Posted By:
Melanie Morgan
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* This is where the “Voices of Soldiers” Truth Tour delegation is staying - a picture of our accomodations at Camp Victory:

* Melanie Morgan with Iraqi Lt. General Abdul Qader Jassim:

* Howard Kaloogian with Iraqi Lt. General Abdul Qader Jassim:

* Brad Maaske (of the Iraqi Truth Project and KMJ NewsTalk 580 in Fresno), Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson (of the RighTalk Radio Network), and Martha Zoller (of WDUN NewsTalk 550 Atlanta/Gainesville) in front of the Iraqi Ground Forces Command:

* Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson at Camp Victory:

* These are the accomodations provided to the delegation - an Army-issued cot to sleep on:

* And here is the delegation arriving at the Baghdad Airport:

Note: These last two photos courtesy of Martha Zoller and the good people of WDUN 550 Atlanta/Gainesville.  To see more of Martha’s pictures and trip accounts - CLICK HERE!

Posted By:
Howard Kaloogian
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My vacation adventure began in Florida, meeting people dressed in their traditional native uniforms: Mongolia, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Lithuania, Canada, Kuwait, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom. A total of 61 different countries gathered, working together in one place.

But this doesn’t look like the EPCOT Center I remembered as a child: barbed wire, high concrete obstacles and guards with automatic weapons at the gates preventing entry.

This is CENTCOM, the nerve center for the war on terror. From this base in Tampa, the Army directs its forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s the first stop on a Truth Tour MoveAmericaForward.com has organized to allow the troops on the ground to tell their side of the war.

We are all impressed with the depth of understanding and the complexity of fighting a global war against a Virtual Caliphate when General Custer, director of intelligence there, briefs us with a presentation unclassified but normally reserved for congressmen.

Awaiting permission, I hope to post most of that briefing at MoveAmericaForward.com.

Dennis the hurricane is approaching so now its time to leave. From here we travel to Baghdad with six talk show hosts representing San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno, Atlanta, Washington DC, and the Internet radio network RighTalk.com. More were invited but didn’t find the time (this is my vacation) or money (the cost of this trip is paid for by each of the hosts attending along with major funding by Move America Forward – no taxpayer funding for this trip!), or perhaps inclination to go. Also two documentary producers and 9/11 family survivors join me for this 18 hour ride: Washington DC to Frankfurt to Kuwait City.

To enter Baghdad you become cargo boarding an available transport. Ours was a C-130J Hercules with four prop engines being flown by a Maryland Air Guard crew. With us buckled onto the red straps that serve as seats are 40 soldiers from various units, and a reporter from Wired Magazine. He served on the DNC staff and worked for Clinton/Gore ’92.

As we flew over Baghdad airport at 18,000 feet, the plane banked left circling tightly within the airspace of the runway itself. Then the engine sound changed dramatically until it was eerily quiet. Sitting next to me is Mark Flagg, a veteran Tomcat pilot who today flies for FedEx, his parents died on AA77, the flight that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. “Flight idle,” he yells, a maneuver designed to fool IR missiles by cooling the engines. It also causes the plane to drop like a rock.

Suddenly, flares are jettisoned from either side of the fuselage. Like the first shake of an earthquake you know what is happening and there isn’t much to do but sit and wait for whatever comes next. Bang! The ground comes up to meet us with a thud that would shatter the axle of a lesser beast, but this is the Hercules.

Turns out the liberal reporter bunks with us too. Somehow, the dessert atmosphere chilled in the tent.  But everyone at Camp Victory is smiling and we smile back. Getting here is an E-Ticket ride, yet the adventure has only now begun.

Posted By:
Howard Kaloogian
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On Friday, Move America Forward along with Stafford Hospitality, through a “Thank You BBQ” for U.S. Central Command and troops stationed at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.  Over 600 members of the U.S. Central Command and troops based at MacDill Air Force Base attended the BBQ.

Here are some of the photo highlights from this event…

* Move America Forward Co-Chairman, Howard Kaloogian (left), along with the #2 official of the U.S. Central Command, Brigadier General John Custer [Intelligence Director] (center):

* Our heroes of the U.S. Armed Forces getting a well-deserved “Thank You” - in the form of delicious BBQ:

* RighTalk Radio host - and Move America Forward board member, Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson broadcast his radio show live from the CENTCOM BBQ:

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* Mark Williams of powerhouse radio station KFBK 1530 AM - Sacramento, interviews Major Eliza Guvir of Romania:

* Kathy Antrim of the San Francisco Examiner - a great author and journalist - interviews one of the Coalition Partners from another nation at the CENTCOM BBQ:

* Howard Kaloogian Addresses the Troops:

Posted By:
Melanie Morgan
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Greetings from the Middle East…

I’m writing to you from Kuwait (the land Saddam Hussein raped and pillaged during the first Gulf War)—the whole gang arrived late last night,and we’re not sleeping much due to jet lag.

It’s 104 degrees at 8:30 at night.  We’re taking off again at 6:30 A.M. in a military transport aircraft for Camp Victory.

I’m really excited about getting the chance to see our troops in Iraq, and to provide them the means to provide a direct, unfiltered report to the American people about how they see things going in Iraq and their mission.  At the same time, I am also concerned/worried about how successful we will be in orchestrating our live broadcasts.  We are nervous about our broadcasting facilities and we very much hope that they are all going to work for us. 

Meanwhile, we haven’t uttered a word about what we’ve found - since we’ve yet to even arrive in Iraq - and some on the extreme far left are already attacking us!  But, we invite their criticism, as it suggests that they are worried about what will happen if the American people hear reports from our troops that might run differently from certain far-left “Blame America First” journalists.  Who will the public trust?  A reporter stuck in some hotel bar, hopelessly biased to the point that he/she seems almost to be rooting for America to fail and withdraw?  Or will they trust the word of a Marine or soldier who sees what is happening each day on the ground in Iraq?

Tragically we learn of another suicide bombing today, with some 21 Iraqi police recruits killed by a homocidial maniac.  We’ll tell that story, along with all the other stories that are here to be told.

Look for us on our webcast at RighTalk.com and of course you can stream my show on KSFO live at www.KSFO.com - I’m first up at 5:15 AM (Pacific Time) / 8:15 AM (Eastern Time) with my partner Lee Rodgers, who is broadcasting as usual from the United States.

Wish us all luck.

Your thoughts and prayers are with us.

Melanie Morgan

Posted By:
Siobhan Guiney
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On Friday, July 8, 2005 the delegation comprising the “Voices of Soldiers” Truth Tour received a briefing from US Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base.

* Here’s the group outside CENTCOM Headquarters:

* The CENTCOM Briefing Room:

* CENTCOM officials and “Truth Tour” participants discuss conditions in Iraq, the state of the Iraqi insurgency, security along the Syrian border, and more:

* From Left to Right - Michael Graham (WMAL 630 - Washington D.C.), Howard Kaloogian (Co-Chairman, Move America Forward), Martha Zoller (WDUN 550 - Atlanta/Gainesville), Lt. Col. USAF (Ret.) Buzz Patterson (RighTalk Radio, Move America Forward Board Member):

* More from the briefing… CENTCOM Officials, Mark Williams (KFBK 1530 - Sacramento), Brad Maaske of the Iraqi Truth Project (and KMJ 580 - Fresno, CA):

* Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson (the man who carried the nuclear football!) and CENTCOM officials:

* Martha Zoller (WDUN 550 - Atlanta/Gainesville) and Major Eliza Guvir of Romania. The Major is part of the 72 country coalition involved in planning for Operation Iraqi Freedom housed at CENTCOM:

[See more of Martha Zoller’s photos - CLICK HERE]