Some items you left out of the "Week That Was." I wonder why.

Zarqawi kill meaningless in practical terms? The day it was announced the insurgents killed another 25 and kidnapped 5 more. There is plenty evidence that al-Qaeda considered him overly brutal and wanted him dead. Killing Zarqawi could make al-Qaeda more dangerous, not less.

USMC admits having its own pictures of Haditha massacre. This one got no attention in the so-called "milblogosphere" because it's bad news, and the milblogs refuse to deal with bad news. Within a very short time of the massacre, USMC photogs took pictures that belied the official accounts, but the USMC continued the coverup. That's news.

VA malfeasance exposes 80% of active duty force to identity theft. The so-called milblogs ignored that one, too, because they exist as propaganda tools for the Bush administration. Naturally, they said nothing about the outrageous spin that the VA's chief administrator tried to put on the theft.

Doubts rising about Canadian "terror" busts. Turns out that the more they look into it, the less that might be there. This is just in its beginning stages, so we'll have to see. But the so-called milblogs want to keep everyone scared. It's part of the plan.

You left this out about Haditha as well:

Haditha Media Errors Exposed

First off, eyewitness testimony is often unreliable. Ask any cop. It has to be considered carefully in light of other evidence. Secondly, it doesn't really matter in this case. The USMC has pictures showing how the people died, and those pictures directly contradict the accounts given by the Marine Corps the next day and two months later.

As for your fig leaf about not wanting to absolve the guilty, that's exactly what you are trying to do. At least have the balls to admit it.

I posted this in another thread, but it is more applicable here as news of the week:

*****

Well, the media, leftists, liberals and Democrats have officially lost their minds. Now, their conspiracy theory to try to spin the Zarqawi killing is that President Bush deliberately failed to kill Zarqawi when we knew where he was in Iraq in 2002, thereby allowing Zarqawi to justify Bush going into Iraq. Hmmm, that's interesting. From 2003 until now, Liberals, Leftists, Democrats and the media have been telling us that al Qaeda was not in Iraq until after we went in, in 2003. Now all of a sudden, they reveal (in the New York Times no less!) they too knew that Zarqawi was in Iraq, part of al Qaeda's Ansar al-Islam terrorist group, in 2002, before our 2003 invasion.

So the LLLs, media and Democrats have just spun themselves into being completely discredited and proven the link between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda prior to 2003.

Not as though any of us who have been paying attention to facts for the past 5 years needed to be told this, but it must be a really sad day in liberal fantasyland today as they realize their current conspiracy theory (Bush deliberately failed to kill Zarqawi in Iraq in 2002) completely discredits their previous lie (al Qaeda was not in Iraq prior to March 2003).

The sounds you may hear today are of liberal heads exploding all over the country as their worlds come crashing down upon them.

Michael, postings from you and subby and a few others here remind me of this:

http://www.timesreporter.com/printable.php?ID=54956

Drinking and the Internet don't mix.

Here's another take on Haditha:

Haditha: Is McGirk the New Mary Mapes?

Here is Andy McCarthy exposing the NYTimes' talking about al Qaeda in Iraq in 2002 in today's edition:

Ooops: Times Accidentally Bolsters Bush's Iraq Argument

Should we call it "Hush Money" or "Bush Bribes?"

http://w3t.org/u/r9u

Always a great read to remember why we fight.

Still more on Haditha:

Time Corrects Its Mistakes About Haditha

Zarqawi kill meaningless in practical terms? The day it was announced the insurgents killed another 25 and kidnapped 5 more. There is plenty evidence that al-Qaeda considered him overly brutal and wanted him dead. Killing Zarqawi could make al-Qaeda more dangerous, not less.
I'm sure you would have let him go on about his merry way, for safety's sake and all.

USMC admits having its own pictures of Haditha massacre. This one got no attention in the so-called "milblogosphere" because it's bad news, and the milblogs refuse to deal with bad news. Within a very short time of the massacre, USMC photogs took pictures that belied the official accounts, but the USMC continued the coverup. That's news.

It was certainly news two weeks ago when we covered it at MilBlogs.

VA malfeasance exposes 80% of active duty force to identity theft. The so-called milblogs ignored that one, too, because they exist as propaganda tools for the Bush administration. Naturally, they said nothing about the outrageous spin that the VA's chief administrator tried to put on the theft.

We don't share your bizarre obsession with the story. It's been mentioned here and in most other milblogs, but beyond noting the individual stupidity there's little practical purpose in blog coverage. If you understood blogs you'd know that we look for news we can expand, clarify, or correct, I'm not sure how I can do that in this case. If I'm missing something, let me know. If you really want to discover the political party of the guy who did it (or the Marines in Haditha or the torture squad at Abu Ghraib) you probably could - this seems to be your obsession, but I don't see where that matters.

We know you can't comprehend this Willy, but MilBlogs deal with issues that matter to military people, and we'll only by remote chance write about things that you could possibly understand.

Really Willy, if we wrote about what you wanted we'd be "WilBlogs", not MilBlogs, and you're free to start that section of the blogosphere yourself.

The so-called "milblogosphere" gets to pump out as much propaganda as it wants to. Of course, just like the leftist websites out there it talks almost exclusively to itself. In your case, it's not military issues that you really care about; they are merely the vehicle du jour for your far-right-wing shilling.

Greyhawk - You are reaching a lot more than just military people with your blog as well as with the new Milblogs site. I have been following milblogs since I discovered Blackfive a year or so ago and then came upon SMASH's site and Mudville Gazette after that. I'm not in the military, but I am a big supporter of the war effort and the military in general. I also have introduced my co-workers to milblogs and send them articles from your sites every day. We all are big supporters of the war effort and share a disgust of the media coverage of all things related to the war effort. As the months have gone by and I have been more open to discuss politics and the war with my coworkers, I have found that there are a lot more people than I realized who were supporters of the war effort. I have added more and more people to my distribution lists and have noticed that they are all forwarding on my e-mails to their family and friends as well. So the network is growing and milblogs are reaching a greater audience each day.

Also, in the past year, I have started my own blog, granted, only on MySpace for now until I figure out a good name for my own personal blog site, and have introduced many of my friends to milblogs and post numerous articles in bulletin posts as well as blog posts for all to see. I have gotten a great response from people who have told me they have been frustrated with the media coverage and have been looking for other sources of news to find out about all the progress they hear about from their family or friends serving overseas. I have gotten many a "thank you" from people for telling them about milblogs and passing on good stories of progress and success. Many have told me that they now visit the milblogs every day to get the latest updates.

The point of my post is to let you and all other milbloggers know that you are reaching a far greater audience than just other military members. Your posts and insight, as well as those of all the other milbloggers, have been a breath of fresh air for those of us who completely support the war effort and the military and have been wanting to gain more insight into the military and hear from those who have been there and are military experts. And I am only one person. I can imagine there are many, many more people such as myself who have also introduced their families, friends and coworkers to the work of milblogs and your message is getting out to a very large audience, and not just those in the military.

So keep up the great work that you and your fellow milbloggers do. You are an invaluable service to the American public.

Willy,
Since you are so concerned about us Active Duty and Veterans that possibly had our personal information compromised, I will give you an update on the VA's efforts:

Take a look at the links on the right side of the page under "Veterans Information" -
http://www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Audiences/Military_Veterans.shtml

I also recieved this information in the mail this week. I am very comfortable with the efforts the the Federal Government has put forth to clean up the illegal actions of "ONE" individual within their organization.
[Sarcasm]I'm so glad that you were so very concerned about us, military members and veterans, that you did some research to find out the steps that the VA has taken since this compromise to protect our names and credit history. Your obvious concern for the whole story is inspiration to me.[/Sarcasm]

SC, it's easy to be satisfied when you never cared to begin with, isn't it?

"SC, it's easy to be satisfied when you never cared to begin with, isn't it?"

Posted by WW at June 10, 2006 07:13 AM

Willy,

Pretty much correct. Most vets really don't go to the VA for all their health care. Most have their own insurance. Contrary to the picture you try to paint, your average vet has a good job, is only partially disabled, doesn't accept charity because he knows others deserve it much more than he does, and dislikes folks who pretentd to be vets to get benefits, pretend to be concerned about VA benefits when all they really want to do is point out political weaknesses of their enemies.

Although many of us do go there from time to time (me included, being the blind, drunk, and dickless retired nutscratcher that you have so valiantly pointed out that I am), we don't HAVE to use it exclusively. We care about our buddies who don't have insurance and that is why WE ensured long ago the Department of Veterans Affairs was created. The work the VA does to help our shipmates is good work. They are competent and compassionate individuals and are doing their best with the money they are given and the expertise they have.

But they are not the Holy Shrine of Martyrdom for veterans. Most of us military folks don't feel we need to be babied and pampered and catered to at the expense and exclusion of doing good work elsewhere in our government for those less fortunate than us. After all, many of us gave our careers and some gave their lives to make sure the system was defended.

So your obviously sarcastic concern for the VA's missteps just shows that all you care about is politics. Because YOU certainly wouldn't propose VA benefits be extended to the Marines who MAY have committed a crime at Haditha (despite your protestations to the contrary, they have not been charged or convicted, but they currently are under pretrial restraint --- in legirons and shackles, even before the investigation is completed. And your concern is over fictitious and imaginary torture of terrorists -- go figure). YOU say the leadership and chain of command of the Marine Corps "lied" in presenting an inaccurate statement to the press, and, heaven forbid, YOU say the VA doesn't have enough money or care enough about veterans to do something about problems which are just now being identified. Methinks you protesteth too mucheth.

I love the way you think government leaders should just snap their fingers and things are automatically and magically righted in midstream. Is that the way things work in your high school world? Because they certainly don't work that way in the real world, military, government, or civilian.

You are right, though. It IS easy to be satisfied when you never cared before. Kinda like the way you were satisfied with Iraq when Saddam was in charge, satisfied with Afghanistan when the Taliban was in charge, and satisifed with the problems of our military and our world before 9-11, no matter what the problems were. You just didn't care. The problems were there, but you just didn't care.

You didn't care about WWII vets picking up their lives and getting on with winning prosperity after WWII and raising you and I to be solid citizens until they take their last trip in a hearse. You didn't care how VietNam vets felt about their demonization after the war and their feelings of betrayal by their own countrymen when they were winning a war they thought they should be allowed to win. You didn't care when military folks were killed in peacekeeping operations under ANY President because it was so much more important to save the lives of Bosnian Muslims and starving Somali children than our own soldiers' lives at that point in your politicial life (and I partially agree with that sentiment). And you don't care about the feelings of the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and their desire to finish their missions now.

I'm sure you don't care that Matt @ Blackfive served by jumping out of perfectly good airplanes to place himself in harms way to defend Americans who, like you, didn't care a whit about what he was doing or why he did it. You don't care that GreyHawk served in Iraq and elsewhere over a 20 yr career to bring safety and security to Americans and Iraqis who may not have known him or why he was there. You don't care that Froggy Ruminations served as a Navy SEAL in many hazardous operations throughout his career, or that Jimbo Hansen spent most of his adult life in Special Forces following the orders of his superiors and making sure evil men were held in check, and our troops received the tools and techniques necessary to protect you from folks who wanted to separate you from your checkbook, and in some cases, your head. I'm 100% positive you don't care what I was doing under the ocean for 20+ years and whether or not any of it had anything to do with your safety and security.

Put simply, you just don't care what sacrifices are made for you. Because YOU are unworthy of them.

But most of the American people, and the good people in this world are worthy of such selfless toil and backbreaking work, and they appreciate it.

Now why don't you go crawl back under your rock and think about who you truly care about, like Zarqawi, terrorists who are ridiculed when panties are placed on their heads, criminals who steal from the VA, and the fact that your team isn't in charge, and leave the rest of the world to the grown ups, little boy.

Subsunk

subby:

1. No one in Iraq is making a single sacrifice for me. I admire the willingness of those people to put themselves in harm's way, but that willness has been horrendously misused by your Liar-in-Chief. And really by you and your so-called "milblogger" chorus, who are so blinded by your politics that you're even willing to throw away the lives of thousands of Americans for nothing at all

2. I have a brother-in-law and former marine who constantly bitches about being screwed by the VA. But he constantly bitches about everything, so I pretty much tune it out. My concern about VA benefits these days comes from the stories of people seriously wounded (both physically and mentally) in Iraq & Afghanistan who are not getting the care they need and deserve.

I'm against this pointless war, but I don't think those who have fought it and have been badly wounded should be getting such bad treatment. You and the rest of the so-called "milblogosphere" virtually ignore them, and to me that's prima facie evidence that the milblogs are little more than right-wing propaganda machines.

If anyone should care about their own, you people should. But you don't.

3. Matt at Blackfive censors his board. He is a coward. Greyhawk goes through his phases. Currently he's in brave mode. Froggy is not only a coward, he's a liar.

4. As for you on the submarine, you worked and you got paid. Don't sit there and expect to have your ass kissed for it, or I might suggest that it is you who should be thanking the productive taxpayers who put food on your table.

Willy,

"SC, it's easy to be satisfied when you never cared to begin with, isn't it?"

How would you know what I cared or didn't care about? FYI, I think it is very presumptuous and ignorant on your part to beleive that I wouldn't care about my credit history, especially since it affects my family. But then again you don't pre-judge do you? You keep spewing from the mouth about how we "wingnuts" should be concerned about the VA issue. Yet you didn't even bother to do some BASIC research into what the VA is doing to make sure that this doesn't affect any veteran's credit. A lot of concern there. Instead of spouting partisan politics, maybe you could have offered some advice to us military and veterans on how to check our credit reports or what to do if some one has stolen our identity from this unfortunate incident. All you are really interested in is hate. Despite what you may say you are not interested in help anyone, you are only interested in being right. And just so you know, I don't hate, I pity you!

p.s. Just so you know, I'm not a welfare case suckling at the teat of your tax dollar. I get paid to uphold and defend the Constitution. And I and my fellow brother's-in-arm's deserve every penny of it for all the sacrifices that we pay. And that, sir, is something you can never pretend to understand until you have walked a mile in our shoes. Just like I can't pretend to understand your situation because I have never lived your life.

Yet you didn't even bother to do some BASIC research into what the VA is doing to make sure that this doesn't affect any veteran's credit. A lot of concern there. Instead of spouting partisan politics, maybe you could have offered some advice to us military and veterans on how to check our credit reports or what to do if some one has stolen our identity from this unfortunate incident.

"Unfortunate incident?" Come on, it's rank incompetence. The head of the VA is a political hack whose qualifications were that he once ran the Republican National Committee. A year and a half ago he promised to tighten things up and he failed.

There has been scant mention of any of this on the so-called "milblogosphere," because it embarrasses your Liar-in-Chief's administration. You'd rather talk about non-existent "hippies" who protested the Vietnam War 35 years ago.

I'm not a welfare case suckling at the teat of your tax dollar. I get paid to uphold and defend the Constitution. And I and my fellow brother's-in-arm's deserve every penny of it for all the sacrifices that we pay.

I've never begrudged the military their pay, not here or anywhere else. I've only brought up the issue as a counterpoint to those who somehow think that civilians should have any say in what you people do in our name.

I believe in the old rule, "He who's got the gold makes the rules." The minute you think otherwise, then I suggest you try holding some bake sales to pay for it all. I resent the hell out of the arrogance I see from a subset of military nutscratchers on the so-called "milblogs."

Oh, and as far as sacrifices go, I doubt there's 1 military job in 50 of them that's as dangerous as being a commercial fisherman. Last time I looked, they weren't beating their chests and demanding that everyone kiss their asses.

WW, military folks respect civilians, we realize that they do pay our salaries.

It's YOU that we don't respect.

No broad brush there.

I also am not military and have no military family but did grow up around several military bases where many of my friends' parents were stationed. They were all good people. I have nothing but respect for the men and women who serve our country, including all the gentlemen running the milblogs. The milblogs do a tremendous service in educating their readers on military issues in a way the MSM never could. Thank you for what you do.

My hat is off to you, Greyhawk, for the tolerance and respect you show in responding to that angry and childish poster WW. I honestly don't know how you do it.

WW, I am not sure what motivates you to be so angry and nasty but maybe you could temper some of that outrage by actually volunteering at your local VA hospital so that you could make a direct and positive impact on the lives of those veterans you claim so much concern for. Spending your days here sniping solves nothing. Put your money where you mouth is and go meet some of those vets. Broaden your horizon a bit.

"Depends on when those 20 years were, subby. Could well be that I was paying into your beer fund, in which case you might want to consider thanking me for keeping you out of a welfare office somewhere."

Posted by WW at June 10, 2006 07:17 AM

I've never begrudged the military their pay, not here or anywhere else. I've only brought up the issue as a counterpoint to those who somehow think that civilians should have any say in what you people do in our name.

Posted by WW at June 10, 2006 09:08 PM

[sarcasm]No, you don't begrudge the military and their pay at all do you! [/sarcasm] A few more of these lies and we could start calling you "liar-in-chief", right?

I'm happy to have kept subby in beer money and out of the welfare office somewhere, provided he actually did something in return.

dubdub:

You use a blog that Greyhawk began writing, that he and Mrs. Greyhawk do research for daily and spend much of their spare time preparing; you sneeringly use the man's OWN blog as your private forum for insults, slurs and slander - against Greyhawk!
You exhibit the manners of a goat and for that alone deserve to be shunned.

Clearly, you aren't fit to lick Greyhawk's, or Matt o' B5's, or Froggy's or Subsunk's boots. Any one of them has more integrity, honor and bravery in the last toenail clipping they snipped off, than you could ever DREAM of having in a lifetime as you. Forget actually experiencing.

They can each look themselves in the mirror every morning, and KNOW there stands a man who heard the call of duty, and at no mean personal sacrifice answered it well and courageously.

I suspect when YOU look in a mirror, there's absolutely nothing worthy of admiration in the smallness of the soul reflected back.

Just as when I see your name titling a comment from this point forward, I know there'll never be anything worth one moment of life squandered reading it.

sqcic

"I'm happy to have kept subby in beer money and out of the welfare office somewhere, provided he actually did something in return."

Posted by WW at June 11, 2006 07:28 AM

Willy,

I could tell you what your money went for. But then I get to kill you. Classified information you know. Feel like finding out, beyotch?

Subsunk

Beth, but you're so vague. Could you tell me what you really think? I can't say why 'hawk has been letting me post here lately. He shifts in and out of censor mode; maybe someone calls him from the White House and says something like, hey greyhawk, it's gettin' hot so you probably ought to provide the illusion of a debate for a few weeks

"Beth, but you're so vague. Could you tell me what you really think? I can't say why 'hawk has been letting me post here lately. He shifts in and out of censor mode; maybe someone calls him from the White House and says something like, hey greyhawk, it's gettin' hot so you probably ought to provide the illusion of a debate for a few weeks"

Posted by WW at June 11, 2006 11:27 PM

Gee Willy, now you don't understand English!

We could say the same thing about you. How much do Howard Dean and Markos Moulitsas pay you anyway? I mean maybe, if they paid us more than we are currently getting from the White House, we could support your side too. Doncha think?

{When Hell freezes over, boy}

Subsunk

We could say the same thing about you. How much do Howard Dean and Markos Moulitsas pay you anyway?

Considering that Daily Kos banned me for discussing the Democratic Party's corruption (they took one third of the money that Abramoff and his cronies spread around Congress), somehow I doubt that he's paying me. As for Howie, the only communications I get these days is requests for money, not checks in the mail.

See, the difference between me and the knee-jerk propaganda whores of the so-called "milblogosphere" is that I'm no one's opinion slave. I call 'em like I see 'em, unlike a Greyhawk, who has packaged his gonads in a box and sold them to the Republican Party.

"We could say the same thing about you. How much do Howard Dean and Markos Moulitsas pay you anyway?"

"Considering that Daily Kos banned me for discussing the Democratic Party's corruption (they took one third of the money that Abramoff and his cronies spread around Congress), somehow I doubt that he's paying me. As for Howie, the only communications I get these days is requests for money, not checks in the mail."

(The Daily Kos banned you? Do tell? Whatever on Earth would they do that for? It certainly couldn't be that you're a jerk no one wants to listen to, could it?)

"See, the difference between me and the knee-jerk propaganda whores of the so-called "milblogosphere" is that I'm no one's opinion slave. I call 'em like I see 'em, unlike a Greyhawk, who has packaged his gonads in a box and sold them to the Republican Party."

Posted by WW at June 13, 2006 04:35 AM

(That's brave little Willy for you. No one's slave. I calls 'em like I see 'em. Nearsighted, are you Willy? As for packaged gonads, where can I order a pair? Perhaps they also have a packaged penis so I can fix my impediment to manhood which you seem to think I have. Hope springs eternal, you know. There may even be hope for you, Willy. When you're not out impressing the ladies with your dazzling intellect and superior courage and manhood. So superior to the actual Manhood presented in the stories of the United States Military posted on milblogs. My, my, where do you find the time?)

You're a Legend in your own Mind, Willy.

Subsunk