Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Extremists Going From Iran to Iraq
This is going to be the last post tonight. I was originally going to do this in a separate post without a news story link, but this one happens to relate to what I am going to talk about.
First, on the story: imagine that. Some Iranians are, apparently, anti-American. So much so that they are taking action against Americans. Who would have thought? That's a major surprise. Never seen anything like this before, have you, President Carter?
Secondly, on why this hits home:
I've talked about the bazaar where I work. There are a lot of Iraqis that work in the building I work in. Most are vendors that sell things to, or provide services for soldiers. The barber, the beautician, two masseuses, two tailors, and various people that sell products. Neat people, good people that risk their lives to suppor their families and provide services and goods to soldiers that they view as friends and saviors from a tyrant.
When the Iraqis came into work on Sunday, the two tailors, the female masseuse (who was married to one of the tailors), and a maintenance worker did not come in. We found out Monday, that no one had seen them since they left work on Saturday, all leaving post in the same car to head home.
Today, the head of the Iraqi maintenance crew came in with a more definitive report. The missing people had been found, kind of. They had appeared on the news. According to the news report, they had been, basically, highjacked by insurgents, tortured and executed. I will spare you the details that I know at this time. (Believe me, you don't want to know.) The news report went on to say that the group that had done this was foreign insurgents in the area they were travelling. (They did not live in the Tikrit area.)
All of us here, military, civilian, American or not, mourn their loss. I would ask that you keep their families, friends and co-workers in your thoughts and prayers. I would, also, ask that you keep the rest of our Iraqi "crew" in your prayers as their support for what America is doing over here can have a very high cost.
First, on the story: imagine that. Some Iranians are, apparently, anti-American. So much so that they are taking action against Americans. Who would have thought? That's a major surprise. Never seen anything like this before, have you, President Carter?
Secondly, on why this hits home:
I've talked about the bazaar where I work. There are a lot of Iraqis that work in the building I work in. Most are vendors that sell things to, or provide services for soldiers. The barber, the beautician, two masseuses, two tailors, and various people that sell products. Neat people, good people that risk their lives to suppor their families and provide services and goods to soldiers that they view as friends and saviors from a tyrant.
When the Iraqis came into work on Sunday, the two tailors, the female masseuse (who was married to one of the tailors), and a maintenance worker did not come in. We found out Monday, that no one had seen them since they left work on Saturday, all leaving post in the same car to head home.
Today, the head of the Iraqi maintenance crew came in with a more definitive report. The missing people had been found, kind of. They had appeared on the news. According to the news report, they had been, basically, highjacked by insurgents, tortured and executed. I will spare you the details that I know at this time. (Believe me, you don't want to know.) The news report went on to say that the group that had done this was foreign insurgents in the area they were travelling. (They did not live in the Tikrit area.)
All of us here, military, civilian, American or not, mourn their loss. I would ask that you keep their families, friends and co-workers in your thoughts and prayers. I would, also, ask that you keep the rest of our Iraqi "crew" in your prayers as their support for what America is doing over here can have a very high cost.
