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Mark From Ireland had a really distressing article yesterday at Gorillas Guides that deserves a mention and some brain-think from our vet community.

So there we were Saba, Mohammed, and I chatting away and surfing the Arabic news sites preparatory to doing tonight’s posting … and I came across this story on, (of all places) Buratha News (yeah, yeah, I know, we go there so that you don’t have to OK?)

Sometimes you just stare at the screen, then you rub your eyes in disbelief. What you do next is you hotfoot it as fast as your little cyber feet can carry you over to spokesweasel central the Press Releases page at MNF. Sure enough:

Iraqi Air Force delivers water, displays proficiency
13th SC(E), LSA ANACONDA PAO

CAMP ADDER, Iraq – Iraqi soldiers got a big boost in national pride and confidence Monday as they watched an Iraqi Air Force C-130 deliver fresh water to Camp Delta.

The fledgling Iraqi Air Force conducted this, its first logistical operation, to provide fresh bottled drinking water while keeping convoys off the uncertain roads.

The aircraft delivered the equivalent of roughly five truck loads of palletized water. This means keeping those trucks and the necessary security trucks that would accompany them off the roadway, said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Drushal, support operations officer in charge for the 82nd Sustainment Brigade.

This was a coalition effort. When the Iraqi cargo plane landed at Camp Delta, it was directed to a safe landing by Polish air control operators.

Water is a very heavy product to ship by air. If you’ve forgotten your high school physics, it’s 8.3 lbs per gallon, and water is more than a premium item in the desert; it’s survival. You could get by on reduced water rations in a shortage and not wash for a few days, although you probably wouldn’t want to be downwind of yourself in 100+ degree heat, and good soldiers know that poor hygiene exacts a health toll in increased sickness. You can get away with not cooking with water for a while, but MREs require water, too. So do water-cooled vehicles. Flying in water is something to think about.

Now, a word or three about the folks at Gorillas Guides. Their basic political philosophy seems to be that the need for our presence in Iraq ended about 14 minutes 37 seconds after the Saddam Hussein statue was famously pulled down to a cheering crowd of three dozen paid hands. I have no argument with them about what I perceive their belief to be, although I do believe that if our rulers weren’t so malignly influenced by the Likud Party we might have spent some money undoing the damage we did when we kicked in the door in March, 2003.

What I do like about them is that they actually read and write both Arabic and English, and until I find otherwise I take their translations as accurate. Plus, most of them are “over there” and have access to a lot more raw news than I have. When I read their columns I try to keep an open mind and not let myself be swayed by either their, or my, political agendas. In judging news, as well as history, it’s intellectually dishonest to allow your inner lens of prejudice to color what you see.

Here’s the second part of Mark’s report:

Now let’s see. Camp Delta. That’d be FOB Delta/Camp Delta fairly close to Kut. Things have got so bad for their logistics that they have to fly water in to a major base, and they’re boasting about it? Toddle along to this posting from April 3rd read the first paragraph and then scroll down the list of main events that day - you won’t have to scroll far, the list headed“Other Developments (1)” is the one you need.Then come back here if you’ve a mind to.

You can look if you want to. It’s a report of a US plane, apparently a cargo plane, shot down by missile climbing out of Anaconda.

One could immediately protest in reaction: “How can you believe anything they [Iraqis] say?” In response I can only say I haven’t caught an Iraqi source lying to me, and in fact might not even know if one did. But I do read and speak English like a treat and have caught MNF-I lying to me.

This report of a water shipment, if true, is significant because it tells you that there is a plan to supply isolated bases if road transportation is interrupted, whether through insurgent action or some grand plan of retreating into the “enduring bases” in the event that a so-called “Korea plan” is developed as a domestic political accommodation at some future point.

So, assuming the Iraqi report translated by Gorillas Guides is accurate, (and it is supported by a news briefing report from MNF-I, so it must be true) we have yet one more data point of confirmation that we’re in for the long haul, no matter what happens.

I’m a bit of a WWII buff, and I remember very distinctly that no major bridgehead has ever been successfully supplied by air for more than a few days. I’m sure the noted military experts in the Kagan family, and William Kristol and Whining Joe Lieberman, would dispute this fact, since as they admonish us daily, victory in Iraq is only a matter of will. Since they're all great strategists they probably haven't studied logistics. Will doesn't move tons of logistics.

In checking another verified, and therefore trusted source, Today in Iraq, I found verification of a downed cargo pane in eastern Dalouiya.

Even the 50,000 troops suggested in a “Korea” scenario are going to need lakes of water.