The Elusive Iraqi Hedgehog!!!

You have to watch this video!!!!!!! It is of the Elusive Iraqi Hedgehog that we caught. He is the cutest thing ever. He helped me to not miss my dog so bad... at least for a night. Don't worry we released him, and he took off across the Iraqi desert. He was happy as can be :-) ENJOY...

The Christian Church In Iraq

I had a chance to visit one of the few Assyrian Christian Churches the other day. As I told you in a previous post, the Christian Church is almost extinct in this Country. The years of persecution and terrorism has really taken it's toll. The sad thing is that America is not standing up for these brothers and sisters in Christ. There is no out cry to save them and there are no relief efforts to help them. Why???? If this were China or Africa it might make headline news. Instead it is in a place that we pump billions of dollars into. Churches and Christian everywhere need to start making noise. Wouldn't it be sad if every Christian disappears from this land where God created mankind, the Garden of Eden, the Birthplace of Abraham?

Read the following news article.........

"Between 10,000 and 30,000 of Iraq's 800,000 Christians have fled the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, according to Christian
groups in Baghdad. Although Christians make up only about 3% of Iraq's 25 million people, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said they account for about 20% of the refugees fleeing Iraq for Syria. They are escaping a climate of violence and a surging Islamic radicalism that have made the practice of their faith a deadly enterprise.

The worst moment came on Aug. 1 when Islamic insurgents - most likely connected with terrorist leader Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, according to Iraqi
government officials - attacked five churches in Baghdad and Mosul with car bombs, killing a dozen people. While Muslim authorities in Iraq widely condemned those attacks, local Christians say security has continued to deteriorate. Says Layla Isitfan: "If I can't go to church because I'm scared, if I can't dress how I want, if I can't drink because it's
against Islam, what kind of freedom is that?"

Like the larger insurgency targeting U.S. troops and the new Iraqi government, the campaign against Christians appears to be becoming more organized. Sa'ad Jusif, a Chaldean-Assyrian Christian, was kidnapped on Sept. 8, according to Dr. Munir Mardirosian, who heads a political party for Armenian Catholics in Baghdad. His captors showed
him a list of 200 names, most of them Christian, and demanded to know where they lived. When he refused, he was hung from the ceiling and beaten with iron pipes. He was released only when his family paid a $50,000 ransom on Sept. 13. He left the next day for Jordan. Says Mardirosian: "If they opened the doors to America or Australia, I can say there would not be one Christian left in Iraq."

article found at: http://www.christiansofiraq.com

With 4th Squad in Iraq

This is the heart warming Video of my fourth squad with the children in Northern Iraq. This video created an out pouring in the US.... Which lead to a gigantic school supply and toy drop in this same town. Special thanks to SGT Lyons who made this video!!!

Thanks to everyone who sent items for the Children!!!!!!! Your the best.

It Was A Pitched Battle!!!!!

Hi everyone,

Its time for another update from the beautiful land of heat, scorpions and war. Wait.... that was kind of negative so let see the land of sand, sand vipers, and sand fleas..... Well I guess thats not working, but hey the Garden of Eden was here before that got all messed up :-)

Ok... so on to todays story: When we go on mission we have to carry about 70 lbs of equipment and body armor. So, it is very important that each soldier stay in ultimate shape. This being the case, I require my soldiers to do PT (running, push ups and sit ups) every morning before mission. They think I am a horrible man, but the truth is staying in shape can save your life.

soooooo..... Being the good platoon leader that I am, I do what I make my troops do. Today, I woke up early for heat fest 2009 - or commonly known as running our little desert track. We have a scraped desert path that runs 3.4 miles in a loop. I usually run the track and then walk back across the desert looking for artifacts. Yes my love for Native American Artifacts has followed me to Iraq where I now pick up ancient pieces of pottery from the Assyrian empire. We are only 30 miles from the ancient city of Nineveh so it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of pottery that Jonah drank out of as he made his faithful trip after the ride in the belly of a fish.

Ok... I got side tracked. Anyways I ran the track and walked back across the desert as usual when I felt a painful thud to my head. I looked around and two crane looking birds were dive bombing me. They would fly in a big circle and then speed up straight for my head. I took of my PT shirt and started swinging it at them. That worked till they figured out my shirt couldn't hurt them. So.. I started beaming them with desert dirt clogs. It was quite a battle that ended: The Birds -1 Todd 0.

So now I am back getting ready for my afternoon mission.... and praying that it is less dangerous than my morning run lol. Anyways.... thanks for your love and support.

The Garden of Eden????? Really

I wanted to write and tell you about all the interesting aspects here in my area of operations. As you know I am not allowed to talk any about our operations. So the best I can do is tell you about the background of this area. Don't feel like you have to read all this, but if it is interesting to you as it is to me... feel free :-) For a person like me, who likes to be involved and loves history, I am in the perfect place. We are deployed to the north western provence of Nineveh. This area is unique in Iraq for several reasons. It is next to the Syrian border and is represented by most all ethnic groups. The area is home to the Kurds, Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, Iraqi Turk-man, and Christians. While this mix of people is interesting to me (because I love to see other cultures) it causes a lot of strife in the area because these groups and tribes do not get along with each other. Conflict In the Area - This area has always been in conflict. The Kurds have been given a state north west of here in Dahuk and run the government and military there. The Kurdish Military is called the Peshmerga. The Kurds also have a pocket of population in the Sinjar area of Nineveh. This area wants independence and to be a part of the Kurdish state. They are willing to do this by any means possible. The kurds fought against Sadamn Hussein trying to gain independence. This led to him gassing this area and killing a lot of Kurds. They fought beside US troops in both the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Because they want their own state and they are willing to fight, there are high tensions between the Kurds and the Iraqi Security Forces. The Iraqi Police, Iraqi Emergency Relief Battalions the Iraqi army that make up the Iraqi Security Forces. To make matters worse members of Al-Qaeda love all this instability. So they come to any area that is unstable and try to create havoc. We have massive amounts of foreign Al-Qaeda fighters coming across the Syrian borders in our area. They base themselves in small arab towns that border the kurdish area and of course 30 miles away in Mosul. In addition to all this the Turk-man population of Tal Afar, does not like the Kurd or the Sunni Arab populations. Tal Afar became the Al-Qaeda base in Iraq until the September 2005 battle of Tel Afar that defeated most of the insurgency in the town. So in this area there is basically a 5 way war being waged. The Natural Geography of the area - This area is a desert plain. It has several mountain ranges that stick up in the middle of the flat desert which make the contrast significant. Tal Afar is at the southern base of the Aedem Mountains, and the town of Sinjar at the base of Sinjar Mountain. This area does receive rain in the spring which will allow for cultivation of crops. Most homes here are built adobe style from mud bricks. You can easy picture yourself in biblical times Biblical Connections - This area is closely tied to the bible. We know that Abraham was born here in Ur 292 years after the great flood. We also know the rich history of Babylon which is in southern Iraq. This is also the place where the tower of babel stood. It is also commonly believed that the Garden of Eden was in Iraq between the Tigers and Euphrates rivers (Mesopotamia – the land between two rivers). The term Assyria in the bible applies to this region. The provence is named after the ancient town of Ninevah which is a bout 20 miles away. This is the town that Jona was sent to preach too. When he refused he was eaten by a whale! After that experience he came to warn Ninevah that God would destroy it, if they did not change their ways. The town is in ruins even today. The Town of Tal Afar (where we are stationed) Is in the bible twice mentioned as Telassar. 2Kings 19:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar? and 1saah 37:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? The word tel means built on the ruins of another city. It is easy to look from FOB Sykes and see that Tel Afar is built on a mount of ruble from ancient cities long passed. In fact during the time of Christ when Turkish armies inhabited Tal Afar as a army base, they build on the ruins of ancient Telassar. This whole area claims to be the direct descendants of Adam and seem to have good documentation since the bible seems to agree. Even more interesting in this area is the town of Sinjar. Sinjar is a mostly Kurdish town with two Christian churches. The main Religion is Yazidi. They believe that when the devil was cast from heaven that he was cast down to Sinjar Mountain. They also believe that he live in the mountain to this day. There is speculation on whether the word Sin or the Aramaic root Sin comes from the name of the mountain. Christians are persecuted in Iraq, but many live among Yazidi because they are safer with the Yazidi's who have a very closely related religion. This is not the case with most other groups in Iraq including the Arabs and Kurds. Because of daily executions in most of Iraq Christians are facing extinction!!!!! The Yazidi religion has up to 500.000 followers most of which are Kurdish. Hope you enjoyed my nerdy report on Nineveh!!!!!

Hot

Hey,

Sorry its been so long since I have sent an update. Things have been really busy here. As the weather gets hotter the terrorist get more active. I guess they dont like cold weather lol.... It is warning up here. It was about 109 today and will get as hot as 140 by mid summer.

I am so proud of my guys and gals... they are preforming so well and it is a honor to serve with young people that are so brave and who love their Country so much. It is also awe inspiring the support that we get from home. This experience makes you proud to be an American. We are the best Country in the world and we prove it in places like Tal Afar Iraq. I just wish that we would stay the course here. We have made so many strides that the media just refuses to report. If we could just stay a few more years we would really be able to do great things.

The pix below is a group of Iraq Police that we just finished training. We do joint patrols with them and teach them to Police for themselves when we are gone. They are such great men!!! They know that when we are gone that they will be alone in the fight against AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) but they do the job anyway. They are targeted by insurgents every day, but still come to work.

Thank you so much for your prayers for my soldiers and myself. I also ask that you pray for this region and for our President to make wise decisions. The military misses Bush, bad but we need to pray for the current Commander and Chief.

Welcome

Welcome to my New Blog.... I hope that you will enjoy reading this blog and that you will participate by putting your own two cents it. This Blog started because I wanted to share with everyone back home and to give you a chance to join in the conversation. Just like we were sitting in your coffee nook at home.

I have added a few post from my original emails from Iraq. Thanks to everyone who asked me to do a blog. I think this will be a great way to vent. Also, please take time to visit the advertisers on this blog :-) Thanks.......... Todd

PS...... To leave a comment on a post... Just click the pencil!!!!