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	<title>Battleground Iraq</title>
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	<description>Americans at War. This site is to give journalistic witness to U.S. troops at war in Iraq and honor their service.</description>
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		<title>Battleground Iraq</title>
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		<title>Fear: Real and Palpable</title>
		<link>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/fear-real-and-palpable/</link>
		<comments>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/fear-real-and-palpable/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:08:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>battlegroundiraq</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[current events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human interest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iraq war]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/?p=38</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[  Fear is more than a four-letter concept in Iraq’s Diyala province. It’s real. It’s constant. It’s all-pervasive, and for years while the area was under the thumb of al-Qaida it was a matter of life and death.  It still is all the above. The number of active al-Qaida-Iraq terrorists in the province north of Baghdad [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com&amp;blog=1923597&amp;post=38&amp;subd=battlegroundiraq&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Meeting an IED &#8212; Up Close and Personal</title>
		<link>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/meeting-an-ied-up-close-and-personal/</link>
		<comments>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/meeting-an-ied-up-close-and-personal/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:03:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>battlegroundiraq</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[current events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human interest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iraq war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[journalism]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[War on Terror]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bombs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[explosions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IEDs]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/meeting-an-ied-up-close-and-personal/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[    Encountering an improvised explosive device, or IED, in Iraq is a matter of odds. The bombs are al-Qaida’s weapon of choice and necessity as their numbers dwindle and U.S. military forces work to help the process along. But if you’re a U.S. military combat engineer, the chance of getting blown up is not a [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com&amp;blog=1923597&amp;post=37&amp;subd=battlegroundiraq&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Armed Neighborhood Watch Boosts Security</title>
		<link>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2008/01/06/armed-neighborhood-watch-boosts-security/</link>
		<comments>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2008/01/06/armed-neighborhood-watch-boosts-security/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Jan 2008 06:02:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>battlegroundiraq</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[current events]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Peacemaking]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[war]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Iraq Security Volunteers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2008/01/06/armed-neighborhood-watch-boosts-security/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   Baghdad, Iraq &#8212; Ordinary Iraqis helping take responsibility for neighborhood security and earning money while doing so are contributing to the downturn in violence in Baghdad. In the volatile Adhamiya District of East Baghdad last month, Iraqi Security Volunteers, or ISVs, found a large cache of explosives as well as a number of car bombs [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com&amp;blog=1923597&amp;post=35&amp;subd=battlegroundiraq&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Hope in the &#8216;Hood</title>
		<link>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/hope-in-the-hood/</link>
		<comments>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/hope-in-the-hood/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:34:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>battlegroundiraq</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[current events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human interest]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/hope-in-the-hood/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   Baghdad, Iraq &#8212; Signs that the surge of U.S. forces into Baghdad is working to give the Iraqis time to establish a semblance of security and stability go beyond the obvious dampening of street battles and bombings. It’s in the smaller, slower transformations in neighborhoods where deeper validations are  taking place and where the seeds of [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com&amp;blog=1923597&amp;post=34&amp;subd=battlegroundiraq&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Shakin&#8217; With the Sheikh</title>
		<link>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/shakin-with-the-sheikh/</link>
		<comments>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/shakin-with-the-sheikh/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>battlegroundiraq</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/shakin-with-the-sheikh/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Hit, Iraq &#8212; Nearly five years into the occupation of Iraq the United States is learning what the British, the Turks and even Saddam Hussein knew and practiced before them: Forming alliances with tribal sheikhs is essential to pacifying and governing the country. For tribal identification in Iraq is not just an asterisk in a personal [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com&amp;blog=1923597&amp;post=33&amp;subd=battlegroundiraq&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>U.S.-tribal cooperation helps pacify Hit</title>
		<link>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/us-tribal-cooperation-helps-pacify-hit/</link>
		<comments>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/us-tribal-cooperation-helps-pacify-hit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>battlegroundiraq</dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[Tribes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/us-tribal-cooperation-helps-pacify-hit/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Hit, Iraq – Along the banks of the Euphrates River and just 30 miles from the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi sits a success story in U.S. counter-insurgency efforts in Iraq. The place is named Hit, or Heet, depending on the chosen transliteration between Arabic and English. And it’s a place where the sometimes controversial practice [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com&amp;blog=1923597&amp;post=32&amp;subd=battlegroundiraq&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Letter From Iraq: Complacency Kills</title>
		<link>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/letter-from-iraq-complacency-kills/</link>
		<comments>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/letter-from-iraq-complacency-kills/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:48:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>battlegroundiraq</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/letter-from-iraq-complacency-kills/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ “Complacency Kills” is the GI mantra in Iraq. It’s posted in every office, every briefing room, every mess hall. There’s simply no escaping it. It soon becomes part of your consciousness, whether you’re safe behind the razor-wire and berms of an encampment or out in harm’s way.   Admittedly, “Complacency Kills” is an odd admonition for [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com&amp;blog=1923597&amp;post=31&amp;subd=battlegroundiraq&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Musing: A Cruel Situation</title>
		<link>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/musing-a-cruel-situation/</link>
		<comments>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/musing-a-cruel-situation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:28:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>battlegroundiraq</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/musing-a-cruel-situation/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[  Man can endure many hardships, but life without coffee ain’t one of &#8216;em. It’s not just inconvenient; it’s not just unpleasant. It’s criminal – damn criminal &#8212; especially when you’re in Iraq. And especially when it’s freezing inside and out. Yet that’s part of life for U.S. Marines in Heet (also spelled Hit), a [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com&amp;blog=1923597&amp;post=30&amp;subd=battlegroundiraq&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Commentary: Happy Thanksgiving From Iraq</title>
		<link>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/11/22/commentary-happy-thanksgiving-from-iraq/</link>
		<comments>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/11/22/commentary-happy-thanksgiving-from-iraq/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:27:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>battlegroundiraq</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/11/22/commentary-happy-thanksgiving-from-iraq/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Happy Thanksgiving from Iraq, America. And the wish is valid even if the day itself has passed for you and leftover turkey recipes have become mighty old to the palate. Let me tell you a little something about how your countrymen celebrated the holiday here. I don’t mean the dinners in the International Zone in [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com&amp;blog=1923597&amp;post=29&amp;subd=battlegroundiraq&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Going for Hearts and Minds</title>
		<link>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/going-for-hearts-and-minds/</link>
		<comments>http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/going-for-hearts-and-minds/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:17:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>battlegroundiraq</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/going-for-hearts-and-minds/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[U.S. Works the Angles of Hearts and Minds By Richard Tomkins &#160;   Rutbah , Iraq – The United States is in perhaps its most difficult phase to date in the war and occupation of Iraq – counter-insurgency and all the strategy and tactics it entails.  On the one hand, it must continue to fight [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=battlegroundiraq.wordpress.com&amp;blog=1923597&amp;post=26&amp;subd=battlegroundiraq&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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