Spreading the Word

Here's a post from Cpt Patti that could use some exposure. It will be interesting to see what the Blogosphere can make happen here.

MilBlogs Memorial Day

The MilBlogs Pond is ripe with Memorial Day posts; a fishing trip through the 70-odd Ring members (plus a couple others) world-wide yields the following catch.

Hook from Afghanistan.

Budachaegi chimes in from Korea.

Chapomatic from "out to sea".

Sarah from Germany.

JB from his sanctuary

And Grim from his Hall.

Geek from somewhere in his Empire.

John Donovan from Castle Argghhh!

Dogtulosba has a briefing for you.

While Smash provides an interesting link.

And OkieMinnie does too (several, in fact).

While Baldilocks has some keen observations. (Of course)

And here's two entries from Cassandra here and here.

And a pair from Blackfive (One and two)

Now let the poets have their say, via:

Love in war

An Army Wife

and

Sgt Mom.

On a somewhat related note, in a media celebration in honor of Memorial Day The Denver Post apparently offered cash to former Bronco Reggie Rivers to drop his pants and take a dump on the graves of all who ever served; or perhaps to simply point out his superiority to them all.

Milbloggers responded.

Brad R. Torgersen, Reservist and site owner of Pool of Thought has an email exchange with our brave Sunday hero. Credit the man for responding to criticism, assuming he didn't have a slave do it for him.

Baldilocks, Hook, Blackfive and Horologium all have something to say.

And, this Memorial Day J Crue at doubleplusgood infotainment doesn't have a related post - he's gotten married and has paused his blogging accordingly. (Whipped, says I) ;>). Congratulate them here.

Same for Dagger Jag, who got a couple weeks off from duty in Iraq for his wedding.

Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Blackfive celebrate their seventh anniversary.

Congratulations to them all! The Mrs and I will celebrate our 20th this fall. But should I be accepted in a certain volunteer request I'll spend it in Iraq. To early to say now even what the odds are of that happening, but that uncertainty is part of the program.

Treasure every day.

Note

Greetings. Hope you and yours are enjoying a fine Memorial Day weekend. New posts on this site are forthcoming, in the meantme I hope you don't mind the "reprints" of the entries reflecting on the sacrifice of those this weekend is meant to honor.

There is no better honor we can bestow upon them than the celebration of freedom with good friends and family. I truly hope that today and always you are enjoying all the fine things they made possible.

SACRED WORDS

(Ed note: the following post was originally written in March 03 just before the onset of the recent war in Iraq, then updated prior to Memorial Day 2003. Over the past year the theme of this particular post has recurred numerous times, to the point where I'm quite sure of this: As in no previous time in history we are engaged in a war in which the combatants are not separated by national borders. Now, a Mudville Memorial Day tradition.)

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

- John Stuart Mill

Emboldening words. But not sacred. And these next few words certainly aren't either. The following is a post I made on the eve of the war with Iraq, in response to an "anti-war" comment by someone using the name John Smith...

When you go to bed tonight, think that somewhere there's a US Soldier sleeping in a cot in a tent, probably on top of a sleeping bag with a sprinkling of sand for extra comfort...maybe he has a picture of the wife or kids, or if he's really young, mom and dad.

He may have joined for education, or to get out of Dodge, or to see the world, or family tradition, maybe even for patriotism, maybe even because of what he saw on TV on 911!

Can you grasp this? I'm talking about a real person, and he's suffering gladly now to protect you so please take a minute of your life to learn something important about him:

He has the real possibility of dying tomorrow.

He may have to kill someone tomorrow. It won't be like on TV, that person will be real dead. It may be a long painful death, John.

A lot of Moms on both sides may already have hugged their kid for the last time, John.

The human cost of the next few days may be astounding. To know the whole reality is more then you or I or anyone could bear.

People will die.

It could have been avoided.

I will keep this simple for now:

A united world could have, just maybe, brought down Saddam without firing a shot. We will never know. Americans who exercised their God-given right (by virtue of American Birth, and defended by the American GI) to protest helped ensure that unified front would never form.

Strangely enough, that right is what the soldier will fight for. Will kill for, may die for.

Will he hate you for it, John? Does it matter to you John?

What about his mom, John? Think it's funny? Are you thinking up funny things you can post in denial right now John?

Your denial doesn't matter John.

I don't know how any one else might feel about you John. It would be the height of arrogance for me to claim I did.

But now multiply that guy by 300,000..

Here's how I feel John. I can not comprehend, nor will I ever til the day I die, how someone could be so vile as to force the onset of war just because they think they might have a better shot at getting one of their fellow dirt bags elected President in two years, John.

This time, John, your victim is not just George Bush. It is the US military and the people of America and Iraq. (Do you think you can trick the Iraqi's into loving you John? They hate Saddam Hussein you know? They saw you on TV, too John.)

Their blood is on your hands, John.

You may have sown the wind John.

Good night John, sleep tight.

Originally posted March 18, 2003

And this is the follow up to that post.

Blogging is vanity. By it's nature there is something about it that says, "people care what I say!"I started doing this by posting in comments sections of other blogs. I didn't think anyone would give a darn what I said, it just felt good to do it. It actually surprised me that my comments began to get responses (positive and negative). This led to starting this page as a place to put things that were too long for comments (post above was one that led to the transition.) Then this page grew. I write here because it's fun. Also because as an active duty military member I can say what I want and not worry about who might respond, who might misunderstand a joke, who might not laugh at what I laugh at.

But nothing I've ever written here compares to this letter home from Marine Capt. Ryan A. Beaupre:

Mom & Dad,
Well if you are reading this, then things didn't go well for me over in Iraq. I'm sorry for the pain that I have caused you because of this. Please do not be upset with the Marine Corps, the military, the government, or the President. It was my choice to go into the military. The President and my higher commanders were just doing what they thought was best. Realize that I died doing something that I truly love, and for a purpose greater than myself. There is a paragraph that I read from time to time when I lose focus. "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." John Stewart Mill Now there is a little Marine Corps bravado in there, but I do believe in the basic premise. I want you to know that I could not have asked for better parents, or a better family. ..... I'll never forget that one of my friends in elementary school said that if he could trade places with one person, he'd trade places with me because of my parents and home life. I truly feel that I've had a blessed life thanks to you two. Please give my love to Alyse & Ryan, Kari & Matt & the girls, Chris & Brandy, and everyone else in the family.
All my love,
Ryan

Beaupre, 30, of Bloomington, Ill., was killed March 20 in a helicopter crash in Kuwait.

And this from Marine Lance Cpl. Michael J. Williams' last letter home:

...I know I am here to do a job that not everyone can handle or they just choose not to do. I can't help but wonder what God has in store for me and for us. God knows I live to love and would die to give just one person a chance for life in a peaceful world. My weakness in life just might be my willingness to sacrifice my life for the good of this world we live in.I am not trying to make you worry about me, but only to know that I am here because I want to be here and that I believe God has given me the chance to help the people who have helped me, and also the people I have not even met yet. I love you Heather, and I want to spend my life with you, but God has called me to do this first. There is a phrase the Marine Corps adopted, it is "Semper Fi." It means "Always Faithful." To God, my country, my family I will always be faithful. You are now part of my family. When all of this is over, God will have revealed his plan for me being here ..... For now, I belong to my country, when I come back, I am yours.

And Marine Sgt. Michael E. Bitz wrote:

Dear Mom:
This is the largest battle group the US has set up since the Korean War. The only difference is that we have the means of doing much more damage today than we did back then. Honestly, between God, you and I, I would rather go back home with my wife and kids. Janina and all the other wives were able to come out to the beach and stay for three hours the night before we splashed our Assault Amphibious Vehicles out to the ship. ..... That last five minutes was the hardest of my life. We both were full of tears. It was easy for Joshua cause he was asleep at that time. But I am sure that he woke up the next morning wondering where Daddy was. ..... Well Mom, that is enough about me. I love you very much and now your young warrior is to be going now.
Love, your son,
Michael

Bitz, 31, of Ventura, Calif., and Williams, 31, of Yuma, Ariz., were killed March 23 in Nasiriyah by Iraqi soldiers who pretended to surrender, then opened fire when Marines approached.

Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address said: "...we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow, this ground-- The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here."

So what ground did these men hallow? Some sand? Your next tank of gas? No. Far from it. Freedom is the sacred ground hallowed by their blood. And it's yours and mine, to enjoy every day. To laugh, or cry, and hug our children. And hope that the John Smiths, those miserable creatures, may some day know of men better then themselves.

For those who can spare the time, you can get to know the people who died for you a little better here.

And don't forget Memorial Day is coming soon.

UPDATE: A CHANCE TO GIVE BACK

A CHANCE TO GIVE BACK PART II

Note: The above links will provide information on various Charities established in honor of America's fallen heroes.

Original post: 2003-04-29 18:00:55
First re-post: 2003-09-08 11:40:55

Welcome Back

Briefly missing in action, now back at it, welcome Brain Fertilizer back into the MilBlogs Ring. A simple description, supplied by the site owner: "Puns, Guns, and Writing." Glad you've returned, Nathan!

28 May 04 Morning Briefing

TOP STORIES

1. U.S. Halts Attacks On Sadr's Militiamen
(Washington Post)...Daniel Williams
After weeks of urban fighting in southern Iraq, U.S. troops suspended attacks on Shiite Muslim insurgents Thursday in response to an offer by rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr to partially withdraw militia forces from the holy city of Najaf and evacuate government buildings.

2. Agreement By U.S. And Rebels To End Fighting In Najaf
(New York Times)...Dexter Filkins
American forces and guerrillas loyal to the radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr agreed Thursday to quit fighting in Najaf, in a deal that signaled the possible end of seven weeks of fighting in the city, during which scores of Iraqis have died.

3. Hidden Identities Hinder Probe
(USA Today)...Toni Locy
Efforts to determine who orchestrated the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison may be complicated by the ways in which many military intelligence officials, covert U.S. agents and civilian contractors obscured their identities.

4. Suspicion Surrounds Death Of Iraqi Scientist In U.S. Custody
(Los Angeles Times)...Alissa J. Rubin
...Responding to a Times query, the Pentagon's criminal investigation division declined to comment on Alazmirli's death. A spokesman for the Army's Criminal Investigative Division, Christopher Grey, issued a six-word response: "No releasable information at this time." Alazmirli's case raises questions about whether similar ones exist — suspicious deaths that are not on any official U.S. lists — and what method the military is using to determine which cases are worthy of review

5. In The Scrapyards Of Jordan, Signs Of A Looted Iraq
(New York Times)...James Glanz
As the United States spends billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq's civil and military infrastructure, there is increasing evidence that parts of sensitive military equipment, seemingly brand-new components for oil rigs and water plants and whole complexes of older buildings are leaving the country on the backs of flatbed trucks. By some estimates, at least 100 semitrailers loaded with what is billed as Iraqi scrap metal are streaming each day into Jordan, just one of six countries that share a border with Iraq.

6. Vocal Cleric Arrested In London At U.S. Behest
(Washington Post)...Craig Whitlock and Susan Schmidt
A Muslim cleric whose London mosque has served as a magnet and megaphone for Islamic militants was arrested early Thursday by British police after U.S. officials unsealed a federal indictment charging him with planning terrorist acts in Oregon, Afghanistan and Yemen.

IRAQ

7. Shiite Politicians' Objections Lead Candidate To Withdraw
(Washington Post)...Rajiv Chandrasekaran
A politically independent Shiite Muslim who had been a top choice of the United States and the United Nations to become Iraq's prime minister withdrew from consideration after objections from formerly exiled Shiite politicians who want the job for themselves, officials involved in the political transition said Thursday.

8. An Iraqi Council Member Is Reported To Survive After Ambush; A Bodyguard Is Killed
(New York Times)...Edward Wong and Christine Hauser
Gunmen opened fire on a convoy carrying a member of the Iraqi Governing Council on Thursday as she was returning to Baghdad after taking part in cease-fire negotiations in the southern city of Najaf, American and Iraqi officials said.

9. Breeding Ground For Iraqi Insurgency
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Robert Moran
In the sprawling slum known as Sadr City, prominently displayed banners written in English taunt American soldiers. "Welcome," they declare, to a "second Vietnam." Militiamen loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr regularly attack U.S. forces. Bystanders are struck by stray bullets. Residents suspected of helping the Americans are killed.

10. The Army's Stern Words Beat Sadr's Men In Basra
(London Daily Telegraph)...Jack Fairweather
...Much of the credit for Sadr's taming in Basra lies with the British "softly, softly" approach, tempered with a touch of steel. Unlike the American approach, with assaults on Najaf and Karbala, the British military has maintained direct lines of communication with Sadr's senior officials.

11. Cashiered Over Cache In Baghdad
(Los Angeles Times)...David Zucchino
...A year after American soldiers discovered about $760 million of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's cash hidden in several cottages, the case still raises questions. U.S. Treasury Department officials are trying to determine whether Hussein got the money from illegal oil sales and kickbacks, even as the cash is being spent on the U.S. occupation and rebuilding effort. For Novak, one of six soldiers accused of stealing seven-inch-thick bundles of $100 bills, the affair has been a bitter lesson in military justice. He confessed, named higher-ups and led investigators to millions he and others had tried to hide. He has since been kicked out of the Army and banned from nearby Ft. Stewart, while the five others implicated received administrative punishments — and two were promoted, Novak's lawyer said.

12. U.N. Envoy Under Fire In Effort To Rebuild Iraq
(Baltimore Sun)...Mark Matthews
As he labors on a mission crucial to President Bush's strategy on Iraq, United Nations special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is drawing fire not only from some American conservatives and former Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi but from the Democratic presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry. In remarks that stunned U.N. officials, Kerry adviser Richard C. Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador to the world body, criticized the president's decision to give primary authority for forming the future government of Iraq to Brahimi.

IRAQ -- ABU GHRAIB

13. Greater Urgency On Prison Interrogation Led To Use Of Untrained Workers
(New York Times)...Douglas Jehl and Kate Zernike
The interrogation effort at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq took on such urgency last fall that untrained personnel were pressed into service as analysts and even interrogators, according to accounts spelled out in documents and interviews.

14. Some Prisoners Allege Abuse By Poles, Other Coalition Troops
(Los Angeles Times)...Associated Press
Some Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib said they were abused by troops from Poland and other unspecified coalition countries, according to copies of statements to Army investigators obtained Thursday.

ARMY

15. Army Personnel Chief Aims To Keep Ranks Full
(Washington Post)...Thomas E. Ricks
Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, the Army's personnel chief, is facing a challenge no American officer has had to contemplate for at least a century: keeping the all-volunteer Army fully manned as it undergoes sustained ground combat.

16. Army Rescinds Order To Tighten Environmental Spending
(Los Angeles Times)...Elizabeth Shogren
The Army on Thursday rescinded an order, issued earlier this month, for garrison commanders around the globe to stop spending money on many environmental protection activities as part of an effort to conserve funds for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

17. Captors Killed Soldier In Lynch Convoy
(Baltimore Sun)...Associated Press
A soldier initially listed as killed in action while riding in the same convoy with former prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch had actually been captured by Iraqi fighters before he was killed, the Oregon National Guard said yesterday.

NAVY

18. With Graduation Today, Mids Thinking Of War
(Baltimore Sun)...Molly Knight
...As 990 midshipmen graduate in Annapolis today - after a commencement address by Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan loom large.

19. Cole Back Home From Mission
(Los Angeles Times)...Associated Press
The U.S. destroyer Cole came home Thursday from six months in the Mediterranean Sea — its first overseas deployment since terrorists bombed it in Yemen's port of Aden in October 2000, killing 17 sailors.

WHITE HOUSE

20. Panel Holds Hearings On U.S. Intelligence
(Washington Post)...Walter Pincus
President Bush's commission investigating the quality of U.S. intelligence concluded its first two days of closed-door hearings yesterday after taking testimony from more than 20 current and former intelligence officials who discussed programs to produce weapons of mass destruction in prewar Iraq and in other countries.

CONGRESS

21. Warner Bucks GOP Right On Probe Of Prison Abuse
(Washington Post)...Helen Dewar and Spencer S. Hsu
The silver-haired Virginian with courtly manners is a throwback to a forgotten era of congressional comity. But as he leads the Senate's inquiry into abuse of Iraqi prisoners, Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) also shows another side: a penchant for bucking his party, taking heat and surviving.

22. Tougher Interrogations Needed In Iraq, Lott Says
(Washington Times)...Associated Press
Sen. Trent Lott says saving American lives should be the priority in Iraq, even if it means dealing harshly with prisoners to get vital security information.

NA
23. Rep. Hunter: USAF Tankers 'Vital' To Air Power
(Aerospace Daily & Defense Report)...Kathy Gambrell
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the plan to equip the U.S. Air Force with 100 KC-767A tanker program should continue.

NORTH KOREA

24. U.S. To Abandon N. Korea Project
(Washington Times)...Bill Gertz
The Bush administration plans to cancel an international project to build two light-water nuclear reactors for North Korea before the end of the year, State Department officials said.

25. N. Korea Flirts With 'Red Line'
(Christian Science Monitor)...Donald Kirk
The reported export by North Korea of the uranium material needed to build warheads has escalated the stakes in the Korean nuclear crisis, threatening the six-party talks aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its program.

ASIA/PACIFIC

26. Pakistani Links Military To Failed Plot To Kill Him
(New York Times)...Salman Masood and Talat Hussain
President Pervez Musharraf said Thursday that members of Pakistan's army and air force were among "dozens" of people who had been arrested in connection with two assassination attempts against him in December. He also said the man who planned the attacks was a Pakistani who remained at large.

27. U.S. Honors 19 Soldiers Killed In Korean War
(Los Angeles Times)...Times Wire Reports
The U.S. military in South Korea honored 19 soldiers whose remains were recovered in North Korea more than 50 years after the troops were killed in the Korean War.

28. Ban Dismisses US General's Remarks On Allied Forces' Role
(Korea Times)...Ryu Jin
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on Thursday denied comments by a senior U.S. military official on plans for the future role of the ROK-U.S. allied forces.

AFGHANISTAN

29. Afghanistan: Karzai Signs Election Law
(New York Times)...Reuters
President Hamid Karzai signed the first election law in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

NATO

30. Explosives Found Near Site Of NATO Summit
(Los Angeles Times)...Times Wire Reports
Two bags filled with explosives were found in Bratislava, the Slovak capital, near a venue where hundreds of NATO parliamentary officials are to meet today, officials said.

EUROPE

31. Defense Chief Says Britain Will Expand Its Iraq Force
(New York Times)...Lizette Alvarez
Britain will send 370 troops and extra firepower to Iraq while it continues to weigh whether to deploy thousands more soldiers to the area, Defense Minister Geoff Hoon announced Thursday.

RUSSIA

32. U.S. And Russia Sign Agreement To Counter Nuclear Threat
(Los Angeles Times)...David Holley
The United States and Russia took their first step Thursday in a new program to reduce the risk of poorly guarded nuclear materials at research facilities around the world falling into the hands of terrorists.

AMERICAS

33. Death Toll Climbs In Caribbean Flood
(Washington Post)...Amy Bracken, Associated Press
U.S. and Canadian troops rushed medical supplies, drinking water and chlorine tablets to flood-battered towns where bodies were seen floating in rising waters on Thursday. Haitians and Dominicans braced for a death toll that could reach well over 1,500.

34. U.S. Military Relocating Out Of Caracas Compound
(Miami Herald)...Andres Oppenheimer and Juan O. Tamayo
The Pentagon said Wednesday that it was reviewing its relations with Venezuela's military and moving U.S. military officers out of a Caracas military compound, signaling yet another bump in U.S. relations with leftist President Hugo Chávez.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

35. U.S. Agencies Collect, Examine Personal Data On Americans
(Washington Times)...Audrey Hudson
Numerous federal government agencies are collecting and sifting through massive amounts of personal information, including credit reports, credit-card purchases and other financial data, posing new privacy concerns, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO).

POLL

36. Worry And Anger Over Iraq Situation
(Washington Post)...T.R. Reid
From this edge of the western plains to California's palm-lined drives to New York's urban canyons, Americans say they are worried and angry about the U.S. role in Iraq, with their anxiety matching that of the earliest days of the war when the success of the push to Baghdad was far from secure.

37. Americans Split On How To Interrogate
(Washington Post)...Richard Morin and Claudia Deane
Most Americans reject torture as a technique to force suspected terrorists to answer questions about possible attacks but are divided on whether less harsh forms of physical abuse should be allowed to compel uncooperative suspects to reveal information that could save lives, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

MEDIA

38. Koppel To Read Names Of 122 Killed In Terror War
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Unattributed
ABC News' Nightline will follow its tribute to U.S. troops killed in Iraq with a similar reading tonight of the names of 122 service personnel killed in the war on terror, mostly in Afghanistan. Anchor Ted Koppel will read the names at the end of the broadcast, which will largely focus on the elite Army unit that guards the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

BUSINESS

39. Navy Names Coastline Ship Contractors
(Washington Post)...Renae Merle
The Navy picked Lockheed Martin Corp. and General Dynamics Corp. yesterday to build versions of a small combat ship that can hug enemy coastlines.

40. CACI Faces New Probe Of Contract
(Washington Post)...Ellen McCarthy
CACI International Inc. said yesterday that the General Services Administration is investigating whether the Arlington-based company violated contracting rules and whether it should be banned from future government contracts.

OPINION

41. Honor Military Sacrifices, Don't Exploit Those Who Fall
(USA Today)...Editorial
...Nonetheless, the expression of appreciation and sorrow without regard for politics reflects Memorial Day's truest meaning. By contrast, efforts to manipulate the battle deaths of American soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen to advance political causes dishonor their sacrifices, as well as the holiday designed to remember them. Still it happens, most recently in the debate over the government's ban on images of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly 900 troops have died in those countries, yet the nation is denied the opportunity to weigh the true cost of war by being denied the opportunity to bear witness to its human cost.

42. Give Heroes' Families Privacy
(USA Today)...John M. Molino
...Despite notions to the contrary, Dover is not a place where military honors are rendered. That is reserved for the gravesite. Dover's sole focus is to identify and expedite the remains to the families so they can properly lay their loved ones to rest. Public coverage of arrivals would almost certainly make some families feel obliged to journey to Dover, perhaps over great distances and at considerable expense. Others may not desire media coverage, or find themselves upset by a public display of their loved one. The current policy places the decision for the media coverage of the deceased where it belongs: in the hands of the families who have the right — as they should have — to grant or deny media access to funeral or memorial services.

43. Making Do With Lemons
(Washington Post)...David Ignatius
If you're stuck with lemons, make lemonade. That folk wisdom applies to U.S. policy in Iraq, which is as seedy and sour as any foreign policy challenge America has encountered in decades. We certainly aren't making champagne there, but how are we doing in the lemonade business?

44. Gaining The Iraqis' Toleration
(Washington Post)...James Dobbins and Philip H. Gordon
...Reaching the goal of a stable, unified and non-threatening Iraq does look increasingly difficult, but the consequences of abandoning even that minimalist objective could be severe. Leaving Iraq under the pressure of terrorist attacks would be viewed as a strategic defeat of historic proportions for the United States. The message sent around the world would be that enough roadside bombs, suicide attacks and beheadings of civilians can succeed in forcing the United States (and by extension, any government) to abandon its goals. Success in driving out the American superpower would go down in terrorist lore as a great "victory," inspiring new campaigns on new battle fronts all around the world.

45. Obsessed With Iran
(Washington Post)...Jim Hoagland
George Shultz says that life in official Washington is not one damn thing after another. It is the same damn thing over and over again. A sudden lurch by the Bush administration to using Iraq's Sunnis to contain Iran's Shiite rulers shows that the former secretary of state is on to something, again.

EDITORIAL

46. The Homicide Cases
(Washington Post)...Editorial
PRESIDENT BUSH'S persistence in describing the abuse of foreign prisoners as an isolated problem at one Iraqi prison is blatantly at odds with the facts seeping out from his administration. These include mounting reports of crimes at detention facilities across Iraq and Afghanistan and evidence that detention policies the president approved helped set the stage for torture and homicide. Yes, homicide: The most glaring omission from the president's account is that at least 37 people have died in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and that at least 10 of these cases are suspected criminal killings of detainees by U.S. interrogators or soldiers.

47. Accounting For The Cost Of War
(New York Times)...Editorial
The dominant cliché in Congress is that the forthcoming Pentagon budget will not include a "blank check" for President Bush in Iraq. Such watchdog keenness, which would have been welcome from the start, must be attributed in large measure to election year polls. But it is still good to see that lawmakers sense the need to tightly vet the president's $422 billion military budget request.

NA
48. Bush, The U.N. And Iraq
(Wall Street Journal)...Editorial
The best thing about President Bush's Monday speech was that it directly challenged Washington's rampant defeatism regarding Iraq. He even used the phrase "defeat the enemy," which is precisely what Americans want to hear in a war. We only wish the President's current strategy for political victory inspired as much confidence.

49. A Real Nuclear Danger
(New York Times)...Editorial
While the Bush administration has been distracted by the invasion and occupation of Iraq, it has neglected the far more urgent threat to American security from dangerous nuclear materials that must be safeguarded before they can fall into the hands of terrorists. That is the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from a new report that documents the slow pace of protecting potential nuclear bomb material at loosely guarded sites around the world.

NA
50. Memorial Day
(Wall Street Journal)...Editorial
This is Fleet Week in New York City, with thousands of sailors and Marines touring the sites and sampling other, er, attractions on shore leave. So it was no surprise that a small company of Marines ran and chanted in formation in front of our downtown Manhattan offices yesterday morning. They were applauded everywhere as they passed.

Universal Horror

On the screen in flickering black and white imagery: Frankenstein - the 'original' 1931 Universal, now re-released as a box set DVD. A masterpiece by any standard - every moment, every character, every line of dialogue cliché, but only with 70 years of hindsight. Many nails have been driven into the coffin to bury the fear that this movie once engendered. Abbot and Costello have had their go at it, as has Mel Brooks. I can't help but laugh out loud as we give it the MST3K treatment - 'we' being dad and the kids who haven't seen it before, nor have they seen Abbott and Costello or "Young Frankenstein", for that matter. In fact they likely have only vague memories of MST3K. Don't misunderstand; we respect this film in all its depths. Mad scientists, furious peasants, screaming women, and Boris Karloff plodding stiffly in once fearsome glory, defining what still remains an instantly recognizable and completely enjoyable cultural icon of the 20th century, one that may in fact persist for as long as our civilization endures.

But on cue the youngest daughter, in a good natured, smiling 'you've got to be kidding me' tone: "This was never scary! At any time for anybody, I can't believe anyone thought this was ever scary!"

But indeed they did, there in the earliest years of the great depression, when films had just begun to talk and the realities of the horrors of Hitler and Stalin and other true monsters of the century were not yet in the newsreels. Frankenstein was chilling for more than a few moviegoers in that black-and-white world.

The daughter's comment was inspired by a scene where a man falls from the top of a windmill, hits a blade on the way to the ground. The body is obviously a rag doll; it flops limply to the ground. State of the art special effects for 1931.

"Do you think "Lord of the Rings" would ever look so hopelessly primitive?" I ask. They assure me the answer is no, but they think about it. Seventy years is a long long time...

More to come...

25 May 04 Morning Briefing

TOP STORIES

1. U.S. Forces Move Into Stronghold Of Cleric
(Washington Post)...Daniel Williams and Scott Wilson
U.S. forces expanded an offensive against rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr on Sunday by pushing into his stronghold of Kufa for the first time, as his armed followers vanished from the streets of this Shiite holy city.

2. Army Widens Abuse Probe
(Los Angeles Times)...Greg Miller and Richard A. Serrano
As the investigation of prisoner abuses in Iraq shifts to the role of military intelligence, two intelligence soldiers identified in the notorious pictures from the Abu Ghraib detention facility have been ordered to remain in Baghdad as part of the expanding probe, according to witness statements and commanders of the soldiers' reserve units.

3. Afghan Deaths Linked To Unit At Iraq Prison
(New York Times)...Douglas Jehl and David Rohde
A military intelligence unit that oversaw interrogations at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was also in charge of questioning at a detention center in Afghanistan where two prisoners died in December 2002 in incidents that are being investigated as homicides.

4. Factions Jostle For Top Posts In A New Iraq
(New York Times)...Steven R. Weisman
President Bush prepared Sunday for a campaign to rally support at the United Nations about his policies in Iraq, while senior envoys struggled in Baghdad with competing demands by Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds for the top positions of the new caretaker government.

5. Iraqis Say They Want Louder Say In Nation's Government
(Washington Times)...Sharon Behn
Frustrated Iraqi leaders say they're being cut out of negotiations over who will head the country after the June 30 transfer of power and warn that the process will lack legitimacy unless it is led by Iraqis.

6. U.S. Steps Up Hunt In Leaks To Iraqi Exile
(New York Times)...David Johnston and Richard A. Oppel Jr.
The information that Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi exile leader, is believed to have passed to Iran was so highly classified that federal investigators have intensified their inquiry to find out whether anyone in the American government gave the material to Mr. Chalabi, government officials said Sunday.

more to come...

After the Crowds Went Home

From the Miami Herald, additional coverage of the Michelle Witmer story that you weren't likely to hear:

Alex Estrella, the Hollywood man who embarked on a 170-mile run in honor of a Wisconsin woman killed in Iraq, hobbled into his final destination Sunday in Key West -- slumped in a wheelchair, sunburned and blistered.

Pushing him was Lori Witmer, mother of Michelle Witmer -- the 20 year-old National Guardswoman who died when a bomb tore apart her Humvee in Baghdad.

''I'm a mom, and it's hard for me to see people in pain like that,'' Lori Witmer, who walked alongside Estrella for part of the trip, said in a phone interview from Key West. ``But I feel like my role in this whole thing was to bring him in, and that's what I did.''

The story of Michelle Witmer's death touched many across the United States, especially since her two sisters were serving with her at the time.

Rachel and Charity Witmer, Michelle's twin, are still on active duty though not in a combat zone.

Estrella, a former U.S. Ranger who served in the Gulf War, read about Witmer in the newspaper. He decided to march in her honor, and to raise money for an orphanage in Baghdad where Witmer volunteered, and for Project ChildHelp, a Miami-based group that supports programs for abandoned, special-needs children in the Dominican Republic.

So far, though, Estrella's efforts have only raised $130. Organizers hope the news of his journey will bring in more donations.

From Thursday through Sunday, Estrella slept no more than four hours a day and ate no solid meals as he jogged and walked to complete his mission, continuing for a full 85 miles after doctors told him he should stop.

The blisters came from heavy boots Estrella wore for the first 10 miles of the journey in honor of Pat Tillman, the Army Ranger killed in Afghanistan last month after giving up a multimillion dollar NFL career to join the Armed Forces.

Estrella was resting Monday in a Key West hotel and couldn't be reached.

Lori Witmer, though, said that spending the weekend with Estrella helped her understand why Michelle's sisters struggled when deciding whether they should return to Iraq after Michelle was killed.

''Ever since my daughters came back home, they've been telling me that they have two families, and that's why they wanted to go back,'' Witmer said.

``And being with Alex this weekend, I got more of a sense that there is an Army family. I felt like now I am the mother supporting a soldier.''

Donations can be made by calling Project ChildHelp at 877-807-5050.

"Organizers hope the news of his journey will bring in more donations" unfortunately, the wires didn't really pick up on this one. Guess better stories were competing for limited space.

More info here.

The New Goldstein and Your Two Minutes Hate

If you've never read Orwell's classic 1984 please leave the blogosphere now and return after doing so. A synopsis for those who need it: the world is controlled by a totalitarian government that dominates every aspect of the lives of its citizens. Against the backdrop of a state of constant war and uncertainty, the proletariat herd is directed and kept docile. One method is the use of the eternal enemy, the great evil that must be opposed for the good of all mankind, personified in the form of Emmanuel Goldstein, object of the Two Minutes Hate:

The next moment a hideous, grinding speech, as of some monstrous machine running without oil, burst from the big telescreen at the end of the room. It was a noise that set one's teeth on edge and bristled the hair at the back of one's neck. The Hate had started.

As usual, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, had flashed on to the screen. There were hisses here and there among the audience. The little sandy-haired woman gave a squeak of mingled fear and disgust. Goldstein was the renegade and backslider who once, long ago (how long ago, nobody quite remembered), had been one of the leading figures of the Party, almost on a level with Big Brother himself, and then had engaged in counter-revolutionary activities, had been condemned to death, and had mysteriously escaped and disappeared. The programmes of the Two Minutes Hate varied from day to day, but there was none in which Goldstein was not the principal figure. He was the primal traitor, the earliest defiler of the Party's purity. All subsequent crimes against the Party, all treacheries, acts of sabotage, heresies, deviations, sprang directly out of his teaching. Somewhere or other he was still alive and hatching his conspiracies: perhaps somewhere beyond the sea, under the protection of his foreign paymasters, perhaps even -- so it was occasionally rumoured -- in some hiding-place in Oceania itself.

Winston's diaphragm was constricted. He could never see the face of Goldstein without a painful mixture of emotions. It was a lean Jewish face, with a great fuzzy aureole of white hair and a small goatee beard -- a clever face, and yet somehow inherently despicable, with a kind of senile silliness in the long thin nose, near the end of which a pair of spectacles was perched. It resembled the face of a sheep, and the voice, too, had a sheep-like quality. Goldstein was delivering his usual venomous attack upon the doctrines of the Party -- an attack so exaggerated and perverse that a child should have been able to see through it, and yet just plausible enough to fill one with an alarmed feeling that other people, less level-headed than oneself, might be taken in by it. He was abusing Big Brother, he was denouncing the dictatorship of the Party, he was demanding the immediate conclusion of peace with Eurasia, he was advocating freedom of speech, freedom of the Press, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought, he was crying hysterically that the revolution had been betrayed -- and all this in rapid polysyllabic speech which was a sort of parody of the habitual style of the orators of the Party, and even contained Newspeak words: more Newspeak words, indeed, than any Party member would normally use in real life. And all the while, lest one should be in any doubt as to the reality which Goldstein's specious claptrap covered, behind his head on the telescreen there marched the endless columns of the Eurasian army -- row after row of solid-looking men with expressionless Asiatic faces, who swam up to the surface of the screen and vanished, to be replaced by others exactly similar. The dull rhythmic tramp of the soldiers' boots formed the background to Goldstein's bleating voice.

Before the Hate had proceeded for thirty seconds, uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half the people in the room. The self-satisfied sheep-like face on the screen, and the terrifying power of the Eurasian army behind it, were too much to be borne: besides, the sight or even the thought of Goldstein produced fear and anger automatically. He was an object of hatred more constant than either Eurasia or Eastasia, since when Oceania was at war with one of these Powers it was generally at peace with the other. But what was strange was that although Goldstein was hated and despised by everybody, although every day and a thousand times a day, on platforms, on the telescreen, in newspapers, in books, his theories were refuted, smashed, ridiculed, held up to the general gaze for the pitiful rubbish that they were in spite of all this, his influence never seemed to grow less. Always there were fresh dupes waiting to be seduced by him. A day never passed when spies and saboteurs acting under his directions were not unmasked by the Thought Police. He was the commander of a vast shadowy army, an underground network of conspirators dedicated to the overthrow of the State. The Brotherhood, its name was supposed to be. There were also whispered stories of a terrible book, a compendium of all the heresies, of which Goldstein was the author and which circulated clandestinely here and there. It was a book without a title. People referred to it, if at all, simply as the book. But one knew of such things only through vague rumours. Neither the Brotherhood nor the book was a subject that any ordinary Party member would mention if there was a way of avoiding it.

In its second minute the Hate rose to a frenzy. People were leaping up and down in their places and shouting at the tops of their voices in an effort to drown the maddening bleating voice that came from the screen. The little sandy-haired woman had turned bright pink, and her mouth was opening and shutting like that of a landed fish. Even O'Brien's heavy face was flushed. He was sitting very straight in his chair, his powerful chest swelling and quivering as though he were standing up to the assault of a wave. The dark-haired girl behind Winston had begun crying out 'Swine! Swine! Swine!' and suddenly she picked up a heavy Newspeak dictionary and flung it at the screen. It struck Goldstein's nose and bounced off; the voice continued inexorably. In a lucid moment Winston found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair. The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge-hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic.

Sound eerily familiar? It should. Since 2001 it has become increasingly apparent on an almost daily basis that the world has a new Goldstein - in fact that the world wants such a figure - what other explanation for the use by so many of television and the internet to self inflict the Two Minutes Hate?

Orwell was off by twenty years. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you your Two Minutes Hate - with the new Emmanuel Goldstein.

From the Sandbox

Fred Schoeneman directs us to a nearly-missed story on the homecoming for the Spanish veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Don't miss it.

"It didn't really feel like that much of a homecoming for us. It felt more like a political celebration for Zapatero and those who never wanted us there in the first place," said Manuel Garcia, 31, a sergeant in a brigade that was among the entire Spanish contingent of 1,300 troops ordered home.

"We felt like a used car being passed from one owner to the next," said Felipe Collado, 30, also a sergeant in the Plus Ultra II brigade, which arrived home Wednesday to a ceremony attended by Zapatero, his defense minister, and top brass.

The soldiers returned to a nation still traumatized, and in many ways transformed, by the horrific March 11 train bombings by Islamic terrorists and the bitterly divisive national election held just three days after the attack.

In an upset victory that brought the war on terror and the war in Iraq into sharp focus, the Socialist Party leader Zapatero was swept into power, defeating the conservative party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who had supported the US-led invasion and sent troops as part of "the coalition of the willing."

Spaniards widely applauded Zapatero after he made good on his campaign pledge to pull out Spanish troops before June 30, when the US-led coalition is to cede power to Iraqis.

While all of the soldiers interviewed said they were relieved to be home and out of the harrowing dangers of serving in Iraq, most of them -- even some originally opposed to the war -- also expressed regret over Zapatero's decision. They said they were forced to abandon what they felt was a useful humanitarian mission. During their time on the ground, they said, they saw a profound need for international troops to stabilize the chaos and violence of postwar Iraq.

"We should have stayed and finished our mission," said Jose Francisco Casteneda, 29, who was among four sergeants who gathered at a local restaurant Thursday -- sharing newly developed snapshots of their time in Iraq. Each image rekindled all of the intensity and emotion of what they saw during their mission.

<...>

The TV footage of the ceremony shows Zapatero flashing a broad smile that political cartoonists love to lampoon. The soldiers said they couldn't hide their disappointment that the prime minister did not directly address them and left it to Defense Minister Jose Bono.

"A lot of us were wondering, 'Who is this parade for anyway?' " Collado asked.

As I said, read the whole thing.

Meanwhile, back in Iraq, Eric, "an Army lawyer with the 1st Infantry Division's, 2nd (DAGGER) Brigade in Iraq", doesn't have a lot of time to update his blog. But he did this week:

Morale is keeping steady here. We don’t get to see the news that much but we’re aware of the uproar that’s happening back in the states. Between the scandal at Abu Ghraib and the recent beheading it seems like the only news coming out of Iraq is one bombshell after another. I know it’s been said so many times before but there is very little attention being paid to the day to day work that’s going on over here. That’s okay and I don’t think many soldiers mind, but I think we have a different perspective than most people living in the States.

I'm sure you'll want to read it all. (Thursday May 13 post if permalink fails.)

Finally, some thoughts from Cool Blue.

Armed Forces Day

Looking for something to do? Click the picture above for the Armed Forces Day
home page, and a list of associated events. Or cruise the MilBlogs ring, and visit some you may have never stopped at before.

National Military Appreciation Month continues...

Update: This post reminded me of this post, which reminded me that Armed Forces Day is also the anniversary of www.mudvillegazette.com. Now I might have to update the "greatest hits" post (or perhaps this one.) If you are a newcomer to this site, you may enjoy my trip down memory lane...

The Guarded Flame

Must read in this order:

This from Roger L. Simon

followed by this from Ranting Profs

finish up with this from Donald Sensing

and then contemplate, if you will, whether there is any nation anywhere else that offers hope for the future of the civilized world. Jerry Springer will never run out of guests for his program, but the US is still the last best hope for freedom in this age.

Finally I offer this post from the archives, a reminder about those who comprise America's military, the guardians of that flame.

Marine Moms

Wow! Marine Corps Moms, probably the most comprehensive, accurate coverage anywhere of US Marines in Iraq.

14 May 04 Morning Briefing

TOP STORIES

1. At Iraqi Prison, Rumsfeld Vows To Punish Abuse
(New York Times)...Thom Shanker
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, entering the heart of the global furor over the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees, walked inside the faded yellow walls and razor wire of Abu Ghraib prison on Thursday to pledge that the world will see America mete out punishment openly and freely to any soldier guilty of abuse.

2. Rumsfeld Visits Prison In Iraq
(Washington Post)...Josh White
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in an unannounced visit to Iraq on Thursday, declared that allegations of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers were "a body blow to us" but vowed that those responsible would "be brought to justice."

3. Senators Assail Request For Aid For Afghan And Iraq Budgets
(New York Times)...Eric Schmitt
Senate Democrats and Republicans attacked Bush administration officials on Thursday for submitting a vaguely worded request to add $25 billion to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan beginning on Oct. 1.

4. Soldier Details Abuse, Offers To Plead Guilty
(Washington Post)...Christian Davenport
One of the military police officers charged in the abuse scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison has offered to plead guilty and has provided military investigators with a detailed account of how guards humiliated and beat detainees, in one case hitting a prisoner so hard he became unconscious.

5. Marines Walk Softly And Carry A Big Stack
(Los Angeles Times)...Tony Perry
Armed with cash, U.S. troops attempt to make amends with Iraqi civilians who suffered.

6. A Deepening Rift At The Pentagon
(Christian Science Monitor)...Ann Scott Tyson
The Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is exposing a Pentagon increasingly at war with itself, leading to a crisis of leadership even as tens of thousands of US troops risk their lives battling insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

IRAQ

7. At Prison, Rumsfeld Promises Justice
(USA Today)...Donna Leinwand and John Diamond
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld walked the dusty yard of Abu Ghraib prison Thursday and decried the abuse of prisoners there as "something over the edge." In Washington, two of his top lieutenants said they knew nothing about U.S. military guidelines in place last fall that allowed for the harsh treatment of prisoners.

8. Rumsfeld Dismisses Criticism
(Washington Times)...Guy Taylor
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told troops in a surprise trip to the Abu Ghraib prison yesterday that he is "a survivor" who knows better than to take too seriously a score of calls from the press and politicians for his resignation over prisoner-abuse charges.

9. U.S. Missed Chances To Stop Abuses
(USA Today)...Dave Moniz
Pentagon and White House officials missed numerous opportunities to head off abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, according to interviews, testimony and public documents that have emerged since the scandal erupted last month.

NA
10. In Iraq Prison Trial, Defense May Rely On Photos Of Abuse
(Wall Street Journal)...Christopher Cooper
...The defendants who are talking say they were simply taking orders from military intelligence officers, Central Intelligence agents and government contractors who told them to "soften up" prisoners for interrogation. Many top officials at the Pentagon have rejected this defense, saying they have seen no evidence suggesting the incidents of abuse at Abu Ghraib were anything more than the independent acts of an undisciplined cadre of military police.

11. Iraqi Tells Of U.S. Abuse, From Ridicule To Rape Threat
(New York Times)...Ian Fisher
...Mr. Aboud spoke, reluctantly at first, for several hours on Thursday after a chance encounter with a reporter at the office of a human rights group here in Baghdad, where he had gone to register what he said was torture during four months at Abu Ghraib. Despite his anger and shame at what he said the Americans had done to him, he even told of some kind behavior by soldiers. "I just want to clarify one thing," he said at one point. "Most of the American soldiers were not bad." As with other accounts by Iraqis of abuse, it was impossible to verify his claims ? and the job gets ever harder amid the widespread rage, the possible desire for compensation and the sheer volume of detailed coverage of the case.

12. Let Iraqis Decide How To Try Ex-Rulers, U.S. Justices Say
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Gina Holland, Associated Press
Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony M. Kennedy said yesterday that Iraqis alone must determine the right way to mete out justice to the country's former leaders.

13. Marine Killed In Convoy
(Los Angeles Times)...Times Staff and Wire Reports
One Marine was killed and five were wounded Thursday when their Humvee was destroyed by a powerful bomb in a paved road outside the farming village of Saqlawiya.

NA
14. Fighting Rages In Karbala
(New York Times)...Unattributed
Fighting continued Thursday in the center of this Shiite holy city, where insurgents loyal to the rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr attacked American soldiers and Iraqi policemen in the area around an occupied mosque.

15. Poland, Bulgaria Won't Leave Iraq
(Miami Herald)...Unattributed
Poland and Bulgaria on Thursday stressed their commitment to keep troops in Iraq ``until we've done our job.''

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

16. Military Faulted On Assault Cases
(Washington Post)...Bradley Graham
...The report, ordered by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld three months ago, comes after scores of alleged assaults against female soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, which have confronted senior defense officials with the most extensive set of sexual misconduct cases in years. Although Pentagon authorities have claimed strides in preventing and punishing such misconduct, the new report points to serious lapses still in the military's ability to protect female service members from assaults, to provide medical care and counseling to victims of attacks, and to punish violators.

17. Vaccine Reaction Documented
(Atlanta Journal and Constitution)...M.A.J. McKenna
Members of the armed forces who have been vaccinated against smallpox are developing an unexpectedly high rate of reactions that affect their hearts, military doctors said Thursday.

CONGRESS

18. Wolfowitz Draws Democrats' Ire
(Washington Post)...Thomas E. Ricks
Senate Democrats lit into the Bush administration's Iraq policies yesterday, using an uncharacteristically contentious hearing on additional war spending to attack the Pentagon's number two official in personal and bitter terms.

19. Congress Hesitant To Write 'Blank Check'
(Washington Post)...Dan Morgan
President Bush asked Congress yesterday to approve a new $25 billion "contingency fund" for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but members of both parties in Congress indicated strong reservations about giving the Pentagon the free hand it is seeking to spend the money.

20. Congress Seeking To Clarify Iraqis' Role Under Self-Rule
(New York Times)...Steven R. Weisman
The Bush administration, seeking to quell questions about the limitations on the sovereignty of a future government in Iraq, said Thursday that the leaders of that interim government would negotiate their own control over security and other matters once they are chosen later this month.

21. Boeing Tanker Lease Gets A Push In House
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)...Matthew Daly, Associated Press
Seeking to jump-start a flagging Air Force deal to acquire 100 air refueling tankers from The Boeing Co., the House Armed Services Committee reasserted the need yesterday for the aging tanker fleet to be replaced as soon as possible. Language inserted into a $422 billion defense authorization bill would require the Air Force secretary to enter into a multiyear contract for new tankers.

WHITE HOUSE

22. Confidence In Bush, Iraq War Is Sinking, Polls Show
(Los Angeles Times)...Peter Wallsten
Even as President Bush's reelection campaign spends millions of dollars to burnish his image as a steadfast leader in the fight against terrorism, an array of new polls shows that the Iraqi prisoner abuse furor is undermining that effort and shaking public confidence in the administration's ability to win the war in Iraq.

ARMY

23. U.S. Military Lawyers Felt 'Shut Out' Of Prison Policy
(Los Angeles Times)...Ken Silverstein
A group of senior military lawyers were so concerned about changes in the rules designed to safeguard prisoners during interrogation that they sought help outside the Defense Department, according to a New York lawyer who headed a recent study of how prisoners have been treated in the war on terrorism.

24. Wave Of Mental Problems Follows GIs Home
(UPI.com)...Mark Benjamin, United Press International (alternate source)
Soldiers at Fort Carson report a wave of serious mental problems among troops back from the "war on terrorism," according to interviews with soldiers, their families and a therapist working with them.

NAVY

25. Secretary Of Navy Says Brig Performed Well In Inspection
(Charleston (SC) Post and Courier)...Terry Joyce
The prisoner abuse scandal that has snared the U.S. Army in Iraq apparently hasn't tainted the Navy brig in Hanahan or the Navy prison built in Cuba, both of which hold suspects in the war on terror, Secretary of the Navy Gordon England said Wednesday.

NA
26. USS Jimmy Carter Goes Into Water
(Washington Times)...Unattributed
The nuclear submarine Jimmy Carter was put in the water yesterday, six days earlier than planned and one day after a portion of a wall in its construction dry dock collapsed.

AIR FORCE

27. Survey: Cadet Behavior Improves
(Colorado Springs Gazette)...Pam Zubeck
The latest Air Force Academy survey shows cadets are behaving better, causing Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Rosa Jr. to express hope the academy is recovering from its worst scandal in 50 years.

GUANTANAMO

28. Red Cross Renews Criticism Of Conditions At Guantanamo
(Los Angeles Times)...Mary Curtius
The International Committee of the Red Cross this week delivered the latest in a series of critical reports on the treatment of prisoners held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials at the State Department and the Pentagon said Thursday.

29. Duo Alleges Guantanamo Abuse In Letter To Bush
(Washington Post)...John Mintz
Two British men who were released from the Guantanamo Bay prison and repatriated in March charged in a letter sent yesterday to President Bush that they had been physically abused during their two years in detention there.

MISSILE DEFENSE

30. Planned U.S. Missile Shield Is Useless, Scientists Warn
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Jim Wolf, Reuters
The multibillion-dollar U.S. ballistic-missile shield due to start operating by Sept. 30 appears incapable of shooting down any incoming warheads, an independent scientists' group said yesterday.

EUROPE

31. Britain Says Photos Showing Abuse Are Fake
(New York Times)...Patrick E. Tyler
The British government said Thursday that its investigation into a series of published photographs purporting to show the brutal treatment of an Iraqi prisoner has concluded that the photos were not taken in Iraq and had been faked.

32. France And Germany Jointly Criticize Abuse Of Iraqis And Express Horror At Beheading
(New York Times)...Elaine Sciolino
President Jacques Chirac of France and Chancellor Gerhard Schr? of Germany on Thursday criticized the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers and expressed horror over the beheading of an American civilian.

AFRICA

33. Libya Halts Military Trade With North Korea, Syria And Iran
(New York Times)...Judith Miller
Following on its renunciation of unconventional weapons, Libya announced Thursday that it would stop all military trade with countries that spread such weapons, including, according to its Foreign Ministry, North Korea, Syria and Iran.

34. Chad Rebel Group Says It Holds Qaeda-Linked Terrorist
(New York Times)...Craig S. Smith
A rebel group in Chad says it is holding one of North Africa's most powerful terrorists and wants to turn him over to the United States or any of its allies.

RUSSIA

35. Rice Has Iraq, Terror On Her Mind
(Moscow Times)...Combined Reports
U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice arrives late Friday for talks with President Vladimir Putin, the U.S. Embassy confirmed Thursday.

UNITED NATIONS

36. Broader Coalition Expected After Transfer
(Washington Times)...Nicholas Kralev
The Bush administration said yesterday it expects up to "three handfuls of countries" to send troops to Iraq once the United Nations endorses the transfer of power to Iraqis on June 30, but winning a Security Council resolution appeared far from a done deal.

37. Brahimi Faces Heat On Leader Selection
(Washington Times)...Annia Ciezadlo
Would-be leaders of a democratic Iraq are turning up the heat on United Nations' envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, leveling furious criticism as the Algerian diplomat nears a decision on who should lead an interim government until elections in January.

38. Restraints Urged On American Military
(Baltimore Sun)...Mark Matthews
...The amount of control granted to U.S. troops has become a key issue in closed-door meetings of the United Nations Security Council, where France and Russia, which wield veto power, are pushing for restraints on U.S.-led coalition troops.

TERRORISM

39. Zarqawi Beheaded Berg, CIA Finds
(Washington Times)...Bill Gertz
The CIA concluded yesterday that the hooded terrorist shown beheading an American civilian in a videotape is al Qaeda-linked terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi.

MEDIA

40. Al-Jazeera: Beheading A Fake
(New York Post)...Unattributed
In a bizarre twist, the anti-American TV station al-Jazeera is questioning the "authenticity" of the horrific video of American Nick Berg's beheading - suggesting it's a fake to divert attention from the Iraqi prison abuse scandal.

BUSINESS

41. Reports Further Imperil Boeing Bid
(Washington Post)...Renae Merle
Boeing Co.'s high-stakes bid to boost its aircraft business with the help of a large military contract appears in danger of collapsing after two Pentagon reports cast doubt on the scandal-tarnished program.

42. Firms Stymied By Backlog On Security Clearances
(Washington Post)...Ellen McCarthy
Companies rushing to compete for intelligence and military contracts have run into a major glitch: The government's system of verifying the trustworthiness of people in sensitive jobs has not kept up with its push to privatize the work.

Prison Scandal Coverup?

Just checked for any news on the prison scandal. There's nothing - not a word to be found. Apparently then, there is no scandal. The information clampdown appears to be total; a trickle of stories for a few days after the initial reports, then no further news. Even more disturbingly, there's practically no one asking why there's no news. Meanwhile, the death toll has risen to three.

The Kosovo prison scandal, of course. First reported here with updates following, the latest here.

A recounting of the few facts available can be found in the local coverage of the memorial service for Gary Weston, one of the three murdered guards:

Little is yet known of the reasons for the attack, which also killed Kim Bigley, former warden of Shawnee Correctional Center. Officials are investigating the possibility the shooter had ties to Hamas, a militant Palestinian group. Some witnesses told journalists the man, Sgt. Maj. Ahmed Mustafa Ibrahim Ali, of Jordan, was smiling during the attack before he was killed by return fire.

Witnesses also said that Weston, the son of an Illinois State Police officer and entrepreneurial mother who owned shoe stores, pushed fellow officer Michelle Lindo of Michigan to the floor and out of harm's way. A few seconds later two bullets struck him in the head.

Lindo received only a bruise where Weston had forced her to safety.

Weston survived the terrible wounds, but never regained consciousness. He was flown home last week and spent several days in the hospital in St. Louis before family members made the decision to donate his organs.

On Monday, Weston's older brother, Ed, said the knowledge that at least four others benefited from that donation was helping ease the family's pain.

Though lacking any "new news" on the topic, Denis Boyels in NRO notes:

The Kosovo adventure, in which NATO bombed the civilian population of Serbia in order to protect Kosovar nationalists, then handed over the province to the U.N. and NATO for "peacekeeping" ? which turned out to mean allowing the Kosovars to slaughter Serbs and burn their ancient churches and monasteries, reached a low point a month ago when the U.N. forces were ordered to withdraw instead of defending Serbs against Kosovar mobs. But then it went even lower a couple of weeks ago when the peacekeepers started shooting at each other. Now, according to the BBC, the U.N.'s heroes in Kosovo are involved in sex trafficking, selling girls as young as 11 into sexual servitude.

No nude photos though, so no "pictures at 11".

13 May 04 Morning Briefing

TOP STORIES

1. Rumsfeld Defends Rules For Prison
(Washington Post)...Dana Priest and Dan Morgan
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday defended U.S. military interrogation guidelines in Iraq against mounting complaints that the authorized techniques violate international rules and may endanger Americans taken prisoner.

NA
2. Interrogation Rules Were Issued Before Iraq Abuses
(Wall Street Journal)...Carla Anne Robbins, Greg Jaffe and David S. Cloud
Shortly before U.S. troops photographed a series of abuses against Iraqi prisoners last fall, their commander issued guidelines allowing interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, prolonged isolation and the presence of military dogs -- if written permission was given.

3. Bush Supporters Are Split On How To Pursue Iraq Plan
(New York Times)...David E. Sanger and Richard W. Stevenson
President Bush said on Wednesday that the beheading of an American working in Iraq was part of an effort to "shake our confidence," but he insisted that the United States would "complete our mission," despite what his aides freely concede is a major loss of credibility in the Arab world.

4. Lawmakers Are Stunned By New Images Of Abuse
(Washington Post)...Charles Babington
Scores of lawmakers yesterday viewed unreleased photos and videos of Iraqi detainees being sexually humiliated and physically threatened. The images, which included Iraqi corpses, U.S. troops having sex with each other, and previously undisclosed videos of at least one inmate ramming his head into a wall, convinced some legislators that the number of Americans who violated military protocol is larger than previously thought.

5. Soldiers Speak Out On Abuse
(USA Today)...Dave Moniz and Dennis Cauchon
Lawyers for two of the soldiers at the center of the Iraq prison-abuse scandal said Wednesday that military intelligence personnel ordered the photographs taken of the soldiers with bound and naked prisoners.

6. Lawmakers Getting Tough On Rumsfeld
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Sumana Chatterjee
Republican and Democratic senators peppered Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday with tough questions about the war and occupation in Iraq - a sign that Congress is increasingly concerned with what is going on in that country.

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

7. Rumsfeld Preserves Bearing, But Weighs Ability To Serve
(New York Times)...Elisabeth Bumiller
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the man at the center of the furor over American soldiers' abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison, spent last Sunday in the backyard garden of his elegant Washington home, poring over Pentagon documents piled 10 inches high in his lap. Mr. Rumsfeld barely listened as his wife chatted with a visiting friend.

8. Rumsfeld Has Doubts
(New York Daily News)...Richard Sisk
For the first time in public, a somber Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld raised the possibility yesterday that the U.S. mission in Iraq could fail.

9. Money Request Coming Next Year
(USA Today)...Peronet Despeignes
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday that the Bush administration will likely ask for more money for military operations in Iraq next year, beyond the $25 billion in additional funds it has already requested.

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10. Military Missions In Afghanistan, Iraq May Cost $66 Billion In '05
(Wall Street Journal)...David Rogers
U.S. military costs in Iraq and Afghanistan are running close to $4.7 billion a month, and with the additional expense of replenishing worn armored vehicles, helicopters and other equipment, they could easily reach $66 billion for fiscal 2005.

11. New Tankers Not Needed, Report Says
(Washington Post)...Renae Merle
A Pentagon advisory panel has concluded that the Air Force's aging fleet of refueling tankers is not in need of immediate modernization, dealing a setback to Boeing Co.'s controversial plan to sell and lease the planes to the military.

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12. Rumsfeld Set To Shake Up Leadership At Two Key Combat Commands
(Inside The Pentagon)...Elaine M. Grossman
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is preparing to buck tradition and hand the top leadership posts at U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Strategic Command to services that have never commanded them before, defense officials tell Inside the Pentagon.

IRAQ

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13. Behind The Scenes, U.S. Tightens Grip On Iraq's Future
(Wall Street Journal)...Yochi J. Dreazen and Christopher Cooper
...As Washington prepares to hand over power, U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer and other officials are quietly building institutions that will give the U.S. powerful levers for influencing nearly every important decision the interim government will make.

14. Iraqi Politicians Press For Wider Role
(Washington Post)...Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Politicians on Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council are pushing for significant changes in the interim government being crafted by a U.N. envoy, posing a new complication to the Bush administration's plan to relinquish civilian administrative powers here in 50 days.

15. U.S. Turns Up Pressure On Shiite Cleric's Militia
(Washington Post)...Scott Wilson and Daniel Williams
U.S. forces, using tanks, armored personnel carriers and attack helicopters, pushed into the centers of two holy cities Wednesday in pur