More Blog Talk

Glenn Reynolds "Murtha's in trouble".

If he does hold his seat, it won't be due to lack of effort by Uncle Jimbo and the Vets for Freedom crew . If you're in or near racist gun-totin' bible thumpin' Pee-yaa this weekend you can join 'em.

BlogTalk

Internet problems delayed my completion of a promised post last night, and kept me from listening to CJ's radio program - but it didn't stop me from callling in to say howdy to CJ, Toby Nunn, Troy Steward, and the gang. (Online archive of the program available at the link.)

Fairness Doctrine?

Hey - I don't need no steenkin' Fairness Doctrine.

Here's Barack Obama backer Bruce Springsteen singin' about his days killin' yellow men in 'nam, and how tough it is to be a vet:

And here's one from Tunnel of Love - my favorite Springsteen album.

Saw Springsteen in concert in Germany a few years back. Don't know if it's because he figured it was because no one would understand him, but he spent the whole show singing, didn't even introduce his songs. A great show. I was going to buy a t-shirt, but they were 50 bucks American. A bit out of my price range.

Bonus video for Obama backers:

Joe the Rocker

Walk this way, talk this way...

Aerosmith has generally left the politics to bands like U2 and the Dixie Chicks, but axeman Joe Perry says national security and economic woes have prompted him to split from the rest of the entertainment world and throw his support behind John McCain.

“We pretty much stay out of it, but seeing so many people come out for Obama, I just felt like ‘What the hell, I might as well raise my hand for this side,” Perry said from his Duxbury home.

The Bay State rockers have done a few fund-raisers for the Kennedy family over the years, but Perry’s endorsement of McCain marks a first for the platinum-selling guitarist/songwriter. A lifelong Republican, he said he was inspired to come forward because of ringing McCain endorsements from Rudy Giuliani and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“I’ve been a hardcore Republican my whole life,” he told the Herald. “My mother and father drilled into me from the very start that if you work hard and be positive, you’ll get what you’re working for. I guess I’m living proof of that.”

...just gimme a kiiiiiiiis, like this.

Hope Joe doesn't mind his tax returns being examined with excrutiating detail for the rest of his life.

*****

And before it's banned forever, Republicans everywhere will appreciate this little number, with a special guest guitarist joining Joe, Stevie, and the boys for a little tribute to Elvis.

And here's one featuring Joe:

Bonus vid - one of Greyhawk's hundred or so top ten songs of all time.

Rock on.

Babil and Wasit

You might not have heard this week's news from Iraq:

Coalition troops formally handed over control of Iraq's Wasit province to the Iraqi government Wednesday.
<...>
On Thursday, Iraqis assumed control of Babil province. And last month, coalition troops handed over Anbar province to the Iraqis.
<...>
The other provinces that have shifted to Iraqi security control are Duhuk, Irbil and Sulaimaniya in the Kurdish region, and Karbala, Najaf, Qadisiya, Muthanna, Thiqar, Basra, and Maysan in the Shiite south.

Baghdad, Diyala, Salaheddin, Nineveh and Kirkuk provinces remain under U.S. control.

A side note, missed in the media coverage I've seen: Wasit was home to the Georgian Brigade up until Russia invaded that country.

More:

Following the handover, US forces are to retreat to their bases and participate in security operations only at the request of the provincial governor.

Rubaie announced that "within weeks" Baghdad would go on to take control of the northern oil-rich but ethnically volatile region of Kirkuk and of Salaheddin, the Sunni home province of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.

The US military also remains in control of Baghdad, Nineveh and Diyala.

Nineveh and Diyala are Al-Qaeda strongholds where security forces have launched a series of military sweeps targeting the jihadists.

Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin, the number two commander of US forces in Iraq, said Wasit was once a route for "enemies to move weapons ... to attack Iraqi and coalition forces."

"Till seven months back, Wasit saw 16 to 18 attacks each week. Now the province frequently has reached zero attacks largely due to high level of cooperation between all security units."

And here's a story from earlier this week on the handover of Babil Province:

Increased professionalism within the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and intensive US targeting efforts have helped to degrade the presence of extremists in Iraq's south-central 'Triangle of Death' - part of the province of Babil that was handed over to Iraqi government control on 23 October.

Babil, south of Baghdad, became the 12th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be returned to Iraqi government control, after efforts to corral or eliminate extremists on either side of the 'sectarian fault line' that divides the province between Shia (south) and Sunni (north). A small section of the north gained notoriety as the 'Triangle of Death' and the battlespace has featured Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and other Sunni extremists, as well as Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM) and other Shia militants.

Yup. I spent some time in both Provinces last year.

Dawn Patrol readers are well aware of the transfer of Babil Province a few days ago. Mrs G found a few stories, and even video of the handover of one base from a unit of the 101st Airborne's 3rd Brigade Combat Team to Iraqi forces.

Ironically, as stories of Afghanistan as "the forgotten war" appear more frequently in the media Iraq is vanishing from view. Those Wasit and Babil stories were far from the front pages - as were the stories of how we got to the point where they were possible. But prior to departing Iraq the Third Infantry Division prepared this video for the soldiers to have something to use to tell their stories to the folks back home. In it you'll see the story of progress throughout 2007 and early 2008 in Babil and Wasit Provinces, and elsewhere in their Area of Operations.

This video is probably not up to network or cable news standards, so I don't think you'll see anything like it there.

But by "standards", I mean it tells how we won the war.

That's the big picture. Later today I'll have a more personal story to tell. I hope you can join me.

In the meantime, feel free to embed this video on your site - just copy and paste the following code (change dimensions as desired):

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AcLbOAA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="320" height="270" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

Liar, Incompetent, or Incompetent Liar?

"Seems to be a Taliban ambush. There's a lot of fire going out"

That's a quote from journalist Nick Meo, captured in his own video made in the immediate aftermath of an IED attack that flipped the armored vehicle in which he was traveling. Watch it for yourself - count the rounds you hear fired, it debunks the characterization in so many media reports of massive, indiscriminate fire as the doctrinal response to such an attack.

But Meo's written and spoken claims contradict his own video evidence:

Crouching between the vehicles, I watched as infantrymen poured fire into the night. ...Heavy machine-guns and grenade-launchers were hammering furiously in what the Americans call suppressive fire, to keep the enemy's heads down.

The British would have regarded this level of fire as excessive, and perhaps even trigger-happy. Thousands of rounds must have been used.

That would be an impressive video, indeed. What reporter wouldn't love to be the guy that had captured such an event? Thunderous concussions from the heavy machine guns combined with continuous bursts from multiple M4s punctuated by occasional grenades - while the muzzle flashes from thousands of rounds turn night into day.

Damn shame Meo doesn't have such a thing.

During Meo's posted 4+ minute video - much of which was taken as he "crouched between the vehicles" you'll hear less than 50 rounds fired. It's certainly possible he stopped filming when the action became too intense and missed the other 1,950 (at least) rounds that would qualify his claim as accurate, and if not it's likewise possible that the Telegraph chose not to provide the portions of the video that support Meo's description of what happened that night. Why? I certainly can't say - but neither possibility could be described as "good journalism".

But Meo goes on to describe why it's important that you believe what he says - not your own damn lyin's eyes:

It dawned on me that there could be Afghan homes out there. I thought of all the villages I have driven past on this road when it was safe for journalists to travel in a taxi.

At least he couldn't bring himself to lie about the presence of villages or homes and contented himself with suggesting there could have been some that he didn't see.

Meo maintained and expanded his claims in a follow-up report - that also includes the video:

The vehicle I was in was hurled into the air and landed on its roof, killing the top gunner and injuring two soldiers. The small unit then fired thousands of rounds blindly into the night – from automatic rifles, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns — in an area where there are many villages, as well as Taliban guerrillas.
<...>
Following an ambush it is standard US military procedure to switch weapons to fully automatic and pour out rounds.

But there's not one single incident of a weapon being fired on fully automatic captured on Meo's video.

Of which he says: "such footage of what happens in the aftermath of a bomb attack is rare." In fact, such footage doesn't exist at all, except in the fevered imagination of Nick Meo.

*****

There are numerous other lies, inconsistencies, contradictions, omissions and instances of disgusting and cowardly behavior contained in Meo's two brief reports. See Bouhammer and Blackfive (also here). I choose to keep the focus here on this specific example.

Why? Because as in Iraq, "insurgents" in Afghanistan aren't content to simply attack Americans :

A suicide attacker in a police uniform blew himself up inside a police station in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Monday, killing two American soldiers and an 8-year-old boy, Afghan officials said.

The blast wounded several other people, including one American soldier, officials said.

Baghlan is a relatively peaceful province, and there is said to be no active insurgency there. But it was the scene of one of the bloodiest suicide attacks last year, in which as many as 72 people were reported killed, including 5 lawmakers and more than 50 schoolchildren.

But Meo's report is designed to "prove" that trigger happy, panicked Americans are no better.

In fact, in his first report Meo indicated his belief that "the Taliban" limits their hostility to soldiers:

I suddenly realised what could happen if we fell into the hands of the attacking Taliban. With dread, I recalled what I'd read about the fate of Red Army prisoners.

I wondered if I would be able to explain that I was a journalist if men in turbans dragged me out of the crippled vehicle and I tried to recall a few phrases of Pashtun. I hoped they would understand "journalist" if I waved a notebook at them, but decided that it probably wouldn't help much.

Most likely they would have beheaded him in the road, and used his own camera to capture the moment for internet posting.

Such horrors inflicted on the population by al Qaeda-type "foreign fighters" in Iraq ultimately led to the "awakening" movement there, and hastened their defeat. But while bogus or exagerated reports of American atrocities couldn't fool the people actually on the scene, they did enhance enemy foreign recruiting, erode support for coalition efforts, and lengthen the duration of hostilities.

With Iraq at least temporarily considered "lost" (or too hostile) to the potential holy warrior, Afghanistan is increasingly seen as the more attractive destination - some of the rise in hostilities there can be attributed to this factor. They are fanatics - driven to frenzy by tales of the brutalty of the crusader. Their motives are known, their actions unsurprising. Unfortunately, their media wing appears to be ready and eager to do their bit, too.

Reminder

Don't miss The War Briefing tonight.

Here's a review from Jules Crittenden, and here's one from Blackfive

(But if you do miss it, you can watch it online at that first link.)

The discrepancy could be immediately ignored

Yesterday:

"The discrepancy could not immediately be explained"
[Greyhawk]
That headline is an interesting observation from within this Associated Press report:

The Syrian government statement said eight people were killed, including a man and his four children and a woman. However, local officials said seven men were killed and two other people were wounded, including a woman among the injured.

Families buried loved ones Monday who they said were killed during the attack. During the funerals, angry residents shouted anti-American slogans and carried banners reading: "Down with Bush and the American enemy."

An Associated Press journalist at the funerals in the village's cemetery saw the bodies of seven men -- none of them children. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.

Gosh, I know I'm sure stumped. Anybody got any ideas?

And if this story stays "hot" will that eyewitness detail be forgotten?

Immediate answer: Probably. (I know - you're shocked...)

CNN's Nic Robertson doesn't seem shy when questioning Syrian Foreign Minister Waleed Mouallem about the attack...

...but if he was aware of "the discrepency" he chose not to seek clarity.

And the report from CNN's Situation Room didn't point out the eyewitness account of the funerals either:

However, the Syrian foreign minister says witnesses saw four U.S. helicopters arrive at a farm five miles inside Syria, that two landed and American forces emerged and opened fire, killing at least seven civilians.

WALEED MOALLEM [Syrian Foreign Minister]: They killed four of one family, the father and three children. They killed the guard of the farm and his wife. They killed also a fisherman who was fishing from the Euphrates River outside the farm.

That went unchallenged.

Fox News (Special Report With Brit Hume) blew a chance for some good journalism, too:

GRIFFIN: But the Syrians say the U.S. raid targeted civilians.

IMAD MOUSTAPHA [Syrian Ambassador to U.S.]: We characterize it as an act of sheer terrorism.

GRIFFIN: These are the first pictures released from Syria’s official news agency of those killed in the U.S. raid. The names of the dead: Dahud Mohammed al-Abdullah (ph), his four sons, and Ahmed Khalifeh Ali Abbas al-Hassan (ph) and his wife.

MOUSTAPHA: None of them were al Qaeda operatives. They were ordinary Syrian citizens.

GRIFFIN: Will this raid jeopardize thawing relations between Syria and its neighbors? The Syrian foreign minister, on a visit to London, told Fox his country was shocked by the U.S. raid.

Perhaps none of the reporters quoted above were aware of that on-scene AP report. Too bad, because asking for an explanation of the discrepency would have made for some outstanding television, says I.

Lets review that AP report again: "An Associated Press journalist at the funerals in the village's cemetery saw the bodies of seven men -- none of them children. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained." Note that's an Associated Press journalist - not a U.S. government/DoD spokesperson - countering the Syrian claim.

Meanwhile, in today's news:

A raid into Syria on Sunday was carried out by American Special Operations forces who killed an Iraqi militant responsible for running weapons, money and foreign fighters across the border into Iraq, American officials said Monday.
<...>
American officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the raid said the mission had been mounted rapidly over the weekend on orders from the Central Intelligence Agency when the location of the man suspected of leading an insurgent cell, an Iraqi known as Abu Ghadiya, was confirmed. About two dozen American commandos in specially equipped Black Hawk helicopters swooped into the village of Sukkariyah, six miles from the Iraqi border, just before 5 p.m., and fought a brief gun battle with Abu Ghadiya and several members of his cell, the officials said.

It was unclear whether Abu Ghadiya died near his tent on the battlefield or after he was taken into American custody, one senior American official said.

One United States official described Abu Ghadiya as Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia’s “most prominent” smuggler of foreign operatives crossing the Syrian border into Iraq, and in February the Treasury Department named him as one of four major figures in that group living in Syria.

Listen to the Generals

A general (okay - an Attorney General) rescues the troops:

Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell issued an opinion yesterday in the dispute over absentee ballots used by members of the armed forces, saying that they must be counted.

Last week, the Fairfax County registrar said about 100 of the federal ballots, which are used as backups to local absentee ballots by citizens abroad, did not comply with a state law that requires that they carry the signature and the address of a witness.

As a result, he said he could not count them.

McDonnell (R) said a federal law that governs overseas military voting took precedence.

The Virginia absentee ballot issue was part of my larger "military vote" story at Pajamas. With over 120 comments it seems that larger issue is of some concern to at least some Americans.

Speaking of Generals, here's one General speaking:

“I think what you’re seeing is kind of an evolution of thinking,” said Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff. “We still need to participate in the political process, and maybe the young guys especially think it ought to be a little more public.”

That's from a NY Time article headlined Back From War, And Increasingly Into The Political Fray, in which we hit the campaign trail with milblogger/Vets for Obama chairman Phil Carter, Vets for Freedom co-founder David Bellavia, and others.

No scientific polls of the military or veteran vote have been conducted. And while Senator John McCain of Arizona is expected to carry the demographic, young Iraq veterans are working tirelessly for both parties, and with groups promoting policies that fall in between.

The numbers are smaller than in 1944...

Attitudes of service members show as wide a variety of opinions as those expressed by their congressional representatives. A naval officer in the Pacific wrote a letter to Newsweek in which he stated the majority of Sailors on his cruiser showed little interest in voting. However, many planned to run for office themselves upon their return. This prompted the officer to write “I am certain that no one but a veteran–probably those who have seen active service–will hold any job after the war, from Constable to President.”

...but from all indications vets will certainly not be absent from the political scene in the coming years.

To Market, To Market...

Last week:

Defense firms see more profit, shares rise

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Aerospace and defense companies Raytheon Co, L-3 Communications and Goodrich reported higher profits and forecast strong performance next year as the sector promises to hold up relatively well against the onslaught of the credit crisis and global economic downturn.

The results, which helped push their shares sharply higher, come after strong numbers from Lockheed Martin Corp and Northrop Grumman Corp earlier this week, marred only by rising pension liabilities after an abysmal few months in global investment markets.

"With the underlying defense business still doing well for most industry participants, pension is probably the biggest risk facing the defense industry," said Macquarie Research analyst Robert Stallard.

This past weekend

In a meeting with the editorial board of The Standard-Times, Rep. Frank, D-Mass., also called for a 25 percent cut in military spending, saying the Pentagon has to start choosing from its many weapons programs, and that upper-income taxpayers are going to see an increase in what they are asked to pay.

Frank further clarified: "We don't need all these fancy new weapons. I think there needs to be additional review."

Lot's of folks are outraged, outraged I tell you, over Frank's stated desire to implement what would amount to lethal cuts in defense spending in time of war.
<...>
[But] Frank's goal is more short-term: damage defense stocks on the market.

Yesterday:

Morgan Stanley cuts US aerospace, defense sector

Oct 27 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley downgraded the U.S. aerospace and defense industry to "in-line" from "attractive" and said it prefers to be on the sidelines in defense ahead of the presidential elections.

Aerospace and defense sector has outperformed the Standard & Poor's for eight of the last nine years, and a recovery rally for defense stocks looks less assured in the first quarter this time, Wood wrote in a note to clients.

Wood also downgraded Rockwell Collins Inc, aerospace electronics company and Raytheon, the U.S. No. 5 defense contractor that makes Patriot and Tomahawk missiles, to "equal-weight" from "overweight."

I'm not a market forecaster, but if defense stocks do fall, this will be a likely turn-around point:

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

And if the bad economy doesn't result in a boost in military recruiting, there's always the draft.

See also It and Frank Talk

Pride of the Granite State

Did New Hampshire Democrat Party Chairman Ray Buckley make a false claim of being a Vietnam veteran to a Gold Star mom? Or is it all just a "misunderstanding"?

If accurate, is that the worst thing he ever did?

The New Cadre of War Reporters

From the milblogs conference at Blogworld Expo:

Your humble scribe moderates a distinguished panel of folks who've been there, done that - insights and stories from about ten deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004-2007 from milbloggers Toby Nunn (Toby Nunn's Briefing Room), Troy Steward (Bouhammer), and J.P. Borda (Milblogging.com), along with Christian Lowe of DefenseTech and military.com - a reporter with several trips to Iraq under his belt.

(And thanks to C.J. for the video.)

If you're interested in seeing the full version of Bad Voodoo's War you can watch it online here.

If you'd like more information on that bus ambush story you can find it here.

I'd also urge readers to order a copy of Toby's book, detailing his first tour in Iraq with the Strykers in Mosul. (A bit of intel/trivia I picked up from talking to Toby at the conference: the same Brigade that included a young milblogger named Colby Buzell. Small world, eh?)

First Person, not completely singular

Inside the Surge: 1-5 Cavalry in Ameriyah, a Small Wars Journal article by Lieutenant Colonel Dale Kuehl, US Army. Lt Col Kuehl commanded the 1st Battalion, 5th US Cavalry in Ameriyah from November 2006 until January of 2008. If you want first-hand reports by (and informed opinions of) the guys who ran the show at street level, Small Wars Journal is a must-read.

And while the singular accomplishments reflect great credit, etc., the reality is that this story was repeated all over Iraq in 2006 and 2007. It would be nice to see those stories repeated (in a different sense) all over America. Better late than never...

Old news -

June, 2006:

Amariyah, a wealthy Baghdad district that butts up against the US military's sprawling Camp Victory, which includes the Baghdad airport, is a testament to the ease with which Sunni Arab extremists can take over an established neighborhood and use it as a base of operations.

And over the past six months, the Baghdad neighborhood of shaded gardens and hulking villas once popular with Mr. Hussein's entourage has become synonymous with gruesome, anonymous death, as have other Sunni neighborhoods like Dora and Adhamiya. They are all examples of the ongoing battle occurring throughout Iraq to loosen the grip of the insurgency - and the tough fight facing the Iraqi Army and US forces to dislodge them.

November 2007:

Twilight brings traffic jams to the main shopping district of this once-affluent corner of Baghdad, and hundreds of people stroll past well-stocked vegetable stands, bakeries and butcher shops.

To many in Amariyah, it seems little short of a miracle.

Just six months ago, this mostly Sunni neighborhood was one of the centers of al-Qaida in Iraq operations. The district in western Baghdad was hit by more than a dozen bombings and shootings some days. Few people dared to venture onto the streets.

On Tuesday, women shopped and men drank tea in sidewalk cafes. Occasionally, U.S. soldiers walking the streets were greeted with salaams and smiles.

U.S. Attack in Syria?

Reports: A US Special Forces attack in Syria "targeted the network of al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq"

Iraqi Government spokesman: the area where the raid occurred "is a theater of military operations where anti-Iraq terrorist activity takes place."

A Syrian government statement said eight people were killed, including a man and his four children and a woman.

The Associated Press says: "An Associated Press journalist at the funerals in the village's cemetery saw the bodies of seven men -- none of them children. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained."

I'm sure it will all be resolved soon...

The '44 Vote

I added the following as a comment to my own article at Pajamas Media. As noted, to do this story justice would take much more space than available - and even much more than I've taken here. But I'm re-posting this here so it doesn't become lost in what's turning out to be a very large comment section - consider it a companion piece to the main article.

*****

The WWII US Military was an anomaly in our nation’s history - large and demographically similar to the nation as a whole. There was bipartisan opposition (and support) for a voting act that would have simplified the enormously complex problem of ensuring each and every service member on battlefields around the world got their chance to vote. Valid arguments of federal encroachment on State’s rights were raised in opposition, but also often masked other motives ranging from purely political (Republicans feared Roosevelt controlled all information flow to the troops and would receive their blind obedience) to unimaginably vile (southern Democrats’ desire to maintain Jim Crow laws).

Still, more than a few military members voted that year (50 percent of military personnel requested ballots and 30 percent succeeded in casting ballots) even with the associated logistical problems. While the military vote might have tipped New Jersey from Republican to Democrat, Roosevelt was reelected in an electoral landslide, and neither the Senate or House composition changed appreciably. I’m not sure many military members (well aware of the logistics involved) were very much outraged over the outcome of the voting effort or the election.

But I like this quote:

Attitudes of service members show as wide a variety of opinions as those expressed by their congressional representatives. A naval officer in the Pacific wrote a letter to Newsweek in which he stated the majority of Sailors on his cruiser showed little interest in voting. However, many planned to run for office themselves upon their return. This prompted the officer to write “I am certain that no one but a veteran–probably those who have seen active service–will hold any job after the war, from Constable to President.”

More here and here.

Frank Talk

Barney Frank on defense in a home state paper:

In a meeting with the editorial board of The Standard-Times, Rep. Frank, D-Mass., also called for a 25 percent cut in military spending, saying the Pentagon has to start choosing from its many weapons programs, and that upper-income taxpayers are going to see an increase in what they are asked to pay.

Frank further clarified: "We don't need all these fancy new weapons. I think there needs to be additional review."

Lot's of folks are outraged, outraged I tell you, over Frank's stated desire to implement what would amount to lethal cuts in defense spending in time of war.

Here's the defense budget, in billions of dollars:

Operations and maintenance-----------------------------$179.8
Military Personnel-------------------------------------------$125.2
Procurement-------------------------------------------------$104.2
Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation----------$79.6
Military Construction----------------------------------------$21.2
Family Housing--------------------------------------------------$3.2
Resolving and Management Funds---------------------------$2.2
Total Base Spending-----------------------------------------$515.4

Eliminate 100% of procurement - eliminate every American job making armor and bullets and "fancy new weapons" in multiple House districts across the country - and you've reduced that budget by 20% - five short of Frank's goal. Of course, there's no further need for that R&D spending (15%) any more (or that silly "personnel" and "operations" waste...)

But frankly folks, that's not what Barney wants to do. The budget was just passed this month. President Bush signed it into law on October 15th (with 5 billion in pork - America was too distracted by the financial crisis to notice...) - it's so new that some numbers above might be incorrect. (It also already includes the suplementals for Iraq and Afghanistan) But if Frank wanted it lowered, he missed his big chance.

So if destroying the nation's military isn't his goal, what is?

While cutting the 8.8 billion dollars spent on missile defense (at nearly two percent the largest "fancy weapon" piece of the defense pie) sounds great to folks who know what they'd do with that money, Frank's goal is more short-term: damage defense stocks on the market. (Gasp! Surely you can't be serious? Investors certainly won't respond to threats of falling stock prices and higher taxes on those falling profits, will they?)

Yes. This little market assault is well-disguised as a slap at defense spending - an always popular tactic in economic downturns except among greedy Wall Street tycoons and, um, those Americans who earn their paychecks in defense plants. But they're a real minority, and the number of folks who know what they'd do with that money is far larger (though their odds of getting even a tiny piece of it are microscopic). So neither that slap or the market fall will hurt Frank (or his Party) at the polls. Quite the opposite, in fact. Ironically, that boost will drive those stock prices down even more - etc., etc., etc...

Later, when they're in full control, they can do what they want with defense spending (within the confines of Barack Obama's pledge to pull some - but not all - troops from Iraq and put them in Afghanistan). That will be none of your damn business, by the way, because they've got a mandate, and who gives a damn what long-forgotten comment Barney Frank said in October - he isn't even on a defense committee.

Besides, he'll be much too busy (as House Banking Committee chairman) in his efforts towards fixing this damn housing mess Bush got us into:

He said he also wants some effort placed on building affordable rental housing, since there are a great many people for whom home ownership is either out of reach or doesn't make sense for other reasons. That would be a departure, he said, from the Bush era emphasis on home ownership to the point where people were given mortgages they could not afford to pay.

What's that you say? You didn't know that was all Bush's fault? It's not - in fact, many would argue Barney Frank bears much more of the blame. But that matters little - like determining the defense budget, assigning blame and rooting out the Ephraimites is part of the mandate, the sort of thing the next congress will get to do. (I suspect they'll tackle both tasks with gusto. And if you can't say "affordable rental housing" without shedding a tear or cracking a smile, you are indeed an Ephraimite.)

But don't worry, if all else fails on economic rescue, the Goodwar will do the trick (and pssst, you didn't hear it from me, but look how cheap these defense stocks are...) and defense spending can be ramped up much faster than you can say "buy Northrup!"

It's a win-win.

By the way, I don't give stock market advice - don't consider the above to be that in any way. But I will offer this advice to those of you - male and female - under age 30: start doing some pushups, situps, and running now. It's good for you no matter what, but it will make basic training (and forget about using that "I'm gay" option to avoid the draft) a lot easier if you get the call.

So that's a win-win for you, too.

McCain's Landslide

Me in Pajamas: a landslide victory for McCain.

The War Briefing

Disclaimer up front: There's an ad in the sidebar for this program. However, this post is not part of that deal, and I don't gain revenue for "click throughs". (Though no doubt advertisers are aware of them and appreciate them.)

Ive seen no more of the program than what's available on the preview videos at the site, but from that brief look I'm impressed that interviews with Lt. Col. John Nagl and David Kilcullen are included in the program - that's enough to convince me to tune in.

Beyond which, this admittedly brief quote captures what's likely to be the enormously complex strategic challenge facing the U.S. and it's allies in the region now and in the coming months:

Even with more troops, any progress in Afghanistan will be hostage to developments just across the border. As long as the Taliban and Al Qaeda are able to launch attacks from their sanctuaries in the lawless tribal areas of neighboring Pakistan, any policy is likely to fail. But cracking down on the insurgent safe havens in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas presents enormous challenges of its own.

In recent months, special forces have mounted ground assaults on targets inside the tribal areas without the consent of the Pakistani government, prompting growing tensions with the Pakistani army and its new civilian leaders. “The United States does not have the right to go into a sovereign country that is its ally without permission and approval and consent of that ally,” Husain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, tells FRONTLINE. Vali Nasr of the Council on Foreign Relations adds: “This was an early and decisive success we had [against the Taliban] after 9/11. If eight years later it collapses before the very force that we defeated and kicked out of Afghanistan, then the symbolism is tremendous. It would be a major morale booster for extremism across the Muslim world.”

And while Afghanistan and Iraq are "back burner" issues to the economy right now (or even seen as a drain on that very economy) anyone with any knowledge of history should be concerned with (or at least aware of) the potential for a "good war" - if it's big enough - to reverse a downward economic spiral.

I don't know if that aspect of the situation confronting the world today is covered in the program - but as Nagl points out in the video below, Afghanistan is already "the good war".

Fortunate, then, that whoever takes charge in the White House next year will have a "spine of steel", eh?

The Sheriff of Ramadi

In the mail: Sheriff of Ramadi by Dick Couch.

The book "details the once secret role of the Navy SEALs in the battle of Ramadi".

Couch was in Ramadi. He expected to write a narrative of courage in a losing battle - the orchestra on the deck of the Titanic. Instead he discovered a success story in the war against al Qaeda - the first real, sustained success since the 2003 invasion.

It was a battle won with a strategy of deploying SEALs alongside regular forces in a combined joint operation, which also included Iraqi security forces and the people of the al-Anbar province, to fight against terrorists in the urban war zone of Ramadi.
<...>
Among the many examples of this extraordinary brotherhood is the story of Petty Officer Michael A. Monsoor, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery during the battle of Ramadi.

"When we arrived in al Anbar the conventional wisdom was that the province was a lost cause - unwinnable," said then-Colonel Sean MacFarland. "I never believed that, and now we see that is not true."

"When we arrived in al Anbar the conventional wisdom was that the province was a lost cause - unwinnable". I've discussed that with those who were there, they've told me that acceptable success at the going-in stage could be described as merely "keeping a lid" on the violence. (And the anticipation of achieving that success could be described as "slim".)

They exceeded expectations. I've written extensively here on how that happened, but I'm looking forward to expanded discussion on the special forces component of the battle detailed in Sheriff of Ramadi.

French TV archive releases McCain POW video

MSNBC

A French national archive has posted online extended footage of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain being interviewed as a bedridden prisoner during the Vietnam War.

French reporter Francois Chalais conducted the interview. His widow says the online release this week of 4 minutes, 33 seconds of footage is the fullest distribution of the interview since it first aired four decades ago.

<...>

At times, when speaking of his family, McCain's lower lip trembles and his voice breaks.

"I was on a flight over the city (Hanoi) ... and I was bombing and I was hit by a missile or anti-aircraft fire, I'm not sure which," he said, adding that his plane "went straight down."

After landing in the lake, McCain said he "was picked up and taken to the hospital, where I almost died."

In the interview, McCain said he was treated well by his Vietnamese captors. Asked about the food, he told his French interviewer, "It's not like Paris ... (but) I eat it."

The exact date of the interview is not clear, but it appeared to be taken in late 1967.

The French national audiovisual archive INA is posting the interview on its Web site, http://www.ina.fr, for one week. It was first broadcast on French television program Panorama in January 1968.

Video here and here

Impending doom?

Australian PM Kevin Rudd - “Nuke strike would make 9/11 insignificant”

Over the last 72 hours there has been a strange melange of cryptic messages leaked from world political leaders about what could be in store for America over the next few months.

These predictions of impending doom come from England, France, Australia and the United States. In each case there has been a press releases or news expose’ predicting huge and building threats emerging from faceless enemies in shadowy places.

Crisis will lead to unpopular decisions by Barack Obama

That is if Barack Obama wins.

Joe Biden warned those at a Seattle fund raiser last Sunday about an “international crisis” a "generated crisis" that will test Barack Obama’s Presidency should he be elected. “I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate".

Does he know something he's not telling us? it's possible.

Colin Powell and Madeline Albright confirm Biden’s warnings:

Madeline Albright says there is a "massive crisis on the horizon" and Biden was simply making a “statement in fact.”

“The problems will always be there and there’s going to be a crisis which will come along on the 21st, 22nd of January that we don’t even know about right now.” Powell told Meet the Press.

Meanwhile in England where the House of Lords forced the Government to abandon plans to extend detention without trial for terror suspects to 42 days...

Lord West, adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown on national security says, “There is another great plot building up again and we are monitoring".

"The threat is huge. It dipped slightly and is now rising again within the context of 'severe'.

"There are large complex plots. We unravelled one, which caused damage to al-Qaeda and the plots faded slightly.

"However, another great plot is building up again, which we are monitoring.

"We have done a great deal to protect ourselves and to look after our water supplies, our resilience, underground trains, our preparedness and communications.

"We have done all the things that we need to do, but the threat is building - the complex plots are building."

Lord West like Biden, Albright and Powell does not elaborate on the precise details of the threat or the source of this intelligence information just that the situation is dire.

_________________

Here's my scenarios:

If Obama is elected, Israel is going to strike Iran with Nukes. (reasoning follows)

If McCain is elected, Iran will make an attempt on Israel. (no reason just because)

If Israel attacks... Obama will have to make a decision that many of us will be extremely uncomfortable with... Let Israel die at the hands of Iran, Russia and the rest of the world or fight with Iran, Russia maybe China too.

We already know what Obama decision will be by the way he has aligned himself with advocates who are anti-Israel .

He will, side against Israel in order to avoid WW3. But at what concequence?

McCain has made his decision, knowing full well that we have the capacities, he will support Israel and take on our enemies, because he knows if we act first, we actually can win this...

But Obama, won't do it, he will take the easy route and avoid becoming unpopular and hated and let Israel fry and make friends ... even though most Americans are pro Israel.

This is why Biden pleaded with his audience...

"he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

If Obama wins, Israel knowing all this, is going to launch Nukes on Iran. It's do or die.

I think England, France, Australia are speculating this, but I could be wrong.

_________________

Just like Biden, I could give at least four or five more scenarios.

What do you predict the impending doom is (aside from Obama winning this election)?

It

Wacky uncle Joe Biden:

Dan Quayle will have “POTATOE” etched on his gravestone. But how many times have late-night comedians and cable shows replayed the video of senior statesman and six-term Sen. Biden’s own spelling mishap last week while attacking McCain’s economic plan?

“Look, John’s last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the No. 1 job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S.”

No, Joe. “D’-O-H” is a three-letter word.

Nightly news shows still haven’t tired of replaying Palin’s infamous interview with Katie Couric. But how many times have they replayed Biden’s botched interview with Couric last month — in which he cluelessly claimed: “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’”

Er, here’s what really happened: Roosevelt wasn’t president when the market crashed in 1929. As for appearing on TV, it was still in its infant stages and wasn’t available to the general public until at least ten years later.

And then there was that moment in the VP debate when he couldn't explain the job of Vice President as defined by the U.S. Constitution. But hey, that's wacky ol' Uncle Joe right?

And besides, that story isn't important. And for every media outlet that tells you what the Constitution says, you'll find ten to tell you what it means. And wacky ol' Uncle Joe knows what it means - he's got experience, and that's what matters in a Vice President.

This is wacky ol' Uncle Joe too, speaking to campaign supporters at a Seattle fundraiser:

"Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

A bit hyperbolic, but probably right. But here's where he unleashes wacky ol' Uncle Joe (or maybe not):

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

Those comments weren't made for TV (Biden has been avoiding reporters for two months) so it's unfair that they got out - and John McCain used them in an vicious attack. And to teach that mean ol' nasty John McCain a lesson MSNBC pulled a quick, slick, switcheroo

Mark my words, within the next -- first six months of this administration, if we win, they're going to -- we're going to face a major international challenge, 'cause they're going to want to test him, just like they did John Kennedy, they're going to want to test him, and they're going to find out this guy's got steel in his spine.

So there. (Also here) And now that that's been unsaid, let's get our attention back to the Palin Threat. Byron York, in NRO:

Watching press coverage of the Republican candidate for vice president, it's sometimes hard to decide whether Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt, backward, or — or, well, all of the above.

CNN "reporter" Drew Griffin to Governor Palin:

GRIFFIN: Governor, you've been mocked in the press, the press has been pretty hard on you, the Democrats have been pretty hard on you, but also some conservatives have been pretty hard on you as well. The National Review had a story saying that, you know, I can't tell if Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt or all of the above.

But that doesn't mater either, because she can't even afford her own damn clothes. And if that fact doesn't prove that Palin isn't "just regular folks", then gosh, I don't know what will.

But anyhow - wait a farkin' minute. Since I'm a military guy I really want to know exactly wtf this is all about: ""I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities." Because to me that sounds like something requiring a military solution. I'd also note that a diplomatic solution would be better, but I'm also fairly certain that Obama/Biden supporters would agree. But whatever solution Biden has in mind, he anticipates his supporters aren't going to like it - not his detractors: "we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

It's not like Obama and Biden have to request support from their supporters - they get it automatically and without reservation. (If Biden says Roosevelt was president in 1929 and appeared on television to explain how article one of the constitution gives everyone a j-o-b-s jobs then no big deal because - hey, Sarah Palin can't afford her own clothes!)

But what bothers wacky ol' Uncle Joe isn't a scenario where Barack Obama is challenged or America is threatened, it's a scenario he can envision wherein Obama supporters would withdraw that support - a scenario that campaign '08 gives every indication is not very freaking likely.

So are we going to find out any (purely hypothetical, of course) specific scenarios Joe Biden feels would alienate his supporters before the elections or after? (Or never? McCain could win...)

I apologize - I'm kidding - I don't want to make fun of wacky ol' Uncle Joe. It's down right mean. Hey, did you know that Sarah Palin can't afford her own clothes!?!

Media's finest

Where should we start.

How 'bout A cowardice act by a reporter in Afghanistan

Nick Meo was an embed journalist from the UK who was recently in the Khandahar area embedded with PMT and ETT mentors of TF Phoenix. I have been alerted to some terrible articles he wrote about that experience. Articles full of lies, slander and twisted truths. Articles that pump his own ego and try to make him seem more than he is, but at the same time show him as a coward by jumping on a medevac helicopter to leave the combat area rather than ride back, and he was not even wounded..

BlackFive does not mince words about this reporters incompetence

I received the real reason the soldiers wanted Nick's video. He was filming the dead and the dying. When being treated for non-existent wounds back at Kandahaar, Nick Meo denied having that footage. When pressed, he recanted.

No wonder the soldiers were angry with him. I can only imagine if a parent or friend of the Fallen soldiers had seen that footage.

I received a note from a soldier who arrived on the scene 20 minutes after the IED hit the cougar.

<...>
After asking about the above soldier's claim that Meo was never listed as KIA (after all, he was there), I received word from the ARSIC PAO that Nick Meo was listed as WIA. Of course, he wasn't wounded, but WIA status allowed him to bug out on the medevac with the wounded and Fallen.

The whole Post-It Note thing was a lie.

AND, when offered to attend the ramp ceremony for Corporal Diamond, Nick Meo refused to attend if he couldn't videotape the event.

Our men and women, citizen soldiers, are fighting for a greater cause than themselves.

The Torch reports on The mission of the MSM Media biased isn't just a US problem.

Journalist just cannot report on the military without showing their [fill in the blank]

Case in point Jessica Leeder who thinks the base in Khandahar is a third-world resort

In other news, Bob Krumm points out Dan Rather’s two-fer

How bad was the coverage surrounding Joe Biden’s, If you elect him, they will bomb remark? Even Dan Rather recognizes the media double standard.
Notice also this remark from Rather about how he expects the Biden-gaffe story to get more traction on the internet

But notice NBC and MSNBC are using a completely different statement made by Biden. They’re juxtaposing a line Biden said at some other time about Obama having “steel in his spine” with criticisms Not the video where Biden gives us this warning.

Here’s the audio from the Seattle fund-raiser:

Biden: "Mark My Words"

And Andrea Mitchell gets confronted over the audio of Biden's ‘Crisis’ Comments Not Aired

Gateway Pundit reminds us Media Refuses to Release Video of Obama Toasting & Praising Close Friend Rashid Khalid i-- A Former PLO Operative, Jew-Hater & Friend of Bill Ayers

The LA Times refuses to release video of Obama toasting close friend & Jew-hater Rashid Khalidi--
Khalidi and the Obamas were great friends in Chicago and often spent time at each other's homes.
Khalidi was also best friends with Bill Ayers.

The Meridian asks : Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights? HT: Glenn

Editor's note: Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and a newspaper columnist, and in this opinion piece he takes on both while lamenting the current state of journalism.
An open letter to the local daily paper — almost every local daily paper in America:
I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.
This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.
It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. ...Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?
I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."
Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.

It's The End of Journalism As We Knew It

It's no wonder Drudge has this to report.

More here.

The System of the World (Part Two)

Our house is a very, very, very fine house...

But what is it worth?

Back in part one we mentioned that Fred sold his house to Ernie. Fred had an asking price, but Ernie offered him a little less. The went back and forth a couple times, but eventually agreed on $35,000. (Remember, this was the 1970's). It's a small house in a nice neighborhood. It was Fred's first house, but he's had it for several years and his family is growing and he's making more money now and he's ready for something bigger. But it's just right for Ernie.

So anyhow, there's the simplest explanation for what anything is worth - it's worth what the buyer is willing to pay the seller. In the real estate market if the buyers outnumber the sellers it's a "seller's market" - he can get a higher price than when the sellers outnumber the buyers (a "buyer's market"). But here in Yortown supply pretty much equals demand, and Bob the Builder keeps it that way.

Now Ernie doesn't have $35,000 in his pocket - or even in the bank. So he asked for a loan from the bank. After they determined he was likely to pay the loan back (he had a good job working at Joe's Widget Mill and a history of paying his debts) the bankers wanted to know what the house was worth. So they had an appraiser check it out. She looked at the house inside and outside and measured the rooms and looked at the type and quality of construction and material and compared it to other houses that had sold in the area and determined it was worth the agreed upon price. Since Joe was also using some of his savings as a down payment this meant the bank was fairly safe in making the loan - so they did.

After the deal was complete, Fred paid off his loan to another bank and used most of his profit (he only owed $16,000) as a down payment on a bigger $50,000 house Bob was building over in the nice new Avon Park subdivision.

So everyone was happy.

*****

Now, we already know from part one that the bank is going to send that mortgage off to Fannie Mae and get money to offer more mortgage loans. Fannie Mae, in turn, is going to offer that mortgage on the "secondary market".

But that begs a question: "What is the mortgage worth? And if you think about it for a minute, you'll know that's a very different question than "what is the house worth?" Here are a few reasons why:

Ernie's mortgage is designed to be paid off over 30 years. If he makes the scheduled payments on time whoever gets those payments will get a large sum of money - their profit will be the interest Ernie pays. (However, those payments will look pretty small in 20 years time compared to new mortgages if housing values keep going up...)

But if Ernie makes larger payments he might pay the loan off sooner with less interest accrued.

But he might also do what Fred did and sell the house to someone else and pay off the entire loan after only a few years.

Or he might fall on hard times and not be able to make his payments at all. If his loan was guaranteed or insured then once again the principal would be covered, but there would be no more interest received and whoever guaranteed or insured it gets the house. If not, whoever Ernie owed the money to gets a house. And what is that house worth? How long has it been since Ernie bought it? How much did he still owe? What will it cost the company to sell the house? How long will that take?

So the best answer to "what is the mortgage worth" is "something". That uncertainty means there's quite a bit of risk involved in buying a mortgage, making it more difficult for buyer and seller to agree on a price . If you deal in a high volume of mortgages to qualified borrowers you reduce that risk, but frankly anyone willing to assume that risk is probably better off originating mortgages (what the bank did for Ernie) in the first place.

But we already explained in part one why a secondary market for mortgages is desirable. So how do you go about creating one?

Here's a simplified explanation of how it was done in America. The Emergency Home Finance Act of 1970 established new standards for mortgages, and reduced or eliminated regional and local variations. This allowed Fannie Mae (and other Government Sponsored Enterprises) to "pool" several similar mortgages. Then, instead of trying to sell one mortgage worth "something" they had a large block of mortgages that had a more definable value.

While you can't predict with great certainty what one mortgage will be worth over time, you can statistically predict what a thousand will (especially if they were generated using the same applied standards). Some percentage will be paid off on time, another percentage will default, another will be paid off early, etc. etc. This doesn't eliminate uncertainty (risk), but it does reduce it.

And to further lower risk, instead of trying to sell that large pool to one investor, Fannie Mae (or anyone else in the business) could get multiple investors to purchase a portion of the pool. Those "portions" are called "mortgage backed securities". There are numerous complex variations, but the bottom line is that these securities facilitated the growth of the secondary mortgage market - and a way for investment firms that weren't in the industry to cycle money through it, keep mortgage generation possible, and make a profit. With the system "backed" by property (collateral), insurance, guarantees, (and in many cases the United States government); along with a widely accepted premise that real estate would gradually increase in value over time (albeit with fluctuations), an assumption of generally accepted "safe" lending practices in loan origination, and assumed fiscal responsibility throughout all levels of the process it seemed like a safe bet. Lots of pension funds, insurance companies, and other financial institutions "bought in".

In fact, it was a safe bet. "The system" even facilitated that gradual increase in property values that it needed to thrive.

But the key word, as we all know now, is "was".

More to follow...

A Soldier Needs Some Support

Call to Action - Household 6

I know a young man who is in desperate need of help. His name is PFC Hunter Levine. He is 20 years old and hails from Houston, TX.

He was in my company and was wounded on 9 May, 2008 while conducting combat operations in East Baghdad. He received a very serious injury to his face, resulting in the loss of his entire bone structure, mouth, nose, and vision.

He was evacuated to Walter Reed Hospital where the doctors performed numerous surgeries to repair his face.

<...>
Hunter was then transferred to a VA hospital in California, where the best care for his vision would be available. He is a true fighter with a heart of gold.

Bad News

Unfortunately, I received some bad news from the hospital doctors. Lately, he has been resisting treatment and being somewhat combative with the hospital staff. He has had a few outbursts and the staff is real worried about him. It seems like a serious case of depression is setting in.

Although his wounds on the outside may look bad, they may never compare with the wounds he has on the inside.

He has a long road to recover and can use some of our support and if you ever wonder “what can I do for our wounded warriors”, send a card of encouragement to guys like this to eMail Our Military Rhey'll get them to those in need.

Soldiers Angels is another great place to start if you're looking for a military support program.

Homefront 6 has updates More here.

UPDATE:

Tammi at Honor, Duty, eMail brought the attention to this soldier and has info on how you can help or if you'de like to send cards or letter of support, and encouragement she has the contact info. She's also looking for volunteers.

A Tale of a Trail of Bread Crumbs

But where, exactly, does it lead?

"Generals will always be the last ones to acknowledge the war is over, and the losing General (when there is one) usually gets to go first. This particular war is more complex because there is no opposing General."

*****

Ramadi, May 08, 2007:

Mr. Uzzaman was transferred to Corregidor in late 2005. Mr. Chacka followed a couple of months later. They both found a base under such threat that it was completely engulfed in darkness at night. For good reason: It was smack dab in the middle of a war zone.

Rounds of fire from rocket-propelled guns struck guard towers. Tracer-fire criss-crossed the sky. U.S. warplanes bombed insurgent targets just outside the base. "All my guys were looking at me. They said: `What's happening? Where are we?'" Mr. Uzzaman said, recounting his first day there. So great was the mortar threat that until last month soldiers wore armoured jackets and helmets around the base.

Iraq, October 6, 2007:

There is more optimism about success among the battlefield soldiers than present with analysts in Baghdad. The sudden decrease in violence has left many units stunned that Iraqis who used to try to kill them are suddenly volunteering information about terrorists and landmines, and clamoring to join the joint security force. Usually those behind the desk are the optimists, the soldiers who die the pessimists. But instead there is genuine feeling on the front that after four frustrating years of ordeal, at last there are tangible signs of real, often radical improvement.

Me, from Iraq, October 16, 2007

We've won the war.

Fallujah, October 20 2007:

In Fallujah, enlisted marines have complained to an officer of my acquaintance: "There's nobody to shoot here, sir. If it's just going to be building schools and hospitals, that's what the Army is for, isn't it?"

Baqubah, April 19, 2008:

I'm not the only one feeling the boredom, on one of our patrols we paid 4 donkey cart drivers to race, the stipulation, one soldier on the back of each donkey cart. My donkey lost, it tried to kick it's driver.

So is this what we've been waiting for in Iraq? Or is this silence just the prelude to more attacks and violence? In Baqouba I can say that I think this peace will last, at least while my unit is here.

Mike Yon on Iraq, July 2008:

The war continues to abate in Iraq. Violence is still present, but, of course, Iraq was a relatively violent place long before Coalition forces moved in. I would go so far as to say that barring any major and unexpected developments (like an Israeli air strike on Iran and the retaliations that would follow), a fair-minded person could say with reasonable certainty that the war has ended. A new and better nation is growing legs. What's left is messy politics that likely will be punctuated by low-level violence and the occasional spectacular attack. Yet, the will of the Iraqi people has changed, and the Iraqi military has dramatically improved, so those spectacular attacks are diminishing along with the regular violence. Now it's time to rebuild the country, and create a pluralistic, stable and peaceful Iraq. That will be long, hard work. But by my estimation, the Iraq War is over. We won. Which means the Iraqi people won.

Me, July 2008:

There's a reason Mike didn't realize until now that we had won the war, and it's a pretty good one. Mike likes to be where the fighting is, and throughout his last visit to Iraq there was fighting, and he could find it. This time last year he was reporting from Baqubah where intense battles were ongoing - but had he wanted he could have been telling the same stories from many other locations, especially the neighborhoods of Baghdad and points south that were then referred to as "the belts".

...from the perspective of the combat reporter, the war in Iraq is over. There will still be combat, but the odds of being embedded with the right unit at the right time have dropped from slim (as it was at best outside the early surge ops or the major city battles - unless you were willing to spend a significant amount of time with one unit) to none - or at least prohibitively long.

Michael Totten, July, 2008:

Independent reporter Michael Yon has spent more time in Iraq embedded with combat soldiers than any other journalist in the world, and a few days ago he boldly declared the war over...

I’m reluctant to say “the war has ended,” as he did, but everything else he wrote is undoubtedly true.

Milblogger Joe Honan from Iraq, August 16, 2008

Him: “Can we leave now?”
Me: “No sir, the flight isn’t going to leave until later tonight. We need to bus you all to the landing zone after dinner.”
Him: “Well, can you just let us out at the gate? We’ll find our own way back.”
Me: “…..O.K…. how many of you Sunni leaders want to get left in the middle of Baghdad to find you’re way to Ramadi instead of flying with an armed escort?”
Him: “Oh we’ll all go and rent a couple of cars.”
Me turning to Gunny: “You know, I think this war is officially over.”

Milblogger Buck Sargent, from Iraq, September 01, 2008:

In case you needed any more on-the-ground evidence, the war as we knew it is over. Finished. Kaput. Yes, pockets of enemy activity still persist, but their cells are so fractured and hounded daily by us and the newly confident Iraqi Security Forces that these rogue elements are in full-on survival mode. We have resoundly kicked their tails and they know it.

I've always maintained that the Iraqis themselves will tell us when it's safe for us to talk about finally withdrawing, and now that is actually happening.

Me, responding:

I said a year ago that we'd won - but I also have repeated since then that "we've won" doesn't mean the same thing as "it's over." You guys are starting to convince me that it's indeed over.

...the thing that kept me from saying "it's over" is simply the knowledge that the Iraqi security forces remained essentially untested. We Americans had demonstrated our ability and resolve to the point that the average Iraqi believed it - or at least knew they had something to gain from working with us - in spite of opposition in Iraq and America. But our Iraqi partners in uniform hadn't yet done the same. I don't fault them for this - too much had been expected of them by too many too soon. In spite of events in Basra, Diyala, Maysan, and Mosul this year I don't know if they're there yet. In fact, I know they aren't. (If nothing else, logistically.)

But I'm willing to accept that they are past a tipping point by which you guys (in Iraq) are willing to say "it's over" in much the same way we were far enough past one last year that I could confidently say "we've won."

Milblogger "Big Tobacco", 27 September 2008

We won, didn’t we?
<...>
It’s my birthday today.

I’m 34 now and I’ve come to realize something.

This war isn’t supposed to end.

Ramadi, October, 2008

The next stop was Ramadi, Anbar's capital and formerly the capital of the insurgency. Al Qaeda in Iraq fighters once openly controlled the streets here, while U.S. Marines said prayers every time they ventured beyond the fortified walls of their bases.

Now the Marines walk freely through the markets without body armor, though they try to keep a low profile because the province was handed over to Iraqi control last month.

Meanwhile...

...J. D. Johannes heads back to Iraq.

Read this entry, too, in which good advice can be found: "Not sure what the final product is going to be from this trip. I never even attempt to script or plan the war."

There are certainly enough people doing that already. (At least, more than there are reporting how it's going.)

Good Advice

...from Army of Dude.

I experienced a minor "flashback" to Iraq this past weekend myself. Minor but disconcerting (perhaps "a strong sense of deja vu" might be a better term), though it had nothing to do with combat or threat or even mere stress, and it didn't leave me unable to function. But it did leave a lingering after effect that it took me a while to shake - if not completely forget.

What War?

If a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is "an agreement which defines the legal position of a visiting military force deployed in the territory of a friendly state" can we make them with countries where we are at war?

The System of the World (Sidebar)

Should John McCain lose the election "economic issues" will definitely (and rightfully) bear much of the "blame". (Though there will be plenty of "blame" to go around.) Oddly enough - and perhaps maddeningly frustrating to the McCain campaign - this will be so in spite of the fact that McCain's position was fundamentally correct (I'm not talking n^th details here). And just as (if not more so) with his position on Iraq (and a thousand smaller issues) his main problem wasn't the fierce opposition from across the aisle, it was from within his own Party.

I'm a believer in free markets and small governments. But that can't be taken to a point of absurdity; a do-nothing government that stands in silent witness to economic collapse will in turn collapse shortly thereafter. Thus the questions on our current situation boil down to

"How close were we to economic collapse a few short weeks ago?"

"On what scale?"

"How fast did/do we need to act?"

and "how close are we to collapse now?"

The answers to questions one, three, and four are "very". The answer to question two is "global". My answers come from my own research over the past several weeks, in which I've attempted to draw as much as possible from material published "pre-crisis" to avoid as much post-mortem spin as possible. I'll be sharing what I've found in this ongoing series, and you can draw your own conclusions from that. But one undeniable conclusion is that no one who hadn't done some amount of research could provide a quick answer to what was going on.

And anyone who had blind faith in the market to correct itself was dangerously wrong. But that was the knee-jerk reaction from a lot of talk radio (and other) pundits, who were dismayed (if not surprised) to discover John McCain didn't share their views. It may be that McCain should have followed the Obama example and kept his hands clean on the whole affair, and simply offered encouragement and assurance from the sidelines while those in the trenches praised his leadership and connectedness. But with a sizable percentage of Republicans (but not John McCain) wrongly convinced that "nothing" was exactly what congress should do, that option was perhaps perceived as off the table.

If it isn't obvious, I parted ways with many Republicans on the answer to question three above. If you were convinced - as I was - that the answer is "very" then you also must accept - as I did - that the solution will be far from perfect, involve much compromise and shifting of positions, and utlimately require additional solutions. (And if you're cynical as I am, you'd expect it to be loaded with previously unobtainable pork.) It was all that. The Democrats scored mightily in keeping their presidential candidate "above the fray" (even if in congress there really wasn't much of one after all). Republicans shot themselve