Picture Source: US Department of Defense

What is really going on it Iraq? During the election it was reported by the Democrats and denied by the Republicans that a large cache of weapons was stolen after the Americans took over. The real question is why are there still so many weapons in Iraq in the hands of non military and non police personnel. To make this matter even worse, it was just reported by Aljazeera on 11/7/04 that over 4,000 shoulder fired missiles are now missing. This story was taken from a Washington Post Article. Apparently the exact number of missiles missing is not clear and either is their exact condition. Personally I don't believe anyone would have taken them unless most of them were in working order. What I can't understand is the statement that no one is sure if the missiles are still in the country or have been taken out. Can you imagine a truck convoy with over 4,000 missiles being allowed to drive across Iraq and then leave, how would this be possible?

Photo Source: US Army

The American troops are armed with every new weapon. They even have a new type of Humvee that has a Gatling gun mounted on it that fires 2,000 rounds per minute. They use long range sniper rifles and 50 cal. machine guns. Those are the machine guns with the shells that look like they could take down a building. Cobra gunships support them along with jet fighters. I am no expert on these matters but it seems to me if you amass a force in one area you are drawing troops from another. After all there are only about 100,000 American troops in Iraq. My question is are we putting other areas in jeopardy by pulling out troops to put some where else? Even with the definite superior armament we have, are we again facing that same problem that we had in Vietnam which is not being able to tell our enemies from the civilian population? There is nothing worse than this type of problem. How did we let the infiltration of foreign fighters take place? I think there is a simple answer to this question, we just didn't have enough forces to seal the boarders.

Many Iraqi people want peace, but those who lost power are very unhappy. Add to this mix those foreign fighters that have joined them. Some of the disenfranchised were army officers and they knew where the weapons were and how to get them. Today some of these people are almost like double agents, making believe they support the new government but betraying it, the first chance they get.

Photo Source: US Army

A surprising fact about the Iraq war is that Iraq has never surrendered. It is being said that crime is now rampant in Iraq, including drug dealing. One group of people that are very happy that the US invaded Iraq are the Assyrians. They state that they are the true people of the area. They are not Arab. They were the people of Mesopotamia until the Arabs invaded in 637 AD. They have been the victims of persecution for much of the time since. It is estimated that there are only 1 to 4 million of them left. Most live abroad. A recent rally by the Assyrian Association in Chicago was conducted in support of our troops.

Some of our own troops have been put in danger from their own ammunition. A type of ammo called DU or Depleted Uranium was used by tanks and other large guns. It is estimated that 100 to 200 metric tons were shot at targets. The advantage of using this type of ammo is that it is very dense and penetrates very well. But not much is known about the long range effects of such ammo, to those who are exposed to it. Some soldiers who were exposed are getting sick. Something that is not talked about very much is the effect that this expended ammo is having on certain portions of Iraq's population and the environment.

Photo Source: US Army

I guess there are not too many people out there that care about Iraqi antiques, but it is interesting to note that many of Iraq's ancient treasures are now missing. I mean, after all, this area is considered to be the cradle of civilization. Of the 1,140 artifacts that were on public display, 57 are missing. There were 490,878 artifacts stored and out of this amount, 9,816 are known missing. It is amazing, looting of these priceless objects was still going on under the occupation and may still be going on, I have no way to confirm this.

Did you ever wonder who exactly who was in the coalition that is fighting in Iraq? The list: is from the Washington Post dated July 15, 2004, it doesn't list the US but we have about 100,000 troops there. Another thing about this list, not all these countries are taking part in combat, and 4 will be leaving soon or plan to leave, they are Thailand, Norway, New Zealand, and the Philippines. Here is the list:

*Planning to increase forces

Photo Source: US Army

Well now you know who is in the coalition and you can form your own opinion of it. Lets hope that things some how work out in Iraq and that peace finally comes to the region and our boys can come home.