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View Full Version : The legacy of "Johnny K": Fallen Philly soldier revealed the ugly truth about Iraq



Mezro
08-19-2005, 08:37 PM
Fallen Philly soldier revealed the ugly truth about Iraq

Last week, we wrote about the unspeakably sad story of Gennaro Pellegrini Jr. -- Philly cop, welterweight boxer, and National Guardsman. The 31-year-old's life was hitting full stride when he received a fateful phone call ordering him to serve in Iraq, just two weeks before his hitch was supposed to end. Pellegrini was quite unhappy, but he went -- and he paid with his life, along with three of his Pennsylvania National Guard colleagues who were killed in a ruthless ambush near the Iraqi town of Beiji.

Also slain in that Aug. 9 attack was one of Pellegrini's brothers-in-arms, a Whitpain Township firefighter named John Kulick. Kulick -- a 35-year-old from the suburbs, an avid fisherman who loved too much mustard on bologna sandwiches and was called "Johnny K" -- had become had become fast friends with Pellegrini, the tough, tatooed city cop from a rowhouse block of Port Richmond. But the road that these two salt-of-the-earth guys had taken to Beiji could not have been more different.

As a professional firefighter, Kulick was devastated by the loss of so many colleagues at the World Trade Center in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That sense of duty is what prompted him to joined the Pennsylvania National Guard, even though he was already on the far side of 30 and the devoted and involved divorced dad to his daughter, Amanda, who is in grade school. And when his Guard unit from Northeast Philly was called up last December, he told his worried family that he wanted to go, to fight terrorists "over there."

In fact, Kulick's brother Jim -- in a radio interview this morning -- said they watched the movie "Blackhawk Down" just days before his departure for Iraq. After the end of the movie (which depicts the 1993 Somali insurgent attack that killed 18 U.S. troops), John Kulick declared, echoing his commander-in-chief and without irony, "Bring 'em on."

We heard Jim Kulick this morning on the Michael Smerconish show on WPHT-1210. The reason Smerconish invited him on was to talk about the emails that John Kulick had sent home from northern Iraq in the months before he was killed. Over the eight months that the Philly-area firefighter served in Iraq, his opinion of the mission changed radically.

As described by his brother, John Kulick's emails tell the story of a patriotic American who was betrayed -- by his own government. Because it was John Kulick's government that -- after spending more than $100 billion on Iraq -- sent him into hostile territory without the proper armor. And it was John Kulick's government that sent him into a war that lacked a strategy, and that, as a result, not only eliminated the enemy but was waged in a way that created new enemies every day.

Jim Kulick said his brother's emails showed a man who was becoming more and more worried. John Kulick said the insurgents were using increasingly sophisticated IEDs -- improvised explosive devices -- and were firing rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs, into their camp. "They had to hide under their cots -- there was nothing they could do," Kulick's brother said. "The Humvees weren't armored, or lightly armored -- they were basically useless. At first they were sending them out in pickup trucks. They weren't really equipped to fight this war."

Kulick told his family that troops were taking police vests that had been donated to them and putting them on the floor of the Humvees instead of wearing them. Jim Kulick noted that at the same time his brother was reporting this, two of his friends who are area police officers serving in Iraq told him they had needed to bring their own sidearms. In his emails, John Kulick had begun to describe the war as "a quagmire."

As disturbing as those reports were, what Kulick had to say about the conduct of the war was even more troubling. He told his family that the Iraqi police "were corrupt and inept and there was no way they could ever train them to the degree where they could keep order." And when his unit went out after insurgents, far too many innocent iraqis were killed in the crossfire. And, Kulick reported home, "the more hate that created." When the Americans left an area, the insurgents came back the next day.

Eventually, when Kulick saw Iraqi citizens kneeling in the street in prayer, his interpreter would tell him they were praying for the Americans to leave. "They would rather live with evil they knew rather than live with us," Kulick said in his emails. "We were killing them as much as the insurgents were."

Kulick and his fellow Guardsmen were riding in a Humvee, reportedly armored, on night patrol on Aug. 9 when a large bomb -- containing as much as 25 to 30 pounds of explosives -- that was hidden in a drainage culvert under the roadway exploded and killed them. Just hours earlier, Kulick had called his father to tell him where his will was located and that he would want a full military funeral.

It's too early to say whether the tumultuous events of the last few weeks -- the deaths of so many Guardsmen from Pennsylvania and Ohio, the groundswell of support for grieving anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan -- will be remember as a turning point. Jim Kulick said this morning that the U.S. needs to set a timetable for getting out, and host Smerconish -- a political conservative who supported the war from early on -- was surprisingly sympathetic. Said Smerconish: "We're adrift."

Yesterday, John Kulick received the type of funeral he had asked for. His flag-draped funeral procession along York Road in Montgomery County drew firefighters from 61 local departments, and featured all the pomp and circumstance that is appropriate for a true hero like John Kulick.

But today, the cameras are gone, and flags are folded up -- and Kulick's family will continue to live with the loss. Jim Kulick said his family is "devastated" by what happened in Iraq.

None worse than his 9-year-old daughter. "Amanda is in denial," Jim Kulick said. "She said her father promised her he would come back from the war, and she still believes that."

Amanda Kulick doesn't understand what happened to her father.

Neither do we.

Mezro...truth hurts...fuck you George...

FORD
08-19-2005, 11:28 PM
I noticed our Busheep friends don't have much of a response to this.

Sadly, I can't add much to it myself :(

Ozzy Fudd
08-19-2005, 11:33 PM
Jesus Christ.....
Please stop this Damm War

LoungeMachine
08-20-2005, 12:46 AM
I too would like to hear what diamondd, Warham, or DrMaddVibe would say to this.

And spare us the "war is hell" bravado.

This "war" never needed to, and never SHOULD have happened.

What a waste.

diamondD
08-20-2005, 11:53 AM
I don't owe anyone any posts. I hear just as many reports from soldiers that say we are doing good things and the people appreicate it. You immediately dismiss those reports.

While we are asking for other's responses, why did you ignore GS's question about the substantiability of those reports about children being raped by our soldiers? For all the sudden outrage you and FORD had, and were calling other people out for not joining you, you sure did drop that one in a hurry.

Northern Girl
08-20-2005, 12:01 PM
How about the 3,173 sad stories from 9-11.

Seshmeister
08-20-2005, 12:05 PM
What's that got to do with Iraq?

diamondD
08-20-2005, 12:07 PM
Soldier on NBC (http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25973&perpage=30&pagenumber=1)

There's a 3 page thread on the front page of this forum with a soldier telling of the good things going on in Iraq. Why am I not surprised that LM couldn't be bothered to post in that one? Gotta stay in step with the agenda! :rolleyes:

LoungeMachine
08-20-2005, 01:07 PM
Never said anyone "owed" anything.

I'm still trying to research the abuse claims, have dropped NOTHING, and will post new info as soon as I can find it, bet on it.

And I too am free to post where I want, when I want, so let's not have double standards here, dd.

I just said I'd like to hear a neo-con response to Mez's thread, that's all.

You're free to ignore it.

LM

FORD
08-20-2005, 01:20 PM
Originally posted by Seshmeister
What's that got to do with Iraq?

Not a goddamn thing. But since we're in mid August now, you know it's about time to fire up the 9-11 hype machine again.

I'm not sure if this news made it across the pond, Sesh, but did you hear that Rummy's planning a good ol Soviet style military parade to "celebrate" 9-11 this year?

That's not even the best part. If you want to participate in this salute to fascism, you need to register at a website.

Guess who owns the domain?

Yep. The Pentagon.

Can we say "recruitment tool"??

(though admittedly at least they're aiming for their target audience this way)

Seshmeister
08-20-2005, 08:39 PM
Holy shit!

I was at a wedding on Thursday where the bride was from NYC.

The brides Dad, a politics professer who made you look lile a neocon was telling me how he had refused to allow airport security to examine his wallet as it was an infringement of his rights. He refused to vote for the first time in his 60 years last year as he was appalled by Kerry.

Meanwhile his son in law who is doing commercial work in Iraq picked up the bar tab for the whole wedding. 'Fuck him he can afford it' was the prevailing attitude amongst the Americans(though not the grateful Scots :) )

I liked both of them, they were nice intelligent interesting folk but it really brought home the huge gulf of opinion in the US at the moment. Maybe depending on the candidates things might get better after the next election but at the moment from the outside you seem to be in uncharted dangerous territory.

Cheers!

:gulp:

FORD
08-20-2005, 09:12 PM
I can understand the being appalled by Kerry part. But I wish he would have voted anyway :(

Regardless of what you might think from our Busheep here, the tide is turning, even in the so-called "red states".

A lot's happenned this month. You had the election in Ohio, where once again the Busheep trashed a military vet. Then you had a high number of casualties around that same time, I think it was 14 from Ohio within 2 days. And as this thread suggests, Pennsylvania's had a rough month as well.

And of course Cindy Sheehan is bringing media focus back into this whole thing. They see her. They see Bush ignoring her. They see everyday people, including veterans, supporting her. And even one of the Texas ranchers, neighbor of the Chimp offering his land for their use.

Maybe the combination of all of the above has pulled some of them out of their persistent vegetative states? It's too bad that's what it takes to wake up, but if this continues, maybe some real progress can be made in the next 2 elections.

Seshmeister
08-20-2005, 09:41 PM
I was pleased when 3 or 4 of the Americans approached me saying how incredibly warm and friendly the Scots had been to them during their stay.

There is a degree of anti US government feeling in Europe but it's cool that 99% of people can distinguish between the actions of a government and where people happen to have been born.

I've met Texans in London who's opening line on meeting them was 'We are so sorry about the Bush thing and want to apologise to you.'

I corrected the academic a couple of times when he said 'WE did this' in South America or 'WE did that in the Middle East.'

The guy was an idealist with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Fuck that. I don't feel responsible for anything that the British government liberal or conservative has ever done. Fuck the lot of the them.

It's even more ludicrous when BBB starts shit about our grandparents politicians. 'Hey you disagree with Bush but in 1937 the Germans did such and such.'

'WE won the war and saved the French'. No the Russians won the war and your grandparents government reluctantly stopped France from becoming part of a Russian empire for economic and political reasons.

A small minority of the populations of the US and UK voted for Bush and Blair and most of them for reasons other than foreign policy.

Cheers!

:gulp:

DLR'sCock
08-20-2005, 09:56 PM
All I have to say, is that I know guys who have been over there, and they all say the same thing. It is fucking insanity and it is totally fucked over there.

Phil theStalker
08-20-2005, 10:58 PM
Originally posted by FORD
I can understand the being appalled by Kerry part. But I wish he would have voted anyway :(
What's wrong with that guy? What kind of a statement is he making doing that? Barring the man's probably inability to vote for the Communist Party candidate there where 12 other parties candidates on most states ballots and two dozen write-in names from other campaigns. Something should have made him happy. He could have voted. Once again I find out America is chock full o'nuts, and for this Americans probably deserve every dirty thing happening to them.

I felt bad for Kerry, he's just another corporate puppet so I couldn't vote for him either. I voted for Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party.

I don't deserve what's happening to this country.


:spank:

BigBadBrian
08-20-2005, 11:27 PM
Originally posted by Seshmeister


'WE won the war and saved the French'.


Just the Americans, actually. The British and Canadians were a hindrance.


No the Russians won the war



Highly debatable, at best. Without a worthy opponent in the West, the Germans could've thrown alot more divisions into the fight in the East and probably fought Stalin to a stalemate at the very least. You've been reading too much of Max Hastings and his cronies. Broaden your horizons.

;)

Phil theStalker
08-20-2005, 11:38 PM
I really feel sorry for all of the young people from 18 to 35 who don't know the truth about the war until it's live and in their faces. For those of you who've written about comments from grunts about schools opening, you can't tell me they don't know their brothers in battle aren't reporting this loss of "hearts and minds" throughout Iraq if they haven't seen it for themselves.

Sure, an opened school and a photo op is fine, but those are just birthday parties and they're not reality. They're not the day-to-day realities of the politics, religious groups, and history of the region and the future of the Middle East.


REALITY

For some of my fellow countrymen, they have to get the rose colored glasses off. For some others, they have to take their heads out of the sand. Either way, they have to stare in the face the reality of what the Middle East is and what it isn't, what it has never been and what it will never be.

The article in this thread quoted the word, "Adrift."

Who does that?


:spank:

Phil theStalker
08-20-2005, 11:44 PM
Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Just the Americans, actually. The British and Canadians were a hindrance.



Highly debatable, at best. Without a worthy opponent in the West, the Germans could've thrown alot more divisions into the fight in the East and probably fought Stalin to a stalemate at the very least. You've been reading too much of Max Hastings and his cronies. Broaden your horizons.

;)
Man BBB, you are dumb.

THE RUSSIANS ARE STILL WINNING

The Russians won the war, had Germany's capital, had East Germany, had all of it's Soviet satellites, the Baltic nations, and now through Grobachev's false flag of the fall of communism has spread socialism all across Europe in the form the the EU.

I'm thinking of starting a class here called, Hopeless Dumbfucks 101.

Sign up.


:spank:

BigBadBrian
08-21-2005, 08:16 AM
Originally posted by Phil theStalker
Man BBB, you are dumb.

THE RUSSIANS ARE STILL WINNING

The Russians won the war, had Germany's capital, had East Germany, had all of it's Soviet satellites, the Baltic nations, and now through Grobachev's false flag of the fall of communism has spread socialism all across Europe in the form the the EU.

I'm thinking of starting a class here called, Hopeless Dumbfucks 101.

Sign up.


:spank:

I believe it was THEIR system that fell in a battle of wills you ignorant little twit. Whose people were standing in those bread lines? The only one that needs to attend your "class" is you. I know when Warham and I have you on the ropes because you knock off that silly typing and start typing normal. Keep it up, Buddy. :cool: :cool:

Now, get out from behind that computer today and get some sunshine. You need it. :gulp:

Phil theStalker
08-21-2005, 09:52 AM
Originally posted by BigBadBrian
I believe it was THEIR system that fell in a battle of wills you ignorant little twit. Whose people were standing in those bread lines? The only one that needs to attend your "class" is you. I know when Warham and I have you on the ropes because you knock off that silly typing and start typing normal. Keep it up, Buddy. :cool: :cool:

Now, get out from behind that computer today and get some sunshine. You need it. :gulp:
Stop the name calling. Here's your first course in Hopeless Dumbfucks 101: Communism=socialism, and Gorby's led false flag of a communist, socialist "fall" has led to socialism spreading from Russia all across Europe to France in the form of the new EU.

You believe false flags and that means I'm debating with a dead man, so welcome to that club.

It could have never happened if Gorby hadn't betrayed his own people to serve a greater cause of spreading socialism all around the world. He now lives in LA working hard and planning the same thing for America, the AU, a pan-American Union, and a monetary unit called the Amero, all under the spreading SOCIALISM from Russia. They never stop.

Haven't you ever heard of their "globalism"? This is it. It's their global socialism combined with the global corporations into global social-fascism under a totalitarian world-government of "intellectual elite and world bankers." Quote: David Rockefeller, June 1991

Clinton and Gorby are going to socialize you and are going to harmonize you into a pan-American Union while the Bush crowd during this is fighting to secure in the world their corporate-socialism (i.e., fascism) control of wealth and power.

Only a shooting war, a civil war, can stop the global socialists in North America. Their socialist rust on the human race never sleeps.

Why do you take my typing change and relate it to you with a self-deceiving lie? I'm typing like this, because I want to. It has nothing to do with you.

Why do you have to lie to yourself an tell yourself people are on "ropes"? huh

Does this lying to yourself help you go on with your lie of a life?

Sure it does.

Good luck, BBB. It's all true. Oh, you LIKE lies, you're a Bush supporter.

You believe their level of lies. You bought it just like they wanted you to buy it. You buy everything. You buy the government's 9/11 lies. They couldn't enslave the world and the human race under their "elite" control plans unless millions of people buy their lies, like you have bought their lies.

When it comes to the world of global communism and socialism you are one of their "useful idiots." Useful idiot is a simple term that even low educated communist socialists understood 100 years ago. You are one and you don't even know what it is or that you are one.

Just like we've all found out yesterday that you don't know the definition of the word fascism, that FORD used.

How "ignorant little twit" of you.:D


:spank:
PS Try to keep up. We'll help you while there's still time.

Phil theStalker
08-21-2005, 09:54 AM
My classes are free, BBB.:D


:spank:

Nickdfresh
08-21-2005, 10:50 AM
Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Just the Americans, actually. The British and Canadians were a hindrance.



Highly debatable, at best. Without a worthy opponent in the West, the Germans could've thrown alot more divisions into the fight in the East and probably fought Stalin to a stalemate at the very least. You've been reading too much of Max Hastings and his cronies. Broaden your horizons.

;)

And with no RUSSIAN's and the CANADIANS and BRITISH (who were fighting HITLER while our right-wing, isolationist butt plugs were still complaining about WWI), we would have been fucked in a two front war (with the JAPANESE in our WESTERN FRONT).

Seriously, the nationalist drivel you often post here BBB is borderline delusional and on the level of "my dad can beat up your daddy" crap...

Phil theStalker
08-21-2005, 11:07 AM
Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Now, get out from behind that computer today and get some sunshine. You need it. :gulp:
I have a wireless web laptop for my beach. :rolleyes:


:spank:

Seshmeister
08-21-2005, 11:21 AM
Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Just the Americans, actually. The British and Canadians were a hindrance.



Highly debatable, at best. Without a worthy opponent in the West, the Germans could've thrown alot more divisions into the fight in the East and probably fought Stalin to a stalemate at the very least. You've been reading too much of Max Hastings and his cronies. Broaden your horizons.

;)

Ignoring your usual blind patriotic bullshit I would think that even you would be able to grasp the simple fact that since the Russians destroyed 15 times as many German troops as the US/Britain/Canada etc. in the West then they won the war.

Phil theStalker
08-21-2005, 11:25 AM
Here's some logic, BBB.

Fascism: corporations and government rule together

German name: National Socialism, NAZI, etc.

Replace the old German word National with the new modern term Global.

Global Socialism

Global corporations and world-govenment rule

It's global, it's corporate, it's socialism.

It's Global Corporate Socialism.

That's REALITY.

I hope this helps you.

Believe it.

It's the truth.


:spank:

BigBadBrian
08-21-2005, 01:35 PM
Originally posted by Seshmeister
Ignoring your usual blind patriotic bullshit I would think that even you would be able to grasp the simple fact that since the Russians destroyed 15 times as many German troops as the US/Britain/Canada etc. in the West then they won the war.

I don't know where you get your fact of "since the Russians destroyed 15 times as many German troops as the US/Britain/Canada etc. in the West then they won the war" but they are erroneous.


READ:

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0804116989.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Fighting in Hell: The German Ordeal on the Eastern Front (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0804116989/qid=1124645393/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl/202-2235338-7024622)

This book gives a decent account of conditions the Germans faced against the Russians, and how the Russians quite often racked up catastrophic casualties by marching or sending entire companies or battalions of men to their deaths by simply ordering them into withering machine-gun fire or across mine fields.