Today the Twin Cities of Bloomington-Normal had a "Welcome Home" parade for the 33rd Military Police Battalion from the Bloomington National Guard. The parade was led by several police cars from various local and other police departments and included many supporters on motorcycles who have formed into a support the troops organization. Of course, the seventy men and women that served more than a year in Iraq were paraded in convertibles donated for this event. Starting at Illinois State University and proceeding down Center street to the Armory in Bloomington the parade appeared to be about a mile long.
I woke up this morning and heard on the local radio that this welcome home parade was to start about noon and mentally said "It would be nice to go over to Center Street and welcome the troops home". By 9:00A.M. I had almost forgotten that the event would happen, but then my middle son who served several terms in Iraq as a private contractor employed to train and handle explosive detection dogs phoned my wife. His first call was to tell us that he was heading to an Olympics for police dogs in Indiana, then a few minutes later he called back to ask if we could attend the parade and welcome home the troops for him. Needless to say a priority had been established.
Not thinking that there would be a hugh crowd we headed over to Center Street about noon and was I surprised! The street were lined with people where we had intended to park and watch. We turned South on the parade route thinking that we would find a less populated place we drove almost a mile south until we found a place to park, and we did kind of park illegally as the sign said no parking this block. Standing on the corner were a couple of veterans from prior wars waiting to welcome home the returning kids.
It was neat to see the returning young men and women as they rode on the back seats of the convertibles. This old guy had goose bumps and tears as he waived at the brave young men and women as they rode by. It was neat how they smiled and waived back, but more than that were the two young men that did more than smile and waive they yelled out to us "Thank You". I was struck with the thought how often I fail to say thank you and yet two young men returning from war had said thank you and in fact they deserved to be thanked.
I am reminded of the many incidents that my son experienced while in Iraq and the close calls he had with not returning. There was the time he and his dog were searching an incoming vehicle and the dog hit on a scent which means it is time to call the explosive detonations unit but the detonator exploded immediately, but the bomb failed. There was also the night that as the alert sounded he headed out for shelter and a incoming RPG hit about 100 yards away and he felt a twinge on his leg to only find out that a piece of shrapnel had hit his leg but only causing minor damage.
Some of the events he witnessed included the two Iraqi women that worked at the Embassy and went home one night an then were shot for not cooperating with the insurgents. The other was a lazy computer specialist that decided to go back to his "hootch", sleeping quarters, for a noon nap. For several weeks the hootches had been declare unsafe at night and this guy had been one of the first to seek the permanent shelter safety to sleep at night. This particular day he received a call from the Embassy that they had a computer problem, his last response was that he would be there in an hour. This time the enemy did not wait until night time to fire an RPG, he died in his sleep.
On the Friday before my son came home he watched an incoming RPG head toward him, not knowing where it would land. It fell short and three British soldiers lives were snuffed out. The following Sunday morning my son exited Iraq.
Some how getting out of Iraq doesn't take the experiences of war out of the minds of the brave young men and women. They can still hear the sirens, the whistles of the incoming and the explosions and gunfire, and then the memories of friends and comrades who have been wounded or came home in body bags.
No young men and women of the 33rd Military Police you do not need to thank me for coming to welcome you home, I am only doing what I should to thank you and then I should be saying how can I help you now that you are home safely?
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Where is Obama and Durbin????? MIA
Illinois has almost complete Democratic leadership, and yet even the Demos cannot agree on a budget for the State of Illinois! We have a crazy Demo for Gov, the house and senate are full of democrats and they cannot pass a budget that every Illinois legislative body has been able to pass annually for years, even with divided legislative bodies.
Where are our illustrious Federal Senators? One is too busy beating up on Bush, who by the way won't be running for President next term. The other is out beating the bushes, he is getting his licks in on George too, wanting to be the next President.
Couldn't one or both of our Federal boys take a day off and help the state boys compromise on a budget? If Obamha really is Presidential material he could place a feather in his cap by negotiating a budget for his state.
Makes one wonder what will happen when Hillary or Obama get elected to preside over the House and Senate of a Federal level. I can hardly wait, nothing will be accomplished as Dingy Harry and Nancy P all want to "have it their way"
Come on down Obama and show us your leadership abilities in Springfield, your home state, where you failed to do anything doing your term of office.
I like the way you state that "I was against the war in Iraq from day one". Which vote was it that you voted? Oh that's right you were not even asked to vote were you. You were still in Illinois serving as a House member. The question is a little harder when you have to place your name on the line instead of being able to use hind sight.
Where are our illustrious Federal Senators? One is too busy beating up on Bush, who by the way won't be running for President next term. The other is out beating the bushes, he is getting his licks in on George too, wanting to be the next President.
Couldn't one or both of our Federal boys take a day off and help the state boys compromise on a budget? If Obamha really is Presidential material he could place a feather in his cap by negotiating a budget for his state.
Makes one wonder what will happen when Hillary or Obama get elected to preside over the House and Senate of a Federal level. I can hardly wait, nothing will be accomplished as Dingy Harry and Nancy P all want to "have it their way"
Come on down Obama and show us your leadership abilities in Springfield, your home state, where you failed to do anything doing your term of office.
I like the way you state that "I was against the war in Iraq from day one". Which vote was it that you voted? Oh that's right you were not even asked to vote were you. You were still in Illinois serving as a House member. The question is a little harder when you have to place your name on the line instead of being able to use hind sight.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Impeach Rod Blagovich
I received an email petition to Impeach our dearly loved Illinois Govenor. Of course I signed and forwarded it back immediately, but then I thought about the issue. How can we impeach a govenor that is rarely in Springfield, seldom talks to other legislaturers, and has so much goop on his hair that it could never be wind blown?
Todays local paper told me that he blamed all the problems on one of his own Democrats, House leader Michael Madigan. It is all Madigans fault that the budget issues can't be resolved. I have actually become a little more in favor of Madigan because of his fight against the "new ideas" of Roddy Boy.
I think the issue that most miffed me was that the gov now has a plan to take away the privildeges of elected Republicans. If that isn't partison politics I guess I don't know what is. What good is it to elect official to represent you if the govenor of the state devises a plan to take away those officials voting priviledges? And how can any Democrat that supports this type of plan be anything but partison?
Maybe the only option Illinois has is to impeach the jerk! Take away his expensive airplane trips and make him fly like the rest of us waiting in line, going through security and on the puddle jumpers that fly from Chicago to Springfield. Then after he is impeached we can elect third party candidates and get rid of the partisons on both side of the aisle.
Todays local paper told me that he blamed all the problems on one of his own Democrats, House leader Michael Madigan. It is all Madigans fault that the budget issues can't be resolved. I have actually become a little more in favor of Madigan because of his fight against the "new ideas" of Roddy Boy.
I think the issue that most miffed me was that the gov now has a plan to take away the privildeges of elected Republicans. If that isn't partison politics I guess I don't know what is. What good is it to elect official to represent you if the govenor of the state devises a plan to take away those officials voting priviledges? And how can any Democrat that supports this type of plan be anything but partison?
Maybe the only option Illinois has is to impeach the jerk! Take away his expensive airplane trips and make him fly like the rest of us waiting in line, going through security and on the puddle jumpers that fly from Chicago to Springfield. Then after he is impeached we can elect third party candidates and get rid of the partisons on both side of the aisle.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Why change the rules NOW?
Read the letter first and then read what it is costing us as Americans. Every Federal Representative and Senator should read this letter before proposing or voting on legislation for immigration revisions.
This lady made her arguments pretty clear. She made some good points. For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when arguing against the politically correct versions of immigration reform being proposed.
Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published.
New Immigrants
From: "David LaBonte"
My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the Orange County Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet.
Pass it along if you feel so inclined.
Dave LaBonte (signed)
Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:
Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.
Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer.
Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home. They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.
Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.
Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.
And here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is about.
I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.
And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.
(signed) Rosemary LaBonte
MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA
-----
-----
Check out these figures, has the U.S. gone mad or is it just the people who are running it....
So often, we get caught up in a debate over political semantics and end up ignoring the hard-shell realities of what we're talking about. According to http://www.immigrationCounters.com , here are some of the realities that the Flake-Gutierrez Bill would airbrush out of the picture:
Number of Illegal Aliens in the Country 20,807,645
Money Wired to Mexico City since January, 2006 $ 22,213,001,672
Cost of Social Security Services for Illegal Aliens since 1996 $397,450,739,563
Number of Children of Illegal Aliens in Public Schools 3,958,789
Cost of Illegal Aliens in K-12 Since 1996: $ 13, 965,063,431
Number of Illegal Aliens Incarcerated 332,594
Cost of Incarcerations Since 2001 $ 1,398,127,429
Number of Illegal Aliens Fugitives 642,799
Skilled Jobs Taken by Illegal Aliens 9,872,838
Figures can trick your eyes. Take particular note that items 2,3,5, and 7 reflect BILLIONS not millions of dollars -- and that item 3 exceeds one-third of a TRILLION dollars.
Can you imagine how much it will cost taxpayers if we triple the number of illegals entering this country!!
So, What's in a Billion?.......
Granted................. This is from the US!
The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a casual manner, think about whether you want the "politicians" spending your tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it .
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It is amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean?
a. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.00.
b. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787.00.
c. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.00.
Washington, D.C. .... HELLO!!! .. Are all your calculators broken??
This is too true.........And these numbers don't lie.........and, it's not funny!!!
This lady made her arguments pretty clear. She made some good points. For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when arguing against the politically correct versions of immigration reform being proposed.
Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published.
New Immigrants
From: "David LaBonte"
My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the Orange County Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet.
Pass it along if you feel so inclined.
Dave LaBonte (signed)
Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:
Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.
Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer.
Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home. They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.
Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.
Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.
And here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is about.
I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.
And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.
(signed) Rosemary LaBonte
MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA
-----
-----
Check out these figures, has the U.S. gone mad or is it just the people who are running it....
So often, we get caught up in a debate over political semantics and end up ignoring the hard-shell realities of what we're talking about. According to http://www.immigrationCounters.com , here are some of the realities that the Flake-Gutierrez Bill would airbrush out of the picture:
Number of Illegal Aliens in the Country 20,807,645
Money Wired to Mexico City since January, 2006 $ 22,213,001,672
Cost of Social Security Services for Illegal Aliens since 1996 $397,450,739,563
Number of Children of Illegal Aliens in Public Schools 3,958,789
Cost of Illegal Aliens in K-12 Since 1996: $ 13, 965,063,431
Number of Illegal Aliens Incarcerated 332,594
Cost of Incarcerations Since 2001 $ 1,398,127,429
Number of Illegal Aliens Fugitives 642,799
Skilled Jobs Taken by Illegal Aliens 9,872,838
Figures can trick your eyes. Take particular note that items 2,3,5, and 7 reflect BILLIONS not millions of dollars -- and that item 3 exceeds one-third of a TRILLION dollars.
Can you imagine how much it will cost taxpayers if we triple the number of illegals entering this country!!
So, What's in a Billion?.......
Granted................. This is from the US!
The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a casual manner, think about whether you want the "politicians" spending your tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it .
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It is amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean?
a. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.00.
b. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787.00.
c. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.00.
Washington, D.C. .... HELLO!!! .. Are all your calculators broken??
This is too true.........And these numbers don't lie.........and, it's not funny!!!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
The Bird Feeder
I received this email from a friend and thought it appropriate to share.
I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and
loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.
After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.
Now lets see...our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for
free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English: Corn Flakes now come
in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.
Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder.
I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and
loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.
After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.
Now lets see...our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for
free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English: Corn Flakes now come
in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.
Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Brits and Basrah in Danger
Interesting article from the Telegraph.co.uk
British troops in Basra will be hemmed into an isolated military base and will face a relentless series of murderous attacks over the summer, senior officers have warned.
Commanders believe that the plan to withdraw troops to just one British base in the southern Iraqi city, which begins today, will lead to a significant increase in the number of casualties being sustained by the Army.
They fear it will encourage insurgents to concentrate almost all their attacks against the base, Basra Palace, a mile from the city centre and home to about 1,000 soldiers.
The withdrawal is part of a "reposturing" plan outlined by Tony Blair in a statement to the House of Commons in February, in which British troops gradually hand over areas of the city to the Iraqi police and army, while withdrawing from three separate bases to just the one.
The fighting in Basra is already being compared to the summer of 2004, when British troops were attacked by heavily armed insurgents every time they ventured on to the streets of the city after an uprising by the Shia Mehdi Army.
The latest deadly attack came on Thursday when four soldiers, two of them women including a Sandhurst contemporary of Prince William, were killed when their Warrior armoured vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb.
Virtually every military patrol in the city is now attacked with automatic rifle fire, rocket propelled grenades or, worse still, the feared roadside bomb. Soldiers who have recently returned from fighting in Basra have revealed that troops can now be expected to be attacked within minutes of leaving the relative safety of their bases.
Even non routine, intelligence-led operations are at risk from attacks because troop movements are monitored by so-called "dickers", a term which originated during the conflict in Ulster and is now used to describe Iraqis who relay information to the insurgents by mobile telephones.
The upsurge in violence is being blamed on two rival Shia groups in Basra who are vying to fill the power vacuum created when British troops finally pull out of the city. They also want the perceived kudos of being able to say they were the ones who ousted the British Army.
British commanders in Basra now admit that the number of attacks against coalition forces are beginning to escalate dangerously.
Lt Col Kevin Stratford-Wright, the Army spokesman in Basra, said: "The level of attacks against us at the moment is high. There appears to be a conscious decision by the insurgents to attack British troops.
"They want to disrupt the security transition process and they want to be able to say 'we kicked the Brits out of Basra'. But we will leave Basra when the time is right."
Movement by military convoys around the city is also becoming increasingly more difficult and even the shortest journey borders on being a major operation, with routes having to be cleared by Army dog handlers checking "vulnerable points" - such as areas where roads narrow - for hidden explosives.
The eight miles to the airport can take more than five hours to travel because it is no longer possible to take a direct route in and out of Basra.
Last month, British troops vacated the Old State Building, the base in the centre of Basra which had the dubious distinction of being the most attacked military location in Iraq.
One senior officer said: "We have been bombed out of every base we have been in so far and the prediction is that the same will happen when we are based only in the Basra Palace.
"Withdrawing to just one base will enable the insurgents to concentrate their forces against us. They can attack us with indirect fire from within the city, by firing rockets and mortars into the compound, they can ambush us with IEDs [improvised explosive devices] when we are travelling in vehicles and they can snipe at us when we are on foot patrol. It is only going to get worse."
The security situation in the area is further undermined by the notoriously corrupt local police, the majority of whom are aligned to one of the insurgent groups. Last month one police chief complained that he could not trust one third of his officers because of links to insurgents. Another senior officer said that he had been forced to hire 300 illiterate officers for tribal reasons.
In any other country apart from Iraq, Basra Palace would be a "must see" site on the international tourist map. Built by the Ottomans and expanded under Saddam Hussein's regime, it sits in a tranquil setting along the lush banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
These days, however, its once beautiful gardens, lakes and canals are rarely visited by the multi-national force housed inside. No one wants to be caught in the open when mortars and rockets begin to fall, as they do on most days.
The brunt of the attacks has been felt by troops from 19 Light Brigade, who are coming to the end of their six-month tour. The brigade has sustained more than 20 fatalities and dozens more soldiers have been injured. Several have lost limbs.
This year alone 13 soldiers have been killed in Basra and six of those deaths have occurred this month.
Thursday's attack, which left four soldiers and a civilian interpreter dead when their Warrior armoured fighting vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb, was a carefully planned ambush.
The soldiers, 2nd Lt Joanna Dyer, 24; Cpl Kris O'Neil, 27, Pte Eleanor Dlugosz, 19 and Kingsman Adam Smith, 19, were all killed instantly.
Lt Dyer, who came from a military family, was a close friend of Prince William at Sandhurst. She was serving with the Intelligence Corps and had volunteered to deploy to Iraq immediately after being commissioned in December.
Such is the strength of the armour on the Warrior that the vehicle was regarded previously as being impregnable to improvised explosive devices, which use a shaped charge to pierce the hull of armoured vehicles.
The fact that the Shia insurgents have developed a weapon that can "defeat" a Warrior's armour means that British troops now have no vehicle that can protect them against the threat from roadside bombs.
The "shaped charge" basically has the same effect as an anti-tank rocket when it strikes an armoured vehicle. It is widely assumed that the technology for making the bombs and the devices for triggering them have been developed across the border by elements of the Iranian Republican Guard.
Prince Harry will be serving with 1 Mechanised Brigade which replaces 19 Light Brigade in the next few weeks.
However, the prince will not take part in patrols in Basra. His unit, the Life Guards, will spend six months working as a covert force patrolling the border with Iran.
Senior officers have said that Harry, who has "won the respect of his men" will be given no special treatment and will expect to carry out his duties "just like any junior officer".
British troops in Basra will be hemmed into an isolated military base and will face a relentless series of murderous attacks over the summer, senior officers have warned.
Commanders believe that the plan to withdraw troops to just one British base in the southern Iraqi city, which begins today, will lead to a significant increase in the number of casualties being sustained by the Army.
They fear it will encourage insurgents to concentrate almost all their attacks against the base, Basra Palace, a mile from the city centre and home to about 1,000 soldiers.
The withdrawal is part of a "reposturing" plan outlined by Tony Blair in a statement to the House of Commons in February, in which British troops gradually hand over areas of the city to the Iraqi police and army, while withdrawing from three separate bases to just the one.
The fighting in Basra is already being compared to the summer of 2004, when British troops were attacked by heavily armed insurgents every time they ventured on to the streets of the city after an uprising by the Shia Mehdi Army.
The latest deadly attack came on Thursday when four soldiers, two of them women including a Sandhurst contemporary of Prince William, were killed when their Warrior armoured vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb.
Virtually every military patrol in the city is now attacked with automatic rifle fire, rocket propelled grenades or, worse still, the feared roadside bomb. Soldiers who have recently returned from fighting in Basra have revealed that troops can now be expected to be attacked within minutes of leaving the relative safety of their bases.
Even non routine, intelligence-led operations are at risk from attacks because troop movements are monitored by so-called "dickers", a term which originated during the conflict in Ulster and is now used to describe Iraqis who relay information to the insurgents by mobile telephones.
The upsurge in violence is being blamed on two rival Shia groups in Basra who are vying to fill the power vacuum created when British troops finally pull out of the city. They also want the perceived kudos of being able to say they were the ones who ousted the British Army.
British commanders in Basra now admit that the number of attacks against coalition forces are beginning to escalate dangerously.
Lt Col Kevin Stratford-Wright, the Army spokesman in Basra, said: "The level of attacks against us at the moment is high. There appears to be a conscious decision by the insurgents to attack British troops.
"They want to disrupt the security transition process and they want to be able to say 'we kicked the Brits out of Basra'. But we will leave Basra when the time is right."
Movement by military convoys around the city is also becoming increasingly more difficult and even the shortest journey borders on being a major operation, with routes having to be cleared by Army dog handlers checking "vulnerable points" - such as areas where roads narrow - for hidden explosives.
The eight miles to the airport can take more than five hours to travel because it is no longer possible to take a direct route in and out of Basra.
Last month, British troops vacated the Old State Building, the base in the centre of Basra which had the dubious distinction of being the most attacked military location in Iraq.
One senior officer said: "We have been bombed out of every base we have been in so far and the prediction is that the same will happen when we are based only in the Basra Palace.
"Withdrawing to just one base will enable the insurgents to concentrate their forces against us. They can attack us with indirect fire from within the city, by firing rockets and mortars into the compound, they can ambush us with IEDs [improvised explosive devices] when we are travelling in vehicles and they can snipe at us when we are on foot patrol. It is only going to get worse."
The security situation in the area is further undermined by the notoriously corrupt local police, the majority of whom are aligned to one of the insurgent groups. Last month one police chief complained that he could not trust one third of his officers because of links to insurgents. Another senior officer said that he had been forced to hire 300 illiterate officers for tribal reasons.
In any other country apart from Iraq, Basra Palace would be a "must see" site on the international tourist map. Built by the Ottomans and expanded under Saddam Hussein's regime, it sits in a tranquil setting along the lush banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
These days, however, its once beautiful gardens, lakes and canals are rarely visited by the multi-national force housed inside. No one wants to be caught in the open when mortars and rockets begin to fall, as they do on most days.
The brunt of the attacks has been felt by troops from 19 Light Brigade, who are coming to the end of their six-month tour. The brigade has sustained more than 20 fatalities and dozens more soldiers have been injured. Several have lost limbs.
This year alone 13 soldiers have been killed in Basra and six of those deaths have occurred this month.
Thursday's attack, which left four soldiers and a civilian interpreter dead when their Warrior armoured fighting vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb, was a carefully planned ambush.
The soldiers, 2nd Lt Joanna Dyer, 24; Cpl Kris O'Neil, 27, Pte Eleanor Dlugosz, 19 and Kingsman Adam Smith, 19, were all killed instantly.
Lt Dyer, who came from a military family, was a close friend of Prince William at Sandhurst. She was serving with the Intelligence Corps and had volunteered to deploy to Iraq immediately after being commissioned in December.
Such is the strength of the armour on the Warrior that the vehicle was regarded previously as being impregnable to improvised explosive devices, which use a shaped charge to pierce the hull of armoured vehicles.
The fact that the Shia insurgents have developed a weapon that can "defeat" a Warrior's armour means that British troops now have no vehicle that can protect them against the threat from roadside bombs.
The "shaped charge" basically has the same effect as an anti-tank rocket when it strikes an armoured vehicle. It is widely assumed that the technology for making the bombs and the devices for triggering them have been developed across the border by elements of the Iranian Republican Guard.
Prince Harry will be serving with 1 Mechanised Brigade which replaces 19 Light Brigade in the next few weeks.
However, the prince will not take part in patrols in Basra. His unit, the Life Guards, will spend six months working as a covert force patrolling the border with Iran.
Senior officers have said that Harry, who has "won the respect of his men" will be given no special treatment and will expect to carry out his duties "just like any junior officer".
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