"Bless the Beasts and the Children"

Here is the latest of e-journalist Michael Yon's dispatches from Iraq. Yon, former Special Forces, is embedded with American and Iraqi troops and has the best on-the-ground coverage of the surge.

This dispatch, about a tiny village called al Hamira near Baquba is gut wrenching. This tiny village had the misfortune of being near a main thoroughfare used by American and Iraqi troops and as a result had been taken over by al Qaeda.

The village was abandoned. All the people were gone. But where?
...
As we passed through the village, Captain Combs pointed out the nice houses, saying the people had been simple farmers with comfortable homes and lives.

Until al Qaeda came.
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Soldiers from 5th IA said al Qaeda had cut the heads off the children. Had al Qaeda murdered the children in front of their parents? Maybe it had been the other way around: maybe they had murdered the parents in front of the children. Maybe they had forced the father to dig the graves of his children.

The photos are close-up and graphic.

I am sending the link to John Murtha, Jim Webb and yes, Richard Lugar.