The Cool Blue Blog

Road Work

Engineers Build Road, Help Locals in Southern Baghdad

Soldiers of the 458th Engineer Battalion, attached to the 1st Cavalry Division, build a road and improve structures for Iraqi citizens before heading home to Pennsylvania.

By U.S. Army Cpl. Bill Putnam
122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP AL-SAQR, Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. 21, 2004 — Engineers working with the 1st Cavalry Division's 5th Brigade Combat Team have begun working on a road through farming areas in Baghdad, Iraq, that will cut a patrol's commute time down to almost 10 minutes.

The road-building project, dubbed "Operation Hardball," started about a week ago, said Capt. Pat Marsh, an engineer project planning officer assigned to the 5th Brigade Combat Team.

"This road will do a lot of good down here," said Marsh. "Now it will take about 11 minutes to get to River Road instead of almost 30 minutes."

The new road, running through 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment's area of operations, runs east-to-west from the Tigris River to Highway 8, a distance of almost seven kilometers.

Before the road was started, a patrol from 1-8 Cavalry's Company D had to take either one of two routes to reach River Road that added minutes to their reaction time to rocket attacks or Improvised Explosive Device explosions.

"This road will do a lot of good down here," U.S. Army Capt. Pat Marsh, 1st Cavalry Division

The purpose of the road is really two-fold, said 1st Lt. Matthew R. Henderson, a platoon leader assigned to Company B, 458th Engineer Battalion. First, he said it helps the patrols from Company D, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, move around their patrol areas. Second, it'll help the locals move around.

Daily Dish

When election workers were executed by Islamists in Iraq recently, AP photogrphers were right there. The folks over at The Belmont Club have been asking questions about how this came about; just luck or were they forewarned? Turns out, as Powerline reports it was the latter. And the Belmont Club explores truth, lies, reporting and the right to know.

US marines say they have captured two leaders of a militant group linked to Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Ramadi.

More high level "retirements" at the UN.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has promised that Israel will work to ensure the Palestinian presidential election is both free and fair. Which is more than any Arab nation has pledged. Meanwhile, prominent Palestinian figures urge  an end to violence.

The US is ready to hold back military technology from European allies over EU steps to revoke its arms embargo on China, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

The government and the southern rebels in Darfur will sign a peace agreement on Jan. 10 end more than 20 years of civil war. This after the UN admitted defeat and Bush signed a bill threatening US sanctions of the Sudanese government.

A first hand account of Rumsfelds recent visit to Iraq. The Media won't tell you this stuff.

"Washington voters, confused by the bizarre turn of events in the excruciatingly close race for governor after more than seven weeks of vote counting, legal wrangling and partisan battling, are starting to sound quite flustered." No doubt.

The odds for an astroid strike on Earth are getting worse.

A man walked into the Samaritan House homeless shelter in Denver with a thick roll of $100 bills and began passing them out to each resident. Before disappearing in his Black SUV, he had distributed $35,000.

A Victoria University professor wants randy mountaineers to stop having sex at Mount Everest's base camp.

Firefighters rescue lemur

A man wearing a tight mini-skirt is found trapped halfway inside a St Vincent de Paul clothing donation bin.

Ghost Christmas

For many, Christmas time is a season of giving. For some, there is no season for giving; every season is for giving.

My wife is such a person.

When my son got deployed to Iraq last January after being able to spend Christmas home for the first time since he joined the Army three years prior,

she didn't quite know how to handle her anxiety. Then she hooked up with Soldiers Angels and decided that the best way to deal was to make sure no soldier went unloved.

She set out making sure that each soldier in my son's Battalion, the 1st of the 14th Infantry Regiment "Golden Dragons", was adopted by an Angel. And since my son still has many friends in his former unit, the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, with whom he spent time in Kuwait, she made sure they were adopted as well.

And she adopted many of these soldiers her own self.

Every trip to Costco requires that I pick up various snacks and sundry items her "boys" need. Many days when I come home for lunch, boxes going to Iraq have been packed, addressed and custom forms filled out and taped to each one. That most often means I'm stopping at the post office on my way back to work. They know me at the Post Office.

And they know the Way Cool wife.

She often gets letters of appreciation, but today she got a Christmas card.

And inside it said

I just want people to know.

Roadside Assistance

MPs Render First Aid to Injured Afghan Family

Soldiers provide roadside medical aid after accident.

By U.S. Army Sgt. Jennifer S. Emmons
17th Public Affairs Detachment

WARDAK PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Dec. 23, 2004  — The radio in the vehicle crackled to life.        

“Warlord One, this is Warlord Six, over.”

“Six, this is One, over.”

“Turn around. Did you see that truck in the ditch? Let’s see what we can do.”

“Roger.”

“Assisting whenever we can helps us in our mission. These people that we helped will pass on the word that we helped and that we are here to help. It makes it easier to deal with the community. It also sets a good example for the police.” U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Stephan Mudge

The soldiers, on their way to the Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team in central Afghanistan after a mission in Wardak province, called the tactical operations center at the provincial reconstruction team to inform their leaders they were turning around. The soldiers on the convoy had spotted an Afghan family stranded on the side of the road beside their totaled pickup.

Daily Dish

"How do we win the war in the media?" Donald Rumsfeld was asked at a surprise visit to Mosul. How indeed. The media's narrative was that the last time the Secretary of Defense held a Q&A with the troops, it went badly. However, that's not the case. It's simply the story they told. But as Sissy notes, Rumsfeld, and this Administration, have a much loftier story to tell. But most in the press aren't listening. The incident this week in Mosul is just another opportunity for them to spread doom and gloom. But it just may be that the doom and gloom may be in the future for Syria and the Islamists.

Civilians are starting to trickle back into Fallujah. Meanwhile, the French journalists who were taken hostage in Iraq (and not ransomed) are starting to talk (like you'd be able to shut them up). "We really understood that these kidnappers were driven not by an Iraqi agenda, but by an agenda of Islamic holy war," Mr Malbrunot said. He also said the Islamists wanted to vote for Bush.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently admitted that the Oil-for-Food scandal has marred the image of Turtle Bay. But it's not just that. He also had to admit that the UNs approach to the situtation in Sudan has failed and worse yet, the UN sex scandal in the Congo is exploding. "The UN peacekeeping forces and professional staff have systematically exploited the women and young girls under their care, paying them for sexual services in food and cash, as little as a dollar or a jar of mayonnaise the going price," relates Captain Ed of the Captain's Quarters. Now, one of the biggest power players at the United Nations abruptly announced his retirement in what may be a sign of a shakeup at the highest levels at the UN because despite his bravado, Mr Annan knows that US support of his administration is critical to his survival as Secretary-General.

A day after naming his new cabinet, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai said he had asked his main rival to form a national political party ahead of parliamentary elections due in April.

Hamas made a strong showing in local elections in the West Bank, the first time the Islamic terrorist group competed at the polls, according to preliminary elections results.

President Bush has signed a new law authorizing him to freeze Sudanese government assets to protest the violence in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

NORAD tracks Santa.

Staff at the BBC have been given instructions on how to walk through a door. Seminars on how to walk and chew gum is next on the agenda.

There's a 1-in-300 chance that a recently discovered asteroid, believed to be about 1,300 feet long, could hit Earth in 2029. Merry Christmas!

Well, they sounded naked.

Stretch limousines and psychiatrists for your dog.

Barnes & Noble has the best singles scene in New York City.

Bill Cosby helps who he helps.

Exploding the Self-Esteem Myth

Boosting people's sense of self-worth has become a national preoccupation. Yet surprisingly, research shows that such efforts are of little value in fostering academic progress or preventing undesirable behavior

By Roy F. Baumeister, Jennifer D. Campbell, Joachim I. Krueger and Kathleen D. Vohs

People intuitively recognize the importance of self-esteem to their psychological health, so it isn't particularly remarkable that most of us try to protect and enhance it in ourselves whenever possible. What is remarkable is that attention to self-esteem has become a communal concern, at least for Americans, who see a favorable opinion of oneself as the central psychological source from which all manner of positive outcomes spring. The corollary, that low self-esteem lies at the root of individual and thus societal problems and dysfunctions, has sustained an ambitious social agenda for decades. Indeed, campaigns to raise people's sense of self-worth abound.

Consider what transpired in California in the late 1980s. Prodded by State Assemblyman John Vasconcellos, Governor George Deukmejian set up a task force on self-esteem and personal and social responsibility. Vasconcellos argued that raising self-esteem in young people would reduce crime, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, school underachievement and pollution. At one point, he even expressed the hope that these efforts would one day help balance the state budget, a prospect predicated on the observation that people with high self-regard earn more than others and thus pay more in taxes. Along with its other activities, the task force assembled a team of scholars to survey the relevant literature. The results appeared in a 1989 volume entitled The Social Importance of Self-Esteem, which stated that "many, if not most, of the major problems plaguing society have roots in the low self-esteem of many of the people who make up society." In reality, the report contained little to support that assertion.

Daily Dish

Tuesday’s attack on a US military base in Mosul that killed 22 people, including 14 US service members, was the work of a suicide bomber. On-site reports indicate the bomb was followed with a mortar attack that suggests the target was under observation by an enemy mortar team. Captain Richard Hartnett has some thoughts on force protection.

The French government insists  that no ransom had been paid to secure the release of their two journalists. No, no ransom...they simply played the "French journalist card". Uh huh.

Annan admits that the current UN strategy of talk and bluff intended to help the Darfur region in Sudan isn't working.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Europe was ''not naive'' about Iran's nuclear plans and would ensure Tehran fulfils an obligation to freeze work that could lead to making nuclear weapons. I wonder how they will ensure this?

Forty-four North Koreans who sought asylum at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing in September have been taken to a safe third country.

Tanzania's High Court today freed a local man who was charged six years ago with helping to carry out the 1998 bombing of the American Embassy in Dar es Salaam.

Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Tripoli and expelled the Libyan envoy over what it called an "atrocious" Libyan plot to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah.

More than 140,000 Palestinians in the West Bank are heading to 26 ballots to elect mayors and municipal councils for their towns and villages.

Spanish Police arrested three Moroccans they believe were part of a radical Islamic cell looking to buy explosives in a central European country for a terrorist attack in Spain.

Navy deserter Pablo Paredes turns himself in.

Rachel Lucas gets a gift from Iraq.

A Festivus for the rest of us.

More than 2000 Indonesian women washed their laundry together at a city square on Sunday to post a record and donate the clothes to orphanages

Alarmed by glimpses of sweaty citizens in the buff, the city council in the Mexican city of Villahermosa has adopted a law banning indoor nudity. "We are talking about zero tolerance ... for a lack of morality,'' said city councilwoman Blanca Estela Pulido of the Revolutionary Institutional Party, which governs the state and city. Revolutionary Institutional Party or RIP. They don't sound like Republicans to me....

Nova Scotia's high court to decide if "kemosabe" is a rascist term.

Suicide by chainsaw.

 

The Dragons gift

'Dragons' Kick Off New Operation in Baghdad

Soldiers hand out soccer balls to children, hand-knitted caps and blankets to mothers and children.

By U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 21, 2004 — “Check it out! Wilson’s got quite a leg on him,” shouts Spc. Lerroi Givens, of Brunswick, Ga., as Spc. Amin Wilson, of Mt. Vernon, N.Y., solidly belts a soccer ball more than 50 meters to a gaggle of excited children in eastern Baghdad.

These soldiers from Battery B, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, who are known as the “Dragons,” aren’t shirking their duty while on patrol, but rather are carrying out a very important mission: reaching out to Iraqi children.

On Dec. 19, the Dragons handed out 20 1st Cavalry Division logo soccer balls and other goodwill supplies at a local soccer field that the unit built in July.

In their time deployed, the soldiers from the battalion have displayed an ongoing commitment to the children of Iraq. Capt. William Powers, from St. Petersburg, Fla., the Dragon’s civil affairs officer said that they have been busy.

“In addition to many projects aimed at improving the schools directly, we have also built six soccer fields and four playgrounds in our area for the kids,” U.S. Army Capt. William Powers

Daily Dish

Twenty-four people were killed, including 14 US military personnel, when a huge explosion tore apart a US army dining hall. Two French journalists were released by their captors in Iraq asfter 124 days as hostages. "no ransom had been demanded and none was paid".

The Bush administration moved to block the assets of two Saudi men accused of providing support to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network, Adel Batterjee and Saad al-Faqih. Meanwhile, Bahrain defends its free trade agreement with the United States. And while the Saudi's don't like it, the reality is that most members of the GCC are privately negotiating trade deals with the US.

Iran claims it has arrested more than 10 "nuclear spies" among them are Mossad and CIA operatives. Meanwhile, the Sudan claims that Israel and Germany are aiding the "rebels" in Darfur and Save the Children packs its bags.

Secretary General Kofi Annan admitted that the UN oil-for-food scandal had "cast a shadow" over the United Nations.

Who are Saddam's lawyers?

Is bin Laden less dangerous than he was?

The Thai government offered photographic evidence of Thai Islamic militant training grounds in Malaysia, days after Malaysia’s prime minister strongly denied the claims.

The NAACP comes to Bush, meanwhile Congress balks at implementing the 9-11 commissions recommendations to correct lawmakers' "dysfunctional" oversight of the C.I.A., other spy agencies. Goose? Meet gander.

Groups such as Code Pink plan on peacefully protesting President Bush’s economic agenda, the legitimacy of his election and the war in Iraq.

Newfoundland legalizes same-sex marriage, while in New Jersey nearly 2,700 couples have registered as domestic partners in the first five months of a law that gives added rights and benefits to same-sex couples.

The Mars probe buggy got the equivelent of a car wash; but how did it happen?

A man has escaped from a Swedish jail after switching clothes with his identical twin brother.

High stakes table tennis in Las Vegas

Survey reveals that Britons increase their alcohol consumption during the Christmas holidays more than any other nationality surveyed

"I suppose it's no surprise that the next big thing in cell phones is to turn them into sex toys"

Tom Wolfe awarded the Bad Sex award by the Literary Review last month for his novel I Am Charlotte Simmons

Rebuilding Basrah infrastructure

Iraq Infrastructure Rebuilding Continues

Renovation of Basrah International Airport and rebuilding of roads continues;
                      other projects include an advanced first responder system.

By B.J. Weiner
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 20, 2004 — Establishing connections, whether by asphalt and concrete, or by bandwidth and airwaves, drives the transportation and communications sector for southern Iraq.

Thinking of transportation and communications as two separate programs, Erick Bush, Gulf Region Southern, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction services manager for the southern transportation and communications, said transportation projects include airports, village roads and highways, bridges and ports.

“The development of the operations center at the port (of Umm Qsar) is underway, as well as the development of an additional berth capacity for large containers, such as connexes,” Erick Bush, Gulf Region Southern, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers