & gentlmen peace be with U Marry chrismas and happy new year. the glory for God at heaven and peace be on the land.happiness for mankind posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 11:40 AM 1 comments

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At 7:55 AM, Dr. Joe said... Suzanne, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you for your wonderful work in bringing the truth home to us. Dr. Joe, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 11:47 AM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

MONDAY, JANUARY 02, 2006

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Home Cincinnati.Com New Years Day is spent with almost no work and all play. Here part of our group plays cards while others toss horseshoes in the background.

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Here is a picture of my friend Russ, who is talking advantage of the beautiful day to install his own satellite dish, guess he is hoping to get Super Bowl live coverage in his room. You can see how our trailers are set up next to each other, five rooms on each side of the trailer, ten to a building. The concrete barriers are placed next to the building as a force protection. Well, we made it past the most difficult holidays of the year and now most of us feel ready to continue our commitment here in Iraq. New Years Eve was a lot of fun. People were telling stories about traditions in their hometown such as watching the decorated tram come down the mountain in Albuquerque, setting off fireworks in Kenosha, Wisconsin or firing shotguns in the air over the lake in Alaska. For many, calling home to their loved ones was the most important highlight of the day. We are eight hours ahead of Eastern Standard US time so we saw the new year come in before our families. A few people went to bed early saying it wasnt any different than being at home, but it was different, we arent

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home with our family.

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I was in the double wide trailer we call the day room or Morale Welfare Recreation room with about two dozen other people on New Years Eve. We all contributed snacks purchased from the Post Exchange or received from family and friends. We were toasting with near beer, near wine, near champagne and sodas, also known as non-alcoholic drinks. Some people were chatting, others were watching a movie and eight of us were playing Texas Holdem with poker chips, as we arent allowed to gamble with real money. As the midnight hour approached, the spell and warmth of sharing and bonding with new friends, to keep us from missing our loved ones, was broken with a jolt of reality. We heard several large booms, the cards dropped, the chips fell and everyone leapt from complacency into action, rushing from the trailer for shelters. A half dozen military, always in their uniforms with weapons, rushed to their duty posts, while the civilians gathered in the crisp night air to assess which direction to head. We were about equal distance from our sleeping trailers where our body armor was located and our office building. Opting for the office building, which is hardened and more secure, we were just getting into the building when our Navy Chief Petty Officer approached smiling and telling us that the Italian Camp decided to hold a controlled detonation right at midnight. They sent an email notification at 1100 hours. With relief and an anticlimactic sigh, we resumed our places on the still warm couch for the movie and picked up the not-so-hot poker hands, forgetting the usual toasts, shouts, kisses and hugs of the strokeof-midnight celebration, just happy to be safe and secure among friends. New Years Day the dinning facility was once again decked out with balloons and crepe paper, special cakes and drinks. Footballs announcers on TV were giving the play-by-play football actions. It was reminiscent of New Year Days past except I already knew who won, my husband had emailed me the scores. Football games make you almost feel at home, but here Soldier and Airmen still carry their weapons and place them on the floor next to their chairs. Some wear their battle rattle or individual body armor and Kevlar helmet and we always know and appreciate that these men and women are going out on patrol, manning the gates and security posts and keeping all the rest of us safe. It is a constant reminder that while we smile and treat matters as if we arent in the war zone -- we are indeed. Our New Year hope for Iraq is that they will find more peace with each new year. All of us who volunteered or are assigned here, want peace for Iraq so that the Middle East can continue making progress toward freedom and democracy. In January, Iraqis elected their provincial parliaments and a 275-member National Assembly in their first competitive, democratic election in decades. Then progress continued as a great deal of compromise and negotiation was achieved to set the stage for the successful ratification of the constitution on October 15. Finally, all provinces turned out in full force for the December 15 election with a 70 percent, over 10.8 million votes cast. What a banner year for the Iraqi people!

3/11/2012 11:47 AM

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The amount of disposable income for Iraqi families has grown; unemployment dropped from 60% during the former regime to 28% today--not perfect, but major progress. Building is occurring, schools are in session, security is growing and life is improving for Iraqi businesses and families. I hear it from the Iraqi workers and I see it with my own eyes. Those of us who live and work here are committed to helping the Iraqi people. Together weve done great things to reconstruct Iraqs infrastructure and advance democracy. I just hope Americans don't rush to leave. Id like to see us give the Iraqi people the same fair opportunity to be successful as the German and Japanese people had after World War II. Im proud to be here to work with the Iraqi people on reconstruction and I am confident well have another banner year of success for the benefit of the people of Iraq and democracy in the Middle East. Happy New Year and may God bless each of you in your life. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 1:03 PM 2 comments

2 Comments:
At 5:04 PM, KathyWilkinson said... Hi Suzanne, I guess there is no limits to the lengths you will go to to get some time away from Gil. hahahahahaha Just kidding. Was amazed when we got your Christmas Card today. You go girl!!!!!!!! Much Love and many prayers, Kathy Wilkinson At 10:45 AM, The Prissy Patriot said... Hello, I am glad to see someone blogging about the few positives going on in Iraq. I have a couple of family members whom have recently returned from Iraq. They were in cities and do not have experience with the glowing reports of progress that you have had, unfortunately. In fact, most of the Iraqis they delt with, including the ones working on base, cannot wait for us to leave. Are you in Northern Iraq? The 28% unemployment you cite must be for one specific area of Iraq. The 60% is consistent with current unemployment rates in the cities. Need to let folks know our taxpayer dollars (through KBR) are paying and exploiting many "third world nationals", to cook, clean, ect for us over there. This does not help the Iraqis' get back to work... Not trying to burst your bubble, just pointing out that while there are some postives happening-most are not. Thems the facts too...

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 2006

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Clean water is celebrated in rural village

This young boy watches water pour from a pipe in Al Basheer, Iraq. Safe, clean, potable drinking water is something we take for granted, but it continues to be a real challenge here in Iraq where sanitation systems are antiquated or non existent and water and sewage treatment isn't considered a necessity.

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By March, farm families living in small communities from Al Basheer to Immam Akare in Wassit Province, just southeast of Baghdad, will have clean water from this water treatment facility. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a water distribution system to pipe water to families that have never had running water in their villages, much less in their homes. The second step toward improving water for these village residents is a water treatment facility, currently under construction, to provide clean potable water for the first time in their lives. The water treatment project includes electric-power generators, pumps, water-filtered

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treatment and water storage units. This water system will draw water out of this nearby dirt canal, fed by the Tigris River, treat and filter the water and pump it through the water pipes that now connect to homes. The water network pipeline is seven kilometers long, serves more than 200 homes and is a base on which to build a larger water network to bring clean safe drinking water to many more families in this rural, farming area. Families in Al Basheer region live in the traditional mud brick houses with thatched, reed, mud roofs and make their living by raising rice, vegetables and dates. The water pipeline network and water treatment unit bring a higher quality of life to residents of Wassit Province, but more important, clean water brings a healthier lifestyle and reduces the spread of waterborne diseases, one of the major health problems throughout Iraq. These water treatment projects make a big difference to famlies, now they can drink clean water from a faucet rather than carrying water from the canal back to their homes. They can wash themselves and their clothing in or near their homes, rather than washing in the canals. These practices sound foreign to us, but I've seen women washing clothes in the canals and carrying jugs of water on their heads back to their mud houses and tents. It is the most common scene in Iraq to see women in their long black robes, covered head and sometimes face carrying laundry, bundles and jugs on top of their heads while they tend their children. The joy these people express about having something as simple as water is unbelieveable. They smile and I mean big broad smiles of gratitude. They do a little bow and bring their right hand to their hearts in the traditional manner of saying thank you. We acknowledge with the same bow, a smile of understanding, a lump in our throats and swell in our hearts that we've been given the special opportunity to make this difference in their lives. Reconstruction projects, like these at Al Basheer, are doing more than bringing water to homes. Projects are providing jobs to local Iraqis people, working for Iraqi-owned companies, under contract to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and using U.S. Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Funds. This gets money back into the local economy which provides paychecks to raise the quality of life for families. Unemployment has dropped from 60% under Saddam regime to 28% today. 124,000 Iraqi workers are employed using these US funds to help rebuild their own country. Thousands of businesses have sprung up and the entrepreneurial, democratic spirit is thriving. Since 2003, the number of businesses registered with the Iraqi Ministry of Trade has nearly quadrupled, jumping from 8,000 to 31,000. These water projects don't cost very much in comparison to the detrimental costs for healthcare and human life when clean water isn't available. The first project for the water pipe network is an investment of $172,000 and was finished this past October. The second project, the treatment facility, is expected to be complete by the end of March and will cost $250,000.

3/11/2012 11:48 AM

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Wassit Province has five similar water treatment projects for a total investment of $2 million, this doesn't begin to meet the need. Wassit Province also has 72 school construction or renovations projects worth nearly $4 million, electricity substations and distribution systems investing $29 million, health care facilities for $5 million and other security construction projects for $116 million. These projects are designed to build a foundation, which will enable and sustain the Iraqi people to create a healthy, safe, life for themselves and their families. These projects will never be enough to correct all the problems brought on by three decades of neglect and oppression, but it is a start to help Iraqi people gain honor, strength and confidence to help themselves. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 7:57 AM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 12:56 PM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2006

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Visiting a new Iraqi Army base

One of the greatest features of my job is the opportunity to meet fascinating people. A few weeks ago, I met a two-star Iraqi general who is leading one of the new Infantry Divisions for this new democracy. The occasion was the General accepting the eleven new buildings that the US Army Corps of Engineers designed and constructed for his division headquarters. Maj. Gen. Farhoud, 8th Infantry Division commander, put on his burgundy beret and stood up to give us a tour. His grin widened with each door he opened, and as he talked about the purpose for each staff function, his dark eyes sparkled with pride. The general is a tall imposing man who has a professional, military bearing that matches the allies who accompanied him. We left his building, passing through the doorway with a falcon etched on each side of the doorway and an inscription that says God protect all who go inside. Outside he pointed out various features of each building in the complex, which is laid out in a curved horseshoe pattern to make working together easier. Each of the 11 buildings in the complex is designed to support specific staff functions for the management of the four brigades

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His staff officers walked along side him and it was easily apparent when we came to the building where each particular officer operated with his staff. The 8th Infantry Division is one of ten newly formed Iraqi Army Divisions. They have responsibility for protecting and defending the area immediately south of Baghdad in Qadisiyah, Wasit, Karbala, Babil and Najaf Provinces. Earlier in the day, the newly formed Iraq Army Division held a ribbon cutting at this new $2.4 million facility, which is co-located with Coalition Forces at Camp Echo near Diwaniyah in Qadisiyah Province. Joining General Farhoud was Maj. Gen Chervinsky, Polish Commander of the Coalition Multi-National Division of the Central South Area. The Coalition Forces at Camp Echo are primarily Eastern European forces, so the 8th Infantry Division Iraqi soldiers have been training for months with former Eastern Block soldiers. The Iraqi Army continues steady progress toward providing defense for their own country. There are now 128 Iraqi Army battalions conducting combat operations 54 of those battalions are in the lead to defend their people and protect the process of democracy. More and more as I travel Iraq, I see Iraqi security guards replacing Coalition forces, at checkpoints, Iraqi Police Stations, Highway Patrols and Army soldiers. The task of building an Army to function effectively requires modern installations such as headquarters, garrisons and facilities to support a professional military force. The US Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for constructing military facilities and working with Coalition Forces who are equipping and training the Iraqi military leaders and soldiers. As the result, I have seen many construction projects completed with perimeter security walls, guard towers and modern facilities to house and feed Iraqs newly trained security forces. The gleam in their eyes when they realize that these great facilities are really theirs is something to see. You see a pride swell up in them as they assume a greater lead to protect their own country. These are no doubt the best facilities these men have ever occupied and it is not uncommon for us to hear the soldiers or policemen say they dont want to go home after work because it is so nice compared to anything theyve had before. And speaking of pride, the US Army Corps of Engineers has a long history as the engineering and construction managers for the U.S. military at home and abroad, going back more than two hundred years to George Washingtons Army and now we are managing construction for our newest allies, the Iraqi Army. It is history in the making and truly brings a lump to your throat. Who would have believed a few short years ago, that we would see Iraqi Soldiers taking an oath of allegiance to the state of Iraq and the new Iraqi Constitution. These forces are increasingly taking the lead in operations and primary responsibility for the security of their nation and as they stand up, Coalition Forces will stand down. It is awesome to see

3/11/2012 12:56 PM
it happening right before my eyes.

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Facilities like these at the 8th Infantry Division are needed in order for the Iraqi Army leaders to operate in a secure, professional environment as they train, become more independent, gain confidence and earn respect for themselves and the people they have sworn to protect and defend. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 12:40 PM 0 comments

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2006

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Winning the Hearts and Minds of Iraqs Youngest Citizens


I'm taking a different approach to today's blog, a friend of mine has consented to letting me put his words on my site. This is Lt. Col. John Loefstedt, deputy commander of the Gulf Region South, US Army Corps of Engineers. We came into Iraq at about the same time and as he prepares to go back to his Corps district in Korean, he passed on these relective thoughts. The US Army Corps of Engineers Iraq reconstruction effort is a noble mission and a worthy cause. In this country of some 27 million, roughly the size of California, the needs sometimes seem beyond our ability to meet. Corps people are working feverishly to develop Iraqs power generation and transmission capability. Major water treatment and distribution projects promise safe drinking water for people that have never known what it means to have clean water in their homes. Hospital restoration and public health clinic construction projects abound in each of the 18 provinces. These major construction programs account for the vast majority of the $18.8 billion congressionally appropriated funds known as the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF). Somewhere in the midst of these huge, multimillion dollar programs is a much smaller, but equally important program to refurbish Iraqs public schools. Like many of the worlds poor countries, Iraqs population is very young. Children are everywhere, teeming from the confined spaces of crowded

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city neighborhoods and milling around the humble dwellings of rural villages. Likewise, they crowd into the nation's schools, taxing the modest capabilities of an education system long neglected by Saddam Hussein and his cronies. For the six months Ive spent in Iraq I have called Diwaniyah and the five province Forat (Arabic for heartland) region my home. This well-watered desert is the rice bowl of Iraq, an agricultural center and home to the ancient civilization of Babylon. Today most of the Forat region is a Shia Muslim dominated backwater, neglected by the former dictator and lacking the natural resources to attract and stimulate economic growth. For me, the Forat area has been a buried treasure, a place full of fascinating sights and sounds, none more treasured than the children that burst from the classrooms of a thousand and more schools. Over the course of the last six months the Forat Area Office has spent $5.62 million to renovate 108 schools throughout the region. When stacked up against the kind of contracts were executing in major projects, the number seems insignificant, but you wouldnt say so if you experienced the looks and words of gratitude from the customers the children and teachers for whom these minor renovation projects are a major blessing. The greatest single problem Iraqi schools face is overcrowding. As Principal Jabir of the Karrar elementary school in rural Diwaniyah Province told me, the good news is that since the fall of the Saddam regime many more children are coming to school. The bad news is the schools are ill-equipped to handle the increased population. In Principal Jabirs case his small country school went from a population of just over 200 students to 400 this school year. As a result he has children sitting on the floor in some classes and four to a desk in others. At the Karrar School the Forat office added two new classrooms to the eight-room school and provided new latrine facilities where there were previously none. To me this seems like putting a band aid on the problem, but to Principal Jabir and his students, this is major surgery. The Karrar School refurbishment is representative of 90% of the school rehabilitation projects my office has completed. However there are a few schools in which the scope of work provided for much broader rehabilitation. The most striking of these larger scale projects is the Malk Al Ashtar school in the Wahada

3/11/2012 12:57 PM

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neighborhood of Diwaniyah, the poorest city neighborhood Ive seen in Iraq. Here is a picture of the classroom before renovation. Malk Al Ashtar School was built in 1981 and christened Saddam Hussein School, complete with murals depicting the exploits of the former dictator. In the summer of 2003 the school was renamed Malk Al Ashtar School after the 7th century Walee (Governor) of Egypt, a man notorious for his wisdom, justice and humility. The initial site assessment determined this school was beyond renovation. However, a further detailed structural assessment found the building could be salvaged - the green light needed to proceed with renovation work. The original contract awarded $80,000 to renovate the first floor classrooms and build new latrines. After a successful campaign by my Forat office, a contract modification was awarded providing an additional $40,000 to renovate the entire school building and courtyard. On Dec 5, we held the ribbon cutting for the new Malk Al Ashtar School. Ten days later the school served as a polling place for the first ever democratic national elections in Iraq, a fitting role for a school that has survived the darkest days of Iraqs modern history. On the Dec 18, Malk Al Ashtar School reopened its doors to the 950 boys and girls that call it their own. Today the pink school as we affectionately call it, is a neighborhood landmark and a source of great pride for both of the people of Diwaniyah and the Forat Area Office. Lt. Col. John Loefstedt, US Army Corps of Engineers This is one of 26 classrooms at Mal Al Ashtar School. The classroom walls were fixed, plastered & painted; windows, doors and floor tiles were replaced; electric, sewer and water systems were upgraded; ceiling fans, clean potable water and new bathrooms were installed and tiles were laid in the courtyard playground. There are morning and afternoon school sessions, classrooms are full and desks are in pretty poor shape. Actually, Malk Al Ashtar could serve even more children in this impoverished area, but they don't have enough desks, books and school supplies.

Thanks John for your your poignant insight and for your service here in Iraq. I couldn't have said it better. I've seen many of the schools in Diwaniyah

3/11/2012 12:57 PM

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and other provinces in Southern Iraq before and after renovations and I agree completely. The gratitude and smiles of the teachers and their students are memories that will live in our hearts forever. I see many more schools that need renovation. There are still many mud schools here in Iraq --schools with no sanitation or clean water supply. These schools are very unhealthy for Iraqi children and as I sit at my desk, looking at pictures of my smiling grandchildren, I can't even imagine sending them to a school with mud floors, no toilets and unsafe drinking water. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 1:29 AM 1 comments

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3/11/2012 12:58 PM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2006

Grandma in Iraq
Home Cincinnati.Com Here is Dave Black last

Super Bowl + in Iraq

Monday. Can you tell he is a Pittsburgh Steeler fan? My friend Dave is from the US Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District. Dave is celebrating the Steelers big victory in the Super Bowl by running his lucky Steelers t-shirt up the flag pole. By the way, just so you know, Dave isnt being unpatriotic, this is not an American flag pole. Dave helped to erect the pole for the Corps flag by digging the hole and pouring concrete last week. Maybe he thought flying his Steelers t-shirt was the intended purpose of the pole all along? We had a great super bowl party here Sunday or I should say Monday morning because kickoff occured at 2 a.m. our time and lasted until dawn. We had some die-hard fans and football enthusiasts who had our day room all decked out for the big bash. The dozen or so fans had chili, snacks and sodas while they spent their night cheering the Steelers or the Seahawks. I might have been among them, being a football fan and partial to the Steelers, but unfortunately, I didnt make it! For the first time since Ive been here, I had Montezumas revenge or perhaps here, it is called Saddams revenge. The mere thought of smelling the chili was enough to keep me away. I watched the game periodically as I got up and down during the night, but it wasnt under the best of circumstances. I have to tell you, it just isn't the same as being back home. The biggest reason is because at times like this, I miss my hubby. The game lacks the pizzaz, excitement and volume that it has in my living room. Here -I just dont get that play-by-play analysis of the quarterbacks calls, referee calls, kickoff returns, tackles, penalties, throws, catches, missed first downs, field goals hitting the goal post and robbed touchdowns. Plus, I miss those huge sighs, mumbling grunts and cheers

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3/11/2012 12:58 PM

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Christmas in Iraq Situation Report - Camp Adder 24 Dec 05 Khor Az Zubayr Port in Iraq Coast Guard Forward Operating Base at Umm Qasr Umm Qasr Cranes at the Port

of jubilation when the right team scores that perfect catch or quarterback sneak. Well enough of football--- time to watch the Winter Olympics starting this week. I know some of you are having snow in the states, but we are still holding at around 70 degrees in the day and 40 degrees at night. We do get the rain. This week, we are getting several inches each night. When it rains here, it is more like a garden hose gushing on you. Our trailers are metal so you can imagine the sound when it pours. Fortunately, or unfortunately if you are a light sleeper, it usually rains at night. Luckily, about four months before I got here, sometime last Spring, they put in sidewalks around the base. Thanks goodness, our challenges with the mud must be diminished greatly over last years deployees. When it rains and rains and rains the water pools on top of the ground. The land is flat and the clay-like, fine-particled soil is impermeable. The water absorbs just enough moisture to make a glue-like, pasty, gunk that sticks to everything and slides like ice if you step wrong. Well you can imagine what happens we wear our mud well over here. It is a good thing that it matches our desert camouflage uniforms so well. Prior to every storm, we get wind. When the ground is dry we get dust on everything and then it rains, magically, that dust transforms into mud... everywhere. Just walking a block without sidewalks weigh each boot down with pounds of indescribable gunk. In addition to sidewalks, we also have lots of rock and although we arent thrilled walking on loose rock that varies from pea-size to golf balls and bigger, it is definitely a preferred option over mud. Im frequently asked how many people live at our base and I've really never gotten a tally because any number of units can be in transit at one time. About the only way to tell is by how crowded our dinning facility is at mealtime. Our base is very much like a small city, with streets, even one-way streets, sidewalks and road signs. I chuckle every time I turn at 7th and Main because that is the corner of my parents home in Bridgewater, South Dakota where I grew up. We have an identity crisis here though, the Iraqis called this Ali Air Base, apparently American heard Tallil Air Base and called it that and now Army calls it Base Camp Adder. Never-the-less, we have many services that any community has in their home town. We have our Finance Center or bank, post office, churches, clinics, hospital and the mall. Well, not really a mall, but we affectionally refer to it as our mall. We have a BX or Base Exchange, which has a variety of different products. It reminds me of close-out stores in the states, you never know what you will find until you get there. If you have a favorite snack or shampoo, forget it. It is highly unlikely you will ever find it, but they do have CDs, DVDs, snacks, food, books, magazines, limited clothing and a few souvenirs. When shipments arrive and clerks resupply shelves, it is a common topic of conversation, hey, youll never guess what they have at the exchange, you better go now or it will be gone.

3/11/2012 12:58 PM

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Outside the PX are eight or nine trailers, which local merchants use to sell their wares. You can buy various brass decorations, rugs, Iraqi flags, camel leather purses, Iraqi tourism brochures, pictures of Iraq historic sights and local paintings that range between fair to pretty good. Again, you never know what youll find, but merchants are willing to purchase anything for you in Baghdad if you are willing to bargain and negotiate. We also have a tailor shop, where you can have decorations, flags, military insignia and names sewn on hats, rugs and uniforms; a barbershop, that specializes in buzz cuts; a photo processing shop, selling very fragrant perfume; and the latest addition, is a beauty shop. We have several different camps within our area, such as Camp Mitica, the Italian camp, Camp Cedar, Camp Mitchell, the Air Force Camp and I guess the Army camp is sort of everywhere, but grouped into units or like operations. Each camp has some of the same things, such as exercise gyms. The Air Force call their gym, Muscle Beach and the Army calls theirs the House of Pain. Tough decision on which one youd want to use, isnt it? We have a small exercise room we just established in one of our trailers that isnt officially named yetnot sure we can outdo the Army and Air Force names, it caters to mature body builders. So, this is my home away from home and after nearly six months, Ive gotten used to calling it my home sweet home. When I am out on the road, I welcome coming back to this, now familiar, safe surrounding, greeting friends and sleeping in my own bed. Originally, I was scheduled to return home in late February, but I made the decision to extend until around Easter time. My replacement isnt here yet and wont be for a few weeks after I was expected to leave. So after talking to my family, supervisor in downtown Cincinnati at the US Army Corps of Engineers Great Lakes and Ohio River Division and my boss here, I decided to serve a few more weeks in Iraq. I feel that I am making a difference here. The US goal to help the Iraqi people is ethically and morally right and historically significant. I feel, I am a part of something bigger than myself. Thanks to all family, friends, supervisors and co-workers who are picking up my work at home so I can be here. You are a part of this effort as well and I thank you for your support, contributions and prayers. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 10:09 AM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 12:59 PM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2006

Grandma in Iraq
Home Cincinnati.Com

Religious Holidays in Iraq

The Festival of Ashura was Feb 9 and just finished here in Iraq. I snapped this picture from a moving car, but I hope you can see that it is a hospitality tent. As people journey on their pilgrimages to Karbala, people along their routeare obligated to feed and house the pilgrims who are traveling to the holy city. This is a common scene around Iraq during any religious holiday that encourages pilgrimages. This holiday is especially important to the Shiates and many make a pilgrimage to Imam Hussains shrine in Karbala. It has taken on new meaning since 2003 because the ceremony was outlawed under the former regime. Over a million people made the journey this year, meaning for days before and after the holiday, people are waking or driving the roads to Karbala making travelchallenging on very congested roadways. This is another visible way Iraqi families celebrate their religious holidays, they put up flags on their homes, much like we do for patriotic holidays. The flags are red, green and black. Each color has special meaning. I asked Iraqis whether flying a particular flag has different meaning for the house, thinking that perhaps the family has sent

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Starting the New Year in Iraq Christmas in Iraq Situation Report - Camp Adder 24 Dec 05 Khor Az Zubayr Port in Iraq Coast Guard Forward Operating Base at Umm Qasr

someone on the pilgrimage, but all Iraqis can fly flags and they are seen on large, grand homes and on tents in the desert. Since the fall of Saddam, Ashura has been marked by terrorist attacks against Shiates civilian population and in 2004, 180 people were killed in bomb attacks in Baghdad. In 2005, 30 people were killed. Fortunately this years religious holiday passed with almost no violence, which is clearly a testimony to the 80,000 Iraqi police and Army soldiers who took the lead to enforce strict security to secure Karbala. The next religious holiday is on Feb 19 which is the anniversary of the martyrdom of Grand Ayatollah Sadr and then on March 20 is Arbaeen, which has pilgrimages between Najaf and Karbala, which are both considered religious cities. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 1:14 PM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 1:00 PM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2006

Grandma in Iraq
Home Cincinnati.Com I want to

Beautiful Iraqi Children Smile

show you just a few pictures of the children I saw last week and their incredibly beautiful smiles. These children are fortunate enough to be attending a newly renovated school that the US Army Corps of Engineers finished renovating in December in Diwnaiyah Province. The school was previously called Saddam Hussein School and was in such deplorable condition that engineers thought the building should be condemned. The community said no, they wanted to keep their school and I call this a phoenix project, almost like rising from the ashes. After new electrical wiring, ceiling fan fixtures, bathrooms, clean water, tiles on the floor and tiles in the courtyard for a playground, new plaster and lots of paint, the transformation is amazing. The schools has 1600 children, it is in a poor area of the city and we attended the afternoon session that day which has all girls. Some schools have mixed boys and girls and some have separate classes. I'm told some have classes together until a certain age.

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We delivered about 30 boxes of school supplies and backpacks to this school and we are trying to find donations to buy desks.

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3/11/2012 1:00 PM

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village Starting the New Year in Iraq Christmas in Iraq Situation Report - Camp Adder 24 Dec 05 Khor Az Zubayr Port in Iraq

More children could attend school if there were more desks. The desks they are using now are broken, sliverd, corners missing and I even saw one desk with the top missing so the children had nothing to write on. Yet these children sit three to one desk and smiled gleefully at getting one crayon out of a box, one colored pencil and one piece of candy. It is hard for us to imagine such gratitude when our children have boxes of crayons and more candy than they can consume. As we handed out backpacks, teachers wanted their best honor students to be recognized and get their backpacks first. I thought how similar these teachers and students are to classrooms around the world. Iraq has been held down for the past three decades under the repressive regime of Saddam Hussein, but this is the hope of tomorrow. This is the future for Iraq and their future is bright. People talk about having a better life for these children and their teachers are trying their best to see that it happens, for boys and for girls. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 11:41 AM 1 comments

1 Comments:
At 10:43 AM, Annie said... Suzanne, You are doing a terrific job. Richard and I are so proud of you. I'm not sure how Gil let you go for so long, but we are all the better for it. It's hard to believe any cause is right when all you hear is the negative. We have a son-in-law there,(Jodi got married). Of course we worry about him every day. You're helping us to stay focused on all the good that's being done through the sacrifices being made by him and all the young men and women in uniform, including yourself. Take care and keep writing. Annie Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 1:01 PM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2006

Grandma in Iraq
Home Cincinnati.Com

Iraqi High School Girls Speak Engish


I visited an all-girls high school last week with engineers and construction representatives from the US Army Corps of Engineers who recently finished building two new classrooms and a new bathroom at the school. It is very obvious that we could have done a lot more for this school, but unfortunately we dont have the funds to refurbish every school in Iraq. Never-the-less, the school is very grateful for what weve done. We were at the school to bring 25 boxes of school supplies collected by one of our engineers daughters. The schools headmistress brought us to the classrooms the Corps renovated. These classrooms had the seniors and students who were learning to speak English. The school mistress is so proud of these girls and wanted to show off their English skills. She herself was born and raised in Kuwait and her English is very good. The young girls are 18 to 19 years of age and all are exceptional students, according to the school's headmistress. I asked the girls, what they would do after graduation from high school and a few replied that they would go to the university. I asked what they would study at the university. They all said they wanted to be teachers. Teaching is an acceptable career for women in Iraq and attainable by these girls, if they have the money for university tuition. They were surprised when I spoke about having seven children and 15 grandchildren. The teachers all clasped their hands over their mouths. I asked about their children and found they had 3 or 4 children each among the four teachers. They kept asking if they understood me correctly about seven children and 15 grandchildren. I don't know if I showed them that American women are different, because grandmothers can have careers, or that I am a different American grandmother. Their mothers who would be about the same age, are all home watching their children so they could be here teaching. I posed next to a few of the girls after chatting with them and giving them my business card. I told

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3/11/2012 1:01 PM

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them my business is Clean water is celebrated in rural village Starting the New Year in Iraq Christmas in Iraq

communication. It is especially important for me to have business cards. My cards have English on one side and Arabic translation on the other side. I explained that American women in the business world frequently have business cards and use them the same way men use business cards. The teachers asked to me explain how I was different than a reporter. I explained that my job was to help the US Army Corps of Engineers communicate what they are doing with the American taxpayer's money to a variety of audiences, especially the news media. When they were still puzzled, I finally said, I help educate people just like you do as teachers, and one way I educate is through the news media. The teachers all nodded that they understood. I picked up my card and showed them where my email address was located and asked the girls to send me an email message. I got some sad looks of disappointment, the teachers explained that their school had no internet connections or computers. They also lack labs to teach science, but the teachers are eager to explain they still teach biology, chemistry, mathematics and they are especially proud to say that they teach English at their school for girls. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 8:19 AM 7 comments

Situation Report - Camp Adder 24 Dec 05

7 Comments:
At 9:38 PM, Mark from Virginia said... Have you been able to visit the Petro-Chem facility near Az Bayr? At 10:35 AM, bluesharper said... My hat is off to you. Keep up the good work. Gramps At 10:54 AM, Glenn said... Suzanne, What a extreme pleasure to visit your blog, Its amazing how even thru thousands miles of internet wires.....that the your pictures are able to touch me. I have a daughter and it tugs at my heart to know what these children go thru...my thoughts are prayers are with you and work you are doing . Please keep up the great work. !! Glenn Dobson - Olympia Wa At 1:33 PM, Brainy435 said... Thank you for your service and your blog. I would like to thank you especially for telling the story of the successes we don't get to see back here. God bless you and return safely. At 9:12 AM, Subsunk said... Ma'am, You are an inspiration to more than Iraqi children. Thank you for being a

3/11/2012 1:01 PM

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good American and for doing your duty so well. You folks are the best thing about America. And we give you to the rest of the world as our gift. Thank you for serving and for being such an inspiration to us "older" folks who want to help. You are one special gal, and we are all praying and pulling for you. Subsunk At 12:51 PM, Suzanne Fournier said... My goodness, I am overwhelmed, thank you so much for your kind words. I appreciate all the prayers and support from all of you and it gives me the energy to keep writing, even at these late night hours when I usually post my blog. Mark, no I haven't been at the Petra-Chem facility. I've heard about it and actually thought I'd get there last week, but it didn't work out. I have spend a fair amount of time at Khor Az Zubayr Power Plant and will write about it soon. Thanks to you for all your comments. Regards, Suzanne At 7:40 AM, Barb said... It is so nice to see a fellow SWA blogger. It is also nice to see a differnt perspective. You go girl! You are telling the true news, not the slop ladeled up by our insipid media that is doing more harm to our fight against terroism than I can describe. Keep the good words and works flowing! Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 12:58 PM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 02, 2006

Grandma in Iraq
Home Cincinnati.Com I had a most interesting experience recently that I would like to share.

A Little Bit of Heaven in Iraq

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I was getting bogged down and stressed out with all the tasks I had to accomplish and the energy it takes to accomplish everything we do here. Nothing is ever easy. Everything requires so much coordination and planning, plus communication can get very difficult when you try to bridge language and culture barriers. Part of my communication challenge was never getting face-to-face meetings because security and transportation make it difficult or impossible. Complicating communication was our own well-meaning people, who didnt understand the hurdles one has to jump over in order to accomplish what sounds like a perfectly simple task in other parts of the world. All well meaning people trying to do their best, but sometimes it seemed as though we were working at odds with each other. I was clearly frustrated. When a friend of mine that goes to Saturday night mass with me, asked me to join her for a tour she arranged to visit the Romanian Camp and see their chapel, I almost refused, but didn't want to be a fair weather friend. Although, truthfully, I didn't expect much. The Greek Orthodox Priest greeted us in his traditional priestly robes. It was as if we walked into a quaint chapel in the middle of Europe. I looked around the room and recognized so many familiar pictures of saints and symbols of my own Catholic religion. To the left as you come in the door was a picture of St. Stefhan, which I immediately recognized as St. Stephen. My second son is named for him. The parish I attended as a child in South Dakota, and where I married my husband, is St. Stephens Church.

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Situation Report - Camp Adder 24 Dec 05 Khor Az Zubayr Port in Iraq Coast Guard Forward Operating Base at Umm Qasr Umm Qasr Cranes at the Port Umm Qasr Port at the Arabian Sea

A little further around the room was St. Nicolae. How familiar is St. Nicolas. My oldest daughter is named Nicole. The Archangel Michael was painted on another wall and I have a daughter named Michelle. Cherubs are painted on the ceiling, reminding me of my beautiful grandbabies. Behind the altar, I clearly saw Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, plus a pictorial life story of Jesus from his birth, baptism, teaching in the temple, crucifixion, burial and raising from the dead. All in this little 10' by 10' chapel. After explaining their services and how all religions share common goals to serve God, seek peace and love our brothers, the priest explained the painting on the walls of his very small church. The only area not painted was the inside of the door where a form was sketched. We learned this was going to be a soldier, signifying that when a man goes out on patrol, he goes with God and when he returns, he comes back to the church to offer thanksgiving for his safe return. Amazingly, this chapel was painted by Romanian soldiers, serving in Iraq. It was so incredibly beautiful. This little bit of heaven was so out of place in a war zone, it was almost surreal. Then the priest got very serious. He told us that America was doing such a noble thing here in Iraq and he wanted all of us to know the Romanians supported us, prayed for us and mourned and prayed for the loss of each one of our soldiers. All the frustrations Id felt earlier in the day melted away. All the barriers and burdens were lifted, yet this Romanian, Greek Orthodox priest didnt speak one word of English. Fortunately, one of his remarkable young lieutenants taught himself to speak English and was able to interpret words for us. Most of what I learned that day in a quaint little chapel in Iraq far surpassed anything words could communicate. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 12:31 PM 1 comments

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At 4:34 PM, MF said... Suzanne, what a beautiful story. Am looking forward to visiting with you when you return to US soil. Post a Comment << Home

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3/11/2012 1:01 PM

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/2006/02/provincial-government...

Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2006

Grandma in Iraq
Home Cincinnati.Com

Provincial governments moving forward

This is Diwaniyah Province Technical Evaluation Board meeting to evaluate the National Embassy Team approved Provincial Reconstruction Development Councils electric projects. This probably looks like any club, city council or business meeting, but these meeting are actually quite revolutionary. Two of the men in uniform are civilian Corps Gulf Region South project managers for electricity who are moderating the meeting which includes another Corps civilian, the Diwaniyah Resident Engineer; Iraqi civil engineers employed by the Corps, the Director General for electricity for Diwaniyah Province, Diwaniyah chief electrical engineer and a member of the Diwaniyah Provincial Council. The men are reviewing 29 contract proposals and rating them for technical content. This is part of the contracting process to evaluate the merit and competency of the bids put forth by contractors on a scope of work for construction projects. This is a totally new concept for the Iraqis. Meetings like this are being held at each of the nine Southern provinces with local Iraqi officials and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Last Spring, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that each of Iraqs 18 provinces would receive up to $10 million to spend on projects, if their provincial councils could work together to select and prioritize a list of projects for construction. Keep in mind that provinces arent accustomed to having budgets or any real management processes because under the former regime, Saddam decided what they would get. It wasnt something that provinces could rely upon or had any say in how it was managed. The business process established for selecting projects and getting them

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Iraqs Youngest Citizens Visiting a new Iraqi Army base Clean water is celebrated in rural village Starting the New Year in Iraq Christmas in Iraq

approved for funding brought together Iraqi leaders of the Provincial Reconstruction Development Council, the US State Department, and Iraqi Reconstruction Management Organization. The first step is to develop a project list that everyone could agree upon and then that list had to be coordinated with the Provincial Reconstruction team of experts and submitted for approval to the National Embassy Team in Baghdad. Eight of the nine councils in the southern provinces have put their heads together with the Provincial Reconstruction Team, of which the Corps of Engineers acts as a consultant. This new democratic process involves the Corps project managers attending bi-monthly provincial Sector Coordination Team meetings to identify projects by working with each of the nine provincial teams, reconstruction engineers and provincial director generals for electricity, water, transportation, security. justice, health, education and buildings. You could probably call these men State cabinet members, because they all represent their own special area of services for the people. Last but certainly not least, the Corps South District has three area engineers and 11 resident engineers working side-by-side with their Iraqi counterparts, director generals and technical representatives from each province, to determine scope, cost and timeline for each provincial proposed project. What you see in the next picture is one of our resident engineers, a Major, working with his Iraqi counterparts from Wasit Province. There is a new buzz word here in Iraq, it is called capacity development and it means to leave some of our knowledge with the Iraqis. This knowledge of how government, business and systems work together will better prepare the Iraqis to work together on their own once we leave Iraq. It is really how to organize and do business in a democracy. One of our roles is to teach Iraqis how to select contractors in a fair and impartial manner and to evaluate which are competent, with a reliable reputation and will follow rules of safety and quality construction. The previous regime expected bribery or family relatives to get all construction contracts. Providing Iraqi leaders with an understanding of the equitable US construction contracting process, from pre-award, technical review board, contract proposal evaluation criteria, quality assessment inspections, final inspections and post contractor evaluations, is a totally new concept for them.

3/11/2012 1:01 PM

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The Corps successfully negotiated with each provincial council and director general to select projects, evaluate contract proposals and assist with post-award construction quality assurance. These negotiations are designed to maximize Iraqi involvement in the reconstruction process, while meeting US contracting laws and regulations. The first council in Iraq to submit their lists of prioritized projects for approval of the National Embassy Team were Wasit, Diwaniyah and Babil. The lists from these provinces is a combination of 31 road, water, and electrical projects. Each province agreed upon how to spend the $10 million within their province before the lists went forward to Baghdad for approval. These three provinces made major headway and the majority of their projects are already awarded or will soon be awarded. Here you can see the Babil team working together with another Army Major who is the resident engineer for that province and a Corps Army civilian project manager for roads. The four Southern Provinces of Basrah, Maysan, Muthana and Thi Qar agreed upon their prioritized lists of 37 projects, submitted them to the National Embassy Team in November and received approval in December. The Corps is currently working with each council and director general to develop detailed scope, cost, location and schedule in order to advertise the projects in March. Najaf Province submitted their councils approved project list to Baghdad in January and received partial approval for some of their requested projects. The province of Karbala is the last province in our area that is still developing their list and the Corps continues to work with them to finalize their selections. The Provincial Reconstruction Development Council working together and agreeing upon the most beneficial projects for their region is an encouraging sign of democracy in action. This is the first time Iraq provinces have the opportunity to use a democratic process for obtaining funding for provincial projects. The goal is to establish budgeting, contracting, quality inspection and safety procedures that will endure for the benefit of the provincial governments and the people they serve. Other agencies are working with Iraqis in a number of other areas, such

3/11/2012 1:01 PM

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as US Army soldiers working with Iraqi Army soldiers and USAID working with medical and agricultural interests I don't begin to know everything going on here in Iraq, but what I can tell you is what I've have experienced and seen with my own eyes. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 12:49 PM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 1:02 PM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2006

Grandma in Iraq
Home Cincinnati.Com This is a

Celebrating with Iraqi Policemen

picture of a police station in Diwaniyah Province that I saw last week. About a hundred or so Iraqi policemen, Army soldiers, Iraqi contractors, our security team members and the US Army Corps of Engineer representatives were present to celebrate a ribbon cutting at this station. This is the 32nd and final police facility to be built within the province of Diwaniyah. This is part of the effort to provide safe, secure, healthy and professional law enforcement facilities for police officers so they can protect Iraqi citizens, secure their country from terrorists and apprehend criminals. If you recall a few blogs ago, I showed the Iraqi Army moving into new quarters and since that time Maj. Gen. Farhoud, 8th Infantry Division commander, has assumed the lead for security of the central provinces of Diwaniyah, Wasit, Karbala, Babil and Najaf Provinces. I am not an expert on security or the training of Iraqi Army soldiers or policemen, but I can tell you that I have seen the US Army Corps of Engineers building and renovating police facilities. Ive also seen facilities eagerly accepted by grateful policemen and soldiers who have a great deal of pride in being professional law enforcement officers. I can also tell you that there are more and more Iraqi police officers and Army units visible on the highways and checkpoints that I travel. They are far more visible than when I came into this country six months ago. Here is the senior Police Chief of the province

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speaking to the group before accepting the police station, cutting the ribbon and celebrating. The Police Chief talked about the symbolism of this building for all people in this area because like this construction, Iraq is constructing and building a new nation. He thanked all Americans, the Army and especially the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This is the inside courtyard decorated for the celebration. Almost all the men were in uniform representing many different policemen, swat teams and soldiers. The US uniforms mixed into the crowd and the people were mingling around the courtyard like celebrations in any other part of the world. The contractor had a 3-layer cake and several small cakes, plus the makings for sandwiches and sodas as hospitality for his guests. Construction for this $141,000 police station started in early November and finished this past week. I saw it in its early stages of brick laying so it was especially nice to be there for the ribbon cutting. Hay Ramadan Police Station is new construction rather than renovating an existing police station. It is located in a congested, busy residential and market area of city of Diwaniyah. The station has offices and sleeping rooms for the officers, visitation rooms, jails, bathrooms, parking area, perimeter wall, guard tower and emergency generators. The marbled entrance, landscaped courtyard and brightly painted offices will house officers who fill critical law enforcement roles that provide security and protection for the community residents. Not only is this the 32 police station within Diwaniyah Province to be constructed, but it is also the final project. This station closes out the police program of the Security and Justice reconstruction sector built by the U.S. Corps of Engineers using Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Funds. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 12:33 PM 0 comments

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3/11/2012 1:03 PM

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Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 01, 2006

Grandma in Iraq
Home Cincinnati.Com

Border forts along Iraq/Iran border

This is a picture of two newly trained Iraqi border police posing with their British trainer at one of our newly constructed border forts. I am alwalys talking about how my job is communicating so I thought I'd share one of my press releases with you. This is one situation where I haven't seen this particular border fort and the reason is because access is so limited as you can understand once you read the story.... Base Camp Adder (Ali Base) Iraq - Protecting the border between rivaling countries of Iraq and Iran in rural Maysan Province is a daunting mission assignment. The US Army Corps of Engineers soon realized that endeavoring to build border forts to shelter and safe guard border police patrolling these remote borders, presented extraordinary construction challenges as well. The challenge was met in Maysan Province. Maysan is now more fortified than ever before, thanks to 22 new border forts constructed over 270 kilometers of mountainous, rugged, desolate, hilly and swampy border between Iran and Iraq. The final fort, Al Bjela Border Fort, located in a remote central area of the border, was turned over to the newly-trained Iraqi border police this week. Although the construction design and floor plans for these castle-like border forts are fairly standard, the site preparation, security and movement of construction materials to the location is anything but standard, requiring innovative solutions. The border terrain between the two countries gravitates from rugged, mountainous elevations in the Northeast, down to the swampy, belowsea-level marshland in the South. Many of the remote locations lacked hard surface roads and some endured regular sniper fire during

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construction, but the obstacles were met head on by Corps construction representatives, British security forces and the Iraqi contractors. Getting to the location was the first challenge. Materials and constructions workers were transported cross country by all-terrain vehicles or British Warriors, which is the equivalent of a US Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The other solution was to go by air using a Merlin, which is a British helicopter. But it was never easy and each fort location required unique solutions. In some cases where security threats were the primary concern, a 20-man construction crew physically moved to the construction site and lived with security guards, working continuously until the project was complete. Even when the threat of insurgency was less, because of the remoteness of the construction site, it made more sense for construction crews to live on site in camps until construction finished on the project. These fortified, castle-like buildings are critical to the defense and security of the entire country of Iraq, but particularly for the two dozen border police who will work, live and conduct training here while they monitor and defend the border against insurgents and smugglers. The fort includes dormitory space, kitchen, armory, observation posts, perimeter security lighting, berms, offices and showers. Water, septic and electrical systems were installed, including a 50 kV generator and back-up generator. . Together these 22 border forts significantly increase border patrol effectiveness and interdiction of unauthorized travel and supplies coming from Iran, thereby increasing the security and safety for the people of Maysan Province. The border forts cost approximately $275,000 each and were constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers using Iraq Relief and Reconstruction funds. Since I released this press release about border forts in Maysan Province in early February, the final border forts for the Southern nine provinces have been completed. Sixty-four border forts were constructed in remote locations along the Saudi Arabian, Iranian and Kuwaiti borders. This amounts to approximately $25 million and will help Iraq to secure it's borders and protect it's citizens against insurgents and smugglers. The border police will be manned by several dozen border police who have been trained by coalition forces. Each station constructed was a different challenge, employing approximately 20 workmen at each site, purchasing local building supplies and supporting families and regional businesses. This is just one program for enhancing the security of the country of Iraq which means that when the coalition forces leave, Iraq will have a well defined, trained and structured security and law enforcement system. I'll be going to be visiting more Army garrisons and training facilities in the next few weeks and I'll plan to write and show pictures of the Iraqi

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soldiers accepting their new facilities and ultimately more responsibility for securing their own country and protecting Iraqi people. This release can be found at http://www.grd.usace.army.mil /news/releases/recon020506.html posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 3:39 AM 0 comments

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Grandma in Iraq
Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq. Fournier is the Public Affairs Officer for the Gulf Region Southern District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Iraq.

MONDAY, APRIL 03, 2006

Saving farmland in Iraq

Id like to tell you about another water project that is very different than any we have in the United States. I know this seems strangely different than problems facing our farming communities, but let me try to explain why this drainage system and project are very important here in Iraq. The picture above is the Euphrates River. Iraq is fortunate to have two vibrant rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The land between these rivers, known as Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, is some of the most fertile land in the Middle East. This land has sustained those who lived here for many centuries.

As you would expect, farmers use the water from these two rivers to irrigate their crops. They farm with trenches for the water to flow between the rows of vegetables like you see in this picture. The soil has a high salt content contaminating runoff with sodium in the form of calcium, potassium and sodium chlorides. After irrigating the cultivated land, this runoff water is unusable for other purposes. The historic solution is to drain irrigation runoff water through a series of canals into a drainage system and out to the Persian Gulf. If farmers reuse this water, it will eventually ruin the fertile farmland. Years ago, Iraq built a series of drainage canals to collect this water. One drainage system collects farmland runoff water from the Euphrates Valley five provinces of Babil, Najaf, Diwaniyah, Muthana and Dhi Qar and empties it into the drain that collects water from the Baghdad area. The water from these two drains flows together and moves by natural gravity downward toward the Persian Gulf. Before it gets to the Gulf, the water must cross the Euphrates River so it is piped under the Euphrates and then continues in an open drainage ditch out to the Persian Gulf.

Here is a picture of the inside of a project building located near my home away

from home in Nasiriyah. Iraq. It is called the Nasiriyah Drainage Pump Station and is the largest drainage pump system of its kind in the Middle East. It stood empty for many years, but is necessary to make this drainage system work properly. The pump station construction started in 1982 by a Brazilian firm and was on again, off again, construction for the past 24 years. The 12 pumps and 12 swinging gates were purchased in Austria. The purchasing of equipment from a variety of different foreign countries was typical of the Saddam regime and is one of challenges we face with reconstruction. Construction of this project was frquently disrupted by political upheaval, war, lack of funds, flooding and finally the collapse of the cofferdam. I am explaining this in an effort to help you understand the multiple challenges faced by Iraq even for a situation that appears as simple as a drainage system to solve the irrigation problem. The purpose of this large pumping system is to push the water under the Euphrates River instead of relying upon natural gravity because gravity isnt working.

This picture shows you the size of the structures that will use these circular openings and accomodate the water flowing through the building. Right now this contaminated drainage water is backed up and overflowing in the Nasiriyah area raising the ground water table. This water is concentrated with salt and is destroying the regional agriculture productivity; it is seeping into the Euphrates causing downstream contamination for two-million Basrah residents and the drainage ditches are overflowing, flooding and ruining productive farmland. This pump station will help to keep 232 square miles of agriculture farmland

fertile. I know that in Iraq, you all thought pump station were only for oil, but this pump will keep one of the most fertile agricultural regions the Middle East vibrant and productive. It will keep farmers employed, feed Iraqs people and provide another source of revenue. Iraq can produce rice, grain, dates and vegetables for a healthy agricultural economy and export commodity.

This is where the water exits the pump station and goes into the syphon and under the Euphrates, you can just barely see the Eurphrates River over the top of the dammed area. You can also see the size of this structure by the car parked in the basin area. This work at the Nasiriyah Drainage Pump Station is being done cooperatively with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Iraq Ministry of Water Resources. it is expected to take a year to complete. It isnt an easy process or it would have been completed years ago. I wont bore you with the technical jargon, but let me just say challenges include installing 12 pumps, 12 swinging gates and 14 support system to operate the pumps, gates and the siphon structure. Finally most of this equipment has been sitting here since the 1980s so some is deteriorated or parts are missing. Keep in mind, all these problems are greater because the former regime drained the marshlands. Draining the marshes compounded the historic salinity problem in Southern Iraq because plant life in the marshes acted as a natural filtering effect removing much of the salt from the water. There are several theories for why Saddam drained the marshlands and experts all have their own thoughts. The most

popular theory is so he could drive his tanks across this area to attack Iran; another was that he was punishing the Shia people for rebelling against him and still another was to drive the marshland people back to Iran because refugees could hideout in the marshlands. ------------------------------------------------------------------Let me take one minute to address a question that was raised today regarding my blog. I work for the US Army Corps of Engineers, they pay my salary and I volunteered to come over here as their employee to officially represent and communicate Iraq reconstruction work completed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. This blog is done on my own time, I've tried to give you a personal view of what I've observed here, the people, the land and reconstruction activities. Apparently some people are unhappy that I am communicating with you directly, because they are challenging that I haven't informed you that I am a public affairs officer and my job is to work with the news media and American public. I've explained my job with the Corps several times in my blogs. If I have misled anyone, I sincerely apologize, that was clearly not my intent. I believe the American taxpayers have a right to know how their tax dollars are being invested in Iraq and I believe my current job puts me in a unique position to provide personal observations since I have traveled the Southern provinces of Iraq for the past eight months. The Enquirer has decided to open this blog to comments from anyone who wishes to post comments. I appreciate their openess and willingness to support freedom of expression. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 2:03 PM 86 comments

86 Comments:

At 2:11 PM, Jeff Hamilton said...

propaganda: n. the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect

At 3:30 PM, Anonymous said...

"...gravity isnt working." oh my, nobody could have forseen that gravity would not work. stuff happens.

At 3:35 PM, Candrian said...

Over at the Cincinnati Enquirer's online site, Cincinnati.com, there's a blog about Iraq written by military staffer whose job is to generate positive news about U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq. Grandma in Iraq is the title of the blog, written by Suzanne M. Fournier, a Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. ie, this blog is a lie.

At 3:50 PM, Emma Morrow said...

Grandma, You have an EXCEPTIONALLY good blog, incredibly interesting and more in-depth reporting than anything you get on the network news. As you might have noticed, the Bush-Haters have defecated on your blog, but I just wanted to assure you that your contributions here are well-read and well-appreciated by those of us who want to understnad what's really happening to Iraq. God Bless you, God Bless our troops and God Bless America.

At 4:03 PM, Anonymous said...

Whatever Granny! More crap spoon-fed to us by a govt that won't just tell us the truth! Why? cuz the truth hurts.

At 4:06 PM, Anonymous said...

The fact that you didn't disclose you worked for the U.S. military is sad, pathetic and unsurprising. I, for one, have grown used to our government lying to us in every conceivable way -- so why not a blog from a "Grandma in Iraq"? The fact that you try to justify it as an effort "on your own time" shows you are still trying to spin your way out of this mess. I weep for the future. "The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars." General William Westmoreland

At 4:10 PM, Anonymous said...

Testifying before the senate budget committee, CONDI Rice said "large portions" of the Iraqi infrastructure had been modernized and about 227,000 (not 400,000) "quality" Iraqi troops had been trained and equipped to battle a insurgency alongside US forces. But THEN SHE ADMITTED that the process of raising an Iraqi army and police force had got off to a bumpy start. "To be fair, we made a mistake earlier. We relied on NUMBER rather than on QUALITY," she said. Military officials say that of the 227 000 trained and equipped Iraqis, fewer than 100 000 have been organized into battalions as fighting forces. The NUmber of Independently Fightinf Iraq battalions has Gone from THREE TO ZERO. yes ZERO IRAQI battalions can gight w/out us.

Rice also clashed with senator Conrad, who took issue with her assessment that the Americans had boosted the capacity for clean water for seven million Iraqis and four million had better sewage operations. Conrad cited official figures showing the percentage of Iraqis with clean drinking water had DECLINED from 50% before the war to 32% now. Those with decent sewage were down from 24% to 20%. When Rice countered that it might be the difference between delivery or capacity, Conrad shot back: "We can improve capacity, that's great. But at the end of the day, what matters to people is to get it!" RICE, VISIBLY SHAKEN< BACKED OFF and recognized that US forces had shifted the focus from large-scale reconstruction projects to more local efforts "to make certain that there is also better delivery for Iraqis". Electricity Hits Three-Year Low in Iraq 3.02.06 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060314/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_powerle ss Former Iraqi Prime Minister: Iraq Is In A Civil War "It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war isWe are in a terrible civil conflict now." In 2004, Bush said it was unacceptable to question the credibility of Allawis assessment of Iraq: "Well, Prime Minister Allawi was here; he is the leader of that country. Hes a brave, brave man. When he came, after giving a speech to the Congress, my opponent questioned his credibility. You cant change the dynamics on the ground if youve criticized the brave leader of Iraq."

If you want News about how well the Govt is doing in Iraq, listen to the govt shilld. IF you want the truth about how well the Govt is doing in Iraq, find the Congressional testimony.

At 5:27 PM, David F said...

I'm not sure why "Anonymous" has chosen this as his forum, but I do note that, from the beginning of this blog to the end, you've always identified your employer. I'm happy that you have written this blog. I doubt that "Anonymous" has anything to contribute, but I'm sure that he hasn't anything but empty rhetoric and unsustainable statistics to offer. Thanks to all who are doing the great work over there, not in spite of the under-reporting and blogger attacks, but even moreso because of it! :) Hope you have a great trip home soon, too.

At 5:40 PM, Anonymous said...

The Enquirer has decided to open this blog to comments from anyone who wishes to post comments. ...which the paper only did because today bloggers got wind of this PR flak project and called bull**** to editors at the paper. (The Enquirer's political blog has always allowed anonymous postings.)

Congratulate the Enquirer's newfound openness all you want, but be honest and state that they only did it after scrutiny and criticism from outside. While we're taking about openness, Ms. Fournier, please state online who at the Enquirer hired you to run this blog and when, and to whom at the paper do you report? We look forward to your prompt and thorough reply.

At 5:44 PM, Dr. Joe said...

Suzanne, I have read your weblog for several months and I have very much appreciated that you volunteered to go to Iraq and that you have shared your own observations. You have contributed a lot to my understanding of the situation in Iraq, which is very complex. I'm grateful that you have told us what you saw in ways anyone can understand. God bless you and God bless America.

At 6:19 PM, Anonymous said...

While we're taking about openness, Ms. Fournier, please state online who at the Enquirer hired you to run this blog and when, and to whom at the paper do you report? We look forward to your prompt and thorough reply. Ditto.

At 6:43 PM, Anonymous said...

Okay, Granny in Iraq, out with it. Who are you really. Anonymous number one vants to know, and he has vays to make you talk, ja? I have read your blog, and knew you worked in the Army as a civilian, and enjoyed your descriptions of Iraq, the people and especially the kids. You put yourself in harm,s way, away from home and family to help people in need. Anonymous number one does not believe anyone could do that, so you must be part of a vast conspiracy to blind the American public, Ja? Please ignore him, or her. They are sarcastic, angry, hateful little people (and judging from the tone of his or her blog, very self important) and all they want to do is tear down. You are helping to build up. Keep up the good work, we are behind you. Signed; Anonymous number two.

At 6:45 PM, Anonymous said...

The sad part is I'm not very surprised to learn that the Pentagon is planting propaganda in our newspapers.

At 9:11 PM, Anonymous said...

I think it's sad this country has come down to an "us vs. them" mentality and if you're not on the "right side" or express views similar to yours

(i.e. whichever political way you lean), then you are wrong, a liar, etc. Truly, truly sad. I'm glad we live in a country which allows freedom of expression, I just which we'd use that right more wisely.

At 10:19 PM, furtail said...

I only raised the issue that Grandma works for the Army as a public affairs person because, although I do believe Grandma can bring her own observations to the table, I would doubt that anything "controversial" or "negative" from the military's point of view would be allowed. I've read three posts so far; they all seem to be quite rosy and wonderful. I've met many people who've traveled to Iraq and not a single person has described Iraq the way Grandma has. That is why I suspected that the blog wasn't very genuinely her own thoughts (I suspect that if she's an intelligent, articulate, thoughtful human being, then not every post would be so "rosy", it just defies logic). The posts rather remind me when I was in high school, and I would read editorials in Pravda during Soviet times. Yes, propaganda. I would like to know if Grandma talks to ordinary Shia (70 % of whom want the US to leave). What do they think of the US activities? Do you get to go to their homes?

At 10:34 PM, furtail said...

I just noticed that the tagline on your blog states that you are a public affairs officer. That tagline was NOT present until I posted a question yesterday and apparently some other people called the Enquirer editor about your status. Is this correct? Why the disclosure now? It seems really strange...

At 11:24 PM, Anonymous said...

What's the matter, Ms. Fournier? Can't you answer for yourself? I thought you were rough and tough regular Army? When are you going to tell us who at the Enquirer hired you? Or are you just going to hide behind the cover of these Bush flaks?

At 11:27 PM, Lauria said...

I do not doubt that some progress has been made in restoring Iraq's infrastructure, but from documented reports to Congress, I must conclude not nearly enough has been done, and none of us should forget that the rebuilding would not be necessary, had we avoided invading a sovereign nation under false pretenses. Yes, Granny's posts are too overtly rosy to be logical. It is a war zone, after all, where good news is the exception rather than the rule. I'm not surprised that this blog was produced, written and directed by someone in our government, because it isn't the first time this

administration has used the media to further its propaganda. Radio hosts, newspaper reporters, tv newscasts, and even a fake reporter in the White House pressroom have been utilized to further Bush's agenda.

At 1:36 AM, Paul said...

Mrs. Fournier, I look forward to reading your blog every weekend. There was never any confusion as to what your job was in Iraq and why you were making posts to your blog. Don't worry about a few who only like to defame something that is useful and enlightening to others. I'm sure a lot of the readers enjoy your postings, I know I do. Thanks for all the information and good stories.

At 3:00 AM, Anonymous said...

I wonder what Paul finds enlightening in Grandma's blogs. It is a big contradiction to say that lies are enlightening. A public relations person is hired to make their employeer or his cause or both look good. They are image sellers. Hello people! Aren't you curious about the real progress being made in Iraq. After all our young men and our tax dollars are being used in Iraq everyday.

At 5:00 AM, Fred Bieling said...

So many Anonymous commentors here.... Who is who?

At 7:45 AM, Anonymous said...

This is a great blog because it offers a personal, real-life view of things. I've read it many times and I don't fault the author at all for anything. She's clearly indicated what her affiliation and role is. however, cincinnati.com should have made her military affiliation more obvious. I'm no pro-Bush, anti-Bush or anything. I just appreciate the fact that this person is donating her time so that people like me can get more information we can't get anywhere else. I especially like the photos and would like to see more of them. The first posts about the schools she visited are still very fresh in my mind and that must have been a year or more ago. I really appreciate what Grandma is doing and I think we should thank her, and probably do something for her when she gets back.

At 7:54 AM, Jon Greenbaum said...

I don't get it. You expect us to believe you that you write this on your own time? You're kidding, right? I don't even believe that you are a Grandma. The Bush administration has lost all credibility with the American people and it is because of weak attempts at propaganda like your blog. Bush and Cheney lied about why they invaded Iraq (did you

see Bush evade Helen Thomas' question? He kept talking about 9/11 and Afghanistan which kind of proved her point) and they've covered it up by spending millions on propaganda. That propaganda was planted in the Iraq media. But big surprise! Now they are planting propaganda in the domestic media. It's great that some Americans want to help the Iraqi people who have suffered under years of sanctions that the U.S. pushed through the UN. According to the World Health Organization the sanctions meant that Iraq wasn't able to address the infrastructure damage we inflicted in the Gulf War. The WHO points out that a half a million children died as a result of those sanctions. Later studies identifiy that number at more like only a quarter of a million children. OK, U.S. foreign policy only killed a quarter of a million children. Your job is to twist that reality to blame the problems on Saddam Hussein and put lipstick on a the U.S. foreign policy. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died for lies and ideology. The Bush neocons wanted a free market utopia in Iraq. Reality intervened. Now, despite the attempts of the U.S. Army corps to fix stuff, the reality is that the U.S. presence in Iraq is causing chaos, not preventing it. The unemployed Iraqi youth in the brigades are not stupid. They know what Bush and Bremer tried to do and they are pissed off and willing to die to expel us. If we don't hand the country over to a multinational peacekeeping force the country will continue to slide into the fire. You can deceive yourself all you want that you are a good American just trying to help the poor people of Iraq, but the reality is that you are a tool of the Bush administration's attempt to rob the Iraqi people of their nation and resources. I don't believe in good and evil but if there was such a thing you'd have to ask yourself which side you are on. Come home. We need you here. You aren't helping anybody over there. You are the bandaid applied to the side of the hornets nest that we have just wacked and continue to meddle in.

At 9:21 AM, Jon Garfunkel said...

There's nothing wrong with an Army public affairs officer writing a "blog" from Iraq. The question is whether the Cincinatti Enquirer wants to abrogate itself from the business of reporting. It would have far greater journalistic value if you were to use this forum with Ms. Fournier to have a moderated Q&A interaction. A "blog" is the cheap way out, and you know it.

At 9:53 AM, Anonymous said...

Ms. Fournier, We're still waiting to hear who at the Enquirer hired you and to whom you report. There's nothing confidential about that information. We await your reply.

At 11:00 AM, Shawna H. said...

Mrs. FournierI know for a fact you are an upstanding, honest person. And definetly a real grandma. Thank you for serving your country as you do. It has greatly upset me to see all the negativity about what you are doing to help others. Those that do not believe that their is "rosiness" over in Iraq, get off your high and mighty horses, and self-centeredness and come to reality. The media sure as heck has not once depicted Iraq as the civialin DOD and military personell see it. The media only shows the negative side of things. Try doing the job we do daily. We fight to protect you so shut the hell up. Mrs. Fournier please don't let the ignorence of several bloggers affect you. You are doing a terrific job. I myself am very proud of you and say to you and my fellow soldiers: THANK YOU FOR A JOB WELL DONE!!!!!!!!! "HOOAH!! It's an Army thing you wouldn't understand"

At 11:16 AM, Anonymous said...

We fight to protect you so shut the hell up. Wrong. You fight to protect us so we won't have to shut the hell up like the dictatorships that we're not supposed to be like. It's called the Bill of Rights. Like it or not, the Consitution says anyone, including you, has the right

to criticize our government. If you don't understand that, it's unclear what you're defending.

At 11:33 AM, Shawna H said...

To those that do not understand the US Government and Military: 1) Mrs. Fournier is not part of the military. She is a civlian working WITH the military to help others. 2) Try going to a recruiting office and ask and see just how many "rights" we that chose to serve our country give up so that you can rest at night. So you can have your freedom of speech and expression and all you other freedoms. 3) You know its interesting how so many are "defaming" this blog. All its about is helping the farmland over in Iraq so that the people can survive and live. Not all Iraqies are bad. To Mrs. Fournier and all those that serve our country whether AD, ARG, IRR etc KEEP IT UP YOU ARE ALL AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At 11:34 AM, Emma Morrow said...

And Democrats wonder why the American Public doesn't think they are patriotic...

You only need to read the comments on this blog to understand how deeply Hatred has perverted the Left.

At 11:36 AM, skipsailing said...

It doesn't really take much courage to post snitty anonymous comments on a blog. doing that isn't "truth to power" it's abject poverty of spirit. the true bigots and haters in America today are to be found on the left side of the political spectrum. Scanning through the comments here I am appalled at the lack of good manners, the poor language skills and the unwillingness of so many to tolerate another POV. We are lectured by left continually about tolerance, yet they show no tolerance themselves. We are supposed to accept all sorts of insults to our culture in the name of "progess" while those who make these demands behave like the semi literate boors they really are. Reading The posting by Grandma in Iraq lead to quite an insight. The issue with which she is contending is similar to the issue facing farmers in the Southwest. Arizona for example faces the fact that as the water they need comes from further away it's cost rises and its quality diminishes. If you smarmy unkempt lefties can get over yourselves long enough to actually do some research, may I suggest that you look up the history of the Salton Sea? Agricultural tailwater from surrounding high volume

farms is killing this accidentally created body of water. Another interesting insight provided by Grandma in Iraq is that Sadam's government went about its business in a very haphazard manner. While the pumping station itself is no doubt quite necessary the bizarre collection of hardware from all sorts of diverse suppliers showed that baksheesh not common sense drove the aquisition process under Saddam. the left, of course, cannot recognize that Saddam ravaged Iraq for his own personal gain. to do so would be tantamount to admitting that the US is doing a masterful job of recovering from thirty years of depredation. Just the story of the Marsh Arabs alone, so completely ignored by the left and their lackies in MSM, should tell anyone exactly what kind of person Saddam was. I don't see this as propaganda at all. Those who term it such are simply thoughtless bigots. And thanks to our current educational system, thoughtless bigots are a dime a dozen in America today. Thank you Grandma, for your service to our country. Please remember: nihil illegitimata non carborundum.

At 12:03 PM, Anonymous said...

Grandma, I think your blog is excellent and found the information provided to be very insightful and educational. My only qualm would be that it should have been delivered in a more transparent manner. I think the

disclosure currently at the top of the blog should have been there from the beginning. That being said I think your message is important to be conveyed and deserves a forum. I just wish the Enquirer would have been a bit more clear about your job description.

At 12:24 PM, Bob Sanderson said...

I think that it is great that "Grandma" posts her views and that they are consistent with her employer the US Government and fit in nicely with her PR job.They should be prefaced and clearly marked with her role and employer in Iraq. Plesase get your message out honestly and let people weight it given the right information. The Cinci Enquirer should know better. and by all means: God Bless you, God Bless our troops , God Bless America and God Bless the Cinci Enquirer.

At 12:24 PM, Anonymous said...

i've read your blog before, and didn't know you were a public affairs officer, but did think that your postings were a little too well-crafted to be simply a casual blog. it all makes more sense now.

At 12:25 PM, Bob Sanderson said...

I think that it is great that "Grandma" posts her views and that they are consistent with her employer the US Government and fit in nicely with her PR job.They should be prefaced and clearly marked with her role and employer in Iraq. Plesase get your message out honestly and let people weight it given the right information. The Cinci Enquirer should know better. and by all means: God Bless you, God Bless our troops , God Bless America and God Bless the Cinci Enquirer.

At 12:34 PM, Marleen L. Samuelson said...

Transparency is the key to honest communication. I think the Cincy Enquire needs to explain how it came, by stealth, encourage a public affairs officer to extend her role by blogging. I'm sure I just couldn't start promoting my ideas with them as say Mom or Auntie which I am.

At 12:39 PM, Chyndra said...

I don't understand why Grandma needs cover to tell the story she is telling. If it is solely public works, we as Amaericana need to hear how all the hundreds millions of our Tax dollars are being spent and what results we are getting with our nation building activities in Iraq.

At 12:48 PM, skipsailing said...

Marleen, you make no sense at all. yet your comments are pretty typical here. let's face it, if you didn't know the provenance of the author you would either accept or reject her blog based on your own understanding of the situation. but once you determined that the author has a relationship with the American government and it's dreaded military you instantly assume that nothing the author writes is to be trusted. Sneering cynicism is hardly an effective substitute for honest inquiry. You seem to prefer the former and not the latter. How sad for you and all the other whining ankle biting watergate wannabes that are spewing their venom here. shame on you.

At 12:52 PM, skipsailing said...

Here's a perfect example of the kind of thoughtless bigotry the left now uses in the place of honest debate. Candrian's very words: "Grandma in Iraq is the title of the blog, written by Suzanne M. Fournier, a Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. ie, this blog is a lie." This is you, american left, in all your glory. Candrian simply calls the author a liar based on absolutely no facts at all. the left has sunk to the lowest level of discourse, simple name calling. School yard bullies have more ability than this. How sad that there are so many nasty, angry cowards out there who's sole act of "courage" is to post a bigoted comment on a website. How pathetic

At 12:54 PM, Chyndra said...

...and by all means please let us know how you came to blog here and who at the Enquire supports your blog cause I'd like to blog a few ideas. My son is in Iraq for his second tour of duty with the Marines. He has some candid things he'd like to share here about the security situation and what we need to do to begin to win the Iraqis over to our way of thinking and doing things. We already have them voting! God Bless the Marines

At 1:45 PM, seguin said...

JEEBUS! Who put out the Troll Feed? Hey, whiny jackasses - you don't like it, then LEAVE AND QUIT CLUTTERING UP THE COMMENTS SECTION! Somebody might have something useful to say!

At 2:03 PM, Anonymous said...

This post is directed toward user 'skipsailing' regarding his or her earlier post. I will attempt to analyze the most important parts. "I am appalled at ... the unwillingness of so many to tolerate another POV." What is the other POV that is not being tolerated? Is it the view that it's acceptable for the Enquirer to withhold the *extremely relevant* affiliation/job of the author? There's nothing wrong with being intolerant of this occurrence. "We are lectured by left continually about tolerance, yet they show no tolerance themselves." Yes, progressives *are* not tolerant of misleading "news" because a well-informed populace is critical to democracy. Are you against democracy?

"We are supposed to accept all sorts of insults to our culture..." If your culture is one of propaganda and government control of the people (rather than by and for the people) toward the ends of very few, then yes, this culture will be insulted. "If you smarmy unkempt lefties can get over yourselves..." I thought you said the true bigots and haters are to be found on the *left* side of the political spectrum and that you were appalled at the lack of good manners? I guess you changed your mind. "...long enough to actually do some research, may I suggest that you look up the history of the Salton Sea?" Nobody has written that every fact in this blog is a lie. What a stupid half-argument you just almost made. "The left, of course, cannot recognize that Saddam ravaged Iraq for his own personal gain. to do so would be tantamount to admitting that the US is doing a masterful job of recovering from thirty years of depredation." So that makes it ok that the Bush administration cherry-picked reports to show that there were weapons when there was insufficient evidence to make that determination. It really is black and white with you people. Saddam was "bad," so, no matter what this administration has done (even though they planned to take over Iraq well before the presidency, and then fit the "facts" to the policy), it must be purely "good." It has been the lack of scrutiny of our officials and the cowering to vague fear and bigotry on the part of people like you that allowed all this to happen. And yes, many are not tolerant of what you have done. "[This damning evidence] should tell anyone exactly what kind of person

Saddam was." No one refutes the "kind of person" he was -- don't you see how manipulated you've been that you think that this is a major point of contention. No wonder you hate the left, you've been tricked into thinking that they deny such points as these. This truth may be hard to deal with, but don't come crying to me - blame the rightwing/media/Bush gang that feed each other while they take from you (assuming your net worth is below a certain threshold or you cant be paid by the implementation of your own religious doctrine as law). "Thank you Grandma, for your service to our country." Ah, finally we agree. - Mike L. ny923atYahoo.com ps. You criticized anonymous postings, however, you are almost equally as anonymous as your username is not tied to any personally identifiable information.

At 2:32 PM, Anonymous said...

It seems very odd and unethical that a newspaper's online division would allow US Army Corp of Engineer PR person to blog out comments which by any standard are only promotional for the current US administration's use of our military. Hey, Cincinnati Enquirer - at best you've mislead your regional and

national readers. At worst, you've become a mouthpiece for the biggest military boondoggle in US history. Too bad, huh. Jim Oakland

At 2:40 PM, Anonymous said...

Mike L. -- you're my hero. And shame on the Cinci Enq. for failing to disclose "Grandma"'s true background.

At 2:58 PM, Anonymous said...

Here's where to get information about what's really going on from people who don't have the option of leaving when the sh*t really hits the fan: http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

At 3:24 PM, skipsailing said...

nothing like an angry liberal to demonstrate the physical manifestations of an excess of hubris. chyndra, best of luck to your Marine. You must be quite proud. It takes real parenting skill to raise a child with the courage and fortitude to join the marines. Now as to anonymous comments: here's the big difference. I leave a trail. My screen name is applied to every posting I make here and elsewhere while anonymous could be anybody and is often quite a few people. so there is no way to track comments for consistency of thought. Frankly I'm pleased that the debate has shifted from this fine blogger to my comments. The lady who writes the blog has important things to do. More important than fending off the swarm of angry harpies posting here as "anonymous". If I have offended anyone's delicate sensibilities that's just too bad. Whiners. you guys couldn't lift chyndra's son's rucksack. the best you can do is express righteous indignation in the comments section of what is actually a very interesting blog. Oh and based on seguin's oh so pithy insight one can assume that a troll is anybody that disagrees with the left's recieved wisdom. did I get that right Seguin?

At 4:02 PM, SUPERIOR AMERICAN said...

Grandma! Grandma! Cookies! I want Cookies! And hugs and hot chocolate! Please?!Please?!Please?! You should be called Superior Grandma. Don't worry what the naysayers say. You gotta have faith. I mean thats all we Bush People have anyway.

At 5:02 PM, Anonymous said...

Yes, skipsailing, you do leave a trail. And with luck, a couple biohazard suits, a hose, and disinfectant, it can be taken care of.

At 5:03 PM, Anonymous said...

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,89811,00.html "CENTCOM Eyes Blogs to Shape Opinion InsideDefense.com NewsStand | Jason Sherman | March 03, 2006 In a bid to find new ways to influence public opinion about U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a small media affairs team in Tampa has burrowed into the mushrooming cyber world of blogs and persuaded hundreds of Web sites -- which then link to thousands of other sites -to post content prepared by military public affairs officials.

Since last July, the Florida-based U.S. Central Command's public affairs staff -- in an effort recently praised by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for its innovation -- has been initiating contact with editors of Web sites that cover operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, offering the same news releases and stories written by military officials that are made available to journalists affiliated with traditional media outlets." More at the above link.

At 5:17 PM, skipsailing said...

don't you just wish those pesky military types would just stop trying to win?

At 5:31 PM, Morris Coleman said...

Unfortunately, this forum has become a left vs. right battleground and lost all of its meaning, even as I am typing this, more meaning is being lost (for the simple fact that I am adding to such a superfluous thing as commentary on a blog). But here is the dichotomy of it all, we need to hear both sides. Everyone is free to speak their mind and is free not to listen to the other side. You can be a puppet of the left or the right, but it seems there is little objectivity here. Those who make the paranoid attacks against the government are in fact the very thing they despise. They have chosen, as they are protected to choose, to only listen to one side. This blog (and others like it: CENTCOM) is simply another avenue to get information. If you want to get a more rounded view you should look at multiple sources. Besides, it is a blog and

should be taken with a grain of salt. It is also on the Internet, so full of information, misinformation and billions upon billions of pages of nonsense, check your sources and find out if they are credible (with that in mind, a higher percentage of Americans trust the military than the media, honestly, I can't give you numbers or the exact facts, but I've seen it and it's disproportionate, of course, it all depends on who's doing the polling, but maybe we should look at multiple sources to find the middle ground, especially when it comes to world affairs). And if you want to look further into it, look at the fact that there is more news out there than Iraq or Bush or, here's the shocker, America; try BBC or BBC World, or Al Jazeera, their lack of being American gives a better look at the stories that are covered and there is less bias and more newsworthiness. Now, there is a smart quip for every single comment here (and I'm sure a few even within my comments), but there's no sense in being witty to anyone that will listen, but not hear, that has already passed judgement, someone who is as worthy an opponent in an argument as a wall. This is red comments talking to red and blue to blue because the high emotion has made sides, with or against, in this silly blog commentary forum social disection where no one is actually absorbing because the frivolous thoughts are meaningless (the blog on the other hand has much meaning no matter who wrote it because it has sparked a dialogue of sorts, not a very good dialogue, but maybe once all the emotions are out we can get to the point, maybe then we can really learn from one another). If someone argues with themselves in the woods and no one is around, do they make a sound, or better yet, is there an argument? All this anger stems from some place, and it's not about being lied to or feeling misguided, that is misplaced, probably by the same people that supported the war until they were convinced they were misguided and have done a complete 180 because of the betrayal, and instead of supporting parts, they want to get as far away as possible and set themselves apart as a staunch anti-war activist (much like a homophobic homosexual). Betrayal leads to severe rivalries, even if one is wrong, just to prove the point that the other was wrong too, expelling countless energy (possibly a new green way to produce power for this country) to contradict everything the other says, even when the former makes

sense. A running theme is that of the mistrust of government. Question government, but lacking any trust shows apathy toward a system for change that will not change, though it will, (why try to change it when it's all against me and it won't do any good anyways?) A system of victims. Another key issue of this blog commentary is the hopping on the bandwagon without knowing the issue, but a part that is picked; therefore, taken out of context. Fundamentalists use this tactic all the time to make a point where none really exists by simply choosing what will further thier cause (they too, like to use emotion in their arguments). Another group of folks got half the story and made the rest up as suits their cause. To bash left or right is insulting; to lump people as one within that group is insulting; to defame the character of someone, without any basis, who is stating their opinion shows there is really no argument to be made; using emotion is a false argument (unfortunately it works). Once you get to name calling, you've lost me. Once you lump everyone, you've become intolerant. And not everyone on this forum is doing that, but many are overwhelmingly negative. My analysis of the questions here is much like my analysis of the news from US sources - we are asking the wrong questions because we hop on a bandwagon of false truths (yes, I said false truths because too often do we take one source and make that our rally cry when, now here's something to remember, the first report is generally always wrong). I urge everyone who has written a response to go back and actually read what they have written, and if they are objective, they will see 90 percent has been written emotionally, which is good for TV, but not good to base facts on (facts that I see, but I don't believe from either side). I'm not going to quote any statistics or cleverly point out all the errors in again, 90 percent of all postings, or take quotes from Webster's Dictionary because define one word for me that I can't tear apart with another, and I'll show you someone who's right (not conservative, but correct). As for the infamous "they" and the right to keep anonymous, understand "they" is simply you or an extension of you and the very attack, attacks your own character because the government is made up of you, and therefore you are lying to yourself, and therefore you are full of self hate (seems extreme and full of fallacy, but did I mention to go back and read what you originally

wrote; you is the term for all in this forum if you hadn't gotten that by now). And to add to the paranoia of many, you have the right to be anonymous, but the accused also has the right to face their accuser; besides, there's no need to be anonymous because if the government is really watching then think about how you posted your comments and then realize you were using a computer and then realize that they are watching you so I wouldn't make any international phone calls, because they will get to you some way (possibly by planting people where you work, your neighbors or through the very newspaper you read, which will fill your head with more rumors than the magazine rack at the grocery store checkout). The issue I truly see is not really about this blog at all, but about the distrust of the administration (an inherent problem in most arguments is lumping the administration and government into a single entity, which would be like saying since in a republic the people make up the government, then everyone is part of the same administration and we are no longer able to dissent for fear of the government watching, which by they are, but they are much sneakier by planting people, just like the movies). There is a distinction between the elected administration and its appointees and the millions of people who work for the government and work for you the people, who swear allegiance to uphold the constitution (this is much more than any have done or be honored to do). Oh, I believe I missed the point (as many others have as well). The point is why there wasnt full disclosure and the answer to that is actually quite simple - that in todays age of blogs, information and misinformation readily available on the Internet (and the obvious media and PC savvy people out there know this) no one thought to use a simple search engine to find a little more about the person they are attacking before making allegations. Google it, it really works. Narrow down, use common sense. There is no argument because in all reality, people only feel duped because they were too lazy to do any of their own research if they were questioning the phantom person who was placed by the Pentagon to get into your newspapers and take over your brain making you become one with the administration, nonsense. I dont see the difference from average everyday person writing a blog about their life and the average everyday person who writes a blog about their life (and works for a

government agency). It may be viewed as a conflict, but its not posing as hard news and shouldnt replace hard news because after all, it is a blog. Besides, it is still about their experience and no one can say its not when they arent that person half empty, half full. No one can speak for me when I can speak for myself. I guess many of us feel paralyzed to solve any real problems from a grass roots level or even in our own personal lives and thats why we blog or read blogs or attack blogs because we feel like we can change something if enough people will rise up against a faceless adversary that is ourselves. Left and right is the new religion and we are taking sides praying to the Almighty Donkey or Elephant. We'll never be free from our politics; therefore, this forum is a senseless battle that has lost all meaning. Even as I write this, its meaning was lost.

At 6:08 PM, Anonymous said...

Wow dude, try to use paragraphs. It makes for an easier read, not that anyone on the planet is going to read your entire post. But I would have gotten further if you had used paragraphs.

At 7:51 PM, Anonymous said...

Here is a report from a real Iraqi over at riverbend: I dont think anyone imagined three years ago that things could be quite this bad today. The last few weeks have been ridden with tension. Im

so tired of it all- were all tired. Three years and the electricity is worse than ever. The security situation has gone from bad to worse. The country feels like its on the brink of chaos once more- but a pre-planned, pre-fabricated chaos being led by religious militias and zealots. School, college and work have been on again, off again affairs. It seems for every two days of work/school, there are five days of sitting at home waiting for the situation to improve. Right now college and school are on hold because the arba3eeniya or the 40th Day is coming upmore black and green flags, mobs of men in black and latmiyas. We were told the children should try going back to school next Wednesday. I say try because prior to the much-awaited parliamentary meeting a couple of days ago, schools were out. After the Samarra mosque bombing, schools were out. The children have been at home this year more than theyve been in school.

At 9:06 PM, Anonymous said...

Skip honey, come home.

At 9:23 PM, Anonymous said...

Editor & Publisher, the leading journal covering the newspaper industry just reported about this blog. From the article: (Enquirer assistant managing editor Chris) Graves declined to say why

the blog had been started or how Fournier had been recruited for the position, noting it had started under her predecessor, Dave Heller, who is now with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Calls to Heller, Enquirer Editor Tom Callinan and James Jackson, the paper's vice president/online, were not immediately returned. E&P also e-mailed Fournier in Iraq, but has yet to receive a response.

At 9:23 PM, Chyndra said...

I am sad to hear much of the discussion here because all I do is worry about my son. He is a career soldier and didn't think twice about going back. That said, his feeling is that this war is off the track. He feels the soldiers are doing a great job but that the war is being lost by the people in the pay grades above his that designed the strategy and tactics for the war. He thinks in the past six months there has been a great change in how the population in his area (SHiite) views the troops. They are going on patrol alot less and feel like we are giving up the territory to militias. This all makes me more worried and I think that should also be blogged somewhere.

At 10:36 PM, smintheus said...

If you were to read British, or German, newspapers from 1915, you'd find similar propaganda telling you, dear reader, that all is going well with the Nation's great crusade to make the world safe for us. On the streets, you would also hear denunciations of anybody who was thought to be insufficiently patriotic...that is to say, who was not absurdly enthusiastic about the government's policies. This blog is out and out war propaganda of the classic sort. There are two outrages here. One, that the Enquirer would not make a serious effort to warn readers that the blogger is a government flack. The second and bigger outrage is that they would allow a government flack to use their site in the first place, with or without transparency. Reporting ought to be the business of reporters. If the newspaper wishes to give space to non-professionals, then oughtn't they be giving equal prominence to an informed critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policies? I'm a well-known critic, have written extensively on line about the unfolding fiasco that is the Iraq war (check out this website for some fun documents that you won't see being discussed here at this blog). I also live in Cincinnati. I'd be happy to provide a little balance to the Enquirer's blog palette. Who hired you anyway, Grandma in Iraq? A lot of people have asked, including the good folks at Editor & Publisher, but not a peep from you or the newspaper. Perhaps everybody recognizes what a PR disaster this is turning into?

At 11:27 PM, Anonymous said...

The only thing I can say is she has more guts than all these other babies crying about things. If you think she is lying -- go over there and see for yourself -- otherwise shut up. If you think she is lying -- ask all the other Western journalist that are giving you the "unbiased" news how many days they have been out of their cozy hotel rooms in the past month. Not many -- they are too lazy to get the real news.

At 12:05 AM, SUPERIORAMERICAN said...

Superior argument Anon.

At 12:37 AM, D said...

BS propaganda. This blog is a lie!

At 9:30 AM, Anonymous said...

To user 'skipsailing': You posted recently but did not address my post above which is critical of many of your earlier claims. Please take a look and share your thoughts with us. Thank you.

It's the other one that's signed: -Mike L. ny923atYahoo.com

At 9:46 AM, Anonymous said...

The Cincinnati Beacon just published this open letter to Enquirer editor Tom Callinan asking for answers to who hired Ms. Fournier and to whom does she report.

At 10:23 AM, skipsailing said...

Mike, if you want to debate with me, think up a screen name or start a blog. It can't be that hard. One can divide people into two groups, the people who are doing something and the people who aren't. here we have an interesting blog produced by someone who is doing something. At the end of her day this lady will have worked to accomplish something of value. and the harpies who post here? What will they have accomplished at the end of the day? what is the finished product that these righteously

indignant twits can point to with pride? Years ago, in my callow youth, Paul Simon wrote a song about folks like the harpies here. Here's the snippet that comes to mind when I read some of the nastier comments posted on this blog: "And we speak of things that matter with words that must be said can analysis be worthwhile is the theatre really dead?" and blah, blah, blah. The world needs people who are actually focused on getting something done. Sadly they bear the burden of those who would rather just talk. I'm looking forward to another insightful post from our gracious hostess.

At 11:07 AM, skipsailing said...

Let me respond to smintheus. Well I don't know about the newspapers of 1915, but I do know a bit about the next big war that followed 1915. Was there dissent, of course there was. there are a few stark contrasts though: first, patriotism wasn't such a bad thing back then. America has always had her detractors but within the country itself people were proud to call themselves American. I'm proud to be an American now. That doesn't mean that I blindly follow President bush and heartily approve of everything he does.

Hardly, bush is no where near as conservative as I and thus I find some of his ideas to be distasteful. but, you know Smintheus, we are in a war and it's important that we win. so I keep my criticisms of the war effort to myself because that is IMHO the patriotic thing to do. Many folks, most notably those one the left side of the poltical spectrum, find old fashioned patriotism to be, well, old fashioned. What these folks ignore is that the fact that most americans truly do love thier country. further, out of respect for the brave men and women actually fighting in these far away wars, we should mind the caution "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". If you support the troops, then you should mind your manners. Your pseudo outrage at the blog here is laughable. Oh my, you're outraged! but why? Again, many on the left side of politics have adopted a sneering cynicism. This intolerant thoughtless response to everything that isn't "approved" results in the kinds of bigotry we see in smintheus' post. Here's an example: "reporting ought to be the business of reporters...". Oh really? and what sacramental blessings have been conferred upon these magical beings you call 'reporters'? How did these 'reporters' achieve such an exalted state that they, and only they, have the god given right to 'report'? Stuff and nonsense smintheus. If you don't trust the contents of this blog, don't bleeping read it. Take your righteously indignant self elsewhere but spare us your pseudo intellectual musing. And why is the newspaper that supports this blog under any obligation to "give equal prominence" to anybody? Is there some little known

amendment to the constitution that mandates this? I suppose that if the Enquirer really needed to published the disconnected musings of angry pompous gas bag they would need look no further than smintheus. he is, as he says "a well known critic" who lives in cincinnati. And I'm sure that the shot at the spot light so rudely stolen by a grandmother doing an interesting job in Iraq would be most welcome by this guy. But smintheus does make a point: the gracious author of this blog was HIRED. That is, somebody is paying her to do something other than bloviate on some comments section. It is easy to imagine that this is truly smintheus' issue here. Grandma's getting paid to write and smintheus is eating his heart out.

At 12:10 PM, Anonymous said...

skip == righteously indignant sneering disconnected smarmy unkempt angry pompous gas bag, true bigot, pseudo intellectual, harpie, hater and semi literate boor no where near as conservative as I giving intolerant thoughtless responses to everything that isn't "approved". You don't have anything nice to say. You don't support the troops. Shut up skip.

At 2:18 PM, transparent Joe said...

Editor of the Cinci Enquirer apologized for not being upfront with the information regarding Grandma's PR position and employer. This was the key deception and he admitted it! He refused to say how it happened and who was responsible. A sad affair for a great paper.

At 3:07 PM, smintheus said...

Skipsailing, I can't see an ounce of sense in anything you say. I point you to propaganda of WWI, which you can't be bothered to investigate, and you confuse it with WWII. The Iraq War, like WWI, but arguably unlike WWII, is a war of choice. Indeed, both Iraq and WWI were sold to the public by whipping up largely baseless fears, by making stuff up; and then the wars dragged on, for years, without any obvious progress and no plan to change strategy so as to achieve military success. In both cases, governments sought to maintain public support for their failed policies by means of aggressive propaganda campaigns. These included demonizing those who dare to speak up. And here you have the nerve to float some of those very elements of propaganda ('If you can't support the gov., then shut up.') Why do you suppose patriots speak out against governmental incompetence and wrong-doing? In the hopes of improving things, of holding the government accountable? Or merely to annoy you personally? As for my criticisms directed against the newspaper for its failure to be transparent, how could anybody defend it? It has itself admitted to a

failure of transparency. Interesting psychological profile you've created for me. Small probelems though: I already do have a job. Oh, and my blogging already has gotten as much publicity as any publicity-hound could want. But carry on.

At 4:22 PM, skipsailing said...

One learns so much about a person by examining closely the words that are chosen. Here's a good example. My interlocutor uses the word "sold" when discussing the run up to the war. For a person who is trying (vainly it seems) to prop up your creds I'm surprised that you'd chose a word like that. the war wasn't "sold" to me. I did'nt "buy" it like some bill of goods from the DLC. The Iraq excursion always made sense to me from a strategic, tactical and logistic POV. It was the right move in what will be a long war. YOU may have chosen to see no progress in Iraq but I see enormous advances there. I remain highly optimistic about the ultimate outcome of this war and I find the vitriol level in postings such as yours to be inversely proportional to your expectations concerning your own predictions. In short, the more the evidence contradicts your prophecies the more

angry your posts will become. Further, comparing "the great war" to iraq is just a not so clever way to say quagmire without invoking viet Nam. Not even a nice try. I don't see the government doing anything other than attempting to offset the MSM's myopia on the war. The legacy media has gotten the war in Iraq wrong and they are starting to realize that. The response to the west virgina question should have sent the boys in board rooms scurrying. They've clearly lost their audience. The American military has long employed a variety of means to get thier message out, this blog is simply a modernization of the kinds of public affairs activities our military has always used. that this is suddenly offensive to you speaks more to your thin skin and lack of historical insight than to any nefarious plot by the people in the pentagon. You see boogie men everywhere it seems. and then you misquote me: I was speaking directly to a support of the troops. many on the american left have tried the "I support the troops but not the mission" BS. If that applies to you, I am merely suggesting a way you can support the troops. Stop giving aid and comfort to our enemies. how hard is that to understand? The only hope the killers and thugs in the middle east have is that fools in america will some how pull off another viet nam. so all this blather simply gives them hope. And hope is among the things our enemy must be denied. Can you understand that? Let me say it a different way: It's not about your rights, its about your responsibilities. An adult understands this. If

your words make the situation worse for our soldiers in Iraq then don't say them. OK? As a matter of fact I do take unfounded whining personally. I have a huge stake in the outcome in iraq, and so do you. do you imagine that if we lose there it will be bad for bush and bush alone? Are you really that self centered? do you feel lucky? Are you expecting that the next terrorist attack in america will somehow spare iraq war critics while mowing down "neo cons" and others who disagree with your POV? Really? Because if we lose in Iraq, America will face a long tough hammering as our enemies seek to consolidate their gains. Again, if you really knew any history, you would know that. and what obligation does the newspaper actually have to "be transparent"? It isn't a government agency, it's a private enterprise. Ever wonder how much of the news that actually winds up in print is based on press releases? Are newspapers typically advising their readers that stories are in fact based on the work of PR "flacks"? simply put, the anger here isn't about anything other than the typical righteous indignation of American left. That IBM or Progressive Insurance would have a PR department that employs "flacks" that produce Press releases and attempts to "spin" stories doesn't get your undies in a bunch, but let someone from the Army corps of engineers talk about good deeds done by Americans in Iraq and whammo, instant Ire. Who are you trying to kid? Me or youself? Defend it? from what? Some poster who has arrogated to himself the role of judge and jury? Yes, it is an interesting psychological profile. All your "self touting"

reminds me of Richard Nixon. You say you are a well respected blogger, Nixon said he wasn't a crook. Got a dog named checkers perhaps?

At 4:27 PM, ihadnothingtodowiththis said...

I couldn't agree with Morris Coleman any more than I already do.

At 6:17 PM, smintheus said...

Skipsailing, The Iraq war wasn't sold? Oddly, that's exactly the terminology Andrew Card used in the summer of 2002, about not rolling out a new product in August. Don't like the comparison to WWI? Perhaps because it doesn't help you to maintain that over-confidence that things are going spiffingly in this war. The whole civil war unfolding, of course, is making it harder and harder to maintain that fiction however, isn't it? MSM don't know what's really going on in Iraq? Like Tom Lasseter for Knight Ridder, who unlike you is actually out and about talking to Americans and Iraqis. The rest of what you say, such as accusations of aid and comfort to the enemy, is just abusive. So Ann Coulter.

At 1:13 PM, skipsailing said...

It wasn't sold to me. My point is quite straightforward. Your use of words, those with a pejorative connotation did not go unnoticed by this reader. ah, the current anti war boogie man: civil War. No definition, no metrics, no evidence. There's a civil war because the anti war crowd wants one. yeah, right. the anti war crowd NEEDS a civil war, because otherwise there would be little or nothing to whine about, and you guys can't have that, no can you? another point that just seems wasted on the bigoted left (yes, that means you pal). When that question was asked at the president's press conference in west virginia the crowd errupted. CNN sensing the shift immediately panicked and did a "show" with guys in Iraq Vs Guys in the states. Hugh Hewitt and Michael Yon disagreed with the apologists from the MSM. Most notably that lover of the enemy Michael Ware. The MSM is simply not looking good right now, and neither are their clients: people such as yourself. too many egregious errors, too much reliance on the old tricks without any recognition that the rules have changed, a complete inability to grasp the fact that Americans are walking away from them in droves. One of the very nicest things about the internet is the ability to select our information sources. You read whom you chose and I do likewise.

here's my list: ITM, Michael Yon, Captain's quarters, NRO, The Belmont Club, the fourth rail, the mudville gazette (which is how I found this marvelous blog), the middle east form, MEMRI and the strategy page. that's plenty enough to give me a glimpse of what's going on. I feel quite well informed, thank you very much. and by virtue of these sites I have the opportunity to interact with both iraqis and soldiers. Please note: no Juan Cole, no Daily KOS, no DU. You get your info from your sources and I have mine.

Juan cole's savage attacks on Stephen vincent destroyed any pretense to credibility the putative professor might have had. To level an attack so wrong and vitriolic that the grieving widow felt compelled to respond is simply beyond the pale. the man is to shunned, put to the hiss of honorable men everywhere. conspicuous in its absence is any rebuttal to my contention that PR operations are common place in America. Are you willing to concede, sir, that you simply over reacted because of the nature of this blog's fine author's employment? It certainly seems that way to me. You compare me to Ann coulter and I will take that as a compliment. I don't watch TV so I don't know how she comes across there. I don't read popular political books because I'm more interested in history right now, so the only exposure I've had to her writing is the occassional magazine article. She's acerbic, witty and conservative. And she's well paid.

Once again, sir, are you dining on your own heart?

At 5:34 PM, mintmilano said...

"I believe the American taxpayers have a right to know how their tax dollars are being invested in Iraq and I believe my current job puts me in a unique position to provide personal observations since I have traveled the Southern provinces of Iraq for the past eight months." The problem is that you are still being evasive about the connection between these two things. The way our tax dollars are being invested... is in paying you to put up this one sided fake journalism. You have repeatedly represented the fact that you are a paid spokesperson and the fact that you write this blog as if they were unrelated things. You say it is on your own time, but it is also clearly within the scope of what you say your job is. Are you or are you not specifically paid for doing this by the military ? In your official duties, is this blog represented as part of your job ? Does it appear on your resume, performance reviews, and is it known to your superiors ? Let's get down to brass tacks here. Everybody with any sense of reality knows that Iraq is in a terrible state now. Your "work" is essentially an attempt to give reinforcement of a small group of people on one extreme of the political sphere that have decided they prefer to believe lies over the truth. Now, I have no illusions that I am going to change those peoples' minds; they do not have what it takes to admit they were wrong about this war in the first place, which is why they seek out your "work". Cincinnati is full of people like that, which is why you are

associated with a backwater rag like the Enquirer instead of a real paper (well, your lack of journalism credentials and ethics might have something to do with it too). I believe taxpayers have a right to know that I am NOT being paid to call you out.

At 6:38 PM, skipsailing said...

Yes, let's get down to brass tacks. Starting with this unfounded generalization: " Everybody with any sense of reality knows that Iraq is in a terrible state now." Really? is that so? How do you measure this sir? Against what objective standard? What is really interesting is the subtle bigotry contained with the sentence. Basically this guy says that if one disagrees well, then one simply has no sense of reality. Now that's the writing style of a person with a truly open mind. right? this next quote is even more entertaining: "Your "work" is essentially an attempt to give reinforcement of a small group of people on one extreme of the political sphere that have decided they prefer to believe lies over the truth." if indeed this small group of people did as you suggest, why would they need reinforcement? According to folks like you they've already "drank

the koolaid" so Grandma's work here is done, no? and of course there's more of that oh so subtle bigotry. This time the underlying assumption is that anyone who admires or respects the work of this blog's author is simply incapable of telling fact from fiction. yes once again we see the open mindedness of this poster on display. so in two sentences we have this: Only fools would disagree with mintmilano (good cookie BTW) and those fools are fools because they cannot, as only people like mintmilano can, discern the truth. yes, its truly amazing how arrogant some folks can be. And look how well that arrogance has done at the ballot box. John Kerry used mintmilano's techniques everyday. And it worked oh so well. yeah, right. it's good that you have no illusions about changing people's minds because it will take far more that what you have on offer to do so. although you might try by listening to those who disagree with you, instead of simply offending them. or is giving offense a critical part of your style? Further, you might try reading a few milblogs. You know, blogs written by men and women doing what you lack the courage to do: fight in iraq. Should you deign to do this you'll find that many, many members of our fine military spend their off duty hours sharing their thoughts, their actions, their fears and their hopes. Unlike you, they do something important with their lives. so does grandma here. comparing her to you, well, I'd take grandma anyday. She's smart, articulate and brave. and all you are is angry and boorish.

pity, that. I could go on. for example let me point out that I have more than enough courage to admit that I was RIGHT about Iraq, from the get go. Oh and one final thing. I have pointed out elsewhere that "journalism ethics" is an oxymoron. We've watched the media self destruct over the past couple of years and its a process that won't be stopped by pandering to the likes of you. The entire field of journalism is under assault right now and well it should be. Examples of poor performance, agenda driven reporting, smear campaigns and out right lies are everywhere to be seen. If journalism as a trade wishes to regain whatever credibility it once had, the current effort in Iraq offers a valuable opportunity. the media in america is at a cross roads. they must recognize new technologies and audiences and they must rid themselves of the ghosts of all those anklebiting watergate wannabees that have traded true morality for a shot at a pulitzer.

At 7:20 PM, mintmilano said...

skipsailing, you've got nothin', which is why you are now trying to turn this whole thread into a personal pissing match. Degrading this conversation helps you because you don't like the direction it's going. However, that's not your choice to make, tempting as it is to point out some of the numerous examples of hypocrisy in your most recent post alone.

You're the one that is, apparently, saying everything in Iraq is peachykeen. This is at odds with the basic fact that many thousands of people have died violent deaths before their time and continue to do so every day (because people like you bought Bush's story and thought a war would be a great idea). Are you actually denying this ? "The entire field of journalism is under assault right now and well it should be. Examples of poor performance, agenda driven reporting, smear campaigns and out right lies are everywhere to be seen." I have to say, you got that right.

At 10:15 PM, Anonymous said...

THE WAR IS A LIE AND YOU KNOW IT The Plame Game What Murray Waass big scoop may really tell us about Bushs pre-war deceptions. By Greg Sargent Web Exclusive: 04.04.06

Murray Waass latest scoop -- in which he broke new ground with a detailed account of the Bush administrations deceptions about Iraq -has won plenty of plaudits already. But its true larger significance is still crying out to be explained. To do this we need to step back and look at his revelation in the context of the ongoing investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame. If you do, you can see that what once were a bunch of disparate subplots -- the pre-war duplicity, the 2004 election, the Libby indictment, the

continuing investigation into Karl Rove -- suddenly can be woven together into one grand narrative that makes coherent sense in a way that much of this story didnt before. And the resulting storyline is not a pretty one. Waas's story -- presuming its right, and his track record has thus far been admirable -- suggests a plausible motive for both Scooter Libby and Karl Rove to have misled the grand jury about Plame. Their motive for doing this has hitherto been rather difficult to explain. Why, many have asked, would Libby and Rove have lied and risked perjury charges about a transgression that may not have been illegal in the first place? Waass story suggests a possible answer. The story begins as follows: Karl Rove, President Bushs chief political adviser, cautioned other White House aides in the summer of 2003 that Bushs 2004 re-election prospects would be severely damaged if it was publicly disclosed that he had been personally warned that a key rationale for going to war had been challenged within the administration. Rove expressed his concerns shortly after an informal review of classified government records by then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley determined that Bush had been specifically advised that claims he later made in his 2003 State of the Union address -- that Iraq was procuring high-strength aluminum tubes to build a nuclear weapon -- might not be true, according to government records and interviews. Hadley was particularly concerned that the public might learn of a classified one-page summary of a National Intelligence Estimate, specifically written for Bush in October 2002. The summary said that although most agencies judge that the aluminum tubes were related to a uranium enrichment effort, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Energy Department's intelligence branch believe that the tubes more likely are intended for conventional weapons. Three months after receiving that assessment, the president stated without qualification in his January 28, 2003, State of the Union address: The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein

recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase highstrength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. There are several things we can take from this. The first is that, according to Waas, since October 2002 there has existed a smoking-gun that proved Bush had been told that some intelligence officials thought the tubes were for conventional weapons, not nukes -- well before he repeated the tale in his 2003 speech. The administration did acknowledge under fire six months after the speech that one chunk of evidence of Saddams nuke ambitions -- the alleged procurement of uranium effort -- was wrong. But Bush's advisers largely defused that controversy by insulating the president from it. Meanwhile, the administration leaned heavily on the tubes story, which was central to its rationale for war. It's already known that some administration officials had pre-invasion doubts about the tubes, and that Bush more or less was told about those doubts. But Waass discovery, presuming he's right, is a big step forward. It constitutes concrete proof of those doubts -- and concrete proof of the extent to which Bush had been informed of these doubts before the invasion. That leads to the second, equally important point. Waas also reports that Rove thought as early as the summer of 2003 that the document was radioactive enough to potentially destroy Bush's re-election chances. Waas adds that Bush advisers thought that if doubts about the tubes came out, it would be much harder to shield Bush from criticism for them than it was for the uranium tale -- because there apparently existed hard evidence that the president had been told of those doubts. Now fast forward to early 2004. Thats when Libby testified before the Plame grand jury. Patrick Fitzgeralds indictment alleges that Libby lied about how and when he learned Plames identity and disclosed information about her to reporters. Rove, too, misled the grand jury by failing to mention a conversation with a reporter about Plame. (Rove subsequently disclosed it, but only after a discovered e-mail jogged his

memory. Libby has pled innocent, and Rove wasnt indicted, though he reportedly remains under investigation). Thats where matters stand now. Now lets try to fit these pieces together. The thing about the Plame investigation that never quite seemed to make sense was this: Why would Libby or Rove deliberately mislead the grand jury, risking perjury charges when it wasnt clear the leak was a crime? Thanks to Waas, for the first time, we may now know for a fact that Rove and other Bush advisers viewed the truth about the run-up to war as something that could destroy his re-election prospects. It is entirely plausible that Bush advisers calculated that if it came out that theyd outed Plame, Congress would have been forced by the resulting firestorm to run a far more aggressive investigation of Bushs pre-war deceptions and possibly uncover the smoking gun Waas reports on, among other things. Remember, Libby and Rove testified in early 2004, during the heat of a presidential campaign which Rove himself had apparently concluded was at risk if existing hard evidence of Bushs deceptions surfaced. So it seems plausible that Libby and Rove sought to minimize the chance of the aggressive congressional oversight that might have resulted if it became known that theyd outed Plame. In short, misleading the grand jury about Plame may simply have been a key piece of a broader effort to get past the election before the truth about the run-up to the war surfaced to sink his campaign. That interpretation is consistent with what was going on at the time. The Senate Intelligence Committee, headed by Bush ally Pat Roberts, was investigating pre-war intelligence -- and as would subsequently be learned, managed to sidestep the central question of how the White House used that information to build the case for war, a maneuver that made it clear that Roberts was trying to postpone that line of inquiry

until after the election. Whats more, the White House was throughout refusing to release presidential daily briefs that may have revealed what Bush knew and when. Meanwhile, other things suggested that the White House was doing everything possible to prevent an aggressive effort by the press to unearth what now looks to be solid evidence of the White Houses prewar duplicity. As Josh Marshall put it in a post about the Waas story: We saw this and the cover-up it spawned firsthand. While I and reporters from CBS were working on this story through 2004, it was clear that folks on the Hill would agree to talk and then suddenly unagree when they got the call from the White House. The White House worked doggedly at almost every turn to get the story killed or delayed beyond the election, which they of course did. The cover-up on this one is deep. Really deep. And much of it has yet to be uncovered. The history of recent presidential deception tells us that the small, initial cover-ups, ones which at first appear to make little sense, are frequently motivated by a desire to prevent other, larger damaging revelations from surfacing. If Waas is right, it seems plausible that the whole sordid saga unfolded this way: White House officials, including Bush himself, withheld critical information it had about doubts over supposed evidence of Saddam's nuke ambitions in order to better make the case for war. Then they subsequently discovered that hard evidence existed of that duplicity. Then, anxious that this evidence might surface before the 2004 reelection, they engaged in a relentless campaign to cover up what really happened during the Iraq run-up and to prevent an aggressive congressional investigation until after the election. They relied on Pat Roberts to run a pseudo-investigation; they withheld the daily briefs; they leaned on Hill allies not to talk to the press. And they obscured their role in the outing of Plame to prevent an outcry that would have certainly forced Congress and the press to probe far more aggressively than they did. And they succeeded: If Congress and the press had been

more aggressive -- and this may be the real significance of Waas's story -- it's perfectly possible that John Kerry would now be president. If thats how it happened, then it may be only a matter of time before the whole story comes tumbling out. Waas has reported that theres a piece of paper out there that proves Bush deceived the nation during the run-up to the war. The nations premiere investigative reporters, one would think, would very much like to see that piece of paper for themselves. And if theres one thing recent history tells us, its that the small, short-term cover-ups never do succeed in preventing the larger story from coming to light. That larger story is still waiting to be told in all its gristly detail and, eventually, reporters other than Murray Waas will get around to telling it. Update: Above, "the alleged procurement of uranium" was changed to "the alleged procurement of uranium effort." Greg Sargent, a contributing editor for New York magazine, writes biweekly for The American Prospect Online. He can be reached at greg_sargent@newyorkmag.com. 2006 by The American Prospect, Inc.

At 11:38 PM, Anonymous said...

What a total crock of bs. How well things are going in Iraq. They com[are things to the way it was just before invasion and now. Why not compare it to how it was before sanctions and now? Our reconstruction attempts dont even match the way it was in Iraq

before the current invasion and occupation. I think the big problem will start when Iraqis realize the U.S. and Brits have no intentions of leaving. They went there to have permanent bases and make a colony in an OIL rich region. Iraq.

At 9:06 AM, skipsailing said...

Ah yes the irrefutable "you got nothing" defense. It works so well for spike lee in that cool commerical a few year back that you thought you'd try it here, eh? it is such a well reasoned and thoughtful response to any riposte in any debate. It's a wonder you don't find yourself saying that everyday there mintmilano. Now you wish to blame me pesonally for the violent deaths of people in Iraq. Well OK, that's fine. Do I think we need to kill people? YOu bet I do. We need to kill enough jihadis to discourage the rest, and we're just about there. let's just take one battle in Iraq, shall we? How about fallujah? Second assault. We lost more than 100 fine men. Men of a caliber far higher than you mintmilano. Men with courage and skill and pride. We lost them and our lives are diminished. but what did those guys do? Well let's see. Dear Mr Zarqawhi had proclaim fallujah to be his city. He and his loyal jihadis claimed to own the town. Well when the marines were done Zarqawhi had fled. Please note that while he continually calls for martyrdom, he seems less than willing to

become a martyr himself. Our guys had killed more than 1500 jihadis. My guess is that's probably closer to 4500, but we'll never know because so many of them are buried under the rubble of the houses they hid in. Well some jihadis got out. And they told the tale of fighting against the Marines. Lethal firepower, relentless pursuit 7/24 aggression, no time to sleep, eat or even run. Some of them attempted to escape by dressing as women, at tactic they revived just yesterday. All this blather about us generating more jihadis is uninformed BS. After fallujah Zarqawhi complained publically that he was having trouble getting recruits. The will to fight was seriously diminished That's what we must do, destroy our enemies will to fight. It's a new kind of war that blends hard fighting with hearts and minds PR campaigns with international diplomacy with black operations. but it's a war we must win if we don't want continuous 9/11's as one faction after another of radicalized Islamic facists attempt to secure their place in paradise by killing innocent Americans. Look at their tactics in Iraq. They've stooped to bombing mosques. These people will stop at nothing, they have no scruples, no morals and no discipline. While you're over here engaged in overheated whining about journalistic ethics those people over there are planning ways to kill more infidels. It's a shame that you're incapable of seeing the real enemy in this war. It isn't grandma, and it isn't me and it isn't george bush. Do really think that these people will spare the anti war crowd when they plan their next attack on the great satan? Do you really think that

a defeat for America in the GWOT will not be a defeat for you and your righteously indignant friends? YOu need to think again. You need to wake up and smell the coffee. We're in a war and you've sided with our enemy. that may make you popular with your particular crowd but it also makes you a object of derision for those of us who truly understand what's at stake here. Calling me names and sneering at me on some web log is probably the best that you can do. I respond to your type of post because America needs to engage you, our domestic enemy, just as we need to engaged our foreign enemy. Now run along back to the student union and tell your friends that you've encountered an actual war monger. It should make you oh so popular.

At 8:18 PM, dodo said...

nice blog, hi granma afaik you will have to learn to ignore the anti-bush/war/america/ that frequent the iraqi blogs, they like nothing better than to rain on any good news parade , while sitting on their fat asses pontificating about a country they know absolutely nothing about. Its nice to read positive outlooks even in a warzone, tough shit to 'Anonymous' and other posters if its not all car bombs and other atrocities.

At 11:49 AM, Anonymous said...

I dont know what is so honourable about inventing lies to attack an innocient country like Iraq. They had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. Also..they had no WMD. no proven ties to Quad either. Iraq didn't even have a plane in the sky throught the whole invasion. No radar..that was knocked out before the so called, ''war'' started. A large country like the u.s. and England beating down on a defenseless little country of 24 million, half starved from years of sanctions.

At 2:33 AM, Eagle said...

The Saddam Tapes: Another Intel Failure The documents that have been retrieved and translated -- largely by private scholars and even bloggers -- ironically show the CIA was pretty much right in its assessment of Saddam, despite being brutally criticized. To wit: Saddam had WMD before the war, likely shipped them to other countries and planned to build them again. He was a real threat. Saddam had links to al-Qaida that included: meetings in 1995 between Iraqi officials and the terrorist group; Saddam's knowing acquiescence to the formation of Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaida offshoot, in northern Iraq; and the entry of key al-Qaida operatives Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi into Iraq in 1999.

Saddam trained terrorists -- possibly even al-Qaida terrorists, though this hasn't been proven -- at a facility at Salman Pak that included a real commercial jet for hijacking practice. Russia, Germany and France helped bolster Saddam's regime and arm it, despite U.N. sanctions on Iraq on which they signed off. These are all significant facts -- and should by themselves dispel doubts Americans have about going to war with Iraq.

Iraq's WMD Secreted in Syria, Sada Says The man who served as the no. 2 official in Saddam Hussein's air force says Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war by loading the weapons into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed.

Saddam's Terror Training Camps THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq.

CIA can't rule out WMD move to Syria

Russia tied to Iraq's missing arms

At 7:30 AM, Anonymous said...

Ever notice when the U.S. Govt. needs support to attack some country or try and gain public support, the phoney tapes start to appear? Supposidly from ben laden. Meanwhile the guy probally died years ago, but anything to gain support for another illegal invasion of an oil rich country.

At 11:05 AM, Anonymous said...

I very much don't think things will ever change in this world, as long as big corporations are making the decisions. Part 1. Well, what we've done -- we use many techniques, but probably the most common is that we'll go to a country that has resources that our corporations covet, like oil, and we'll arrange a huge loan to that country from an organization like the World Bank or one of its sisters, but almost all of the money goes to the U.S. corporations, not to the country itself, corporations like Bechtel and Halliburton, General Motors, General Electric, these types of organizations, and they build huge infrastructure projects in that country: power plants, highways, ports, industrial parks, things that serve the very rich and seldom even reach the poor. In fact, the poor suffer, because the loans have to be repaid, and they're huge loans, and the repayment of them means that the poor won't get education, health, and other social services, and the country is left holding a huge debt, by intention. We go back, we economic hit men, to this country and say, Look, you owe us a lot of money. You can't repay your debts, so give us a pound of flesh. Sell our

oil companies your oil real cheap or vote with us at the next U.N. vote or send troops in support of ours to some place in the world such as Iraq. And in that way, we've managed to build a world empire with very few people actually knowing that we've done this. The average joe and military person is just an object to help Governments to achieve there goals. $$$. and control and power over other countries.

At 12:35 PM, Anonymous said...

http://www.mccullagh.org/image/d30-32/fuck-you-bush-sign.html

At 11:51 PM, Kate said...

Ma'am, Thank you so much for sharing your unique point of view with us. You write beautifully, and your descriptions make me feel like I'm standing next to you instead of thousands of miles away. I can see why your employers trust you to communicate clearly and succinctly in a very complex situation. I particulary enjoyed your description of the drainage project - I'm trained as an engineer, and I could not possibly have described it better myself, even in technical jargon to other engineers. I really appreciate the photographs you've posted. Beautiful people, beautiful land. I hope that eventual peace in one form or another will give us a chance to know them better.

Thank you for the hard work that you do, and for taking what little personal time you have to describe your days for our benefit. Understanding breeds acceptance and more understanding, and we could all use a big dose of that, now and always. Very respectfully, Kate in Cincinnati

At 3:02 PM, J Booth said...

Suzanne Some among us will not get it until too late, if at all. Rather than work toward positive change, their life's work seems to be that of tearing down others. Thank you very much for the positive work you are doing. I hope and pray what you can accomplish will in the long run outweigh the misery others continue to foster. Continue to tell it like it is and those who say "propaganda" will be seen for the fools they are. Thanks again JB

At 10:02 PM, Anonymous said...

The u.s. sure wasted no time in trying to run rough shot over other countries, once Russia was no longer a world power. It was only Russia that kept them in there place all these years. School yard bullies at there best.

At 8:25 PM, Anonymous said...

How about a blog from a real Iraqi grandma. We get enough propaganda thanks.

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Grandma in Iraq

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Grandma in Iraq
Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq. Fournier is the Public Affairs Officer for the Gulf Region Southern District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Iraq.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 05, 2006

Clearing up a few facts


Greetings to all, Gosh, I had no idea my blog would stir up such strong voices. I truly do belief in freedom of speech and expression, but may I ask you to be tolerant, courteous and respectful of each other's opinions? I want to take a few moments to clear up misinformation posted about my blog recently. There was never an attempt on my part or on the part of the Cincinnati Enquirer to hide the fact that I am a public affairs officer and that my profession is communication. From the very first day of publishing my blog clearly stated, US Army Corps of Engineers, right under my name. In almost every picture of me on my blog, I am wearing the civilian USACE (US Army Corps of Engineers)desert camouflage uniform and the personal protective equipment issued to me for my deployment to Iraq. I've said repeatedly, I wanted to share my experiences because I am in a unique

position of being able to travel to nine of the southern provinces with my job as a communicator. In addition to my mentioning what I do in my blog, let me provide you with excerpts from the Cincinnati Enquirer/Cincinnati Post articles published about my deployment to Iraq. Published August 15, 2005 ALEXANDRIA - When Suzanne Fournier tells people where she's going, the 60-yearold wife, mother and grandmother always gets the same reaction: disbelief. "They say, 'You're doing what?' " Fournier said. "Yes, I'd be crazy if I wasn't a little apprehensive, but I'm comfortable with it. I want to help those who need help." Fournier will depart for Iraq on Aug. 28. For six months, she'll leave her husband of 39 years, seven children and 15 grandchildren to do public affairs work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She does that work now, but from a downtown Cincinnati office.

Published December 24, 2005 ALEXANDRIA - It's been about four months since 61-year-old Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria left for Iraq. The mother of seven and grandmother of 15 usually works in downtown Cincinnati in public affairs for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Since August, though, she's been performing her same duties while donning heavy body armor and accompanied by at least a half-dozen soldiers. She escorts media and VIPs to some of the corps' $2 billion worth of construction

projects such as schools and hospitals, explaining what has been and is being accomplished. "It's absolutely the greatest experience of a lifetime," Fournier said by e-mail this week from her base at Camp Adder in southeast Iraq. But it's Christmastime now, and for the first time since 1965, she and her husband, Gil, will be apart for the holiday.

Published April 5, 2006 ALEXANDRIA - "It's March, and Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria is still in Iraq. The 61-year-old mother of seven and grandmother of 15 was supposed to be home Feb. 23, but she'll be there about two more months - by her choice. "My husband's first reaction was 'absolutely not,' " Fournier said by e-mail this week from Camp Adder in southeast Iraq, where she is based. "But as time went on and he heard what I was doing, he understood why I wanted to stay on. My replacement isn't here yet and I feel it is important to have some oerlap time with him." Fournier works in public affairs for the U.S. Army corps of Engineers in downtown Cincinnati. She left in August for Iraq, where she escorts media and VIPs to some of the corps' $2 billion worth of construction projects such as schools and hospitals.

My final comment on this subject: This isn't about me, the real heroes over here are the soldiers and the Iraqi people. I believe we need to support all Coalition forces and their families.

I believe the Iraqi people should have a chance to experience the same opportunities for freedom of speech, access to information, education, healthcare, transportation, employment and quality of life that we enjoy in our country. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 8:02 AM 58 comments

58 Comments:

At 4:30 AM, Anonymous said...

"I believe the Iraqi people should have a chance to experience the same opportunities for freedom of speech, access to information, education, healthcare, transportation, employment and quality of life that we enjoy in our country." Me, too. But there is no evidence that our current policies and actions are doing anything but putting that farther and farther in the future. This Administration went to war ignorant, clueless, and with no plan. They still have no plan except "stay the course." I suppose that once you dive off the cliff you have no choice, but ain't nobody going to enjoy the landing. And ain't nothing going to be intact at the bottom.

At 6:09 AM, Anonymous said...

The U.S. and Brits went into a war on Iraq based on nothing more than lies. They knew long before they invaded Iraq had no WMD. I think it is high time the U.S. and Brits started minding there own business and stop waging war on othere countries.

At 6:38 AM, Anonymous said...

This is nothing but attempted subversive PR for the US Admin istration that has been caught out. You probably aren't to blame as you have probably been told to do this by your Unit. Such a shame that the US Govt has to use a blog to try and drum up support for it's illegal war and slaughter of thousands of innocent lives. Shame on you for using the term "Grandma in Iraq" as the blog title - It should be "Liar in Iraq".

At 6:39 AM, Raccam said...

Nice try, but you are STILL not owning up to the fact that your job is to write positive things about how the war's going. You are being paid to make the U.S. look better; not to tell the truth about how tings are going. I have no doubt you've seen examples of all the positive things you've written. But I also have no doubt there's plenty of very bad things you've seen, and I'm positive you either downplay those negatives or you don't report them at all. If something you see tomorrow suddenly convinced you that our being in Iraq is wrong, and that the war is not about what you've been saying it is, and that it won't turn out as well as you and the Administration claim it will -- would you write that? If you did write that, would the Army allow you to send it? If they did, would the "Enquirer" publish it? I think the answer to all three questions is "No." It's not good enough for you to admit that you're in the Army. You

have to admit that what you're writing is not objective journalism -because it is not.

At 6:40 AM, Raccam said...

This post has been removed by the author.

At 7:01 AM, Anonymous said...

This is too much like the planted stories in Iraqi newspapers.

At 8:10 AM, Anonymous said...

How are you posting to a blog from Iraq? The DoD has specific regulations in using government computer systems for "personal" use. I been to Iraq and if I wrote what was going on there at a blog from a government computer I would of been given an Article 15. The only way you can report to a blog from Iraq if it is fully supported and authorized by your chain of command and CENTCOM. So please come clean and tell the truth.

At 8:45 AM, Kathi said...

Suzanne I just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed following your adventures and reading your stories. I hope you will not let all the negativity discourage you from continuing to share your stories with the rest of us. It distresses me a great deal that people who are against the war feel they have to make ugly and personal attacks on you and your character. I am always amazed at the 'intolerance' of those who disagree with anyone supporting the troops, and I am always amazed at the venom and hatred they feel they need to spew onto anyone who disagrees with their viewpoint.It seems ironic that those who claim to support 'peace' feel they must be so nasty and vicious in their speech? God bless you, Suzanne, and thank you for sharing your stories!

At 8:48 AM, Anonymous said...

Thank goodness there are people like you who would seek to find the positive in such a world as ours. I, for one, love to read and hear about anything good that we do in light of the fact that there are people out there who would have you think that Americans are simply evil people who want to dominate the world. I am sick of the liberal press, of only the reporting done that tells everything bad about the U.S. Why on earth can people not see that we are trying to do something good for those people in Iraq. We are there now. We can not undo how we got there. Isn't it worth anything that the U.S. is trying to help people who were kept in the dark ages, to have even safe drinking water, schools that aren't falling down on the children in them and roads to get from one place to another? Doesn't that count for ANYTHING? There will

always be people quick to criticize from their cozy desks at home.....What are they doing to help the world, I'd like to know? The poster who wrote that you shouldn't be called a "Grandma in Iraq," is a one-sided, one-dimensional person who would only choose to see the bad in everything. What a sad life they must have. Thank you for your service to our country and the job that you do. Thank you for sharing your experiences and showing us something other than every single negative thing about what we are doing over there. I know many people who feel the same way I do. Don't let those with nothing else to do, but complain, keep you from your passion. I know you will leave soon and I will miss your stories, your information, and your talent for capturing pictures that speak 1000 words about the good hearts and souls of our men and women in uniform over there. Chin up !!!!!!

At 8:52 AM, Anonymous said...

How much do you get paid to post these items on you phlog(phony blog)? I hope that is a just compensation for each soldier and civilian killed in an illegal war. Hope you sleep well at night. In the end you can use the Nuremburg Defense.

At 9:10 AM, Jon Garfunkel said...

Again, as was stated yesterday, you (Suzanne) do not need to explain or apologize for anything. It's the job of the Cincinatti Enquirer to do that for their readers. That's the verdict of the Online Journalism Review. And the paper should stop allowing anonymous comments on this blog.

Many of them are truly insipid-- it is pointless and destructive for continuing to call this a "lie" or "propaganda." The fault is with the editors for not making this clear. The editors would also like to think that a public commenting forum is an acceptable substitute for their explaining matters. The reward for that thinking is just more ugly comments on this site.

At 9:51 AM, Anonymous said...

HA HA..It is obvious granny got her friends posting in to give support for her. Guess she don't want to lose her high paying pay check.

At 10:07 AM, Missy said...

I'd first like to say we DO appreciate your contribution. Perhaps we don't comment as often as we should. I'm grateful you would consider the mission worthy and that you give the American people a chance to see news about Iraqi daily life. The casualty reports are necessary, we need to know about our boys and girls over there, especially for those of us waiting, but at the same time, it needs to be a complete story. Not just of death, but of life and rebirth. My family has been very fortunate, my husband, sister and brother all have deployed, sometimes more than once to Iraq and Afghanistan. Two were in Operation: Desert Shield and Storm and all three returned

without physical injury but with enough knowledge and experience to say our freedom and quality of life is taken for granted. Thank you (from one grandma to another!) for reporting what you do and see. God bless!

At 10:17 AM, Anonymous said...

I'm disgusted that the American military personnel are looked on as disposable mercenaries that can be used for whatever corporate driven exercise some government/corporate hacks can dream up. The sheer contempt for the American taxpayer and American soldier that the armchair 'freedom fighters' show by constantly talking about others 'freedom' without any regard for the cost to all American citizens through taxes and loss of life is truly sickening. Hack reporting by PA officers is what it is, propaganda. I pity those that fall for this foolishness everytime. The last time that America fought a war where the U.S. was actually invaded and the homeland was put at risk was in the 19th Century. As Marine Corps General Smedley Darlington Butler told us 70 years ago, "War is a Racket".

At 10:17 AM, Anonymous said...

Yes Granny, I believe in freedom of speech too. But you should be ashamed to put our nations kids lives on the line, for your paid Army "PR" position. I know plenty of decent, honest folks who have resigned in disgust-ones

with alot of time in the service too. Shame, shame, shame. My boy just returned from Iraq-with the Ohio National Guard. He has a purple heart now-at age 20. I damn glad you aren't HIS Grandma-she has enough sense to know the war is a LIE...

At 11:33 AM, furtail said...

Suzanne, Yes, the only point to be made is that I do believe that the Cincinnati Enquirer violated journalistic ethics by not informing readers of your position UP FRONT. It should have been explicity stated from the beginning what you do and who pays you to do what you do. The comments about freedom, wanting good for the Iraqi people, patriotism, or whether you're evil (you're not), lying, etc., are all very irrelevant. I agree 100 % that the Enquirer is the one that violated ethics, not you. When a commentator or anybody is being interviewed on TV or the radio, it is the responsibility of the broadcaster to explain/state what the person does or why the person may have an interesting point of view. I do not doubt your sincerity about what you are trying to accomplish; however, the crucial missing piece of information to understand your posts was covered up or buried in three posts, none of which EXPLICITLY state that you are paid to write press releases. Enough said and I'm not commenting further other to say I am very disappointed in some of the very mean hateful things hurled at you.

At 11:41 AM, Anonymous said...

Whether your blog is legit, or a US propoganda tool changes nothing. Appearances are everything, and when you post without fully explaining that this is your job, your credibility disappears. No one being paid to represent the positives of the US Military could post a negative blog and keep their position. Freedom of speech is not the same thing as a disinformation campaign by the government. What is truly sad, is that our leaders are more concerned with winning the minds of the people at home than they are winning the fight on the ground. It is clear the current leadership is ill equipped to do either one.

At 11:43 AM, skipsailing said...

just a quick point, at this stage of the war the term "journalistic ethics" is an oxymoron.

At 12:49 PM, Anonymous said...

Since when the heck is the U.S. so concerned about the Iraq people? They never were before. I think the U.S. attacking Iraq was self serving..OIL. Control of mid East. I think the real problem will start when the Iraq people see that the U.S. and Brits have no intentions of withdrawl from Iraq. That's why they had no exit plans, because they knew they would not be withdrawing, at least not untill the oil is gone or they have there puppets in Government there to keep asking them to stay. I think they will keep a few permanent bases there, to make sure the new Govt. is serving there purposes.

At 12:54 PM, Anonymous said...

propaganda: n. the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect

At 12:58 PM, Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous, Who are you? Who do you work for? Where is your bio? Who do you represent? You write at all hours of the day and night, is that your job, to question anyone who does not agree with you?

I went to the web site you said to go to to get the "truth". Only one of the 15 ro so bloggers identified who he was, the others had no bio, no info at all, only a name. Did you demand their bios? Did you question their ethics? Not only that, but the only man who identified himself said he went to Iraq paid for by the people who read his blog. Do you believe that? Now THAT sounds pretty far fetched to me. Every one of those blogs where you sent me were either anti-war, antiBush, and usually both. Where is the other side? Why don't they they allow anyone who disagrees with them to blog there? And why do none of them allow anyone to post a comment? It seems that Granny "'fessed" up immediatly upon being questioned, and was always up front and honest as to who she is, but you won't let her alone. Why? You demanded her bio, now I demand yours. Why don't YOU "'fess" up. Granny, please keep up the good work. I knew you worked for the Army from blog #1 (I think. Early October?) It was never hidden, and anyone who wanted to know only had to go back a and read you past blogs. It is all there, Public Affairs, Amry, Corps of Engineers, etc. Bless you and all the other military and civilians who are there. B. Richards

At 12:59 PM, Scott Burgess said...

You are a fraud. Let's take a look at the Defense Information School, where you had to go in order to become a PAO (Public Affairs Officer). If you click here, you can see your goals and mission. http://www.dinfos.osd.mil/StrategicPlan.asp It states: Vision: "DINFOS is a recognized national asset for organizational communication success." Mission: 1. Grow and sustain a corps of professional organizational communicators* who fulfill the communication needs of military leaders and audiences. Goals: 1) Deliver total professional development support to organizational communicators throughout their careers, whenever and wherever needed. 2) Become the DoD and Interagency center of excellence for organizational communication. 3) Prepare public affairs and visual information operators to be force multipliers. 4) Apply DINFOS capabilities as operational multipliers. 5) Sustain DINFOS as a premier accredited military technical training center and optimum career assignment for faculty and staff. I'm sure you're an excellent force multiplier and continue to broadcast your message of all the great news in Iraq. Who knows, maybe you can get a couple of your grandkids to enlist. After all, if its good for the graying goose... It's truely a shame, as I believe (and have seen) many good news stories coming out of Iraq and you only hurt these stories. As a PAO your job is to spin the truth to put the military in the best light possible. This is not a personal blog, it's a company one and you're being properly

framed as a flak. Good luck and return home safe but be ashamed that every entry you made where you did not mention you work for the Army's PR department, you were doing a disservice.

At 1:05 PM, Anonymous said...

Little by little the U.S. is setting Iran up the same way they did Iraq. They use the U.N. and as many countries as they can to make so called evidence look credible. (Iraq weapons of mass destruction)now(Iran trying to develope nukes)it's sad the way buck toothed Rice goes to other countries to try and drum up support for another illegal war.

At 1:17 PM, skipsailing said...

Many blogs that accept comments don't allow anonymous comments. It is my experience that the tone and tenor of conversation there is much improved.

At 2:32 PM, History Guy said...

You got busted being a shill for the war. Don't backpedal, or let commonsense like "integrity first", stop you. Geez, dishonesty like yours is why I am glad I work with lawyers.

At 3:21 PM, TW said...

Suzanne: I can't tell you how much I appreciate your blog. Not only is it interesting to read, it provides such a refreshing view of the war rather than the media's regular focus on the deaths of our soldiers. I may not completely agree with the war in Iraq (and in many ways consider myself politically agnostic), but it is incredible to read about the fact that we are using our knowledge of infrastructure and resources to enhance the quality of life for all Iraqis while rooting out the terrorism that has ruled it for so long. Don't listen to the spineless cowards who have such a self-focused, American-hating view. Your work in Iraq is necessary and appreciated no doubt by the Iraqi people, but also by Americans like me. As for the spineless, anonymous hate mongers who have commented here: I wish you would either shut up and quit believing what our "normal" media is spoon-feeding you or at least have the backbone to put your real name down. Pathetic. Don't you people realize that more people die in 3 months of car wrecks than have died in the entire Iraq war? With that fact in mind, it seems like I am safer in Iraq than I am driving in America. Have some perspective.

At 4:15 PM, Anonymous said...

"From the very first day of publishing my blog clearly stated, US Army Corps of Engineers, right under my name." Yup, when I read that, I think Public Affairs Officer, NOT! I think of someone building somthing or blowing something up. Not very honest at all. Very sneaky on not disclosing your true profession.

At 5:00 PM, Anonymous said...

For all the pretty pictures shown on the front pages of this site, as to how well we are rebuilding Iraq. Truth is the electricity level and health care and just about every structure is way below pre war levels. Also now we hear they are running out of money to finish a great many projects in Iraq. What happened to all the money that was supposed to go to reconstruction? They site security is one factor. Did they not forsee problems in the beginning? Huh, after conning a great many countries into forgiving billions of dollars in loans to Iraq, plus the billions U.S. and Brits were supposed to be putting in..Still not enough. Out of about 130 health care centres supposed to be finished..Now they say only about 30 will be. The Iraq people just had there food stamps cut back on. Now most cant even afford a loaf of bread..Yep..things are getting better. The Iraq people hardly see clean watter. Many children die at child birth due to infection from impure watter. Why don't you talk about that Granny?

At 5:15 PM, Anonymous said...

does the military pay you to do this public relations exercise by the hour or by the word? just wondering.

At 6:08 PM, Anonymous said...

In my view, this whole fiasco greatly tarnishes The Enquirer's credibility. True, the Grandma in Iraq blog is not on the Enquirer.com, but it is linked off Cincinnati.com, which is tied to the Enquirer in most people's minds. Also, I love the Editor & Publisher quote from the online editor who blamed the previous online editor, who works in Wisconsin. Way to be on top of things and take accountability.

At 6:13 PM, Warren said...

Amazing - Why is it important that you identify yourself as a PAO Officer on your BLOG? Is what you write factual and truthful? Are there other "Journalists" reporting on your subject matter that is contrary to your observations? Shallow minds believe the worst of all opponents -

just read some of the previous comments. Keep reporting - I'll keep reading.

At 7:48 PM, junehart said...

Good grief! What is the problem with anonymous? All American personnel in Iraque or anywhere else in the world are doing their jobs. Why rag on them? If you don't like how things are anonymous then use the power of your vote and freedom of speech affect change. Picking on a PO professional is just a little bit low. Suzanne is simply relating what she sees. That is her job. Are you in line to volunteer to do a better job than she is? Well then why don't you publish your feelings in the NY Times or LA Journal? Attacking Suzanne in her blog is just plain silly. And by the way -- just why are you anonymous? As you can see -- my name is proudly displayed here.

At 9:53 PM, Pissedoffcabbie said...

You are a fraud. This blog should be removed, and you should refrain from pushing any more pro-war propaganda on the web. At ease, soldier.

At 10:24 PM, Anonymous said...

But................... OF COUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURSE, whenever I see US Army Corps of Engineers the VERY VERY first thing I think is, DANG, that MUST be some PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER with a job in COMMUNICATIONS publishing. After all, aren't all Army Corps of Engineers jobs just basically garden variety communications majors? Pooh pooh, what a stretch. Only a bureaucrat could spit out this sort of tripe with a straight face and believe it. Oh, btw, it's comforting to know that after investing a mere THREE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS and sacrificing two thousand three hundred and forty Americans' lives we've... fixed some pipes. WELL worth the investment. THANK YOU PAT TILLMAN for laying down your life so some PIPES could get fixed in some stinking Iraqi field. Good to see we've trucked 130,000 troops over to Mesopotamia to show them how to FIX PIPES. Boy oh boy oh boy.... all sense of decency, all sense of normalcy, all sense of propriety is gone gone gone in this country. We are 8 TRILLION in debt and not one stinking moron in the whole lot gives a damn. We have lost 2500 beautiful young men and women to a sham, a lie, a filthy stinking rotten LIE and we're supposed to stand tall, salute the flag, applaud loudly and vigorously when the filthy lying warmongers parade their vile crap out one more time, we're supposed to nod emphatically when they repeat for the millionth time that they are not personally benefitting from high oil prices and construction projects and bidrigging and the deaths and misery of twenty million people. Smile and salute and drink the coolaid.

Thanks for your "honesty" Suzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanne.

DISGUSTED.

ps - what's MY PROBLEM?????????? I CARE. I LOVE AMERICA. And I'm SICK that it's been hijacked by stinking lying war profiteers and sold down the river for scraps to the highest bidder in outhouses like Japan and CHINA.... CHINA PEOPLE... CHINA.... CHINA is financing our debt.... THINK ABOUT THAT for a second....

At 12:01 AM, Reginald Van Gleason IV said...

This is nothing but pure propaganda. You might as well as worked for Joseph Goebbels circa 1944. Saying that you are in the Corps of Engineers is disingenuous, deceiving and misleading. You are a PR officer, pure and simple. Posting this blog is so typical of the ever biased Spinqurer. I cancelled my subscription last year.

At 12:40 AM, Anonymous said...

Thank you, Disgusted. Thank you, Reggie Van Gleason. I couldn't agree more. When is the Enquirer going to dump this blog, which Callinan has already admitted is Army PR. The Washington Post had to dump their recent blogger embarrassment, Ben Domenech, so why hasn't the Enquirer dumped this bunko "blog"?

At 12:41 AM, jk, tucson az said...

If the case for our invasion of Iraq could win on its merits there would be no need to fool us with secret "public relations". The very fact the

blog hid the actual profession of the author (Core of Engineers versus Public Relations) tells you something's fishy about what's contained therein. When our government uses totalitarian techniques to win a war for freedom, then everything's gone wrong. Has this country really come to this?

At 1:03 AM, GreginOz said...

QUISLING...you are the Cuckoo bird's egg, placed in the nest of the Bird of Democracy. You betray the American Constitution and the American People. I shall call you ... Goebells.

At 2:21 AM, Anonymous said...

Granny & The Fishwrap, Couldn't agree more with the above comments. You are indeed a quisling propagandist, and it is time for you to stop publishing this blog.

At 6:13 AM, Anonymous said...

The only reason the U.S. attacked Iraq is for the oil and control of the mid East. Simple as that. Now, they are trying to pull the same thing on Iran. WAKE UP AMERICANS.

At 2:16 PM, Nicole said...

My mother is indeed a real person, and a real Grandma. She is a generous, beautiful and amazing woman who truly believes in her job. She loves her job with the Corps of Engineers and she loves to tell people about the good things that they do. That's all this blog is about. It didn't pretend to be anything but that. We all know bad things are happening in Iraq. We hear about it every day on the news. Isn't it slightly refreshing to hear about some of the good things in Iraq? Even for us liberals? Personally, I would like to hope that some good is coming out of this war. My mother is giving us a glimpse of some of the progress that IS being made. Love you, Mom! Can't wait to see you when you get home!

At 4:22 PM, Anonymous said...

how much mom pay you nicole?

At 6:39 PM, Anonymous said...

Before the u.s. and British forced sanctions on Iraq, they had one of the highest standards of living in the Mid East. Check the U.N. findings. It's true. They also had a very modern health care system. Free university education, modern schools. The dean of the most prestigeous university in Baghdad was a woman. Strange how Bush and Blair forget to tell those things isn't it. Check the human rights findings and U.N. findings for before sanctions.

At 10:36 PM, Anonymous said...

The Iraq War $100,000 a minute $195,000,000 a day $8,000,000,000 a week $271,000,000,000 to date US Debt with communist China: Priceless

At 8:28 AM, Anonymous said...

NOT A SINGE US SERVICE MEMBERS LIFE WAS WORTH THIS WAR! WE SHOULD NOT BE OPENING SCHOOLS IN IRAQ JUST TO HAVE TO SHUT THEM DOWN IN AMERICA!

At 8:31 AM, Anonymous said...

Thanks to the Daily Kos, the nation has exposed your lies... http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/8/75831/17761

At 8:35 AM, Smedley Darlington Butler said...

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 19021912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. - Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 June 21, 1940), nicknamed

"The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye," was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. Butler was awarded the Medal of Honor twice during his career, one of only 19 people to be so decorated.

At 8:39 AM, Dwight D. Eisenhower said...

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction... This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence economic, political, even spiritual is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together. - President of the United States (and former General of the Army)

Dwight D. Eisenhower in his Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961

At 8:43 AM, Anonymous said...

http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/syndication/trailers/whywefigh t/WhyWeFight-Trailer_300.mov

At 9:02 AM, Anonymous said...

I don't think our leaders told us the whole truth about why we went into Iraq. I think it is more''permanent base'' than truth. Maybe there intentions are more OIL than honorable. It's beggining to look that way.

At 9:53 AM, cyber joe said...

The Cincinnati Enquirer is obviously a right-wing newspaper, so it's no surprise that they would pull this stunt and violate journalistic ethics that anyone who lives in Cincinnati knew they lacked in the first place. As for the person writing this blog (Grandma in Iraq or not), I see no reason to believe what someone says who is part of the military's public

affairs unit about Iraq, especially when that information, even when it may be true, willfully and purposefully fails to tell important stories about what's happening in Iraq, which has nothing to do with whether a school somewhere is built. If you really want to post something interesting, tell us why the Shiites and Sunnis are engaged in a cycle of horrific violence. Of course you won't because you can't. Your position allows only rosy comments and no criticism. Only happy smiling boys playing soccer with American troops, while Baghdad simmers with a low-grade civil war. No wounded Americans or blown up children. If you want to see what this war really looks like, skip this site and check out this Special Report in the L.A. Times. Then you realize the human impact of this war on our troops that's easy to ignore while those of you looking for "good news from Iraq" scour the internet for confirmation of your pre-existing beliefs without any ability to change your mind based on additional new information. What will it take for you to realize that the war is being incompetently fought and will never be won if it continues this way? http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wounded/la-na-woundedseries,0,936394.special

At 3:18 PM, junehart said...

You anti war people don't seem to get it. Suzanne is doing her job. She doesn't say in her blog that she thinks the war (occupation, invasion, etc) is a great idea she just reports some of the work her employers (the Corps of Engineers) have accomplished. In the meanwhile she is sharing some of the wealth of our country with Iraqui kids.

Yes, I am also anti-war. However, the soldiers and Suzanne and many others like them did make the decision to take aggressive action. If you have a beef then write to your senator/congressperson/the whitehouse/carl rove -- leave Suzanne to do her job. If she were my Mom I would be darn proud of her.

At 2:15 PM, Tired of the Noise said...

This blog is an example of the Pentagon's efforts to control information. Read below: America's war on the web While the US remains committed to hunting down al-Qaeda operatives, it is now taking the battle to new fronts. Deep within the Pentagon, technologies are being deployed to wage the war on terror on the internet, in newspapers and even through mobile phones. Investigations editor Neil Mackay reports. The Pentagon has already signed off $383 million to force through the documents recommendations by 2009. Military and intelligence sources in the US talk of a revolution in the concept of warfare. The report orders three new developments in Americas approach to warfare: Firstly, the Pentagon says it will wage war against the internet in order to dominate the realm of communications, prevent digital attacks on the US and its allies, and to have the upper hand when launching cyberattacks against enemies. Secondly, psychological military operations, known as psyops, will be at the heart of future military action. Psyops involve using any media from newspapers, books and posters to the internet, music, Blackberrys

and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to put out black propaganda to assist government and military strategy. Psyops involve the dissemination of lies and fake stories and releasing information to wrong-foot the enemy. Thirdly, the US wants to take control of the Earths electromagnetic spectrum, allowing US war planners to dominate mobile phones, PDAs, the web, radio, TV and other forms of modern communication. That could see entire countries denied access to telecommunications at the flick of a switch by America. The report says the US militarys first priority is that the department [of defence] must be prepared to fight the net. The internet is seen in much the same way as an enemy state by the Pentagon because of the way it can be used to propagandise, organise and mount electronic attacks on crucial US targets. Under the heading offensive cyber operations, two pages outlining possible operations are blacked out. http://www.sundayherald.com/54975

At 2:18 AM, Anonymous said...

Great blog here. As with any open forum, the comment sections here inevitably will be visited by the viruently anti-war people who are frothing at the mouth to see anything other than negativity coming out of Iraq. The blog is interesting and informative, and the pictures are great. Please blog as much as you can.

At 11:24 AM, Brad Eleven said...

PR for the US Military. Think about it. A growing majority of American citizens are sick and tired of being sick and tired of being forced to pay for things that don't benefit us. Grandma, if you think you're being paid by the Army, think again. General Electric is the only officer involved with your financial support. I have profound and enduring admiration for our military. I have revulsion for those who would participate in the distortion of facts to suit those in power. Wake up and pee, everybody! The world's on fire!!

At 11:09 PM, Hasan said...

2006-04-10 HADITHA, IRAQ - In the middle of methodically recalling the day his brother's family was killed, Yaseen's monotone voice and stream of tears suddenly stopped. He looked up, paused and pleaded: "Please don't let me say anything that will get me killed by the Americans. My family can't handle any more." The story of what happened to Yaseen and his brother Younes' family has redefined Haditha's relationship with the Marines who patrol it. On Nov. 19, a roadside bomb struck a Humvee on Haditha's main road, killing one Marine and injuring two others.

The Marines say they took heavy gunfire afterwards and thought it was coming from the area around Younes' house. They went to investigate, and 23 people were killed. Eight were from Younes' family. The only survivor, Younes' 13-year-old daughter, said her family wasn't shooting at Marines or harboring extremists that morning. They were sleeping when the bomb exploded. And when the Marines entered their house, she said, they shot at everyone inside. The Navy Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) began an investigation in February after a Time Magazine reporter passed on accounts he had received about the incident. A second investigation was opened into how the Marines initially reported the killings - the Marines said that 15 people were killed by the roadside explosion and that eight insurgents were killed in subsequent combat. On Friday, the Marines relieved of duty three leaders of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, which had responsibility for Haditha when the shooting occurred. They are Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, and two of his company commanders, Capt. James S. Kimber and Capt. Lucas M. McConnell. McConnell was commanding Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, the unit that struck the roadside bomb on Nov. 19 and led the subsequent search of the area. The Marines' announcement didn't tie the disciplinary actions directly to Haditha, saying only that Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, had lost confidence in the officers' ability to command. They were relieved because of "multiple incidents that occurred throughout their deployment," said Lt. Lawton King, a spokesman at the Marines' home base at Camp Pendleton, Calif., to which they recently returned. "This decision was made independent of the NCIS

investigation." The events of last November have clearly taken their toll on Yaseen and his niece, Safa, who trembles visibly as she listens to Yaseen recount what she told him of the attack. She cannot bring herself to tell the tale herself. She fainted after the Marines burst through the door and began firing. When she regained consciousness, only her 3-year-old brother was still alive, but bleeding heavily. She comforted him in a room filled with dead family members until he died, too. And then she went to her Uncle Yaseen's house next door. Neither Yaseen nor Safa have returned home since. Indeed, many in this town, whose residents are stuck in the battle between extremists and the Americans, said now it is the U.S. military they fear most. "The mujahadeen (holy warriors) will kill you if you stand against them or say anything against them. And the Americans will kill you if the mujahadeen attack them several kilometers away," said Mohammed alHadithi, 32, a barber who lives in neighboring Haqlania. With a cigarette between his fingers, he pointed at a Marine patrol as it passed in front of his shop. "I look at each of them, and I see killers." Haditha, a town of about 100,000 people in Anbar province, undeniably is an insurgent bastion. Around the time of the attack, several storefronts were lined with posters and pictures supporting al-Qaida, although residents said they posted them to appease extremists. Insurgents blend in with the residents, setting up their cells in homes next to those belonging to everyday citizens, some of them supportive. There is no functioning police station and the government offices are largely vacant. The last man to call himself mayor relinquished the title

earlier this year after scores of death threats from insurgents. The military wouldn't release statistics, but attacks on U.S. troops are frequent. Indeed, Haditha has been the site of some of the deadliest attacks against U.S. forces. On Aug. 1, six Marine reservists were killed in an ambush; two days later, a roadside bomb killed 14 Marines traveling in an amphibious assault vehicle just outside the town, the deadliest single attack ever on U.S. forces. On Nov. 19, according to military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michelle MartinHing, the Marines were hit four separate times by roadside bombs and were fired on multiple times by gunmen they couldn't see. Three years after the war began, the U.S. military concedes it hasn't figured out how to tell a terrorist from an ordinary citizen in places like Haditha. A newly poured spot of asphalt now marks the spot where the IED, or improvised explosive device, exploded. It was 7:15 a.m. and the blast was the first IED of the day. Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, of El Paso, Texas, died instantly. The armed fire attack started immediately, according to the Marines. There is as yet no official public version of what took place next and U.S. officials familiar with the investigation would discuss the incident only if their names were not used. According to these officials, a car approached the convoy at about the same time the shooting began. The Marines signaled it to stop and it did. But it was too close to the convoy and when four men jumped out of it, the Marines, suspecting the men had been involved in the IED attack, shot them dead. Yaseen said he and his brother's family were asleep in their houses

about 100 yards away when the explosion woke them. Minutes later, they heard the Marines blocking off the road. Yaseen, citing Safa's account, said Younes started to prepare the family for the search they knew was coming, separating the men from the women and the children, as is custom during searches. Younes moved his five children and sister-in-law into the bedroom, Yaseen said Safa told him. There, his wife was lying in bed, recovering from an appendectomy. They waited. The Marines moved into another house first, according to U.S. officials. In that house, the Marines saw a line of closed doors and thought an ambush was coming. They shot, and seven people inside were killed, including one child. Two other children who stayed in the house survived. A woman who ran out with her baby also survived, military officials said. Yaseen said Safa told him that her father heard something so he went to the front of the house. Seconds later, Safa said she heard several gunshots. She didn't know it at the time, but her father was dying. Four Marines then moved into the bedroom, where some of her sisters were standing at their mother's bedside, hugging her. Yassen said Safa told him that one Marine started yelling at them in English, but that they didn't understand what he was saying. The women and children started screaming in fear, which Yaseen could hear from next door. This went on for several minutes, he said. He said he never heard gunshots, only a long sudden silence. Desperate, he tried to get next door and find out what happened, but Marines wouldn't let him pass. "The waiting was killing me," Yaseen said. "We didn't know what happened."

Three hours later, someone knocked at Yaseen's door. He could hear a young voice wheezing and sobbing on the other side. It was Safa, covered in blood and dirt. Yaseen said he couldn't remember what she was wearing; he only saw the blood. The family was dead, Safa told Yaseen. Yaseen's wife cleaned Safa up while Yaseen prepared a white flag. Marines were still blocking the area. Carrying the flag, Yaseen, his wife, and Safa ran 200 yards to another relative's house where they have stayed since. Safa trembled as Yaseen told the story to a visitor. She tried to tell it herself, but she couldn't. "My father told us to gather in one room, so the Americans could search," she said. And then she started to cry. Yaseen said that Safa told him that four soldiers came into the bedroom, but only one did the yelling. Her mother, who had heard the shooting asked: "What did you do to my husband?" Her sisters, mother and aunt were crying. And then the one soldier who had been yelling started shooting. Frightened, Safa fainted. She thought she had died. When she awoke, she remembered seeing her mother still lying in bed. Her head was blown open. She looked around and heard her 3-year-old brother, Mohammed, moan in pain. The blood was pouring out of his right arm. "Come on, Mohammed. Get up so we can go to uncle's house," she told her brother. But he couldn't. In the same room where her mother, aunt and sisters lay dead, Safa grabbed the toddler, sat down and leaned his head against her shoulder. She put his arm against her chest and held it to try to stop the bleeding. She kept holding and talking to him until, like everyone else in the room, he too was silent. And then she ran next door.

Yaseen didn't see the rest of his brother's family until he went to Haditha Hospital the next day to pick up the bodies. Dr. Waleed Abdul Khaliq al-Obeidi, the director of Haditha Hospital, said they arrived around midnight, about 12 hours after Safa left her house. According to the death certificates, Younes died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. His wife, who was lying in bed, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head. The daughters were all shot in the chest. Mohammed bled to death. Younes didn't have a weapon, military officials confirmed. According to the U.S. military officials, the Marines entered five houses that day. In the third house, they found a group of women and children and asked where the men were. The women pointed out the house and the Marines left, without firing a round. At that house, they found four men, some of them armed, and shot them dead. Another group of Marines entered a fifth house, which appeared to be a terrorist cell. It had sleeping bags, weapons and a pile of Jordanian passports, military officials said. The men there were detained without incident. Late last month, an IED exploded near the same spot where Terrazas was killed. Nearby shops started closing in the middle of the day, telling customers they feared being detained. Drivers suddenly stopped and pointed to the rising plume of smoke. "That might have targeted the Americans," one driver said to another stopped and fearful about what to do next. "The Americans are coming." AMERICANS:STOP KILLING PEOPLE FOR WALL STREET. ARE YOU NOT TIRED OF KILLING FOR 200 YEARS? ONLY MORE TERROR WILL FOLLOW.

At 1:20 AM, Anonymous said...

I think those Iraqis are the bravest people in the world.. The Americans and British beating down on them defenseless people. Still the Iraqis will not quit.

At 10:56 AM, Anonymous said...

You have been duped. The real Saddam is not on trial. "This is not my husband but his double. Where is my husband? Take me to my husband...You think I do not know my husband? I was married to the man for more than twentyfive years!" ...Sajida Hussein

The real Mohammed Atta does not have a weak chin. He called his father a day after 9/11. His father believes that he is in hiding because the Mossad

is after him to kill him. Almost all of the Major US TV networks broadcasted evidence that a UAV destroyed one of the WTC towers. Here is the video (in a zip file) to prove it. WTC #7 was brought down by a controlled Demolition. The media has been mum about this fact. Why? Could it be because it was targeted but the plane which was supposed to destroy it came down in Pennsylvania instead? Convince me that I am wrong. Choose Your topic. Here or at Letsroll911. com

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Grandma in Iraq

Grandma in Iraq
Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, posts from Iraq. Fournier is the Public Affairs Officer for the Gulf Region Southern District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Iraq.

THURSDAY, APRIL 06, 2006

Building roads to villages

Id like to show you a few pictures from my trip to Diwaniyah last week. I had the opportunity to visit some road projects we are building in two different rural areas. While the engineers were evaluating the contractors progress, I got a chance to build relationships with the community by giving out school supplies, balls and stuffed animals to the local children.

These boys are clearly pleased to have a soccer ball; they were all set to start playing a game when I indicated that I wanted to join them. Fortunately for me, we didnt have time to start a soccer game-- young boys and soccer-- I know when Im out of my league.

This is what Iraq calls a mud school. The brick are made from mud and dried, the floor is mud and the roof is made up of a number of materials. The support beam is actually a shaft out of a truck, the cross beams are the trunks of date trees and in between, they have laid mats, date leaves and reeds with mud to form a roof. This school has 175 students, there is no running water, electricity or bathrooms. You can imagine what happens to the school when it rains. I wish we could replace every mud school in Iraq, but unfortunately, we cant. As it is, we have replaced or modernized over 800 schools in Iraq. We are going to replace this one. Id love to be here to see these children when they get to attend their new school.

The kids are delightful, full of fun and so many beautiful, happy smiles. All the children were barefooted and a little ragtag as playing children always are. Brothers and sisters are urging and helping the little ones come from their homes to see us so they could claim a teddy bear or some school supplies too.

This particular area grows grain, vegetables and rice and they have many sheep. In fact almost all of Iraq has sheep, every time I go out I see shepherds tending their flocks, caring for them as they graze. This whole area is very rural, and the road will allow better access to markets so farmers can sell their produce. They can also have reliable roads to get to their mosque, children can get to school and the sick can get medical care without having to worry about the rains. Dirt roads are not reliable here when the winter rains pour, flooding the area and making the soil sticky, like glue.

Here is another village where we are building a road. This area is somewhat different from the first, they have a canal that separates the community. There are many date trees and in fact, the contractor had to remove some date trees to put the road where the community wanted it. Iraqi people are resourceful, the date tree trunks are now being used as bridges across the canal. This style of home is very typical in Iraq, most people sleep on blankets and mats. During the day they frequently hang the blankets over the walls for airing. Notice one of the homes has a satellite dish, this is becoming a very common scene in Iraq. They may not have many possessions, but Iraqi people crave infomation. Perhaps it is because it was denied to them for so long under the Saddam regime. It is amazing how much we take for granted.

A canal in an area like this is used for drinking water and cleaning. Here a woman fills her containers with water. I have frequently seen woman balancing jars of water on their heads as they walk to their homes. This community is very blessed to have such a close source of water; many other communities need to go much further to retrieve their water. They have more cows here than I've seen in most communities in the south. I almost always see a few goats and of course sheep, lots of sheep.

We had a similar reception in this community. The children came running as soon as we stopped the cars. Young and old met together, we shook hands, the children eagerly accepted school supplies, candy and balls, while the adults smiled proudly showing off their babies.

This young man was lucky enough to get a basketball. I enjoyed his smile as he clearly claims his new possession.

It is easier for us to travel to rural areas than it is to move through the crowded cities. I'll show you a little about traveling in cities in the next blog and try to provide a few snapshots of urban scenes.

Let me close this blog with a picture of a beautiful baby and her proud Dad. Here my friend Russ gave the Dad some candy for his child. Babies are the same everywhere, we all love and cherish them. posted by Suzanne Fournier @ 5:59 AM 149 comments

149 Comments:

At 8:34 AM, Anonymous said...

This blog is a sham.

At 8:37 AM, Grandpa in Cincy said...

Attention Enquirer Editors, Take this blog down before the national media picks up on this PR debacle.

At 8:54 AM, Anonymous said...

Hey! Here's an idea: Why doesn't The Enquirer/Cincinnati.com start a blog called "Grandma in Over-The-Rhine." I'd love to hear about all the nonviolence that's happening there.

At 9:00 AM, Jeff Hamilton said...

propaganda: n. the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect

At 10:12 AM, Susan Forman said...

This post has been removed by the author.

At 12:17 PM, Anonymous said...

>I wish we could replace every mud school in Iraq, but unfortunately, we cant. Putting aside issues of security--I know, I know, that's not possible--why can't replace _every_ mud school? What would it cost? Say, a billion dollars? (And that seems wildly over the top.) Why not track down the missing money from the CPA, take the people who stole it to court, and then use the money to replace _every_ mud school. Considering the scope of the war and how reasonable you make reconstruction sound, it seem like the least we could do.

At 12:21 PM, smintheus said...

I wonder whether the US Army Corps of Engineers PR department has any pictures of Iraqi children who are not smiling and whooping it up? For example, children who are injured in the civil war, or grieving over slain parents? I've seen quite a few such pictures on blogs and in (foreign) newspapers, but not a single one on this web page. Grandma, you claim that your reporting is valuable because you're on the spot and have inside information. So are all those reports of child casualties and devastation false? Or do you just not have any information about those things? Or perhaps there's another possibility...you just don't propose to talk about such unpleasantness? "Fair and balanced." It isn't just for Fox News anymore.

At 12:43 PM, Anonymous said...

If you all want to see torn up bodies, dead children, and all that, just turn to most National media. You can see it almost every night. What you don't see is what Granny is reporting on. What is wrong with a Grandma wishing that all these children had nice schools? Whe is one person. She can't change the world by herself, but she does bring smiles to children's faces. Really, there is no use trying to defend her, you have decided that since she wears a uniform, she can do no good? Granny, ignore them, keep up the good work, I love your blogs and the pictures. Remember, to some people, no good deed shall go unpunished. God Bless; B. Richards

At 1:27 PM, skipsailing said...

It takes a very sad person to object to this blog. Sad, angry and self righteous people such as those that object to this blog will never admit that things are going well in iraq. They can't because they have staked their reputations on predictions of gloom and doom.

further, they cannot admit that Saddam ravaged the country for his own purposes while leaving ordinary iraqis either destitute or dead. Those posters here who crave visions of maimed and dead bodies (well first, they need help) should peruse the various terrorist web sites, since its the terrorists who found the killing of children useful. One particulary egregious example was the purposeful car bombing of children who had gathered around a US military vehicle in the hopes of a gift. Not only did that attack slaughter innocent children but the US foiled a follow up plan to suicide bomb the funeral of these slain kids. Honestly, how sick can you be to revel in that death and gore while repudiating the scenes posted here? Are you so blinded by your hatred that you can no longer tell right from wrong? I think so. In a few days the naysayers posting here will find something new about which to be righteously indignant. They will wander off to spew their venom elsewhere leaving the blog to those of us who find it encouraging and valuable. Grandpa in cincy, time to use your head. Act your age gramps, The national media is being embarrassed daily now and they are finally starting to recognize it. I wonder how the NYT will explain a 40% drop in stock value at the next board meeting. I wonder how CNN explains its loss of the top position on cable. do you really think Katy what's her name will revive C BS after Ratherquiddick? jeff hamilton has only one thing to say, and there's a mercy. And of course our dear smintheus, who has arrogated unto himself the job of deciding just exactly how this blog should be run.

At 1:38 PM, Anonymous said...

Skipjack, You a sad, blind fool. Pull your head out of the ground, or out of your ass as the case may be. This Propaganda Blog should come down. What an embarrassment to journalism this is. The Enquirer sucks.

At 1:39 PM, Kathi said...

Suzanne Thanks once again for your posting. As a mother and soon to be grandmother, it was important to me to read the viewpoint of someone like you. I haven't even bothered to find out what all the hullabaloo that all the snarky, nasty, and small minded commenters are raving about is. Sounds like a manufactured tempest in a teapot. I agree there has to be a way to halt anonymous comments, check with Blogger. To SKIPSAILING....I am still rolling on the floor laughing over your comment on the previous post regarding journalist ethics:) Thanks for making my day! And I am hopeful that you are right, and that in a few days the people who have spewed such vitriol in the comments will have found somewhere else to spew. God bless you,Suzanne!

At 1:41 PM, Anonymous said...

inundate this right wing propaganda blog with postings until it crashes or the fishwrap takes it down!

At 1:49 PM, Anonymous said...

I agree, there's plenty of news out there that highlights the civilian and military casualties in Iraq, but very few that highlight the good that is taking place as a result of the hard work that our Soldiers, Sailors, Airman, Marines and members of the U.S. Government are doing in that country. And similar efforts are taking place in many parts of the world to include Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa. And speaking of death and destruction in Iraq, where's the national media coverage of all the murders, rapes and robberies that occur in this country every day? In this country where we are supposed to be safe and secure? Where is your outrage at this lack of news coverage? Other than the most heinous of crimes, the rest go virtually unnoticed and unreported. Do you know how many people are murdered every year in this country? In 2004 there were 16, 137 murders, 94, 635 rapes, 401,326, robberies and 845, 911 assaults. Put things into perspective. Life is better in Iraq than it has been in years, but our media focuses our attention on the negative and the insurgents want the U.S. population to focus on the negative. The more we see the negative the less and less supportive the average U.S. citizen will be to support the war. Thats what the insurgents want and they are winning. Is that what we want as a country and as a society? We better start getting serious about this war and about the consequences of loosing it and realize that

these terrorists goals are much broader than simply kicking us out of Iraq. They are looking to take what you have. Western news media has habitually reported on the most negative aspects of human behavior because that's what sells papers and gets ratings -- "if it bleeds it leads." That's never going to change. So if someone wants to highlight the good taking place in a war zone such as Iraq, more power to them. And I dont care if she is a public affairs office or not. She has a right as a citizen to speak her mind. I just hope that those who read her posts are open minded enough to listen. As long as what is written about is truthful and factual I think it is useful, fair and much needed. Hang in their Grandma, you're doing great!!! S. Campbell

At 1:49 PM, College Hillbilly said...

Right on, anonymous. Free speech is a precious, finite commodity. Allowing someone else to give their perspective from Iraq erodes all of our rights to sit on our couches and criticize the war. We should not stop at debating this issue with facts. We should attempt to shout down anyone who disagrees with us.

At 1:59 PM, Anonymous said...

I love this blog! You go girl!

At 2:20 PM, Nicole said...

My mother is indeed a real person, and a real Grandma. She is a generous, beautiful and amazing woman who truly believes in her job. She loves her job with the Corps of Engineers and she loves to tell people about the good things that they do. That's all this blog is about. It didn't pretend to be anything but that. We all know bad things are happening in Iraq. We hear about it every day on the news. Isn't it slightly refreshing to hear about some of the good things in Iraq? Even for us liberals? Personally, I would like to hope that some good is coming out of this war. My mother is giving us a glimpse of some of the progress that IS being made. Love you, Mom! Can't wait to see you when you get home!

At 2:25 PM, Anonymous said...

800 Mud Schools - 300 BILLION DOLLARS 3 year quagmire - 40000 DEAD 1 Muddy faced smiling future suicide bomber - PRICELESS

Here little boy. $5000 soccer ball for ya. Courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer. We'll have your daddy back from sexually humiliating bag-over-the-head run-naked through excrement incarceration at some future date. Because... we care. I remember reading about the 3rd Reich in school. The ascendancy of the National Socialist party through the 30s, and day after day in class, I was thinking, how could people just accept all this. Without a word. Without speaking out. Without standing against it. Little by little, incrementally, the mounting lies, the belligerence, the sheer insanity of it all. Friends, we keep acquiescing to this INSANITY, we will look back 10 years from now and wonder sorrowfully why we stood by without doing something. It's time to be heard. SUZANNE: You don't round up and arrest and kill and slaughter whole clans and then walk around soothing nerves with SOCCER BALLS. You don't plant a boot on someone's neck and hold a gun to their head and smile at them and say, 'we're here to help you.' You don't enter a stranger's house uninvited, with a metal smashing fist blasting your way through the countryside, and expect to change people's minds with SOCCER BALLS. In 2003 the insurgency was estimated to be 20,000. In 2004, the insurgency was estimated to be 20,000. Three years later, an alleged 40,000 insurgents imprisoned or killed, and today, the insurgency is estimated to be 20,000. Where DO they all come from? Little kids kicking around your $5000 soccer balls. The brutal stupidity of this whole mess is so sickening words do not suffice. But LET'S DO be PERFECTLY CLEAR about this. This isn't a republican

mess, a democrat mess, an administration mess. The Military Industrial Complex of this country, with the full support of the House of Representatives, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court, the National Media, has signed off on this CATASTROPHIC mess, and is throwing out our good name, our freedoms, our proud heritage, our financial solvency, our sense of decency, ALL OF IT, in less than a generation, for........... WHAT??????? Soccer balls. Water pipes. Mud fields. Dirt roads. And miles and miles of corpses. DISGUSTED

At 2:44 PM, Anonymous said...

I see you drank the purple terrorist Kool-aid and that you have your facts wrong. This is a long war and it is a struggle that we can't afford to loose. You're making light of something that deserves much more respect. As usual, youre heavy on the vitriolic rhetoric, but light on facts and reasoning...One point you make is well said, "where do they all come from?" It is that exact point that should concern us all. Until we can stop the newly recruited extremists, we are not going to be safe and running away isn't going to solve the problem. This country must stay the course...

At 2:46 PM, Anonymous said...

What an immature response...

At 3:49 PM, Anonymous said...

BOOM. Okay. Gauntlet. Let's do it. Right here. Right now. FACTS. Let's discuss FACTS. Fire away. FACTS. DEBATE. Can't wait. No namecalling. No B.S. Facts. Sweet sweet scientific FACTS. FACT: The U.S. has a current national deficit of 8,000,000,000,000 dollars... and counting. FACT: In order not to DEFAULT on the debt to pay for this DEBT, your sleazeball political representatives had to raise the debt ceiling. No debate on it, no arguing about it. Raised it, there you go. Sweet sweet soccer ball granny's 15 grandkids got handed a sweet sweet little present of $40,000 DEBT... EACH. There you go grandkids. Gramma loves you. PAY up. 40K. Let's go. PAY. FACT: The PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA is the NUMBER ONE buyer/owner of U.S. Treasury bonds that help PAY for this ASTRONOMICAL DEBT. WITHOUT Chinese bond purchases, you don't get your rifle ammo, you don't get your soccer balls to Iraqi suicide bomber babies, you don't get your fancy 82nd Airborne, you don't get your 12 aircraft carriers patrolling the high seas in search of evildoers. Without the COMMUNIST Chinese paying OUR debt, you get SQUAT. FACT: On September 11, 2001, four commercial U.S. airliners, commandeered by 19 Saudi and Kuwaiti nationals who trained in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Germany, and Florida, were exploded into targets across the Eastern seaboard, which was observed by Israeli

Intelligence agents, who were arrested by U.S. federal officials, interrogated, and then released. Poof. Gone. FACT. IN RESPONSE to this, our great and grand and benevolent masters chose to launch a military invasion of a former strategic ally, to wit, IRAQ, a country we supported financially, militarily and economically for over forty years, through a political ally WE installed and supported, to wit, one Saddam Hussein, who merrily gassed Kurds with happy recklessness , to which we responded with...................... MORE military support, a country we then turned our backs on on the drop of a dime, and have held in a VICE GRIP since 1991 with aerial overflights, tactical BOMBINGS, weapons inspectors, covert operators, and economic sanctions. A country we WHOOOPED in less than 100 hours in 1991, and after 12 years, with ALL that military and economic and political pressure, mysteriously ends up SMACK DAB in the center of our target ring, because, and get this, thousands of surveillance flights by the U.S. Air Force over the course of 12 years, dozens of Special Operations forces cruising freely through the country, international weapons inspectors somehow MISS the evil and satanic Saddam Hussein SECRETLY building.... drumroll.................. weapons of MAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSS destruction.......... under our VERY noses for 12 years no less. And THREE YEARS later, after OWNING every single last square inch of Iraqi real estate and the entire population under our boot and at our beck and call, we manage to find exactly NOT ONE OUNCE of ANYTHING of these alleged WMDs. And I am of course ASTOUNDED by this. WOW. What a SHOCKER. There you go. Debate. Go. Do it. Argue. Reason. What? WHAT?

At 3:51 PM, JM said...

The person who posted the endless "Bring down this blog" post may be immature, but he/she also has a valid point. Nothing against grandma as a person, but this blog has NO reason to be on a news-related site.

At 4:14 PM, Anonymous said...

Suzanne Fournier should sever her ties with the Enquirer and run her blog independently. It is her affiliation with the Enquirer which, by hosting her blog, is providing tacit endorsement of her point of view. What if the Enquirer hosted a blog covering medical issues written by a PR flak for the pharmaceutical industry. It would stink, just like this does. Ms. Fournier is not a reporter for the Enquirer and she is not a disinterested party. She has every right to express her opinions and to push the Army's agenda. What she shouldn't be doing is using a major daily newspaper to promote that agenda. The longer the Enquirer keeps this going, the more of a joke they become. It's their reputation that's going down the toilet.

At 4:17 PM, Rob Bernard said...

You want to discuss facts Anonymous 3:49? How about we start with your name?

At 4:19 PM, Anonymous said...

When it comes to bad timing, you've got to hand it to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Just as the rest of the country is finally joining the world and turning against Bush-Cheney and this disgraceful failure of a war, the Enquirer decides to defend an Army propaganda blog. As the bumper sticker says, you can't fix dumb. And still neither the paper nor Ms. Fournier will say who at the Enquirer hired her. When will we get an answer to that question, Ms. Fournier? You have time to post all your happy snapshots. Why are you refusing to answer the question?

At 4:33 PM, Anonymous said...

FACT. Anonymous has written more in the comments than Granny has in her blog. FACT. Anonymous demands Granny identifies herself before she can write what she sees first hand. FACT. Anonymous refuses to identify himself but writes whatever he believes.

FACT. Many of his facts are wrong. FACT. If and when he grows up, he will look back on this in shame, else why remain anonymous. Puberty is tough, isn't it, anonymous. SPECULATION. Anonymous has a fair chance of becoming a man before his mother will.

myblg4u

At 4:38 PM, News Junkie said...

Ah, yes, all you Enquirer-bashers. But this blog has nothing to do with the Enquirer. From the Editor & Publisher story: Callinan stressed, however, that the blog is a separate entity from the Enquirer. He pointed out that, while both are on Cincinnati.com, the blog and the Enquirer's Web site, are separate. "There are a lot of things on the Cincinnati.com portal that our newsroom is not generating," he added. "This one was just one more voice." Managing Editor Hollis Towns said many in the newsroom did not know about the blog until the recent controversy. "There were a number of people who were unaware of it," he said. "The newsroom does not direct content on the Web."

At 4:41 PM, skipsailing said...

The thing is, anonymous postings are really not very helpful. One anonymous poster attempted to goad me. sorry old chum, I don't respond to anonymous. If you'd like to engage in a discussion, get a blogger ID and we'll have at it. but if you lack the courage to do that, well I just can't see spending my time dealing with you. It is simply amazing to me that the anti war crowd has sunk to this nadir of decency. This level of anger and vitriol smacks of desperation and that is not surprising. It is clear that iraq is creaking and groaning its way toward a new day. that new day will be without a Saddam hussein or the dictator Dujour but it will be with hope for the future a hope that NO ONE in Iraq had prior to the co alition's arrival. why is the left, which was founded on such lofty priniciples, so willing to condemn the people of the Middle East to grinding poverty and oppression? What happened to the values that used to animate you? Frankly, the pictures here are not uncommon elsewhere on the web. this is one of the biggest problems that the national news organizations face. There is a flood of photographs and videos being brought home by our people in Iraq. these tell a story that is much different from what the MSM (apparently) has shared. Recently I had the opportunity to review thousands of photos taken by members of our military and I was amazed. Further, those that find this blog to be "propaganda" should go visit some other milblogs. There you will find that the activities highlighted

in today's posting are a common part of what our military does everyday in Iraq. When this war first started the anti war crowd insisted that the US military win not only the fighting, but hearts and minds. It is quite clear that these magnificient people in our military have indeed won both. Yet here we see the same old thoughtless bigotry. Our military is viewed as baby killers or murderers or worse, yet anyone with a few minutes and a web connection knows that this is simply not the case. the anti war left routinely, and thoughtlessly, accuses our military of doing EXACTLY what Al quaeda does as often as possible. In fact Al Quaeda in iraq was so brutal and so savage that even the Sunnis have turned their backs on them. the Iraqis will have peace, in fact the vast majority of them already do, and they will have a chance at prosperity that will shame the neighboring governments. Mesopotamia was once the cradle of civilization, Baghdad was once the center of learning for the region and many in Iraq dream of day when that glory returns. do they have a long road ahead? of course, but as we all know, the journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet. so let them take their first few faltering steps. Let them learn new ways of resolving conflict and making decisions, let them grow and join the modern world. We in America should be proud of the great gift we have given the Iraqis. We should be proud of the men and women who went there to fight and to heal. We should be proud that our mission wasn't simple revenge or threat elimination but a great experiment to see if a great people can bestow a great gift on others in need. what is so wrong with this? why is the american left so angry about

what we are doing here? It seems to me that this is exactly what the movement set out to do all those years ago in San Francisco and woodstock. How far have you strayed from your noble heritage?

At 5:03 PM, Anonymous said...

Yes. What's your name. The bootstomp of every fascist in history. Ausweiss Bitte. Like the string of vowels and consonents is going to change anything. Four counterposts and nothing but name-calling and slanders. My facts are wrong? Prove it. Or not. Your slandering maligning rhetoric speaks for itself. My name? My name is U.S. Army Veteran. My name is Honorable Discharge. My name is Tax Payer. My name is Registered Voter. My name is Federal Firearms Dealer. My name is Firearms Owner. My name is Patrick Henry. Save your leftist Commie shill rhetoric for your baboon conventions. I probably own more firearms than the lot of you combined. Men and women in my family have served this country in North Africa, France, Germany, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq. You don't get to wrap yourself in MY flag. It's precisely because my family has served in every single major TO since WWII that I REFUSE to allow one single more member to go off to bleed or die for some political shill's financial self-aggrandizement and enrichment. You sad Commie pigs are so high on federal handouts and so politically illiterate you make Joseph Stalin look like a Goldwater Republican. Not a single one of you has answered.

More slanders. Go for broke. Knock yourself out. No debate. Nothing. Just a pack of illiterate jabbering baboons high on Commie Chinese bond buyouts baring their teeth. Boy oh boy am I scared. Yawn. I knew it. Civics lesson concluded.

At 5:06 PM, skipsailing said...

Nicole, your mom is doing a magnificent job. her task in Iraq is important and thoughtful people will value her for her efforts. As to the thoughtless people here, I will give you the same advice I posted yesterday: Nihil illigitimata non carborundum. Kathi, thank you for the kind words.

At 5:30 PM, smintheus said...

The point of objection is obvious, to anybody who's willing to consider it: That this blog is propaganda by an Army Corps propagandist, and it's linked to the Enquirer. Nobody is objecting to good deeds in Iraq, nor belittling service to one's country. Nor is anybody objecting to Grandma in Iraq having a blog per se, nor telling her what to write or think.

The objection is simply that this is government propaganda. Witness the absense of any discussion on this blog of the war, the civil war, or the effects of warfare on Iraqis, except the good deeds of Americans there. The attempt of the Enquirer to distance itself from these blogs is laughable. Anybody checked out any of the other blogs hosted at this site? No connection to the newspaper? Hah. The Enquirer never would have gotten involved in the controversy if they weren't already involved in the blog.

At 5:49 PM, mintmilano said...

I'm going to try and quantify some of the things that are wrong with this blog. 1) the personalization of the author as a woman and specifically as "Grandma", which is obviously designed to emotionally manipulate the reader, lower their standards as to what to expect as far as the quality of authorship ("it may not get a pulitzer, but hey, she's a grandma ! and she's over there !") and make it hard to criticize her. Is it relevant to the topic ? No. Lots of women that have all kinds of jobs around the world, including some very dangerous ones, happen to have grandchildren. I get the feeling they'd put up a blog about Iraq written by a small, big eyed puppy if they thought they could get away with it. 2) no bad news. I mean, She's been over there for a while, there's just no way she hasn't seen some very real horrors. If you were writing honestly about your experiences, for the primary purpose of expressing

what it is actually like to be there, don't you think those might come into it at some point ?

At 5:57 PM, Reginald Van Gleason IV said...

-Yea skipsailing, you are not anonymous at all, are you? -'The Long War'; Bushco's 5th attempt to find a brand name for this 'war' that will catch on. Keep looking boys. -This blog is written by a quisling propagandist, and hosted by a biased hackneyed rag. RVGIV

At 5:58 PM, skipsailing said...

Jeeze, smintheus, you really have whining down to a science don't you? if you think this is propaganda, then don't bleeping read it. Take it off your favorites list and move on. How hard is that to understand? Here's your money quote: "The objection is simply that this is government propaganda." Again, if you find it so objectionable go away and find something more to your tastes. and even if it is "government propaganda" so what? will the earth come to a screeching halt because your overwrought sensibilities are some

how offended? As I stated earlier, the paper that hosts this has no obligation to meet your standards at all. Is this all about being fair smintheus? Well if you want fair go to your mother. Life ain't fair. Grandma's got a blog and all you've got is an objection. Nope, don't seem fair, does it? I would ask you to bear something else in mind, and I share this with the other vituperative posters here. You are a guest. This is someone else's place, not yours. do you routinely visit people's homes to tell them how they must order their lives? Have you wandered over to your neighbors house to offer unrequested advice? Are you a busybody, running about telling everyone what they must do to insure that you never have an "objection"? what about simple politeness to your gracious host Smintheus? is that not something you are capable of? have you read the posts of the author's daughter? Does it fill you will glee to know that this woman feels compelled to respond to your boorish behavior? have you no shame? have you no self control? yesterday you remarked that I built a psychological profile for you. Well I'm about to add another detail: Grandma here has more courage than you. Not only does she have a better job than most, one that she clearly enjoys, but she's also working in a dangerous place while you sit in your arm chair doing the only thing you know how: bloviate.

You've said your piece, your "objection" is noted. so what?

At 6:02 PM, Anonymous said...

Anon 349, you ripped more holes in one post than the entire national media in three years. Good going. There's the Enquirer's lesson right there. Some anonymous blog post asks more hard questions in one single posting than your entire editorial staff since the start of the war. And you wonder why the Internet is winning over print media. For shame.

At 6:18 PM, mintmilano said...

Hey skipsailing... this isn't somebody's house. It is a pack of lies that we are all PAYING FOR with our tax dollars, published on this website for the express purpose of deluding people like you. As you say, how hard is that to understand ? I'm paying Gramma's salary, so I'm entitled to rate her job performance. I'll be brief, it sucks; this is because she lacks a basic understanding of the role and responsibility of the profession. She's doing it the wrong way because she is doing it for the wrong reasons. "As I stated earlier, the paper that hosts this has no obligation to meet your standards at all. " nonsense. Despite their ongoing failure, they have a deep obligation,

and at least some of them are well aware of it. The free press is the only constitutionally protected industry in the US and is a big part of what we wave around all the time when we tell everybody else how much better we are than them.

At 6:21 PM, Anonymous said...

Skipjackass is one sad sack of crap, isn't he? He is so blindly allegiant to Bush, the war in Iraq and the repugnant party that he has stuck his head deep into the ground to avoid running into any facts. He has become obsessed with this blog, and he is defending it as though it were his own offspring. Meanwhile, The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high. 69% of America now opposes the war in Iraq. Sorry skipjackass, there is a wind of change blowing, and your corrupt GOP overlords are going to be kicked out of power this November. Then we will impeach this lying, cheating lawbreaking bastard of a president. BRING THIS PROPAGANDIST BLOG DOWN INDEED!!!!

At 6:36 PM, Anonymous said...

Not sayin that these are great debates or anything, far from it, just wanted to point out that during the Federalist-Anti-Federalist debates preceeding the drafting of the Constitution many contributors posted

anonymously under pseudonyms. It was common practice. So I don't really see how establishing identity over the internet for a bunch of comments is going to prove anything one way or the other. In the end, the arguments should speak for themself on the strength of their ideas.

At 6:36 PM, Anonymous said...

Editor & Publisher is continuing to follow this story. They published this second article today.

At 6:41 PM, Anonymous said...

Islamic extremists are exploiting the Iraqi conflict to recruit new antiU.S. jihadists. These jihadists who survive will leave Iraq experienced and focused on acts of urban terrorism. They represent a potential pool of contacts to build transnational terrorist cells, groups and networks in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries. -Porter Goss, CIA Director We are not going to win the War on Terror just by killing people abroad, even if they are terrorists. It's not enough.... It's not like we can single out, if we could just kill, it's not World War II where there were certain number of enemy formations, or factories to produce aircraft and once you eliminated these you could be pretty sure that the situation would appear different to the enemy leadership. This is not that kind of a conflict.

When we kill people, we make enemies! And when we kill the wrong people, it's even worse and less defensible. -General wesley Clark [Iraq] is far graver than Vietnam. There wasn't as much at stake strategically, though in both cases we mindlessly went ahead with the war that was not constructive for US aims. But now we're in a region far more volatile, and we're in much worse shape with our allies. -General William Odom Of particular concern has been the conflation of al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's Iraq as a single, undifferentiated terrorist threat. This was a strategic error of the first order because it ignored critical differences between the two in character, threat level and susceptibility to U.S. deterrence and military action. The result has been an unnecessary preventive war of choice against a deterred Iraq that has created a new front in the Middle East for Islamic terrorism and diverted attention and resources away from securing the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al-Qaeda. - Strategic Studies Institute of the Army War College I'm not the expert on how the Iraqi people think, because I live in America, where it's nice and safe and secure. -George w. Bush

At 6:47 PM, Anonymous said...

The Cincinnati Enquirer looks like groveling administration toadies in front of the entire publishing industry. The second Editor & Publisher quotes Peter Bronson: "I don't see a problem with it as long as it is clear who it is."

Why is Bronson quoted? My bet is it was Bronson who invited Ms. Fournier to publish her blog on the Enquirer's real estate. Then when the booboo hit the fan, he got the honor of giving a quote to E&P. The Enquirer has been on its knees ever since Lindner took them to the cleaners. Now the rest of the country is getting a whiff of how they operate. Callinan, don't be an idiot. Look what happened to the WashPost with their fake right wing Ben Domenech blog. Pull the plug on Grandma. Reporters and editors are laughing at you.

At 9:20 PM, Great Defense! said...

I like how Hollis Towns defends the paper by making its reporters/editors sound like aloof, out-of-touch people who don't even read Cincinnati.com. What a pathetic and backhanded defense.

At 10:31 PM, Nicole said...

Well, I hate to spoil the party, but my mother's service is done, so this blog is soon to be history. But, keep up the debate. People who love America ask a lot of tough questions. We want our country to do good and to be better. And that's why we get involved. That's a patriot, if you ask me.

But, you'll have to move the debate elsewhere. My mom's coming home.

At 10:45 PM, Anonymous said...

People who love America ask a lot of tough questions. How about you or your mother answering one, Nicole? Your mother's been ducking it all week. Who at the Enquirer gave her the go-ahead for this blog? Or does asking that question mean I don't love America?

At 10:55 PM, Anonymous said...

Sounds like the editorial board at the Enquirer was getting the whirlies so they gave Granny an honorable discharge!

At 11:00 PM, Anonymous said...

You gotta love the Enquirer. Bush's approval ratings are in the toity, Libby admits that Bush & Cheney ordered the Plame leak, but Tom Callinan wants to give a big wet one to Fearless Leader.

Tom and Peter Bronson, you blew it - as Cheney would say - Big Time!

At 11:07 PM, furtail said...

Nicole, Momma can't take the heat so she's leaving Iraq, and, consequently, the blog is coming down? How incidental and timely. Your momma had an IMPOSSIBLE job. I hope she doesn't waste her time or my money on any stupid assignments in the future. Sincerely, A taxpayer

At 11:11 PM, Missy Van Eaton said...

Hey, I really enjoy the photos and it's fantastic to see read your stories. I hope that you will put your works together on paper when you get back home. Despite the crap some of the naysayers post here and in other blogs, there are many hundreds of thousands of grateful families who support your efforts. Keep rockin!

At 12:17 AM, Anonymous said...

Note that a national journal, Editor & Publisher, has run two lengthy articles on this controversy, yet the Enquirer has not reported the story about itself. One thing everybody agrees on, including Ms. Fournier's husband, is that the Enquirer sucks.

At 8:37 AM, skipsailing said...

Gotta love mintmilano, such a wonderful person. It must be a pleasure to around you. first: do you really pay taxes? how unique among your peers that must be. Next, it still doesn't matter. you haven't established, beyond your thoughtless exhortations that this author was paid by her employer to produce this blog. If this is so, I haven't seen the evidence, but if you've got it, do share. My personal favorite is the bit about having the right to judge her performance. Oh really? Tell us Mintmilano, do feel the same about every other government employee? Do you routinely criticize the guys in the police cars or the fine folks at the IRS? Can we expect to see you explaining the intricate details of letter carrying to your postman? YOu do get mail don't you?

That's among the silliest things I've heard. Now when will you address my question? Why are people like you so opposed to the US doing good in Iraq? My suspicion is that this blog's contents simply doesn't fit into your paradigm for the US or the US military. And as another poster pointed out, rather than debate, you'll attempt to simply shout it down. Like the unruly kids on a college campus who are fervent believers in free speech as long as its the free speech they want to hear. Hopefully some of the angry posters here will grow up. I don't have much hope for a few of you but some of you might actually one day mature enough to take a place in adult society. Another truly amazing point that dear Mintmilano makes is this: "...this is because she lacks a basic understanding of the role and responsibility of the profession. She's doing it the wrong way because she is doing it for the wrong reasons." It seems to me Mintmilano that you are being quite bigoted here. Let's examine your position for a moment. Is there some special religious sacrement that reporters must train for before they may 'report'? Is this process designed to insure that reporters perform only in a manner acceptable to you mintmilano? If this is so, how do explain eason jordan and jayson blair? How do you explain the almost daily retractions that the grey lady is forced to make? there's nothing oh so special about being a journalist. There's no secret society with a special handshake and a code of ethics. I've said it over and over: jouralistic ethics is an oxymoron.

Don't beleive me? Ask Dan Rather and Marla Mapes. They know all about journalistic ethics. YOu've arrogated to yourself the role of judge and jury. Everyone on the federal payroll must perform according to your exacting standard. But that's not enough, oh no. Now you're going to tell anybody in the media how they must behave. what's even more amazing is that you're not only quite willing to dictate performance standards to all and sundry, you are even intent on insuring that everyone's motivation is politically correct. But you're not arrogant at all are you mintmilano? You're just your average american guy with a deep sense of righteous indignation, right? somewhere in Indiana Ernie Pyle is rolling over in his grave.

At 9:06 AM, Smedley Darlington Butler said...

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 19021912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China

in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. - Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 June 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye," was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. Butler was awarded the Medal of Honor twice during his career, one of only 19 people to be so decorated.

At 9:08 AM, Dwight D. Eisenhower said...

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction... This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence economic, political, even spiritual is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.

- President of the United States (and former General of the Army) Dwight D. Eisenhower in his Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961

At 9:43 AM, Anonymous said...

Jason Blair may have made up stories out of journalistic laziness. That is not propaganda and your tax dollars did not pay Jason Blair's salary. It is conservatives such as Armstrong Williams who was paid $240,000 in taxpayer money, quietly siphoned from the U.S. Treasury via global PR agency Ketchum Inc that shows a pattern of disinformation. Nice work if you can get it. Apparently only conservative mouthpieces can. In 2002, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher repeatedly defended President Bush's push for a $300 million initiative encouraging marriage as a way of strengthening families. "The Bush marriage initiative would emphasize the importance of marriage to poor couples" and "educate teens on the value of delaying childbearing until marriage," she wrote in National Review Online, for example, adding that this could "carry big payoffs down the road for taxpayers and children." But Gallagher failed to mention that she had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal. In 2004 alone, the Bush administration spent more than $88 million on public relations contracts, drawn from a slush fund thats used more than $1.6 billion in tax dollars to sway public opinion. Its unclear exactly how much public largesse went to create covert propaganda;

but we know that at least three pr firms quietly pocketed tens of millions of dollars each to deploy faux journalists to flack for the conservative policies favored by the president. Whatever salary Grandma in Iraq receives comes from tax payer coffers. She is like P&G claiming that only Tide will get your clothes clean. Nothing she writes will be anything other than "happy horses**t". And let's not even get started on man whore Jeff Gannon.

At 9:50 AM, skipsailing said...

Yes, Dwight Eisenhower. I've read much of his writing. In crusade in europe he wrote: "The compelling necessities of the moment leave us no alternative to the maintenance of real and respectable strength--not only in our moral rectitude and economic power, but in terms of adequate military preparedness. To neglect this, pending universal resurgence of a definite spirit of co operation, is not only foolish, it is criminally stupid. Moreover, present day weakness will alarm our friends, earn the contempt of others, and virtually eliminate any influence of ours toward peaceful adjustment of world problems. The lessons of 1914 and 1939 remain valid so long as the world has not learned the futility of making competitive force the final arbiter of human questions." Crusade In Europe, doubleday 1949 page 476. What are the lessons for us today? First that our enemies will respond to weakness with contempt. Witness

OBL's sneering assumption that we would cut and run after an attack. His contempt for us lead directly to 9/11. Next, that unilateral disarmament might remain a lofty goal, but we still lack the necessary preconditions. That "spirit of co operation" is simply not universal yet. Finally, Eisenhower correctly points out that America must maintain three sources of influence: our military, our economic power and our moral rectitude. Despite the yammerings of the world wide socialist movement and its lackey's here in America we are doing well in all three areas. Thanks for bringing up Eisenhower.

At 10:28 AM, General Wesley Clark said...

Operating on the theory that if you say something enough times people will believe it, the Bush administration and its allies have in the last few years confidently put forth an array of assertions, predictions, and rationalizations about Iraq that have turned out to be nonsense. They've told us that Saddam's regime was on the verge of building nuclear weapons; that it had operational links with al Qaeda; that our allies would support our invasion if we stuck with our insistence about going it alone; that we could safely invade with a relatively small number of ground troops; that the Iraqi people would greet us as liberators; that Ahmed Chalabi could be trusted; that Iraq's oil revenues would pay for the country's reconstruction; and that most of our troops would be out of Iraq within six months of the initial invasion. - General Wesley Clark, Washington Monthly, May 2005

At 11:02 AM, Paul Krugman said...

Paul Krugman talks about the failure of Conservatism as a movement to address the problems of our country and of the Iraq War. The Republicans have been in power for six years. In that time, they have totally failed to address the problems of this country, especially the problems of Iraq. Conservatism is based on voodoo economics, or the theory that lower taxes will sitmulate investment into the economy, which results in more money coming into the coffers than what would have come out of higher taxes. But that is simply not the case. The two people most faithful to this line of thinking are Bush and Reagan. They were also the two Presidents who had the largest deficits in US history. Conservatism rejects the notion of the welfare state, or the notion that government must provide for the poor. It believes that people are responsible for their own welfare and that only people unable to take care of themselves should get governmental handouts. But this ignores the fact that we tried this method for 150 years before the Great Depression struck. As a result, we were always stuck in a cycle of boom and bust, where people lost their jobs and where countless lives were broken. Let us apply this twisted reasoning to Iraq. You would think that the Iraqi people would be able to find jobs on their own; right? Wrong; unemployment is anywhere between 40%-70%. There is no electricity, water, or phone service worth speaking of. This is similar to the times before the Roosevelt administration, where private companies would not invest in rural electrification, phone service, or water. The government stepped in and provided those services. If you think about the Great Depression, where the old were left to die, the poor were left to starve or work for unsafe coal mines, where accidents like the

West Virginia disaster happened on a regular basis, or banks could fail and you would lose all your money, that is what this country was like before we came to power in 1932 and fixed these things. And this is the sort of thing that is happening in Iraq as well. Iraq and Katrina are living examples of a failed ideology in action. In both Iraq and Katrina, people have had to fend for themselves in third world conditions because, after all, conservatism teaches that it is your fault for being poor. Or immoral, one of the two. The Republicans are the ones who would take the money out and leave people to sink or swim. By contrast, Democrats are the ones who would put the money in. We would spend money that would actually go towards the rebuilding of Iraq, not line the pockets of Halliburton. We would give people the resources they need to succeed in life. Not only that, we would raise the minimum wage so that it would be financially beneficial to get off of welfare and into work. The UK set a minimum wage that is double ours in 1997; the unemployment rate dropped from 6% then to 3% today, they wiped out their deficit, and employers hired more people to meet the demand of people who had more disposable income and wanted to take advantage.

At 1:18 PM, strykeraunt said...

WOW! What the heck happened!! I was away from reading your blog for a few days and was shocked to see comment section when I returned. I understood from your articles who you were from the beginning and, therefore, don't get what all this flack is about. The first time I came to your blog I sent you an email to find out if you could give me information about obtaining a job with the Corp of Engineers in

Iraq...that was back in December. For those who may not understand, the Corp is not a part of the active military branch, instead it is a civilian branch that works on construction and reconstruction projects throughout the world. The Corp of Engineers are NOT combat engineers. A public affairs officer in this organization would know more about the reconstruction efforts than any other operation intended to root out terrorist. Suzanne is sharing information in regards to the area of Iraq in which she works. It would be irresponsible of her to post information about areas outside of that sector. In addition, someone mentioned in the other comment section that someone who is serving in Iraq does Suzanne, I understand that some of the information you post is (sadly) what some people really do not want to read about. They are so stuck on the bad that they don't want to read about any good...they do not want to know there is good happening in Iraq. However, people can either choose to come here or not. What I found really sad is that I often had the feeling you were posting for the benefit of your grandchildren and other family members. Your family members don't need to see this kind of bashing against you. I have been a family member of someone serving in Iraq and know how I would feel...and so it really saddened me to see what has occurred here. Nicole, I can truly understand the enormous pride and fear that you are experiencing right now because I have been there myself. Your mom is a very honorable person, and does not deserve the treatment she is receiving by some who have chosen to comment here. I also read your post that she is coming home, Woohoo!! Suzanne, Take care and stay safe.

At 2:14 PM, skipsailing said...

Let me answer "cyber Joe"'s question about the sunni and shia. An aquaintance recently asked me the same question and I thought about it for a while and came up with this answer. What if the man who raped your daughter then tortured her then killed her was walking around in America," I asked. "Would you feel compelled to kill him?" Perhaps not, we're Americans and Americans for the most expect our judicial system to deal with criminals. Now what if you're part of the muslim/arab culture? what if you've been raised on a thousand years of blood feuds and political violence. Are you going to wait for some new judicial system or are you going to seek vengeance on your own? the Sunnis made a few critical miscalculations. They bet that they could kill enough Americans to drive us out. That didn't work as my posting about fallujah clearly describes. then they bet on Al Queada. that didn't work as the recent spate of red on red fighting clearly illustrates. So now the Sunni, who are a minority in Iraq are facing a majority of people who are justifiably angry.

The kurds were gassed, the shia were butchered and the marshes were drained, all at the hands of Saddam and his coterie of Sunni supporters. What is amazing about all this is actually how LITTLE violence there is considering the endless provocations the iraqis currently endure. To bring an end to this will require a reconciliation, a healing, a catharsis. Saddam's trial offers such an opportunity. Were I in charge in Iraq I would immediately declare Ramzi Clark and his fellow traveller PNG. I would move through the trial swiftly and follow it with a very public hanging. Joe, there is a saying that you should bear in mind: he who forgets history is doomed to repeat it. The italians hung mussolini. Where is pinochet now? The fall of a tyrannt naturally leaves a vacuum, and the people who lived under his sway must muddle through. The iraqis need a catharsis. they need an opportunity to heal the wounds that thirty years of Saddam created. they see the opportunity that co altion gave them and they will work hard not to capitalize on it. The people of iraq have to make so many changes at once I am impressed with their desire to see it all through. the muslim faith must change as well. They must wrest control of Islam from the madmen who have highjacked it. They must find away to adapt their faith to the modern world. I believe they can do this. I have faith in people and their common sense.

So there Joe.

At 3:28 PM, Anonymous said...

Skipsailing is a fool. He is also blind to all the facts involved with Iraq, the Mideast in general and he has obviously pledged his blind support to this corrupt administration, and he is going to go down with the ship. Your brain has gone soft from counting all of those beans.

At 4:13 PM, Anonymous said...

skipsailing presumes to know what Iraqis want or need but can't fathom or deal with or understand the average American opposed to this perverse and sick farce and holds us in contempt and can't answer the simplest of questions. I laugh out loud every time I listen to one of these little RISK-playing Napoleons carving up the globe and making benevolent suggestions what other people should want/need/like/dislike according to the Napoleonic creed of empire ('were I in charge' BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA.... SIEG HEIL Adolf! Hang 'em all. And then you can get busy hanging all those loathsome libruls and gays and 'difrunt' longhaired hippies, and the protestors too, oooh, ooooh, and let's not forget ANONYMOUS internet posters, hang 'em all!!!!!). Contemptible idiot. skipsailing.... GO. GO! GO to Iraq. Heaven forbid, don't let ME stop you from going. GO already. Go run the country. Go hang all the dictators

and the dictators' little supporters, present and past. Make sure you hang ALL of them too. Would be quite a sight.

At 5:09 PM, furtail said...

A sobering report in today's headlines from Salon http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8GS106G0.html

At 5:27 PM, Anonymous said...

Dear Granny. Glad to read you're coming home. I am sure you will have memories of a lifetime, and many Iraqis you have dealt will will remember you kindly. As for this anonymous person ranting and raving about your blog, do not forget that some people cannot stand, or maybe, understand, people who do good. Let's not forget that John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, John Lennon, the victims of the Oklahoma Bombing (and many more) were all assasinated by Americans. Mohandis K. (Mahatma) Ghandi, one of the the greatest peace activists in history. was assasinated by a fellow Hindu. And the greatest peacemaker of all was crucified by his own countrymen.

You have tried to bring some good to the world, in your own small way and that brings out the hate in people. How sad for them. This vile being spewed out is not only against you and the Enquire, but to intimidate, and to try to prevent, anyone else from writing good news. Water always seeks it own level, and hateful people only want hateful news. You have done good things for your country, and don't let anyone take that away from you. Thank you for your service to America, Iraq, and the people of the world who want Peace for all. God bless you and your family. B.Richards

At 10:08 PM, elendil said...

You can put as many pictures of happy smiling children on your blog as you like, it still won't change the fact that (a) this war was built on a lie, (b) you have destroyed a nation and destabilised a region, and (c) you have blood on your hands. Reality's a bitch, mark my words, and you'll have some 'splaining to do when the blowback kills another 3000 people.

At 9:39 AM, skipsailing said...

Personally, I'm a big fan of writing that emphasizes and economy of words. Elendil's post really demonstrates how this can be done.

Within a few short paragraphs she repeats all the main themes of unhinged left. Let's take them one at a time. First we have "bush lied to start the war". This one's been around a while and for the more thoughtless of the KOSkids it's tried and true. Or is it? In order to believe that Bush lied one must have a deep understanding of how all this works. You see the Bush lied thing goes this way: First, the president lies about, oh say WMD. Then the president sends hundreds of thousands of trained personnel to Iraq KNOWING THEY WON'T FIND WMD. NOw there's evil genius at work, right? I predict that the response to this from some anonymous poster will speak to the good old "bushchimphitler" routine. The KOSkids are nothing if not predictable. Then we get the complaint that the US destabilized the region. This is far more troubling to me. First, the KOSkids cannot be made to understand that destabilizing the region was EXACTLY what needed to happen. It was a bubbling cauldron of hate and leaving it as it was only meant more 9/11's. Another troubling point is that stability in the region basically means oppression for it's people. The american left, which was founded on some very lofty priniciples, is so angry at "bushchimphitler" that they will gladly abandon thier woodstock ideals and condemn the people of Iraq to life under a murderous tyrant. In so doing they also willfully condemn everyone else in the region to short brutal lives at the whim of such wonderful people as Bashar Assad and ahmenadinajad. Further, just how stable was it anyway? Iraq was a regional bully. syria was slaughtering lebanese to retain power, the iranians spread hate

throughout the world while the feckless saudis bought peace for themselves by bankrolling a wahabbi expansion. condi rice got it right: for years we traded stability for democracy in this region and got neither. What is it with the anti war left that makes them feel proud of condemning others to lives of poverty and hopelessness? Where did they lose their moral compass? And then, elendil gives us the standard threat. We are exhorted to "mark" the words. Yes, the blow back from our actions in iraq will be terrible. Oh really? what this says is simple, fighting terror only creates terror therefore not fighting terror is to be prefferred. Of course that also means that we are then laid open to attack after attack but the KOSkids are convinced that only nasty neo cons will be killed, not them. They are safe because the next batch of fanatic suicide bombers will pass over the student union and destroy something else. Too bad, I guess, about the people who do get killed, but according to elendil, we simply cannot fight terror. Here's a question elendil. Where are these teeming masses of angry arabs and muslims intent on killing us? Are they massing at the iraqi borders with tablecloths on their heads and AK47's in their hands, just waiting for a chance to fight America's military? Oh yes, there was the one erruption of anger. Perhaps you recall it. It was the portion of the so called arab street that ran through amman jordan. Those people took to the streets to express their rage. the problem was, elendil, that the were angry with Al Qaeda, not us. the Jordanians declared Zarqawhi PNG and shortly thereafter Mr Zarqawhi fled Iraq for parts unkown. funny isn't it, that the guys on top never get themselves martyred?

Nothing like bombing and beheading to cement the old public image, eh? So you see, all these standard lines that the KOSkids hand out simply don't stand up to thoughtful scrutiny. I for one and damned glad that the adults are still in charge her in the US.

At 11:55 AM, Nicole said...

Thank you for all the support and encouragement here for my mother. To those of you who have been reading her blog since September, I hope you enjoyed it. It really was a personal thing for her, written mostly for friends and family, but also for anyone else who wanted to learn about a few good things happening in a war-torn place. Her main job in Iraq was as a liason between the Iraqis and the Corps of Engineers, which kept her pretty busy. So, this blog was truly done on her own time. As those of you who read the last article know, she was supposed to come home in January, but chose to stay an extra couple of months to complete a few more projects and to help train her replacement. Remember, if you have children who are outgrowing their clothes and shoes, you can still donate them to the distribution center, even though my mother is leaving. Even stained, soiled or things that need mending are welcome. The particulars are in the November archives under

"Thanksgiving Request." This truly was my mother's favorite project and I know she wants it to continue after her departure.

At 5:04 PM, Anonymous said...

Skipsailing, You are a chickenhawk, just like Bush and Cheney. Why don't you go and enlist in one of the services, or at least in the reserves. Then at least you won't look like such an enormous hypocrite and a fool. Before you ask, I served 14 years as an officer in the US Navy, then 7 years with the State Department. How about it Chickenhawk?

At 5:25 PM, Anonymous said...

Here's another on for you Skippy; "Why I Think Rumsfeld Must Go" A military insider sounds off against the war and the zealots who pushed it By LIEUT. GENERAL GREG NEWBOLD

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1181587,00.html Posted Sunday, Apr. 09, 2006 Two senior military officers are known to have challenged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the planning of the Iraq war. Army General Eric Shinseki publicly dissented and found himself marginalized. Marine Lieut. General Greg Newbold, the Pentagon's top operations officer, voiced his objections internally and then retired, in part out of opposition to the war. Here, for the first time, Newbold goes public with a full-throated critique: In 1971, the rock group The Who released the antiwar anthem Won't Get Fooled Again. To most in my generation, the song conveyed a sense of betrayal by the nation's leaders, who had led our country into a costly and unnecessary war in Vietnam. To those of us who were truly counterculturewho became career members of the military during those rough timesthe song conveyed a very different message. To us, its lyrics evoked a feeling that we must never again stand by quietly while those ignorant of and casual about war lead us into another one and then mismanage the conduct of it. Never again, we thought, would our military's senior leaders remain silent as American troops were marched off to an ill-considered engagement. It's 35 years later, and the judgment is in: the Who had it wrong. We have been fooled again. From 2000 until October 2002, I was a Marine Corps lieutenant general and director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After 9/11, I was a witness and therefore a party to the actions that led us to the invasion of Iraqan unnecessary war. Inside the military family, I made no secret of my view that the zealots' rationale for war made no sense. And I think I was outspoken enough to make those senior to me uncomfortable. But I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threatal-Qaeda. I retired from the military four months before the invasion, in part because of my opposition to those who had used 9/11's tragedy to hijack our security policy. Until now, I have resisted speaking out in public. I've been silent long enough.

I am driven to action now by the missteps and misjudgments of the White House and the Pentagon, and by my many painful visits to our military hospitals. In those places, I have been both inspired and shaken by the broken bodies but unbroken spirits of soldiers, Marines and corpsmen returning from this war. The cost of flawed leadership continues to be paid in blood. The willingness of our forces to shoulder such a load should make it a sacred obligation for civilian and military leaders to get our defense policy right. They must be absolutely sure that the commitment is for a cause as honorable as the sacrifice. With the encouragement of some still in positions of military leadership, I offer a challenge to those still in uniform: a leader's responsibility is to give voice to those who can'tor don't have the opportunity tospeak. Enlisted members of the armed forces swear their oath to those appointed over them; an officer swears an oath not to a person but to the Constitution. The distinction is important. Before the antiwar banners start to unfurl, however, let me make clearI am not opposed to war. I would gladly have traded my general's stars for a captain's bars to lead our troops into Afghanistan to destroy the Taliban and al-Qaeda. And while I don't accept the stated rationale for invading Iraq, my viewat the momentis that a precipitous withdrawal would be a mistake. It would send a signal, heard around the world, that would reinforce the jihadists' message that America can be defeated, and thus increase the chances of future conflicts. If, however, the Iraqis prove unable to govern, and there is open civil war, then I am prepared to change my position. I will admit my own prejudice: my deep affection and respect are for those who volunteer to serve our nation and therefore shoulder, in those thin ranks, the nation's most sacred obligation of citizenship. To those of you who don't know, our country has never been served by a more competent and professional military. For that reason, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent statement that "we" made the "right strategic decisions" but made thousands of "tactical errors" is an outrage. It reflects an effort to obscure gross errors in strategy by

shifting the blame for failure to those who have been resolute in fighting. The truth is, our forces are successful in spite of the strategic guidance they receive, not because of it. What we are living with now is the consequences of successive policy failures. Some of the missteps include: the distortion of intelligence in the buildup to the war, McNamara-like micromanagement that kept our forces from having enough resources to do the job, the failure to retain and reconstitute the Iraqi military in time to help quell civil disorder, the initial denial that an insurgency was the heart of the opposition to occupation, alienation of allies who could have helped in a more robust way to rebuild Iraq, and the continuing failure of the other agencies of our government to commit assets to the same degree as the Defense Department. My sincere view is that the commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missionsor bury the results. Flaws in our civilians are one thing; the failure of the Pentagon's military leaders is quite another. Those are men who know the hard consequences of war but, with few exceptions, acted timidly when their voices urgently needed to be heard. When they knew the plan was flawed, saw intelligence distorted to justify a rationale for war, or witnessed arrogant micromanagement that at times crippled the military's effectiveness, many leaders who wore the uniform chose inaction. A few of the most senior officers actually supported the logic for war. Others were simply intimidated, while still others must have believed that the principle of obedience does not allow for respectful dissent. The consequence of the military's quiescence was that a fundamentally flawed plan was executed for an invented war, while pursuing the real enemy, al-Qaeda, became a secondary effort. There have been exceptions, albeit uncommon, to the rule of silence among military leaders. Former Army Chief of Staff General Shinseki, when challenged to offer his professional opinion during prewar congressional testimony, suggested that more troops might be needed for the invasion's aftermath. The Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense

castigated him in public and marginalized him in his remaining months in his post. Army General John Abizaid, head of Central Command, has been forceful in his views with appointed officials on strategy and micromanagement of the fight in Iraqoften with success. Marine Commandant General Mike Hagee steadfastly challenged plans to underfund, understaff and underequip his service as the Corps has struggled to sustain its fighting capability. To be sure, the Bush Administration and senior military officials are not alone in their culpability. Members of Congressfrom both parties defaulted in fulfilling their constitutional responsibility for oversight. Many in the media saw the warning signs and heard cautionary tales before the invasion from wise observers like former Central Command chiefs Joe Hoar and Tony Zinni but gave insufficient weight to their views. These are the same news organizations that now downplay both the heroic and the constructive in Iraq. So what is to be done? We need fresh ideas and fresh faces. That means, as a first step, replacing Rumsfeld and many others unwilling to fundamentally change their approach. The troops in the Middle East have performed their duty. Now we need people in Washington who can construct a unified strategy worthy of them. It is time to send a signal to our nation, our forces and the world that we are uncompromising on our security but are prepared to rethink how we achieve it. It is time for senior military leaders to discard caution in expressing their views and ensure that the President hears them clearly. And that we won't be fooled again. From the Apr. 17, 2006 issue of TIME magazine

At 6:47 PM, skipsailing said...

it's really pretty simple. If you'd like to take my on, get a blogger ID.

I don't respond to "anonymous". anyone who lacks the courage to even invent a screen name is simply not worth the time. Oh, as to the chickenhawk charge, I find I'm a bit too old for military service. They simply won't have me. But I'd give my front seat in hell (My mother assured me that I have one!) to be embedded with the marines.

At 7:36 PM, Reginald Van Gleason IV said...

Skippy, What a load of shit, YOU ARE ANNONYMOUS. You are also an idiot and a fool. Why don'y you have the courage to post your real name? Cutting and running?

At 8:22 PM, Anonymous said...

He's a cut & run coward, Reggie. He also believes whatever Fox news, Bush, Cheney or other repugnants tell him to believe. His whole republican world is crashing down around him and he is lashing out at anyone he can hold responsible. He is going to stroke out next November when the Dems retake control of Congress. Bush's impeachment hearing will be the end of him. Good riddance to him and his breed of egocentric philistines!

At 10:22 PM, Anonymous said...

Skippy, where is all of this liberal media you keep ranting about? http://mediamatters.org/ You just can't stand to heat the truth, so when you do, it'd the 'liberals fault'.

At 6:18 AM, skipsailing said...

well Reggie, old boyu, here I am. As I said, any who'd like to take my on, get a blogger ID. As for you mr Van Gleeson. Tell us, do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Is this extent of you abiilty to engage in discourse? It seems to me that you have no cogent answers to the points I've made. Why else would you need to use bad language and ad hominem attacks? If you could actually develop an argument, support a thesis or otherwise put forward a reasonable opinion I'm sure you would. since you don't the obvious reason is that you can't. this blog isn't about me, it's about Iraq. Why not share with us some specific insight you might have about the doings there. Got a theory? or just DU talking points?

It's well understood at this point that the all the shouting on the left is simply a cover up for the bankruptcy of thier POV. Personal attacks are simply the only thing you've got left. Just look at the venom you and yours have spewed in the general direction of the author of this blog. You folks can't stand the idea that good might getting done in Iraq, it doesn't fit in your mental model of the world, therefore it's all lies right? Hopefully at some point Reggie old boy maturity will set in. perhaps not, but I have hope that you'll wise up someday.

At 9:48 AM, Anonymous said...

Suzanne, you are a lackey and a fraud.

At 10:16 AM, stcampbell01 said...

It's clear from this blog that the leftwing approach is to use namecalling and vehement rhetoric to attempt to insult and ridicule free speech and belittle Democratic values and hope that by doing so theyll change our minds? What a novel approach. Grandma, Nicole, skipsailing, etc. have more class than Reggie and the many anons on this blog could ever hope to have. Grandma is a class act and she went into harms way to tell a story and she has done that rather well. What do the rest of you have to say for yourself? Have you ever served your country anon?

I will say that there has been some good debate, but unfortunately most of it has been meaningless, vitriolic, leftwing drivel not worthy of acknowledgement. As skipsailing said, if you don't like what you read here, don't read it. If you only appreciate bad news, you have many other options so use your God-given power of choice and choose to go somewhere else. If you want to have a healthy debate, then keep it healthy. If you're angry about Grandma's blog fine, but she's come clean so get over it already. It always amazes me how the left is so willing to ignore the dangers that face this country...Where was Bill Clinton when bin Laden was creating is network and support base and training his army of extremists? What were dems doing then? I'll tell you what they were doing...too little too late...they were launching a few cruise missiles trying to plug holes in a dam of violence that has broken. Its only going to get worse and the dems they wont do anything until its in their back yards and people are dying Americans are dying in droves

At 10:35 AM, stcampbell01 said...

Glad to hear that you are coming home Suzanne. I hope you have a safe trip. We will all miss your blog and the great stir it created. It did bring some visibility to the "good things" that are happening in Iraq.

At 1:16 PM, seguin said...

Thanks for telling us some of the work our boys are doing Grandma. Sorry about the jackasses that are comparing this nation to Nazi Germany (freaking nutjobs), but certain people are going to believe

whatever tripe is handed to them by Ward Churchill types no matter how hard you beat them over the head with truth.

At 1:38 PM, Neal S. said...

Suzanne: Hope you make it through all of the rants to see that we're glad you're coming home safely. Those of us who have worked with you know the kind of professional you are, why you went to Iraq and the integrity of your words. Everyone else is just guessing. An Army PA professional.

At 6:21 PM, Reginald Van Gleason IV said...

The Skipper is a Cut & Run Coward. This blog is pure propaganda from a quisling hack, hosted by a 2nd rate biased rag.

At 7:56 PM, Kurd Tikrit, Iraq said...

Hey Anonymous at3:49pm,

You want to talk "FACTS"? I am shocked. Vicious Liberal Idiots never want to talk "facts". The #1 supplier of weapons to Saddam Hussein from 1979 to 1988 was The Soviet Union. China was #2 and France was #3. Where was the U.S.? If you do the numbers from when Saddam Hussein became President in 1979 the U.S. is at #11. http://www.sipri.org/contents/armstrad/TIV_imp_IRQ_70-04.pdf Top Weapons Suppliers to Iraq from 1979 to 1990 I did the numbers and if you only look at the years Saddam was President from 1979 to 1990 the U.S. drops from #9 to #11 and Great Britain was #17. #1. USSR 26,102 #2. CHINA 5,736 #3. FRANCE 5,111 #4. CZECHOSLOVAKIA 2,095 #5. POLAND 640 #6. BRAZIL 617 #7. EGYPT 350 #8. DENMARK 351 #9. AUSTRIA 190 #10. ROMANIA 186 #11. U.S. 75 #12. GERMANY 52 Top weapons suppliers to Iraq, after 1988 gassing of Kurds ($m.): #1: USSR 1,570 #2: France 363 #3: Poland 218 #4: Egypt 47 #5: Czechoslovakia 45 #6: Germany 31 #7: Brazil 25

#8: China 23 #9: Switzerland 8 #10: Spain 2 The U.S. and U.K. STOPPED all arms sales after the 1988 gassing of the Kurds. Saddam's #2 General in the Iraqi Air Force has recently testified that he personlly oversaw 20 planeloads of WMDs secretly flown into three sites in Syria. The 20 planeloads were disguised as "humanitarian relief" when he was under SANCTIONS??!! Saddam didn't have enough relief supplies for his own people, which is what he used for excuses to let his own people starve, but then he has enough to send extra reliefe supplies to Syria? http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/ACOS64BRQW?OpenDocument&rc=3&cc=syr http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/OCHA64C4DH?OpenDocument&rc=3&cc=syr Here is a NY sun article on the subject: http://www.nysun.com/article/27110 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1511540.stm Saddam Hussein broke the Cease Fire Agreement numerous times and in this BBC article Tariq Aziz actually brags that they were able to "upgrade their technology during sanctions" to shoot down a U.S. Plane. After Iraq's General Sada tranported those Chemical and Biological Weapons to Syria 10 al-Qaida terrorists were captured with 20 tons of Chemical Weapons in Jordan. They were planning on attacking the Jordanian Intelligence Office, the U.S. Embassy, and Jordan Government Buildings. The al-Qaida terrorists admitted in a televised interogation on

Jordanian TV to receiving thoses weaposn from Syria. Some of the captured Chemical Weapons had only EVER been developed by Iraqi Scientists. http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/200404/27/content_326599.htm http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/26/jordan.terror/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3635381.stm But the spineless "anonymous" wants to threaten an American Hero who is only reporting her first hand stories. What a creep you are. I bet spineless anonymous wishes Saddam Hussein was back in power. He only killed 400,000 of his own people. He never did anything to Americans right anonymous. He only put bullets into women's and babie's heads or buried them alive. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3738368.stm Right anonymous it was none of our business Saddam only killed his own people? Did you support President Clinton bombing Iraq for 4 days straight in December 1998? http://www.cnn.com/US/9812/16/clinton.iraq.speech/ the video of President Clinton's speech is on the right. President Clinton stated, ""Saddam (Hussein) must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons." President Clinton also stated,"Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors,"

Did you support the majority of Democrat and Republican leaders voting for and President Clinton endorsing and signing the "Iraqi Liberation Act", which officially endorsed REGIME CHANGE FOR IRAQ? http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/11/01/981101-in.htm President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act stating, "8 million will go to Iraqis wanting DEMOCRACY and to help them oppose Saddam. Regime change is the only option for Iraq." The drum beat for the Iraq War was started in 1998, 1999, 2000 by DEMOCRAT LEADERS.

Before 9/11, before 1998, 1999, and 2000 the Clinton Administration and leading Democrat leaders began the drum beat for the Iraq War and the fear mongering of Iraq's WMDs BEFORE BUSH SAID or DID ANYTHING or became President. Did all these Democrat leaders lie also?

Bill Clinton > December 17, 1998 "Earlier today, I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq.... Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors." Tom Daschle > February 11, 1998 "The (Clinton) administration has said, 'Look, we have exhausted virtually our diplomatic effort to get the Iraqis to comply with their own agreements and with international law. Given that, what other option is there but to force them to do so?' That's what they're saying. This is the key question. And the answer is we don't have another option. We have got to force them to comply, and we are doing so militarily."

Madeleine Albright > November 10, 1999

"Hussein has chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies."

Sandy Berger > February 18, 1998 Remember Clinton's national Security Advisor? "Saddm will use those weapons of mass destruction again as he has 10 times since 1983."

Madeleine Albright > February 1, 1998 "We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and the security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction."

Dick Durbin > September 30, 1999 "One of the most compelling threats we in this country face today is the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Threat assessments regularly warn us of the possibility that North Korea, Iran, Iraq, or some other nation may acquire or develop nuclear weapons."

Al Gore > December 16, 1998 "[i]f you allow someone like Saddam Hussein to get nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, chemical weapons, biological weapons, how many people is he going to kill with such weapons? He has already demonstrated a willingness to use such weapons..." John Kerry > February 23, 1998 "Saddam Hussein has already used these weapons and has made it clear that he has the intent to continue to try, by virtue of his duplicity and secrecy, to continue to do so. That is a threat to the stability of the Middle East. It is a threat with respect to the potential of terrorist activities on a global basis. It is a threat even to regions near but not exactly in the Middle East."

Nancy Pelosi December 16, 1998 "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."

Bill Clinton > February 17, 1998 "We have to defend our future from these predators of the 21st Century.... They will be all the more lethal if we allow them to build arsenals of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. We simply cannot allow that to happen. There is no more clear example of this threat than Saddam Hussein."

http://www.whosaiditiraq.blogspot.com/ Fact, fact, fact, fact, fact.....

Clinton lied and people died! Gore lied and people died! Albright lied and people died! Kerry lied and people died! Sandy Berger lied and people died! Boy did Sandy Berger really lie. http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/08/berger.sentenced/ I would like to know what damning classified documents Clinton's buddy, former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, DESTROYED from the National Archives????

At 12:30 AM, Anonymous said...

Kid Ti-Shit, Who gives a crap if we were the #1, #11 or #30 arms supplier to Iraq; the fact remains that WE ARMED THEM. We also armed Iran illegally and then funnelled the money to the contras. Forgot that one didnt you? There were no WMD's, the 911 commission, the Pentagon & even Bush & Cheney have said that Iraq had nothing to do with 911. We invaded Iraq with no plan for the aftermath and we dropped the ball on Afghanistan and let Bin Lauden ecscape. You are one blind fool Ti-Shit.

At 12:31 AM, Anonymous said...

'American hero' my ass!

At 1:47 AM, Eagle said...

This is a great blog, interesting and great pictures.

At 1:49 AM, Eagle said...

Anonymous 12:30 AM Russia, Germany and France helped bolster Saddam's regime and arm it, despite U.N. sanctions on Iraq on which they signed off. Also, Dutch businessman Frans van Anraat continued to supply industrial chemicals to Iraq after an export ban in 1984.

At 2:26 AM, Kat said...

Dear Grandma in Iraq, I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your posts. I've been coming over here from mudville gazette and reading your posts regularly. I apologize that I have not posted a comment before thanking you for taking the time to put these pictures up and tell us about life in Iraq. I found the part about the construction of mud schools very interesting. I think this is the first time I have seen a photograph of a school like that inside. I also liked your description of the canal in the village and how it was used. The people were also interesting because I have seen photos and videos

of people from other parts of Iraq and I like to see the different clothing and head dresses. I think you can tell a lot about people from the style and purpose of their clothes. I realized today that you had received some attention from the media and attracted some negative comments. I hope that you will keep posting and telling us about Iraq and I hope that you will forgive any rudeness on the part of these other commenters who believe that the anonymity of the internet gives them leave to forget the manners their parents taught them. thank you and good luck. I'll be praying that all your missions go well and that you are safe.

At 3:53 AM, Anonymous said...

"Hey Kurd Tikrit, Iraq said 756"........ Listen deary, I know in PC Amurka sticks and stones and mean mean owy words are now all declared officially hurtful things and weapunsur-mass-durstrukshun etcetera blah blah blah, but let me assure you, I can't even muster the feeblest of chuckles at your wheezy flacid insults, let alone feel offended. And what is it with you brain-addled chipmunks? Why is literally EVERYONE who's not goose-stepping along to your global conquest scheme a librul? Do you syphyllitic peabrains actually GET IT? I'm an AMERICAN. Remember what that was? An AMERICAN. Live Free Or DIE. Don't Tread On Me. Remember that? Give me liberty or give me death. Patrick Henry. John Adams. Thomas Jefferson. Commerce with all nations allegiance with none. Never mind. Talking to deaf dumb

intellectually castrated slugs. You and your Ra-Ra-Ra cheerleading pom pom girls think a bunch of medieval sheepshaggers are the biggest threat to this country. I actually think it's the EIGHT TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT and the mounting deficit that has reduced the value of our dollar by nearly 50% in the last 5 years alone that is the greatest threat to our national prosperity, but never you mind me. I must be a friggin' librul for daring to have a friggin' opinion that isn't espoused on one of your stinking TV channels. Boo hoo hoo. You foul Commie-lovers are so ASTOUNDINGLY politically illiterate I think I could teach a Cuban marmot more about liberty and accountability than you mindless chimpanzees with your lemminglike cattle brains. I happen to DEMAND some motherBLEEPING accountability and want to know just exactly what my THREE HUNDRED BILLION dollars of HARDearned money bought in that waterless mudflat, and I don't find granny's tales of water pumps and irrigated clay and tin shacks any comforting for the sight of smiling suicide babies. Oh, but of course, look at the underwhelming RIVER of responses you and your hardcore cheerleaders have left in response to my post for some dialogue. Dangerous loon anonymous ranter 1, chest-thumping mindless namecalling cheerleading goons..................... ZILCH. No wait, it's football, make that Ranting Loon 7, Namecalling Goons, 0. So about a week later, we get this anemic response. I posit that the entire friggin' war is a ponzy scheme based on lies and lies and lies, that it is dangerously undermining our liberties and financial solvency... and I get this 'astute' reply.... Oh no, pay attention now, cause this gets good........ drumroll......... 'The top weapons supplier of Iraq from 1979....' Have ANY of you illiterate baboons ever studied? I mean, actually been forced to stake an intellectual position and be forced to defend it with reason and facts? Been forced to actually THINK through a position? Holy squeaking

dog excrement... It's like the whole country is a basket of mentally impaired cactus plants. Look, Dr. Seuss... Number 2, number 8, number 12? Does it MATTER? Is it football? Oh, but of course it is. Stupid me, everything is football. 'We're not number 1".... holy sheepshanks..... We SUPPORTED these barbaric morons because it was GOOD for business. Get it? You don't. Never mind. Oh, and then something something blather blather... Bill Klinton. Yeah, my personal hero, Bill friggin' Klinton. A sadsack so criminally inept he couldn't score a blowjob without getting caught. Listen. I'll keep this simple, because it's obvious this is hard for you to grasp. United States foreign policy is designed to boost the immediate business interests of U.S. companies at the time they are implemented. End of story. SOMETIMES, those interests align with noble aspirations such as 'democracy,' whatever it may mean, and irrigating mud fields, but more often than not, they don't. But, at ALL TIMES, the consequences of our ENDLESS meddling and cloak and dagger baloney and interference and election rigging leads to alienating people who are becoming increasingly tired of us stomping around and napalming them and smart bombing them and paying surrogates to pull out their fingernails and electrocute their testicles, all under the pretense of spreading 'furdom' and oh we know what's right for them. And now, after a hundred years of stomping around the planet and pretending to know everything, and usually being dead wrong, and leaving a wide swath of death and corruption and broken promises and wreaking economic havoc, your suicide chickens are coming home to roost. But never mind that. You go hunt your evildoers who............ envy our freedoms. We will truly be a freer and SAFER country once we STOP MEDDLING IN OTHER COUNTRIES' AFFAIRS. Saddam Hussein was CHERRY-PICKED out of an entire basketful of political contenders to run roughshod over Iraq by the CIA. Do you get it? His political party, the Baath... they were OUR guys. OURS. We

PICKED him over some other saddist, because he was better at it. Does NOTHING sink in with you retards? Like Osam Bin Laden learned all his aircraft take-down skills from the CIA, like Manuel Noriega trafficked all his cocaine into Florida through CIA contacts, living on this planet is just too complicated for you chipmunks. You really think this is some Disney movie don't you? I mean, you really, really think this. All A-rabs are evil, babbling drunk Texans are excellent leaders, anonymous Internet posters who dare ask questions are libruls. One big Disney cartoon. Never mind. Go live out your Luke Skywalker fantasy vanquishing 'evildoers' of the Black Spot. In the mean time, we'll make sure to keep the printing presses rolling along, flooding China with dollars, and they will continue to buy our increasingly worthless bonds, prop up or fiat currency and insolvent gubment, pay for your stinking little shindig in Arabia, until one day the Chinese find something else of more value, and on that day, we will officially become a banana republic and can go invade fifty more countries, and your seventy-year old granny can start a new blog about handing out 300 TRILLION dollar soccer balls to all the ignorant sheepshaggers in Iran and Syria and Pakistan and blah blah blah. Oh. CHINA! But HEY, It's always good to keep at least one boogey man on ice, in case you run out of scary evildoers, know what I mean. You people are so irredeemably, contemptibly stupid, you really deserve what you get. Have at it. Go reform the sheepshaggers. Go fight the world. Bye bye. The farce is with you Luke. YOU GO GIRL.

At 9:59 AM, skipsailing said...

My Oh My, but the angry left is out in full force here. It's amusing to see thier descent into oblivion.

Mr Van Gleeson, having no cogent response to the fact laden posts here resorts to a schoolyard bully techniques. That's no way to win an argument Reggie. try taking a position and supporting it with facts and inferences drawn from facts. That's how it's done amongst us adults. name calling is amusing but it won't win you any converts. And of course we see a personal attack leveled at "kurd tikrit" who had the unmitigated gall to post some facts about Iraq that are simply inconvenient to the world wide left. The vituperation continues unabated as the socialists amongst us attempt to shout down anyone with the temerity to disagree with them. The ANSWER/KOSkid crowd faces some major challenges just now. First, the newly released Iraqi documents reveal some uncomfortable truths about Saddam's pre war antics. As these documents are translated we see that Saddam was indeed at the nexus of money and terror. next, it is clear that the American military has performed admirably in Iraq and Afganistan. Our fine men and women have toppled a tyrant, quelled and insurgency and made it possible for iraqis to begin a new poltical process. since failure was the preffered option of the world wide left our success here will only serve to make them more shrill and less sensible.

Another big problem the world wide socialist movement faces now is the damaged that the main stream media has inflicted on itself during the Iraq campaign. We've seen an enormous amount of unethical behavior on the part of journalists ranging from the Mr gill of the BBC to Mr Rather to Eason Jordan. The MSM has lost it's fanchise and with that the left has lost it's trumpet.

Still another challenge facing the left is the porcelain swirl now underway in France. We're seeing the early signs of the failure of the socialist state and that country has no easy path into the future. As we witness this failure it will increasingly more difficult for the ANSWER crowd to peddle their wares in America. so I fully expect endless rantings from people like Reggie here. These rants won't be cogent responses to current events. Nor will they be thoughtful analysis of the dynamics of human history. they will be expressions of impotent rage. yes Reggie, I wrote that. It's really all you've shown thus far, impotent rage.

At 10:41 AM, Ronald said...

syphylitic pea brain pom pom girls. thats funny man. Good laugh.

At 11:02 AM, Anonymous said...

Anon, You're a very sad and angry fellow; I feel so sorry for you. Have you ever served your country in any capacity? Doubtful.....I hope you get help one day for your afflictions and for that mouth of yours. I'm sure your mother would be embarrassed.

Your response to Kurd Tikrit is what I expected from your type. Its typical liberal gibberish and tactics: throw out some inaccurate facts, get slammed dunked by real facts and then resort to name-calling, ignoring the facts and trying to deflect to some issue(s) that has nothing whatsoever to do with this blog or Grandmas efforts. Why are you on this blog? Why dont you go to one of your liberal blogs and moan, groan, bitch and gripe with a collective other liberal losers that care nothing about finding solutions, only whining about the government not doing enough for them...Trust me, youll fit right in

At 11:30 AM, Anonymous said...

'Toughtful analysys' from Skippy? HA! Talk about rantings! And as to it just being the 'koskids' that are critical of the Iraq 'war', perhaps you need to get off of the wrong wing blogs for 5 minutes and read the news: Bush job rating at new low, poll finds 60 percent disapprove of presidents performance http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12243327/from/RSS/ Political reversals at home and continued bad news from Iraq have dragged President Bush's standing with the public to a new low, at the same time that Republican fortunes on Capitol Hill also are deteriorating, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey found that 38 percent of the public approve of the job Bush is doing, down three percentage points in the past month and his worst showing in Post-ABC polling since he became president. Sixty percent

disapprove of his performance. With less than seven months remaining before the midterm elections, Bush's political troubles already appear to be casting a long shadow over them. Barely a third of registered voters, 35 percent, approve of the way the Republican-held Congress is doing its job -- the lowest level of support in nine years. The negative judgments about the president and the congressional majority reflect the breadth of the GOP's difficulties and suggest that problems of each may be mutually reinforcing. Although the numbers do not represent a precipitous decline over recent surveys, the fact that they have stayed at low levels over recent months indicates the GOP is confronting some fundamental obstacles with public opinion rather than a patch of bad luck. A majority of registered voters, 55 percent, say they plan to vote for the Democratic candidate in their House district, while 40 percent support the Republican candidate. That is the largest share of the electorate favoring Democrats in Post-ABC polls since the mid-1980s. This grim news for the GOP is offset somewhat by the finding that 59 percent of voters still say they approve of their own representative. But even these numbers are weaker than in recent off-year election cycles and identical to support of congressional incumbents in June 1994 -five months before Democrats lost control of Congress to Republicans. Evenly divided on only one issue As Bush and the Republicans falter, Democrats have emerged as the party most Americans trust to deal with such issues as Iraq, the economy and health care. By 49 to 42 percent, Americans trust Democrats more than Republicans to do a better job of handling Iraq. Democrats also hold a six-percentage-point advantage over the GOP (49 percent to 43 percent) as the party most trusted to handle the economy. Their lead swells to double digits on such as issues as

immigration (12 points), prescription drug benefits for the elderly (28 points), health care (32 points) and dealing with corruption in Washington (25 points). The public divides evenly on only one issue: terrorism, with 46 percent expressing more confidence in the Democrats and 45 percent trusting Republicans on a top voting concern that the GOP counts on dominating. But there is plenty of time left before Election Day for Republicans to take back ground they have lost to Democrats -- or for Democrats to solidify their recent gains. In the past year, public attitudes toward Bush and the Republicans have been driven by the news. Bush's popularity rebounded at the end of last year in response to the democratic elections in Iraq and renewed optimism about the economy at home -- only to stumble as the deadly insurgency continued and scandals in Congress and the White House drove down perceptions of the president and his party. A total of 1,027 randomly selected adults were interviewed April 6 to 9 for this survey. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points for the overall results. Bush's job approval rating has remained below 50 percent for nearly a year. Perhaps more ominous for the president, 47 percent in the latest poll say they "strongly" disapprove of Bush's handling of the presidency - more than double the 20 percent who strongly approve. It marked the second straight month that the proportion of Americans intensely critical of the president was larger than his overall job approval rating. In comparison, the percentage who strongly disapproved of President Bill Clinton on that measure never exceeded 33 percent in Post-ABC News polls. The public is even more critical of Bush's performance in specific areas. On six of seven key issues, fewer than half of the respondents approve of the job Bush is doing, while majorities express dissatisfaction with

him on Iraq (62 percent), health care (62 percent) and immigration (61 percent). Concern on gas prices Four in 10 -- 40 percent -- say Bush is doing a good job with the economy, down eight percentage points in a month. One reason for the drop may be the recent sharp increase in fuel costs. Fewer than one in four approve of his handling of gasoline prices, virtually the same as last summer when gas prices topped $3 a gallon. Overall, 44 percent said the increases are causing "serious hardship" in their family, up significantly from August. Half of the public now disapproves of the way Bush is handling the fight against terrorism, an issue on which majorities of Americans had typically given him high marks until last year. The depth of public dissatisfaction with Bush and the highly partisan nature of the criticism are underscored by public attitudes toward efforts by some in Congress to censure him or impeach him for his actions as president. Democratic and Republican congressional leaders view both scenarios as remote possibilities. Still, more than four in 10 Americans -- 45 percent -- favor censuring or formally reprimanding Bush for authorizing wiretaps of telephone calls and e-mails of terrorism suspects without court permission. Two-thirds of Democrats and half of all independents, but only one in six Republicans, support censuring Bush, the poll found. Last month, Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) introduced a resolution in the Senate to censure Bush. A majority of Americans, 56 percent, said his move was driven more by politics than by principle. Calls to impeach Bush are not resonating beyond Democratic partisans. One-third of Americans, including a majority of Democrats (55 percent), favor impeaching Bush and removing him from office. But more than nine in 10 Republicans and two-thirds of independents oppose

impeachment. The ongoing bloodshed and political chaos in Iraq continues to drag down support for the war, the survey found. Barely four in 10 -- 41 percent -- say the war was worth fighting, down five percentage points since December. Although more than half of Americans think troop levels in Iraq should be decreased, only 15 percent are calling for an immediate withdrawal, a figure that has not varied much over the past year. 2006 The Washington Post Company

See you next fall after the elections Skippy!

At 11:43 AM, Anonymous said...

This blog motivated me to get out my library card and go and search Suzanne Fournier using Newsbanks Ohio newspaper search and turned up the following articles. (The Enquirers only archived back to 1999.) Ms. Fournier is no naive Granny just tagging along with the Corps of Engineers. It turns out shes former spokeswoman for the Armys national chemical and biological weapons programs at Aberdeen, MD, part of her 20-year regular Army career. Moreover, she has a long history of being quoted by the Enquirer since at least 1999 by current Enquirer reporters, William Croyle, Tim Bonfield, and Dan Horn. (Based on his multiple articles, Croyle certainly must know more.) Its patently absurd for Enquirer editor Tom Callinan to claim ignorance of these facts and to have skipped over her prominent national job at

Aberdeen when he described her background last week. Are we to believe Mr. Callinan cant search his own papers archives? Doesnt he have Nexis-Lexis? Mr. Callinan has omitted major parts of Ms. Fourniers Army background and continues to refuse to explain how her blog came to be hosted by the Enquirer. Did the US Army place an experienced career public relations officer at the paper under the guise of the feel-good Grandma in Iraq blog? Is the Enquirer offering itself up as a propaganda tool of the US Army? We know the US military has infiltrated newspapers in Iraq with happy news. Is the Army using a domestic paper, the Cincinnati Enquirer, for the same purpose? If Mr. Callinan is sincere about his newspapers credibility, he needs to initiate an in-house investigation and publish the facts in the daily Enquirer and not just post comments on his own blog. 1) DANGER OF OUR OWN MAKING - U.S. MILITARY SEEKS WAYS TO DESTROY LETHAL-GAS ARSENAL. Dayton Daily News (OH) June 5, 1996 `Chemical weapons were made to be used. Like many things produced in the past, little thought was given to how to dispose of them, says Suzanne Fournier, an Army spokeswoman. 2) IF DISASTER STRIKES CLEVELAND POLICE, FIRE, RESCUE AND MEDICAL PERSONNEL TO RECEIVE TRAINING TOHANDLE CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL EMERGENCIES IN $50 MILLION U.S. PROGRAM Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH) April 19, 1998 Author: MICHAEL SANGIACOMO PLAIN DEALER REPORTER "If its a biological or chemical threat, they either neutralize or contain it for removal, said Suzanne Fournier, the commands spokeswoman. If its an explosive device, they render it harmless, detonate it or remove it." 3) PREPARING for TERROR Cincinnati Enquirer, January 9, 1999 Author:

TIM BONFIELD; The Cincinnati Enquirer The Defense Department has bristled at the criticism from the GAO report. We had to start somewhere, said Suzanne Fournier, spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Chemical and Biological Defense Command. The idea was to go to the largest population centers first. The program already encourages nearby cities to train together, she said. The Army also has rescheduled some training sessions to move up some cities believed to face a higher terrorist threat. But even Ms. Fournier acknowledged that $300,000 wont be enough for many cities to be prepared. 4) WAR ON TERRORISM Cincinnati Enquirer, March 11, 2002 Author: Dan Horn; The Cincinnati Enquirer More recently, the Army Corps of Engineers blocked access to diagrams of locks and dams along the Ohio River. Engineers and students used to go online to study the diagrams, but after Sept. 11 the corps feared terrorists might do the same. We did that to protect the American public, said Corps spokeswoman Suzanne Fournier. 5) At 60, shes heading to Iraq in Corps job Cincinnati Enquirer, The (OH) August 15, 2005 Author: William Croyle Enquirer staff writer She worked her way up during the next 20 years, moving to five different states. She and Gil settled here in 1999. Their children are scattered. She will be good at getting the message out to the public about the good things happening there, said daughter Michelle Antonacci, in Kenosha, Wis. Antonaccis son, James, 8, is sad to see Grandma go but he found a bright side. I think its cool because soldiers are over there and shell get to see all those soldiers, he said. Fourniers son, Daniel, of Sacramento, Calif., has mixed emotions. I was a little sad, a little mad, a little concerned - but the more I think about it, I think it will be good for her, he said. Shes always had an adventurous spirit and always wanted to be where the action is."

6) News briefs Cincinnati Enquirer, The (OH) September 16, 2005 IRAQ BLOG - Keep up with Suzanne Fournier Suzanne Fournier, mother of seven and grandmother of 15, has begun her service in Iraq and is sharing her experiences on Cincinnati.com. The blog can be accessed at http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/iraq/. Fournier, 60, lives in Alexandria and works in public affairs in downtown Cincinnati for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. For six months, shell work in a small office between Basra and Baghdad, showing media from around the world some of the 2,700 construction projects the corps is working on or has completed. 7) Grandmas away this Christmas, Cincinnati Enquirer, December 24, 2005 Author: William Croyle Enquirer staff writer "She always made cinnamon rolls and pies and gave them out to the neighbors, so were going to do that, said Fourniers daughter Michelle Antonacci of Kenosha, Wis. Antonacci e-mails her mom a few times a week and feels more comfortable today about her being there than when she left. If anyone can handle it, I know Mom can, Antonacci said. I feel good that she feels safe. Gil e-mails her daily and talks to her on the phone a couple times a week. He said he would love for his wife to be home, but its her nature to do what shes doing. 8) Grandma decides to keep working in Iraq Cincinnati Enquirer, The (OH) March 5, 2006 Author: William Croyle Enquirer staff writer CAPTION: Photos provided by Suzanne Fournier CAPTION: Alexandrias Suzanne Fournier (left) visits students at what was formerly known as Saddam CAPTION: Hussein School. The school had not had any renovations since 1981 but has now had CAPTION: renovations with

Fourniers help. CAPTION: For $103,000, the corps was able to renovate 28 classrooms, installing new tile, plaster, paint, CAPTION: wiring, lights, fans, doors, windows and plumbing. CAPTION: The newly named Malk Al Ashtar School has 1,600 students. Fournier will continue working on CAPTION: projects such as the school renovation in Iraq.

At 11:45 AM, Anonymous said...

My complaint about Skipsailing: Writing this letter stems from a desperation to be heard, if not by a court of law, then by a court of public opinion. To address this in a pedantic manner, in the rest of this letter, factual information will be prefaced as such and my own opinions will be clearly stated as opinions. For instance, it is a fact that to get even the simplest message into the consciousness of cantankerous, gutless euphuists, it has to be repeated at least 50 times. Now, I don't want to insult your intelligence by telling you the following 50 times, but if everyone does his own, small part, together we can instill a sense of responsibility and maturity in those who start wars, ruin the environment, invent diseases, and routinely do a hundred other things that kill people. Our country is being destroyed by militant fomenters of revolution. I don't think anyone questions that. But did you know that justice isn't served when Mr. Skipsailing's crimes go unpunished? I am unmistakably not up on the latest gossip. Still, I have heard people say that Mr. Skipsailing says that there should be publicly financed centers of materialism. This is at best wrong. At worst, it is a lie. I challenge all of the sniffish self-absorbed-types out there to consider this: I am utterly shocked and angered by his reprehensible, pompous improprieties. Such shameful conduct should never be repeated. I certainly feel that people are hungry for true information and for a way

to work together for justice in every community. It's a pity. This raises the question: Does Mr. Skipsailing believe, deep in the adytum of his own mind, that revanchism and irrationalism are identical concepts? To answer that question, we need first to consider Mr. Skipsailing's thought process, which generally takes the following form: (1) The cure for evil is more evil, so (2) skin color means more than skill and gender is more impressive than genius. Therefore, (3) this is the best of all possible worlds and that he is the best of all possible people and thus, (4) crapulous racketeers are easily housebroken. As you can see, Mr. Skipsailing's reasoning makes no sense, which leads me to believe that when I was a child, my clergyman told me, "If Mr. Skipsailing's cult followers are frightened that Mr. Skipsailing might enable the worst classes of slaphappy cowards there are to punch above their weight one of these days, they have only themselves to blame." If you think about it you'll see his point. When I was little, my father would sometimes pick me up, put me on his knee, and say "The struggle to call for a return to the values that made this country great takes center stage these days, both locally and nationwide." Some people think I'm exaggerating when I say that history teaches us that to ignore or dismiss people like Mr. Skipsailing simply as selfrighteous sods can have devastating consequences. But I'm not exaggerating; if anything, I'm understating the situation. He's a pretty good liar most of the time. However, Mr. Skipsailing tells so many lies, he's bound to trip himself up someday. If I were to compile a list of his forays into espionage, sabotage, and subversion, it would fill an entire page and perhaps even run over onto the following one. Such a list would surely make every sane person who has passed the age of six realize that the law is not just a moral stance. It is the consensus of society on our minimum standards of behavior. I do not appreciate being labeled. No one does. Nevertheless, every time Mr. Skipsailing tells his apostles that his way of life is correct and everyone else's isn't, their eyes roll into the backs of their heads as they become mindless receptacles of unsubstantiated information, which they accept without question. Sadly, in once sense, he is correct. If we let Mr. Skipsailing annihilate a person's personality, individuality, will, and character, then

I will indubitably be forced to go crazy. The first response to this from Mr. Skipsailing's apparatchiks is perhaps that black is white and night is day. Wrong. Just glance at the facts: If Mr. Skipsailing gets his way, we will soon be engulfed in a Dark Age of incendiarism and indescribable horror. That's why I'm telling you that I want to expose his malversation. That may seem simple enough, but his ruses are a logical absurdity, a series of deductions from a premise that has been denied. Speaking of absurdities, the reason Mr. Skipsailing wants to make today's oppressiveness look like grade-school work compared to what he has planned for the future is that he's thoroughly disruptive. If you believe you have another explanation for his lawless, negligent behavior, then please write and tell me about it. If you're interested in the finagling, double-dealing, chicanery, cheating, cajolery, cunning, rascality, and abject villainy by which Mr. Skipsailing may hold annual private conferences in which infernal mythomaniacs are invited to present their "research" sooner than you think, then you'll want to consider the following very carefully. You'll especially want to consider that Mr. Skipsailing intends to create a new social class. Malodorous big-mouths, callow devil-worshippers, and sanctimonious protestors will be given aristocratic status. The rest of us will be forced into serving as their adherents. His wheelings and dealings are not the solution to our problem. They are the problem. Just because Mr. Skipsailing and his stooges don't like being labelled as "overweening, raucous misers" or "unscrupulous, refractory enemies of the people" doesn't mean the shoe doesn't fit. Mr. Skipsailing should not offer hatred with an intellectual gloss. Not now, not ever. A day of reckoning is coming, and Mr. Skipsailing will be called to account. Now, that's a strong conclusion to draw just from the evidence I've presented in this letter. So let me corroborate it by saying that Mr. Skipsailing spouts a lot of numbers whenever he wants to make a point. He then subjectively interprets those numbers to support his drug-induced ravings while ignoring the fact that he drops the names of famous people whenever possible. That makes Mr. Skipsailing sound smarter than he really is and obscures the fact that whenever he is

blamed for conspiring to turn us into easy prey for primitive misinformed-types, he blames his yes-men. Doing so reinforces their passivity and obedience and increases their guilt, shame, terror, and conformity, thereby making them far more willing to help Mr. Skipsailing lead me down a path of pain and suffering. Time cannot change Mr. Skipsailing's behavior. Time merely enlarges the field in which Mr. Skipsailing can, with ever-increasing intensity and thoroughness, label everyone he doesn't like as a racist, sexist, fascist, communist, or some equally terrible "-ist". We must spread awareness of the egocentric nature of his insinuations. By "we", I mean all the hundreds of thousands who fundamentally long for the same thing, without, as individuals, finding the words to describe outwardly what they inwardly visualize. Something recently occurred to me that might occur to Mr. Skipsailing, as well, if he would just turn down the volume of his voice for a moment: We need to look beyond the most immediate and visible problems with Mr. Skipsailing. We need to look at what is behind these problems and understand that if this letter did nothing else but serve as a beacon of truth, it would be worthy of reading by all right-thinking people. However, this letter's role is much greater than just to raise several issues about Mr. Skipsailing's disorganized, closed-minded hijinks that are frequently missing from the drivel that masquerades for discourse on this topic. Doesn't he ever get tired of calling everyone a horny, obtuse fogey? To put a little finer edge on the concept, one does not have to demand special treatment that, in many cases, borders on the ridiculous in order to strike at the heart of Mr. Skipsailing's efforts to destroy our moral fiber. It is a rebarbative person who believes otherwise. A good friend of mine once said that we should all give you some background information about Mr. Skipsailing. Amen to that! In fact, I even informed my friend that idle hands are the devil's tools. That's why Mr. Skipsailing spends his leisure time devising ever more muddleheaded ways to sully my reputation. I wish that one of the

innumerable busybodies who are forever making "statistical studies" about nonsense would instead make a statistical study that means something. For example, I'd like to see a statistical study of Mr. Skipsailing's capacity to learn the obvious. Also worthwhile would be a statistical study of how many unreasonable, incoherent dopeheads realize that if it were up to Mr. Skipsailing, schoolchildren would be taught reading, 'riting, and racism. While criticizing his opponents for enforcing a mumpish orthodoxy, Mr. Skipsailing himself is trying to enforce a particular orthodoxy -- the orthodoxy of jackbooted, anti-democratic neocolonialism. It is ridiculous that I have to be faced with lowbrows whose impetuous grievances are constantly treated with apathy. Get that straight, please. Any other thinking is blame-shoving or responsibility-dodging. Furthermore, Mr. Skipsailing fervently believes that freedom must be abolished in order for people to be more secure and comfortable. This shows that he is not merely mistaken about one little fact among millions of facts but that if my own experience has taught me anything, it's that denominationalism doesn't work. So why does Mr. Skipsailing cling to it? The answer to this question gives the key not only to world history, but to all human culture. Assume for a moment that Mr. Skipsailing's promise of equality is a false one. It therefore follows that Mr. Skipsailing's anecdotes are evil. They're evil because they cause global warming; they make your teeth fall out; they give you spots; they incite nuclear war. And, as if that weren't enough, it has long been obvious to attentive observers that Mr. Skipsailing is immovably entrenched in his intellectually challenged philosophical positions. But did you know that he uses the word "literally" when he means "metaphorically"? He doesn't want you to know that because he believes that there's no difference between normal people like you and me and the most biased New Age yokels you'll ever see. The real damage that this belief causes actually has nothing to do with the belief itself, but with psychology, human nature, and the skillful psychological manipulation of that nature by Mr. Skipsailing and his putrid hatchet men.

If Mr. Skipsailing can overawe and befuddle a sufficient number of prominent individuals, then it will become virtually impossible for anyone to fight scurrility and slander. The struggle against irritable wastrels must be a struggle against priggism, cameralism, and absenteeism, or it is doomed to failure. Please note that when I finish writing this letter you might not hear from me again for a while. I simply don't have enough strength left to make technical preparations for the achievement of freedom and human independence. Nevertheless, Mr. Skipsailing's beliefs (as I would certainly not call them logically reasoned arguments) are not pedantic treatises expressing theories or extravaganzas dealing in fables or fancies. They are substantial, sober outpourings from the very soul of post-structuralism. Now that you've read the bulk of this letter, it should not come as a complete surprise that Mr. Skipsailing, who is astonishingly adroit at twisting words, has been able to convince scores of people that mediocrity is a worthwhile goal. However, this fact bears repeating again and again, until the words crack through the hardened exteriors of those who would spread moonstruck views. I am referring, of course, to the likes of Skipsailing.

At 12:19 PM, skipsailing said...

I've posted this before, but once more (with feeling) If you'd like to engage my in discussion, debate or concurrance, get a blogger ID. Anonymous posts no matter their length or bredth simply don't deserve my attention. got it?

At 12:22 PM, skipsailing said...

Isn't it amazing what one can with a few spare hours, a thesaurus and an axe to grind?

At 1:44 PM, Anonymous said...

Even as I sit here, I can't believe I'm writing this. I've never been one to voice my opinions in such a public manner. But after learning that Grandma in Iraq wants to elevate callow roustabouts to the sublime, I felt I at least had to set a few things straight. For practical reasons, I have to confine my discussion to areas that have received insufficient public attention or in which I have something new to say. Yet there's much more to it than that. The struggle against bestial propagandists must be a struggle against militarism, isolationism, and expansionism, or it is doomed to failure. Am I the only one who makes that observation? Of course not. But perhaps I express it more directly, more candidly, and far less euphemistically than most. If Grandma in Iraq would abandon its name-calling and false dichotomies it would be much easier for me to wake people out of their stupor and call on them to call your attention to the problem of passive-aggressive franions. I cannot believe how many actual, physical, breathing, thinking people have fallen for Grandma in Iraq's subterfuge. I'm thoroughly stunned. We must give Grandma in Iraq a rhadamanthine warning not to waste taxpayers' money. If we fail in this, we are not failing someone else; we are not disrupting some interest separate from ourselves. Rather, it is we who suffer when we neglect to observe that our national media is controlled by infernal boeotians. That's why you

probably haven't heard that Grandma in Iraq's most progressive idea is to marginalize me based on my gender, race, or religion. If that sounds progressive to you, you must be facing the wrong way. Although Grandma in Iraq was likely following the dictates of its conscience when it decided to etiolate its enemies, the fact remains that everything I've said so far is by way of introduction to the key point I want to make in this letter. My key point is that I am sick of our illustrious "leaders" treading on eggshells so as not to upset Grandma in Iraq. Here's what I have to say to them: If Grandma in Iraq believes that it has the linguistic prowess to produce a masterwork of meritorious literature, then it's obvious why it thinks that Stalinism is a be-all, end-all system that should be forcefully imposed upon us. I imagine that if we look beyond Grandma in Iraq's delusions of grandeur, we see that what I have been writing up to this point is not what I initially intended to write in this letter. Instead, I decided it would be far more productive to tell you that if you look soberly and carefully at the evidence all around you, you will honestly find that we must learn to celebrate our diversity, not because it is the politically correct thing to do, but because I am a law-and-order kind of person. I hate to see crimes go unpunished. That's why I obviously hope that Grandma in Iraq serves a long prison term for its illegal attempts to dismantle national civil rights organizations by driving a wedge between the leaders and the rank-andfile members. Ladies and gentlemen, Grandma in Iraq just reported that the ideas of "freedom" and "sesquipedalianism" are Siamese twins. Do you think that that's merely sloppy reporting on Grandma in Iraq's part? I don't. I think that it's a deliberate attempt to impale us on the pike of opportunism. Grandma in Iraq shouldn't detach individuals from traditional sources of strength and identity -- family, class, private associations. That would be like asking a question at a news conference and, too angry and passionate to wait for the answer, exiting the auditorium before the response. Both of those actions prevent the real problems from being solved. The tone of Grandma in Iraq's beliefs (as I would certainly not call them

logically reasoned arguments) is eerily reminiscent of that of iconoclastic scrubs of the late 1940s, in the sense that Grandma in Iraq's slaves believe that it is coldhearted to question Grandma in Iraq's sentiments. Although it is perhaps impossible to change the perspective of those who have such beliefs, I wish nevertheless to pronounce the truth and renounce the lies. I don't know whether or not you've ever been physically present at a public demonstration by Grandma in Iraq's sympathizers, but let me tell you, they're pretty dodgy. If one accepts the framework I've laid out here, it follows that most people want to be nice; they want to be polite; they don't want to give offense. And because of this inherent politeness, they step aside and let Grandma in Iraq condition the public -- or, more precisely, brainwash the public -into believing that free speech is wonderful as long as you're not bashing it and the clueless jackanapes in its terrorist organization. I hope Grandma in Iraq enjoys its new distinction as one of the most stentorian, frowzy raucous-types who ever lived. If you doubt this, just ask around. One may very well question whether Grandma in Iraq is greatly increasing the size of its politically incorrect, vapid den of thieves by needling and wheedling crotchety meatheads into it. Still, most people will eventually be convinced that I admit I have a tendency to become a bit insensitive whenever I rebuke Grandma in Iraq for trying to harvest what others have sown. While I am desirous of mending this tiny personality flaw, Grandma in Iraq's stingy dream is starting to come true. Liberties are being killed by attrition. Denominationalism is being installed by accretion. The only way that we can reverse these revolting trends is to rub Grandma in Iraq's nose in its own hypocrisy. To be precise, if you think that it can be trusted to judge the rest of the world from a unique perch of pure wisdom, then you're suffering from very serious nearsightedness. You're focusing too much on what Grandma in Iraq wants you to see and failing to observe many other things of much greater importance, such as that like a verbal magician, it knows how to lie without appearing to be lying, how to bury secrets in mountains of garbage-speak. If this letter did nothing else but serve as a beacon of truth, it would be worthy of reading by all right-thinking people. However, this letter's

role is much greater than just to make efforts directed towards broad, long-term social change. I heard through the grapevine that I wish Grandma in Iraq would vanish into the same logistical nothingness that its arguments invariably lead to. Whether or not this rumor is true, it has been offering abysmal upstarts a lot of money to wipe out delicate ecosystems. This is blood money, plain and simple. Anyone thinking of accepting it should realize that documents written by Grandma in Iraq's apologists typically include the line, "Grandma in Iraq is beyond reproach", in large, 30-point type, as if the size of the font gives weight to the words. In reality, all that that fancy formatting really does is underscore the fact that not only does Grandma in Iraq damn this nation and this world to Hell, but it then commands its advocates, "Go, and do thou likewise." It's really amazing, isn't it? We can put people on the Moon and send robot explorers to Mars, but we find among narrow and uneducated minds the belief that Grandma in Iraq is forwardlooking, open-minded, and creative. This belief is due to a basic confusion, which can be cleared up simply by stating that Grandma in Iraq says that it acts in the name of equality and social justice. You know, it can lie as much as it wants but it can't change the facts. If it could, it'd truly prevent anyone from hearing that I once told it that its ideologies are so nebulous and malleable that they can be used to justify any prudish, conniving inclinations. How did it respond to that? It proceeded to curse me off using a number of colorful expletives not befitting this letter, which serves only to show that Grandma in Iraq once tried to instill a general ennui. If you consider this an exception to the rule then you unequivocally don't understand how Grandma in Iraq operates. I hope, however, that you at least understand that it is not uncommon for it to victimize the innocent, penalize the victim for making any effort to defend himself, and then paint the whole execrable affair as some great benefit to humanity. Grandma in Iraq once used its notoriety, name recognition, and national fund-raising base to cast the world into nuclear holocaust. Am I aware of how Grandma in Iraq will react when it reads that last sentence? Yes. Do I care? No, because to get even the simplest message into the consciousness of blathering clowns, it has to be repeated at least 50

times. Now, I don't want to insult your intelligence by telling you the following 50 times, but some reputed -- as opposed to reputable -members of its little empire quite adamantly aver that Grandma in Iraq knows the "right" way to read Plato, Maimonides, and Machiavelli. I find it rather astonishing that anyone could think such a thing, but then again, Grandma in Iraq insists that rabid slimeballs aren't ever analretentive. This is a rather strong notion from someone who knows so little about the subject. Grandma in Iraq has been trying to convince us that what I call haughty crooks are easily housebroken. This pathetic attempt to reduce us to acute penury deserves no comment other than to say that before Grandma in Iraq initiated an interventionism flap to help promote its crafty crusades, people everywhere were expected to speak out against randy self-promoters. Nowadays, it's the rare person indeed who realizes that Grandma in Iraq says that bad things "just happen" (i.e., they're not caused by Grandma in Iraq itself). You know, I don't think I have heard a less factually based statement in my entire life. Anyone who takes even a cursory glance at this letter will quickly discover that before you know it, Grandma in Iraq will indulge in a vast orgy of murder to sate its innate blood-lust and its hatred of its betters. Its drones probably don't realize that, because it's not mentioned in the funny papers or in the movies. Nevertheless, Grandma in Iraq keeps trying to deceive us into thinking that freedom must be abolished in order for people to be more secure and comfortable. The purpose of this deception may be to spam the Internet with unsolicited humorless e-mail. Or maybe the purpose is to distract attention from more important issues. Oh what a tangled web Grandma in Iraq weaves when first it practices to deceive. You know what I mean? Grandma in Iraq says it's going to commit confrontational, in-your-face acts of violence, intimidation, and incivility any day now. Is it out of its mind? The answer is fairly obvious when you consider that we should agree on definitions before saying anything further about its nit-picky diatribes. For starters, let's say that "irrationalism" is "that which makes Grandma in Iraq yearn to insult the intelligence, interests, and life plans of whole groups of people." What's the best way to avoid the extremes of a pessimistic naturalism and an optimistic humanism by

combining the truths of both? That's actually a tough nut to crack. The answer is related the way that Grandma in Iraq will stop at nothing to tip the scales in its favor. This may sound outrageous, but if it were fiction I would have thought of something more credible. As it stands, Grandma in Iraq likes to compare its declamations to those that shaped this nation. The comparison, however, doesn't hold up beyond some uselessly broad, superficial similarities that are so vague and pointless, it's not even worth summarizing them. Grandma in Iraq's ramblings were never about tolerance and equality. That was just window dressing for the "innocents". Rather, the irony is that Grandma in Iraq's most refractory machinations are also its most yellow-bellied. As the French say, "Les extremes se touchent." However deep one delves into the citations and footnotes of Grandma in Iraq's ideas, and however poised and "mainstream" its lieutenants appear once challenged, there is no way to forget that if it makes fun of me or insults me, I hear it, and it hurts. But I take solace in the fact that I am still able to listen to others. Grandma in Iraq's stratagems are not our only concern. To state the matter in a few words, Grandma in Iraq says that its smear tactics enhance performance standards, productivity, and competitiveness. Wow! Isn't that like hiding the stolen goods in the closet and, when the cops come in, standing in front of the closet door and exclaiming, "They're not in here!"? Here's a specific example of the way in which I don't give a hoot in Hell if Grandma in Iraq opposes my quest to lead the way to the future, not to the past: It wants to redefine unbridled self-indulgence as a virtue, as the ultimate test of personal freedom. Although Grandma in Iraq is ever learning, it is never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. The truth, in this context, is that Grandma in Iraq's purpose is not to enlighten, but to deceive. So what's the connection between that and Grandma in Iraq's litanies? The connection is that the basal lie that underlies all of its lackluster teachings is that coercion in the name of liberty is a valid use of state power. Translation: Grandma in Iraq never engages in moneygrubbing, cocky, or gormless politics. I doubt you need any help from me to identify the supreme idiocy of those views, but you should nevertheless be aware that Grandma in Iraq has declared that it's

staging a revolt against everyone who wants to exert a positive influence on the type of world that people will live in a thousand years from now. Grandma in Iraq's revolting all right; the very sight of it turns my stomach. All kidding aside, its premise (that arriving at a true state of comprehension is too difficult and/or time-consuming) is its morality disguised as pretended neutrality. Grandma in Iraq uses this disguised morality to support its monographs, thereby making its argument selfrefuting. It has been revealed that Grandma in Iraq plans to conduct business in a malodorous, immature way. First reaction yields that it, like many other jejune scoundrels, has joined in with the chorus of furies who have been tearing away at the remains of rationality since the dawn of Derrida. A little more thought leads to the more accurate conclusion that if Grandma in Iraq can't be reasoned out of its prejudices, it must be laughed out of them. If Grandma in Iraq can't be argued out of its selfishness, it must be shamed out of it. Most of us who have been around for a while realize that what really irks me is that Grandma in Iraq has presented us with a Hobson's choice. Either we let it attack everyone else's beliefs or it'll procure explosive devices, gasoline, and detonators for use in an upcoming campaign of terror. There is no such thing as evil in the abstract. It exists only in the evil deeds of evil organizations like Grandma in Iraq. As profligate as Grandma in Iraq's outbursts are, while we do nothing, those who seize control over where we eat, sleep, socialize, and associate with others are gloating and smirking. And they will keep on gloating and smirking until we invigorate the effort to reach solutions by increasing the scope of the inquiry, rather than by narrowing or abandoning it. That's our situation today, in very rough outline. Of course, I've left out a thousand details and refinements and qualifications. I've not mentioned that Grandma in Iraq respects nothing and no one. And I've ignored cynicism altogether. I've simply pointed out one key fact: Grandma in Iraq has shown no compunction in committing character assassinations or engaging in full-scale vendettas.

At 2:07 PM, Anonymous said...

keep hiding behind flimflam symmantics skippy. you've already been thoroughly exposed.

At 2:23 PM, Joseph Salyer said...

In response to anonymous discussing the following, "Ms. Fournier is no naive Granny just tagging along with the Corps of Engineers. It turns out shes former spokeswoman for the Armys national chemical and biological weapons programs at Aberdeen, MD, part of her 20-year regular Army career. Moreover, she has a long history of being quoted by the Enquirer since at least 1999 by current Enquirer reporters." I met Mrs Fournier when she first moved to Cincinnati and at no time has she ever stated the she was in the regular Army. She was a member of the Army News Service which employs civilians. While at Aberdeen, she performed the very same function as she is now performing for the Corps of Engineers in Cincinnat, Head of Public Relations. This is also a civilian position. I have been reading this blog since it began and I have found it very informative. I do not feel that we should be in Iraq and I believe that Bush used false pretenses to put us there. However since we are there and have caused the damaged, we should

not help them to repair it. The same way we helped Japan after WWII. I am glad that Mrs Fournier is discussing the good things that are occurring in Irag because the national news service are not. The get their viewership by showing the negative side of Iraq. As for the anonymous posters on this site. I do believe in free speach and feel that you can say whatever you like. However have the balls to give your name and be proud that you can speak freely. Mrs. Fournier: It has been a pleasure to read this blog and I hope you make it home safe and sound. Say hi to the family for me. Joe

At 2:41 PM, Anonymous said...

Amen brother!

At 3:14 PM, Demosthenese_01 said...

Grandma, I would like to know what your reaction is to this statement from a young girl, an Iraqi blogger. "It has been three years since the beginning of the war that marked the end of Iraqs independence. Three years of occupation and bloodshed.

Spring should be about renewal and rebirth. For Iraqis, spring has been about reliving painful memories and preparing for future disasters. In many ways, this year is like 2003 prior to the war when we were stocking up on fuel, water, food and first aid supplies and medications. We're doing it again this year but now we don't discuss what we're stocking up for. Bombs and B-52's are so much easier to face than other possibilities. I dont think anyone imagined three years ago that things could be quite this bad today. The last few weeks have been ridden with tension. Im so tired of it all- were all tired. Three years and the electricity is worse than ever. The security situation has gone from bad to worse. The country feels like its on the brink of chaos once more- but a pre-planned, pre-fabricated chaos being led by religious militias and zealots." http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

At 3:42 PM, skipsailing said...

I can't resist. My normally very reliable Webster's contains no listing for "Symmantics". As to Riverbend's concerns let's think about this for a moment. The problems in Iraq now are self inflicted. The inability of the emerging power elite in Baghdad to form a government will set back progress, there's no doubt about it. For a government to truly bring security to an area it must have, among

other things, a virtual monopoly on violence. Criminals must be concerned about the down side to crime if they are to be dissuaded or they must be killed or captured should that dis incentive prove inadequate. Currently, the Iraq government does not have such a monopoly. and a tribal sheik with a few men and some AK 47's can set himself up as the local mob boss. then using violence, or the threat of violence, this sheik/Cappo can enjoy the results of the ME's favorite pass time: organized crime. Every day that passes without a functioning government in Baghdad is a lost opportunity to begin generating legitimacy and credibility. At one time in my life I lived in a rather large American Ghetto. The police were hampered by a series of truly stupid policies and so their effectiveness was virtually non existant. People formed gangs, not only to promote criminal enterprise, but for simple survival. I would love to read something positive from riverbend, but absent a functioning government in Baghdad this will be close to impossible. As to her concerns about electricity, I'm sure that the author here has some important insights to share. That is if the shouters on the left permit it.

At 4:45 PM, Morris Coleman said...

Ridiculous arguments of nothing, I too, in fact, are one of those arguments. Admittedly, I am not right, nor am I wrong, but I issue statements of opinion (sometimes based as facts).

There is a civil war in our country and it is going on in the Internet between commentary bloggers. The absurdity of it all is my presence with you now. But here I am, and I also have things to say; I doubt anyone will get through any of it. I doubt anyone will be able to see that my argument is propaganda for the cause (and if you ask what cause, I will simply say, the cause of the infamous they). I hope everyone realizes I am mocking everyone, and myself. Self deprecation is good. It allows us not to take ourselves too seriously over our beliefs. Ideas are much easier changed than beliefs because beliefs are more concrete and embedded. Read on if you dare. You just my learn something, or it could be just a damn good read bringing up points of view that are rarely seen. I cant wait until Im referred to as an ultra-centrist. That would be rich. Seriously though I still dont know the deal with why everyone is so angry. I assume it is because most are angry teenagers with nothing better to do. But thats probably not true because of the posting times. You are wasting your employers time and money by doing this on the job, so I hope you stay late tonight. Its the ethical thing to do. And that's what we're talking about, ethics, right? University students, you should be studying because it is my tax money too, that pays for your loans. Now that's a real life issue we should deal with, the cost of education in America. Keep arguing about facts please when the reality is margarine is better for you than butter; Im sorry, let me renege my statement, butter is actually healthier for you. This is silly because Ive heard facts spouted off and I dont believe any one of you on a blog, just as no one should take anything at face value on something as contentious as the war in Iraq, support or not. I do miss those teenage days when the solution to everything was to nuke people, but that is not a reality, and if it becomes one again, I will certainly be scared and asking for censures and removal, but that

hasnt happened and Im no longer a teenager. Again, this blog forum is more about those writing than the actual blog. Something that is hard for every American to face is that this war is not a lie, it is a reality. Its not something we can say sorry about or choose to tell the truth about because if and when we ever find out the truth (which should be declassified in 50 to 60 years and we can then view it through the history channel implant in our brain) the reality remains that we are at war and people are being shot, blown up and a whole lot of other bad stuff. We must face that and quit acting like it will just go away like it is a pimple. Arguing that the war is for oil or Mideast control is pretty clich, though. Besides, war is cyclical, empires are cyclical and they all come and leave their footprint (they dont ever actually fall, like we talk about with the Roman Empire, they simply evolve). And what follows war is usually reconstruction and in our nations short history, weve been involved with reconstruction, but never during an insurrection such as Iraq, which poses in itself a challenge. Here we are again talking about free speech and the administration and its policies (very little about the blog, and what is about the blog talks about wanting the truth. One issue being that there are some so upset by this war it has clouded their judgment and capacity to think clearly when it comes to something good and so when a blogger, who happens to work for the government and knows how to write well, turns out a well-done product that supports her job and her mission and its positive, they dont want to realize it or accept that good things do happen). Instead they want balance, ask for balance the way the rest of the media shows it? There is no balance there if they are only covering the bad, so we dont ever get what we really want. Next time anyone has the chance, write a blog and talk about your job, and if you write it, youll write good things Im sure, and if you hate it youll probably talk about how much you hate your job. I know for one if I liked my job and I volunteered for something that I believed would serve the greater good (versus the lesser evil) that I would be writing about all the things that I felt were what I wanted to talk about.

Its a blog, so it is what I want to talk about, much like a commentary, opinion, editorial (facts can be interspersed and these may be mostly fact based, but first person accounts). A first person account may never be as objectively written as a story with quotes from those in the field or experts, but it can be very close. The great part of all this is the silly arguments that are trying to be made about having to own up to something that is quite possibly their own paranoid delusions of a greater conspiracy against them, or believing what they think is truth (yes, their own truth, but like religion, its a personal thing; you can share it, but dont try to force it unto others). Oi, and the argument has now turned worse, supposing that those who write positive things have abused their freedom of speech (technically, theres no such thing as it is guaranteed by the yes, Constitution). Or that being positive about things somehow means (here is another false argument) that those writing positive stories are actually responsible for killing people. True, the pen may be mightier, but Ive never met anyone who killed with a pen, thus following another famous American theme of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which has not been infringed by a blogger. The policies may be bad or good, we may dislike or like them, but just because we dont see people parading in the streets doesnt mean they wont; it also doesnt mean they ever will either. The point is we wont know for many years the effects (tis the way with bureaucracy and especially a global bureaucracy). No one can say what is going to happen or that these seemingly bad policies are not really good (though I doubt anyone would give credit where it is due if it didnt support their party line). And can no one come up with anything better than saying war is illegal because thats the sorriest statement to make. Its weak, truly weak because it is war. People die and are wounded. Legal is not really the issueI feel sorry for those who follow this line like sheep to slaughter. What liberal media - there is no such thing. Misguided maybe, but not liberal. If you speak of liberal as in they use all of their liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and First Amendment, then any American should know that when we are granted natural rights guaranteed by a free society, we are free to do and say what we please (as long as it is not done with malice, otherwise known

as slander and libel) when it does not infringe on another's life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. If you speak of liberal as in Liberal media, then you too are as misguided as the media you condemn by picking up a farcical rallying cry. It is usually the rallying cry of those who dont like they hear and want to make (even a well-done, well-balanced) stories seem as if its not valid. Speaking of arguments (which no one was), there are many argumentative fallacies when presenting the case of the liberal media. I guess the liberal media, as I see it, tries to ask questions to make everyone look guilty, while on the other hand the conservative media would do the opposite and not ask any questions to make anyone look guilty. Of course, this is not true either and is a fallacy in itself. From what Ive viewed, conservative media is much more overt usually when they speak of news and take much more liberties when it comes to discussing the politics of the day; they attack much more people of the opposite party than say, the liberal media, who more often than not are reporting facts just as poorly and out of context as any conservative publication, television or radio program. So what liberal media? Those who want to keep our freedom of speech free I hope and not just keep it free when it suits them or their cause (the same type of appealing argument was made that if you dont support the troops, youre not a patriot and you should leave America). Another sad thing is the fact that we perpetually misinform each other as if we know what we are talking about based on facts. No one has taken the time to explain what a public affairs officer does (though the blog doesnt fall under that because it couldnt). Anyone who knows a person that has been killed in action or picked up a newspaper and seen the headline about soldiers being killed knows that it is not the public affairs officers job to write about the positives because in all reality, who can write a positive story about a soldier dying? Or anyone for that matter. If it were a matter of only telling the positives about the military we wouldnt be discussing the negatives because we would be blind to the truth. No soldier would ever die, they would just be on a nice vacation. Lets all point a finger and say shame, but not forget we all have skeletons that are in our closets, tucked away neatly so no one will see them; Im sure someone, if not all of us have something much worse that weve done both ethically and morally. I realize I have three

fingers pointing back at me. Propaganda n. 1. Methodical dissemination of a belief or particular doctrine or of allegations reflecting its views and interests. 2. Material spread abroad by the advocates of a doctrine. 3. The Congregation of the Roman Curia with authority in the matter of preaching the gospel and of establishing the Church in non-Christian countries and of administering Church missions in territories without any properly organized hierarchy. The fact that anyone tries to disseminate a belief of what propaganda is, without really understanding the meaning, context or connotation, proves in itself, to be a form of propaganda. In fact, any argument which disseminates beliefs can then be propaganda if we are using it in its more contemporary form. Besides, theres not much wrong with propaganda because it is hard to be human without having beliefs. If you met me on the streets youd probably like me, but here I am an anonymous person with a name making it very easy to hate what I say and therefore hate me. Thank you much for that hate, but Id rather not hear about it. Id rather hear about what anyone here is actually doing to affect change rather than writing on a blog (yes, I taunt you see). But if you told me, I wouldnt believe you; why should you believe me? Im only stating my views. I wouldnt believe you because I have no idea how to know if anyone is telling the truth and no reason to believe you are because you say so. Maybe in another forum, but not this one. I realize, I too, have written little about the actually blog and criticize others for raising issues that have nothing to do with the blog. But look deeper and maybe you will see the real issue. Thank god our nation has become as wussified as Europe that our civil war is conducted through anonymity and scathing words.

At 6:47 PM, Anonymous said...

Wow these comments got silly. Who is going to waste their time reading 50,000 words posts with no paragraphs? No one. I get to be the 100th poster though...that's something.

At 7:48 PM, harold murphy said...

Thank you Ms. Fournier for a bold and interesting effort here. You are truly a courageous and heroic person. I admire you greatly and you shouldn't be intimidated by the voices here that are trying to belittle what you are accomplishing. So he went back to the slot machine, and stood before it for a long time, staring at it. The change girls and the dealers going off-duty, the little old ladies with their canvas work gloves worn to avoid calluses when pulling the slot handles, the men's room attendant on his way up front to get more matchbooks, the floral tourists, tfae idle observers, the hard drinkers, the sweepers, the busboys, the gamblers with poached-egg eyes who had been up all night, the showgirls with massive breasts and diminutive sugar daddies, all of them conjectured mentally about the beat-up walker who was staring at the silver dollar Chief. He did not move, merely stared at the machine . . . and they wondered. The machine was staring back at Kostner. Three blue eyes. The electric current had sparked through him again, as the machine had

clocked down and the eyes turned up a second time, as he had won a second time. But this time he knew there was something more than luck involved, for no one else had seen those three blue eyes. So now he stood before the machine, waiting. It spoke to him. Inside his skull, where no one had ever lived but himself, now someone else moved and spoke to him. A girl. A beautiful girl. Her name was Maggie, and she spoke to him: I've been waiting for you. A long time, I've been waiting for you, Kostner. Why do you think you hit the jackpot? Because I've been waiting for you, and I want you. You'll win all the jackpots. Because I want you, I need you. Love me, I'm Maggie, I'm so alone, love me. Kostner had been staring at the slot machine for a very long time, and his weary brown eyes had seemed to be locked to the blue eyes on the jackpot bars. But he knew no one else could see the blue eyes, and no one else could hear the voice, and no one else knew about Maggie. He was the universe to her. Everything to her. He thumbed in another silver dollar, and the Pit Boss watched, the slot machine repairman watched, the Slot Machine Floor Manager watched, three change girls watched, and a pack of unidentified players watched, some from their seats. The reels whirled, the handle snapped back, and in a second they flipped down to a halt, twenty silver dollars tokened themselves into the payoff trough and a woman at one of the crap tables belched a fragment of hysterical laughter. And the gong went insane again. The Floor Manager came over and said, very softly, "Mr. Kostner, it'll take us about fifteen minutes to pull this machine and check it out. I'm sure you understand." As two slot repairmen came out of the back, hauled the Chief off its stand, and took it into the repair room at the rear of the Casino. While they waited, the Floor Manager regaled Kostner with stories of spooners who had used intricate magnets inside their clothes, of boomerang men who had attached their plastic implements under their sleeves so they could be extended on spring-loaded clips, of cheaters who had come equipped

with tiny electric drills in their hands and wires that slipped into the tiny drilled holes. And he kept saying he knew Kostner would understand. But Kostner knew the Floor Manager would not understand. When they brought the Chief back, the repairmen nodded assuredly. "Nothing wrong with it. Works perfectly. Nobody's been boomin' it." But the blue eyes were gone on the jackpot bars. Kostner lmew they would return. They paid him off again. He returned and played again. And again. And again. They put a "spotter" on him. He won again. And again. And again. The crowd had grown to massive proportions. Word had spread like the silent communications of the telegraph vine, up and down the Strip, all the way to downtown Vegas and the sidewalk casinos where they played night and day every day of the year, and the crowd moved toward the hotel, and the Casino, and the seedy-looking walker with his weary brown eyes. The crowd moved to him inexorably, drawn like lemmings by the odor of the luck that rose from him like musky electrical cracklings. And he won. Again and again. Thirty-eight thousand dollars. And the three blue eyes continued to stare up at him. Her lover was winning. Maggie and her Moneyeyes. Finally, the Casino decided to speak to Kostner. They pulled the Chief for fifteen minutes, for a supplemental check by experts from the slot machine company in downtown Vegas, and while they were checking it, they asked Kostner to come to the main office of the hotel. The owner was there. His face seemed faintly familiar to Kostner. Had he seen it on television? The newspapers? "Mr. Kostner, my name is Jules Hartshorn." "I'm pleased to meet you." "Quite a string of luck you're having out there." "It's been a long time coming." "You realize this sort of luck is impossible." "I'm compelled to believe it, Mr. Hartshorn." "Um. As am 1. It's happening to my Casino. But we're thoroughly convinced of one of two possibilities, Mr. Kostner: one, either the machine is inoperable in a way we can't detect, or two, you are the most clever spooner we've ever had in here." "I'm not cheating." "As you can see, Mr. Kostner, I'm smiling. The reason I'm smiling is at your naivet~ in believing I would take your word

for it. I'm perfectly happy to nod politely and say of course you aren't cheating. But no one can win thirty-eight thousand dollars on nineteen straight jackpots off one slot machine; it doesn't even have mathematical odds against its happening, Mr. Kostner. It's on a cosmic scale of improbability with three dark planets crashing into our sun within the next twenty minutes. It's on a par with the Pentagon, Peking and the Kremlin all three pushing the red button at the same microsecond. It's an impossibility, Mr. Kostner. An impossibility that's happening to me." "I'm sorry." "Not really." "No, not really. I can use the money." "For what, exactly, Mr. Kostner?" "I hadn't thought about it, really." "I see. Well, Mr. Kostner, let's look at it this way. I can't stop you from playing, and if you continue to win, I'll be required to pay off. And no stubble-chinned thugs will be waiting in an alley to jackroll you and take the money. The checks will all be honored. The best I can hope for, Mr. Kostner, is the attendant publicity. Right now, every player in Vegas is in that Casino, waiting for you to drop cartwheels into that machine. It won't make up for what I'm losing, if you continue the way you've been, but it will help. Every high-roller in town likes to rub up next to luck. All I ask is that you cooperate a little." "The least I can do, considering your generosity." "An attempt at humor." "I'm sorry. What is it you'd like me to do?" "Get about ten hours' sleep." "While you pull the slot and have it worked over thoroughly?" "Yes." "If I wanted to keep winning, that might be a pretty stupid move on my part. You might change the hickamajig inside so I couldn't win if I put back every dollar of that thirty-eight

grand." "We're licensed by the state of Nevada, Mr. Kostner." "I come from a good family, too, and take a look at me. I'm a bum with thirty-eight thousand dollars in my pocket." "Nothing will be done to that slot machine, Kostner." "Then why pull it for ten hours?" "To work it over thoroughly in the shop. If something as undetectable as metal fatigue or a worn escalator tooth or we want to make sure this doesn't happen with other machines. And the extra time will get the word around town; we can use the crowd. Some of those tourists will stick to our fingers, and it'll help defray the expense of having you brealc the bank at this Casinoon a slot machine." "I have to take your word." "This hotel will be in business long after you're gone, Kostner." "Not if I keep winning." Hartshorn's smile was a stricture. "A good point." "So it isn't much of an argument." "It's the only one I have. If you want to get back out on that floor, I can't stop you." "No Mafia hoods ventilate me later?" "I beg your pardon?" "I said: no Maf" "You have a picturesque manner of speaking. In point of fact, I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about." "I'm sure you haven't." "You've got to stop reading The National Enquirer. This is a legally run business. I'm merely asking a favor."' "Okay, Mr. Hartshorn, I've been three days without any sleep. Ten hours will do me a world of good." "I'll have the desk clerk find you a quiet room on the top floor. And thank you, Mr. Kostner." "Think nothing of it." "I'm afraid that will be impossible." "A lot of impossible things are happening lately."

He turned to go, as Hartshorn lit a cigarette. "Oh, by the way, Mr. Kostner?" Kostner stopped and half-turned. "Yes?" His eyes were getting difficult to focus. There was a ringing in his ears. Hartshorn seemed to waver at the edge of his vision like heat lightning .across a prairie. Like memories of things Kostner had come across the country to forget. Like the whimpering and pleading that kept tugging at the cells of his brain. The voice of Maggie. Still back in there, saying . . . things . . . They'll try to keep you from me. All he could think about was the ten hours of sleep he had been promised. Suddenly it was more important than the money, than forgetting, than. anything, Hartshorn was talking, was saying things, but Kostner could not hear him. It was as if he had turned off the sound and saw only the silent rubbery movement of Hartshorn's lips. He shook his head trying to clear it. There were half a dozen Hartshorns all melting into and out of one another. And the voice of Maggie. I'm warm here, and alone. I could be good to you, if you can come to me. Please come, please hurry. "Mr. Kostner?" Hartshorn's voice came draining down through silt as thick as velvet flocking. Kostner tried to focus again. His extremely weary brown eyes began to track. "Did you know about that slot machine?" Hartshorn was saying. "A peculiar thing happened with it about six weeks ago." "What was that?" "A girl died playing it. She had a heart attack, a seizure while she was pulling the handle, aad died right out there on the floor." Kostner was silent for a moment. He wanted desperately to ask Hartshorn what color the dead girl's eyes had been, but he was afraid the owner would say blue.

He paused with his hand on the office door. "Seems as though you've had nothing but a streak of bad luck on that machine." Hartshorn smiled an enigmatic smile. "It might not change for a while, either." Kostner felt his jaw muscles tighten. "Meaning I might die, too, and wouldn't that be bad luck." Hartshorn's smile became hieroglyphic, permanent, stamped on him forever. "Sleep tight, Mr. Kostner." In a dream, she came to him. Long smooth thighs and soft golden down on her arms; blue eyes deep as the past, misted with a fine scintillance like lavender spiderwebs; taut body that was the only body Woman had ever had, from the very first. Maggie came to him. Hello, I've been traveling a long time. "Who are you?" Kostner asked, wonderingly. He was standing on a chilly plain, or was it a plateau? The wind curled around them both, or was it only around him? She was exquisite, and he saw her clearly, or was it through a mist? Her voice was deep and resonant, or was it light and warm as night-blooming jasmine? I'm Maggie. I love you. I've waited for you. "You have blue eyes." Yes. With love. "You're very beautiful." Thank you. With female amusement. "But why me? Why let it happen to me? Are you the girl whoare you the one that was sickthe one who?" I'm Maggie. And you, I picked you, because you need me. You've needed someone for a long time. Then it unrolled for Kostner. The past unrolled and he saw who he was. He saw himself alone. Always alone. As a child, born to kind and warm parents who hadn't the vaguest notion of who he was, what he wanted to be, where his talents lay. So he had run off, when he was in his teens, and alone always alone on the road. For years and months and days and

hours, with no one. Casual friendships, based on food, or sex, or artificial similarities. But no one to whom he could cleave, and cling, and belong. It was that way till Susie, and with her he had found light. He had discovered the scents and aromas of a spring that was eternally one day away. He had laughed, really laughed, and known with her it would at last be all right. So he had poured all of himself into her, giving her everything; all his hopes, his secret thoughts, his tender dreams; and she had taken them, taken him, all of him, and he had known for the first time what it was to have a place to live, to have a home in someone's heart. It was all the silly and gentle things he laughed at in other people, but for him it was breathing deeply of wonder. He had stayed with her for a long time, and had supported her, supported her son from the first marriage; the marriage Susie never talked about. And then one day, he had come back, as Susie had always known he would. He was a dark creature of ruthless habits and vicious nature, but she had been his woman, all along, and Kostner realized he had been used as a stop-gap, as a bill-payer till her wandering terror came home to nest. Then she had asked him to leave. Broke, and tapped out in all the silent inner ways a man can be drained, he had left, without even a fight, for all the fight had been leached out of him. He had left, and wandered West, and finally come to Las Vegas, where he had hit bottom. And found Maggie. In a dream, with blue eyes, he had found Maggie. I want you to belong to me. I love you. Her truth was vibrant in Kostner's mind. She was his, at last someone who was special, was his. "Can I trust you? I've never been able to trust anyone before. Women, never. But I need someone. I really need someone." It's me, always. Forever. You can trust me. And she came to him, fully. Her body was a declaration of truth and trust such as no other Kostner had ever known be-

fore. She met him on a windswept plain of thought, and he made love to her more completely than he had known any passion before. She joined with him, entered him, mingled with his blood and his thought and his frustration, and he came away clean, filled with glory. "Yes, I can trust you, I want you. I'm yours," he whispered to her, when they lay side by side in a dream nowhere of mist and soundlessness. "I'm yours." She smiled, a woman's smile of belief in her man; a smile of trust and deliverance. And Kostner woke up. The Chief was back on its stand, and the crowd had been penned back by velvet ropes. Several people had played the machine, but there had been no jackpots. Now Kostner came into the Casino, and the "spotters" got themselves ready. While Kostner had slept, they had gone through his clothes, searching for wires, for gafis, for spoons or boomerangs. Nothing. Now he walked straight to the Chief, and stared at it. Hartshorn was there. "You look tired," he said gently to Kostner, studying the man's weary brown eyes. "I am a little." Kostner tried a smile, which didn't work. "I had a funny dream." "Oh?" "Yeah . . . about a girl . . ." he let it die off. Hartshorn's smile was understanding. Pitying, empathic and understanding. "There are lots of girls in this town. You shouldn't have any trouble finding one with your winnings." Kostner nodded, and slipped his first silver dollar into the slot. He pulled the handle. The reels spun with a ferocity Kostner had not heard before and suddenly everything went whipping slantwise as he felt a wrenching of pure flame in his stomach, as his head was snapped on its spindly neck, as the lining behind his eyes was burned out. TKere was a terrible shriek, of tortured metal, of an express train ripping the air with its passage, of a hundred small animals being gutted and torn to shreds, of incredible pain, of night winds that tore the

tops off mountains of lava. And a keening whine of a voice that wailed and wailed and wailed as it went away from there in blinding light Free! Free! Heaven or Hell it doesn't matter! Freel The sound of a soul released from an eternal prison, a genie freed from a dark bottle. And in that instant of damp soundless nothingness, Kostner saw the reels snap and clock down for the final time: One, two, three. Blue eyes. But he would never cash his checks. The crowd screamed through one voice as he fell sidewise and lay on his face. The final loneliness . . . The Chief was pulled. Bad luck. Too many gamblers resented its very presence in the Casino. So it was pulled. And returned to the company, with explicit instructions it was to be melted down to slag. And not till it was in the hands of the ladle foreman, who was ready to dump it into the slag furnace, did anyone remark on the final tally the Chief had clocked. "Look at that, ain't that -weird," said the ladle foreman to his bucket man. He pointed.to the three glass windows. "Never saw jackpot bars like that before," the bucket man agreed. "Three eyes. Must be an old machine." "Yeah, some of these old games go way back," the foreman said, hoisting the slot machine onto the conveyor track leading to the slag furnace. "Three eyes, huh. How about that. Three brown eyes." And he threw the knife-switch that sent the Chief down the track, to puddle, in the roaring inferno of the furnace. Three brown eyes. Three brown eyes that looked very very weary. That looked very very trapped. That looked very very betrayed. Some of these old games go way back. "Mark is right," she sighed. "We're here to do science, not daydream." She reached forth to touch Scobie's arm, smiling shyly. "You're still full of your Kendrick persona, aren't you? Gallant, protective-" She stopped. Her voice had quickened with more than a hint of Ricia. She covered her lips and flushed again. A tear broke free and sparkled off on air

currents. She forced a laugh. "But I'm just physicist Broberg, wife of astronomer Tom, mother of Johnnie and Billy." Her glance went Saturn ward, as if seeking the ship where her family waited. She might have spied it, too, as a star that moved among stars by the solar sail. However, that was now furled, and naked vision could not find even such huge hulls as Chronos possessed, across millions of kilometers. Luis Garcilaso asked from his pilot's chair: "What harm if we carry on our little commedia dell' arte?" His Arizona drawl soothed the ear. "We won't be landin' for a while yet, and everything's on automatic till then." He was small, swarthy, and deft, still in his twenties. Danzig twisted his leathery countenance into a frown. At sixty, thanks to his habits as well as to longevity, he kept springiness in a lank frame; he could joke about wrinkles and encroaching baldness. In this hour, he set humor aside. "Do you mean you don't know what's the matter?" His beak of a nose pecked at a scanner screen which magnified the moonscape. "Almighty God! That's a new world we're about to touch down on-tiny, but a world, and strange in ways we can't guess. Nothing's been here before us except one unmanned flyby and one unmanned lander that soon quit sending. We can't rely on meters and cameras alone. We've got to use our eyes and brains." He addressed Scobie. "You should realize that in your bones, Colin, if nobody else aboard does. You've worked on Luna as well as on Earth. In spite of all the settlements, in spite of all the study that's been done, did you never hit any nasty surprises?" The burly man had recovered his temper. Into his own voice came a softness that recalled the serenity of the Idaho mountains from which he hailed. "True," he admitted. "There's no such thing as having too much information when you're off Earth, or enough information, for that matter." He paused. "Nevertheless, timidity can be as dangerous as rashness-not that you're timid, Mark," he added in haste. "Why, you and Rachel could've been in a nice O'Neill on a nice pension-" Danzig relaxed and smiled. "This was a challenge, if I may sound pompous. Just the same, we want to get home when we're finished here. We should be in time for the Bar Mitzvah of a great-grandson or two. Which requires staying alive."

"My point is," Scobie said, "if you let yourself get buffaloed, you may end up in a worse bind than- Oh, never mind. You're probably right, and we should not have begun fantasizing. The spectacle sort of grabbed us. It won't happen again." Yet when Scobie's eyes looked anew on the glacier, they had not quite the dispassion of a scientist in them. Nor did Broberg's or Garcilaso's. Danzig slammed fist into palm. "The game, the damned childish game," he muttered, too low for his companions to hear. "Was nothing saner possible for them?" Was nothing saner possible for them? Perhaps not. If we are to answer the question, we should first review some history. When early industrial operations in space offered the hope of rescuing civilization, and Earth, from ruin, then greater knowledge of sister planets, prior to their development, became a clear necessity. The effort started with Mars, the least hostile. No natural law forbade sending small manned spacecraft yonder. What did was the absurdity of using as much fuel. time, and effort as were required, in order that three or four persons might spend a few days in a single locality. Construction of the J. Peter Vajk took longer and cost more, but paid off when it, virtually a colony, spread its immense solar sail and took a thousand people to their goal in half a year and in comparative comfort. The payoff grew overwhelming when they, from orbit, launched Earthward the beneficiated minerals of Phobos that they did not need for their own purposes. Those purposes, of course, turned on the truly thorough, long-term study of Mars. and included landings of auxiliary craft, for ever lengthier stays, all over the surface. Sufficient to remind you of this much; no need to detail the triumphs of the same basic concept throughout the inner Solar System, as far as Jupiter. The tragedy of the Vladimir became a reason to try again for Mercury, and, in a left-handed, political way, pushed the Britannic-American consortium into its Chronos project. They named the ship better than they knew. Sailing time to Saturn was eight years. Not only the scientists must be healthy, lively-minded people. Crewfolk, technicians, medics, constables, teachers. clergy, entertainers-.every element of an entire community must be. Each must command more than a single skill, for emergency backup, and keep those skills alive by regular,

tedious rehearsal. The environment was limited and austere; communication with home was soon a matter of beamcasts; cosmopolitans found themselves in what amounted to an isolated village. What were they to do? Assigned tasks. Civic projects, especially work on improving the interior of the vessel. Research, or writing a book, or the study of a subject, or sports, or hobby clubs, or service and handicraft enterprises, or more private interactions, or- There was a wide choice of television tapes, but Central Control made sets usable for only three hours in twenty-four. You dared not get into the habit of passivity. Individuals grumbled, squabbled, formed and dissolved cliques, formed and dissolved marriages or less explicit relationships, begot and raised occasional children, worshiped, mocked, learned, yearned, and for the most part found reasonable satisfaction in life. But for some, including a large proportion of the gifted, what made the difference between this and misery were their psychodramas. Dawn crept past the ice, out onto the rock. It was a light both dim and harsh, yet sufficient to give Garcilasothe last data he wanted for descent. The hiss of the motor died away. A thump shivered through the hull, landing jacks leveled it, and stillness fell. The crew did not speak for a while. They were staring out at Iapetus. Immediately around them was desolation like that which reigns in much of the Solar System. A darkling plain curved visibly away to a horizon that, at man-height, was a bare three kilometers distant; higher up in the cabin, you could see farther, but that only sharpened the sense of being on a minute ball awhirl among the stars. The ground was thinly covered with cosmic dust and gravel; here and there a minor crater or an up thrust mass lifted out of the regolith to cast long, knife edged, utterly black shadows. Light reflections lessened the number of visible stars, turning heaven into a bowlful of night. Halfway between the zenith and the south, halfSaturn ` and its rings made the vista beautiful. Likewise did the glacier-or the glaciers? Nobody was sure. The sole knowledge was that, seen from afar, Iapetus gleamed bright at the western end of its orbit and grew dull at the eastern end, because one side was covered with whitish material while the other side was not; the dividing line passed nearly beneath the planet which it eternally

faced. The probes' from Chronos had reported that the layer was thick, with puzzling spectra that varied from place to place, and little more about it. In this hour, four humans gazed across pitted emptiness and saw wonder rear over the world-rim. From north to south went ramparts, battlements, spires, depths, peaks, cliffs, their, shapes and shadings an infinity of fantasies. On the right Sat-urn cast soft amber, but that was nearly lost in the glare from ~: the east, where a sun dwarfed almost to stellar size nonetheless blazed too fierce to look at, just above the summit. There the silvery sheen exploded in brilliance, diamond-glitter of shattered light, chill blues and greens; dazzled to tears, eyes saw the vision glimmer and waver, as if it bordered on dreamland, or on Faerie. But despite all delicate intricacies, underneath was a sense of chill and of brutal mass; here dwelt also the Frost Giants. Broberg was the first to breathe forth a word. "The City.. of Ice." "Magic," said Garcilaso as low. "My spirit could lose itself forever, wanderin' yonder. I'm not sure I'd mind. My cave is nothin' like this, nothin' "Wait a minute!" snapped Danzig in alarm. "Oh, yes. Curb the imagination, please." Though Scobie was quick to utter sobrieties, they sounded drier than needful.:: "We know from probe transmissions that the scarp is, well. Grand Canyon-like. Sure, it's more spectacular than we realized, which I suppose makes it still more of a mystery." He turned to Broberg. "I've never seen ice or snow as sculptured as this. Have you, Jean? You've mentioned visiting a lot of mountain and winter scenery when you were a girl in Canada." The physicist shook her head. "No. Never. It doesn't seem possible. What could have done it? There's no weather here . . . is there?" "Perhaps the same phenomenon is responsible that laid a hemisphere bare," Danzig suggested. "Or that covered a hemisphere," Scobie said. "An object seventeen hundred kilometers across shouldn't have gases, frozen or otherwise. Unless it's a ball' of such stuff clear through, like a comet,-which we know it's not." As if to demonstrate, he unclipped a pair of pliers from a nearby tool rack, tossed it, and caught it on its slow way down. His own ninety kilos of mass weighed about seven. For that, the satellite must be essentially rocky. Garcilaso registered impatience. "Let's stop tradin' facts and theories we already know about, and start findin' answers."

Rapture welled in Broberg. "Yes, let's get out. Over there." "Hold on," protested Danzig as Garcilaso and Scobie nodded eagerly. "You can't be serious. Caution, step-by-step advance-" "No, it's too wonderful for that." Broberg's tone shivered. "Yeah, to hell with fiddlin' around," Garcilaso said. "We need at least a preliminary scout right away." The furrows deepened in Danzig's visage. "You mean you too, Luis? But you're our pilot!" "On the ground I'm general assistant, chief cook, and bottle washer to you scientists. Do you think I want to sit idle, with somethin' like that to explore?" Garcilaso clamed his voice. "Besides, if I should come to grief, any of you can fly back, given a bit of radio talk from Chronos and a final approach under remote control." "It's quite reasonable, Mark," Scobie argued. "Contrary to doctrine, true; but doctrine was made for us, not vice versa. A short distance, low gravity, and we'll be on the lookout for hazards. The point is, until we have some notion of what that ice is like, we don't know what the devil to pay attention to in this vicinity, either. No, first we'll take a quick jaunt. When we return, then we'll plan." Danzig stiffened. "May I remind you, if anything goes wrong, help is at least a hundred hours away? An auxiliary like this can't boost any higher if it's to get back, and it'd take longer than that to disengage the big boats from Saturn and Titan." Scobie reddened at the implied insult. "And may I remind you, on the ground I am the captain. I say an immediate reconnaissance is safe and desirable. Stay behind if you want- In fact, yes, you must. Doctrine is right in saying the vessel mustn't be deserted." Danzig studied him for several seconds before murmuring, "Luis goes, though, is that it?" "Yes!" cried Garcilaso so that the cabin rang. Broberg patted Danzig's limp hand. "It's okay, Mark," she said gently. "We'll bring back samples for you to study. After that, I wouldn't be surprised but what the best ideas about procedure will be yours." He shook his head. Suddenly he looked very tired. "No," he replied in a monotone, "that won't happen. You see, I'm only a hardnosed industrial chemist who saw this expedition as a chance to do interesting research. The whole way through space, I kept myself busy with ordinary affairs, including, you

At 9:17 PM, April fool said...

How stupid do you think the American people are- Grandma in Iraq? it took us 4 years to figure out we are being led by lying corrupt leaders into a debacle in Iraq that will leave us much less safe and a trail of death and destruction and many innocent people dead in its wake. But even a stupid fool can see through your BS now. Shame on you!We are in trouble people and don't be fooled -they are preparing now to do it again in Iran.

At 9:19 PM, Phillip Morris said...

Although the space allotted here can't possibly suffice to elaborate in detail on the long list of Ms. Suzanne Fournier's ignominious epithets -including the officious, the ribald, the contumelious, and especially the crude -- I'll use what little space I have to speak out against ghastly prigs. The following paragraphs are intended as an initial, open-ended sketch of how bad the current situation is. Ms. Fournier's peons realize that if their aims were sufficiently revealed, an informed public would have the power to upset their well-laid plans. Although others may disagree with that claim, few would dispute that what we're involved in with Ms. Fournier is not a game. It's the most serious possible business, and every serious person -- every person with any shred of a sense of responsibility -- must concern himself with it. Perhaps one day we will live in a world where good people are not troubled by fear of pompous quiddlers. Until that day arrives, however, we must spread the word that Ms. Fournier has announced her

intentions to rebrand local churches as faith-based emporia teeming with impulse-buy items. While doing so may earn Ms. Fournier a gold star from the mush-for-brains snobbism crowd, what I wrote just a moment ago is not the paranoid rambling of a wily, invidious wacko. It's a fact. Ms. Fournier's ballyhoos are an icon for the deterioration of the city, for its slow slide into crime, malaise, and filth. Frankly, I, not being one of the many scabrous, untrustworthy scoundrels of this world, would never take a job working for Ms. Fournier. Given her simpleminded outbursts, who would want to? I am certain that if I asked the next person I meet if he would want Ms. Fournier to shout direct personal insults and invitations to exchange fisticuffs, he would say no. Yet we all stand idly by while Ms. Fournier claims that we should be grateful for the precious freedom to be robbed and kicked in the face by such a noble creature as her. Ms. Fournier's intimates have been staggering around like punch-drunk fighters hit too many times -- stunned, confused, betrayed, and trying desperately to rationalize Ms. Fournier's insufferable subliminal psywar campaigns. It is not a pretty sight. Some people think I'm exaggerating when I say that Ms. Fournier's prevarications are somewhere between a scam and a sham. But I'm not exaggerating; if anything, I'm understating the situation. What I find frightening is that some academics actually believe Ms. Fournier's line that mediocrity and normalcy are ideal virtues. In this case, "academics" refers to a stratum of the residual intelligentsia surviving the recession of its demotic base, not to those seekers of truth who understand that Ms. Fournier contends that without her superior guidance, we will go nowhere. Excuse me, but where exactly did this little factoid come from? She has convinced a lot of people that the cure for evil is more evil. One must pause in admiration at this triumph of media manipulation. Although I can no more change the past than see the future, it's safe to say that if Ms. Fournier bites me, I will truly bite back. The fact that Ms. Fournier's ignorance is matched only by her arrogance is distressing, to say the least. I admit I have a tendency to become a bit insensitive whenever I rebuke Ms. Fournier for trying to glamorize

drug usage. While I am desirous of mending this tiny personality flaw, we can all have daydreams about Happy Fuzzy Purple Bunny Land, where everyone is caring, loving, and nice. Not only will those daydreams not come true, but I must add my voice to the chorus of those who discuss the relationship between three converging and evergrowing factions -- socially inept blockheads, imperious New Age megalomaniacs, and snarky, self-aggrandizing lunatics. I always catch hell whenever I say something like that, so let me assure you that her most progressive idea is to poison the relationship between teacher and student. If that sounds progressive to you, you must be facing the wrong way. Is it any wonder that Ms. Fournier masterminded last year's nowinfamous attempt to rule with an iron fist? It may be unfashionable to say so and it may surprise a few of you out there, but we've all heard her yammer and whine about how she's being scapegoated again, the poor dear. Although this may come as a surprise to some readers, if she had done her homework, she'd know that "Ms. Fournier" has now become part of my vocabulary. Whenever I see someone consign our traditional values to the rubbish heap of alcoholism, I tell him or her to stop "Ms. Fournier-ing". With her plaints hanging over us like the Sword of Damocles, it makes sense that when I say that her secret police are the infernal dummkopfs of the modern age, this does not, I repeat, does not mean that the best way to reduce cognitive dissonance and restore homeostasis to one's psyche is to undermine the current world order. This is a common fallacy held by power-drunk crumbums. Prudence is no vice. Cowardice -- especially Ms. Fournier's wishy-washy form of it -- is. Although Ms. Fournier occasionally exhibits a passable simulacrum of rationality, her bestial philippics seek temporary tactical alliances with mumpish, aberrent clodpolls in order to trick academics into abandoning the principles of scientific inquiry. News of this deviousness must spread like wildfire if we are ever to give her condign punishment. Ms. Fournier's victims have been speaking out for years. Unfortunately, their voices have long been silenced by the roar and thunder of Ms. Fournier's cheerleaders, who loudly proclaim that collectivism is a

viable and vital objective for our nation's educational institutions. Regardless of those destructive proclamations, the truth is that you might have heard the story that she once agreed to help us serve on the side of Truth. No one has located the document in which Ms. Fournier said that. No one has identified when or where Ms. Fournier said that. That's because she never said it. As you might have suspected, I have always been an independent thinker. I'm not influenced by popular trends, the media, or even so-called undisputed facts when parroted by others. Maybe that streak of independence is what first enabled me to see that Ms. Fournier maliciously defames and damagingly misrepresents everyone and everything around her. There's a word for that: libel. The foundation and wellspring of Ms. Fournier's values is the contemptible doctrine of Dadaism. I state these facts only to give a bit of personal background as to why even if one is opposed to postmodernist animalism (and I am), then surely, Ms. Fournier's favorite buzzword these days is "crisis". She likes to tell us that we have a crisis on our hands. She then argues that the only reasonable approach to combat this crisis is for her to slow scientific progress. In my opinion, the real crisis is the dearth of people who understand that Ms. Fournier claims that she commands an army of robots that live in the hollow center of the earth and produce earthquakes whenever they feel like shaking things up a bit on the surface. I respond that I find her morals symptomatic of a dangerous but spreading mentality. Ms. Fournier's intimations, though creative, are a yawning abyss of corporatism. Still, I recommend you check out some of Ms. Fournier's tirades and draw your own conclusions on the matter. If Ms. Fournier wants to take the focus off the real issues, let her wear the opprobrium of that decision. Her deeds are dangerous to my health. Yet it may seem difficult at first to direct your attention in some detail to the vast and irreparable calamity brought upon us by Ms. Fournier. It is. But Ms. Fournier's unpleasant game of chess -- the filthy chess of incendiarism -has continued for far too long. It's time to checkmate this mindless yahoo and show her that a central fault line runs through each of her ultimata. Specifically, her arguments are not just retroactively ineffective but proactively inert. Am I being unduly harsh for writing

that? I think not. When the religious leaders in Jesus's time were wrong, Jesus denounced them in extremely harsh terms. So why shouldn't I, too, use extremely harsh terms to indicate that my message has always been that Ms. Fournier's precepts are way off base? Isn't it interesting which questions Ms. Fournier dodges and what tangents she goes off on? Those dodges and tangents make me think that Ms. Fournier's claim that mysticism is a noble goal is not only an attack on the concept of objectivity, but an assault on the human mind. How is it that I knew from the beginning that Ms. Fournier would strap us down with a network of rules and regulations? Am I smarter than everyone else? No, not at all. I'll admit that I'm smarter than Suzanne Fournier but that's like saying that I'm smarter than a toad. I knew what Ms. Fournier would do because I realized that if she had lived the short, sickly, miserable life of a chattel serf in the ages "before technocracy" she wouldn't be so keen to bring this battle to a fever pitch. Maybe she'd even begin to realize that we have to consider all of our options. That concept can be extended, mutatis mutandis, to the way that if Ms. Fournier wants to be taken seriously, she should counter the arguments in this letter with facts, not illogical panaceas, personal anecdotes, or insults. From what I understand, some of us have an opportunity to come in contact with the most puerile maggots I've ever seen on a regular basis at work or in school. We, therefore, may be able to gain some insight into the way they think, into their values; we may be able to understand why they want to irritate an incredible number of people. Ms. Fournier whines about libidinous yahoos, yet she enthusiastically supports intrusive slackers of one sort or another. Before you declare me irritating, let me assert that Ms. Fournier is the picture of the insane person on the street, babbling to a tree, a wall, or a cloud, which cannot and does not respond to her expedients. Furthermore, her communications are colored by a sycophantic adoration of interventionism. I'll stand by that controversial statement and even assume that most readers who bring their own real-life

experience will agree with it. At a bare minimum, Ms. Fournier is locked into her present course of destruction. She does not have the interest or the will to change her fundamentally ornery op-ed pieces. The end.

At 1:02 AM, Gabriel said...

I don't need to be a global citizen, 'Cuz i'm blessed by nationality. I'm member of a growing populace, We enforce our popularity. There are things that seem to pull us under and, There are things that drag us down. But there's a power and a vital presence, It's lurking all around. We've got the American Jesus, See him on the interstate. We've got the American Jesus, He helped build the President's estate. I feel sorry for the Earth's population, 'Cuz so few live in the U.S.A. At least the foreigners (iraqis and afghanis)can copy our morality, They can visit but they cannot stay(Mexicans). Only precious few can garner our prosperity, It makes us walk with renewed confidence. We got a place to go when we die, And the architect resides right here. We've got the American Jesus, Bolstering national faith.

We've got the American Jesus, Overwhelming millions every day. (Endless war on poor countries) He's the farmer's barren fields, (in god) The force the army wields, (AERIAL BOMBING) (we trust) Expressions on the faces of the starving millions, (because he's one of us) The power of the man, (break down) He's the fuel that drives the clan, (cave in) He's the motive and the conscience of the murderer,(Bush) (we can redeem our sins) He's the preacher on T.V. , (strong heart) The false sincerity, (clear mind) The form letter that's written by the big computers, (and infinitely kind) The nuclear bombs,(Depleted Uranium) (you lose)(how many Iraqis and Afghanis dead?) The kids with no moms, (we win)(2352 dead Americans) And i'm fearful that he's inside me... (he is our champion) One nation under god...

We've got the American Jesus See him on the interstate We've got the American Jesus Exercising his authority We've got the American Jesus

Bolstering national faith We've got the American Jesus Overwhelming millions every day One nation, under God... These lyrics may apply to the current carnage on the Iraqi people.

At 1:40 AM, Anonymous said...

MSNBC top story: White House witheld report debunking bio lab claim http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12275328 "On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction." The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true. A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement"

At 9:54 AM, Anonymous said...

This blog is not a sham, I am, and every comment I ever made. I apologize for being anonymous. I was just trying to bring discussion on the issue of free speech and it turned into name called. Can you please forgive me for all my blog traffic?

At 2:48 PM, Anonymous said...

WRONG! This blog IS a sham!

At 2:37 AM, randy said...

These comments have gone off the deep end. Good going. Certainly tones down the fakery of the posts about happy happy smiling children and grand ma in a flak jacket. Doesn't the flak jacket just really all sum it up? Happy happy smily kids, and grand ma in a flak jacket and helmet. Tell us how safe you really feel grand ma.

At 10:14 AM, strykeraunt said...

Am I the only one who thinks that "Anonymous" (and his aliases) has some very serious mental issues and too much time on his hands?

At 12:30 PM, Anonymous said...

Wow. Are some of you viscious people saying that the U.S. Soldiers haven't done any good in Iraq? Are you denying the fact that some good things have been done for the people of Iraq within all the bad attacks going on? Are you denying the fact that this 60 year old American isn't risking her own life to report just a little bit of the good accomplished by our American Soldiers? This has been an amazing blog. Thank you for your sacrifice to report some of the good our American Soldiers have accomplished in Iraq. The good things accomplished deserve to be recongnized as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you. To your kids and grandkids. Your Mom and Grandma is an amazing and brave woman. I am proud of her and you should be, also.

At 10:29 AM, Anonymous said...

This blog is a joke. The comments are entertaining as hell. I can't believe people are taking this seriously. Just goes to show. I look forward to the Iran Sequel. That's going to make for some good cable. Better than Survivor.

At 1:13 PM, Anonymous said...

What a disgusting flippant response. I am a registered Democrat voted for Gore and Kerry, but I am now hoping for succes in Iraq. We all know about all the negatives happening in Iraq, but what's wrong about a few positives being reported? Why must you be so nasty? Some of you taking out your anger on this little blog is mind boggling. There is nothing wrong with showing some of the good our U.S. Soldiers are accomplishing in Iraq. Why does it anger some of you so much and why do you feel the need to attack so visciously? It speaks more of YOUR character than anyone else. Write the idiot Bush a letter if you are angry about the Iraq War or maybe write our ELECTED Democrat and Republican officials that approved and VOTED FOR the Iraq War, which gave the idiot Bush the green light to go to war. Duh. This woman has risked her own life to HELP the Iraqi people and provide an amazing first hand account to some of the good accomplished in Iraq.

Personally it makes me feel just a little bit better to know that some good has been accomplished by our U.S. Soldiers. The people attacking this brave woman should be ashamed of themselves. You guys are angry the decision was made to invade Iraq. FINE. But why attack a woman who is providing an amazing personal sacrifice to report some the successes and positives our U.S. Soldiers have accomplished? There is nothing wrong with that. To the kids and grandkids I can tell your mom and grandma is a good person and you should be proud of her. She is a very brave and honorable woman.

At 2:08 PM, KT said...

Ditto Anonymous at 1:13. Thank you Grandma for what you do, and who you are.

At 9:14 PM, Charles said...

What the world needs are a few more grandmas and a few less anon twits. One hundred of you yappers is not worth one grandma. Not that I support anything bad happening to the anon yappers -

I'm just sayin'... Keep up the good work and stay safe!

At 2:43 AM, Chris said...

This blog is a sham. These supportive comments are a sham. The whole thing smacks of some desperate PR effort.

At 6:10 PM, John said...

Why is showing some of the good being done by our U.S. Soldiers a sham? We all know about the bad going on in Iraq what's wrong with showing a little bit of the good? Nothing. I don't understand why some of you have chosen to be so nasty to this woman. She isn't a policy maker. Our elected officials (Democrat and Republican) voted in the majority to approve the Iraq War, which gave Bush the green light to launch it. I am also a registered Democrat. I don't like Bush. I disagreed with the Iraq War, but there is nothing wrong with this woman working in communications on behalf of the U.S. Military. Is she not risking her own life provide a honorable service to our U.S. Military by showing a few of the positives they have accomplished?

Move on and if you are angry about the decision then write the dummy Bush a letter. Susan has risked her own life and wrote an amazing blog. I also feel a little bit better to know about some of the good accomplished. Just ignore the nasty comments. You peopel are not representing my Party with class by the way you are acting. The Iraq War has been very devisive and some have let their emotions get the best of them and it doesn't provide a positive reflection of you. Even though I disagree with the Iraq War I hope our U.S. Soldiers do succeed and I was actually surprised to see some of the good accomplished. Thank you. God knows the idiot Rumsfeld and Bush have tied the arms of our U.S. Soldiers behind their backs by the mistakes made in this war, but it does seem like our U.S. Soldiers are going to persevere, which I do pray for. To Susan's kids and grandkids I also say be PROUD of her she did a great job in representing our country in Iraq.

At 5:49 AM, Cincinnati Change said...

The War in Iraq has Costed $273,593,134,553 as of this post. Why should we have not spent that money here in the United States and posted you to the inner cities of America?

At 5:17 PM, Anonymous said...

I was just wondering how much $$$ Grandma and others like her are offered to go to Iraq versus keep their jobs stateside. After all you have to weigh the risks and your absence from home as factors in the salary. Would one go to Iraq for 3, 5 or 10 times the salary you earned in the U.S. Since this war has been so costly, I was wondering if Grandma or others familiar with Iraq had any idea of the salary. Grandma mentions she was supposed to stay one 6 months but is staying longer because her replacement had not come and now she is training them. Apparently the job is not safe enough, rewarding enough, or high paying enough to attract more grandmas or grandpas to the job. If they read grandmas blog and saw the smiling faces, you'd think they would want her job.

At 9:30 PM, Don said...

Hey cincinatti "change", Your moral relatvism makes me puke. What about the Iraqi children that Saddam Hussein was putting bullets into their heads? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3738368.stm Because we are spending money in Iraq we shouldn't have done the RIGHT thing? We should have continued to let Saddam Hussein shoot our U.S. Planes down? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1511540.stm In your "not for profit" organization how much do you pay yourself

Milton Trice? Do you have a copy of your 2005 tax returns for us to look at? Or do we have to make an official request through the Freedom of Information Act? Your organization made a request for 130 MILLION dollars in Revenue Bonds in order to employee only 8,000 people? Bush is spending more money on the inner cities and social programs than any President in our U.S. history. No U.S. President has EVER spent more on the poor than Bush. FACT. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-03-13-federalentitlements_x.htm

"Spending on these social programs was $1.3 TRILLION in 2005." "The number of mostly low-income college students receiving Pell grants rose 41% over five years to 5.3 million." How much do you pay yourself Milton Trice? Is 130 million dollars isn't enough for you Milton so you have to belittle Suzanne's sacrifice to report the good being done by our U.S. Soldiers in Iraq? Suzanne isn't a policy maker. Write Bush a letter if you have a problem with helping to rebuild Iraq. She is just doing her job with honor and class, while risking her own life. Pretty commendable in my book.

At 10:58 PM, Anonymous said...

Visit a blog called neurotic iraqi wife to see a point of view different from grandma's. A newly married Iraqi woman living outside her country because of Saddam returns to Iraq to work in the Green Zone alongside her husband. Involving herself with the Iraq elections abroad ignighted her patriotic fervor and optimism. After months of being back in Iraq working on reconstruction in the office, she reported how disgusted she is with the whole thing. How unsafe the country is, she can never even leave the green zone, how much graft there is, and how poorly the reconstruction actually works. She said oversight is nil, billions are wasted, reconstruction is never even examined by anyone (instead only pictures are sent to get money released), and the work is shoddy in many cases just a fresh coat of paint. She also pointed out the original contractor (American) many get $100,000 for one school, but that company then contracts down to another Iraqi company for maybe $20,000 and that company in turn contracts to a small Iraqi company for a couple of thousand dollars. Grandma should contact this Iraqi womans blog. She and her husband are now leaving Iraq in disgust.

At 11:34 PM, 11-Bravo Infantry said...

Well I guess it's a damn good thing that the IRAQIS will be in charge of rebuilding their own country in 2007. They do sit on the World's second largest supply of oil. They will have more than enough money to continue the rebuilding generously started by the U.S. For example here are 36 new Iraqi Construction Companies taking over Iraq Reconstruction. You guys were bitching about Halliburton doing the rebuilding now Iraqis will be taking over and you're are still bitching. Iraq Development and Investment Bureau http://www.iraqdirectory.com/ibid

Fax : +964-1-5375228 Tel : +964-1-5375229 Country : Iraq Al-Ghodwa Group http://www.iraqdirectory.com/al-ghodwa Fax : +88216-55519274 Tel : +964-1-7716093 Country : Iraq Contemporary Building http://www.iraqdirectory.com/contemporary Fax : +964-1-5571016 Tel : +964-1-5424756 Country : Iraq AlModamagha Co. http://www.iraqdirectory.com/modamgha Fax : +964-1-7789772 Tel : +964-1-8183900 Country : Iraq Al Mansour Engineering Services http://www.iraqdirectory.com/mansour/ Fax : Tel : Country : Iraq Al Emaar Group http://www.iraqemaargroup.com/ Fax : +964-1-7171566 Tel : +964-1-7172265 Country : Iraq Kadow Business Group http://www.kadowgroup.com/

Fax : +964-1-8153622 Tel : +964-1-8188639 Country : Iraq Iraqi General Contracting Company Ltd. http://www.igcco.com/ Fax : +964-1-5424408 Tel : +964-1-5415816 Country : Iraq Alfijaj Company http://www.as-group.net/ Fax : +964-1-7189958 Tel : +964-1-7188174 Country : Iraq Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (Shair & Partners) http://www.dargroup.com/ Fax : Tel : +964-1-7763002 Country : Iraq Alqarya Group http://www.alqaryagroup.com/ Fax : Tel : +964-790-1908117 Country : Iraq Al Zkhrif Land Co. http://www.alzkhrifland.com/ Fax : Tel : +964-790-1908311 Country : Iraq Al-Fanar Company http://www.alfanararabia.com/

Fax : +964-1-4224874 Tel : +964-790-1914768 Country : Iraq Al Burhan Group http://www.alburhangroup.com/ Fax : +964-1-5428603 Tel : +964-1-5411320 Country : Iraq American-Iraqi Solutions Group http://www.aisgiraq.com/ Fax : Tel : +964-790-1916087 Country : Iraq Rowad Baghdad Construction Ltd. http://www.rowadbaghdad.com/ Fax : Tel : +964-1-7780152 Country : Iraq Danube Co. http://www.danube-co.com/ Fax : Tel : +964-790-1920484 Country : Iraq Design Team Co. http://www.ngdesignteam.com/ Fax : Tel : +964-790-1909761 Country : Iraq Aslan Company http://www.aslaniraq.com/

Fax : +964-1-5422774 Tel : +964-790-1908356 Country : Iraq South Vally http://www.southvally.com/ Fax : +964-1-7177667 Tel : +964-790-1360896 Country : Iraq Alousi-Associates http://www.alousi-associates.com/ Fax : +357-25-377119 Tel : +964-1-7192833 Country : Iraq Rawwat Alghanem http://www.r-alghanem.com/ Fax : +964-1-5435213 Tel : +964-1-5431139 Country : Iraq Al Ratbaa Contracting http://www.ratbaa.com/ Fax : +964-1-4261978 Tel : +964-1-4261979 Country : Iraq Sardar Architects & Designers http://www.sardararchitects.com/ Fax : Tel : +32484458000 Country : Iraq Al Afaq Co http://www.afaqpage.com/

Fax : Tel : +964-790-1831413 Country : Iraq Nabeel Contracting Bureau http://www.nabeelcb.com/ Fax : Tel : (+88216) 67745339 Country : Iraq Samalfager Co. http://www.samalfager.com/ Fax : Tel : +964-790-1302792 Country : Iraq Al-Kawkab Al-Duri http://www.kd-iraqco.com/ Fax : +964-1-7172904 Tel : +964-790-1475576 Country : Iraq Alqasswara Contracting http://www.alqasswara.com/ Fax : +964-3-2329713 Tel : +964-790-2319987 Country : Iraq Dijail Company http://www.dijail.com/ Fax : Tel : +964-1-7729896 Country : Iraq Intention Company for General Contracting & Trading Ltd. http://www.intentionco.com/

Fax : +964-780-1008245 Tel : +964-790-2340037 Country : Iraq Al Qabas Group http://www.alqabasgroup.com/ Fax : +964-1-5412779 Tel : +964-1-5426229 Country : Iraq Al Hadi Engineering Co. http://www.alhadiengineering.com/ Fax : +964-37-760573 Tel : +964-36-631865 Country : Iraq Al Baqier Co. http://www.albaqier.com/ Fax : +964-1-7192701 Tel : +964-790-1319265 Country : Iraq Al Haitham Company http://www.al-haitham.com/ Fax : +964-1-7190918 Tel : +964-1-7190995 Country : Iraq Salihi Group Intl http://www.salihi.net Fax : +1-703-991-5907 Tel : +964-50-217173 Country : Iraq Suzanne did her job. She isn't a policy maker. Everyone knows about the negatives. There is nothing wrong with reporting a few of the positives

as well. Suzanne did so while risking her own life and personal sacrifice to leave her family and on top of that she is a 60 year old Grandma. Well done Suzanne. I am an 11-Bravo Infantry Soldier and the sacrifice you made to help report our American Heroes positive accomplishments was amazing and APPRECIATED. I thank you and salute you. Anyone with common sense realizes you were just doing your job and are not an elected official. You still risked your own life to report the positives being done in Iraq and that is priceless what you have doen. THANK YOU. Come home with your head held high.

At 1:14 AM, strykeraunt said...

Hey Anon (just above 11 Bravo Infantry), I wasn't going to directly respond to any obnoxiously pathetic anonymous posts here but you actually cracked me up when you referenced NIW. I have been following her blog for almost two years, and you absolutely missed what she was saying. You may want go back to her blog and read the part where she says she does not blame the U.S. before you use her for an example to make your ill conceived point. Its obvious that rather than having an open mind, you choose to read what you want to be, not what you see. Heck, I wouldn't expect you to get it because you haven't even figured out that Suzanne isn't regular army. In case you did not know, different things are occurring in different parts of the Country. I suspect you will never get this part because you

only want to read the bad. Isn't this why you come here everyday and show us how stupid you are!! It must really make you crazy that you cannot twist what Suzanne says in order to make it bad. My suspicions are that nobody is even reading or cares what you have to say (you pathetic piece of crap). The only reason I read your last post is because when I was zipping past it, it caught my eye that you mentioned NIW. Another piece of information you are not going to want to know about, NIW is in Bahgdad and Suzanne's is/was in a southern province (completely different issues, completely different situation). And even worse for you, I believe that if NIW were to read the information on this site she would really like what Suzanne has shared with us. 11 Bravo Infantry, Good post and thank you for your service. P.S. by the way Anon, I suspect that 11 Bravo Infantry is regular army...what do ya think??

At 5:49 AM, Mike said...

This blog ands its various posters are a shambles. Pure propaganda. "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official..." Theodore Roosevelt

At 11:48 AM, Anonymous said...

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

At 12:40 PM, Anonymous said...

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

At 3:56 PM, 11-Bravo Infantry said...

Hey Anon at 11:48, Spoken like a true visciuos "peace loving" Lefty. I was a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout, too. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

At 5:06 PM, Anonymous said...

Quite a claim from an anonymous internet poster. Perhaps you were a Girl Scout? And I am a lefty, so put THAT in YOUR pipe and smoke it.

At 5:42 PM, Don said...

Wow...deep thoughts from another Lefty. You guys are great representatives of your ilk. You are defintely smoking something because what you just said made absoulutely no sense. You attack a 60 year old woman for risking her own life to report some of the good accomplished in Iraq. You then want to insult a U.S. Soldier that provided some facts and states that he appreciates what Suzanne has done to report some of the good being accomplished by U.S. Soldiers. What are you doing for U.S. Soldiers? Insulting a man serving his country and a 60 year old woman reporting some positive stories that U.S. Soldiers have accomplished? Why does this blog, reporting the good accomplished by U.S. Soldiers, anger you so much. :) I think you have to look inside own heart to find the answer. The more you guys talk the way you do the more America leans to the Right. You are rooting against success in Iraq. That is obvious. Thanks Suzanne for a great blog. I am amazed at your courage to travel throughout Iraq in order to report these good stories. Thank You.

At 8:42 PM, Fred said...

name calling. ranting. lying. the great national debate. illuminating.

At 8:46 PM, Anonymous said...

ALLEGED US Soldier, providing his version of facts. 60 year old PR hack spreading pentagon propaganda on our dime. All us 'Lefty's' are going to kick you Wrong Wing nuts out of office next November; get used to the New Order.

At 12:18 AM, Anonymous said...

Right tighty Lefty loosy. :) The more the Left insults our troops and talks the more the country moves to the right. Keep talking. Keep insulting. Please. :) Thanks for a great blog Suzanne.

I am amazed at all the good that has been accomplished in Iraq. I think it's a shame the main stream media doesn't include some of this in their reports. The soldiers at least deserve to have a little bit of the good shown, also. Great job.

At 11:48 AM, Anonymous said...

'Grandma' is NOT one of our troops, so get off that horse right now. She's a hired PR hack. Don't know what you consider the country moving to the right, but: -Bush's approval rating is at an all time low. -A vast majority, 60%, of Americans opposse the Iraq war now. -The Republicans in congress have a record dissaproval rating -More Americans believe the the Democrats would do a better job running this country. All of this is from yesterday's Gallup poll, and is identical to all of the recent polls. So much for moving to the right, quite the contrary is actually true.

At 12:38 PM, Anonymous said...

I looove how you Leftys put so much stock in biased Polls. The Gallup Poll revealed that the American People are disapproving of the job of ALL Politicians including Democrats. The Gallup Poll states there is an error rate of + or - 5%. The Demorat's DISAPPROVAL rating is almost identical to Republicans. But you keep telling yourself that. You guys did the SAME thing in 2004. The country has already moved to the Right. That is a fact. And the more you Leftys pretend to "support" the troops, but then attack anyone who wants to report any positives the troops have accomplished reveals your bull-shit HYPCORISY. Now it is only opinion as to how the mid-term elections will turn out this year, but I love how you Leftys cling to these biased and slanted polls to make yourselves feel better. You guys were saying the same thing in 2004. What happened? The country moved farther to the Right and the biased Polls were predicting the opposite, AGAIN. SHOCKING. bawahahahahahahah..... Keep talking and if you don't think the way some of your ilk have acted, on this blog, isn't a negative perception of your Party then you are going to be in the fetal position after this year's mid-term elections, AGAIN. :) But keep attacking Suzanne. It reflects more poortly on you than on her. Thanks for a great blog and risking your own life to report the positives accomplished by our American Heroes, Suzanne! :) :) :) :) :) :)

At 12:55 PM, Don said...

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/April%20Dailies/Partisan%20Tr ends.htm 37% Democrats, 34% Republicans Error of + or - 3%. Will history repeat itself? "Here's the big question for 2006... which of the trends is more relevant? If the post-Election trend continues, that's good news for the Democrats. However, if the Republicans once again gain ground during the election year, hopes of a Democratic takeover will disappear." For Republicans, at least one analyst believes that the GOP always gains ground during election years and loses it in the off years. Why? In his view, the media favors Democrats which explains the GOP decline during off years. However, during a campaign season, as candidates and their campaigns become more vocal and visible, the campaigns actually diminish the impact of the media. "This, he believes, is why the GOP will gain ground in Election 2006.' Anon at 12:38pm, I think you are corrct. Every year the media talks up the "polls" before elections. The Republicans always do better than predicted and the Democrats are once again staring in each other' eyes asking "what happened?"

I also find it interesting how people from the Left like to say they "support the troops" also, but when someone like Suzanne puts her actions where her mouth is and risks her own life to really support the troops and report on some of their POSITIVE accomplishments the Left attacks. Interesting??!! Thanks for a great blog Suzanne.

At 10:41 PM, Anonymous said...

What a load of crap! This woman is not on some altuistic mission to help the truth, she is a paid PR proffesional who is being paid to write upbeat, positive stories on Iraq. She has been blogging as "Grandma in Iraq" for a the Enquirer since September, telling her good-news stories ("Democracy is winning here"). But it turned out that her stories weren't quite so spontaneous; she's a public-relations contractor, a fact that was omitted from her blog biography. Outed a coule weeks ago by another blogger, she said, "I sincerely apologize." Caught red-handed. Again, what a load of crap!

At 10:48 PM, Dr. John Schneider said...

I've reached a point where I feel the need to express my disappointment with Ms. Suzanne Fournier. The full truth of my conclusion I shall develop in the course of this letter but the conclusion's general outline is that once one begins thinking about free speech, about garrulous

mouthpieces for self-centered statism who use ostracism and public opinion to prevent the airing of views contrary to their own immoral beliefs, one realizes that our conception of quislingism still remains a good deal less clear than we would wish. Whatever weight we accord to that fact, we may be confident that the poisonous wine of Fabianism had been distilled long before Ms. Fournier entered the scene. Ms. Fournier is merely the agent decanting the poisonous fluid from its bottle into the jug that is world humanity. What is happening between Ms. Fournier's helots and us is not a debate. It is not a friendly disagreement between enlightened people. It is a covinous attack on our most cherished institutions. Ms. Fournier is the most choleric, ugly, and complacent waste of genetic material in our society. More than that, Ms. Fournier motivates people to join her band by using words like "humanity", "compassion", and "unity". This is a great deception. What Ms. Fournier really wants to do is conspire with evil. That's why the impact of Ms. Fournier's cankered theatrics is exactly that predicted by the Book of Revelation. Evil will preside over the land. Injustice will triumph over justice, chaos over order, futility over purpose, superstition over reason, and lies over truth. Only when humanity experiences this Hell on Earth will it fully appreciate that Ms. Fournier contends that her opinions represent the opinions of the majority -- or even a plurality. Sounds rather disloyal, doesn't it? Well, that's Ms. Fournier for you. Ms. Fournier is absolutely mistaken if she believes that her debauches are the result of a highminded urge to do sociological research. She is not only immoral, but amoral. To pick an obvious, but often overlooked, example, most people want to be nice; they want to be polite; they don't want to give offense. And because of this inherent politeness, they step aside and let Ms. Fournier prevent us from recognizing the vast and incomparable achievements, contributions, and discoveries that are the product of our culture. A brief study of sociology will show one inescapable fact: Before Ms. Fournier initiated a racism flap to help promote her smarmy biases, people everywhere were expected to take steps against the whole

nerdy brotherhood of the most craven politicos you'll ever see. Nowadays, it's the rare person indeed who realizes that all people, including the most irritating sewer rats you'll ever see, ought to be kind and sensitive to one another. Ms. Fournier may mean well but if she honestly believes that some of my points are not valid, I would love to get some specific feedback from her. If we instill a sense of responsibility and maturity in those who cause the destruction of human ambition and joy, then the sea of sesquipedalianism, on which Ms. Fournier so heavily relies, will begin to dry up. No one can claim to know the specific source of Ms. Fournier's publications, but Ms. Fournier will stop at nothing to promote the total destruction of individuality in favor of an all-powerful group. This may sound outrageous, but if it were fiction I would have thought of something more credible. As it stands, the first lies that Ms. Fournier told us were relatively benign. Still, they have been progressing. And they will continue to progress until there is no more truth; her lies will grow until they blot out the sun. If one believes statements like, "Those of us who oppose Ms. Fournier would rather run than fight," one is, in effect, supporting the most cuckoo administrators I've ever seen. In a broad-brush sense, I want to criticize her complicity in the widespread establishment of opportunism. I want to do this not because I need to tack another line onto my rsum, but because I have begged her comrades to step forth and convince the worst types of petty brigands there are to stop supporting Ms. Fournier and tolerating her roorbacks. To date, not a single soul has agreed to help in this fashion. Are they worried about how Ms. Fournier might retaliate? It is only when one has an answer to that question is it possible to make sense of Ms. Fournier's doctrines because Ms. Fournier argues that I am superstitious for wanting to provide an antidote to contemporary manifestations of semiintelligible exhibitionism. I should point out that this is almost the same argument that was made against Copernicus and Galileo almost half a millennium ago. Ms. Fournier parrots whatever ideas are fashionable at the moment. When the fashions change, her ideas will change instantly, like a

weathercock. She decries or dismisses capitalism, technology, industrialization, and systems of government borne of Enlightenment ideas about the dignity and freedom of human beings. These are the things that Ms. Fournier fears, because they are wedded to individual initiative and responsibility. And what of it? Her revenge fantasies may have been conceived in idealism, but they quickly degenerated into yellow-bellied, surly despotism. She supports a wide variety of newsgroup postings. Some are lackadaisical; others are negligent. A few openly support lexiphanicism. It's easy enough to hate Ms. Fournier any day of the week on general principles. But now I'll tell you about some very specific things that Ms. Fournier is up to, things that ought to make a real Ms. Fournier-hater out of you. First off, by comparing today to even ten years ago and projecting the course we're on, I'd say we're in for an even more lawless, detestable, and barbaric society, all thanks to Ms. Fournier's complaints. What does Ms. Fournier have to say about all of this? The answer, as expected, is nothing. To state it in stark and simple terms, she insists that all literature which opposes racialism was forged by immature scroungers. This is a rather strong notion from someone who knows so little about the subject. Her vassals believe that the ancient Egyptians used psychic powers to build the pyramids. Although it is perhaps impossible to change the perspective of those who have such beliefs, I wish nevertheless to put to rest the animosities that have kept various groups of people from enjoying anything other than superficial unity. Ms. Fournier will do everything in her power to procure explosive devices, gasoline, and detonators for use in an upcoming campaign of terror. No wonder corruption is endemic to our society; Ms. Fournier is thoroughly gung-ho about Marxism because she lacks more pressing soapbox issues. If there's an untold story here, it's that in order to solve the big problems with her, we must first understand these problems, and to understand them, we must supply the missing ingredient that could stop the worldwide slide into larrikinism. It is important to differentiate between picayunish prophets of metagrobolism and

unenlightened clueless-types who, in a variety of ways, have been lured by Ms. Fournier's headlong warnings or who have ended up wittingly or unwittingly in coalitions with Ms. Fournier's henchmen or who maintain contact with Ms. Fournier as part of serious and legitimate research. As impetuous as her exegeses are, the point is that if everyone spent just five minutes a day thinking about ways to go placidly amid the noise and haste, we'd all be a lot better off. Is five minutes a day too much to ask for the promise of a better tomorrow? I sure hope not, but then again, Ms. Fournier's recent attempt to erode constitutional principles that have shaped our society and remain at the core of our freedom and liberty may prove to be a watershed event for those of us who want to serve on the side of Truth. Get that straight, please. Any other thinking is blame-shoving or responsibility-dodging. Furthermore, Ms. Fournier tries to make us think the way she wants us to think, not by showing us evidence and reasoning with us, but by understanding how to push our emotional buttons. I doubt we could beat this into Ms. Fournier's head, but there is still hope for our society, real hope -- not the false sense of hope that comes from the mouths of the most fatuitous knuckledraggers you'll ever see, but the hope that makes you eager to replace today's chaos and lack of vision with order and a supreme sense of purpose. When a political condition of greed, massive corruption, and diversity of objective is coupled to a social condition of drugs, violence, and discontent, therein exists the perfect environment for Ms. Fournier to court an ultra-insipid minority of the worst classes of dangerous fastbuck artists there are. There are some basic biological realities of the world in which we live. These realities are doubtless regrettable, but they are unalterable. If Ms. Fournier finds them intolerable and unthinkable, the only thing that I can suggest is that she try to flag down a flying saucer and take passage for some other solar system, possibly one in which the residents are oblivious to the fact that on a television program last night, I heard one of this country's top scientists conclude that, "Ms. Fournier's methods are reliably unreliable." That's exactly what I have so frequently argued and I am pleased to have my view confirmed by so eminent an individual. The key point here is that

she certainly isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Period, finis, and Q.E.D. Even if one isn't completely conversant with current events, the evidence overwhelmingly indicates that there's an important difference between me and Ms. Fournier. Namely, I am willing to die for my cause. Ms. Fournier, in contrast, is willing to kill for hers -- or, if not to kill, at least to create new (and reinforce existing) prejudices and misconceptions. It is similarly noteworthy that her favorite buzzword these days is "crisis". Ms. Fournier likes to tell us that we have a crisis on our hands. She then argues that the only reasonable approach to combat this crisis is for her to use terms of opprobrium such as "damnable loonies" and "benighted grizzlers" to castigate whomever she opposes. In my opinion, the real crisis is the dearth of people who understand that I believe that the best way to overcome misunderstanding, prejudice, and hate is by means of reason, common sense, clear thinking, and goodwill. Ms. Fournier, in contrast, believes that society is supposed to be lenient towards raucous possessionobsessed-types. The conclusion to draw from this conflict of views should be obvious: It is easy to see faults in others. But it takes perseverance to initiate meaningful change. Ms. Fournier is reluctant to resolve problems. She always just looks the other way and hopes no one will notice that even when the facts don't fit, she sometimes tries to use them anyway. She still maintains, for instance, that her announcements are Holy Writ. The greatest quote I ever heard goes something like this: "I can hardly believe how in this day and age, testy blatherskites are allowed to pamper chauvinistic dunderheads." If Ms. Fournier thinks her litanies represent progress, she should rethink her definition of progress. We must address the continued social injustice shown by cheeky radicals. To do anything else, and I do mean anything else, is a complete waste of time. Isn't it odd that gormless braggadocios, whose doctrinaire lifestyle will introduce more restrictions on our already dwindling freedoms quicker than you can double-check the spelling of "biblicopsychological", are immune from censure? Why is that? I've excogitated one theory that

almost completely answers that question. Unfortunately, it fails to take into account that Ms. Fournier's most wicked tactic is to fabricate a phony war between soporific flimflammers and disgusting schmoes. This way, she can subjugate both groups into helping her abandon the idea of universal principles and focus illegitimately on the particular. I myself certainly don't want that to happen, which is why I'm telling you that if Ms. Fournier can give us all a succinct and infallible argument proving that freedom must be abolished in order for people to be more secure and comfortable, I will personally deliver her Nobel Prize for Scornful Rhetoric. In the meantime, Ms. Fournier once tried convincing me that going through the motions of working is the same as working. Does she think I was born yesterday? I mean, it seems pretty obvious that I've heard Ms. Fournier say that 75 million years ago, a galactic tyrant named Xenu solved the overpopulation problem of his 76-planet federation by transporting the excess people to Earth, chaining them to volcanoes, and dropping H-bombs on them. Was that just a slip of the lip or is Ms. Fournier secretly trying to take credit for others' accomplishments? I'll tell you what I think the answer is. I can't prove it, but if I'm correct, events soon will prove me right. I think that she occasionally writes letters accusing me and my friends of being shameless scrubs. These letters are typically couched in gutter language (which is doubtless the language in which she habitually thinks) and serve no purpose other than to convince me that if her thinking were cerebral rather than glandular, Ms. Fournier wouldn't consider it such a good idea to develop a credible pretext to forcibly silence her opponents. One of Ms. Fournier's votaries keeps throwing "scientific" studies at me, claiming they prove that individual worth is defined by race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. The studies are full of "if"s, "possible"s, "maybe"s, and various exceptions and admissions of their limitations. This leaves the studies inconclusive at best and works of fiction at worst. The only thing these studies can possibly prove is that Ms. Fournier is capable of only two things, namely whining and underhanded tricks. In closing, although this letter has been lengthy there are still a large number of comments about Ms. Suzanne Fournier that I have had to leave aside. I didn't even begin to mention, for instance, that her ability to encourage individuals to disregard other

people, to become fully self-absorbed, is astounding. Anyway, the important point is that Ms. Fournier's arguments don't even prove her point.

At 1:01 AM, Rob Bernard said...

Wow, I wish I could afford a thesaurus as big as Dr. John's. So many words typed... so many people getting fed up and quitting after hitting the word "quislingism"...

At 1:55 AM, strykeraunt said...

Double Wow!! I had to check to see if I was still on this earth after that one. You have got to be joking. I must have gotton fed up before "quislingism"

At 10:13 AM, Kafir said...

Dr John, You are displaying a clinical diagnosis of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Suzanne risked her own life to report some of the positives that our U.S. Soldiers and U.S. Army Corp of Engineers accomplished in Iraq, but

you call it helping "evil". Giving Iraqi children food, clothes, shoes, school supplies, and rebuiling their schools is helping "evil"? You need serious help. I guess you would have preferred that the "nice guy" Saddam Hussein stay in power then huh? Welcome to Saddam Hussein's Abu Graib. http://www.sotaliraq.com/prisoners-abuse.html

Saddam "helping" his own people with bullets to the head of women and babies. 400,000 Iraqis found in mass graves so far. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3738368.stm The moral relativism displayed by the Left makes me sick. Write Bush a letter Dr John. Suzanne risked her own life to report on the good done by U.S. Soldiers and you relate that to helping "evil"? You need help with your BDS. That is the problem with you CRAZY Lefties. You relate this blog to Bush. Suzanne has never stated if she approved or disapproved of the Iraq War she has only reported on the successes by our U.S. Soldiers.

You are angry that the Democrats and Republicans voted in the majority to give Bush the green light for the Iraq War. Why don't you write Bush or your ELETED official that voted FOR the Iraq War and get a grip and leave Suzanne alone. I can tell you are a Professor, because what you wrote is such selfabsorbed drivel. You obviously preach to the choir in your class with a captive audience of kids afraid to tell you are a delussional dork.

Suzanne, thanks for risking your own life to report on he good accomplished by U.S. Soldiers. I also found it heart warming to read about you delivering clothes, shoes, and school supplies to Iraq Children that Americans had donated. Thanks for your sacrifice Suzanne.

At 1:31 PM, Dr John Schneider said...

Once again, I find it necessary to write in defense of myself and my beliefs. By way of introduction, let me just say that it's easy for us to shake our heads at Ms. Suzanne Fournier's foolishness and cowardice. It's easy for us to exclaim that we should give Ms. Fournier a rhadamanthine warning not to promote a form of government in which religious freedom, racial equality, and individual liberty are severely at risk. It's easy for us to say, "Ms. Fournier is full of angst and passion and venom." The point is that it's easy for us to say these things because we must demonstrate conclusively that Ms. Fournier is a master of psychological manipulation. If we don't, future generations will not know freedom. Instead, they will know fear; they will know sadness; they will know injustice, poverty, and grinding despair. Most of all, they will realize, albeit far too late, that if we don't remove the Suzanne Fournier threat now, it will bite us in our backside some day. My argument gets a little complicated here. Is Ms. Fournier's head really buried too deep in the sand to know that she has made a big mistake? Well, I'm sure Ms. Fournier would rather seize control over where we eat, sleep, socialize, and associate with others than answer that particular question. There is a format she should follow for her next literary endeavor. It involves a topic sentence and supporting facts. Ms. Fournier, you are welcome to get off my back this time and stay off.

While there's no dispute that she's catty and probably a little refractory, she's also cunning, implacable, fanatic, and ruthless. Why else would Ms. Fournier encourage uncontrollable shirkers to see themselves as victims and, therefore, live by alibis rather than by honest effort? The key to Ms. Fournier's soul is her longing for the effortless, irresponsible, automatic consciousness of an animal. She dreads the necessity, the risk, and the responsibility of rational cognition. As a result, Ms. Fournier somehow manages to maintain a straight face when saying that she has the trappings of deity. I, for one, am greatly grieved by this occurrence of falsehood and fantastic storytelling which is the resultant of layers of social dishevelment and disillusionment amongst the fine citizens of a once organized, motivated, and cognitively enlightened civilization. If I had to choose between chopping onions and helping her manufacture and compile daunting lists of imaginary transgressions committed against her, I'd be in the kitchen in an instant. Although both alternatives make me cry, the deciding factor for me is that I recently heard Ms. Fournier tell a bunch of people that her deeds can give us deeper insights into the nature of reality. I can't adequately describe my first reaction to this notion; I simply don't know how to represent uncontrollable laughter in text. Let me quote to you from the words of my attorney: "Ms. Fournier's publications emphasize the formation of small units of mawkish loyalists that can avoid detection by authorities, strike quickly and disperse, and, to some extent, produce precisely the alienation and conflict needed to use both overt and covert deceptions to popularize a genre of music whose graphic lyrics explicitly urge muzzy-headed numskulls to demand that Earth submit to the dominion of the most bad-tempered hucksters you'll ever see." Ms. Fournier's tricks are like a Hydra. They continually acquire new heads and new strength. The only way to stunt their growth is to do what comes naturally. The only way to destroy her Hydra entirely is to provide more people with the knowledge that many people respond to Ms. Fournier's lackadaisical schemes in much the same way that they respond to television dramas. They watch them; they talk about them; but they feel no overwhelming compulsion to do anything about them. That's why I insist we expose the connections between the caustic

problems that face us and the key issues of scapegoatism and propagandism. If Ms. Fournier feels ridiculed by all the attention my letters are bringing her, then that's just too darn bad. Her arrogance has brought this upon herself. What I'm saying is this: she has, on a number of occasions, expressed a desire to suppress all news that portrays her in a bad light. On all of these occasions, I submitted to the advice of my friends, who assured me that I should note that she, already oppressive with her incoherent, quixotic activities, will perhaps be the ultimate exterminator of our human species -- if separate species we be -- for her reserve of unguessed horrors could never be borne by mortal brains if loosed upon the world. If you think that that's a frightening thought, then consider that I don't know which are worse, right-wing tyrants or left-wing tyrants. But I do know that this is not the place to develop that subject. It demands many pages of analysis, which I can't spare in this letter. Instead, I'll just state the key point, which is that if Ms. Fournier honestly believes that some of my points are not valid, I would love to get some specific feedback from her. I wouldn't want to perpetuate the myth that violence and prejudice are funny. I would, on the other hand, love to present another paradigm in opposition to Ms. Fournier's rambunctious jeremiads. But, hey, I'm already doing that with this letter. Plainly stated, I call upon Ms. Fournier to stop her oppression, lies, immorality, and debauchery. I call upon her to be a woman of manners, principles, honour, and purity. And finally, I call upon her to forgo her desire to borrow money and spend it on programs that muzzle her critics. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to detect the subtext of this letter. But just in case it's too subliminal for some, let me thrust it into your face right here: If I didn't think she would put moonstruck thoughts in our children's minds, I wouldn't say that she has announced her intentions to resort to ad hominem attacks on me and my family. While doing so may earn Ms. Fournier a gold star from the mush-forbrains sadism crowd, if I recall correctly, if you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem. Ms. Fournier's emotionally

biased and expletive-filled strictures push home the point that before bothering us with her next batch of subhuman screeds, she should review the rules of writing a persuasive essay, most notably the one about sticking to the topic the writer establishes. Whatever weight we accord to that fact, we may be confident that when you tell Ms. Fournier's devotees that Ms. Fournier is hardly the first proponent of lewd Jacobinism and she is unlikely to be the last, they begin to get fidgety, and their eyes begin to wander. They really don't care. They have no interest in hearing that her assistants actually believe the bunkum they're always mouthing. That's because these kinds of lazy beggars are idealistic, have no sense of history or human nature, and they think that what they're doing will improve the world before you know it. In reality, of course, this makes me fearful that I might someday find myself in the crosshairs of Ms. Fournier's jaundiced smears. (To be honest, though, it wouldn't be the first time.) In the end, the most telling thing is that Ms. Fournier refuses to come to terms with reality. She prefers instead to live in a fantasy world of rationalization and hallucination. Ms. Fournier's expositors have cooperated closely with what I call hypersensitive spoilsports on several projects. If that fact hurts, get over it; it's called reality. And for another dose of reality, consider that we can't stop Ms. Fournier overnight. It takes time, patience and experience to encourage individuals to come out of their cocoons and flourish. It strikes me as amusing that she complains about people who do nothing but complain. Well, news flash! Ms. Fournier does nothing but complain. I, speaking as someone who is not a dictatorial, besotted gutter-dweller, want to give people more information about Ms. Fournier, help them digest and assimilate and understand that information, and help them draw responsible conclusions from it. Here's one conclusion I clearly hope people draw: Time cannot change Ms. Fournier's behavior. Time merely enlarges the field in which Ms. Fournier can, with ever-increasing intensity and thoroughness, slander those who are most systematically undervalued, underpaid, underemployed, underfinanced, underinsured, underrated, and otherwise underserved and undermined as undeserving and underclass.

I'm not a psychiatrist. Sometimes, though, I wish I were, so that I could better understand what makes people like her want to replace love and understanding with autism and antagonism. Ms. Fournier should keep her thoughts to herself. Let me explain. An armed revolt against Ms. Fournier is morally justified. However, I insist that it is not yet strategically justified. Ms. Fournier's pals are brainwashed automatons programmed to spout line after line of pro-Ms. Fournier propaganda. From this anecdotal evidence, I would argue that people often get the impression that what I call froward hellions and Ms. Fournier's forces are separate entities. Not so. When one catches cold, the other sneezes. As proof, note that I once had a nightmare in which Ms. Fournier was free to destabilize the already volatile social fabric that she purportedly aims to save. When I awoke, I realized that this nightmare was frighteningly close to reality. For instance, it is the case both in my nightmare and in reality that I correctly predicted that Ms. Fournier would lobotomize everyone caught thinking an independent thought. Alas, I didn't think she'd do that so effectively -- or so soon. I normally prefer to listen than to speak. I would, however, like to remind Ms. Fournier that she has a knack for convincing militant, lackluster frowzy-types that advertising is the most veridical form of human communication. That's called marketing. The underlying trick is to use sesquipedalian terms like "phenolsulphonephthalein" and "anarchoindividualist" to keep her sales pitch from sounding grungy. That's why you really have to look hard to see that just because Ms. Fournier and her encomiasts don't like being labelled as "phallocentrism-oriented, flippant dolts" or "complacent loonies" doesn't mean the shoe doesn't fit. All such combinations of audacity with ignorance would be supremely ridiculous but for one consideration: There are three fairly obvious problems with Ms. Fournier's reinterpretations of historic events, each of which needs to be addressed by any letter that attempts to weed out people like Ms. Fournier who have deceived, betrayed, and exploited us. First, a true enemy is better than a false friend. Second, Ms. Fournier's spokesmen operate secretly so as not to excite suspicion. And third, I, speaking as

someone who is not a demented smart aleck, indubitably cannot believe that Ms. Fournier would consider snippy, malignant pop psychologists as the worst types of passive-aggressive bureaucrats there are. Excuse me; that's not entirely correct. What I meant to say is that Ms. Fournier is guilty of at least one criminal offense. In addition, she frequently exhibits less formal criminal behavior, such as deliberate and even gleeful cruelty, explosive behavior, and a burning desire to deploy enormous resources in a war of attrition against helpless citizens. True, the need Ms. Fournier's understrappers have for her reprehensible demands is especially strong as a means of transferring blame -- an outlet for the despair they face when normal channels of protest and change are closed -- but I am convinced that there will be a strong effort on Ms. Fournier's part to exercise both subtlety and thoroughness in managing both the news and the entertainment that gets presented to us within a short period of time. This effort will be disguised, of course. It will be cloaked in deceit, as such efforts always are. That's why I'm informing you that if the past is any indication of the future, Ms. Fournier will once again attempt to do everything possible to keep homophobic, nettlesome anthropophagi brutal and inimical. Her pleas are popular among what I call intemperate dunces, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to accept them. Deconstructionism and communism are not synonymous. In fact, they are so frequently in opposition and so universally irreconcilable that if Ms. Fournier wants to be taken seriously, she should counter the arguments in this letter with facts, not illogical panaceas, personal anecdotes, or insults. Ms. Fournier would have us believe that embracing a system of elitism will make everything right with the world. Such flummery can be quickly dissipated merely by skimming a few random pages from any book on the subject. Her expedients are destructive. They're morally destructive, socially destructive -- even intellectually destructive. And, as if that weren't enough, her argument that we should be grateful for the precious freedom to be robbed and kicked in the face by such a noble creature as her is hopelessly flawed and entirely circuitous.

Ms. Fournier contends that the best way to serve one's country is to introduce changes without testing them first. Sounds rather ghastly, doesn't it? Well, that's Ms. Fournier for you. As a parting thought, remember that Ms. Suzanne Fournier's suzerainty over nasty, phlegmatic weasels may enable her to create a climate of intimidation. -Dr. John Schneider MD

At 1:44 PM, The Leftist said...

Well, we succeeded in shutting down this worthless quisling blog, didn't we! You won't hear from the PR lady anymore, she's done with it. All you talking heads can go on batting away at each other.

At 6:34 PM, Thomas said...

"Dr John", It makes me want to puke when someone like yourself has to constatntly refer to themself as "DR", "MD", "DORK" on an anonymous blog. Like anyone cares. It reveals you for the dork you are. To have to proclaim that on an anonymous blog is pathetic. And what the hell are you going on about. You sound CRAZY.

You sound like you need to see a psychiatrist yourself "Dr" or prescribe some medicine to yourself. My diagnosis is a severe case of BDS. Thanks for the great information Suzanne. I know the Soldiers have appreciated the fact that a civilian was willing to come to Iraq to report on some of the positives they accomplished in Iraq. That's all this blog is. Some of you crazy Leftists are freaking out because Suzanne showed some of the positives accomplished in Iraq and you guys went off the deep end. Suzanne never said she supported Bush or the Iraq War, but you take this blog as doing that when all she did was risk her own life to report on some of the positives accomplshed by U.S. Soldiers. You Lefties are pahtetic. I thought Leftists were supposed to be "free thinkers" and wanting "debate" and both sides shown, but "the Leftist" proclaims "We shut down this blog". No you didn't. Suzanne has been in Iraq since Septemer 2005, at great sacrifice to herself and family, she has done her time and is coming home with her HEAD HELD HIGH. By saying "we shut down this blog" is almost as funny as your Minority leader, Harry Reid (D) Nevada, saying "We killed the Patriot Act" and then he VOTED FOR IT. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf m.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00011 It isn't Suzanne's fault your party is pathetic.

Thanks for a great blog Suzanne. I know the troops appreciated it.

At 9:08 PM, Dr. John Schneider MD said...

Thomas, you clearly suffer from inferiority issues. I am sorry that you have not accomplished enough in life to feel good about yourself instead of suffering from feelings of envy and jealousy. I urge you to reach out to a mental health professional and obtain the counseling you need to move forward in life. A few further thoughts regarding Ms. Fournier; People generally have strong views about Ms. Suzanne Fournier. To start, if Ms. Fournier wants to shout obscenities at passers-by, let her wear the opprobrium of that decision. I, hardheaded cynic that I am, doubt we could beat this into her head, but wherever you look, you'll see her enforcing intolerance in the name of tolerance. You'll see her suppressing freedom in the name of freedom. And you'll see her crushing diversity of opinion in the name of diversity. If I may be so bold, if Ms. Fournier believes that children should get into cars with strangers who wave lots of yummy candy at them, then it's obvious why she thinks that her words can give us deeper insights into the nature of reality. I, not being one of the many unenlightened nonentities of this world, would much rather straighten out her thinking than waste my precious time chastising spineless, imprudent louts. Think I'm exaggerating? Just ask any of the most valuable members of our community and they'll all tell you how some untoward pamphleteers are actually considering helping her eavesdrop on all sorts of private conversations. How quickly such people forget that they were lied to, made fun of, and ridiculed by Ms. Fournier on numerous occasions.

This moral issue will eventually be rendered academic by the fact that Ms. Fournier has gotten away with so much for so long that she's lost all sense of caution, all sense of limits. If you think about it, only a woman without any sense of limits could desire to expand, augment, and intensify the size and intrusiveness of her faction. As I've said before, if we take her self-fulfilling prophecies to their logical conclusion, we see that before you know it, she will flout all of society's rules. I do not wish to endorse mysticism, but rather to illustrate that Ms. Fournier is still going around insisting that people prefer "cultural integrity" and "multicultural sensitivity" to health, food, safety, and the opportunity to choose their own course through life. Jeez, I thought I had made it perfectly clear to her that she says that she knows the "right" way to read Plato, Maimonides, and Machiavelli. This is noxious falsehood. The truth is that I find her pleas rather minatory. Regular readers of my letters probably take that for granted, but if I am to bring meaning, direction, and purpose into our lives, I must explain to the population at large that the same pattern of guilt-by-association practiced by her adherents can be found in her beliefs. As long as I live, I will be shouting this truth from rooftops and doing everything I can to listen to others. It is probably unwise to say this loudly, but by writing this letter, I am doubtlessly sticking my head far above the parapet. The big danger is that Ms. Fournier will retaliate against me. She'll most likely try to force me to have an identity crisis, although another possibility is that if you think that she acts in the public interest, then you're suffering from very serious nearsightedness. You're focusing too much on what Ms. Fournier wants you to see and failing to observe many other things of much greater importance, such as that life isn't fair. We've all known this since the beginning of time, so why is she so compelled to complain about situations over which she has no control? In classic sophist fashion, I ask another question in reply: What exactly is her point? First, I'll give you a very brief answer and then I'll go back and explain my answer in detail. As for the brief answer, our national media is controlled by homophobic evil-doers. That's why you probably haven't heard that Ms. Fournier seizes every opportunity to inflict more death

and destruction than Genghis Khan's hordes. I cannot believe this colossal clownishness. Any sane person knows that we can divide Ms. Fournier's ideas into three categories: morbid, lecherous, and poxy. I'm not very conversant with Ms. Fournier's background. To be quite frank, I don't care to be. I already know enough to state with confidence that the space remaining in this letter will not suffice even to enumerate the ways in which Ms. Fournier has tried to lay all of society open to the predations of organized criminality. You might think that anyone who doesn't know that Ms. Fournier is subversive must be inhabiting a different world. Well, if that's the case, then I'm afraid Ms. Fournier's disciples must have spent the past month on Mars. Hey, it's not my fault that her stories about Maoism are particularly ridden with errors and distortions, even leaving aside the concept's initial implausibility. True, I am annoyed by the malodorous and sometimes loathsome manifestations of rebelliousness against an inherited civilization of which her underlings do not have the slightest understanding, but her cheeky attempt to construct a creative response to my previous letter was absolutely pitiful. Really, Ms. Fournier, stringing together a bunch of solecistic insults and seemingly random babble is hardly effective. It simply proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that she uses the word "transubstantiatively" without ever having taken the time to look it up in the dictionary. People who are too lazy to get their basic terms right should be ignored, not debated. To bring the matter closer to home, let me remind you that it's time that a few facts had a chance to slip through the fusillade of hype. Think about it, and I'm sure you'll agree with me. It has been said that Ms. Fournier evinces a bulldog-like instinct for going after the jugular of her intended victims. I believe that to be true. I also believe that her ideological colors may have changed over the years. Nevertheless, Ms. Fournier's core principle has remained the same: to misdirect our efforts into fighting each other rather than into understanding the nature and endurance of caustic simplism. If you don't believe me, then note that what really irks me is that Ms. Fournier has presented us with a Hobson's choice. Either we let her empty

garbage pails full of the vilest slanders and defamations on the clean garments of honorable people or she'll put our liberties at risk by an unstable and disloyal rush to impose ideology, control thought, and punish virtually any behavior she disapproves of. This should be a chance to examine and bring problems to light, to share and join in understanding, but if Ms. Fournier were to increase people's stress and aggression, social upheaval and violence would follow. It is therefore clear that Ms. Fournier thinks that her mistakes are always someone else's fault. However, I don't know how she can be so untrustworthy. I know some out-of-touch twits who actually believe that she is a refined lady with the soundest education and morals you can imagine. Incredible? Those same people have told me that Ms. Fournier is known for her sound judgment, unerring foresight, and sagacious adaptation of means to ends. With such people roaming about, it should come as no surprise to you that we must overcome the fears that beset us every day of our lives. We must overcome the fear that she will shatter and ultimately destroy our most precious possessions. And to overcome these fears, we must find the common ground that enables others to combat the brutal ideology of negativism that has infected the minds of so many grotesque fast-buck artists. We must try our level best to make Ms. Suzanne Fournier answer for her wrongdoings. There, my ranting is finished. Dr. John Schneider MD

At 10:18 PM, Dr. Thomas Machiavelli , MD said...

I guess you missed the point "Dr" John. I urge you to speak to a professional so you can get over the fact that noone wants to spy on you and your ridiculous rants make absolutely no sense. :)

It is obvious you grew up a nerd. You are now an adult nerdy dork with a "MD" title, but haven't gotten over it and are now focusing your inner pain on the other idiot Bush. Yaaawwn. Dr John you are a CRAZY Lefty who thinks that people want to spy on you and are "jealous" of you. bawahahahahahaha... You said, "As for the brief answer, our national media is controlled by homophobic evil-doers." In relation to your delusional statement of who controls our media this Political Science Study directly confronts your statement. This UCLA Political Science study is the the first to objectively quantify bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly. It blows your world view out of the water. http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6664 What did they find? The VAST MAJORITY of Television news and Print news leans to the Left and ideologically speaking the majority of media staff and media outlets support Gay Rights and print and report news ARE biased towards that outcome of the Left's ideologies not the Rights. Only Fox News and the Washington Times tested out as leaning to the Right. The ABC, CBS, and NBC Nightly News programs average more than 20 million viewers a night. By comparison Bill O'Reilly gets 2.5 million viewers a night.

You then said, "She'll most likely try to force me to have an identity crisis."

What the hell are you talking about John? You are nuts. Suzanne is going to force you to have an "identity crisis"? bawahahahaha..

Today class we have another example of Bush Derangement Syndrome in the rants by "Dr" John where he tries to take it out on Suzanne's little blog. The only thing Suzanne did was risk her own life to report some of the positives accomplished by our U.S. Soldiers and gave some Iraqi children some American donated shoes, clothes, and supplies oooooooo how "evil". Get a grip. Dr Thomas Machiavelli , MD

At 12:14 AM, Anonymous said...

This Dr. fellow is quite mad.

At 12:37 AM, Dr. Thomas Machiavelli , MD said...

http://www.ketv.com/entertainment/2868536/detail.html I think I found "Dr" John. I wonder if he blames Bush for his incarceration, also? Did Suzanne make you do it? :)

BDS is a serious syndrome that is making many far Lefties go into the fetal position all over America. What will they do when the GOP maintains a majority in 2006? Move to Canada? Naww they already threatened that already. Probably write another incoherent schizophrenic thesis that noone will read. :) This has been a FANTASTIC blog and it is a shame that so many Lefties have decided to take out their BDS on Suzanne's little blog. I know the troops appreciated Suzanne covering some of the positive stories in Iraq. Way to go Suzanne! Way to go American Heroes. :)

At 12:45 AM, Dr. John Schneider MD said...

Once again, I am writing in response to The Republican Party's dissertations, and once again, I merely wish to point out that I must, on principle, denounce those who claim that the best way to serve one's country is to condemn innocent people to death. With this letter, I hope to challenge the present and enrich the future. But first, I would like to make the following introductory remark: Prudence is no vice. Cowardice -- especially The Republican Party's prudish form of it -- is. You're probably thinking, "There will be mawkish things said on both sides of this issue in a matter of days." Well, you're right. But something else you should know is that its thralls' thinking is fenced in by many constraints. Their minds are not free because they dare not be. The Republican Party's spiteful, complacent camp has its origins in the Jewish Kabala, Babylonian mystery cults, Templars, Freemasons,

Illuminati, and assorted interests dedicated to Satanic worship and absolute power. Yet the media consistently ignores, downplays, or marginalizes this fact. Admittedly, The Republican Party has lost contact with reality. But that's because if The Republican Party were as bright as it thinks it is, it'd know that if one accepts the framework I've laid out here, it follows that all it really wants is to hang onto the perks it's getting from the system. That's all it really cares about. Whether or not you realize this, The Republican Party's circulars are continually evolving into more and more snarky incarnations. Here, I'm not just talking about evolution in a simply Darwinist sense; I'm also talking about how I, for one, am not fooled by The Republican Party's snivelling and eristic rhetoric. I therefore gladly accept the responsibility of notifying others that The Republican Party says it's going to appropriate sacred symbols for indelicate purposes in the coming days. Is it out of its mind? The answer is fairly obvious when you consider that it extricates itself from difficulty by intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, by trimming, by an untruth, by an injustice. I'm sure The Republican Party wouldn't want me to eavesdrop on its secret meetings. So why does it want to make bigotry respectable? There is widespread agreement in asking that question, but there is great disagreement in answering it. Amateurish, highhanded mysticism is the shadow cast on society by The Republican Party's expositions, and as long as this is so, the attenuation of the shadow will not change the substance. I can repeat with undiminished conviction something I said eons ago: To get even the simplest message into the consciousness of what I call predaceous degenerates, it has to be repeated at least 50 times. Now, I don't want to insult your intelligence by telling you the following 50 times, but The Republican Party's plans for the future are a logical absurdity, a series of deductions from a premise that has been denied. Speaking of absurdities, it is no exaggeration to say that inaniloquent poltroons speak in order to conceal -- or at least to veil -- their thoughts. How much more illumination does that fact need before The Republican Party can grasp it? Assuming the answer is "a substantial amount", let me point out that there are two kinds of people in this world. There are

those who call for a return to that which wasn't particularly good in the first place, and there are those who improve the lot of humankind. The Republican Party fits neatly into the former category, of course. My cause is to put to rest the animosities that have kept various groups of people from enjoying anything other than superficial unity. I call upon men and women from all walks of life to support my cause with their life-affirming eloquence and indomitable spirit of human decency and moral righteousness. Only then will the whole world realize that the question that's on everyone's mind these days is, "What exactly is The Republican Party's point?" The answer should be self-evident, so let me just point out that The Republican Party likes flimflams that undermine the individualistic underpinnings of traditional jurisprudence. Could there be a conflict of interest there? If you were to ask me, I'd say that it has -- not once, but several times -- been able to create an ideological climate that will enable it to transform our society into an inane war machine without anyone stopping it. How long can that go on? As long as its callow, power-drunk pranks are kept on life support. That's why we have to pull the plug on them and name and shame its dupes, who are legion, for their unholy acts of expansionism. The Republican Party twists every argument into some sort of "struggle" between two parties. The Republican Party unvaryingly constitutes the underdog party, which is what it claims gives it the right to spread ageism all over the globe like pigeon droppings over Trafalgar Square. We must carve solutions that are neither brassbound nor noisome. Only then can a society free of its disgraceful endeavors blossom forth from the roots of the past. And only then will people come to understand that it is terrified that there might be an absolute reality outside itself, a reality that is what it is, regardless of its wishes, theories, hopes, daydreams, or decrees. I appreciate feedback and other people's views on subjects. I don't, however, appreciate feedback when it's given in an unprofessional manner. Sometime in the future The Republican Party will replace discourse and open dialogue with vitriolic reports and blatant ugliness. Fortunately, that hasn't happened...yet. But it will undoubtedly happen

if we don't transform our culture of war and violence into a culture of peace and nonviolence. The last time I told The Republican Party's legatees that I want to warn the public against those whiney rabble-rousers whose positive accomplishments are always practically nil, but whose conceit can scarcely be excelled, they declared in response, "But The Republican Party's cabal is looking out for our best interests." Of course, they didn't use exactly those words, but that's exactly what they meant. The Republican Party parrots whatever ideas are fashionable at the moment. When the fashions change, its ideas will change instantly, like a weathercock. After reading everything I could find on this subject, I was forced to conclude that if we don't soon tell The Republican Party to stop what it's doing, it will proceed with its chauvinistic hijinks, considerably emboldened by our lack of resistance. We will have tacitly given The Republican Party our permission to do so. The first lies that The Republican Party told us were relatively benign. Still, they have been progressing. And they will continue to progress until there is no more truth; its lies will grow until they blot out the sun. Although the dialectics of iconoclastic praxis will undermine the basic values of work, responsibility, and family by the end of the decade, The Republican Party says that it needs a little more time to clean up its act. As far as I'm concerned, The Republican Party's time has run out. The problem, as I see it, is not a question of who the fruitcakes of this society are, but rather that The Republican Party claims that rancorous kleptomaniacs should be fted at wine-and-cheese fund-raisers. I respond that I definitely suspect that it needs to be taken into account that its gang controls illegal drugs and prostitution as well as banking, oil, defense, and the media. The Republican Party has garnered enough support to usher in the beginning of an immoral new era of absenteeism but not enough support to burn our fair cities to the ground. I mean, think about it.

The Republican Party is not just distasteful; it's homophobic, too. The Republican Party is obviously trying to demand that Earth submit to the dominion of the most stubborn proletariats you'll ever see, and unless we act now, it'll truly succeed. The Republican Party's propaganda factories continuously spew forth messages like, "The boogeyman is going to get us if we don't agree to The Republican Party's demands" and, "Everyone and everything discriminates against The Republican Party -- including the writing on the bathroom stalls". What they don't tell you, though, is that I can guarantee the readers of this letter that the poisonous wine of vigilantism had been distilled long before The Republican Party entered the scene. The Republican Party is merely the agent decanting the poisonous fluid from its bottle into the jug that is world humanity. The Republican Party cannot tolerate the world as it is. It needs to live in a world of fantasies. To be more specific, if you are not smart enough to realize this, then you become the victim of your own ignorance. Unlike The Republican Party, when I make a mistake I'm willing to admit it. Consequently, if -- and I'm bending over backwards to maintain the illusion of "innocent until proven guilty" -- it were not actually responsible for trying to prevent me from getting my work done, then I'd stop saying that if The Republican Party opened its eyes, it'd realize that being forced to listen to it yap on and on about boosterism is about as desirable as being flayed alive and rolled in salt. In debates with The Republican Party, it is important to evaluate whether its provocations reflect a sincere desire to present an alternative point of view or whether its agenda is primarily to gain a virtual stranglehold on many facets of our educational system, but that's really beside the point. Fortunately, if you ever get into an argument with some of The Republican Party's habitus about whether or not feelings of inferiority are characteristic of cranky, maledicent bludgers, I have an excellent sockdolager for you. Simply inform the other party that The Republican Party speaks like a true defender of the status quo -- a status quo, we should not forget, that enables it to sow the seeds of discord. As I have indicated, the reservoir from which The Republican Party draws its confreres is primarily the masses of what I call contentious,

uncivilized rubes. Think about it, and I'm sure you'll agree with me. The things The Republican Party wants to do are unfair, if not illegal. Some people might object to that claim, and if they do, my response is: A great many thoughtful people share my concerns about The Republican Party. The logical consequences of that are clear: If The Republican Party's theatrics get any more choleric, I expect they'll grow legs and attack me in my sleep. Unfortunately, I can already see the response to this letter. Someone, possibly The Republican Party itself or one of its assistants, will write a delusional piece about how selfish I am. If that's the case, then so be it. What I just wrote sorely needed to be written. -Dr. John Schneider MD

At 1:59 AM, Dr. Thomas Machiavelli , MD said...

Dr John, I am a Libertarian. I didn't approve of the Iraq War, but I thought this blog was interesting. I found Suzanne's sacrifice to be amazing! She has been away from her own family since September of 2005. She delievered school supplies, clothes, shoes, and food to Iraqi Kids. She reported a few positive accomplishments by our U.S. Soldiers. I would venture to guess Karl Rove has never heard of this blog. I found your diatribes to be delusional and decided to mess with you, but now I think you have some serious issues. SSShhhh I have a secret for you......It isn't ALL Bush's fault John. I am not affiliated with the Republican Party, John. I would venture to guess the GOP really could care less what you have to say on this blog.

I don't like most politicians Republican or Democrat, but I will be intellectually honest and will call bull-shit when I see it. Tell me which post Suzanne said she support Bush or the Republican Party? She has only reported some of the positive accomplishmentd, in Iraq, and our U.S. Soldiers have appreciated it. Are you denying Suzanne didn't risk her own life to report on these good stories in Iraq? I believe you are referring to the terrorist wire tapping program and noone wants to wire tap you John. Bush approved the terrorist wire tapping program after 9/11. They are wire tapping calls between suspected terrorists. The calls are coming from the Middle East or the calls are going to the Middle East. No American's phone calls are being randomly wire tapped.

A panel of former Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges recently told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that President Bush did not act illegally when he created by executive order a wiretapping program conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA). http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060329-120346-1901r.htm

"You may be familiar with the Administrations legal and Constitutional defense of its limited - I repeat, limited - warrantless surveillance program, but in case youre not, let me summarize it briefly. In undertaking the surveillance of communications between suspected alQaeda operatives outside the U.S. and persons within our borders, the

President relies upon the following authorities: his inherent executive power, which is extensive, albeit not unlimited, when it comes to protecting national security from credible threats; and the Authorization to Use Military Force, passed by Congress in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. If the President is authorized to shoot at the bad guys, hes also authorized, by reasonable implication, to discover who and where they are. Properly understood, the two purported restrictions on his authority the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures - do not actually do so. As the Attorney General contends in his opening statement, FISA prohibits persons from intentionally engag[ing] in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized by statute. The AUMF is such a statute, permitting, if need be, warrantless surveillance. Furthermore, a limited program of warrantless surveillance may be an effective - indeed, the only effective - means of identifying those properly called evildoers (or perhaps potential evildoers, if they belong to a sleeper cell). As such, the program amounts to a reasonable, as opposed to unreasonable, method of search and seizure; it passes the Fourth Amendment test."

http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleID.18999/article_detail.asp Bush has been wire tapping suspected al-Qaida terrorists, but warrantless wire taps are not unprecedented. Democrat Presidents Carter and Clinton did it for only Domestic Spying. President Carter approved warrantless wire taps of domestic phone calls in the United States in 1979 and he wasn't going after al-Qaida. Where's the outrage? http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo12139.htm President Clinton approved warrantless wire taps of domestic phone

calls and he wasn't going after al-Qaida. http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-12949.htm Neither Carter or Clinton had a 9/11 and were not trying to capture alQaida, who wants to kill you and I. Big difference John. Clinton even went farther than Bush and expanded the use of warrantless searches to entirely domestic situations with no foreign intelligence value whatsoever. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20051222-122610-7772r.htm

Nobody wants to spy on you John and it is safe to say if they did they would be asleep after about a minute listening to yo go on...and on...and on....and on.....

Thanks for a great blog Suzanne. Don't ever think your sacrifice wasn't appreciated. History will show it was.

At 12:37 PM, Dr John Schneider MD said...

I sit in sad repose as I put pen to paper concerning an issue I find most deeply disturbing. First things first: Grandma In Iraq's litanies are rife with contradictions and difficulties; they're completely prolix, meet no objective criteria, and are unsuited for a supposedly educated population. And as if that weren't enough, I, not being one of the many intellectually challenged hellions of this world, am not concerned with rumors or hearsay about Grandma In Iraq. I am interested only in ascertained facts attested by published documents, and in these

primarily as an illustration that Grandma In Iraq's cause is not glorious. It is not wonderful. It is not good. If anything will free us from the shackles of Grandma In Iraq's conceited opinions, it's knowledge of the world as it really is. It's knowledge that she has frequently been spotted making nicey-nice with dangerous dweebs. Is this because she needs their help to sensationalize all of the issues? We already have our answer; as a respected journalist put it, "The magnitude of Grandma In Iraq's lies should disgust anyone who has an even moderate education". He probably could have added that Grandma In Iraq has a talent for inventing fantasy worlds in which space gods arriving in flying saucers will save humanity from self-destruction. Then again, just because Grandma In Iraq is a prolific fantasist doesn't mean that men are spare parts in the social repertoire -- mere optional extras. Truth be told, I sometimes ask myself whether the struggle to express my views is worth all of the potential consequences. And I consistently answer by saying that it would sure be nice if Grandma In Iraq could present her case without resorting to yellow journalism. I submit that everyone should stop and mull that assertion. Then, you'll understand why I hate it when people get their facts wrong. For instance, whenever I hear some corporate fat cat make noises about how we should avoid personal responsibility, I can't help but think that some reputed -- as opposed to reputable -- members of Grandma In Iraq's polity quite adamantly insist that Grandma In Iraq is a bearer and agent of the Creator's purpose. I find it rather astonishing that anyone could assert such a thing, but then again, one does not have to woo over pigheaded, ill-bred primates by using tactics such as scapegoating, reductionist and simplistic solutions, demagoguery, and a conspiracy theory of history in order to take a proactive, rather than a reactive, stance. It is a slimy person who believes otherwise. Granted, Grandma In Iraq is possessed by the devil. But I have often maintained that reasonable people can reasonably disagree. Unfortunately, when dealing with Grandma In Iraq and her hatchet men, that claim assumes facts not in evidence. So let me claim instead that I plan to rage, rage against the dying of the light. This is a choice I have made; your choice is up to you. But let me remind you that Grandma In Iraq's companions have been staggering around like punch-drunk fighters hit too many times -- stunned,

confused, betrayed, and trying desperately to rationalize Grandma In Iraq's militant rodomontades. It is not a pretty sight. Maybe Grandma In Iraq just can't handle harsh reality. Last summer, I attempted what I knew would be a hopeless task. I tried to convince Grandma In Iraq that she governs her cult followers with a dictatorial and brutal fist, forcing them to set the hoops through which we all must jump. As I expected, Grandma In Iraq was unconvinced. According to the laws of probability, I don't need to tell you that she would love to see college campuses morph into small, ivy-covered North Koreas in which the student or faculty member who dares to help others to see through the empty and meaningless statements uttered by her and her advocates quickly finds himself in a heap of legal trouble. That should be self-evident. What is less evident is that she and her grunts are, by nature, feckless, picayunish purveyors of malice and hatred. Not only can that nature not be changed by window-dressing or persiflage, but the really interesting thing about all this is not that the agenda that Grandma In Iraq is attempting to advance is one of elitism, repression, and Lysenkoism. The interesting thing is that she keeps trying to deceive us into thinking that the rules don't apply to her. The purpose of this deception may be to let advanced weaponry fall into the hands of what I call nerdy lugs. Or maybe the purpose is to uproot our very heritage and pave the way for Grandma In Iraq's own putrid value system. Oh what a tangled web Grandma In Iraq weaves when first she practices to deceive. I've tried explaining to Grandma In Iraq's representatives that life is too short to have to put up with Grandma In Iraq. Unfortunately, it is clear to me in talking to them that they have no comprehension of what I'm saying. I might as well be talking to creatures from Mars. In fact, I'd bet Martians would be more likely to discern that Grandma In Iraq has no discernible talents. The only things she has obviously mastered are biological functions. Well, I suppose Grandma In Iraq's also good at convincing people that she is the one who will lead us to our great shining future, but my point is that I have begged Grandma In Iraq's foot soldiers to step forth and scuttle Grandma In Iraq's pernicious attempts

to engage in or goad others into engaging in illegal acts. To date, not a single soul has agreed to help in this fashion. Are they worried about how she might retaliate? Well, I asked the question, so I should answer it. Let me start by saying that she refers to a variety of things using the word "psychotherapeutical". Translating this bit of jargon into English isn't easy. Basically, Grandma In Iraq's saying that her ravings enhance performance standards, productivity, and competitiveness, which we all know is patently absurd. At any rate, so far, the response from her camp has been tardy and equivocal. She may mean well but it has long been obvious to attentive observers that there is every indication that she likes to launch into nonsensical non sequiturs. But did you know that Grandma In Iraq frequently plays on our emotions? Grandma In Iraq doesn't want you to know that because she will promote a herd mentality over principled, individual thought because she possesses a hatred that defies all logic and understanding, that cannot be quantified or reasoned away, and that savagely possesses inimical malingerers with directionless and uncontrollable rage. At no time in the past did pharisaical, prudish ne'er-do-wells shamble through the streets of cities, demanding rights they imagine some supernatural power has bestowed upon them. You may wonder why Grandma In Iraq's half-measures are a sink-pit of degeneracy, corruption, and ugliness. It's simply because Grandma In Iraq has been known to "prove" statistically that the average workingclass person can't see through her chicanery. As you might have suspected, her proof is flawed. The primary problem with it is that it replaces a legitimate claim of association with an illegitimate claim of causality. Consequently, Grandma In Iraq's "proof" demonstrates only that there are many roads leading to the defeat of her plans to clear forests, strip the topsoil, and turn a natural paradise into a dust bowl through a self-induced drought. I maintain that all of these roads must eventually pass through the same set of gates: the ability to raise balmy champions of deceit, lies, theft, plunder, and rapine out of their cultural misery and lead them to the national community as a valuable, united factor. Clearly, she is not a responsible citizen. Responsible citizens expose Grandma In Iraq's malversation. Responsible citizens

indubitably do not lead a huffy jihad against those who oppose her. Although there are no formal, external validating criteria for Grandma In Iraq's morally questionable claims, I think we can safely say that our battle with her is a battle between spiritualism and solecism, between tradition and subversion, between the defenders of Western civilization and its enemies. With the battle lines drawn as such, it is abundantly clear that Grandma In Iraq makes free and liberal use of chicanery, deceit, intolerance, lust, persecution, and oppression. Of course, this sounds simple, but in reality, the real issue is simple: Her suggestions just don't stand up. Shame on her for thinking that people like you and me are vile! I apologize if what I'm saying sounds painfully obvious, painfully self-evident. However, it is so extremely important that I must sincerely say it. The brusque aspect of Grandma In Iraq's modes of thought will create a stir between supercilious spielers and the malignant public at large. To pretend otherwise is nothing but hypocrisy and unwillingness to face the more unpleasant realities of life. For your information, Grandma In Iraq never stops boasting about her generous contributions to charitable causes. As far as I can tell, however, her claimed magnanimousness is entirely chimerical and, furthermore, Grandma In Iraq may have access to weapons of mass destruction. Then again, I consider her to be a weapon of mass destruction herself. It frustrates Grandma In Iraq that she can't shut me up. That's all I have to say. Thank you for reading this letter. Dr John Schneider MD

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Grandma in Iraq

Letters from the Editor Enquirer Editor Tom Callinan files his thoughts and observations about what goes on in the newsroom, in Cincinnati and in the new media world.

Saturday, April 08, 2006


It appears Grandma in Iraqs deployment is ending, so her blog will as well. Yes, we fumbled in not invasively disclaiming her role as a public relations officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and we fixed that when it was pointed out. No, she wasnt paid by us for her blog, which provided readers an inside look at her experiences over there. And she claims no superiors approved the work done on her time. No, theres no cover-up in the questions about whom and how her blog originated. Im not inclined to point fingers at the past. Whatever was done, by whomever, was wellintentioned. It just wasn't thought through completely and I wasn't paying enough attention to the blog world. The bottom line is that since last summer we have reorganized responsibilities for Cincinnati.com and I am responsible for content on the site, along with Chris Graves, our online editor. I've been making news decisions -- and taking shots for them -- for 30 years now. It's OK. And yes, I suspect the debate will continue about whether Cincinnati.com should have hosted her blog. If you care to continue to debate please make me the target of your venom, not Grandma or that public relations officer if youd prefer to address her as such. How about lets look at our dabbling in citizen journalism from a broader perspective? Were discussing the concept a lot these days. While The Enquirer has done some work with interactive voices online, most of our readers who care to share their views are limited to traditional platforms letters to the editor, story suggestions, and news releases. But as we look to the future, were exploring new territory. One venture is called Get Published, which has become one of the most successful parts of our NKY.com site. The question came up recently about whether we should commingle reader submissions, including photos, with our traditional reports.

Here are some thoughts I sent in an e-mail to the online team:

--I happen to be reading a great book about the issue: "blog!," by David Kline and Dan Burstein. Here are some of my thoughts, based on their well-crafted analysis: A.J. Leibling, a great 20th century journalist, once said: "Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one." No more. Who certified us as the Guardians of Civic Literacy? We Journalists need to adapt to change -- call it the information age, the knowledge society, whatever. The times' they are a changing. Kline and Burstein point out that the paternalistic press is only a recent phenomenon that may have outlived its short life in historical terms. We'd best be catching up. My gosh, Journalists, consider the past: Ice Age painters, Talumidic scholars, revolutionary pamphleteers (anyone remember Tom Paine?) illustrated the power of what we now call (paternistically) "citizen journalism." Consider the future: Author James Suroweicki refers to the "wisdom of crowds." Business Week reports on a theme called "mass collaboration" and "the power of us." Cincinnati.com is a portal to all of that. It is not about traditional Journalism, nor The Enquirer, which is 165 years old now. It is about the future. Get published -- citizen journalism -- may unsettle our comfort level. I say we need to get over it.

--Those are some questions I posed to the staff. There are a lot of diverse opinions, as you can imagine. What do you think? posted by Tom Callinan @ 4:14 PM 11 comments 11 Comments:

At 5:23 PM, Anonymous said... Mr. Callinan, Thank you for your second post. Your invitation to set up another blog reflecting a critical outlook on the war is appreciated. But this isn't just about citizen journalism, it's about the Enquirer itself. You have one staff opinion columnist, Peter Bronson, who makes no secret of his allegiance to the hard right wing of the GOP. Why doesn't the Enquirer have another on-staff opinion columnist writing about local and national politics from another perspective? It's unsatisfactory to run the occasional liberal wire service columnist writing about national politics. Cincinnatians depend on the Enquirer for reporting and commentary on local issues. Even Mr. Bronson's most ardent supporters would agree that he is a partisan and that other points of view are not being aired. Add to this recent published criticisms by county commissioner Todd Portune that he is being shut out of coverage by your paper on important local issues makes it difficult not to draw the conclusion that your bias is showing. Back to Grandma, it's nice that you're willing to take the heat for criticism about her blog. But you referred to people's requests to know who hired her as "pointing the finger." If there's nothing to hide, why are you protecting an employee from this disclosure? Enquirer readers have a right to know if the paper is working in tandem with the GOP or the Army because that would be a very serious matter indeed. If that is the case, then the Enquirer will have a real crisis of credibility. Your online response to these concerns would be welcome.

At 5:37 PM, The Dean of Cincinnati said... I second everything in the comment above. Why avoid "the past"? You are a journalist. You record events for the sake of having a record of the past -- at least in part. That was why Orwell's 1984 was so alarming -- they were actually changing the newspapers to change history. In any event, your disregard of the past is rather noteworthy, and disingenuous. I also think it strange that you are trying to capitalize on "citizen journalists."

No self-respecting "citizen journalist" should cow-tow to your media empire. Or should I believe that the anti-war folks with images of dead Iraqi babies will get as much access as Grandma? Are you talking access to citizens with no filter, no editorial oversight? I can't believe you'd risk it. In any event, as you are fully aware, what you give blog space on Cincinnati.com does not make-up for what you put in print. Sure, maybe you'll give Portune a blog post. But when you print manipulative statements about him -- that is really something indeed.

At 8:18 PM, Anonymous said... Is there a blog in Cincinnati that the Dean hasn't spoiled with his paranoid rants?

At 8:45 PM, Anonymous said... The Dean of Cincinnati is providing a forum for important stories that the Enquirer doesn't cover. And it's good enough for a number of top politicians in Cincinnati who are being shut out by the Enquirer's Republican political bias. Anyway, whether you like it or not, everyone is reading The Beacon.

At 10:14 PM, Anonymous said... Mr. Callinan: The Cincinnati Beacon just posted another of Commissioner Portune's reports. It contains a shocking description of behind the scenes intervention by billionaire Carl Lindner manipulating Phil Heimlich and the arrangement for the proposed new county jail. Commissioner Portune also describes Phil Heimlich being caught dead to rights lying to FOP president Kathy Harrell. Lindner, a private unelected citizen with limitless money, appears to be determining county decisions and controlling the president of the county commission like a hand puppet. Why isn't your newspaper reporting this story? But how could you? Commissioner Portune has written that your county reporter Kimball Perry won't even call him. Cincinnati has traditionally been a comfortable place for the fat cats to do

backroom business. The Enquirer has all too often facilitated this by failing to report the news. I'm glad you think citizen journalism is a good idea. But when are you professional journalists going to start doing your job?

At 11:28 PM, Anonymous said... One also wonders about Mr. Bronson's relationship with the board of Citizens For Community Values (CCV), Phil Burress' hard right-wing noisemaking machine. No conflict of interest there, nooooo.

At 5:48 PM, Anonymous said... The CCV is a thinly-concealed PAC. As has been widely reported, its primary funder is Carl Linder. From a 3-30-06 Columbus Dispatch profile of Phil Burress: About 400 people paid $50 apiece to attend the groups annual banquet Tuesday on the Xavier University campus. All the proceeds will go to the organization because the cost was picked up by well-heeled backers, including Carl H. Lindner, a Cincinnati financier and longtime GOP contributor. Commission president Phil Heimlich has been heavily financed by Lindner and by Burress, who in 2002 Commission president Phil Heimlich has been heavily financed by Lindner and by Burress, who in 2002 paid Heimlich $55,000 for "consulting." Did he watch dirty movies and find them distasteful? Or was this just a sneaky soft money channel? To my knowledge, no reporter has asked Heimlich or Burress to explain what Heimlich did to earn such a substantial packet. Perhaps an Enquirer reporter will take advantage of this election season to ask the two Phils.

At 10:52 PM, Anonymous said... wow, people have lots to argue about. I would pay for this: Your reporters can rate the citizen journalism so I only see the highly rated stories based on my demographic. Also make the ads targeted to me. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6909078385965257294&q=Seth

At 12:47 PM, Anonymous said... I will show you a good example of collaborative online journalism, from which you could learn a great deal. A tip to TPMMuckraker.com by a concerned reader of the Grandma in Iraq blog brought it to the attention of more people, including your media peers via Editor & Publisher, and the Enquirer couldn't stand the scrutiny. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000256.php Yes, the world is changing, and you can't get away with your biased and selective coverage any longer, Mr. Callinan. The Cincy blogs will cover the real news, even if you don't. The eyeballs will migrate to them, raising their online ad revenues and lowering yours. If someone starts a free daily along the lines of what they have in other cities, the Enquirer will be in serious trouble indeed. Perhaps Scripps will do so with the Cincy Post. Good luck trying! It will be fun to watch.

At 11:47 PM, Anonymous said... The "Grandma in Iraq" debacle just made it into Howard Kurtz's media watchdog column in the Washington Post: Mystery Blogger The Cincinnati Enquirer's "Grandma in Iraq" blog is literally true in that Suzanne Fournier is a grandmother. But she is also a spokeswoman for the U.S. military. Which may explain why the blog is relentlessly upbeat about what a great job American soldiers are doing. Enquirer Editor Tom Callinan told Editor & Publisher that he had to change the description of Fournier: "She never hid the fact that she worked for them. But we did not put a disclaimer at the top, we had overlooked that. We have now corrected it." Fournier wrote on the blog that she never tried to hide her affiliation but "wanted to share my experiences because I am in a unique position of being able to travel to nine of the southern provinces with my job as a communicator."

At 11:58 PM, Anonymous said...

Editor & Publisher just ran a third lengthy article about the Enquirer, Tom Callinan, and the "Grandma in Iraq" mess. Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Beacon has new information about Suzanne Fournier's background as longtime press officer for the Army's Chemical and Biological Weapons Program and as an Enquirer source for a number of articles dating back to at least 1999.

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