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Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and various sources around the world. If you're a blogger, you can join the conversation. If you link to any of these stories, add a link to the Dawn Patrol too and your trackback will be added to the list. Hat Tips to the Dawn Patrol are greatly appreciated.
Images, the Law and War -- [NY Times]
...Disclosure of abuses can also provoke a backlash. The indelible images that emerged from the Vietnam War helped turn the nation against the war, and may have steeled America’s enemies. And earlier photographs of abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were used for propaganda and recruitment by insurgents there.
How, then, to apply the lessons of history and law to the possible disclosure of additional images of prisoner mistreatment by Americans in the current wars?
On Wednesday, when Mr. Obama announced that the government was withdrawing from an agreement to comply with court orders requiring release of the images, he said there was little to learn from them and much to fear. But he offered speculation on both sides of the balance.
...the claim that harm would follow disclosure — that terrorists, for example, would exact revenge — is hard to measure or prove. “The terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan do not need pretexts for their barbarism,” Judge Hellerstein wrote. In the Pentagon Papers case, too, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of publication, saying, in essence, that speculation about potential harm was not sufficient.
Kurdish Mass Grave Discovered in Iraq -- [MEMRI]
The Iraqi Human Rights Ministry announced that a mass grave has been discovered in southern Najaf, containing the bodies of 3,000 Kurds murdered by the Saddam Hussein regime. It should be noted that about 100,000 Kurds were murdered by this regime, and that, even six years after its fall, the bodies of thousands of murdered civilians remain undiscovered. In Najaf alone, 48 mass graves have been found.
Mistaking Technology for a Strategy -- [Outside the Wire - JD Johannes]
"We can't kill our way out of this," Brigadier General Mark Gurganus told me in the early summer of 2007.
Gurganus, a larger than life character was the embodiment of the warrior general. At the time he commanded the Ground Combat Element of Coalition Forces in western Iraq. I first met him 2005 when he was Colonel on a dusty patch of asphalt north of Fallujah after his humvee was blown up by an IED.
His orders were pretty straight forward that morning--find those SOBs and kill them. A few hours later the IED team caught in the act and a team of snipers dispatched them.
Gurganus' statements in 2005 and 2007 may seem contradictory in isolation, but in 2005 he saw clearly that the solution to the IED threat was not more technology but the elimination of the insurgency.
War is Economics...Redux -- [Wings Over Iraq - in Iraq]
The other day, we discussed the economic situation in Iraq and how it might be influenced by the American drawdown. I decided to share this information with a fellow captain, who, like me, is Irish and thus, possesses the stereotypical Irish hobbies (i.e., drinking).
I discussed the effects of the closure of many combat outposts and forward operating bases, noting that when the Americans left these bases, so did American dollars. This was exceedingly critical, since the global economic downturn has hit Iraq hard,
What I’m Doing Where I’m Going -- [Sour Swinger - in Iraq]
Since the start of March, I’ve been running missions in my company’s AO. It originally started as one mission a day, 6 days week. How long the mission went was very dynamic. Anywhere from 4 hours to over 12. It was rough because our unit was still very new to handling combat missions. Battle rhythms needed to be developed and adjusting SOPs and so forth for smoother, easier operations.
Just as we were finally getting used to things, even more missions began to rain down on us. Before we knew it, conducting 2 missions a day was a normal occurrence. Not even our one day of rest to conduct maintenance was no longer a guarantee.
Betraying the Sons of Iraq -- [Captain's Journal]
Professor W Andrew Terrill, Research Professor of National Security Affairs, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, has a good history of the Sons of Iraq program, including the near and present danger that Iraq faces by refusing to make good on the promises to the Sons of Iraq.
Improved Security Leads to Closing of Joint Security Station Yarmouk -- [MNF-I]
BAGHDAD — The Government of Iraq (GoI) and U.S. Soldiers shut down Joint Security Station (JSS) Yarmouk in a closure ceremony in northwest Baghdad, May 16. The land was returned to the man who graciously lent it out to serve as part of the JSS for the past several months.
Welcome to my home -- [Blogs over Baghdad - in Iraq]
After a few requests, I took out my camera today and got some pictures of my home sweet home here in Iraq. As I mentioned before, I live in a compartmentalized housing unit, or CHU, on FOB Prosperity. It isn’t much, but I can’t complain — at least I am not sleeping in a tent.
Bark With Me Now... -- [Castra Praetoria - in Iraq]
I had the privilege of meritoriously promoting one of my dog handlers the other day. We’ve got quite a few Military Working Dogs attached to us this trip. Cpl Montecalvo was Combat Meritoriously promoted to Corporal May 2nd. He’s a ninja.
GQ: Secret 2003 Iraq intel reports began with Bible quotes -- [Hot Air]
That’s just the sexiest detail in a devastating profile of Rumsfeld assembled by Robert Draper, but since it fits the left’s narrative that the Iraq war must have been conceived with an ulterior motive — war for oil, war for Israel, war because Bush heard God’s voice in his head — it’s the detail the media will focus on. You can view a slideshow of the reports here. Proof that Don Rumsfeld was actually a closet crusader? No, more like proof that Rumsfeld tried to speak Bush’s language in the early days of the war to give him strength as the first casualties were taken.
Tiny steps in Paktika -- [Soldier's Angel Germany]
Somehow I think Captain Boris, for whom the FOB was named, would like this story.
Down a dirt alley a half-mile from Forward Operating Base Boris - a no-frills bastion that houses several hundred U.S. and Afghan troops behind 10-foot-high, sand-filled walls with a pair of 145 mm mortars at the center - American soldiers slinked like cats on the prowl.
3000 meter sniper rifle -- [Miserable Donuts - CSMBones in Afghanistan]
I was also a TOW gunner in a past life. As I walked the perimeter of a firebase in Konar, it warmed my heart to see Troopers manning a system over looking the valley below. I asked them where the Tank threat is, and they told me they have been engaging mortar teams at over 3000 meters. Decent stand off saves lives.
Taliban move forces eastward into Battagram -- [LWJ - Bill Roggio]
Click map for full view. Taliban presence, in the Islamabad region. Information on Taliban presence obtained from open source and derived by The Long War Journal based on the presence of Taliban shadow governments, levels of fighting, and reports from the region. As the fighting between the Pakistani military and the Taliban heats up in the war-torn district of Swat, the Taliban has moved a small force eastward into the district of Battagram.
Afghan President's brother says survives ambush -- [Reuters]
A brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday he had been ambushed on the road to Kabul by Taliban insurgents, ...
The Part-Time Taliban -- [Afghan Corner]
The Taliban insurgents find it extremely easy to recruit unemployed impecunious young Afghans as part-time fighters.
In a country where average income rate is less than $50 per month, Taliban’s high-paid job offer is hard to deny. Also, it is flexible and could be done in various shifts. This means the newly recruits do not need to have a permanent membership of the infamous group. Taliban’s pliable vacancy makes it easier for the struggling men to work according to their own schedules. They can ‘work’ for a few hours per week and go back to their daily chores just like any other citizen. These few hours of ‘work’ could earn them from $100 to $500 and more. All these young men need to do is kill some government or foreign troops and personnel.
The warlords casting a shadow over Afghanistan -- [The Independent]
One of the most feared of the Afghan warlords, Faryadi Zardad, was notorious for robbing, raping, torturing and killing travellers on the road between Kabul and Jalalabad. He kept a savage assistant in a cave who would bite and rip the flesh of his victims; other captives were murdered or imprisoned until they died of their sufferings or bribes were paid for their release.
Status quo ante bellum -- [Free Range International - in Afghanistan]
...Afghanistan now has a good road network, a functioning central government, and an increasingly capable army. The Taliban can at best, leverage their popularity and numbers in the south for a seat at the table with the central government but that is about the best they could do if we pulled out tomorrow and let the chips fall where they may. Look at how the Pashtun tribesmen are reacting to the Taliban who have taken over the Swat Valley in Pakistan - do you think Afghans want a return to that? They don’t and they have enough guns, organization and support from the people to ensure they will never be under the Taliban yoke again.
Yet we continue to battle the Taliban,...
Winning the information war... -- [SIPRI BLOGs]
...or, why we don't yet understand it...
The Council on Foreign Relations have issued two related pieces on the information war in Afghanistan. One is a paper on “winning the information war in Afghanistan and Pakistan”, the other an interview with the Director of Communications for the US Central Command, Rear Admiral Gregory Smith. Both are trying to highlight the fact that there is a need to counter Taliban media, information and propaganda activity. Both are very timely reminders of an important problem. Both are swept up in the idea that the Taliban are very effective because they communicate information very quickly. Both pieces (like many written on this issue) risk missing some key points.
Interesting Anti-Civilian Bias -- [Registan]
Nick Dowling continues his dispatches from Northeast RC-East:
the military is a constant (nine whole months running governance in an entire province!), while those unreliable civilians are always gone, or on vacation, or can’t “work effectively” on the PRT. Notice that the PRT commander has a name, but his “USAID rep” does not. That’s to say nothing about those “particularly clever” Laghmanis, and I guess all those Pashai who crowd out those southern Alisheng Pashtuns.
While Dowling notes, indirectly, the problems associated with the extremely short PRT rotations (nine months is NOT enough time to come in cold and know the power players of a region to operate effectively), and is absolutely right that the entire PRT system needs to be fixed from top to bottom, I’m really curious as to why the military guys he meets have names, but none of the civilians do.
Missions Leave No Soldier Behind In Afghanistan -- [NPR]
he war in Afghanistan is the first in American history in which no soldiers have been listed as missing in action.
What a day -- [Desert Bound - heading to Afghanistan]
I just got back from a very long day! My goodness. Who would have thought the second to last day of training would be one of the most boring of the month? Today was Convoy training, which sounds cool — Drive in a HMMWV and learn how to get out of an ambush, avoid IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and how to assault the enemy. Well, true to Army standards we died in an onslaught of powerpoint.
Stars & Stripes Waves Over Embassy in Libya -- [Jawa Report]
(Tripoli, Libya) In a ceremony last Wednesday, the flag of the United States was raised over the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli for the first time in 30 years.
Rebels Threaten Somali Government -- [WaPo]
A major offensive by Somalia's Islamist rebels is posing the most serious challenge yet to the country's latest central government, reviving long-standing concerns that the chaotic Horn of Africa nation could fall entirely to militants with alleged ties to al-Qaeda.
US to Israel: Tone down rhetoric on Iran -- [JPost]
Ahead of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's trip to Washington this week, the US has been urging Israel to "tone down" its rhetoric on Iran and to stop threatening a military strike on its nuclear installations, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
This was one of the purposes of a secret trip to Israel three weeks ago by CIA Director Leon Panetta, foreign diplomatic sources said.
Iraq war case wasn't built on the waterboard, Liz Cheney says -- [CNN]
Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel, was former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff during the Bush administration's first term. Since leaving office, he has become an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq.
In an online essay Thursday, he wrote that al Qaeda captive Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was "waterboarded" by Egyptian intelligence until he told interrogators that Baghdad trained terrorists to use chemical and biological weapons — a key element in the Bush administration's case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
But Liz Cheney told ABC that Wilkerson "has made a cottage industry of out of fantasies about the vice president," and pointed out that al-Libi was not among the three al Qaeda figures the United States has admitted to subjecting to waterboarding. ..."I think that it's important for us to have all the facts out — and the first and more important fact is that the vice president has been absolutely clear that he supported this program, this was an important program," she said. "It saved American lives."
Behind the scenes -- [SOLDIERS' ANGELS - WOUNDED WARRIOR SUPPORT]
Behind the scenes, we have many Angels, quietly working hard for our warriors. We have Angels who give as much of their time as is possible and all their efforts are greatly appreciated.
One Angel in particular stands out:
May -- [Knottie's niche Ramblings of a Gold Star mom ...]
May is probably the hardest month of the year for me. most people think it would be February the month we lost Micheal but May holds so many reminders for me that is it like a constant scratching at the scars. And I know I am truly not myself during May. With Mother's day, armed forces day, Micheal's Birthday, and memorial day all one weekend after the next it is just plain difficult. add to that May was the month Micheal was scheduled to come home on leave.
Military Monday - [Greta]
Carson Daly @carsonjdaly and me @kissmygumbo have joined forces to start #MilitaryMon on Twitter! This should really draw attention to the military community and those who support it! HOOAH!!!
Troop Supporter Could Use Your Support -- [
Now, Chrissie supports the troops. Not just with words, or a fashionable magnet on a car, but she went with Bob Hope to a little place called Vietnam to help entertain the troops. She is married to a Navy veteran. In short, she's put her butt on the line for our troops, which is more than many/most in the alt weekly crowd have ever ...
Unfriendly Fire; let’s end America’s lawfare against our troops -- [911 Families]
Last night on Freedom Radio, retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Robert Weimann talked about his open letter to Secretary of the Army Pete Geren. Within it, ‘Capt Roger Hill Case: Mister Secretary, it’s time to end the double standard,’ LTC Weimann demonstrates that political considerations have endangered the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and resulted in more than a few unjust prosecutions of our troops.
Profiles of American Service: Shauna Fleming -- [National Museum of Americans in Wartime]
In response to her father’s challenge, high school freshman Shauna Fleming started a campaign in 2004 to collect and distribute one million letters and emails of gratitude and appreciation to America’s military forces. With approval from her principal, Greg Pinick, Shauna made “A Million Thanks” into a school-wide service project. As the morale-boosting letters poured in, the teen continued to promote her campaign by teaming up with NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth in California and country music superstar John Michael Montgomery, with whom she did more than 70 radio and television interviews. Actor Gary Sinise, star of CSI: NY and co-founder of Operation Iraqi Children, also helped Shauna spread the word through television interviews.
Stop-Loss in the Age of Obama -- [This Ain't Hell...]
Sporkmaster reminded me in an email about our newest coward, Victor Agosto, a specialist in the 53rd ESB at Fort Hood, Texas, a place I know too well. Well, Victor is understandably upset that, while looking forward to his discharge from active duty in August, he was notified that he was stop-lossed and would have to pull an extra few months in Iraq Afghanistan instead.
Oh, um, Victor is also a member of the IVAW, did I mention that?
Countering the Military's Latest Fad -- [WaPo]
...Counterinsurgency doctrine is on the verge of becoming an unquestioned orthodoxy, a far-reaching remedy for America's security challenges. But this would be a serious mistake. Not all future wars will involve insurgencies. Not even all internal conflicts in unstable states -- which can feature civil wars, resource battles or simple lawlessness -- include insurgencies. Yet COIN is the new coin of the realm, often considered the inevitable approach to fighting instability in foreign lands. Now the Pentagon is shifting its budget and seeking to "rebalance" U.S. military power in order to institutionalize counterinsurgency doctrine.
Welcome Home Celebration Meant to Surprise Pocatello Soldier -- [KPVI-TV]
Jodi Dunn, Army Specialist Welcomed Home: "It seems like a lost more people are a lot more supportive of the troops now then they were about four years ago
NYSlimes Killed Obama ACORN Story -- [Jawa Report]
Why, I guess maybe they were worried about future access to Obi-One?
Via The Spectator: Acknowledging what the blogosphere has known for weeks, the New York Times finally went on record to admit that just before last Election Day it killed a politically sensitive news story involving corruption allegations that might have made the Obama campaign look bad.
Good news: Genius VP announces existence of secret bunker -- [Hot Air]
Ever wonder about that secure, undisclosed location where Dick Cheney secreted himself after the 9/11 attacks? Joe Biden reveals the bunker-like room is at the Naval Observatory in Washington, where Cheney lived for eight years and which is now home to Biden. The veep related the story to his head-table dinner mates when he filled in for President Obama at the Gridiron Club earlier this year. He said the young naval officer giving him a tour of the residence showed him the hideaway, which is behind a massive steel door secured by an elaborate lock with a narrow connecting hallway lined with shelves filled with communications equipment. The officer explained
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