RE: Yesterday's Post

A few things:

Yes, I resorted to the lowest possible form of humor- the fart joke.

No, I am not ashamed.

Yes, there will be more Obama Fart posts.

Why?  Because it amuses me.  And I think Obama is a fartface, and it just so happens that many photos of him depict him with a post fart expression.

 

 

To more serious deep thoughts-

I just read a book about the Marines in Fallujah.  It was called “No True Glory” I believe.  After reading the book, I am fully convinced the US Marine Corps is the most fierce and awesome fighting force known to man.  But what really struck me is some of the stories of their General, General James Mattis.  They had some photos in the book, and one was of Mattis.  He is old, and looks like an old farmer grandpa.  He has gray hair, droopy neck fat, and huge saggy ears.

 

So, this old guy kicks rear-end.  Here are some stories out of the book:

While driving to Baghdad for a meeting with the Provisional Government, he hears over the radio that there are some Marines engaged in a firefight nearby.  Most Generals would probably make a note of it, and see if they could send some help.  What does Gen. Mattis do?  He directs his driver and his 12 vehicle convoy to the fight.  He spends the next three hours in battle gear directing his troops and calling in airstrikes.

 

The next story takes a little background, so bear with me.

Fallujah is the Arkansas or West Virginia of Iraq.  The people there are mostly illiterate and the rest of Iraq despises them.  It also happens to be where Saddam recruited most of his worst thugs to enforce his iron fisted ruling.  So, they enjoyed a certain amount of being feared by the rest of the country.  You can imagine what happened after Saddam was ripped from power.  Fallujah is also known throughout Iraq as gangster central.  Many competing tribes in that area make their living through extortion, intimidation and outright theft.

 

When the Americans came in, they shut down all these “enterprises.”  Well, that did not go over so well, and so Fallujah was one of the most dangerous places in Iraq.  To make a long story short, the Marines were told to take the town, sieze it.  When they were halfway done, political pressure came down and they were ordered to stop, and pull out.  Eventually they turned security and responsibility to quell the violence over to an Iraqi National Guard unit made up of some of the very people fighting against the Marines.  So, Americans were told to stay out, that Iraq would take care of the city on its own.

 

This created a lawless safe haven for every insurgent and terrorist who wanted to come and fight the Americans.  Kidnapping became the de facto sport of the city and most of the stories we heard about Americans being kidnapped took place in Fallujah.  The mayor of the city was also one of the biggest insurgent leaders in Iraq at the time.

 

Back to Gen Mattis.  Mattis wanted a meeting with the mayor in order to work out some sort of agreement to stop all the terrorism that was emanating from Fallujah.  The mayor agreed but wouldn’t come out of the city, he wanted Mattis to meet him.  The stipulation was that Mattis could only be accompanied by 9 vehicles, humvees only, no tanks or Bradley Fighting Vehicles.  Mattis’ staff urged the Gen. not to go, fearing an ambush, as at that time Mattis had a price on his head from the insurgents.  Mattis pulled macho stunt number one:

 

He said he was going to go, and hoped that he would get attacked, so the Marines would have an excuse to level the town.  He positioned most of his Marines just outside the city ready to fight.  Then he went into the city.

 

Nothing happened.  He got to the meeting with the mayor just fine.  Now came macho man stunt #2:  While in the meeting he kept expecting his men outside to be attacked, after all they were 30 Marines in the middle of a a very hostile enemy controlled city of tens of thousands.  He said that he figured that the second he heard shooting outside, he was going to pull his sidearm and put two bullets into that “SOB mayor’s head” before he was shot.

 

Fortunately, or as Mattis felt- unfortunately, nothing happened.  He was hoping beyond all hope that someone could do something because he needed a valid excuse to take out the city.

 

Anyway- I just thought this grandpa guy is a huge bad***.  Which makes the Marines that much cooler.