In the lexicon of Iraq, few words carry as much meaning as Samarra.

This city on the Tigris river north of Baghdad was the source of the sectarian slaughter of 2006 and 2007 and the scene of some the most violent fire fights of the same era. 

Even as late as 2008, it was city to be by-passed when traveling north or south on Highway 1. 

The city is peaceful enough now, but still struggling with an identity crisis.  It is a Sunni city but home of a holy Shia shrine that draws millions of pilgrims a year.  It was once the leading city of Sala ad Dihn province, but during Saddam's regime, the seat of government was moved to Tikrit.  The Sunni tribes fought with the coalition to rid the city of Al Qaeda, but the Shia security services from Baghdad dominate the old quarter near the Golden Mosque.

And it was the second bombing of the Golden Mosque in 2006 that was the catalyst of the sectarian upheavals and rampant murders of 2006 and 2007.

The Golden Mosque is being rebuilt, the city is very safe by Iraq standards and the pilgrims are returning in force.

Last night the local grade school performed their Veteran's Day program titled "Americans We".  I was very moved by the first song and wanted to share some grade school kids singing something worthwhile.

If you would like a copy of the complete program, please contact us and I'll let the school know if there's enough interest.

Sala ad Dihn Province, Iraq-- 

In the US many Americans barely notice Veterans Day.  The banks and post offices are closed.  Federal Employees have the day off.  Some states and local governments may be closed. 

There are ceremonies and memorial services. 

But here in Iraq it is another day at work in a combat zone. 

The Soldiers of the 1-28 Infantry, the Black Lions, went about their work. 

I went with a Platoon to the city council meeting in Ishaki, a small town south of Samarra. 

The Platoon Leader sat back during the meeting and let the Iraqis do their work.  After the meeting he talked about the timeline of some development projects with the Council President. 

The meals were the normal rations heated up by Army cooks.  The big KBR Dining Facilities are for big bases, not little outposts. 

The kitchen at the JCC in Samarra is of typical design. 

If many of the Soldiers realized today was Veterans day, they didn't show it. 

I didn't really realize until I looked at my pocket calendar. 

For decades veterans were older men.  Now they are women and men in their early to mid twenties, many on their second tour in a combat zone. 

They were not drafted.  They did not join when the entire nation was mobilized for war. 

They volunteered when the war in Iraq was unpopular.  They re-enlist knowing they will face a fight in Afghanistan. 

They are the ones willing to stand on the wall that protects the modern culture--the plastic-disposable-drive-thru-strip-mall culture of America from the people who want to burn it all down. 

Too many of the people in the drive-thru culture went about their day today without realizing what the young men I was with today do for them. 

It is a luxury they enjoy because Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and even Airmen will leave the plastic world and enter the real world.

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I do not know what victory looks like in a counter insurgency.  With the recent bombing in Baghdad it is hard to say that a true victory and a true peace has been achieved.  There are still deadly attacks on US troops.

The true success of the war in Iraq will be revealed in the coming months and years.

But what is for sure is that the fight is now being waged by the Iraqi police and, to a lesser degree, the Iraqi army.

After full implementation of the Status of Forces Agreement on June 30th 2009, the US role in the remaining counter insurgency has dwindled.  The US Forces in Iraq are no longer waging an active war against violent extremist networks, their role now is stability, economics, governance and training.

The US Forces Iraq fill a gap between the central government of Iraq and local government.

Here in Saladin province north of Baghdad the 4th Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division is rapidly adapting to the new normal.

In 2007 during the troop surge the 4th Brigade was deployed to some of the roughest parts of Baghdad like West Rashid, Ammel, Bayaa and Rustamya.  I was embedded with unis from the 4th Brigade in 2007 and filmed the soldiers as they actively hunted down Jaish al Mahdi and Al Qaida cells and shot it out with hidden gunmen.  I went with them on grueling daily patrols through the neighborhoods to conduct census and intelligence gathering missions.

In 2007 the Iraqi Army and Police were in the background and at best they were merely ineffective, at worst they were aligned with the active enemy.

Now, in late 2009, the 4th is back in Iraq in the area around Tikrit with a whole new mission.

  (The companion story to this photo essay can be found here )

General Abdullah (Ret.) and LTC Cain, commanding officer of the 2-32 talk politics in Tikrit.

JD with LTC Ahmed, commander of an elite police unit, the RDU

The RDU's unit patch

This line from a Washington Post story jumped out at me:

"The arrival of war dead at Dover has long pitted free speech advocates against the government, which had been accused of using the ban to hide the horror of war from the public--especially as casualty rates in Iraq and Afghanistan began to climb."

The article is by Christian Davenport.

I'm at a little outpost in northern Iraq, fresh back from a patrol where we met with a local Sheik.  The previous day I had rode with US Soldiers to a logistics base on a resupply run and while there picked up a few back issues of Stars and Stripes where I read the story.

In the story, a previous graph has a quote from University of Delaware Journalism Professor Ralph Begleiter one of the above mentioned free speech advocates.  Begeleiter said, "Taking pictures of the returning casualties to Dover is a measure of the human cost of war.  Do you want the government ultimately to have control over what we see or not see?  Or do you want independent observers, an independent press or media, relaying those images?"

Mr. Begleiter if you really want to understand the human cost of war, don't stand on a fucking tarmac, get embedded and see the human cost of war up close and personal where the price is actually paid.

But many of the free speech advocates have no desire to put themselves at risk to tell the stories of the women and men who have willingly put themselves in harms way.

They want to do it on the cheap, standing on concrete in the US at a scheduled time rather than face the capricious hazards of war standing on the sands of Iraq or rocks of Afghanistan.

Many of those free speech advocates are interested only in the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines as props.  As the story illustrates, very few of the arrivals at Dover are covered by the media.

When a reporter is embedded with US forces they at least have to share some of the risks and possibly themselves become another account in the human cost of war.

I have been ready to pay that price for the last five years and nearly had to pay it a few times.  How many of the so-called speech advocates have been willing to pay that price?

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