Big Peace Contributor Gets Shelled in Iraq

No, not whoever your disfavored party is this election cycle. The *real* enemy – the one trying to kill you directly.

Not that we can’t get patriotic about it, in conformance with the season: The rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air – er, next to the bunker. My Castle Argghhh! co-blogger Bill, who has been in Iraq for years, literally, teaching the Iraqi Air Force how to fly like Americans, made his debut here at Big Peace when he wrote here about the good things going on in Iraq. Well, proof that no good deed goes unpunished, he got his bell rung by a 107mm rocket this last week. We maintain OPSEC at Castle Argghhh!, so we don’t post it every time the “incoming” alarms blare. But we do email about it. Oddly enough, coincident with the withdrawal of the “last combat brigade” from Iraq the incidences of rockets arcing up and into Kirkuk *increased.* Clearly, the bad guys in Iraq didn’t get the memo the war is over. Bet you didn’t read that in your local fishwrap or hear it from the talking heads.

Odd how that works, isn’t it? Doesn’t mean the trends are all bad and that everything is turning sour – it just means the enemy gets a vote, and oft times exercises the franchise. But, since it disturbs the thrust line of the narrative that the media is pushing as we ramp up to the elections… well, *crickets chirp* in the meadows of the mainstream press. And Bill shakes off the dust, and continues the mission, taking time off to kick in doors to make sure no one’s hurt in the latrine. You may want a latrine named after you if you’re a character in a John Wayne movie – but you don’t want to die in one.