Our friend, Blue Star Mother Sue Peterson sent the following note from her friend with an update directly from the major front in the war via her son, currently serving in Iraq.
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Writes Sue: "The following is from my friend and mother to Kirk…"
It was exciting to get this message from Kirk and hear some good news from Iraq. I was pleased to get this photo of Kirk and Geraldo Rivera in the safer streets of Baghdad..
If you remember to tune in to 60 Minutes tomorrow evening, Kirk worked behind the scenes to make that possible. However, he has no control over how the story will told by CBS..
Love,
Kelly.
And this is Kirk’s message:
All-.Hope things are well back in the US..Well, today we’ve officially flipped over another calendar page to December…we’re moving ever slowly toward that redeployment date in spring of ’08..I can’t even begin to tell you how well things are going. This is a complete 180 from where I was in May/June, where we were losing a soldier each day, our base was being mortared and rocketed regularly and life was very depressing around here. Now, violence is down 80% across the district, Al Qaeda Iraq (AQI) is on the run, and journalists like Geraldo Rivera are broadcasting live from a Baghdad street without kevlar helmet and body armor…amazing considering that as recently as August, the very street that is now vibrant with markets, shops and children playing/people out and about was a ghost town with fewer than 5 stores open at any time, and daily IED attacks, sniper engagements and sectarian murder victims dumped on the streets.
So, I wanted to share the good news via this latest excellent column from Ralph Peters. I took the photo on Thanksgiving day of Sgt. Hickman and the precious little boy shaking hands, who kept calling the young NCO "Sadiki" which is Arabic for "friend." I was right there, and saw it with my own eyes. This kind of thing was *not* happening back in April and May when we were out in force and folks were afraid to even talk to us for fear of being murdered by AQI. LTC Jim Crider is the battalion commander I have more respect for than any I’ve had the privilege of serving with in the Dragon Brigade, so there is no better person to tell the story than Raider 6 (his
callsign)...I’m not going to say that everything is great here, because that’s a stretch, but the folks at FOX News are at least attempting to tell the story and capture what is going on. That’s more than I can say for some of the others, who would not have agreed to show such positive developments as Geraldo did yesterday morning on Fox & Friends. Speaking of Geraldo, you just might recognize the other muldoon in the photo I attached..Anyway- just wanted you all to know that we’re getting caught up in the holiday spirit these days. There is much to be thankful for. The Lord is making His presence felt in this war-torn land more and more each day, and with Geraldo going into the St. John’s Church, remember that image as opposed to the apocalyptic vision that you are likely to get from 60 Minutes this Sunday night when their piece on Baghdad’s Christians airs. You just might see me in the background of some of that footage though, so I hope you’ll tune in. 🙂.Gotta run- but get the word out- things are turning around and that’s no lie. The Peters column is touching on just one neighborhood, but the stories are much the same across the Rashid District. AQI has no answers- we’ve got our foot on their throat and they’ve not been able to do anything about it. The mainstream media won’t hesitate to share the bad news, but they’re finding it harder and harder to deluge you with such..Get the word out!.Kirk
Again, we cannot thank Kirk, his Mom, and all the soldiers & their families, enough, for their selfless sacrifice in defense of our freedom!