The Unapologetic Warrior

The Unapologetic Warrior
In Iraq, a Marine Corps Captain Is Living Out His Heart's Desire By Tony Perry

Tony Perry is The Times' San Diego bureau chief. He last wrote for the magazine about reporting from Iraq.

August 22, 2004

Anyone who prefers that their military officers follow the media-enforced ideal of being diffident, silent about their feelings, unwilling to talk about their combat experience and troubled by the violence of their chosen profession should skip this story.

Marine Corps Capt. Douglas Zembiec is none of these things.

Zembiec, an All-American wrestler and 1995 graduate of the Naval Academy, is the charismatic commander of Echo Company of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Marine Division. During the monthlong battle in Iraq earlier this year for the Sunni Triangle city of Fallouja, no combat unit did more fighting and bleeding than Echo Company, and during it all-from the opening assault to the final retreat ordered by the White House-Zembiec led from the front. He took on the most dangerous missions himself, was wounded by shrapnel, repeatedly dared the enemy to attack his Marines, then wrote heartfelt letters to the families of those who were killed in combat, and won the respect of his troops and his bosses.

It was the time of his life, he acknowledged later, for by his own definition Zembiec is a warrior, and a joyful one. He is neither bellicose nor apologetic: War means killing, and killing means winning. War and killing are not only necessary on occasion, they're also noble. "From day one, I've told [my troops] that killing is not wrong if it's for a purpose, if it's to keep your nation free or to protect your buddy," he said. "One of the most noble things you can do is kill the enemy."

For his Marines, Zembiec asks for respect, not sympathy, even as one-third of his 150-man company became casualties. "Marines are violent by nature-that's what makes us different," he said. "These young Marines didn't enlist to get money to go to college. They joined the Marines to be part of a legacy."

He knows talk like that puts him outside mainstream America and scares the bejabbers out of some people. Modern America is uncomfortable with celebrating those who have gone to war and killed their nation's enemy. Maybe it's because American military hardware is thought to be so superior that any fight with an adversary is a mismatch. Then again, people who feel that way probably have not stared at the business end of a rocket-propelled grenade launched by an insurgent hopped up on hatred for America.

Or maybe, like so many attitudes of the press and public toward the military, the queasiness about unabashed combat veterans is traceable to public opposition to the Vietnam War. A cynic I know says that although Americans remember Sgt. York from World War I and Audie Murphy from World War II, the only heroes most remember from Vietnam are Colin L. Powell and John McCain. One helped fellow soldiers after a helicopter crash, the other was shot down on a mission and survived a horrendous POW experience. Neither is known for killing the enemy.

An essay this spring in Proceedings, a publication of the U.S. Naval Institute, suggested that the ideal of battlefield bravery has been replaced by a culture of victimhood. Navy reservist Roger Lee Crossland wrote that Americans after Vietnam seemed to prefer "safe heroes, heroes whose conduct was largely nonviolent. "The prisoner of war and the casualty, Crossland lamented, have replaced the battlefield leader as the ultimate hero. Take your own media reality-check. Which is seen more frequently: stories about the potential for post-traumatic stress among U.S. troops or stories about troops who have successfully carried the fight to their enemy?

My association with Zembiec started with his one-word answer to a question of mine. It was April 6, the second day of the siege of Fallouja by two battalions of Marines, the "two-one," and the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, the "one-five." A Marine patrol from two-one had been fired on as it ventured just a few yards into the Jolan neighborhood, and the Marines were quickly assembling a retaliatory assault to be led by Zembiec's Echo Company. Marines were piling into assault vehicles-windowless metal boxes on treads that can, in theory, bring Marines to the edge of the fight quickly and without casualties.

At the "two-one" camp, Marines were running every which way as the assault was forming up for the mile-long drive to the spot where the patrol had been ambushed. I had never met Zembiec, but by his tone and body language, he clearly was in charge. Accommodating embedded media appeared to be on no one's to-do list.

"Do you have room for me?" I shouted as Zembiec rushed past.

"Always," he shouted over his shoulder.

I piled into one of the assault vehicles and sat next to a Marine chewing dreadful-smelling tobacco and another talking sweetly about his sister having a baby. The ride was bumpy beyond belief; bumpy and scary as continuous gunfire from insurgents pelted the sides of our vehicle with an ominous plink-plink-plink sound. The vehicles finally rumbled to a halt in a dusty field just a few hundred yards from a row of houses where the insurgents were barricaded. The insurgents stepped up their fire from AK-47s, punctuated with rocket-propelled grenades. The Marines rushed out the rear hatch, quickly fanned out and began returning fire with M-16s as they ran directly toward the enemy.

Zembiec was in the lead. "Let's go!" he yelled. "Keep it moving, keep it moving!" The battle for Fallouja had begun in earnest, and Zembiec was in the forefront, practicing the profession that's been his heart's desire since childhood.

I saw Zembiec periodically over the next weeks. He was supremely quotable and candid. By nature-and under orders from the commanding general-Marine officers try to be helpful to the press. Zembiec went a step further. He took time even when time was short. Even when circumstances were grim-as when a "short round" from a mortar killed two Marines and injured nine others-he was upbeat. His enthusiasm and confidence were infectious. At 31, he still retains a slight boyishness. Like many Marine officers, he has thought a great deal about his profession, its role in the world, and the nature of men in combat. He leans forward when giving answers and looks directly at his questioner. He has a rock-solid belief in the efficacy of the American mission in Iraq.

He seemed to genuinely like talking to reporters, telling them of the successes of his Marines, his plans to push the insurgents to the Euphrates River and force them to surrender or die.

It was not to be. After a month in Fallouja, with the prospect of even bloodier combat to come, including civilian casualties, politicians in Baghdad and Washington called for a retreat just as the Marines seemed to be on the verge of success. Political concerns had trumped tactical ones.

After Echo Company-and Fox and Golf companies-had withdrawn from frontline positions, Zembiec reflected on what had occurred. In measured tones, without boasting, he sat under a camouflage net in a dusty spot outside Fallouja and answered all questions, and invited reporters to his parents' home in New Mexico for a barbecue.

As the Iraqi sun began its daily assault, and the temperature soared to 100 degrees, Zembiec drank bottled water and talked about the fight that had just passed, including what turned out to be the finale, a two-hour firefight April 26 in which his Marines and the insurgents had closed to within 30 meters of each other in a deafening, explosive exchange. Zembiec called that fight "the greatest day of my life. I never felt so alive, so exhilarated, so purposeful. There is nothing equal to combat, and there is no greater honor than to lead men into combat. Once you've dealt with life and death like that, it gives you a whole new perspective."

Zembiec joined the Marine Corps to fight. He nearly quit a few years ago in hopes of becoming an FBI agent like his father, because the prospect of seeing combat seemed too remote. But he decided that being a rifle company commander was too good to pass up. Before Fallouja, his only combat experience had been in 1999, when he spent a month as platoon commander of a reconnaissance unit in Kosovo. He had been stationed in Okinawa during last year's assault on Baghdad, an experience that he found enormously frustrating. Marines in Iraq were in combat, and Zembiec was watching the war on television.

A broad-shouldered 6 feet, 2 inches tall and 190 pounds, Zembiec is an imposing physical presence even among Marines known for their tough-muscled physiques. He oozes self-confidence ("confidence is a leadership trait") and at meetings with top officers, he never expressed doubts about success. When called to headquarters with other commanders for an intelligence briefing, he seemed impatient to return to his troops and always positioned himself near the door for a quick getaway once the talk was finished.

"He's everything you want in a leader: He'll listen to you, take care of you and back you up, but when you need it, he'll put a boot" up your behind, said Sgt. Casey Olson. "But even when he's getting at you, he doesn't do it so you feel belittled."

The image of Zembiec leading the April 6 charge had a lasting impact on his troops. Leading by example is a powerful tool. "He gets down there with his men," said Lance Cpl. Jacob Atkinson. "He's not like some of these other officers: He leads from the front, not the rear."

Said Lt. Daniel Rosales: "He doesn't ask anything of you that he doesn't ask of himself."

To his bosses, Zembiec had the aggressiveness and fearlessness they wanted in a commander. He was not reluctant to put himself and his troops at risk to draw out the insurgents. As Maj. Joseph Clearfield, the battalion's operations officer, said: "He goes out every day and creates menacing dilemmas for the enemy."

A quote from Zembiec in a Los Angeles Times story drew a flood of e-mails from stateside military personnel. He had remarked about having a "terrific day" in Fallouja. "We just whacked two [insurgents] running down an alley with AK-47s."

Navy Lt. David Ausiello e-mailed that he met Zembiec at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., where "the legend began." Ausiello was a plebe (freshman) and Zembiec a senior. "Doug was not a screamer," Ausiello said. "He was a leader, and every plebe in our company knew it. I like to think of him as a gentle giant." Zembiec set the standard at the academy for fitness and toughness, Ausiello said. He also rebelled mildly, on occasion, by slyly shouting out an oddball word while standing in formation, to the dismay of senior officers reviewing the troops.

Brig. Gen. Richard Kramlich, upon learning that a reporter had met Zembiec, smiled broadly and said, "He's something, isn't he?" Kramlich taught at the academy when Zembiec was a wrestler. "Everybody's out for blood" in wrestling, Zembiec told the Albuquerque Journal, his hometown newspaper, in 1995. "You better be tough."

As Echo Company suffered casualties during the battle for Fallouja, Zembiec counseled his Marines to stay focused. But he never acted as a buddy, never addressed the troops by their first names, and discouraged excessive mourning over the mounting casualty toll. "Pity gets you killed in this profession," he said.

With three dead and more than 50 wounded, Echo Company had the largest number of casualties of any Marine rifle company in Iraq. To civilians, the figure may seem horrific, but Zembiec notes that in past wars, it was common for Marine rifle companies to suffer even greater casualties and continue "taking the fight to the enemy."

Between firefights, he wrote condolence letters to the families of the dead Marines. He also recommended individuals for combat commendations: "I'm completely in awe of their bravery," he said. "The things I have seen them do, walking through firestorms of bullets and rocket-propelled grenades and not moving and providing cover fire for their men so they can be evacuated. "

He thinks the cliche about troops being enveloped by the "fog of war" is overstated. "It's just the opposite," he said. "You become acutely aware and attuned to your environment. You become like a wild animal. Your vision, your hearing, everything becomes clearer."

He is not given to introspection, not even about the April 26 fight in which he led a mission that turned into an ambush. After two hours of fighting, one Marine was dead and 16 were wounded. "I don't second-guess myself or have doubts or regrets about that day, except that lots of Marines got busted up. Not to be cold, but that's the way with battle. It goes with going into harm's way."

Only reluctantly did he order a pullback. "I would have stayed there and fought all day but I had [Marines with] injuries," including himself. He was hit in the leg with shrapnel.

Born in Hawaii, Zembiec grew up in New York, Texas and New Mexico as his father's career took him to different FBI offices. In Albuquerque-where his parents make their retirement home-he loved to hunt deer and bobcat. Military service was a natural career path. His father's friends included men who had served with distinction, among them a Medal of Honor winner. His father, Donald, served in the Army in the 1960s. He is not surprised that his son was in the thick of the action in Iraq. "He's wanted to do this his entire life," he said. "I always thought I saw leadership in him."

My own generation of baby boomers went to college in order to express their individuality. Zembiec was searching for something else at the Naval Academy. "It was a culture of hardness and mental toughness and challenge. You're there to be part of a team. It's not about you."

He quickly decided to join the Marines. Navy life aboard ship seemed too far from the action. "I liked the idea of the Marine Corps being shock troops. They're combat arms; they're men on the ground."

Zembiec's battalion is due back in Camp Pendleton in October. In April, he plans to marry his longtime girlfriend, a sales executive for a pharmaceutical firm, in a ceremony at the Naval Academy chapel. Thoughts of leaving the corps are now gone. His next promotion-to major-might give him greater responsibility, but it would take him away from troops in the field. He jokes about turning it down in order to stay close to the action, sounding nostalgic about the firefights of April. "There was a lot of lead in the air that day," he says of one such fight.

Would you want Douglas Zembiec in charge of U.S. foreign policy? Maybe, maybe not. Would you want him on your side if you-or your nation-got involved in a street brawl? Without a doubt.

He is, as his fellow officers say, a military hybrid of modern tactics and ancient attitudes.

"Doug is the prototypical modern infantry officer," Clearfield said. "He's also not that much different than the officers who led the Spartans into combat 4,000 years ago."

Click on the link to view the source. Los Angeles Times: The Unapologetic Warrior

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Sheik: Allah sent giant spiders to combat U.S. ?

I would like to think that Arabs in the middle east are not this stupid, but........

Cleric says arachnids as big as a chair killed soldiers in battle

An Iraqi sheik claims Allah sent giant spiders to the town of Fallujah to help its residents fend off attacks by U.S. military forces.

Sheik Mahdi Saleh Al-Sumide'i spoke to Syrian TV on Monday, claiming several Arab television stations videotaped the helpful arachnids.

The interview is featured on the website of the Middle East Media Research Institute TV Monitor Project, or MEMRI TV. The organization translated the conversation into English.

"They [the Americans] attacked Fallujah and tried to cause great damage to its residents," he explained. "They destroyed mosques and homes, killed women, children and youths, and spread corruption in Fallujah. Nevertheless, we believe that Allah protects the believers, and indeed, Allah stood beside Fallujah, and I'd like to mention some miracles Allah performed in Fallujah. It is possible that the media does not know about them."

Continued Al-Sumide'i: "The first miracle that occurred in Fallujah took the form of spiders that appeared in the city - each spider larger than this chair, or about the size of this chair. The American soldiers left, holding the legs of this spider, and I too, in one of the Friday sermons, held up a spider, with all its magnitude, in front of the satellite channels and in front of the world. This spider also had thin black hair. If this hair touches the human body, within a short period of time the body becomes black or blue, and then there is an explosion in the blood cells in the human body - and the person dies."

The sheik's interviewer then asked about the alleged TV coverage: "The people saw it, but the TV stations did not air it?"

Responded Al-Sumide'i: "The people saw it and the TV stations indeed aired it. I held the spider, and there were between 13 to 15 TV stations, including Al-Arabiya, Al-Jazeera, Al-Majd, Dubai, Abu-Dhabi and other stations, and they saw it with their own eyes."

Some Arab Internet sites have repeated claims of Iraqis about the spiders, and there also are stories circulating of phantom white-robed knights on white horses sent by Allah that killed U.S. Marines in battle.

In a statement reminiscent of Saddam Hussein's spokesman, "Baghdad Bob," the sheik claimed the U.S. was underestimating the number of American casualties in Iraq by a factor of 100.

"Today, if a hundred Americans are killed, they say there was one casualty," he said, "and if dozens of tanks were blown up, they say one was blown up. No one will notice the losses caused to the American forces until they return to their bases - if they return, and in my opinion they will not return - but if they return, the world will see and the American people will see the number of losses."

Al-Sumide'i claimed there were mass graves in Iraq filled with the bodies of American forces.

"A mass grave was created in a desert area near the Saudi boarder for the American soldiers killed. There is also a lake near Al-Sa'diya. The Americans place the casualties inside white or black bags, seal them and toss them from a plane into the lake."

Click here to see the source of the article. Sheik: Allah sent giant spiders to combat U.S.

Yes I am still alive

Life has been real hectic lately. So with out further delay, here is an article that caught my attention.

Of course, if serving in Vietnam were the primary qualification to be president, the United States would need thousands of Oval Offices, but John Kerry, trying to avoid his Senate record, chose to make a four-month stint decades ago the centerpiece of his campaign. And every day now he must be regretting that decision.

Kerry's latest faux pas: calling Vietnam veteran Robert (Friar Tuck) Brant and asking if he knew about that awful group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

"I said, 'I am one, John,'" Brant said.

The Massachusetts Democrat had failed to note or recall Brant's appearance at a news conference announcing the group in May.

"There was a moment of hesitation, and he said, `I appreciate your honesty.' He said, `Well, why are you?'"

Brant reminded Kerry of his depiction of veterans as war criminals. "I said, `You know that's not true,'" Brant recalled to the Associated Press. "That's been simmering in me about 35 years."

The New York Post reported today: "Sean McCabe, a spokesman for the 264-member organization, said it plans to send a cease-and-desist letter warning Kerry 'to stop calling our members,' because it's an independent '527' group and it's illegal for campaigns to contact them."

The senator was breaking the law and should have immediately ended the call when Brant said he was a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" reported this morning.

At a Democrat fund-raiser last night in Philadelphia, Kerry tried to defend his anti-U.S. activism even though communist torturers used his discredited congressional testimony in 1971 to add to the suffering of American POWs.

"You can judge my character, incidentally, by that", Kerry told the Democrat crowd.

Gladly.

Click on the link to read the source of the article. Kerry Makes Illegal Phone Call to Swift Boat Veteran

A mans word is his bond

A promise made. A promise kept

Above is a picture of Mike McNaughton of Denham Springs, LA. He stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan Christmas 2002. President Bush came to visit the wounded in the hospital. He told Mike that when he could run a mile that they would go on a run together. True to his word, he called Mike every month or so to see how he was doing. Well, last week they went on the run, 1 mile with the president. Not something you'll see in the news, but seeing the president taking the time to say thank you to the wounded and to give hope to one of my best friends was one of the greatest/best things I have seen in my life. It almost sounds like a corny email chain letter, but God bless him.


Justin
CPT Justin P. Dodge, MD
Flight Surgeon, 1-2 AVN RGT
Medical Corps, U.S. Army

You may want to pass this to everyone you know.
The media is pulling every dirty trick in the book to undermine our president's popularity in the polls.
Let's join together and be all the media our president needs to get the truth out to the public about who he really is! Blessings to all.

Iran threatens strike against U.S., Israel

WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
Official warns of pre-emptive attack on enemies if imminent danger sensed

By Aaron Klein

Iran says it is deeply concerned about the U.S. military presence in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan, and announced yesterday that some Iranian generals favor pre-emptive strikes against U.S. and Israeli forces if they sense an imminent threat.

Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani told al-Jazeera television Tehran will not stand by if it believes U.S. or Israeli forces are preparing an attack. Shamkhani also said Israel needs American approval to carry out any attack.


It's certain to us that Israel won't carry out any military action without a green light from America. So, you can't separate the two, said Shamkhani

A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. troops in Iraq, says the military has not changed the way it is operating in the region as a result of the Iranian remarks.

The comments come amid heightened tensions between Iran, the U.S. and Israel over Iran's nuclear program. Tehran says its first nuclear-power station is to simply generate electricity. But President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon say they suspect Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons.

Last week, an Iranian military official told reporters Israel and the United States would not dare attack Iran since it could strike back anywhere in Israel and against U.S. military installations in the Middle East with its latest missiles, including the Shehab-3 medium-range ballistic missile, which experts say is capable of striking Israel or U.S. bases in the Gulf.

Israel last month conducted military exercises for a pre-emptive strike against several of Iran's nuclear-power facilities and is ready to attack if Russia supplies Iran with rods for enriching uranium.

An Israeli defense source said, Israel will on no account permit Iranian reactors - especially the one being built in Bushehr with Russian help - to go critical.

The source also said any strike on Iran's reactors would probably be carried out by long-range F-15I jets, flying over Turkey, with simultaneous operations by commandos on the ground.

Russia is expected to deliver the enriching rods, currently being stored at a Russian port, late next year after a dispute over financial terms is resolved.

If the worst comes to the worst and international efforts fail, the source said, we are very confident we'll be able to demolish the ayatollah's nuclear aspirations in one go.

Click here to see the source Iran threatens strike against U.S., Israel

To run or not to run?

It has come to my attention that there will be a large amount of City Counsel seats opening up due to term limits. I am now forced to take a serious look at running for office. I have been politicly active for most of my adult life, but it has always been on the sidelines. I have had people tell me that if I care so much about our community and our country I should put up or shut up and run for office. It is definately something I would like to do, but I just worry about how much more time it will take away from my family.

Busy week

Sorry about the lack of post this week. Life at home and work has been a little nutty. I should get everything squared away this weekend and be back on track next week.

Why all Christian MUST vote this November

Extreme Supreme
A Kerry Court would be way left.

By Walter M. Weber

It is a political reality nowadays that the courts, and in particular the U.S. Supreme Court, trump the democratic process. Regardless of whether the Framers of the Constitution intended it to be so or not, we live in a de facto judge-run oligarchy. No number of laws - or votes - can overcome a court bent on enforcing its own views in the name of federal (or state) constitutional rights.

Liberals know this. They also know that the core of their political agenda will rarely, if ever, command majoritarian support. Thus, stocking the bench with liberal judges and justices is absolutely essential to liberals.

And so we hear endless liberal moaning about what would happen should President Bush have the opportunity to appoint one or more Supreme Court justices.

Well, as a matter of fact, almost nothing would change under a second Bush term. The member of the Court most likely to retire is Chief Justice William Rehnquist, a strong conservative, and it is hard to see how his replacement could shift the Court to the right. Moreover, a solid majority of the U.S. Senate has made it clear that only over their dead bodies will any conservative justices win confirmation. So a second Bush term would likely see More of the Same.

But what if Sen. John Kerry captures the presidency? What if this committed liberal Democrat gets to pick Rehnquist's replacement?

The current Supreme Court is split into three camps. There are four dependable liberals (John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer), three dependable conservatives (Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas), and two unpredictable swing votes (Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy). Replacing Rehnquist with another dependable liberal - as a President Kerry would certainly do - would give the liberal bloc a stranglehold on the Court.

That would mean the complete victory of the liberal agenda. For example:

No more vouchers for use in religious schools: Vouchers that needy parents can use to send their children to private religious schools escaped constitutional death in the Supreme Court by the barest of margins, 5-4. A liberal replacement for Rehnquist would flip the balance.

Homosexual Boy Scout Leaders: The last time around, the Boy Scouts squeaked by with a 5-4 ruling saying they did not have to admit openly homosexual scout leaders. Say goodbye to the Scouts if Kerry gets to select Rehnquist's replacement.

Unlimited federal-government power: A slim 5-4 majority in a string of cases has enforced some modest limits on federal power under the Commerce Clause, the Tenth Amendment, and the Eleventh Amendment. Even those few limits would evaporate under a Kerry-picked Court.

Same-sex marriage and homosexuals in the military: There are already five or six pro-homosexual votes on the Supreme Court, as evidenced by the Court's 6-3 invalidation of a homosexual-sodomy statute in Lawrence v. Texas. Add another liberal and you can bank on total victory for the homosexual agenda.

Abortion on demand: There are already five votes for even the most extreme forms of abortion, such as partial-birth abortion. Put a Kerry appointee in for Rehnquist, and it won't matter whether Justice O'Connor changes her mind.

Under God in the Pledge: The Court recently dodged the constitutionality of the phrase under God in the Pledge of Allegiance, so this remains a live issue. And while swing-vote Justice O'Connor indicated she would uphold the pledge, her vote would be irrelevant if a fifth liberal were added to the four current "strict separationists."

Farewell Christmas crèches and Ten Commandments displays: These displays are up for grabs in the current Supreme Court. Let Kerry put a fifth strict separationist on the Court, and all government acknowledgment of religion is likely dead on arrival.

Liberals are understandably salivating at the prospect of a Kerry administration. Win that, and they win the Supreme Court. Win the Court, and they win control of the country.

All in favor, say aye. All opposed - well, your votes won't matter anyway.



Click on this link to see the source National Review Online (http://www.nationalreview.com)

Hmm, acient fair skinned natives in South America?

Explorers Find Ancient City in Remote Peru Jungle

By Marco Aquino

LIMA, Peru: An ancient walled city complex inhabited some 1,300 years ago by a culture later conquered by the Incas has been discovered deep in Peru's Amazon jungle, explorers said on Tuesday.

U.S. and Peruvian explorers uncovered the city, which may have been home to up to 10,000 people, after a month trekking in Peru's northern rain forest and following up on years of investigation about a possible lost metropolis in the region.


The stone city, made up of five citadels at 9,186 feet above sea level, stretches over around 39 square miles and contains walls covered in carvings and figure paintings, exploration leader Sean Savoy told Reuters.


It is a tremendous city ... containing areas with stone etchings and 10-meter (33-foot) high walls, said Savoy, who had to hack through trees and thick foliage to finally reach the site on Aug. 15.


Covered in matted tree branches and interspersed with lakes and waterfalls, the settlement sites also contain well-preserved graveyards with mummies with teeth "in almost perfect condition," Savoy said.


Replete with stone agricultural terraces and water canals, the city complex is thought to have been home to the little-known Chachapoyas culture.


According to early accounts by Spanish conquistadors who arrived in Peru in the early 1500s, the Chachapoyas were a fair-skinned warrior tribe famous for their tall stature. Today they are known for the giant burial coffins sculpted into human figures found in the northern jungle region.


Savoy said his team also found an Inca settlement within the city complex that could prove theories the Chachapoyas were conquered by the Incas, who ruled an area stretching from Ecuador to northern Chile between 1300 and 1500.


Savoy, a Peruvian-American, accompanied on the expedition by his U.S. father, Gene Savoy, named the site Gran Saposoa after the nearby village Saposoa and his team has already mapped the area with preliminary drawings.


The discovery is the third notable ruin Gene Savoy has helped uncover in Peru. In 1964, Savoy found the site of the Incas' last refuge in the Cuzco region of southern Peru. A year later he took part in the discovery of the sacred city of Gran Pajaten in northern Peru.


American Hiram Bingham made Peru's most famous archeological discovery -- the fabled Inca ruins of Machu Picchu near Cuzco -- in 1911. Machu Picchu today attracts almost half a million tourists every year and is South America's best known archeological site.

Click on the link to see the source Yahoo! News - Explorers Find Ancient City in Remote Peru Jungle

EU: THE NEW NAME IN COMEDY

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
EU to build wall after blasting Israel's
European hypocrisy is as rank as it is blatant

By Aaron Klein

Just one month after the U.N. and EU launched a furious campaign against Israel's security fence, culminating in the International Court of Justice ruling that the fence is illegal, the EU announced it's planning to build a separation fence of its own, and invited Israel to participate in the construction.

The fence is being built to separate recently added EU members Poland and Hungary from their new neighbors – Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The EU said the fence is necessary to "prevent the free movement of migrants seeking to enter" EU territory.

Israeli companies that specialize in the construction of fences and security systems will participate in tenders to build hundreds of miles of fences along the EU's new eastern border.

It's incredible the EU has no problem building a fence just to keep illegal immigrants out, but when the Jewish State builds a security fence as a last resort for the purpose of keeping terrorists out and saving Israeli lives, we are blasted by them and the U.N., a spokesman for Ariel Sharon told WorldNetDaily. Makes you think, doesn't it?


Click on the link to read the full article EU to build wall after blasting Israel's

Proof that scientist have too much time on there hands and smoke way too much crack

For those people who have given any alchohlic beverages to a dog this study was a no brainer. Suddenly the lines between a drunken frat boy and an over paid scientist are becoming blurred(or maybe that is just the contact high kicking in).

WASHINGTON - Rats can become drug addicts. That's important to know, scientists say, and has taken a long time to prove. Now two studies by French and British researchers show the animals exhibit the same compulsive drive for cocaine as people do once they're truly hooked.

Only through experiments with addicted animals can scientists eventually learn what makes some people particularly vulnerable to addiction while others can quit at will, addiction specialists say.

Addicted rats also could help uncover new anti-drug therapies.

Until now, scientists have been able to prove that rats will take drugs, even eagerly, but not that they're actually addicted. The new research was published Thursday in the journal Science.

What confers susceptibility to experimenting and trying drugs may be quite different than what changes your brain and leads to addiction, explained Terry E. Robinson, a University of Michigan neuroscientist. These articles provide us the approaches and the techniques to ask the latter.

There's some fundamental shift between casual drug use and addiction, added David Shurtleff, chief of basic neurological research at the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Your brain has changed and that's manifest as a change in behavior. ... That's something new that's never really been nailed down in an animal model.

Among the ways to know when a rat's hooked: It keeps trying to get cocaine even when each hit comes with an electric shock.
(Obviously they should have upped the voltage)

Click on the lint to read the full story Studies Find Rats Can Get Hooked on Drugs

Man recalls plot to bomb Temple Mount

Where is a Israel born pure red Heffer when you need one?

A year after the Yom Kippur War, a group of right-wing activists met in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Mordechai to discuss the then-theoretical possibility that Israel would decide to relinquish land in exchange for peace with its Arab neighbors.

The participants were asked to suggest possible means of resistance if Israel would make such a decision. The discussion did not raise any ideas more radical than lying in front of the IDF tanks which would come to evacuate the Jewish settlements. But for Yoel Lerner, the organizer of the event, the night was the beginning of a revolution.

We wanted to stir up original thought, Lerner, who has served a total of nearly six years in prison for plotting to bomb the Temple Mount, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. The meeting, however, was a flop and the best they could come up with was lying in front of the tanks. When I got home I wrote down three ideas, one of which was to blow up one or both of the central edifices on the Temple Mount.

Lerner was arrested soon after by security forces who, during a search of his home due to a suspicion that he was involved in arson, discovered the plan of action he had written that fateful night.


Click on the link to read the full story. Man recalls plot to bomb Temple Mount

From the Oh Come On ! section

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Two seventh grade girls really know a thing or two about turning lemons into lemonade. They were doing a booming business at their lemonade stand Wednesday - a day after a neighbor complained and the city Health Department temporarily put them out of business.

Mim Murray, 10, and Marisa Miller-Stockie, 12, of St. Louis, have sold lemonade together for three summers, hoping to save enough for laptop computers before school starts.

But the girls said a Health Department inspector told them Tuesday they didn't have the proper business licenses and were selling unsafe ice cubes. The girls were using powdered lemonade mix with ice cubes bought from a store.

A resident, O.V. Carreathers, 48, had registered a complaint about the stand on Friday with the city's Citizens Service Bureau. The girls didn't work Monday, but the inspector found them Tuesday.

Carreathers said she wanted to keep the girls off her property: I just didn't want them blocking my walkway.

The girls said their stand had been on the grass behind Carreathers' property.

After the stand was shut down Mim's mother, Germaine Murray, called a St. Louis television station and the family's pastor, Monsignor Salvador Polizzi. He brought the situation to the attention of Mayor Francis Slay.

Melba Moore, the city's health commissioner, said temporary food and beverage vendors are supposed to obtain permits, but that doesn't apply to children's lemonade stands.

It should not have happened. And I apologize, said Moore, who gave the girls $3 Wednesday for a 25-cent cup of lemonade.

Besides earning $112 Wednesday, the girls said they have learned something from their lemonade experience: You don't have to sit there and take it, Mim said.

Marisa added, We learned to stand up for ourselves.

Click on this link to see the source of the article. Apology Given for Lemonade Stand Closing

China detains over 100 evangelical leaders

The next time you are asked to help do some missionary work in your community, think about how lucky we are to live in this free country. Whether your a member of the LDS Church or any other Evangelical Christian faith, we need to take every opportunity to spread the word of Christ. Please take the time to read this article.

BEIJING, China: The Voice Of the Martyrs, an international Christian human rights watchdog, urged China yesterday to release over 100 house church leaders who it said were rounded up last week by security forces as part of an ongoing government-led crack down on evangelical Christians.
We encourage Christians to write to the Chinese embassy in their respective country protesting this action against their citizens, the third such police operation within two months, said VOM, which has close ties with persecuted believers.

Click on this link to read the entire story. China detains over 100 evangelical leaders

Umm... You just have to read the article.

Discovery Channel :: Whale Flatulence Captured in Photo

Aug. 27, 2003 : For the first time, scientists have both witnessed and photographed a whale gas bubble, suggesting that flatulence is just as common for ocean mammals as it is for humans and many other terrestrial animals.

The picture is best described by Nick Gales, principal research scientist in the Applied Marine Mammal Ecology Group of the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania. Gales was leading an expedition of the Charolotte Pass between Marguerite Bay and Palmer Station, Antarctica, when the ship's captain, Joe Borkowski III, took the photo.

Click on this link to see the photo and read the full article. Whale Flatulence Captured in Photo

Added a new link to the religion section: iVoteValues.org web site.

This site is a must visit if you are truly concerned with the direction our country is going in. I challenge all people who believe in Christ to visit it regularly.
Welcome to the iVoteValues.org web site.

Too much work!

Got bogged down at work today. I will make up for it tomorrow. I feel another 4 post day coming on.

NOW THIS IS SERIOUSLY WRONG!

Jewish students attacked at Auschwitz

While on a tour of the museum at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland on Sunday, a group of around 50 Jewish university students from Israel, the U.S. and Poland were verbally attacked by a three-member gang of French male tourists.

Evidently incited by the presence of an Israeli flag wrapped around the shoulders of Tamar Schuri, an Israeli student from Ben Gurion University, the first assailant ran at the group while its members were being guided through a model gas chamber and crematoria and began swearing and hurling anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli insults.

He told us to go back to Israel and said that we were stupid and should be ashamed to walk around with an Israeli flag, testifies Maya Ober, a 21-year-old Polish student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan and member of the Polish Union of Jewish Students (PUSZ), which organized the 16-day summer learning program along with the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS).

After the initial altercation, a second assailant
grabbed Ober by the arm. One of the guys held me by the arm and wouldn't let go, says Ober, who lost several members of her family at Auschwitz. I was afraid. I could not move and I didn't know what he was going to do.

Click on this link to read the entire article Israel News : Jerusalem Post Internet Edition

FRANCE DISQUALIFIES LANCE ARMSTRONG'S VICTORY

Lance Armstrong may be stripped of his 6th Tour de France title.

In a random check for banned substances, 3 substances were found in Lance Armstrong's hotel that are banned by the French:


















Toothpaste, deodorant, and soap...

I really hope I don't need to point out that this is a joke.

When in Rome...

The stories now surfacing about Senator John Kerrys service in Vietnam show, far better than any hypotheticals lawyers could contrive, why the United States should never join the Rome Treaty of the International Criminal Court, subjecting itself to that institutions authority to punish violations of the laws of war. Did John Kerry commit war crimes in Southeast Asia? It all depends on how you look at it; how you choose to interpret the actions of a man in his 20s, ten thousand miles from home, who was being periodically shot at.

Click on the link to read the full story Doubts & the benefit of the doubt in war.

Can I Get an Amen?

Later this week, the American Bar Association will consider a resolution introduced by its Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, which sets forth its opposition to government policies that interfere with the ability of patients to access, in a timely manner, either directly or referral, medically appropriate care. Behind the veil of this seemingly innocuous proposal is a troubling attempt by the ABA to demand that the government discriminate against the religious practices of health-care providers across the country. It is yet another example of the increasingly open hostility toward religion (and morality generally) from the legal establishment.

Click on this link to read the full story Hostility toward religion in law and politics.

A shameless plug for Blackwater USA

Dramatic video of Iraqi ambushSee attack on U.S. vehicle on Baghdad street

WorldNetDaily has obtained dramatic video footage of an unsuccessful ambush on a U.S. convoy escorting undisclosed VIPs. (Note: Video contains profane and obscene language. Disabling of ad-blocking software may be necessary to view clip.)

The video clip shows grenades exploding in front of a private security vehicle and return gunfire is heard in response to the attack. A still photograph, taken after the attack, shows the damage to the vehicle, operated by Blackwater USA, the private security outfit hired by the State Department for such security detail missions.
SUV damaged in Baghdad ambush.
These private security teams protect and escort civilian leaders, such as Secretary of State Colin Powell and other members of the State Department team.
In this case, a military escort is also provided and leads the civilian car back to the safety of the Green Zone.
Blackwater USA uses armored SUVs and heavily armed bodyguards.
A total of four grenades explode in this video. The gunfire heard is largely from U.S. military forces providing cover for the escape.
The attack took place about two weeks ago on Haifa Street in Baghdad.
Since January, U.S. forces in Baghdad have experienced the following, according to information obtained by WND:
51 car bombs
1291 IEDs (attacks with improvised explosive devices)
759 small arms attacks
198 rocket attacks
102 indirect fire attacks (different than rocket or mortar)
529 mortar rounds fired on U.S. facilities
2,382 attacks on coalition
512 attacks on convoys
132 accidents
See the video.

Click here to see the source Dramatic video
of Iraqi ambush

The People have spoken

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. Missouri voters solidly endorsed a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, a decision closely watched by national groups on both sides of the battle.

With nearly all precincts reporting, the amendment had garnered 71 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results for Tuesdays vote. It was the first such vote since the historic ruling in Massachusetts last year that legalized same-sex weddings there. Although the ban was widely expected to pass in conservative Missouri, experts said the campaign served as a barometer for which strategies work as at least nine other states, and perhaps as many as 12, vote on similar amendments this year.
Missouri and 37 other states already have laws defining marriage as only between a man and a woman. But supporters of the amendment fear a court could toss aside the state law, and they believe the state would be on firmer legal ground if a ban is part of the Constitution.

Clink on this link to read the whole story Voters in Missouri Approve Ban on Gay Marriage

Iraq Had WMD in 2003

Jordans King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak personally assured Gen. Tommy Franks that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction within two months of the U.S. attack, the former Centcom Commander revealed on Tuesday.

The Jordanians have reliable intelligence and sources in Iraq that say, in fact, that Saddam Hussein has biological and chemical weapons, Franks said King Abdullah told him.

The Jordanian king passed the WMD intelligence on to Franks during a face-to-face meeting in Jan. 2003.

The one-time top military man revealed King Abdullahs comments to ABC Radio Network host Sean Hannity, who interviewed Franks for his debut book signing at Huntington, New York's Book Revue.

Click on this link to read the whole story Gen. Franks: Iraq Had WMD in 2003

This is an interesting story

Cartoon Network the fastest growing network at Turner Broadcasting

Cartoon Network, the cable TV home of many anime series such as Case Closed, Wolfs Rain and Inu Yasha, is the fastest growing network in Turner Broadcasting's impressive line-up of networks that includes CNN, TBS and TNT. In fact, investors and press recently learned that Cartoon Network is more profitable than CNN. In 2003 Cartoon Network turned $650 million in revenue, 17% of the the entire Turner Broadcasting revenue, compared to $535 million (14%) in revenue for CNN and the rest of Turner Broadcastings news operations.

Cartoon Networks financial success is being attributed to increased ad revenue thanks to its ever increasing adult audience, and low operating costs. Adult Swim has consistently ranked #1 in its time period (11 pm - 2 am) on basic cable with adults 18-34, against competition from late night talk shows like NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the CBS Late Show with David Letterman.

In early July Cartoon Network reported impressive growth statistics over last year for Adult Swim in key adult demographics such as 23% in adults 18-34, 47% in adults 18-24 and 76% in women 18-24.

Click on this link to see the source of this article Cartoon Network Shines

DEM'S MARINE MISFIRE

Kerry was treating running mate Sen. John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, to a Wendys lunch in Newburgh, N.Y., for their 27th wedding anniversary : an Edwards family tradition : when the candidate approached four Marines and asked them questions.

The Marines : two in uniform and two off duty : were polite but curt while chatting with Kerry, answering most of his questions with a yes, sir or no, sir.

But they turned downright nasty after the Massachusetts senator thanked them for their service and left.

He imposed on us and I disagree with him coming over here shaking our hands, one Marine said, adding, I'm 100 percent against him.

A sergeant with 10 years of service under his belt said, I speak for all of us. We think that we are doing the right thing in Iraq, before saying he is to be deployed there in a few weeks and is eager to go and serve.


Click the link below to read the whole story DEM'S MARINE MISFIRE

On a personal note

I have to say this was a pretty good Sunday Sabbath. We spent the morning at church and then the afternoon was uneventful and lazy. Church was both uplifting and bitter sweet. Normally fast and testimony Sunday is a test in patience with most everyone spouting off in the usual LDS culture driven way. But today was a nice mix of the youth and adults with a nice message theme of temple work and faith. Elders Quorum was also kind of a breath of fresh air. We have finally arrived at a point where the large majority of us are more mindfull of things that are scriptually based then driven by the evolution of Mormon social trends. Unfortunately with all good news comes some bad. One of my favorite brethren, Brother Fraiser is moving the week of the ninth to Utah. I am happy that now he can afford to buy his own home but I also worry that his work in the church is going to be very difficult. He will be up against entrenched culture based opposition of thoroughly brainwashed life long members. But I know God has a plan for him and he will be protected and edified when needed. Well that's enough rambling for the moment. I need to get back to having my son beat me severly in Soul Caliber II.