Filmed on a budget reported at between 12 and 15 million, Hurt Locker is not a bomb:

The Hurt Locker DVD sales spiked after the film won best picture at the Academy Awards, and analysts said its six Oscars may help double box-office revenue for distributor Summit Entertainment.

By Monday, the Iraq war drama, which won best original screenplay and best director for Kathryn Bigelow had risen to third place from 13th on March 7 on Amazon.com's DVD sales chart. On Thursday it had dropped to No. 4, but expanding the film to 1,000 theaters from 274 in the next few weeks would boost its worldwide box-office sales to an estimated $40 million, said David Joyce, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. The movie has taken in $21.4 million in global ticket sales since its June 26 release, according to Box Office Mojo, a researcher based in Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Nice to see it made its way out of the red zone on the balance sheets.

On the other hand, early reports on Jason Bourne's fourth identity (The Green Zone) might have movie execs glancing nervously at the protective gear.

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm not surprised to read it trashes the troops. I would be very surprised to discover that's true, but I'm not surprised to read someone claiming it. Similar complaints have been leveled at the billion-dollar blockbuster Avatar.

Haven't seen The Men Who Stare At Goats yet, either, but the DVD will be released on the 23rd. Did anyone see this one?

(*When I saw that sort of intense concentration on someone's face in Iraq it usually meant "bad decision in the DFAC" the night before.)

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...and other martial virtues on display along the India/Pakistan border.

(Hat tip: Some Soldiers Mom)

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Former Air Force sergeant Jene (jeh-NAY') Newsome says she played by the rules. She never told anyone in the military that she was a lesbian.

But Newsome was discharged earlier this year under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" law after Rapid City, S.D., police officers saw an Iowa marriage license in her home and told the Ellsworth Air Force Base.

The police were at Newsome's home in November with an arrest warrant for her partner, who was wanted on theft charges in Alaska.

Well, she's not the first young G.I. who married the wrong gal.

But this...

"I played by 'don't ask, don't tell,'" Newsome told The Associated Press by telephone.

...indicates that she's not really too familiar with the rules. She may not have told anyone she married a person of the same biological sex, but "don't ask, don't tell" is a media slogan. The rule is "A member of the armed forces shall be separated from the armed forces" if "the member has married or attempted to marry a person known to be of the same biological sex."

Actually, this sort of rule is called a law. Congress passed it. Individuals may or may not like it, but the military has to follow it.

According to the story, Newsome got an honorable discharge. Now "Newsome and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint against the western South Dakota police department, claiming the officers violated her privacy when they informed the military about her sexual orientation."

The unasked question is "do you think her unit didn't already know?"

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Exclusive: we've just obtained this newly-released, first look photo of a device being deployed in Afghanistan. According to the Pentagon, it's a "culvert denial system."

Click image for high-res version direct from the DoD web site.

U.S. Army Spc. Louis Phay, with Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, installs a culvert denial system along Highway 601 in the Helmand province of Afghanistan on March 6, 2010. DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Jones, U.S. Air Force. (Released)

Here in Mudville, we strive to bring you the latest on defense technology. (Eat your heart out, Noah.)

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Time magazine, on how America exported racism to Japan:

Scholars from Japan suggest that their countrymen are not intentionally racist but are insensitive toward other peoples because of centuries of homogeneous and isolated development. "They have little social experience in dealing with different races," explains Nagayo Homma, a professor of American studies at the University of Tokyo. "They know about Martin Luther King and civil rights, but it's in an abstract context." If that is the situation, it is not surprising that stereotypes abound -- and not just about blacks: while whites generally are considered by Japanese to be advanced and "civilized," fellow Asians and others are sometimes seen as backward, even inferior.

For many Japanese, the first exposure to blacks came during the post-World War II occupation, when they saw U.S. soldiers housed in segregated barracks. Others picked up racial attitudes and stereotypes -- such as Little Black Sambo -- from U.S. television, movies and books, or American acquaintances. "I experience racism daily," says Robert Jefferson, a black radio correspondent for ABC News in Tokyo. Jefferson says Japanese avoid sitting next to him on trains or taking the same elevator.

While such experiences are commonly shared by white foreigners, Jefferson also recalls stereotyped remarks -- not unheard of in the U.S., of course -- such as "You must be able to sing very good" because all blacks do.

Hard to reconcile whites generally are considered by Japanese to be advanced and "civilized" with such experiences are commonly shared by white foreigners, but our intrepid reporter managed to do it without disrupting the narrative: it was a land of peace and harmony until those damn gaijin showed up.

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So I was a kid and it was the late sixties or early seventies and I was downstairs watching TV. Probably Saturday morning cartoons - maybe Jonny Quest, but not that horrific Japanamation Speed Racer crap. No, that came years later, when for reasons unknown to me they stopped making cool Saturday morning cartoon shows. (My older brother and sister might tell me that happened before I ever started watching them, but they're wrong - I know, and they might have said the same thing about Rock music, too.)

Maybe this Jonny Quest episode.

...but I don't think that's the original title because one of those words (I know this because later I had the record album) is one of the seven words. And if that's what I was watching I wasn't watching it in color because the TV was black and white.

Anyhow, my uncle was visiting and he saw this emblem on our TV even though it was real tiny...

...and he said that was the emblem of the "Three Diamond" company. From Japan. And I probably might or might not have told him no, it was a Mitsubishi, or maybe they used to be called that but now they were called Mitsubishi, not Three Diamonds, but I do remember him saying that the Three Diamond company was the one that made The Zero.

I knew what The Zero was. Not as well as he did, because he flew for the army in World War II in the Pacific and, and years later in the 70s (which is now longer ago than World War II was then - even though WWII was ancient history then and I remember the 70s quite well) he was still an Air Force pilot and might have been visiting us on leave from Thailand or Vietnam for all I can remember. ( I do know he was there, too - just not sure if he was then.) But to me it seemed pretty crappy to think that we could be buying TVs from the company that made the planes that were used to kill his friends back in World War II.

The more I thought about it though, the more I realized it had to be a different company. There's no way we would have let the company that made the Zero stay in business after we won the war. He didn't seem too bothered by it though, or by the two VW Beetles we had - the older brother's and sister's cars. (Although the older brother's was in the garage getting worked on a lot and was a Dune Buggy - which was also cool.) And I also remember wondering if they were the same company why did Mitsubishi put that red circle on their planes and not three diamonds?

I knew about that red circle because I had seen movies where the Japs flew Zeroes right into our Navy ships - Kamikazes, they called them.

You don't forget seeing stuff like that when you see it as a kid, even in movies. I mean, the pilot just stayed right in the plane and flew it right into the ship. And I had friends whose dads had been in the Navy and served on ships like those. Like I said, no way would we let that company stay in business and sell televisions to Americans.

Funny, the stuff you remember from when you were a kid. Like I remember wondering why he wasn't upset about that Mitsubishi TV in our house, but I don't remember asking him. I just wanted to watch Jonny Quest.

Previously: The Pacificsts.

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Click image for larger, legible version.

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I follow elections when veterans are candidates. This one, for example: GOP chooses Burns for special election in 12th.

Among 131 votes cast at a Republican convention held at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Burns won 85 and easily defeated the only other GOP nominee - William Russell of Johnstown, who had 46.

That's John Murtha's seat, you may recall. "We have an opportunity to put a common-sense conservative in a seat that has long been held by a political insider," Burns proclaimed, but it looks like a tough battle for the R's. Besides being a district gerrymandered (by Republicans) to be a "Democrat stronghold," the Party's second favorite son isn't going down without a fight.

Russell, who spent his career in the Army, ran a spirited but unsuccessful campaign against Murtha in 2008.

"We're not surprised," Russell said in a statement issued after Thursday's vote.

"The party doesn't want a candidate that's connected to the people, they want one with money. While unfortunate, this is what we expected."

The "GOP selection sets up a special-election contest between Burns and Mark Critz, a Johnstown resident and Murtha's former district director" to finish out Murtha's term. However,

Both Burns and Russell remain in the running for the May 18 primary election, which will decide who wins the GOP nomination for a chance to be elected to a full two-year term in the 12th Congressional District.

Both elections will be held on the same day. So... pass the popcorn.

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"I received my commission when I graduated Tufts in 1937," recalled Bill Hawkins, years later. "Shortly after this I went to work teaching Latin and English at the Milford Academy, located between Bridgeport and New Haven in Connecticut."

Not very exciting - but I get the impression he didn't think the job would last: "This was the period when Hitler was trying to grab everything that wasn't nailed down. By the time he reached Poland, Great Britain and France said no more and, bang, we had World War II. I knew it was just a matter of time before they'd start calling up the reserves and I was right. My turn came in December, 1940, one year before the Pearl Harbor attack."

I'm quoting Captain Hawkins from a book I pulled off the shelf here at home this morning. It's a paperback I've had long enough to have forgotten how long I've had it or where I got it, but in all that time I've never forgotten it. It's an oral history built on interviews with Marines who served in the Pacific during World War II - Bill Hawkins is but one of many.

He thought he knew what he was in for, but as his next words will reveal, his vision was flawed.

"The funny thing about the period was that none of us thought about fighting the Japanese. Nazi Germany - that was the big menace. We'd been told all about Belleau Wood, Soissons, Mont Blanc, all those big fights from World War I. Most of us just didn't think about Japan."

Let's jump forward to today. The event that prompted me to grab a yellowing and well-creased paperback from my shelf was the arrival of an email containing a link to this online Time magazine story - an oral history of Tom Hanks, as related by the subject to historian Douglas Brinkley and published with the title "How Tom Hanks Became America's Historian in Chief."

His father had been a U.S. Naval mechanic (second class) in World War II. But Amos Hanks wasn't the type to tell his son tales of bravery and sacrifice. "Growing up, I always knew Dad was somewhere in the Pacific fixing things," Hanks says. "He had nothing nice to say about the Navy. He hated the Navy. He hated everybody in the Navy. He had no glorious stories about it." (See pictures of Tom Hanks' career in film.)

Occasionally, Hanks enjoyed a war thriller like Battle of the Bulge, but he much preferred the Three Stooges, James Bond and any film with Sophia Loren. Like a lot of Americans, he found memorizing historical facts boring. Because his family was directly related to Nancy Hanks Lincoln, mother of the 16th U.S. President, he routinely recycled the same short paper he had written about her for easy classroom grades. "My idea of American history was just a course you were forced to take," Hanks says, laughing. (See the top 10 Tom Hanks hairstyles.)

The Pacific, Hanks' 10-hour HBO miniseries about the Pacific theater in World War II begins on March 14th. I'm looking forward to it.

Much of the miniseries is based on two evocative World War II memoirs, Eugene Sledge's With the Old Breed and Robert Leckie's Helmet for My Pillow, but the imaginative energy comes straight from novels like Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones' The Thin Red Line. The result is like Herman Wouk's The Winds of War (both the novel and the made-for-TV movie) on steroids. Hanks and fellow executive producers Spielberg and Gary Goetzman are wrestling with age-old -- and current -- questions about the barbarity of war: How can Americans ask our young men and women to indiscriminately kill a shadowy enemy and then return to their ordered Coca-Cola lives Stateside?

See 25 people who mattered in 2009.

See the best TV shows of the decade.

"It's even worse for our troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan," Hanks says.

So it's history connected to now. But the Time story is about Tom Hanks - and how he became America's Historian in Chief.

How did this shrug-prone comedic actor transform himself into our most ambitious champion of U.S. history? And how is his vision of history shaping the way the past informs and, yes, entertains us?

See the best pictures of 2009.

See the top 10 war movies of all time.

At school, all Hanks remembers learning about World War II was that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, and that the American revenge came on August 6, 1945, when Army pilot Paul Tibbets dropped an atomic bomb from the Enola Gay on Hiroshima. For Hanks, the U.S. armed forces' island-hopping -- Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, among other bloody military engagements -- was just a blur on a map that seemed impossibly exotic and faraway. "Strange to think that I've become the World War II guy," Hanks laughs. "All my friends had dads who were on the U.S.S. Nimitz or U.S.S. Enterprise or U.S.S. Coral Sea. They lived in naval housing, and everybody who was like a primary caregiver to me talked about the war. But when it came to understanding the history, I nodded off."

For most folks history is best consumed in small doses, which is why the miniseries is an effective manner of presentation.

And you've arrived at the end of part one of this one.

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The New York Times, 2005 edition:

Uproar in House as Parties Clash on Iraq Pullout

Republicans and Democrats shouted, howled and slung insults on the House floor on Friday as a debate over whether to withdraw American troops from Iraq descended into a fury over President Bush's handling of the war and a leading Democrat's call to bring the troops home.
<...>
"You guys are pathetic!" yelled Representative Martin Meehan, Democrat of Massachusetts. "Pathetic."

The measure to withdraw the troops failed in a 403-to-3 vote late Friday night.

House Rejects Plan to Leave Afghanistan by Year's End

In a strong bipartisan endorsement of the Obama administration's policy in Afghanistan, the House of Representatives on Wednesday soundly rejected a call to withdraw American troops by the end of the year.

After a three-hour debate held to allow antiwar Democrats to air their dissent, the House voted 356 to 65 to reject the withdrawal proposal.

Nice to see they're much more united and non-partisan now, 'cause that's what really matters.

Added thought: you know, if I didn't know any better I'd believe all that anti-war/withdrawal talk from certain politicians years ago was nothing more than some sort of a put-on to fool the rubes. But I confess I don't really know. If it was a put-on, it was a pretty damn good one, I'll give 'em that. On the other hand, if they were authentically anti-war you'd have to acknowledge they were complete and miserable failures.

So, liars, failures, or both?

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Well, everything's gotta be something: "Third Army is the Department of the Army and Central Command logistical center of gravity for Responsible Drawdown from Iraq."

I'm actually all for responsible drawdown from Iraq. But should military agencies/organizations adopt descriptions that sound that damn much like presidential campaign slogans? I'll go with "no" on that one.

I guess if they're ordered to do it they do it, but there's something creepy and Orwellian about putting it on the letterhead. (Or this.)

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"This seemed like a personal dispute that didn't have much news value and was, furthermore, impossible for me to adjudicate."

Guess something must have jammed the ol' newsman's radar. Now? Well damn, look at the quotes a few phone calls turned up. "Oh yeah, he was constantly fondling the boys."

Doesn't much enhance the "witch hunt" stories re: don't ask don't tell, but I'm sure there's an explanation for that, too.

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"I'm sorry... from Rhode Island, for three minutes":

On an odd side note, this "Moxnews.com" ("unfair and biased") Youtube-hosted video can actually be found embedded in the Fox News story on this topic.

"There's two press people in this gallery," he shouted. "We're talking about Eric Massa 24-7 on the TV? We're talking war and peace, $3 billion, a thousand lives -- and no press? No press?

"You want to know why the American public is fit? They're fit because they're not seeing their Congress do the work that they're sent to do. It's because the press -- the press of the United States is not covering the most significant issue of national important and that's the laying of lives down in the nation for the service of our country. It's despicable, the national press corps right now."

I might have agreed with the gist (if not the tone) of that statement once, but I've come to believe the people get the news they want.

I've received two emails recently from guys in Afghanistan that (coincidentally, and before this speech was made) addressed this topic. "Out of curiosity," asked one, "how much news coverage has Moshtarak been getting in the MSM there? From what Ive seen it hasn't been much after the first 24 hours or so."

The second, on the other hand, was frustrated with the focus (or lack thereof) of many milblogs on Afghanistan. He was less dramatic about it than Mr Kennedy, though - perhaps because (as one of those soldiers actually there) his concern was real.

Update: Okay, count how many bloggers picking up this story chose to address Afghanistan or media coverage of Afghanistan. The total (as of now) is close enough to zero. That's their prerogative, of course, I'm neither condemning them or bemoaning their choice. Like Kennedy, and like the "mainstream media," they know what people want.

In fact, "there's no point discussing the resolution itself on serious terms," said yer humble scribe a mere two days ago, and I'd now like to thank young Mr Kennedy (whose recollections of 'Nam are remarkable for a man born in '67 - but clan Kennedy is nothing if not exceptional) for making me look a lot wiser and more prescient than I am. Unfortunately the location of this "debate" was the House floor - and that begs the question of exactly where a hypothetical serious debate could take place. I've got no answer for you there.

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The New York Times, March 10:

The question the American soldiers ask as they board planes for home after seven months in the desert is the same one that worries the politicians that live in the region as they turn from preoccupation with military problems to the concerns of civil life.

Will we have to do it all over again? Will we have to find the money and the will, they ask anxiously, to assemble half a million troops to turn back another of Saddam Hussein's attempts to push his neighbors around?

It is the biggest unanswered question among several that hang in the air after the allies' stunningly decisive triumph in the Persian Gulf war, and it casts an ominous shadow over the jubilation here and in the United States. The man who started it all, the villain of the piece, is still around.

President Bush and the other coalition leaders elected not to push through to Baghdad to destroy Mr. Hussein's Government. Authorized by the United Nations only to oust Iraq from Kuwait, the allies went farther, fighting on despite a series of frantic peace bids until they were confident that they had shattered Mr. Hussein's best divisions.

Coalition Called a Halt

But with their armies at Nasiriya and the highway to Baghdad, 150 miles away and all but undefended, the coalition leaders called a halt. Despite President Bush's inclination to compare this war to the conflict of his youth, World War II, the allies chose not to hound Mr. Hussein to death in his bunker, as they had hounded Hitler, and not to demand total surrender.

The Saudis wanted to press on, and so did their Egyptian allies, high-ranking officials in Riyadh said, but the Americans, the British and especially the French feared that they would embitter Arab opinion if they seemed bent on revenge or on installing a government of their choice.
<...>
If Mr. Hussein were to make warlike noises again, he would not be told, as the State Department told him last year, that the United States was taking a neutral position. If he were then to take warlike steps, a counterattack would come at once, not after he had had months to dig in and ravage conquered territory. Or so American officials are promising.

So if the allies have not rid themselves of the Iraqi dictator, at least not yet, and if they had not engendered lasting stability in a region that has seldom known it, they appear to have done just about enough to make it unlikely that a second Persian Gulf war will erupt any time soon.

March 10, 1991.

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What a happy headline: Former soldier finds new mission fighting for veterans on home front.

Mike Flaherty served two tours in Iraq, and he wears an "Iraq Veterans Against the War" T-shirt.

His actions aren't incompatible, and he has a simple explanation for those who disagree: "Our organization has the courage to resist."

But Flaherty's focus of late has been to develop green jobs for veterans.

"Our mission is to revitalize the economy by empowering veterans with meaningful work in an unstable economy," Flaherty said. "We want to provide veterans with pathways to a successful career in the green industry. This can be work in energy conservation, nature conservation or a variety of related jobs."

Veterans who once crawled around attics and other claustrophobic spaces in homes in Iraq and Afghanistan, searching for hidden weapons and suspected terrorists, are now crawling through homes in the United States to track down air leaks and missing insulation. They are part of a new wave of veterans who are turning the skills and determination they developed in the military to a new mission: that of reducing Americans' energy use and carbon emissions.

"We think veterans are uniquely qualified to lead the environmental restoration here at home," said Kirsten Maynard of Veterans Green Jobs. "Not only have they seen environmental destruction across the world; they also have technical skills and other kinds of work skills that allow them to do the really tough work that needs to be done - like go into homes and crawl in the attic and the basement. They've been trained by the military to do it, and they actually feel comfortable being in that kind of environment."

"After deploying to Iraq, I have many-a-buried-memory of entering strangers' homes," one quoted veteran confesses. As comfortable as they might seem down in that crawl space with the spiders, hopefully they don't then butcher the families and burn the homes down - which is the image of veterans that IVAW knows best.

According to the July 30, 2007 issue of The Nation magazine, damning photos of a U.S. Soldier using a spoon to literally scoop out the brains of a dead Iraqi and pretending to eat the gray matter were recently acquired.

Of course, everyone is appropriately appalled and make all claims of disgust and finger-wagging. Research shows, however, that such unacceptable behavior happens more often than the United States military wants you to know.

When it comes to training killing machines, the military really does create "an Army of one."

The list of serial killers and mass murderers borne from the military is astounding.

There could be one in your attic even now.

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Now this is cool:

Troop supporting rockers Saving Abel will be in town during the Milblog Conference and have volunteered to stop by the Friday evening Cocktail Reception for a brief, acoustic performance.

A previous entry about the band here.

Register for the Milblogs Conference here.

And keep up with the latest news via the Fan of Milblogs Facebook page here.

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Old Blue got a break from his tour in Afghanistan - and traveled to Germany "to train part of the incoming International Joint Command (IJC) staff who will be taking over in Afghanistan this year."

Once that was done he ended up with some spare time on his hands. So, in Germany, nothing official to do, and a plane ride to Afghanistan some time in the near future - a dream situation for anyone serving in a combat zone...

Because of the limited return flights, I had to spend a little over a day waiting before I traveled back to Kabul. I had contacted MaryAnn Phillips, President of Soldiers' Angels Germany and told her I would be in Germany. I knew that she'd be disappointed with me if I went there and made no effort to say hello. I have too much respect for her to just breeze in and out and not say a word about it. MaryAnn found something for me to do with my bit of extra time; visit Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. When she mentioned it, I was torn. I have put the bodies of friends in bags. I had to go through their pockets for ID so that I could figure out who they were. I have helped MEDEVAC soldiers, some critically wounded. The dead suffered no more and needed only to be shown dignity and respect. The wounded suffered only for a brief time while I was near them and then they were gone. I am trained as a combat lifesaver, but I am an Infantryman and not a Medic. MaryAnn wanted me to go into the den of the great beast of what comes after the bird leaves. That's what I saw in my head...

What follows is the best account I've read of one of the finest stories never told. "She may actually kill me for writing this," says Blue.

Which makes me an unlikely accessory. Read the whole thing.

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Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and various sources around the world. If you're a blogger, you can join the conversation. If you link to any of these stories, add a link to the Dawn Patrol too and your trackback will be added to the list. Hat Tips to the Dawn Patrol are greatly appreciated.Refresh for updates.

AFGHANISTAN

Gates in Kabul on surprise visit -- [Foreign Policy]
During his surprise visit to Kabul yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and top commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and visited a small remote outpost north of Kandahar, the southern Afghan province where a coalition offensive is expected to get underway sometime this. So far, 6,000 of the 30,000 additional troops ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama have arrived in Afghanistan. Tomorrow, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Kabul for the first time since Karzai's re-election last fall, and Karzai is expected to start a two-day trip to Islamabad as well. Taliban reintegration and the status of captured Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Baradar are rumored to be on the agenda in the Pakistani capital. Karzai is planning to host a three-day peace jirga beginning April 29 to discuss negotiations with Taliban fighters

Iran's Ahmadinejad Visits Kabul -- [Voice of America]
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in Afghanistan, where he met with President Hamid Karzai and again sharply criticized the U.S. mission to stabilize the country.

'Secret' Gates-Ahmadinejad meeting in Kabul? -- [American Thinker]
Funny coincidence. SecDef Robert Gates is going on a surprise visit to Afghanistan. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also happens to be going to Kabul, overlapping with the Gates visit. It's possible they will just drive past each other in Kabul. But it seems more likely that they are going to finalize some sort of agreement that's been bubbling up behind the scenes. Possibly the Afghan government, which wants good relations with both Iran and the US, will try to broker an agreement.
Worried yet?

News Wrap: U.S. Troops Ready to Take Kandahar From Taliban -- [The Online NewsHour]
GENERAL STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL, U.S. commander in Afghanistan: We have already put additional forces in the districts around Kandahar, but we will be able to reinforce that significantly over time. So, there won't be a D-Day that -- that is climactic. It will be a rising tide of security as it comes.
HARI SREENIVASAN: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Kabul today to review plans

Afghanistan war: Fight for Kandahar won't be like fight for Marjah -- [The Christian Science Monitor]
In the next stage in the Afghanistan war, coalition forces are expected to build up gradually on the outskirts of the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, perhaps for months. That strategy departs from the one executed in the Marjah offensive, in which troops entered quickly.

Missing The Point -- [A Major's Perspective - in Afghanistan]
Something has struck me over the last week or so. Most of the reporting about Operation Moshtarak focused upon what our Troops were doing, and though our Troops did an outstanding job as always, that wasn't really the point that should have been highlighted.
This was an operation led by the Afghan National Security Forces and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Our Man in Kabul? -- [The New Rebuplic]
The sadistic Afghan warlord who wants to be our friend.
The United States is not fighting one enemy in Afghanistan. While the media often equate "insurgency" with "Taliban," there are, in fact, three major insurgent groups. The biggest is the Quetta Shura Taliban. Led by the famous one-eyed cleric Mullah Omar, this group is based in the Pakistani city of Quetta and fights mainly in the southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Another is the Haqqani network, run by the father-and-son team of Jalaluddin and Sirajuddin Haqqani from Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas. The Haqqanis and their Al Qaeda allies sow chaos in Afghanistan's east and were likely behind the double-agent suicide bomb at a CIA base near Khost this winter.
Then there is Hekmatyar. ...

Taliban, HIG infighting leads to split in Afghan insurgency in the North -- [LWJ - Bill Roggio]
"Since Sunday 120 fighters including 70 armed men from Hizb-e-Islami have joined [the] government," a police spokesman in Baghlan told Xinhua. Mamor Malang, a local commander of the Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, or HIG, was among those who surrendered to the government. More HIG fighters are expected to join the government in the coming days.
The fighting began on Saturday as a dispute between the local HIG units and Taliban forces in several villages in the Baghlan-e-Markazi district came to a head.

Signs of life return to an Afghan ghost town‎ -- [Los Angeles Times]
A campaign has begun to lure residents back to war-ravaged Now Zad in Helmand province, with Marine and Afghan guards posted 24 hours a day to ward off Taliban attacks.
Reporting from Now Zad, Afghanistan -- Under a late winter sky, surrounded by mountains left verdant by recent rain showers, is one of Afghanistan's spookiest-looking and most dangerous places: the once-vibrant but now war-ravaged and virtually empty city of Now Zad. For decades, it was among Helmand province's largest and most prosperous cities, thanks at least in part to the profitable opium poppy crop grown by local farmers, many of whom are sharecroppers.

Helmand Will Serve as Template, NATO Official Says -- [ISAF]
Operations in Helmand province will serve as a template for future operations elsewhere in Afghanistan, NATO's senior civilian representative here said today.
Ambassador Mark Sedwill, who served as British ambassador to Afghanistan, said the operation is different from others in three basic ways. The first, he said, is that from its inception, NATO's regional commander, British Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, and his Afghan counterparts planned the operation "from the end-game backwards."
"And the end-game is the civilian delivery of governance and development," Sedwill said.
The second difference,...

Soldiers going dismounted in Afghanistan -- [Bouhammer]
About seven or eight months ago my good friend Scott Kesterson who was and still is in Afghanistan told me "things are changing here, they are going back to a Vietnam way of patrolling". I was not sure what he was talking about or implying so I asked him. He told me that the troops were getting out of he vehicles and walking every where they go. Vehicles were limited to the roads for the most part and the enemy had them channeled and could focus the IEDs and EFPs on the roads. Soldiers were finding (along with GEN McChrystal's direction) that if they went dismounted they were safer because the enemy could not IED wide open space.
In order to have freedom of movement and to increase the chance of survival, soldiers were going "cross-country" by dismounted patrols.

British soldier describes throwing Taliban hand grenade back toward enemy in Afghanistan -- [Sun Sentinel]
A soldier in the British army in Afghanistan has described how he saved the lives of two comrades by picking up a live Taliban grenade and throwing it back toward the enemy.

A Sunny Day For A Mission -- [Afghanistan My Last Tour - in Afghanistan]
...As we traveled towards the city, the roads were rather congested with traffic and we saw a lot more children than normal. The local schools have opened their doors and the students are going back to school. One young Afghan boy gave us the thumbs up as we drovepast. Previously this was considered a vulgar gesture, but since the US forces arrived, it has become accepted as part of their culture.
We meandered our way through the capital city and it was apparent security has been added. The ANP were setting up random and strategic checkpoints along the way. These checkpoints cause bottlenecks and the traffic to back up.

Dushman Bukhush -- [Riding Shotgun with Team Zombiekiller - in Afghanistan]
Here's some video we shot the other day of our company assaulting an objective. Their first attempt at it in the morning was not exactly textbook. In fact their first attempt is technically what we'd refer to as a "Soup Sandwich." Fortunately for everyone involved the second iteration was much better. They learned a lot in a short period of time and the results were a considerable improvement.

Road Trip -- [Knights of Afghanistan - in Afghanistan]
Almost midnight, and I just got the word that I'm making a run to Jalalabad tomorrow. The curtailment of sleep is a greater concern than any risk from the movement. The run to Jalalabad is pretty secure, with only occasional trouble along the way.
...Rule One: Avoid the ISAF convoys- favorite target of the bad guys, and prone to indiscriminate fire when they feel threatened.*

Camp Attack# 1 -- [Living In Harm's Way - in Afghanistan]
Well I experienced my first Rocket Propel Grenade attack! I am SAFE! This morning around 0855 insurgents fired a round at one of our guard towers and thankfully missed, the round went completely over the camp landing a couple of hundred yards over the wall. Unfortunately it was reported that some local Afghans were injured. When our office heard the explosion I asked Air force SSgt B, was that what I thought it was, he got up and opened the door and saw everyone running by making their way to the nearest bunkers, I immediately scrambled and found my space in a crowed bunker for safety. Within moments Soldiers' were called to their sectors to secure the camp ...

Rank and File -- [Rajiv Srinivasan - in Afghanistan]
Nights at the ANA COP are dark, to say the least. There are no skyline lights, no neon store front displays. There's only the shine of a few stove heaters flickering through the barracks windows. Occasionally, I'll hear the blaring noise of a homemade Pakistani music video from the ANA leadership's parlor. The television's backlight tends to illuminate the entire building and everyone inside.
Since the day I arrived on the COP, this parlor in the ANA command post has served as nothing but a room symbolic of the corruption and apathy plaguing the leadership of this professional Army. The staff officers ...

Spring in Mazar-E-Sharif -- [270 Days in Afghanistan]
The provincial government has started to plant trees along the roadside, which says a couple of things to me about where the province is at in the economic recovery process for the region. First and foremost, the effort to improve the landscape signals a departure from the stark and frightening goal of simply having a roof over their heads. The local Afghans here in this province seem to have progressed well into the middle of the pyramid of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The second thing it says to me is that optimism has made a comeback among these people.

Fizzling to the Finish Line -- [Sgt Danger - in Afghanistan]
...Looking back on the most recent - and perhaps last - mission, it went really well. I was alert, worked hard, had fun, and gave the new guys some pretty good coaching. I love running a gun truck in Afghanistan, wish I could spend the next two months doing it.
From the mission...

IRAQ

A Good News Story -- [Ramblings from a Painter - in Iraq]
It's the day after the Iraqi elections and the initial reports are pretty positive. Despite a lot of rocket and mortar attacks (over 100 in Baghdad alone), the turnout was pretty heavy. Not only that, it looks like the attacks pissed off the normal Iraqis so much, they went to the polls just to spite the insurgents, even if they hadn't intended to vote! Good for them! I haven't seen much in the way of accusations of vote fraud, at least not yet, and that is also good news. ...Seems like all the other "news" sites I checked were more concerned about the Academy Awards and had only lightweight reporting on Iraq. I'm not really sure what that says about American priorities, except that I don't like it.

It's Up to Iraqis Now. Good Luck. -- [NYT]
...Former President George W. Bush's gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. This war has been extraordinarily painful and costly. But democracy was never going to have a virgin birth in a place like Iraq, which has never known any such thing.

Who Wouldn't Want to be a Fly on the Wall When George W. Bush Reads the New York Times This Morning? -- [The Corner - Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Thomas Friedman today:
Former President George W. Bush's gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. This war has been extraordinarily painful and costly. But democracy was never going to have a virgin birth in a place like Iraq, which has never known any such thing.
Thomas Friedman in 2006:
It is now obvious that we are not midwifing democracy in Iraq. We are baby-sitting a civil war. . . .

Responsible Drawdown from Iraq -- [Army Live]
Third Army is the Department of the Army and Central Command logistical center of gravity for Responsible Drawdown from Iraq. Third Army is synchronizing equipment movement with key players from U.S. Forces-Iraq (USF-I), Air Force Central Command Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, Army Materiel Command and other DOD and CENTCOM components.
Third Army has successfully supported the movement of forces in and out of theater since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom with a proven material enterprise system. Since July 1, 2009, Third Army has moved...

After Delay, Partial Iraq Vote Results Expected Thursday -- [New York Times]
Iraq's electoral commission is expected to announce partial results of parliamentary elections by Thursday, a United Nations

More on Iraqi Elections -- [Ramblings from a Painter - in Iraq]
...Meanwhile, Iran is steadily increasing its clout. They send books to libraries and blankets to the poor and build good will. We build libraries, housing, power plants, sewer systems, fresh water systems, schools, markets, roads, and thousands of other projects worth billions of dollars and are derided as hated occupiers. Although Iran is wielding more influence over Shia politicians, they both take pains to keep it quiet. Iraq and Iran have a long and turbulent history and the people's memories of the war in the 80's, which left a million dead, is still pretty fresh.

Iran's Role In Iraq -- [Atlantic Online]
Iran is definitely supporting Shiite parties in Iraq's 2010 parliamentary voting as it always has, and did help put together the National Alliance

Dispute over candidate disqualifications could mar Iraqi vote's legitimacy -- [WaPo]
A controversy over the disqualification of candidates threatened Tuesday to undermine the legitimacy of Iraq's recent elections and inflame supporters of a coalition seeking to topple the alliance led by the prime minister.

U.S. AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Israel Gives The Finger To Biden And The U.S. -- [AlterNet]
Vice President Joe Biden met with top Israeli leaders today to convey the U.S. Government's positions: the U.S. remains a close ally of Israel and will support Israel if it takes risks for peace; the U.S. does not want Israel to attack Iran over its nuclear program; and Israeli settlements must cease in order to make it possible for peace negotiations to resume.
The Vice President got an immediate and unexpected response from Mr. Netanyahu and his government--the finger!

Global Threats Demand Broad Response, Admiral Says -- [DoD]
Increasing global threats such as those to computer networks and growing hostilities from Iran are prompting more NATO expeditionary operations, NATO's top military officer said today.
"The demands of these nontraditional, transported threats are moving [European member nations] into this direction," Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe and commander of U.S. European Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

North Korea: Nuclear disarmament is off if military exercises proceed -- [The Hill]
North Korea said Sunday that if the U.S. moves forward with a South Korean military exercise, nuclear disarmament is off.
"The maneuvers clearly indicate once again that the U.S. and the South Korean authorities are the harassers of peace and warmongers keen to bring a war to this land," a statement from the government-run Korean Central News Agency said.
China said Friday it was hoping to restart stalled six-party talks with North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia before July by dangling the promise of aid to Pyongyang.

WAR ON TERROR /TERRORISM

Youtuber "Jihad Jane" Indicted on Federal Terrorism Charges (Updated... -- [Jawa Report]
Note to media (too many inquiries to respond to all, sorry): Feel free to use images but please credit "The Jawa Report" or "YouTube Smackdown" and DO NOT HOTLINK! And would it hurt if you named the source for connecting "Jihad Jane" with the Lars Vilks murder plot? Also, you guys don't know how to link?
... You may remember that we've had a long, er, "relationship" with Jihad Jane. To be honest, Colleen seemed more of a loser and a nut than someone who would actually be involved in worldwide jihad. But I suppose that since I am constantly reminding people that "nut" and "jihadi" are not mutually exclusive terms that perhaps I should have heeded my own cautionary warnings?
Howie used to have fun here behind the scenes digging up old pictures of her wearing slutty outfits (not good, trust me) and boozing it up with her red neck buddies (before she took the veil).

SUPPORTING THE TROOPS

KNEES! -- [Dan Cnossen - injured in Afghanistan]
I am proud and excited to report that Dan is back to his original height and walking all over the place, with bending knees and all! No more stubbies, no more peg-leg walking. He is doing SUCH an amazing job at getting this C-leg thing down - when he walks, he actually makes prosthetic legs seem like real ones. He's been up on them for about two weeks now, and is blowing everyone at Walter Reed away with his progress. And how deserving - today is the 6-month anniversary of stepping on that pressure plate in Afghanistan.

Some Things Don't Need Embellishment -- [Afghan Quest - in Afghanistan]
...Landstuhl isn't just for wounded. It's where servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan go for medical treatment and evacuation for any number of reasons. Many are ill. Some have been diagnosed with serious diseases, such as cancer. It is also the waypoint for seriously and critically wounded warriors on their way to places like Walter Reed, the burn centers and the first big step on what may be a long road of recovery. Those people never see the outpatient barracks. They are stabilized and moved again. Some others are there for lengthier stays. For them, many of whom came in with little or nothing, a change of clothes can mean the world.
Enter Soldiers' Angels and the force that defies gravity and fatigue; MaryAnn Phillips.

Founders Notes -- [Soldiers Angels]
Spring is approaching the snow is melting, birds are singing... heroes are fighting for freedom and Angels are busy supporting them. This week we have the exciting celebration of the new facilities in San Antonio, and it's been so great to see the number of heroes waiting for adoption finally drop below 1,000. Let's keep up the great energy!

MILITARY/MILITARY LIFE

The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done: A Series of Screw-Ups and Lessons Learned -- [SpouseBuzz - Andi]
In January, on the day my husband deployed, I received a phone call informing me that we would have to move while my husband was deployed. It's a long story, and has nothing to do with orders, or the Army. Basically, the house we were renting was sold. I had to find a house, buy a house, pack a house and move a house. Without my husband. Pronto. I knew this would be challenging of course, but I also thought it was fairly doable. Bwahahahahaha. Screw-up Number One: No POA. My husband deployed with only a few hours notice. Until this deployment, we've always had lead time to get affairs in order. I admit I don't always keep a current POA on hand, even though I know better. So, you guessed it, I was armed with a useless, expired POA and no way to get another one in a timely manner.

Why I Serve -- [Army Strong - LTC Andre Dean]
Sometimes we catch ourselves asking this very fundamental question about military serivce:
"Why did I sign up to wear this uniform and serve my Country with my life?"
For me all I have to do is look around my office and see a few poignant reminders of what this protection of my beloved USA is all about.
Today it is as simple as this little hand-made tie created for me last Father's Day by my little angel 8-year-old Helena, which hangs prominently on my "love-me" wall. Check out the photo below and tell me if there is a better reason than leaving my little girl a better America than the one I was given by my Army-serving father before me....and to pass this legacy and love affair with America and my deeply held love for my family on down the line to generations still unborn.

Quote of the Day -- [Abu Muqawama]
"The Iliad is ever mindful that war is about men killing or men killed. In the entire epic, no warrior, whether hero or obscure man of the ranks, dies happily or well. No reward awaits the soldier's valor; no heaven will receive him. The Iliad's words and phrases for the process of death make clear that this is something baneful: dark night covers the dying warrior, hateful darkness claims him; he is robbed of sweet life, his soul goes down to Hades bewailing its fate. Again and again, relentlessly, the Iliad hammers this fact: the death of any warrior is tragic and full of horror. Even in war, death is regrettable."

25 Years Ago... -- [Miserable Donuts]
March 9th, 1985 at the Urbana, Illinois National Guard Armory, I signed on the line. My enlistment contract in the Illinois Army National Guard. 11B10 - Infantryman, assigned as a Scout Observer to the Combat Support Company, 2/130th Infantry. When I called home and told my parents, they were rather startled. To tell the truth, when I got to Fort Benning, GA for Basic Training, I was too. A couple of years slowly getting my bearings and an officer's commission, I figured it out. Learn from NCOs. Some schoolhouse training helped too...Good thing I had learned a little by 1993. I was called up for the Mississippi Floods that summer - and had to take acting command of a Company. The rest of the 1990s went along merrily enough - oh, until all that Bosnia stuff got

WELCOME HOME

Home. -- [six foot skinny - home from Iraq]
lines and civilian contract workers and paperwork and waiting and gestures of thanks and goodbye. I probably won't see many of these people ever again. Late night, early morning, busses. Two coach busses take some of us back to Marquette, Michigan. Two busses take some of us back to Ellsworth, Wisconsin. And then later, after I'm gone, busses take the rest to the airport where they fly home to Oklahoma City. I am on the Ellsworth busses. Three hours west of McCoy. Three hours on the bus for the last time.

Charlie Company Home From Afghanistan -- [WTVC]
"Charlie Company," the more common name for C-Troop of the Georgia Army National Guard's 108th Calvary unit, came home Tuesday to a hometown hero's welcome.
We rode with the soldiers on their bus as they greeting hundreds of people who lined the streets to welcome them home. The troops waved and shouted back at people carrying flags and signs along Dalton's streets.

Friends repair flooded farm for soldier during his deployment -- [Cherokee Tribune]
A Cherokee County soldier on Tuesday evening received a welcome-home present he never will forget. Friends and family of Sgt. Rusty Midkiff of southeast

3rd ESC back home from Haiti -- [News Enterprise]
While waiting in bleachers decorated with signs such as - "Welcome Home Mommy" - Nikeisha Roberts said she was nervous and excited to see her husband again.

VETERANS

Time to refresh your memories... -- [Castle Argghhh!!!]
Below are web-sites that provide information on Veterans benefits and how to file/ask for them. Accordingly, there are many sites that explain how to obtain books, military/medical records, information and how to appeal a denied claim with the VA.
Please pass this information on to every Veteran you know.

Things EVERY Vet Should Know -- [You Served - CJ]
ALL VETS SHOULD COPY THIS - Someone has gone to a lot of trouble. If this helps one person, then it was worthwhile. Please pass this on to all Veterans on you e-mail list.
Below are web-sites that provide information on Veterans benefits and how to file/ask for them. Accordingly, there are many sites that explain how to obtain books, military/medical records, information and how to appeal a denied claim with the VA. Please pass this information on to every Veteran you know. Nearly 100% of this information is free and available for all veterans, the only catch is: you have to ask for it, because they won't tell you about a specific benefit unless you ask for it. You need to know what questions to ask so the right doors open for you and then be ready to have an advocate who is willing to work with and for you, stay in the process, and press for your rights and your best interests.

THE MEDIA

Oscar for Iraq war film was well-timed -- [CNN]
This past weekend, Iraq had a real election and in spite of threats and bombings, millions of voters participated in record numbers. It is a giant step forward in Iraq's road to democracy and has the potential to be a beacon for others in this battle-scarred region.

Fallujah -- the real Hurt Locker -- [OPFOR]
In Fallujah in 2004, the soldiers and Marines were not able to call in Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams to diffuse IEDs. In Fallujah, the soldiers and Marines were forced to drop bombs on urban minefields. On one occasion a string of IEDs two blocks long was detonated by a single GPS-guided bomb. In Fallujah a handful of soldiers were not pinned down by a single enemy sniper. In Fallujah American M1 tanks were pinned down by riflemen and grenadiers lurking in every window. In Fallujah, 8000 American troops were locked in mortal combat with 4000 diehard jihadists for several weeks. In Fallujah, over 100 American soldiers, sailors and Marines were killed during the 2004 fighting and hundreds more were wounded. Many lives were lost and everyone's life was changed forever. Nine Navy Crosses and twenty-two Silver Stars were awarded for gallantry during Operation Phantom Fury--many posthumously.

THE HURT LOCKER at the Oscars: Iraq War Drama Wins; Iraqis Ignored -- [Alt Film Guide (blog)]
I was disappointed -- but hardly surprised -- that none of the Hurt Locker filmmakers mentioned the people of Iraq or the election held in that country on

US Iraq commander likes 'Hurt Locker' -- [AFP]
The commander of US troops in Iraq on Tuesday praised Oscar-winning drama "The Hurt Locker," saying that unlike some media coverage it showed the complexities on the field.
General Ray Odierno said he watched "The Hurt Locker," a nerve-jangling film about a US Army bomb disposal squad in Baghdad, after a copy was sent to him last year.

POLITICS

CPT Bailey on Liddy Show -- [This Ain't Hell]
Navy Captain Larry Baily, a Navy SEAL who spends a lot of his personal busting phony SEALs, will be on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show today. You can listen to it on the interwebbythingies. Apparently, Captain Bailey will be discussing Adam Kokesh's candidacy run in New Mexico.
The one time I've talked with Captain Baily on the phone, he had just finished telling a widow that her recently deceased husband wasn't eligible for burial in Arlington despite the years of lies her husband had told her. He's a straight shooter and a rock hard patriot.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Gossip -- [Home from Iraq]
Our unit made the front page of today's Lancaster Intelligencer/New Era in a story about a chaplain who was supposed to deploy with us and who was accused of violating "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." For me, finding out Chaplain (Captain) Aris Fokas was deploying with us was great news. He was the assistant college chaplain at Franklin and Marshall College (where my wife teaches) in the 1990s. So I already knew him and knew he was a really good guy. We saw each other at the battalion Christmas party at the end of 2007 and I could not say which one of us was more surprised to see the other in uniform.

HUMOR/SATIRE

Day By Day

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