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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL Reflections on Iraq 2 years later It has been two years since my trip to Iraq to see the war through the eyes of Georgia’s 48th Brigade Combat Team located in the aptly named “Triangle of Death”, south of Baghdad. The longer I am away, the scarier it seems. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Happily for them and their families, members of the 48th are back home and back to as normal a life as one can have after dodging roadside bombs and mortars shells and not knowing if the person on the side of the road is going to wave at you or try to kill you. All of this and more dirt, danger, bore dom and stark terror than you can fathom. I have kept up with some of the Band of Brothers (and Sisters) who let me share the dangers of their Iraqi patrols with them. The 48th BCT, a part of the Georgia National Guard, was commanded by Stewart Rodeheaver. At the time of my visit, Gen. Rodeheaver was 9 manag er for the Georgia Power Company. He is now a dep uty commanding general in the United States First Army, headquartered at Fort Gillem, south of Atlanta. The army’s gain is Georgia Power’s loss. He is one of the best leaders I have ever been around. One of Rodeheaver’s key commanders in Iraq was Col. John King, who has been in the news recently because a couple of City of Doraville council members tried to fire him from his post as chief of police. The politicians were upset after he was sent to MoveOn.org bullies crack down on critics MoveOn.org, the left-wing extrem ists who bashed the commander of American forces in Iraq as a traitor, should get out of the political kitchen. The George Soros funded hitmen can’t stand even a bit of heat from Mom and-Pop retailers who tried selling T-shirts and mugs on the Internet critical of the “General Betray Us” smear ads against Gen. David Petraeus. , I heard from one of the independent T-shirt sellers targeted by MoveOn.org last week. The seller is a life long Democrat and member of the military. Incensed by the attack on Petraeus, the retailer opened up a shop at online store CafePress. The homemade designs at the PoliStew Case were stark and simple: “Move Away from Move On!” “Move On. org NoFriend to Dems.” “General Petraeus has done more for this country than MoveOn.org.” For daring to raise a voice and raise some money for the troops (all proceeds from the sale of his items go to the National Military Family Association charity), this T shirt seller earned the wrath of MoveOn.org’s lawyers. MoveOn.org chief operating officer Carrie Olson brought down the sledgehammer. She sent a cease-and i desist letter to CafePress demanding that PoliStew Case’s items and other anti-MoveOn.org mer chandise be removed from the store. Acceptable speech to MoveOn.org is likening President Bush to Adolf Hitler, as they did in 2004. Unacceptable speech: Little old mugs and hoodie sweatshirts gently satirizing the thin-skinned, left-wing mafia. The pretextual copy right infringement claims are downright laughable. This isn’t about protect ing MoveOn.org’s property rights. It’s about shutting up citizens who don’t have the deep pockets to defend themselves’ against frivolous claims by bullies in progres sive clothing. Sane liberals should be ashamed at such free speech squelching efforts. As Los Iraq, one call ing him a “part time police chief. ” Naturally, they were snug in their beds while King was Dick Yarbrough Columnist yarb24oo@bellsouth.net involved in some of the heaviest fighting in the Triangle of Death. The vot ers of Doraville, a town of 15,000 northeast of Atlanta, gave the council members a swift kick in their egos. One resigned after being threatened with a recall peti tion. King not only retained his job but Doraville’s mayor has promised him a contract extension. Good guys do occasionally win one. Bill Huff of Gray wrote me recently. Sgt. Huff was the driver who escorted me to city of Mahmoudiyah, one of the towns that form the Triangle of Death. It was my first day in Iraq and I went there to sit in on a meeting between Gen. Rodeheaver and members of the Iraqi military and law enforcement officers prior to Iraq’s upcoming vote on a new Constitution. I was too polite and scared to comment to Sgt. Huff that his driving seemed erratic until he told me later that we were dodging IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), or roadside bombs. That I am here two years later telling you this story says that Bill Huff did his job well that day. We found an IED a couple of days later the hard way. -wB Angeles Times blog ger Jon Healey, the only other main stream journalist to cover the crack- Michelle Malkin Columnist malkin@comcast.net down, notes: “Trademark law doesn’t confer monop oly rights over all uses of a registered phrase or symbol, however, and it wasn’t cre ated simply to protect the trademark owner’s interests. Instead, it’s designed to pro tect consumers against being misled or confused about brands. The courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of parodies and critiques; that’s why www.famousbrand namesucks.com doesn’t vio late famousbrandname’s trademark. And most of the items targeted by MoveOn were clearly designed to razz it, not to trick buyers into thinking they were the group’s products.” CafePress refused to give in on several of the items. But the speech-chilling mes sage is clear: Parody Move On. org and they’ll threaten to hunt you down and sue you. The PoliStew Case operator took down the pro-Petraeus, anti-MoveOn.org shirts and replaced them instead with merchandise referring to “THE GROUP THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED.” Edward Padgett, a Los Angeles blogger who spread the word about MoveOn’s attempt to silence critics, laments: “For several years I have found MoveOn.org to be an inspirational anti-war group, but the past few weeks they have been an embar rassment to all Americans ...” Dissent-silencing tactics approved, apparently, by the MoveOn.org Democrats who are too busy bashing Rush Limbaugh to notice the gag ging of ordinary citizens on their own side of the politi cal aisle. Welcome to George Soros’s America. Michelle Malkin is author of “Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild. ” Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com. We ran over one. I will never forget the sound and how the backend of the vehicle rose up off the ground right under where I was seated and the smoke that engulfed our Humvee. Someone said later that had the bad guys been five seconds faster or had we been five seconds slower, it would not have been a happy ending. For me, this was a unique experience. For the troops, it was their daily version of Russian roulette on wheels. Business as usual. I will always be grateful for the privilege of being with a group of dedicated men and women who left jobs and families and came to Iraq because it was required of them. No whining. No sec ond-guessing. No guarantee that they would ever make it home. They were schoolteachers, police officers, secretaries, physicians, welders, truck drivers and marketing man agers from one end of the state to the other, and they served at great personal sac rifice and with distinction. Each is a hero. Two years later, I am safe ly at home, but the war in Iraq remains up close and personal. A young friend of SALE 4 J 24.99 jp4r MEN'S SPORT SHIRTS ' JL By Van Heusyt' . and Dockers? ' * Reg. 36.00: . Columbus Day Sale! 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