Mediaboss Marketing

Sgt. Marshall H. Edgerton was 7 years old when his grandfather picked him up early from school in December 2003.

That wasnt necessarily odd, because at the time, the now 23-year-old paratroopers father was serving in Iraq. And for six months before that, he was deployed to Afghanistan.

Me and my mom and sister had moved back to Tennessee, because right on my dads arrival back from deployment, he was getting out. His ETS was coming up," Edgerton recalled during a telephone interview with Army Times.

I got called out of school and I got in the car and there was my mom and her mom and dad, my grandparents, he added. They were crying and no one was really saying anything.

After picking up his uncle, the family explained what happened. His father, then-Spc. Marshall L. Edgerton, had been killed in action Dec. 11 while pulling guard duty at Camp Ar Ramadi, Iraq.

I was 7, so I understood but at the same time I didnt, the son said.

At the time of his death, the father of two was assigned to a signal battalion within the 82nd Airborne Division.

Almost 16 years later, Edgerton was serving in his fathers old division when he received an email from Fort Gordon officials in Georgia. The post was naming a new barracks for signal corps students after his father on the anniversary of his death, and they wanted the Edgerton family at the Dec. 11 dedication ceremony.

Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup Don't miss the top Army stories, delivered each afternoon

Subscribe

Enter a valid email address (please select a country) United States United Kingdom Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Thanks for signing up!

By giving us your email, you are opting in to the Army Times Daily News Roundup.

News reports from the early 2000s and a pamphlet passed around at the ceremony detail the elder Edgertons final moments.

Suicide bombers had approached the base west of Baghdad in a furniture truck hiding an improvised explosive device in the gas tank. After it was waived through the gate, the 27-year-old father offered to escort the truck onto the compound, taking the place of another soldier who needed to grab lunch.

Fellow paratroopers heard Edgerton shouting to warn others just prior to a massive blast rigged from several 100-pound artillery shells. He was the only fatality, but soldiers with him that day said that had he not noticed something was wrong, the truck could have made it to the chow hall where soldiers were busy eating their noon meal.

Edgerton posthumously received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals for his actions.

Years later, his son enlisted, too. Attending jump school like his father was always the goal, said Edgerton, who recalled watching his father jump out at Sicily Drop Zone, near Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

That was my focus. Walking into the recruiters office, I was like Hey, I dont care what job it is, I want an Airborne contract, he explained. And then I got to Airborne School and it was probably the most nervous week of my life. This is what I had been thinking about since I was 5, 6, 7 years old. I am actually doing it now."

The dedication ceremony took place Wednesday on Fort Gordon. Edgerton brought his wife and daughter to the event, and his mother and sister also attended.

The ceremony was important for another reason, though. It offered a long awaited chance for Edgerton to reconnect with his fathers old battle buddies.

I keep in touch with all the guys who worked with my dad and I ran into a lot who are still in the military, and a lot are coming down, too, Edgerton said as he was in transit to the dedication ceremony earlier this week.

It will be the first time since the 10-year anniversary of fathers death that Edgerton has seen many of those friends of his father.

Not only is it good in the sense that theyre memorializing him, but its also kind of an opportunity for a lot of those guys to come in and were all going to catch up, he added. This kind of facilitated it in a way.

Edgerton, who currently serves as a signal support systems specialist, wants to make the Army his career. He has even been contemplating putting an application in to become a warrant officer.

Edgerton Barracks is part of a series of construction projects underway as part of a Fort Gordon modernization push, officials there said.

The new barracks will be the largest company and barracks facility on Fort Gordon, according to Col. John T. Batson, commander of the brigade that will use the complex. It will consist of 300 rooms and will house 900 soldiers attending advanced individual training in signal specialties, Batson said.

For Edgerton, the new barracks stands as a memorial to his father, but also as a lesson and reminder to future signal corps soldiers as they enter the Army.

All the new soldiers coming into the signal corps and getting that training, theyre going to see that when they walk in every day, he said. I think its awesome.

See the original post here:
Paratrooper who lost father in Iraq attends dedication ceremony for barracks named in his honor - ArmyTimes.com

Geneva An armed group said to be connected to the government kidnapped at least 300 demonstrators from Baghdads Tahrir (Liberation) Square more than a month ago and is holding them in a secret prison, says the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and the Iraqi Warcrimes Documentation Center.

The two organizations say they learned of the crime from one of the protesters who was released, who asked to remain anonymous. He told Euro-Med Monitor and the documentation center that the armed group, which kidnapped him and his fellow protesters on 7 November, is affiliated with the governments Popular Mobilization security forces.

He based this knowledge on the kidnappers uniforms and vehicles, and the fact that the group is responsible for most of the kidnapping operations that target activists and protesters. Popular Mobilization also runs the secret prison where he and the others were taken, which is located near an agricultural area known as Sariia Al-Daorah in Baghdad and is a former military facility.

Theres one female in the group and they are kept in disastrous conditions in the prison, said the released detainee. It lacks the most basic essentials of decency.

Murders, disappearances and kidnappings of protesters have become common in Iraq since anti-government demonstrations broke out on 1 October. For example, in another case, on 6 December, a group of masked gunmen in a jeep stormed Khulani Square and Sinak Bridge, raining protesters with bullets from machine guns at a close distance. To date, more than 500 protesters have been killed, 17,000 injured and thousands arrested.

The Iraqi government is responsible for the safety of the civilians and must fulfill its duties according to the constitution to prevent kidnappings, which are seemingly carried out by forces sanctioned by the government, said Tariq al-Liwa, Euro-Med Monitors legal researcher.

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and the Iraqi Warcrimes Documentation Center urges the Iraqi government and parliament to immediately secure the release of all detainees, stop capturing civilians, open an urgent investigation into kidnappings carried out by Iraqi forces and their militias, and prosecute those responsible and their leaders in accordance with the law.

Read more here:
Euro-Med Monitor: 300 Iraqi Protesters Kidnapped by Government Forces and Held in Secret Prison - Iraq - ReliefWeb

SALADIN, Iraq (AA)

The death toll from four separate attacks in Iraqs Saladin and Diyala provinces has risen to 15, local security sources told Anadolu Agency on Friday.

The sources, who asked not to be named due to security concerns, said a total of 11 members of the Hashd al-Shaabi militia were killed in two truck bomb explosions near its military checkpoint in Samarra city in Saladin.

Three children died in Al-Shirqat city in Saladin when a bomb exploded on a road leading to a primary school.

In addition, one person was killed and two others wounded in Diyala province when a bomb planted on a motorcycle detonated.

No organization has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but security sources say they are similar to those carried out by the Daesh/ISIS terror group.

Meanwhile, scores of protestors were referred to hospitals in the capital Baghdad and Karbala province due to injuries from tear gas, according to information from a health source.

Read this article:
Death toll in Iraq from suspected terror blasts hits 15 - Anadolu Agency

In its heyday in the late 1970s, Iraq was considered the luckiest Arab country as it had both oil and water, a relatively modern citizenry, and a Baathist regime which, though authoritarian, was progressive and less corrupt. Ironically, since then, Iraq has endured four decades of near ceaseless depredations with three Mother of All Battles, economic sanctions, occupation, and existential duels with al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS). Recently, it has been crippled by agitations led by youth railing against an inapt and corrupt leadership. They are frustrated because of unemployment, decaying civic amenities, and foreign domination. On December 1, the Iraqi Parliament accepted the resignation of the Prime Minister throwing the country into a fresh bout of political instability.

Iraqis discontent is rooted in reality. In 2018, Iraqs oil exports were $91 billion, or over $6 a day for each citizen. Yet, over 41% of population lived below the poverty line of $3.2/day. Two years after the defeat of the IS, millions of internally displaced Iraqis still await rehabilitation. Iraqis also resent foreign hegemony, mainly by the U.S. and Iran. The attempts to burn down the Iranian consulates in Karbala and Najaf last month show popular antipathy.

The redeeming features of the protest movement have been its non-violence and inclusivity, despite Iraq being a sectarian, tribal society awash with weapons. The protests have often been met with excessive force by authorities leading to over 400 deaths. Last week, unknown gunmen massacred 22 protestors and three policemen in Baghdad.

Although the agitators reject the current political system, they lack a precise alternative. They call for a revolution to dismantle the Muhasasa system of sect-based allocation of government positions and replace it with direct elections and meritocracy. While they are resolute and united, the absence of any hierarchy or nationwide coordination renders them vulnerable to manipulation and divisions. But then, these attributes also allow them moral high ground and focus.

Arrayed against the utopian and inexperienced youth are formidable forces: the wily politico-clergy nexus (and their sectarian militias), anarchists like al Qaeda and IS scheming for a rerun, and renegade Baathists yearning for Saddam Husseins authoritarianism. Since the U.S. invasion in 2003, anarchic and enfeebled Iraq has been a hunting ground for various foreign powers the U.S., Iran, Israel, Sunni Gulf powers, and Turkey and their local proxies. With its geostrategic location, massive oil reserves and large Shia population, Iraq is a big prize.

Although the Prime Ministers resignation has broken a protracted stalemate, the prospects for an early positive resolution appear dim. The agitation could either coagulate into a more inclusive political force, or fragment along sectarian lines, or morph into a militancy. To survive, Iraqs ruling politico-religious elite would need a package addressing agitators basic demands and mitigating their distress. The new dispensation would need to be sectarian-light. To make a clean break from the current discredited system, Iraq will need a new electoral law or even a new Constitution. In a young democracy, it is important to create institutions sympathetic to the youths aspirations. The new leadership would also be under scrutiny for its nationalism.

For Indians, the developments in Iraq may appear as a distant rumble. They are not. One, Iraq is Indias largest source of crude. A protracted instability in Iraq would result in oil price rise. Two, with direct bilateral trade of over $24 billion in 2018-19, Iraq is already a large market for Indias exports with sizeable potential for growth. Three, in the 1975-85 decade, Iraq was the biggest market for Indias project exports; its post-conflict reconstruction requirement would be huge. Additionally, India can also help Iraq in MSMEs, skill development, healthcare, education, and improved governance.

But before all this can happen, India would need to help Iraq avoid the worst-case scenario. For this, it needs to hold Iraqs hand to foster political reforms and help create credible and effective socio-political institutions. Over the past 70 years, India has created such institutions suited for a multi-ethnic developing society. This makes it compatible to partner with Iraq. Moreover, Indias millennia-long civilisational ties with Mesopotamia give it a tradition of goodwill with all sections of Iraqi society. This legacy needs to be leveraged not only to help transform Iraq, but also revitalise Indias bilateral ties with this friendly country in the extended neighbourhood.

Mahesh Sachdev, a retired diplomat, was Ambassador to Algeria, Norway and Nigeria. He heads Eco-Diplomacy and Strategies in New Delhi

You have reached your limit for free articles this month.

Register to The Hindu for free and get unlimited access for 30 days.

Find mobile-friendly version of articles from the day's newspaper in one easy-to-read list.

Enjoy reading as many articles as you wish without any limitations.

A select list of articles that match your interests and tastes.

Move smoothly between articles as our pages load instantly.

A one-stop-shop for seeing the latest updates, and managing your preferences.

We brief you on the latest and most important developments, three times a day.

Not convinced? Know why you should pay for news.

*Our Digital Subscription plans do not currently include the e-paper ,crossword, iPhone, iPad mobile applications and print. Our plans enhance your reading experience.

See the article here:
Iraqs autumn of discontent - The Hindu

SUBSCRIBE TO THE FEDERALIST RADIO HOUR HERE.

Mike Giglio, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins the Federalist Radio Hour to discuss his new book on the rise and fall of the ISIS caliphate in the Middle East. Host Ben Domenech and Giglio discuss his time reporting overseas, his relationships with members of ISIS, the fall of Mosul, and the impact of conflict on the rest of the world.

We kept seeing actual progress against ISIS. It wasnt a talking point, they were losing their territory, Giglio said. America can be so powerful when it wants to be. It doesnt mean you have to send masses of troops. If the U.S. put its diplomatic weight behind finding better outcomes in Syria and Iraq, I think it would look a lot differently.

Giglios book is, Shatter the Nations: ISIS and the War for the Caliphate.

LISTEN HERE:

Continue reading here:
Podcast: Looking Inside The Battle Against ISIS In Iraq And Syria - The Federalist