Under Fire

Renee Taylor
September 30, 2006

The news media and anti-Halliburton sites such as www.halliburtonwatch.org have been broadcasting a video clip showing an attack on a US Mail convoy in Iraq from September 2005.  It is being used by the media and anti-war websites to condemn the military and KBR and denigrate the brave service of thousands of American truckers and soldiers serving or having had served in Iraq.

I have to wonder - what was the purpose of putting this up on the Internet?  The "public's right to know?"  The video shows a clearly panicked driver in a war zone.  Crouched in his truck, there is no effort that I can see that he made any attempt to escape.  He holds his video camera up to show the execution of one of his fellow drivers, yelling "oh my God, they're killing him."  Posting the execution of one of our own is something the terrorists do on their websites - not something one of our own does.  I cannot begin to second guess his actions in combat, but I must second guess the motive of the one who posted the video, which obviously does not show the whole story.

I also question the motives of those "analyzing" the video itself.  ABC News senior vice president, Jeffery Schneider is quoted in the Richmond Times Dispatch as saying, "The video speaks loudly and for itself.  And the eyewitness tells a very compelling story."  On www.americancontractorsiniraq.com, Jana Crowder, wife of a former engineer (not KBR/Halliburton) in Iraq questions the morality of the American truckers and the military in their actions.   I seriously doubt their ability to discuss the actions of a military/KBR convoy in Iraq.  Have those making such accusations sat in an after-action briefing or read an after-action report?  Have they gotten behind the wheel of an eighteen wheeler and driven through an ambush?  Have they watched a video in its entirety, showing an ambush and subsequent recovery? 

There are many with an agenda against KBR/Halliburton who are doing a grave disservice to our courageous American truckers in Iraq.  Open discussion with anyone with an opposing point of view is apparently not welcome.

A documentary titled "Iraq for Sale" has been openly endorsed in congress by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND).  While I have not seen the video in its entirety, I have seen the trailers that are posted on line.  The video and the film maker's website do nothing to hide its agenda, to attack Halliburton/KBR and in the process, the courageous men and women driving trucks to supply our military.  I spoke with Matt Bass with the Democratic Policy Committee, who returned my call to Senator Dorgan.  I asked why, especially in time of war, he was endorsing an enemy propaganda film filled with lies made by the anti-war/KBR left and ex-KBR drivers with an obvious grudge against KBR.  I also asked if Senator Dorgan had attempted to contact the thousands of KBR drivers not associated with the film and without an agenda.  The only response I got was that Senator Dorgan did not endorse the film, but was "concerned about contractors" and used the film as an example.  I beg to differ, as there was no interest in discussing KBR beyond this "documentary".

We are at war.  We have soldiers and civilians alike in harms way - fighting the battle in the Middle East so we do not have to fight it here.  "Support our military and support our contractors, but attack them in any way we can" is the apparent mantra. 

The attack video should never have made its way to the internet.  "Iraq for Sale" should never have gotten credibility from a sitting US Senator. 

Renee Taylor is the wife of former KBR convoy commander, Mark R. Taylor, and runs a news/support group for contractors and civilians, groups.yahoo.com.groups/Uglypuppy and the website www.uglypuppy.net .  A freelance writer, photographer and former truck driver, she has devoted her time to studying convoy operations and promoting the positive image of the American Trucker in Iraq.  The Taylors live in South Arkansas

American Truckers Must be Armed in a War Zone

The recent release of a video detailing an insurgent attack on one of our KBR mail convoys in Iraq from September 2005 has captured the attention of the mainstream media. Who is to blame, they say, in the blame game. KBR? The Virginia National Guard who was escorting the convoy? The National Guard unit has been cleared of any wrong doing. Without attending the after mission briefs or seeing after action reports, it is my opinion as a former convoy commander in Iraq on the mail missions, the contractors acted according to protocol. Is Halliburton/KBR to blame? No, it is the insurgents who attacked and murdered the drivers who are at fault in the “blame game” and the fact that civilian truckers are forbidden to carry a firearm to defend themselves.

I brought this to their attention in the weeks after the attack in the following letter, originally sent in October 2005 to KBR, my congressmen, senators and the news media:

“While driving through Connecticut, a quiet night trucking in the US, I listened as Mark Reddig, host of Landline Now, on XM Satellite Radio Channel 171, Open Road, read a story of four American truckers brutally murdered in Iraq on September 20, 2005.

KBR/Halliburton has neither confirmed nor denied this story at this time. Why, KBR, are you ignoring the brutal deaths of these four heroes, who died serving their country and making a living for their families? Why KBR, were these men not armed and able to protect themselves from insurgent attacks?

My wife questioned KBR last year as to why truckers were not armed. She was told that we were “non-combatants, according to the Geneva Convention.”

I can tell you that from driving in Iraq for 18 months that no, KBR, we ARE combatants. The enemy does not care about the Geneva Convention. They do not care about potential lawsuits or bad publicity. They do not care about our lives.

A majority of us are former military and law enforcement. Many of us hold concealed carry permits from our home states. Upon arriving in a war zone, we are forbidden to carry a bullet, much less a gun to fire it with. A 9mm handgun could have been the difference between life and death for these four men. Did you not, KBR, learn ANYTHING after April 8 – 9, 2004?

We served and fought beside the greatest military in the world – in my case the excellent men and women of the 1544^th and 497^th Transportation Companies. But – these four brothers got separated from their convoy. They got lost.

Anyone who knows trucking knows you cannot, cannot, turn a convoy around on a dime, especially in a war zone. These four brothers didn’t have a chance to return to their base – as many of us did – to call our wives.

Non-combatants? KBR, tell that to the families of these men. Tell it to the families of the men of April 8 – 9, 2004. Tell that to me and my many co-workers to miraculously survived small arms fire, RPGs, IEDs. Tell that, KBR, to the truckers who drive outside the wire every night, tempting the same fate.

These four men do not deserve to have their deaths covered up. Those who continue to drive in Iraq do not deserve the same fate. Why, KBR, are you not responding to questions? Why, KBR, why?”

Had this driver not gotten his video out, few people would know what happened to these brave men. The media, KBR and the military, however, are missing the point. The American trucker faces combat situations every time they leave the wire. They must be armed when working in a war zone.

Mark R. Taylor served in Iraq from January 2004 to May 2005 as a civilian convoy commander. He has appeared on The Captains America and other radio programs and lives in South Arkansas with his wife and young son. Contact Mark at www.uglypuppy.net and marktaylor@uglypuppy.net.

The Perfect Target

Mark R. Taylor
September 21, 2006

Recently, American intelligence officers were given an extraordinary opportunity in the War on Terror. At least 190 armed Taliban fighters were in tightly packed formation at a funeral – the perfect target. Our military was forbidden to act on the intelligence and could only stare in stunned disbelief as the Islamic fascist enemy was allowed to walk away only to reemerge to massacre innocent men, women and children another day.

This is the same Taliban who viciously assassinated six people attending the funeral of the governor of the Afghanistan province of Patkia. United States rules of engagement forbid military attacks on funerals. They were unable to get approval from the State Department and were told our military is to “hold themselves to a higher moral and ethical standard than their enemies". Our enemy, who has no moral standards and no regard for human life, will and do kill at will. We, however, being a civilized, moral people, are abiding by rules of engagement that were written for fighting a state-maintained military with at least some regard for human life.

In the same week, the debate has resounded throughout Washington over the perceived torture of terrorist detainees by our CIA and military. If the enemy knows two words in English it’s “Geneva Convention”. They know that we do our best to abide by our agreements with 112 nations. However, research into the 112 nation-states that signed the Geneva Convention did not yield the names Al Qaeda, Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade, Hamas or any Islamic fascist group. I also find it appalling that there are senators and congressmen – those we as US citizens elected to protect and serve us – are applying Constitutional rights to detainees at Guantanamo and to terrorists who are not born here and wish to do nothing more than destroy that very Constitution and our way of life. I searched the Constitution and found no such provisions. Nor did I find provisions that we supply tax-payer funded attorneys and other amenities, such as the Koran.

Senators John McCain, John Warner and Lindsey Graham have proposed legislation to redefine Article 3 of the Geneva Convention to detail what is and isn’t allowed when interrogating detainees. They believe loud music, cold rooms, sleep deprivation and other non-lethal forms of discomfort in an effort to obtain information is “torture”. “Waterboarding”, giving the illusion that one is drowning, has yielded intelligence that stopped ten planes bound for the US from Europe from being turned into bombs meant to kill as many innocent men, women and children as possible, as well as at least a dozen other terrorist plots. It is a false belief that if we are nice to evil, evil will be nice to us. By affording those we are fighting Constitutional liberties, more religious freedom than our own school children, medical care and other amenities, we are only strengthening the terror threat.

Senator McCain went through a horrific ordeal as a prisoner of war in Viet Nam. He is a war hero and his service is honored. However, it is my belief that he is allowing his experiences at the hands of barbarians to cloud his judgment regarding our own upstanding, professional military and CIA. If he were an attorney or judge in a court of law, he would have to recuse himself from a terrorist case. As a senator, shouldn’t he recuse himself from writing legislation regarding torture?

While Congress is fretting over whether or not loud music is “torture”, we must look at our enemy. They capture civilian journalists and contractors, as well as soldiers. With no regard to the Geneva Convention, they terrorize their captives by holding AK-47s to their heads, demanding conversion to the religion of peace. They decapitate at will those who do not comply. Dead bodies are burned in the streets and tossed in ditches like trash.

In the 1990s, Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda declared war on America. America, however, largely ignored this declaration and until September 11, 2001, did little to retaliate in the subsequent terrorist attacks. Treating each instance as a law enforcement issue, we only succeeded in emboldening the enemy. America, to this day, has yet to declare war.

There is no doubt President Bush understands the nature of the enemy we face. He understands how morally repugnant and evil they are. It is sad that so many Americans in authority do not have this understanding. A vast majority of Americans, out of cowardice, ignorance or denial, continue to blame the president and our military for the terrorist attacks and acts of war rather than blaming the enemy. Until sane, rational people come to grips with the reality of the situation, they only inflict further damage on my country and its ability to fight this war.

You cannot negotiate with evil. You cannot appease evil. You can only destroy evil. The enemy is a fanatical sect that is in self proclaimed “jihad” – holy war – with the West. They are in a religious war and their only objective is to force conversion or massacre “infidels”. By ignoring these truths and not adapting rules of engagement, rules of interrogation and our own mindsets to the truth of the enemy, unspeakable horrors face us in the years to come.

Mark R. Taylor served in Iraq from January 2004 to May 2005 as a civilian convoy commander. He has appeared on The Captains America and other radio programs and lives in South Arkansas with his wife and young son. Contact Mark at www.uglypuppy.net and marktaylor@uglypuppy.net.

Rants from an Arkansas Housewife – September 17, 2006

I have come to the realization this week that I am intolerant. Intolerant, as the left would describe me, and proud of it.

I am intolerant of radical Islam, a belief system that teaches the destruction of my country and my way of life. I am intolerant of the so-called “moderate” or “good” Muslims who stand silent while the militants spew their hatred and continue the bloodshed of innocent men, women and children in the name of Islam.

I am intolerant of my property taxes in Arkansas going to fund public education. Government schools, which continue to punish Christian children for voicing their beliefs, are funded by the same government who is tripping over itself to make sure the enemy we capture on the battlefield has the Koran published in nine different languages. As I write our check next month, it will be under protest. Our education system is a disaster – government educated children can barely read or write, but at least they have “self esteem”.

I am intolerant of sitcoms and commercials that continue to portray men as buffoons who couldn’t find their butt if their wife didn’t draw them a map. I am also intolerant of so-called women’s programs, pushing a pro-gay, pro-abortion agenda. I am a home schooling housewife happily married to a man who also believes God’s Word is Truth. Men don’t lie with men and women don’t lie with women. Maybe that’s why Rosie O’Donnell doesn’t like us very well.

The feminization of men has really gotten under my skin. Men, by design are warriors and protectors. Women are, by nature, nurturers. Let boys play cowboys and girls play house. Trust me, they will be better for it.

Jane Fonda, Rosie and Gloria Steinham are starting a “woman’s radio” network. Somehow, I doubt middle class, happily married (to men) moms will be allowed. My prediction is it will fall the same fate as the late AirAmerica.

In closing, I am becoming increasingly intolerant of politicians and washed up Hollywood types who claim to be smarter than the average citizen. In my opinion, if you don’t wash your own dishes, mow your own grass or pick up your own dirty socks, you don’t have a clue.

Renee E. Taylor

Denial

Mark R. Taylor

September 6, 2006

May 23, 2004 – Fallujah, Iraq. My convoy was suddenly hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) imbedded in a civilian pick up parked on the side of the road. The thick smell of gunpowder sulfur and burning truck tire rubber filled the air. Smoke engulfed the hot, desert. In the aftermath of the explosion, the 1544^th Transportation Company, Illinois National Guard, our military escorts, and my fellow civilian American truck drivers came under fire by insurgents hiding in the background. The military returned fire as we tended to our wounded soldiers and civilians. Total chaos surrounded us as RPGs and AK fire rained upon us. While Bill Price and others began retrieving the US Mail from a burning trailer, Kevin Tanzie and I saw, in a vehicle across the highway, a suspicious individual attempting to escape the combat area. Both of us former law enforcement officers in the US, we quickly assessed the situation, stopped the vehicle and detained this individual. As Kevin guarded the suspect, I crossed the battlefield to report the capture to the military police. The suspect was detained and taken away. We lost Jeremy Ridlin of the 1544^th that day, as well as two marines.

The reactions by civilian and military leaders were strikingly different. Our civilian management went into immediate denial, unable to believe that this individual in civilian dress could have anything to do with the deadly attack on our convoy. The military took swift and immediate action. The detonator that was used to set off the IED was found in the man’s vehicle.

Recent reports of three Islamic men with 1000 cell phones in Michigan and other obvious terrorist activity shows the stark contrast between our civilian and military handling of the war on terror. While many see the war as being fought in Afghanistan, Iraq and lands far away, the war is being fought on our own soil.

Had the three men in Michigan been caught in Iraq, the military would have dealt with them swiftly and efficiently. They would now be residents of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Since the act to support terrorism was committed on US soil, they were arrested by civilian police and processed as civilian criminals within our court system. Due to the constraints of the legal system and its inability to process and detain enemy combatants, the men were released back into the general population.

An Islamic-fascist who recently opened fire upon a Jewish Community Center in Washington State, murdering a pregnant woman, was arrested and processed within our American court system.

A self-proclaimed terrorist attacked the streets of San Francisco, California, murdering one and injuring many innocent civilians as he used the vehicle he was driving to terrorize a Jewish neighborhood. He was arrested and is being processed in our court system.

In Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, police were called to the Travel Centers of America truck stop. Two Middle Eastern men had been reported to local authorities for “suspicious behavior”. The pair was operating a tractor trailer carrying an unknown radioactive material. False registration and vehicle information was given to the truck stop. Reports state that the lock on the trailer was cut by the men and replaced with a lock purchased at the truck stop. The truck was later stopped in Ohio. No further information on the truck, the suspects or radioactive material has been supplied.

Reports such as the ones above fill the local papers of cities and towns across America. They are handled by local law enforcement and the enemy combatants are pushed through our court systems and released. The media is quick to state these are “misguided” or “angry” individuals committing “isolated incidents”.

Ours is a country in denial – a denial manifested by those in the media who refuse to acknowledge the fact that the enemy is among us. The civilian population can accept criminal acts – a daily occurrence that is dealt with by our law enforcement and legal system. It absolves them of any responsibility and does not disrupt their lives. By admitting the obvious, that insurgents live and work along side us, would lead them to have to make difficult decisions that our politically correct society has not prepared them for.

May 23, 2004, could easily happen in Los Angeles, Des Moines or Atlanta. Had the men in Michigan not been caught, they would have transported their cell phones – less batteries and chargers – to the next level, the insurgents with the radioactive material from stolen tractor trailers made into dirty bombs - that would take out countless numbers of American men, women and children in rush hour traffic going to work and school.

Vigilant Americans working as clerks, truck drivers, police officers and border patrol agents must continue to report suspicious activity to the proper authorities. The American people, our media, our government officials must wake from the denial and learn the tactics of the ever changing enemy, which is using chameleon-like tactics to change their appearance, behavior and demeanor.

By denying the existence of the enemy on US soil, we can go about our lives. It is only when our nation’s leaders and citizens wake up to reality and take responsibility will we be able to thwart an attack more devastating than 9/11.

Mark R. Taylor served in Iraq from January 2004 to May 2005 as a civilian convoy commander. He has appeared on “The Captain’s America” and other radio programs and lives in South Arkansas with his wife and young son. Contact Mark at www.uglypuppy.net and marktaylor@uglypuppy.net.