| [−] |
| [−] |
| [−] |
Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1) the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2) in the public domain, with free use granted for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email.
Original content copyright © 2006 by the respective authors. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed.
Site contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com
When my son deployed, I wrote him a letter in which I told him the following:
I know that our country has a mission in Iraq; I know that the Army and your unit also have their missions… Just don’t confuse those missions with YOUR principle mission – which is to come home safe to us. Your job is to do whatever it takes to accomplish YOUR mission. If it's you or them -- make it them.
Of course, I wasn't suggesting that he engage in illegal activity, just if he thought he was going to be killed, to act first... Of course, you assume that no one is going to be judging soldiers' actions from the offices of Time Magazine and by people who never stood a day in combat. Or by those that are "seasoned" veterans and should know better.
And I wrote about one of my son's buddies who told me while home on R&R in June LAST year:
What was mildly distressing was to hear my Guy tell us all that it's a bit demoralizing trying to fight what he calls "a pc war". He said we are so busy at times trying not to anger or upset the Iraqis that we compromise the task. The example he gave was that when they have good, solid intel that a house has weapons or a "bad guy" we should be kicking in the door and grabbing what we came for (his words). Instead, it has gotten to the point that at times (not always) our soldiers are reduced to almost politely knocking on the door and announcing, "Hello... it's the US and Iraqi Army. May we come in?" while the scurrying inside reaches audible proportions through the door.
It seems that the ROE are getting bastardized by some in the military more worried about their careers than the lives of their men... a complaint we have all heard from many combat theatres before... and I second that "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" response... Wonder what ROE the Iraqis will set for themselves when the Coalition is gone? What worries me even more is how soldiers and marines might hesitate in their response because they fear what the CO or chain of command will say or whether the response is "justified"
Iraq Safer than Washington, DC
Despite media coverage purporting to show that escalating violence in Iraq has the country spiraling out of control, civilian death statistics complied by Rep. Steve King, R-IA, indicate that Iraq actually has a lower civilian violent death rate than Washington, D.C. Appearing with Westwood One radio host Monica Crowley on Saturday, King said that the incessantly negative coverage of the Iraq war prompted him to research the actual death numbers."I began to ask myself the question, if you were a civilian in Iraq, how could you tolerate that level of violence," he said. "What really is the level of violence?"
Easy enough to digest if you've ever been to Southeast.
He's Batman!
Just trying to, you know: Lighten things up a little bit.
I can't download it solo - but if you go to FoxNews website and get to their "Today's Features" to Michael Moore's pudgey face and right where it says "Video: Mad Vet" there is a video of and interview by Neil Cavuto of Sgt. Damon.
Complementing the clarity offered by Grim and SMASH, who each posted below earlier today, Mark Davis (Via RealClearPolitics) writes of the Ghosts of Haditha.
Rep. John Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, spent part of his Memorial Day weekend saying that an alleged Iraq war atrocity may hurt America's war effort.Well, what do you know? Maybe wishes do come true.
As you are about to discover, I have about had it with Mr. Murtha, who likes to flaunt his military record while abandoning the toughness such experience is supposed to bestow.
Go. Discover.
...of Iraq, from Iraq.
Main complaint? Overly restrictive ROE, too much second guessing from the FOB, etc. I've heard much the same from the wounded guys passing through this part of the world.
This guy's the real deal - not an IVAW phony. But that also means real grunt language used - the overly sensitive should be forewarned.
(Hat tip to Mrs G, who compiles this stuff daily.)
I haven't said anything about this business, precisely because it is so important to let the process work. If there prove to be good reasons for what happened there, these Marines deserve a fair trial and a presumption of innocence -- they deserve it far more than many who get those things every day in our criminal courts. If the worst is true -- which is very far from proven -- men who would do such things do not deserve to have the "out" of claiming that they couldn't get a fair trial, because certain Congressmen (who vote on military appropriations) and other political figures felt they needed to talk a lot about the issue before the trial. Too much talk among such officials could easily open an appeal that would allow the guilty -- if there are guilty -- to escape what would then be a righteous punishment.
Whether guilty or innocent, or guilty but of some lesser offense than the charges being bandied about in the press and by certain Congressmen, it is proper for us to keep our peace.
But, in the runup to the trial, there has begun to appear two unified positions among antiwar and antimilitary thinkers that demand an answer.
SMASH has answered the first -- the idea of collective guilt. Everywhere people are trying to talk about this business, I see people rushing to say that this "proves" that the war is criminal (so naturally bad fruit came of a bad tree) or that the administration is criminal. It proves nothing of the sort. The honor of our military is unquestionable. They would not serve in an evil cause, and if there has been evil done among them, they will correct it.
Events will bear that out.
The second idea is the notion that those of us who won't join in the ready condemnation are trying to find a way to excuse or justify "what happened." The opposite is true, twice: First, because we are simply not sure what did happen, and wish to know for certain before we condemn Marines.
Second, because what we are doing is preparing ourselves to hold our own accountable. Yes, we hope very much that some new evidence comes out that will serve as a defense. We ought to hope for that. These men are like us. They volunteered to serve. They lost friends -- American servicemen -- in our common cause. It is not that we would excuse them if they did commit evil. It is not (as I saw a commenter at Cassandra's "Villanous Company" say today) that we do not care about the Iraqis. It is about brotherhood among Americans and volunteers in her service. Of course we hope for them.
If it comes to it, and the charges are proven, we will support what must be done. Discipline is the soul of the army -- and it protects the souls of her men, and their lives, by restraining the natural wrath that can arise in these hard times.
But we will not, and should not, rush to condemn. We will hope as long as there is reason for hope. And we will not look kindly on those Americans who feel no such sense of brotherhood with our Marines, nor on those who seem so eager for an evil to appear.
I submitted the following comment in response to Swaraaj Chauhan's post on the Haditha incident, "Is it fair to blame the Marines Alone?"
As a veteran, I really don't like where you're going with this.First, let us acknowledge that there are two official investigations underway, the results of which have not yet been released to the public. If any charges are to come out of this (as appears likely from all the leaked reports), there will be a legal process that must be followed according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. There will be Article 32 hearings (the military equivalent of grand jury indictments), after which the accused will be formally charged by a military judge, and face courts martial.
Just like in the civilian world, the accused will have certain rights, including the presumption of innocence. Let us not assume that we know everything, or that the Marines (who have yet to be formally charged) are automatically guilty.
Having said that, if they are eventually declared guilty by a jury of their peers, they will have nobody to blame but themselves. Hundreds of thousands of military personnel (including myself) have served in the Iraq theater since March 2003. Most of us managed to escape with our lives, bodies, and honor intact.
Don't you dare paint us all with the same broad brush. Don't you dare excuse dishonorable and murderous behavior by blaming it on "the system."
We are all adults. We all know the rules of warfare. And we are all accountable for our own actions.
Let justice be done, the innocent be exonerated, and the guilty be punished.
They're already calling Haditha, "the My Lai of Iraq." I won't defend the indefensible, but neither will I stand by quietly while my honor is under attack. We can't allow the alleged crimes of a handful of men stain the reputation of the entire United States Military.
After Riots End, Kabul's Residents Begin To Point FingersThe Associated Press:KABUL, Afghanistan, May 30 — As they swept up broken glass and boarded up windows and doors on Tuesday, Kabul residents placed blame for Monday's rioting on young hoodlums and criminal gangs who seized on a fatal accident involving an American military convoy to spark a citywide conflagration.
Brakes Blamed For Crash That Triggered Kabul Riots"It" happens.KABUL, Afghanistan — A road crash that sparked the worst riot in Kabul in years occurred because brakes on a U.S. military truck failed as the vehicle came down a hill, leading it to plow into a line of cars, the military said Tuesday.
HUSAYBAH, Iraq – Despite two recent suicide bombings on a new police station here, one Iraqi police officer in this Iraq-Syria border town says his men are undeterred in their duties and are ready to work on their own.
Via email, this thesaurus entry for murderer:
Main Entry: murderer
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: killer
Synonyms: assassin, butcher, criminal, cutthroat, enforcer, gunman, hit man, homicide, killer, piece pan, slaughterer, slayer, soldier, trigger manSource: Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.2.1)
Copyright © 2006 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Armed Liberal at Winds of Change links to a recent post by Greg Djerejian of Belgravia Dispatch. AL laments Djerejian’s disappointing evolution from reluctant Iraqi War supporter to harsh critic, as do I. AL follows his critique of Djerejian’s latest comments with a reflection on timetables and the messiness of history.
AL echoes my sentiments. Whenever I (only occasionally) stray back to Belgravia Dispatch, if only to see if Greg Djerejian has regained any optimism. I am always, of late, disappointed. That as reasoned an intellect as his has turned against our purpose causes me no small discomfort; not that I waver in the rightness of our effort, but that the support of rational, middle grounders is essential for us to maintain national resolve, and national commitment.
The politicians who led us into Iraq may not hold the reins of power for long, let alone for the duration of this multi-generational struggle. We shall need friends in the middle, and even in the opposition, for that is where we may be, before long.
Don't forget to enter the contest, win the book, and send the message.
Here's what happened to Peter Damon that day at Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq:
A helicopter mechanic, he was assigned to inspect for corrosion, cracks, and assorted damage. Army helicopters required scheduled phase maintenance every 250 hours, Damon said, and he and a crew would disassemble each part -- the transmission, blades, landing gear, and more -- then reassemble that component of the aircraft.Bueche was hit by the rim and killed, Damon lost his left hand and most of his right arm.''For three weeks, we were doing unscheduled maintenance," Damon said. ''We were waiting for a phase."
A UH-60 Black Hawk finally arrived for phase maintenance Oct. 21, 2003.
''A UH-60 has three wheels, two in the front, one in the back," Damon said. ''We put a jack in each point. Me and another kid, Specialist Paul Bueche, were working on the right side of the landing gear, changing the brakes out.
''This is where I don't remember much."
Damon was filling a tire with high-pressure nitrogen, and while inflating the wheel, ''it exploded," he said. ''What actually exploded was the rim. When that blew up, it severed the hose. The nitrogen was spraying around like a wild snake. It was blowing dust everywhere, because there's dust everywhere."
A tragic accident in a combat zone, but not a result of combat. This in no way reflects negatively on Peter Damon, just demonstrates that Moore's use of the man in his propaganda film was fraudulent on multiple levels.
Peter Damon suing Michael Moore to the tune of 85 million?
Good to hear it, and I hope Damon and his lawyers aren't inclined to settle out of court - and I hope the whole thing is televised. With his strong appeal to the same sorts of people that believed Jesse MacBeth, few people have made as much money from the Iraq war as Michael Moore.
It could easily become a class-action suit too. Here's our first report on Peter Damon from back in the summer of 2004 - and it includes links to stories of numerous other GIs who were used by Moore.
And here's a must-read follow-up from last year, that includes a comment left by the man himself. (That being Damon, I wouldn't use that description for Michael Moore.)
In the extended section, some collected quotes from GIs and their families on the topic of the fraudulent filmaker. These facts weren't too widely publicized when they were made known two years ago, as the media was a bit too enthralled by Moore at the time. Maybe the lawsuit will help bring out the real truth.
Precisely, Major John. Just How Spontaneous was the Kabul 'Riot'?
Consider that the Afghani Parliament now wants to prosecute the American drivers for the accident but not the 'spontaneous' rioters who murdered 20 and injured 160. Roggio's e-mail dispatch from Kabul reveals a consensus (his word) among observers there that it was all staged.
Perhaps we should get out of Afghanistan because of this - just as those currently say similarly about Iraq because of Haditha (and before this, WMD, then Abu Gharib, then phosphorus, then...)
Perhaps we should just stop this nonsensical supposed 'War on Terror' and bring them all back home for a big happy BBQ. Perhaps we should return to our skyscraper offices and board our planes, mind our own business and just give peace a chance.
If you’ve seen Fahrenheit 9-11, you may remember Peter Damon. He’s the soldier whose pain Moore used to make a point about supporting wounded veterans. Damon was interviewed by NBC in a military hospital specifically about how well the VA was supporting him and his family; Moore obtained that footage and turned Damon’s words inside-out so that it seemed the wounded soldier was criticizing the Bush administration.Well. Damon is now suing Michael Moore.
But... but... but doesn't Damon know that Michael Moore is a saint?
Until recently, the British sector of southern Iraq has been relatively quiet. But lately...
Foreign terrorists, led by fighters from Saudi Arabia, are behind an upsurge in attacks against British troops in Basra, military sources said yesterday.
Ninewa appears to be the good news story, 6th in per capita atacks and 5th in total attacks.
McQ has the scoop, from Steve Oatney of AMVETS:
I received a call from a VA employee at the American Lake hospital. He had asked me to "verify" the 214. Now this is the first time I had any knowledge of Mr. MacBeth. I pulled his hard file out and reviewed it. As soon as I saw the DD214 (the fake one) I informed the VA employee that Mr. Macbeth had a fraudulent 214...And yes, the VA will soon have a Federal Warrant on him and yep, they will prosecute him for fraud.
D'oh!
As far as I'm concerned, as long as what you're beating on is violent criminals, you're welcome to use anything that comes to hand.
GHARMAH, Iraq -- Some days in Iraq feel like nothing happens at all. Those are the days Sgt. Levi R. Aherns looks forward to.
Marines with B Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment are constantly in the mix here in this small city north of Fallujah. Insurgents still battle against Marines and the growing Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army. It’s a slow, steady progress that isn’t measured in yards or miles, but in immeasurable and often unnoticed victories – like days when insurgents don’t feel safe enough to attack.
That tipping balance against the insurgents comes through the long, sweaty, back-breaking hours Marines spend pounding the pavement. Marines keep the streets of Gharmah in check by conducting security patrols, vehicle check points and providing overwatch.
“We are making the streets safer by providing a presence in the community,” said Ahrens, a 23-year-old infantryman from Marengo, Ill. “We go out on constant patrols to ensure insurgents don’t get strongholds within the city.”
Marines stepped from the perimeter of their forward operating base May 23, ready for kids wanting candy or insurgents wanting to fight. It’s a continuous rotation Marines perform day and night, in baking heat and dust-filled skies.
They have to. Keeping ahead of insurgent attackers requires constant vigilance.
“We have seen a lot of activity in this area throughout the deployment,” Ahrens said. “What we try to do is come out on these patrols so the people know we are here to help and if possible, stop insurgents before they have the opportunity to attack.”
Marines here have been hardest hit in their battalion since they arrived in January. Four Marines from the company have been killed in attacks by insurgents.
FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Insurgents are finding out Marines are a “Force In Readiness,” whether the insurgents are adequately prepared or not.
Darkhorse Marines of 2nd Platoon, L Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment battled insurgents in a 20-minute firefight at their patrol post in the town of Halabisah, May 24.
The first sign of the attack came only moments before the first round was fired.
“Our guys on post saw a couple of the stores across the street shut down and a couple of cars dropped people off,” said Lance Cpl. Adam Wood, a grenadier. “That’s when the shooting started.”
The attack began with a rocket-propelled grenade to the second floor balcony of the Marine outpost. Every Marine in the house was alert and participating in the fight within moments of the first blast.
“I was awakened by an RPG round exploding and small arms fire,” said Lance Cpl. Christopher Michon, a rifleman. The 19-year-old from Houston said he ran upstairs for his first firefight dressed in PT shorts, shower sandals and his body armor. It was there he noticed the insurgents were shooting from all directions.
“You could see we were being sprayed from every side,” he said. “We returned fire as best we could.”
No Marines were injured in the attack. Two squads immediately searched the area and found no sign of the gunmen.
Congressman Murtha,
This is your book. There are many like it, but this one is yours.
Your book is my best friend. It is their lives. You must master it as they have mastered their lives.
Your book, without them, is useless. Without your book, you are useless. You must read your book true. You must stop spewing more effectively than their enemy who is trying to kill them. They must shoot him before you shoot them. They will …
Your book and yourself know that what counts in this war is not the interviews you fire off, the noise of your burst, nor the smoke you make. You know that it is the hits that count. Who will you hit?
Your book is human, even as you, because it is their lives. Thus, you will learn of them as brothers. You will learn their weaknesses, their strengths, their loyalty, their units, their fear and their courage. You will ever guard them against the ravages of premature judgment and damage as you will ever guard your own legs, your own arms, your own eyes and your own heart against damage. You will keep your book clean and ready. You will become part of each other. You will …
Before God, you shall swear this creed. Your book and these men are the defenders of my country. They are the masters of our enemy. Perhaps one day you will join them. Until then, they are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but peace!!
If anything untoward happened at Haditha, it was at worst a small exception. If anything untoward did not happen at Haditha, it is not an exception to the typical coverage provided by our major hysterical media. In either case, tell it to the Marines who bravely and honorably serve that you don't have the guts and patience to hear the facts, and would rather allow premature ignorance to besmirch their reputation and morale.
Perhaps then consider Mary Katherine Ham's effort.
Judith Klinghoffer of the History News Network will be appearing on CN8 Wednesday night to discuss the issue. She offers publicly her talking points and says "I would be grateful for any additional help." Take her up on it, gentlemen. Now. Click her name at the top of her page and oblige her with an insightful e-mail to help her. Dr. Klinghoffer is as good a person as you will meet, and one who I happen to owe a cup of coffee to.
Today I attended the traditional Memorial Day Observance in our town.
The 2006 Memorial Day service honored 22-year-old Sgt. Kenneth Schall who was killed in Iraq in May 2005 and buried on Memorial Day last year.
Terri said people often asked her if she thought we should be in Iraq. (I’m wondering how you ask a mother in not so many words -- so do you think your son died for “nothing”?). She told us that Kenny believed in the mission, in the good he was doing, in the hope he brought to the Iraqi people… how he had told her that he felt he had helped bring freedom to these people. She said that if anyone wanted proof of the commitment to the mission in Iraq, you only needed to look at her son: he had left his family, friends and home -- everything he loved and cherished -- to go to Iraq and Kenny’s commitment could never be wrong. She was honored to be his mother.Of course, from the moment she began speaking, tears filled my eyes and quickly spilled down my cheeks. It was hard to control the sobs when she told us that the last time she had spoken to her son was on Mother’s Day 2005 and how he had told her he loved her and she had told him that she loved him, too, and that she was so proud of him. The Vietnam vet next to me that I met just minutes before borrowed a tissue, and we stood arm in arm as Mrs. Schall spoke. I watched Kenny’s father, sister Jessica and brother Matthew, aunts, uncles and cousins weep as Terri thanked them and the military community for their support this past year.
More, with pictures... HERE
I always preferred a 24" baseball bat. Beats a knife ever time. (As well as the idiot dumb enough to flash a knife)
Longtime readers of Grim's Hall know it's always been my assertion that a knife is better than a gun at that range. It's amazing how few people believe it: I think it's just that people have, certain honorable exceptions aside, lost the art. That's too bad, because it's as American an art as can be imagined. We talk about knives and knife-fighting just from time to time; I have a set of links for "gunfighting and bladework."
I think I'm going to open a school to teach knife-fighting, and a few other things. I'll call it, "Grim Bowie's Academy for American Gentlemen."
I received another e-mail today from a reader whose father is memorialized at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
Thank you very much for the photo essay of Fort Rosecrans. My father's memorial marker is there; when he died several years ago, we scattered his ashes out at sea, near his beloved Coronado Islands, where he used to go deep-sea fishing. After all the fish he had caught out there and eaten, he felt that it was only fair to return the favor.
Also, my work took me back to Point Loma this morning, so I had an opportunity at lunch time to go back to the cemetery. I took this post-Memorial Day shot of Sgt. Rafael Peralta's final resting place with my camera phone:
There were so many flags and flowers at his grave, I had to re-arrange them to get them all in frame.
See the rest of the photos here.
..no worse enemy.
ATLANTA -- A former Marine used a pocket knife to fend off a group of would-be robbers, killing one and wounding another, police said.One of the attackers had a pistol, another a shotgun.
They made the mistake of bringing guns to a knife-fight.
Honestly folks, you cannot make this stuff up. The Air Farce is naming names....
The Air Force chief of staff will name the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by June 30, choosing from six monikers ... The Air Force and Navy both proposed Lightning II, ... Marine Corps ... Spitfire II, ... The Air Force also submitted .. Cyclone and Reaper, ... The finalists also include – Black Mamba and Piasa.... and I thought the unimaginitive, comic book sounding "Super Hornet" was bad.
Of the 1st Milbloggers Shootout! Francis Marion is recruiting.
Maggie claims she doesn't shoot, and what sort of entertainment will we provide her?
I say - she runs the butts.
Now, who will be first to explain why *that* is simply perfect?
Events conspire to keep me humble.
Filmaker admits Jesse's a fraud? Apologizes for distracting from the horrors of Haditha? Interesting.
Of course, the original purpose of the MacBeth video was to "prove" the Marines were acting under "orders from above".
But elsewhere folks are now claiming he was part of what they call a right-wing "psyop". While the Jesse train was derailed before it gained steam in the lefty blogs (thanks to our own bubblehead), there's one fly in that (already foul) ointment, and that fly is Randy Rowland. Randy's the founder of Pepperspray, and it was he who introduced Jesse MacBeth to the world. But Randy's not just a new media movie mogul, he's also an actual Army veteran, and probably (like every other veteran on earth) knew MacBeth was a fraud from the get go.
Still, in an early response to the original destruction of the Jesse MacBeth story, Randy was described as steadfastly standing by his "discovery":
Terry now informs me that Randy Rowland -- a Vietnam veteran and peace activist who produced the Macbeth interview -- is "100% behind Jessie," and that Randy's "reputation is on the line and he is not wavering one bit."(Here's the google cache, should that link - like so many others cheering Jesse, "disappear" from the web)
Jesse was an obvious fake - that took all of 15 seconds to determine. There was nothing whatsoever convincing about his performance. So there are two possibilities here - either Randy is extremely naive and gullible on military-related issues (a "victim" in newspeak), or he assumed his target audience was too stupid and gullible to ever question his product - especially since he was giving them what they wanted.
Randy's not really a Vietnam veteran by the way. Although active duty he "resisted" deployment in what became something of a notorious case in it's day. Here's his own account on a Vietnam Veterans Against War site - read it for some insight as to why so many seemingly unlikely people are in favor of a draft today. And now Randy, along with other "heroes of the movement" (including the one and only Jane Fonda) are featured in the new "anti-war" film "Sir no Sir", designed to encourage a resurgence in GI "resistance".
Now that's a well run, deep-cover right wing psyop, kiddos.
Seriously, that ought to be the end of the "Jesse as right-wing psyop" talk - but it won't. Jesse was indeed a "psyop" - and certain people are willing and eager dupes for the stuff these guys dish out - from Vietnam Veterans Against War to their modern progeny the Iraq Veterans Against War to all their other "fellow travelers" young and old still seeking converts to The Cause.
Randy's "reputation is on the line and he is not wavering one bit."? Hardly. Even with his credibility is in shambles after having been caught perpetrating a fraud, you can bet that the next time he (or some other of his group) pulls another such stunt they will be eagerly accepted again.
Had I been one of his victims I'd do a bit of self examination to attempt to discover the root of my gullibility. Denial in this instance is not the first step down a path to a bright, shiny future.
Sean Hannity just added Home of the Brave to his website and plans to discuss it on-air today during his radio program, which airs 3-6PM EST and can be streamed live.
Also, Rush just posted this about Home of the Brave.
We're gathering momentum, gang. Thanks to all those who are helping spread the word.
More to come....
Now even the filmmaker admits he's a fraud:
PepperSpray Productions' Retraction Statement for our Video "Jesse Macbeth: An Iraq Veteran Speaks Out"PepperSpray Productions recently created a video entitled "Jesse Macbeth: An Iraq Veteran Speaks Out." Jesse Macbeth misrepresented to PepperSpray Productions and others his military service and was never deployed in Iraq. When we learned that Macbeth's service records were fraudulent, we immediately pulled the video and are no longer distributing it. We remain committed to creating high quality independent media and deeply regret that the Macbeth video distracted attention from the military investigation of a Marines massacre of 24 civilians in Haditha and accounts from actual Iraq Veterans.
Goodbye, Jesse.
Our daily roundup of news from Milbloggers in Iraq and Afghanistan can be found here
As the Haditha story unfolds, expect a lot of hand-wringing by the press about how the military "refused to believe" the media's initial reports of the incident.
There are also questions about why the military took so long to investigate the details of the Haditha incident. Soon after the killings, the mayor of Haditha, Emad Jawad Hamza, led an angry delegation of elders up to the Marine camp beside a dam on the Euphrates River. Hamza says, "The captain admitted that his men had made a mistake. He said that his men thought there were terrorists near the houses, and he didn't give any other reason."Maybe the reason they weren't initially believed is that essentially all of their wild charges of American atrocities before this were completely made up.
I curse the day you were born, 'Phibian! Yer gonna bust my sweet deal (I'm *just about* to close on that sweet house in the mountains, and the one in the South Pacific) - by outing us filthy rich, supping at the trough Beltway Bandits!
Bad enough I'm sweating that budget problem! Now I've got to contend with people like you agitating to keep me and those like me from these lucrative jobs...
Fie! Fie, I say!
There was a skunk at the Memorial Day BBQ - served up by the Washington Post.
After more than 30 years in politics, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen was saddled with credit card debt.You need to read the whole thing. If this stuff is accurate, and it looks like it is, I don't think former SECDEF Cohen will be giving many lectures on "Ethics in Government"The baker's son from Bangor, Maine, was never wealthy, and his government salary went only so far. When the motorcades and military escorts ended in January 2001, his final financial disclosure form listed tens of thousands of dollars of charge-account debts at interest rates as high as about 25 percent.
Within weeks of leaving office, he was living in a $3.5 million McLean mansion with a swimming pool, a cabana and a carriage house.
Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET, the author is going to be online to discuss this well researched article. That is why I am giving this some weight. If work allows, I'm going to be there. This isn't a shocker to many here, I know, but the fact that, at last, someone from a major outlet is showing the nasty bits that goes on behind the Beltway curtain - I consider very important to those concerned about clarity, transparency, and fairness in how our defense budget is spent.
A phrase that could have been used in this case:
AN Australian military commander has tried to ensure truth does not become a casualty of conflict in East Timor, but has embarrassed a TV network in the process.Selling a story is what it's all about.Australian commander in East Timor Brigadier Michael Slater appeared this morning in a live cross from Dili to Channel 9's Today show, with helmeted and heavily armed Australian soldiers standing behind him.
He was pressed by Today host Jessica Rowe about whether Dili really was as safe as the Australian military claimed, given the presence of armed soldiers at his shoulder.
Pausing briefly, Brig Slater replied: "Jessica I feel quite safe, yes, but not because I've got these armed soldiers behind me that were put there by your stage manager here to make it look good.
"I don't need these guys here.
"It is not safe on the streets, as it is back home in Sydney or Brisbane – no it's not, if it was we wouldn't be here. But things are getting better every day."
It should be noted, however, that safe or not the UN has evac'd its personnel from the country.
A small rant, here. We lost a chance to free Belarus...this time. Iran's in protests now; if the folks in Iran can kick out the evil mullahs then we have a chance to avoid war.
And not reporting this as Big News snuffs out support as surely as snuffing a candle. Maybe the flame will catch, maybe not; but ignoring the protests in our press Does Not Help.
Just guessing, but I doubt Michael would be happy about this. (Scroll down)
An insurgent , rebel or militant attacks GOVERNMENT forces and institutions.
A car bomb does not detonate itself. A TERRORIST detonated it.
You want to keep referring to people who attack government forces and instituitions as insurgents, okay, it is technically correct.
Most of the folks that died in Baghdad today had nothing to do with the government. They weren't killed by insurgents or rebels or sectarian violence, they were killed by TERRORISTS WHOSE BARBARISM KNOWS NO BOUNDS.
Marine reservist Owen West's (I hope you're familiar with the name) NY Times piece today is brillaint. I offer two brief excerpts, one:
Somehow Operation Iraqi Freedom, not a large war by America's historical standards, has blossomed into a crisis of expectations that threatens our ability to react to future threats with a fist instead of five fingers. Instead of rallying we are squabbling, even as the slow fuse burns.And two:
...America's conscience is one of its greatest strengths. But self-flagellation, especially in the early stages of a war against an enemy whose worldview is uncompromising, is absolutely hazardous. Three years gone and Iraq's most famous soldiers are Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England, a victim and a criminal, respectively. Abu Ghraib remains the most famous battle of the war.But there's much more - don't miss it. And thanks to Owen's partner (in Vets for Freedom) Wade Zirkle for the tip.Soldiers are sick of apologizing for a sliver of malcontents who are not at all representative of the new breed. But they are also sick of being pitied. Our warriors are the hunters, not the hunted, and we should celebrate them as we did in the past, for while our tastes have changed, warfare — and the need to cultivate national guardians — has not.
U.S. military authorities did not identify the soldier and the translator who were killed. Six other soldiers were wounded
Who was honored, in particular, at the ceremony at Bluff City Cemetery.
I hope that wasn't a deliberate omission on Google's part. They change their logo for the obscurest of the obscure events. To think that Google would snub Memorial Day on purpose is disheartening.
Glenn Reynolds suggests an alternative - at least for today.
A story with a little more info, including that one U.S. Soldier was also killed in the attack. Story also has a round up of other violence... and a video story on the news crew... Ms Dozier has apparently now been transferred after surgery to Balad...
Story and video HERE
Christopher Hitchens has caused me to cringe on topics funereal. Here he makes an exception and writes on Memorial Day with a thoughtful, informative Wall Street Journal column.
Well worth a read.
Commenter at Smash's decides to take a political dump at a memorial post. Shameful.
CBN’s “700 Club” featured a seven minute TV segment today on HM3 Luis Fonseca Jr., and Home of the Brave: Honoring the Unsung Heroes in the War on Terror. I was so pleased with the job CBN did in presenting HM3 Fonseca's story and giving him the respect and admiration he is due. During the writing of Home of the Brave , Cap and I never ceased to be amazed by the humility these men and women displayed during interviews. That humility comes through in this TV segment.
To view the video segment, simply click HERE and then click “Watch it Now”
May all those who have served and their families have a blessed Memorial Day.
...the war goes on in Iraq.
And two CBS employees, cameraman Paul Douglas, 48, and soundman James Brolan, 42, were killed, and reporter Kimberly Dozier, 39, is in critical condition at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad after undergoing surgery after an IED detonated near their vehicle while in a convoy with the 4th BCT of the 4th Infantry Divsion.
Our condolences to the families of the slain, and our best wishes for survival and recovery for Dozier.
The story is here. Give them credit for not reporting from their hotel, but getting out at the sharp end.
That from Robert Stokely. Today is a difficult day for the Stokely family. Robert was up early this morning, no doubt reflecting on the life and sacrifice of his son, SGT Michael Stokely. Robert sends his thoughts, and thanks, on this Memorial Day.
Vietnam-era Marine deuddersun (he always spells his name in lower case) sends this warning about a MySpace page. It poses as a tribute to Marines, but is embedded with malware designed to wreck your system.
Be warned, and on guard.
At Castle Argghhh! we conclude our Memorial Day series with "Memorial Day 2006 - Taking Back the Holiday"
And in keeping with Smash's project, we remember a different 29 May. In 1944. In Italy. We Remember Captain William Wylie Galt.
... this Memorial Day, please permit me to offer the use of my latrine.
Email from Tim Sumner:
Greyhawk:
Hard to believe this story appeared where it did and the ending of it was written the way it was:"Who are you masked men?" asked an old-timer in the red garrison cap of the Marine Corps League.-- Tim"Patriot Guard Riders," Mr. Deale explained.
"Well, it's impressive," the old-timer said. "Very impressive."
Then the dead man's mother walked the line of riders and, with her son's flag tucked beneath her arm, shook each and every hand.
Noted, quoted:
It's kind of sad. They change their homepage logo for all sorts of holidays and occasions. Just last week they paid tribute to Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday. But Memorial Day doesn't seem to rate anything at all.Silly Jonah, doesn't he realize they've all got the day off? That's what it's all about, after all.
Yo, pass me a beer.
From "Remarks delivered on Saturday evening in Arlington, Virginia, at the Memorial Day weekend seminar and grief camp of TAPS -- the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. " Published at The American Spectator here:
...The sacrifice your loved ones made, the sacrifice you made, that your kids made, is what makes the whole American world safe from terror.Your loved ones' lives had what we all want: meaning. The knowledge you were doing something big for others. That is EVERYTHING in life.
Wall Street does not have it. Hollywood does not have it. They're just in it for the fame and the money.
Your loved ones were in it for unselfishness, for kindness, for love of one's fellow man. There is no higher meaning on this earth.
The media try to rob your husbands' and wives' and kids' lives of meaning saying this war is not about anything.
They're wrong and they say what they say because they don't see the truth. They print a story on the front page about Marines killing civilians in a town in Iraq and if they did, it was wrong. But the big media never report a MARINE throwing himself on a bomb to protect an Iraqi child, or a Marine giving his life to rid a town of murderers or a Marine or an Army man or woman or a Navy Seal or a Coast Guardsman offering up his life so that Iraqi human beings can have the same freedoms and rights we take for granted here in America.
The media are like grave robbers, robbing you of the certain knowledge that your spouses gave their lives for something deeply worthwhile: human dignity.
Your loved ones' lives and deaths had as much meaning at the lives and deaths of every American who died for freedom from Valley Forge to the Battle of the Bulge to Cho-Sin Reservoir to the Cu Chi tunnels to the Balkans to Kabul, Afghanistan, to Falluja, Iraq.
And if the media doesn't know it, every other American does. This is a very difficult fight, but the ordinary American knows what your loved ones have done and respects them.
When it comes to the war on terror, Dobbs is on our side. Take a look at the topic lines in these transcripts and you'll see what I mean. Where others highlight the number of deaths, Dobbs headlines "U.S. Forces in Fierce Fighting With Taliban in Afghanistan".
And his weekly "Heroes" segments shouldn't be missed - they're an exception to the national media blackout on such stories. I put a couple examples from this month in the extended section.
Victor Davis Hanson talks about the War in Iraq this Memorial Day:
There may be a lot to regret about the past policy of the United States in the Middle East, but the removal of Saddam Hussein and the effort to birth democracy in his place is surely not one of them. And we should remember that this Memorial Day.
A geography more uninviting for our soldiers than Iraq cannot be imagined — 7,000 miles away, surrounded by Baathist Syria, Wahhabist Saudi Arabia, and theocratic Iran. The harsh landscape rivals the worst of past battlefields — blazing temperatures, wind, and dust. The host culture that our soldiers faced was Orwellian — a society terrorized by a mass murderer for 30 years, who ruled by alternately promising Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish collaborationists that cooperation meant only that fewer of their own would die.
The timing was equally awful — in an era of easy anti-Americanism in Europe, and endemic ingratitude in the Muslim world that asks nothing of itself, everything of us, and blissfully forgets the thousands of Muslims saved by Americans in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Somalia, and the billions more lavished on Jordanians, Palestinians, and Egyptians.
And here at home? There are few Ernie Pyles in Iraq to record the heroism of our soldiers; no John Fords to film their valor — but legions to write ad nauseam of Abu Ghraib, and to make up stories of flushed Korans and Americans terrorizing Iraqi women and children.
Yet here we are with an elected government in place, an Iraqi security force growing, and an autocratic Middle East dealing with the aftershocks of the democratic concussion unleashed by American soldiers in Iraq.
Reading about Gettysburg, Okinawa, Choisun, Hue, and Mogadishu is often to wonder how such soldiers did what they did. Yet never has America asked its youth to fight under such a cultural, political, and tactical paradox as in Iraq, as bizarre a mission as it is lethal. And never has the American military — especially the U.S. Army and Marines — in this, the supposedly most cynical and affluent age of our nation, performed so well.
We should remember the achievement this Memorial Day of those in the field who alone crushed the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, stayed on to offer a new alternative other than autocracy and theocracy, and kept a targeted United States safe from attack for over four years.
Thank you, Victor. Some of us remember.
Be sure to catch the Lou Dobbs show (CNN) tonight at 6:00 p.m. EST. Dobbs will air a segment about the Friday night dinners for our wounded troops. The segment will feature some footage from the Glenn Beck show that aired a couple of weeks ago, but will also include some recent updates.
Attention all enterprising milbloggers:
CNN's "victims or villains only” portrayal of our military notwithstanding, CNN has now graciously invited us, the unwashed peasantry, to submit photos, videos, and stories about our men and women in-country. How cool would it be to flood the CNN inbox with milblogger stories and photos, all of which would provide a markedly more positive and uplifting view of those who serve?
Let the revolution begin...
In today's Washington Post, Ilario Pantano takes on John Murtha.
In the United States, we have a civil and military court system that relies on an investigatory and judicial process to make determinations based on evidence. The system is not served by such grand pronouncements of horror and guilt without the accuser even having read the investigative report.Mr. Murtha's position is particularly suspect when he is quoted by news services as saying that the strain of deployment "has caused them [the Marines] to crack in situations like this." Not only is he certain of the Marines' guilt but he claims to know the cause, which he conveniently attributes to a policy he opposes.
Those were Royal Navy and Marines. This happened after I left Kuwait, but I have some insight into the story:
The Brits were helping to build a new Iraqi Navy and Coast Guard, and were in the process of delivering some new patrol craft from Umm Qasr to Basra. These two ports are on seperate bodies of water (Umm Qasr on the Khor Abdullah, and Basra on the Shatt-al-Arab), so the only way to get from one to the other is to go downstream to the Gulf, then back up the other waterway. The Khor Abdullah divides Iraq's al-Faw Peninsula from Kuwait, while the Shatt-al-Arab divides Iraq from Iran -- the border runs right down the center of the waterway.
According to the Iranians, the British strayed too far over the line. The Brits were released several days later after reading an "apology" on Iranian television for violating Iran's territorial waters.
....but as for the trailer itself and the movie....they aren't all naked and greased up and all - kind of like seeing a movie of Pickett's Charge done in Turkish AF BDUs. Now, that would make the viewer think some. Anyway, I hope the movie does a good job telling the story of Leonidas and his men. The vision high art to this point has given them, is, well, not doing them any justice.
DD214? Now, whose idea was that......{preen...preen} Now THAT DD214 is easy to read. Bravo Zulu SMASH, your spies are better than mine. Mine mostly just send me dirty jokes.
I don't think so. The video is quick, but I see no Americans.
And I believe it is the incident Allah referenced, and I'm not sure the Iranians are presenting it as "news".
Anyone have background on the specific incident? I suppose a few Americans may have been along for the ride, but if so it sure didn't make the papers.
By the way: it's the uniforms. You've got to get the uniforms right. Okay, the uniforms and accents.
I never met Rich Gannon, who died two years ago in Iraq, but our lives seem to have followed parallel paths. We were about the same age, we were both from military families, we called San Diego home, we were Eagle Scouts, we both ran cross country and track in high school, we studied history in college, and we both grew up to be military officers -- Rich in the Marines, and myself in the Navy. I graduated from the Naval Academy; Rich went to Cornell, but later served at Annapolis as a company officer.
Last week, I exchanged emails with his mother, Tess. Yesterday, I placed a flag on his grave at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
I'm a little partial to Naval Aviators... being married to a (retired) one an' all... so Imagine how pleased I am to see this:
Naval Aviation Saluted in Memorial Day ServiceThe men and women of Naval Aviation will be the focus of a special salute Monday, May 29, at the 68th Annual Fullerton Memorial Day Observance.
The program, which will begin at 10 a.m., will be held at Loma Vista Memorial Park. Free to the public, the program is sponsored by the nonprofit American Veterans Memorial Association and the City of Fullerton.
Special guest speaker will be Rear Admiral James A. Symonds, the first Commander of the USS Ronald Reagan, the Navy's newest nuclear aircraft carrier. "Peace through strength," was a recurring theme of President Reagan's life in public service. The President spoke of its significance in his Radio Address to the Nation on September 2, 1988 when he said, "One thing is certain. If we're to continue to advance world peace and human freedom, America must remain strong. If we have learned anything these last eight years, it's that peace through strength works."
Symonds will arrive at the ceremony aboard an Orange County Sheriff's Department Helicopter. Once the helicopter lands, he will be escorted to the podium by Navy JROTC Cadets from Troy and La Habra high schools.
Loma Vista Memorial Park is located at 701 E. Bastanchury Road, east of Harbor Boulevard. There is ample parking at Loma Vista; however, in anticipation of a large crowd, overflow parking may be found at the Fullerton Sports Complex, which is located approximately a half-mile west of the cemetery, at Bastanchury and Silver Pine Drive. A shuttle will be available to carry people to and from the cemetery.
Distantly related to John's post below - a movie version of the story of the 300 is in production.
Could be good, but I'm not familiar with the source material (a comic book - but that doesn't bother me per se). Could work as pure action film, but obviously would work better if it captures something of the warrior ethos - a concept I can't explain, you get it or you don't. Many war movies fail in this regard - many non-war movies capture it perfectly (High Noon). In my mind that explains the difference between the miserably unwatchable Alexander or Kingdom of Heaven and films that capture it perfectly - Gladiator, or The Last Samurai - a film that surprised me in that I anticipated disliking it and was very much surprised to find that wasn't the case.
Looking at my examples above I realize most of the best and worst examples of the warrior films (as opposed to war films) genre are historical pieces. (Although Blackhawk Down and We Were Soldiers are more modern examples.) Perhaps as a culture we don't like acknowledging our contemporaries as heroic. Perhaps there are those among us who'd like to think that warrior ethos is something the world has outgrown - or no longer needs. Perhaps this makes them feel better about the empty spot in their souls where such would be. Perhaps they believe it a spirit they could summon should the need arise to refill the ranks of the 300.
You're in a deep, dark hole, Jesse. My advice is to stop digging.
This chump has been exposed. Time to move on.
so says Our Hero Jesse. Stars and Stripes got him on the telephone.
As a part of taking back the holiday - Part 3, The Burial, is up. We'll finish taking back the day tomorrow!
London Times reporter Hala Jaber, in as story headlined The Iraq Execution Video That Fooled Me, asks How could I have got it wrong?
Putting the Memory Back in Memorial Day: Sunday, May 28, 2006 8:00PM EST Live from the Nation's Capital... will be Broadcast on PBS
This year's concert will focus on two major themes: honoring the contributions of the "citizen soldiers" serving in the National Guard, and paying a tribute to the brave pilots who flew with the Air Force during World War II - including the more than 90,000 combat casualties and more than 30,000 men who lost their lives.Co-hosted by acclaimed actors Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna, the concert will also feature performances by country music sensation Lee Ann Womack, Academy Award-winning actress Dianne Wiest, distinguished actor Charles Durning, country music sensations Big & Rich , opera singer Frederica von Stade, America's beloved tenor Daniel Rodriguez and actor and singer John Schneider, who'll be joined by the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Erich Kunzel. General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) will remind us all of the true meaning of Memorial Day.
The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff will also play a special role in the concert along with a Joint Armed Forces Color Guard and color guard teams from each branch of the armed services provided by the Military District of Washington. Also featured are the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets, U.S. Army Chorus and U.S. Army Chorale, the U.S. Navy Sea Chanters, the U.S. Air Force Ceremonial Brass and the U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants.
Information on the Concert HERE
Check for local listings HERE
...at the US Naval Academy graduation; there were 980 graduates. The article focuses mostly on the VP's remarks about domestic "wiretapping", but Cheney had some lighter moments too:
"Keeping with tradition, the vice president, as keynote speaker, pardoned all midshipmen on restriction for minor conduct offenses, saying he had discussed the idea with President Bush. "The president took the view that we should be lenient," he said. "Me, I could have gone either way. But he's the boss."
" "Casey's shell lies in the grave in Vacaville," she wrote. "He is with me always and in the hearts of people all over the world who know his story and are working for peace." "
I agree - we should all know this hero's story. Here it is.
I can imagine what it must be like, to be a Christian in a Roman Coliseum, the crowd cheering for the Lion.
If one actualy defeats the Lion, then tomorrow, one will face yet another Lion, that the crowd cheers for.
Does the Christian ever come to realize that it is not the Lion that is his enemey but instead the cheering crowd?
It is a question every soldier and marine who has been to Fallujah,Ramadi ,Haditha or Sammara doesn't have to imagine, they struggle with it daily.
How does one judge the Christian in the Arena, whose heart is consumed by blind hatred for the crowd?
I'll be on Tammy Bruce's radio program at 4:30 Pacific. Topic: MilBlogs and Memorial Day.
...Remember the Hilton.
Marc Grossmanm, Hilton's Senior VP, Corporate Affairs explains why they kicked out the wounded Iraq vets:
...the proprietors of Fran O'Brien's had not paid their rent for four months. This is on top of numerous health an safety violations present in the restaurant that were in clear violation of the lease.Health and safety claims debunked here.
Remember the Hilton all summer long too.
Damn those bloggers and their stupid... facts!
Russ Vaughn has a new poem for your attention. As always, he shows the way that a good poem can make clear what a thousand-word essay can only confuse.
We need more poets around here.
Amidst the hubub and chaos here some of you may have missed this, and that would be a shame.
Thanks, John.
So the big question regarding Jesse MacBeth's military service has been answered. And with that answer, another lesson learned.
Much has been made lately regarding the "lowered standards" for military recruits. But as Jesse's story makes obvious, a recruit is guaranteed nothing but a chance to "make it" at a basic training program. Many don't - for various reasons. That weeding out is one function of the program. In fact, a certain percentage are expected to fail, and those numbers are built in to the recruiting goals.
One could argue that such folks could be identified prior to their enlistment. While that is the reason for standards, such is not always the case. The best recruit "on paper" may prove unable to adapt to the military life. The least likely candidate may thrive. That we now allow people with tattoos, or more speeding tickets, or poor academic records a chance to prove themselves should not lower our opinions of those who succeed.
By the way, on completion of basic (or boot, or what have you) the new recruit moves on to advanced individual training (or technical school, or whatever) where the weeding process begins anew, and failure quotas are again part of the equation.
All this is why even the lowest ranking, brand new and newly trained GIs – officer and enlisted - are quite proud to wear the uniform, with correctness many would think obsessive. They've earned it - they've done something not everyone can do (though most, like Jesse, imagine they could).
And they can spot the Jesse MacBeth's of this world from a mile away.
Francis Marion is interested in having a MilBlog social on the West Coast this summer. If you're interested, let him know.
The Times of London:
THE coach of the Iraqi national tennis team and two of his players were shot dead in Baghdad, apparently for wearing shorts, in a district where Islamic radicals have started to enforce brutal, Taleban-style law.Stark evidence that the task is not complete.Hussein Ahmed Rashid was shot at close range with two of his players, Nasser Ali Hatem and Wissam Adel Auda, in the al-Saidiyah neighbourhood, a national Olympic Committee official said.
One of the players, wearing shorts, had left the car to drop off some items at a laundry. When he returned to the vehicle, gunmen in a grey saloon car swerved and blocked the players’ car, witnesses said.
Three men in civilian clothes surrounded the car and ordered the passengers to get out. When they refused, one of the men produced a revolver and shot the players. The coach sat helplessly in the back while the assailants dragged out the players’ bodies and dumped them in the road. Then one of the assailants cocked a handgun and shot the coach in the head.
The dead men were wearing green sports jerseys emblazoned with the word “Iraq”. One of the shirts bore an Olympics patch.
There are those who will say that in the wake of the Haditha story we should abandon Iraq to such as these...
Wynton, thanks for posting that.
For those who may have missed it, listen to the audio excerpt Wynton linked below.
(I've now endorsed comments from Rush Limbaugh and Oliver Willis today. Fair and balanced? You bet.)
My city is swarming with members of Rolling Thunder. I spoke to some of them last night, and ran into more of them this morning. These guys are awesome. And many of them are big. And imposing. And intimidating to their enemies. One FReeper suggested it wasn't a good idea to pull any stunts when Rolling Thunder is out in full force. She's right. If I were Fred Phelps, I would reconsider my plans for Monday.
Instapinch has a round-up of final F-14 Tomcat stuff - you know, last combat flight, last cruise, last squadron and a sunset party. Strangely absent are celebrations of the last compressor stall and adverse yaw departure. Perhaps they've already had those. Worth a look, for those who like that sort of thing.
For everyone else, there's always this.
Chris Michel, president of Military.com, on taking back Memorial Day:
This morning I opened the paper and a series of circulars spilled onto my lap – bright, colored pages with bold fonts and frenetic language: “Now through Memorial Day only!” and “A Don’t Miss Memorial Day Sales Event!” As I took a deep breath and gathered up the pages that had spilled to the floor, at once it struck me: We owe more than commerce to those who sacrificed the balance of their lives for their country. It's time to take back Memorial Day.
Read the whole thing.
McQ:
Perhaps this will finally put this sad chapter to bed once and for all. I, through some old connections, have managed to come up with the unaltered DD214 of Jesse MacBeth. This isn't a joke or some funny little photoshop gig. It is the actual, real DD214 of one Jesse Adam Macbeth. The other he has posted has portions which have been crudely forged.That would be here.
And what a "something" it was.
A soldier said he gave his Purple Heart to a 13-year-old student who won a contest for writing letters to American troops out of gratitude."It's important what these children do for us in sending these letters," Staff Sgt. Phillip Trackey said after giving away the medal he received for injuries in Iraq. "The letters mean so much to us. So I thought this was a big way of giving something back to them."
Full story here.
SMASH, I don't think anyone is going to disagree on the importance of enforcing the UCMJ. Here's to a fair trial.
Following last night's interview on the Michael Reagan Radio Show, things are really starting to heat up.
To wit: yesterday Rush gave an on-air endorsement of Home of the Brave. To listen, click HERE.
Also, Cal Thomas, plugs Home of the Brave in his upcoming Memorial Day column. Appearing in over 600 newspapers nationwide, Cal is America's most read syndicated columnist. For an early edition sneak peek of Cal's Memorial Day column, click HERE.
Tons of stuff happening next week; I'll keep everyone posted.
The President's West Point Commencement Address today was interesting on several levels. All two term presidents attempt to shape how they hope to be remembered in history. Today's speech seemed to "telegraph" the direction President Bush and his inner circle may be headed in answering the all-important "legacy in history" question.
Judge for yourself:
Text of the President's remarks HERE.
Here's the full chapter on Marine Sergeant Raphael Peralta from Cap Weinberger and Wynton Hall's outstanding book Home of the Brave.
An immigrant from Mexico, Peralta served his new country with unmatched dedication. He exemplifies the core values that define the United States Marines.
This morning I'm going to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery to help the Scouts plant a flag on each of the 85,000 graves for Memorial Day.
Read about my experience last year.
One of the aspects of the Abu Ghraib narrative I always found most repulsive was the concept that the humiliation of the naked pyramid was a fate worse than death for Muslims. We were sold that bill of goods early on by a media attempting to prove that significant high-level research and planning must have preceded the guard's photo session - they being much too stupid to have conceived of such an advanced method of torture themselves. (Reality: Some of the accused were actually home-spun porn aficionados from way back.)
I'm going out on a limb here, but I predict that over the next several weeks the media will determine that murder is actually worse than the naked pyramid, but I could be wrong.
Michelle Malkin tells the Jesse MacBeth story in the Washington Times.
But for the record: Bubblehead broke the MacBeth story here, hours before it's appearance elsewhere in the blogosphere.
I find myself in full agreement with this quote:
We must not cover up this incident, those responsible must be punished and we must make it clear to the world that this behavior is the exception to the admirable work our Marines and the rest of the Armed Services do.Who said it? Lefty blogger Oliver Willis.
He was responding to this story in the Washington Post, which is exceptionally damning to the accused. The story - unlike others on the topic, does say ivestigations have not been completed, "An investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into the killings and a separate military probe into an alleged coverup are slated to end in the next few weeks." So I'll continue to compartmentalize my moral outrage and my respect for the rule of law - as the truth comes out I've no doubt I'll be able to merge the two.
But no one can deny the insurgency in Iraq has been handed a huge victory.
Update: Read this LA Times story too. One aspect of the nature of this crime - no one but the most deranged conspiracy theorist will believe this is "policy" or even common occurrence. The IVAW boys and their fellow travelers will get some airtime on this, and tell some more stories about unnamed units and unnamed "superiors" - the answer to which is simply to demand names and specific details. If they have real information on crimes of this nature it's criminal for them to participate in a cover-up.
At the Castle, we continue our look at the what Memorial Day really means inside the military community. Part 2 of 4.
Somewhere on this huge internet playground someone has to have noticed this already, but I'll be darned if I am fool enough to go looking for it, so...
There's one thing I can't figure out. It appears that Jesse took his actual DD-214 for discharge from boot camp, and added his own flair in boxes 11 and 13. The rest of the form appears legit.
Oh, the rest is legit, Johnny Boy. Like, say, Box 14. In his heated passion of adding 'Ranger qualified', 'Shot Up', 'Medal Laden' and the smattering of 'f*#& you' scratch befitting all heroes, Lady MacBeth forgot to clear out the text under "MILITARY EDUCATION" that reads (appropriately) "NONE // NOTHING FOLLOWS".
Now, I don't know how y'alls DD-214 reads, but I'm looking at mine wondering how I might be 'SEAL Qualified' if my DD-214 doesn't reflect at least some minor record of UDT and assorted related MILITARY EDUCATION in that annoying Box 14.
He can add all kinds of heroic things (with or without properly aligning a typewriter in forgery), but I s'pose he's just too stupid to master WhiteOut. This Memorial Day, among all of the other men & women I salute and honor, I will honor the Drill Instructors and Drill Sergeants who make sure the dumbest among us wash out in Boot Camp before they get handed a weapon and hurt someone who might actually be capable of duty-level responsibilities.
It reminds me of a story....
I never made it out to KAAOT, but those who did told me the place was a deathtrap.
Looks like that wasn't just a figure of speech. They're lucky nobody got killed, this time.
First IVAW kicks Jesse to the curb, but then they cleverly twist the issue around by questioning the timing of the video:
The timing of the widespread circulation of the MacBeth video interestingly coincides with the ongoing military investigation of the recent Marine massacre of two dozen civilians (including women and children) in Haditha, – what is being termed as an atrocity by one member of Congress (R). MacBeth’s false statements unfortunately have played into the hands of those who would deny that any atrocities whatsoever are occurring in Iraq.
They must have figured out that Pepperspray Productions is actually a MilBlogger front organization!
But seriously, I don't think anyone in this forum believes for a moment that MacBeth's false claims in any way negate the seriousness of the allegations that some Marines might have murdered innocent civilians in Haditha. If the investigation (which has not yet been completed) shows that the killings were deliberate and unjustified, those individuals responsible should (and will) be prosecuted for murder under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
If anyone here disagrees with what I wrote above, please speak up.
As reported here.
Won't somebody please be my "battle buddy"? First the Army, now IVAW:
Questions have been raised about Jesse MacBeth and his claims of service in Iraq. MacBeth came to Iraq Veterans Against the War in January 2006 asking for help, and the organization and its members extended itself to help him in various ways. Assisting veterans is one of the founding principles of IVAW and it is a mission that we take seriously. After looking into his recent claims, we have learned that Jesse is not what he represented himself to be. Accordingly, IVAW does not in any way endorse Jesse MacBeth or any of his accounts involving military service. He — and he alone — is responsible for them. IVAW was not aware of the creation of the video program featuring MacBeth, and did not authorize use of our logo in the program.Note the gutless weasels don't refute MacBeth, just say that "questions have been raised". Nor do they actually expel him from their ranks - they just don't "in any way endorse" him.
No veteran could fail to spot MacBeth as a phony - it took about 3 seconds. But IVAW couldn't do it until after he was outed by milbloggers.
Draw your own conclusions.
Update: Here's an IVAW video on YouTube featuring other members of that organization confessing to war crimes. None of the guys actually killed civilians, they just heard about others who did. That's why Jesse appealed so strongly to them - he not only said he'd actually seen crimes committed, he said he killed children himself. And the script that Jesse and these guys are following is that the standing orders were to shoot anything that moves after an IED attack. Their purpose is to establish that the Marines were acting under orders from "on high".
I don't have the facts. Having said that
Insurgency for Dummies, Chapter 1, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 -
Goad Government Forces into Overreacting, thereby reducing support for the Government.
If they were Fobbits, Fry them, otherwise, relieve the commanders and move on. If all the reports are true, some platoon,ended up doing what the terrorists were trying to get them to do. It sucks, it's wrong, it happens in every war.
Note to CONGRESS - when you vote for War, understand that some platoon, somewhere, at some point, is going to lose control. War is Gawd Awful messy.
Jesse is taking much abuse in the comments to his myspace blog rant... including this little piece of photoshop work...
JGA - Entry level status performance and conduct or entry level status performance - pregnancy
Boot camp washout or boot camp pregnancy. WHo knows, maybe Jesse is a Jessica
There's one thing I can't figure out. It appears that Jesse took his actual DD-214 for discharge from boot camp, and added his own flair in boxes 11 and 13. The rest of the form appears legit. So what's with the discharge code for pregnancy?
Wouldn't there be a real discharge code? Mental illness, self initiated elimination, etc? Is the JGA for pregnancy a typo?
A recent high-profile news story reveals that in spite of the popularity of the television program "JAG" and the movie "A Few Good Men", most Americans have little understanding of the military justice system. In the interest of providing the tip of the iceberg of knowledge, here's a brief primer.
Key documents defining the military justice system include the United States Constitution, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), and the Manual for Courts Martial. If a crime has been committed (or suspected), an investigation is conducted under article 32 of the UCMJ. The purpose of that investigation (which usually includes a hearing, somewhat equivalent to a civilian grand jury investigation) is to determine the need for a court-martial (a military trial).
The Fifth Amendment constitutional right to grand jury indictment is expressly inapplicable to the Armed Forces. In its absence, Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (Section 832 of Title 10, United States Code), requires a thorough and impartial investigation of charges and specifications before they may be referred to a general court-martial (the most serious level of courts-martial). However, the accused may waive the Article 32 investigation requirement. The purpose of this pretrial investigation is to inquire into the truth of the matter set forth in the charges, to consider the form of the charges, and to secure information to determine what disposition should be made of the case in the interest of justice and discipline. The investigation also serves as a means of pretrial discovery for the accused and defense counsel in that copies of the criminal investigation and witness statements are provided and witnesses who testify may be cross-examined.Most news accounts of the investigation of Marines for possible crimes in Iraq declare that the investigation is complete, but make no mention of details like the hearing (which may have been waived, but this seems unlikely) and give the erroneous impression that guilt has been determined. But the outcome of the investigation (even if it includes full confessions from all parties) can only be that there is or is not sufficient evidence to convene a court-martial and determine the guilt or innocence of the accused.
I'm not making any comments in this specific case. But I do mean to point out that from a legal perspective, guilt or innocence is yet to be determined. This can only be done in an actual trial. This may come as a shock to those who've been following some very high profile statements made on this case - which is why no one with any concern for the rule of law has made any such statements.
Hope you've found this helpful.
From the AirForce Times:
DoD disappointed by lack of funding billBy Gordon Lubold and Rick Maze
Times staff writersA Pentagon official says he is disappointed that members of Congress left town without passing a supplemental funding bill, but is hopeful one will be passed soon.
Eric Ruff, speaking at his first news conference after being named the Pentagon’s press secretary, said officials in the building just want to make sure the funding bill gets passed soon.
“We’re very disappointed by that and we endeavored to work very closely with the House and Senate,” Ruff said in his office. “Despite everybody’s best efforts, we just didn’t get a supplemental.”Supplemental funding bills have for the past several years helped pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and helped replace equipment losses due to those operations. The Defense Department will have to wait until June for money needed to continue operations in for the war on terrorism
Troops should not see any meaningful impact on operations or equipment as long as the bill is passed sometime soon, Ruff said..
From Military Officers Association of America Legislative Update
The full House passed the FY2007 Defense Authorization bill (H.R. 5122) on May 11.The bill recommended by the Armed Services Committee authorizes $512.9 billion dollars for national security and weapon programs, $50 billion for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a 2.7% pay raise for Active Duty troops.
With strict limits on amendments and debate, the House adopted only a few modifications to the Armed Services Committee-passed bill. Here's a partial listing of key Amendments:
SBP Transfer Date. Changes the effective date for surviving spouses to elect optional transfer of their Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity payments to their child(ren) to the start of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Previously, SBP transfers were limited to deaths after November 23, 2003. Surviving spouses who elect to transfer SBP preserve full entitlement to VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation payments.
Garnishment of Overpayments. Limits the garnishment of a servicememember's paycheck to no more than 20% in a single pay period for overpayments not the fault of the member; establishes a 90-day grace period before overpay recovery can be initiated for wounded/ill servicemembers.
Study of Army Tour Length. Requires the Army to study the potential benefits of converting from 12 to 6-month deployments in connection with service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reserve Assignment Pay. Requires the Army to submit a report examining possible pay inequity in its Assignment Incentive Pay system for Guardsman and Reservists.
Bataan Death March. Authorizes compensation to any veteran who was captured on the peninsula of Bataan or the island of Corregidor and survived the Bataan Death March.
However, they left some pretty big issues unaddressed...including a $735 million hole for the Defense Health Program... in the extended read
Someone has posted a scanned copy of what appears to be a DD-214 for one Jesse Adam MacBeth. My initial read of it tells me that he most likely dropped out of boot camp.
Blocks 11 and 13 appear to have been crudely "modified" after the fact.
Block 11 reads as follows:
11 bravo -- 0 years - 6
Ranger qualifyed -- 2 years - 3
Block 13 reads:
Purple heart// Shot during active serviceOperation Enduring freedom//Operation Iraqi Freedom
I'm reasonably certain that these blocks have been forged (different type setting, not faded, etc.), but I'll leave it up to the experts to make a final determination on that. They certainly appear to be inconsistent with several other blocks of the document, including Block 8a, which lists his last duty station as "BCTB 2D BN 47THIN CO D TR TC." I'm pretty sure that is one of the recruit training battalions at Ft. Benning.
I won't comment on the vulgar graffitti.
UPDATE: Block 26 (SEPERATION CODE) reads "JGA." This code corresponds to "Entry level status performance and conduct or entry level status performance - pregnancy."
Since we can safely assume that MacBeth wasn't pregnant, the only reasonable conclusion is that he was, in fact, a boot camp washout.
And yes, forging a DD-214 is a federal crime.
UPDATE 2: MacBeth was discharged from the 2d Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment, of the Basic Combat Training Brigade at Ft. Benning, Georgia. In other words, he didn't even make it through boot camp, much less Ranger School.
UPDATE 3: Block 12 is very difficult to read, but it appears that MacBeth's net active duty service in the Army was 1 month and 13 days, from May 1 to June 13, 2003.
Image after the jump.
Looks like these clowns are moving foward with the offending issue, at their own legal peril I might add.
Link has a comments section too. Just sayin'....
I wrote my Memorial Day blog and it contained a reference to SFC David Salie who was killed on Valentine's Day 2005, and how his widow Deedy continued to be an influence for her husband's men and other military families... A reader posted up this comment which I have passed to Deedy and their children.
Julie- Proud Parent said... Thank you for this post. Yes, I did need the tissues! I work in a military hospital on Ft Carson, Colorado and I plan to share this with my co workers and as many people as I can. My family too, is a 3rd ID family and SFC Salie was my sons platoon SGT. I believe that my son is still alive today because of the teachings of that wonderful Hero! We are proud of his wife and family for still being there for not only his soldiers but their families as well.
Sometimes, I'm really glad I blog...
Patriot Files gives us the HALL OF HEROES... it's certainly worth a look and a read...
Sez:
Many people have become aware of a recent serious photo copyright infringement. The photo in question is that of Major Bieger holding a little Iraqi girl named Farah who was killed by a suicide car bomber in Mosul, Iraq. I first became aware of the infringement when stunned and angry readers contacted me under the mistaken belief that I allowed SHOCK magazine to use it on their cover. I did not, and never would have agreed to their usage. I regularly turn down usage requests for this photo – uses that could earn money – because this photo is sacred to me and is representative of the U.S. soldiers I have come to know. It is also representative of the horrors of the enemy we all face.My attorneys are in discussions with those at fault, and we have demanded that all copies of the magazine be removed from circulation and from the internet.
Protecting this photo has become at times a full-time job. I am in Washington D.C. in my attorneys’ offices when I should be finishing two important dispatches on Afghanistan, and my book about our soldiers in Iraq and their families at home.
This is a legal matter and my attorneys will be speaking for me now. If necessary I will write about this dispute.
Commenter "Bullnav" asks if I got to see the Elevated Causeway System (ELCAS) in action during JLOTS 2005. We didn't have an ELCAS for that exercise, but I did get to see the one at Camp Patriot in Kuwait back in 2003.
Eagle1 points to this April 2003 article on the Camp Patriot ELCAS:
Construction began April 1, and the now completed 1,400-foot pier was completed April 18. Amongst busy beaches and real-estate limited spaces, the 48-person per shift crew was hampered by equipment and weather delays, but the "combined can-do Gator Bee" team completed their work three days ahead of schedule in mid-April.With a 3,000-foot pier-length capability and a 24-foot wide roadway, the ELCAS(M) features two 175-ton cranes, two tractor trailer turntables and lighting for 24-hour operation capabilities.
The pier is structurally supported by 24-inch steel piles that come in 30-foot-long pieces. These piles are welded together, then driven into the ocean floor until they reach a sufficient depth to support the bearing capacity.
They only took eighteen days to construct a 1,400 foot pier!
Photos of the construction here.
"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived."
-- George Patton
Which, I suppose, is why it's not called Mournful Day.
And why this seems like a fine idea.
This week's podcast includes a search for the morals (in the sense of Aesop) of the Jesse MacBeth story.
Among NRO's 50 greatest conservative rock songs: “I Can’t Drive 55,” by Sammy Hagar.
I must be a conservative, because one of the things I'll miss most about Germany is the unrestricted speed limit on the autobahn.
And Hillary Clinton must be a liberal:
"The 55 mile speed limit really does lower gas usage, and wherever it can be required and that people will accept it, we ought to do it," Clinton said.Maybe the Dixie Chicks can do a song about that.
(Vaguely related story from music critic critic Smash here.)
Jesse MacBeth: Army Ranger, Special Forces, and a Navy SEAL!
Is there anything this guy can't do?
MORE: The film's producer, Pepperspray Productions, has pulled the video from their site.
I took part in a joint military exercise (JLOTS / Turbo CADS / Seahawk 2005) last August that tested this concept in a "semi-permissive environment." In our scenario, the tsunami-damaged port was unable to accomodate the relief ships pierside, so they were forced to anchor out in the harbor. Supplies were unloaded by crane onto barges and landing craft. My unit's role in this exercise was to provide security for the relief ships against seaborne terrorist attack. We also worked with the SeaBees and some National Guard units to provide a secure perimeter around the military camp and port facilities.
When a natural disaster cuts the roads, maritime delivery of relief supplies is often the only way to go. You can't break the ocean, after all.
So says Tigerhawk. What's the difference between Jessica Lynch and Leigh Ann Hester? Tigerhawk lays it out.
Or all of the above?
Our friends at Protest Warrior send word that the anti-war punk who gained illegal access to the ProtestWarrior server, stealing thousands of credit card numbers in order to commit massive credit card fraud, has been indicted.
...in Congressional Office Buildings.
Gunshots, not political cheap shots. Those wouldn't be news.
"They said they heard gunfire in the Rayburn garage, but this is a huge building, I'm guessing it's a car backfiring or balloons popping," Gene Smith, chief of staff to Rep. Howard Berman, D-California, told The Associated Press. Berman has an office in Rayburn.The buildings do have metal detectors, after all.
More: Staffers at Representative Jack Kingston's office are reporting from the scene on his official blog. (Via OTB).
And listen live to local radio coverage here. (Via Wizbang)
Wonder who will "break" the conclusion of the story first?
So, the Mayor of New York wants to create a national DNA/Fingerprint database with a simple purpose. If you want to be an employee of anything, anywhere, you have to be in the db with what amounts to a worker's permit. Don't want to be in the db? No worries. But you can't have a job. Anywhere.
Uh-huh. I'm sure the rich will just by runnin' out and checking those documents of their nannies, gardeners, etc. And all those middle class homeowners will be carding the kids who mow their lawns, and the handymen who do the odd remodeling work. Spare me.
Oh, and this will all be run by the same Federal Government that just lost control of the sensitive information of 26.5 million veterans, including yours truly.
Color me unimpressed, Mr. Mayor.
Strategypage on the Baath Party in Iraq:
American intelligence believes that Sunni Arab unity is increasingly falling apart. Most Sunni Arabs do not support Baath, and more and more of them are willing to take up arms against Baath. There is a growing split between Baath and al Qaeda. But Baath still has all those desperate, wealthy, men who have money, weapons, and nothing to lose.
As "Hurricane Season" begins (and I guess it's always "Earthquake Season"), it's time to think about disaster logistics... and some people have been doing so-
as noted here.
"Relief Over the Shore" makes for a terrible acronym, though
ROTS...
Somewhat off the Military topic list, but can anyone explain why three US ISP's are hosting Palestinian Islamic Jihad sites?
Directly from the Department of State's Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) list (see member #30):
Legal Ramifications of Designation1. It is unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide "material support or resources" to a designated FTO. (The term "material support or resources" is defined in 18 U.S.C. � 2339A(b)(1) as "any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments or financial securities, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel (1 or more individuals who maybe or include oneself), and transportation, except medicine or religious materials.” 18 U.S.C. � 2339A(b)(2) provides that for these purposes “the term ‘training’ means instruction or teaching designed to impart a specific skill, as opposed to general knowledge.” 18 U.S.C. � 2339A(b)(3) further provides that for these purposes the term ‘expert advice or assistance’ means advice or assistance derived from scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge.’’
Enough already. Enough. If the US firms are unaware, make them so. If They are aware and refuse under some inane defense encompassing 'free speech', educate them on the Rule of Law.
Free speech is not free, nor is it devoid of responsibility.
Four days, four posts. What Memorial Day really means to one military family.
"I am telling you, Pervez, you simply must read this stuff!"
News round-up from Afghanistan posted here.
An expression of the opinion of a soldier in camp from that collection reminds us that we aren't that different from our forebearers:
He says he likes it first rate and he may as well like it as not like it for they don't ask a fellow down here whether they like it or not.I can't help but suppose that sentiment has been distilled over the years into this response to a common greeting:
First person: "Hi, how are you?"
Second: "Oh, can't complain."
To which a specific response is expected from the first.
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
-- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
It's never the wrong time for Congress to debate issues of national importance. They may take on one such effort soon:
WASHINGTON -- House Republican leaders, in a significant political gamble, are planning to hold a free-flowing debate over the Iraq war on the House floor in coming weeks, facing head-on what may be the most difficult issue to threaten pro-war incumbents in the fall election.That should prove interesting - as should the media coverage it receives (if any). But the debate is not exactly new. Last July by a vote of 291-137 the House passed a measure declaring it was the "sense of Congress that early withdrawal from Iraq should be opposed". And in November the House rejected longtime hardline Democratic "anti-war" activist Jack Murtha's demand for immediate withdrawal from Iraq by a vote of 403-3."We are the people's house, and serious issues of the day ought to be debated here in the House," said House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). "And a lot of members on both sides of the aisle have concerns about where we are, what is going on. Others have concerns that the whole story in Iraq isn't being told in terms of all the good things that are happening there."
Regardless of public comments to the contrary, thus far, when it really mattered, House Democrats have voted overwhelmingly in favor of the US mission in Iraq. But in December Represetative Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, declared a plan to develop a position on Iraq within his Party: "As for Iraq policy, at the right time, we'll have a position."
Perhaps the time is now.
I visited the city of Tarmiya, just north of Baghdad, yesterday. For those of you who are interested in the human side of this war, I have some photos I hope you will enjoy.
Tarmiya, Iraq photo gallery
Your feedback is always welcome. No one shot at us while we were in town. No one blew anything up. People were cautiously friendly, and the kids, as usual, really enjoyed saying hello.
Callimachus at Winds of Change has a fine Memorial Day piece. It collects some fragments from letters he studied while writing a book on the American Civil War.
It doesn't take long to read, but it is worth reading.
The aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) is finishing up her two month Caribbean cruise without invading Venezuela, as some had suspected they were planning:
“We did bring out a number of Venezuelan news media and citizens who went on our ships. … And that was very positive because President Chavez had been making allegations that simply were not true,” [GW CO, Capt.] White said.
“For example, he was alleging we were down there to do an invasion and we had thousands of Marines aboard,” he said, “but by having the Venezuela news media and other distinguished visitors aboard to do anything they wanted to do and go wherever, that dispelled a lot of the fallacies he was putting out.”
Our publicist informed me that I'll be doing Michael Reagan's radio program today (Friday, May 26th) at 7:30 p.m. EST. Also joining me will be LTC Mark Mitchell (aka Chapter 12 in Home of the Brave: Honoring the Unsung Heroes in the War on Terror). LTC Mitchell is the first soldier since Vietnam to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
Also, Cal Thomas gives Home of the Brave a gracious plug in his new Memorial Day column. You can read it here.
Many thanks, again, to Mr. and Mrs. GreyHawk for extending the invitation to blog about the book tour.
Thanks to my mother, our family learned early to honor those that serve. We attended Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans' Day parades in our town: some years we sat and cheered from the curbs as we waved our American flags, while in other years we were participants.... the tears I shed on this and every Memorial Day will be hotter and will burn my cheeks deeper than in years past. The playing of “Taps” will stab at my heart and the National Anthem will never sound sweeter nor be more bittersweet. No, Memorial Day will never be the same. Not for me. Not for Noah and those that served and returned with him. Not for Deedy Salie and Robert Stokley and all the families of these fallen
Read the whole tribute...HERE.
You guys really need to see Gatorade's commercial on the US Soccer Team, and what they put up with playing abroad. Powerful stuff fellas.
I even posted the thing on Op For so Greyhawk wouldn't yell at me.
Just recieved this via email:
I have to admit to you that I am a big fan of The Gazette. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting the truth from those who are and who have been there. I can smell the MSM a mile away and the fragrence emanating from the Gazette and especially your new milblog site is rich with its (the MSM's) absence. Being a Viet Nam era vet that did not see combat and having a son who has recently returned to CONUS with the Marine 22nd MEU, I enjoy the refreshing discourse I find here.
I would like to contribute my two cents that will perhaps uncover some rather interesting info your readership might otherwise not know about ... I am an IT contractor by trade and my business enables me to work in many diverse corporate environments and meet many people. Some of my experiences have been rather forgettable, but I want to point out one that I'm sure your folks will be interested in.
I would like to see the entire transcript of Alan Colmes' interview with John Murtha, just to verify that Murtha is not as nutty as these snippets seem to indicate.
Congressman Jack Murtha, D-Penn., said Wednesday night that the U.S. military was deliberately and indiscriminately killing innocent civilians in Iraq - much the same way, he added, that American pilots did during World War II.***
Asked how the U.S. military could possibly be engaged in "purposely, indiscriminately killing innocent civilians," Murtha invoked U.S. air raids on Hitler's Germany and Tojo's Japan.
"In World War II we dropped bombs on all these different countries," he told Colmes. "We killed civilians. In wartime – this is wartime. You're not sitting in an office back here. This is wartime."
And if he is, I say we let the Greatest Generation deal with him.
Just finished listening to the Balir-Bush news conference.
Way back when I did my time in the sandbox, things were different.
Some crazy mujahadeen could kidnap American diplomats and get away with it.
Afghanistan was in flames, the total death toll must have exceeded 100,000 easy.
Iran and Iraq were in flames...total death toll well beyond 500,000 easy.
No need to mention the troubles in Lebanon,Egypt,Libya,Yemen,Uganda or half a dozen other countries.
I have a bone to pick with nearly everyone, myself included.
Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have official titles, and those titles have great meaning. I've been guilty of referring to Iraq as simply "the war" myself, but lately have made a greater effort at using the proper language.
Repeat after me:
Pay close attention to the last word in both titles, it's important. No, semantics won't change the circumstances on the ground, but they might remind our citizens why we're "over there." Sadly, too many people have forgotten.
As I was typing this post, President Bush, during a press conference with Tony Blair, said "The Iraq War". Can't Tony Snow step in and advise the Commander In Chief to start banging the "Operation Iraqi Freedom" drum?
Okay, I'm done now. Back to your regularly scheduled program.......
The UN actually had an expert on East Timor back in the day; he was the fellow who refused extra security measures and got killed by a Baghdad car bomb that hit the UN embassy back in '03. Viera de Mello understood the link between Timorese and Australians, for instance.
From what I understand, he was a good man, and will be sorely missed in this latest round of Timor trouble (bottom line: the folks in Timor are trying to keep rule of law going with the west side guys wanting to make things ugly). I don't know anything about the new guy.
My first introduction to the Stokely family was via email late last year, and I just received another timely message from Robert Stokely, and this seems the perfect time and place to share it with his intended audience.
If it seemed I was treating the UN harshly in an earlier post on this topic, I suppose in balance I should note that they have indeed taken bold action. Not only is Koffi Annan sending an envoy there to look around, the envoy is also an expert on East Timor:
New York, 25 May (AKI) - United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan is sending a senior envoy who is an expert on East Timor for a first-hand assessment of the situation there following serious unrest after a large portion of the national army was recently dismissed in the country which the United Nations help lead to independence from Indonesia in 2002.Hopefully the 1300 troops Australia sent in won't get in his way and muck everything up.
Oh, and if it seems like I'm being sarcastic in this post it's because I am.
You'll find some familiar names in the Amazon reader reviews for Home of the Brave
He's already fought for that picture once before.
Shocked! Shocked, I tell you!
Update: Comment at Blackfive's from Capt B: "To hell what (HFM) stands for now, its going to stand for Hiding From MilBloggers......."
I wish it were true, Hawk, but the fact is they were invited, and waited on a status-of-forces agreement to boot.
There are some whom one may feel safe stealing from. There are, however, others from whom one should seriously reconsider.
What this guy said. H/t, Jim C.
Secretary Rumsfeld Delivers Memorial Day Message“On this Memorial Day, we again pause to remember and to honor those who dedicated their lives to the service of others.
“From the first citizen soldiers who stood fast to defend their homes at Lexington and Concord, to the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines securing our liberty and our way of life today, our country has been truly blessed by those who stepped forward to say, “send me.”
“Theirs is a noble calling that founded a nation, drove back the forces of Fascism, Communism, and terrorism, and made historic advances in the cause of human freedom.
“Their service strengthens our will to persevere through every challenge. They remind us of what it means to be an American.
“So to all of those serving our country today, know that we are deeply grateful to you and to your families. May God bless you. And May God bless our wonderful country.’
Amen.
...author of "No True Glory
BAGHDAD, Iraq—First Lt. Yarub Altawee, 26, wandered in and out of the stores along bustling Palestine Street, the upscale shopping area in east Baghdad, asking, "How's business?" In the late afternoon, the street was jammed with cars and people, many of the women dressed in chic, Western-style clothes. The small stalls displayed brightly colored goods and trinkets.(Via INDC)
Tim Blair notes Aussie troops in East Timor, while New Zealand awaits instruction from the UN.
Commandant to Reinforce Standards and Core Values
in Visits to Marine Bases
Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington, D.C. - (May 25) -- General Michael W. Hagee, Commandant of the Marine Corps, left this morning to visit Marines at forward operating bases in Iraq to reinforce the ideals, values and standards for which Marines have been known for more than 200 years. Reflecting his personal concern over recent serious allegations about actions of Marines in combat, Hagee will address Marine officers and enlisted men and women in a series of events inside and outside the U.S. over the next several weeks.
Hagee’s remarks will focus on the value and meaning of honor, courage, and commitment and how these core values are epitomized by most Marines in their day-to-day actions - both in and out of combat. During these talks, Hagee will reemphasize the training all Marines receive in the Law of Armed Conflict, the Geneva Conventions, and Rules of Engagement. He will remind his Marines that each of them has a duty to obey and issue lawful orders and apply only the necessary force required to accomplish the mission.
He will not address any specific incidents currently under investigation until any and all legal actions are complete.
In appreciation of your outstanding service to our country, The Home Depot welcomes you and your family to 10% OFF in-store purchases during Memorial Day weekend.
Stop in your local store between May 25 and May 29 with your valid military identification and receive 10% off your purchase.
Let us help you improve your favorite place – your home. We have the tools and the know-how to get the job done. Then, you can enjoy the results.
...Vietnam vet Russ Vaughn's story at vietnam vet Bill Faith's blog, with additional comments from WWII vet John Werntz.
My own departure and return from Iraq were very low key affairs, partly because both happened in Germany. In the virtual world the crowd was a bit bigger.
Guys, this is old news. Noam Chomsky spoke at West Point on April 20, to a crowd of about 500 polite cadets. C-SPAN is just showing re-runs this weekend.
Patrick Lasswell, an honest-to-God-real-life Navy reservist, has some tips on "How to Catch a Fake Veteran" (drink alert).
1. Ask Direct Questions. When were you there? What unit were you with? Who was with you? Where were you at? Why did you take those obviously illegal orders? How many times did this happen? Were the goats consenting adults? These are the sorts of things that imposters give vague and implausible answers to that can be checked afterwards.2. Record All Answers. If they are speaking in public or posting their comments online, they have no expectation of privacy. When you have them recorded, share the media online so everybody can review their statements, not just the gullible few. It will come back to haunt them in a manner reminiscent of Genghis Khan…
I originally wrote this post upon finishing Carl Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln, and been particularly moved by the final pages that documented Lincoln’s death by assassination. It was – it is – a powerful testament to a giant figure in the history of our Nation, of the world itself.
Carl Sandburg may have been a fine historian, but he was first and foremost a poet from the Midwest. There was no finer craftsman of prose to so properly render tribute to this American.
I thought about Lincoln and his words a lot in Iraq.
Memorial Day is much more than a three-day weekend that marks the beginning of summer. To many people, especially the nation's thousands of combat veterans, this day, which has a history stretching back all the way to the Civil War, is an important reminder of those who died in the service of their country.
David Salie was one of my son's instructors in Airborne school... he was in Bravo Co. while Noah was in Able Co. on the same Brigade Combat Team when they deployed. They had just arrived in Iraq when Sgt. Salie was killed. His widow, Deedy, continues to be an influence in the lives of the young men that David led, and in the lives of other military wives and mothers... offering them counsel and a shoulder to lean on and a hand to hold in good times and bad. I am proud to call Deedy Salie a friend. She is MY hero...
Joe Galloway writes about our Heroes... and their families. Read: On Memorial Day, remember the families of our fallen heroes
Your service members are doing great things out there. Not only kicking the living monkey crap out of bad guys, but they are helping local civilians as well.
"More than duty"
Semper Fi
Regarding the new law against protests at military funerals, it looks like it only applies to services at national cemetaries. Phelps and his ilk will still be "free" to spread their hate in funerals held other places, as he did here in Idaho last year.
I have a comment... For every story like that one there are dozens like this one, which won't make the MSM because it just isn't news to them. American troops saving people in the middle of a firefight isn't news because it's... normal? Whereas, American troops possibly shooting noncombatants *is* abnormal...
Coalition Forces Save Abandoned BoyBAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces saved a young boy from imminent danger during significant fighting that resulted in the deaths of over 25 terrorists May 14th in Yusifiyah. In one incident during the course of the hours-long operation, several terrorists abandoned a two-year-old boy in an attempt to save themselves.
Upon initiating the attack, the troops immediately killed two terrorists in response to hostile activity emanating from a suspected safe house and an associated vehicle.
Only trying to preserve their own lives, escaping terrorists literally threw a toddler inside a vehicle near a burning van filled with ammunition and anti-aircraft rockets (the safe house and vehicle were previously struck by Coalition forces to neutralize the threat). The troops made the choice to save the child in lieu of pursuing the terrorists, rescuing the boy just before the rockets exploded.
The troops took custody of the two-year-old and provided him security for almost an hour before they could safely return him to his mother. The boy and his mother were residing in a nearby safe house from where the terrorists originally fled and had abandoned other women and children.
Coalition forces previously reported that three females - one child, one teenager, and one adult - were injured in the initial raid; the youngest only required on-site treatment, the two older females were medically evacuated. As troops transported the two injured females and an unharmed maternal escort to the hospital, the terrorists attempted to shoot down the departing medical sortie (there was no red cross, the helicopter was being used as a medical evacuation transport to expedite care).
The pilots averted the small arms fire and safely delivered the two injured females and their escort the 10th CSH where the wounded were provided further treatment. Both females received additional medical care and were released from the hospital May 15th.
Just sayin'. Story came from the CENTCOM website.
Additional info here. H/T, Castle Denizenne Kat.
A classic example of target fixation leading to an accident. I.e., on a motorcycle, if there is road debris in your way you want to avoid - you look at where you want to go, not what you want to avoid. Therein lies tragedy.
Or, in this case... comedy. (do my server a favor, "right click and save as" rather than streaming direct, it's a 3 meg file. No, Greyhawk, it's on *my* server, not yours...)
OMG, too funny for words! Your Air Farce in Action! "Glad I already had that one concussion..." Kudos to all concerned for a professional demeanor, however. I suspect that Guidon Bearer had a rough rest of the day...
Following one of our posts here to this, has led me to post a series of link filled thoughts on medical care by the Coalition and the enemy.
Any further thoughts or observations are welcome.
One of my readers clued me into this. Apparently Noam Chomsky is going to be on CSPAN-2 this weekend, speaking to the West Point Corps of Cadets. I think I'll TiVo the speech, just to see what he says.
Show will air on Saturday, May 27 at 7:00 pm and Monday, May 29 at 10:30 pm.
The following are the key paragraphs in this story:
“If the allegations are substantiated, the Marine Corps will pursue appropriate legal and administrative actions against those responsible,” said Col. David Lapan, a spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters.“The investigations are ongoing, therefore any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process,” he said. “As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent allowable.” Murtha, an outspoken war critic and retired Marine colonel, has maintained for several weeks that the reality of the Hadithah incident was far more violent than the original reports suggested.
Unlike Murtha, I have no comment at this time.
Reported here, a law against the Rev. Fred Phelps and his ilk. The law sets limits on where and when protests at National cemeteries may be held. Phelps is shouting "unconstitutional." You may reasonably anticipate that the ACLU will help challenge the law.
...over what is starting to look like a war crime, though who can say how much of the movement will now be driven by political considerations, vice good deliberative investigation.
Good news, bad news, I suppose.
The good news is while we may be slower than *some* people would like, we don't sweep everything under the rug as our political foes would have the world believe.
The bad news is - that it happened, and there appears to be enough smoke to indicate there may be a fire.
Heh. Wouldn't it be nice if *all* the lines we're suppsed to be careful of in combat were bright and shiny? Vice fuzzy and camouflaged?
No matter. Therein lies the core of dscipline. If there's enough evidence, charge 'em and let 'em defend themselves.
If they are successful, hooah. If not, they can come visit us here at Leavenworth. For a long tour.
Read about it in The Marine Corps Times.
Just a quick diversion, a little humor.
The Dadmanlies have come across a wide range of re-enactors of late, which suits history-minded Little Manly just fine. Re-Enactors, for the few out there who haven’t discovered them, are those dedicated hobbyists who adopt period personas, learn vast amounts of detailed history, and spend their free time acting out historical periods.
Often re-enactments are re-creations of battles or other wartime events, although more and more historical periods or environments are subject to re-enactment. Little Manly is quite taken with these forms of “first person” history, and peppers the re-enactors we’ve met with all manner of specific questions, exploring intricate details of weapons (especially), practices, artifacts, and what can only be described as historical footnotes.
We’ve met Revolutionary War Re-enactors, both Colonial Army and Militia, and British Regulars. We’ve spent a lot of time around Civil War Re-Enactors, who must be the most common sort. We visited Baltimore during our visit to DC for the 2006 MILBLOGGER Conference.
We recently came across World War II Re-Enactors, which surprised me – how soon before things get re-enacted? (Now comes to mind the Monty Python sketch about a Ladies Group that re-enacted a famous British Naval Battle, complete with dueling purses and scrabbling in the mud. But now I really digress.)
Mrs. Dadmanly and I talked it over yesterday, and decided that if she was going to be a re-enactor, she would be a Polish Immigrant, and portray a woman like her Babci (Polish Grandmother).
She could wear a housedress and smock, put on one of those hair bonnets we see on Pierogi-making day at the Polish Catholic Church, and she could spend her re-enactment rolling dough, mixing cabbage or cheese and potato, and showing her audience the precisely correct way to pinch the ends together to make the doughy treat.
Someday, I suppose there’ll be Anti-War Hippie re-enactors.
No wait, we have those already. Check out Code Pink and others of their ilk. A good portion of the current anti-war sentiment (of a certain generational flavor) is a thinly disguised nostalgia for the “anti-war protest days." Call them Hippie Re-Enactors.
(Excerpt from home.)
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Marines of A Company, 2nd Tank Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5, honored four fallen Marines in a memorial service at Camp Fallujah’s Chapel of Hope, May 23.
The four – 2nd Lt. Michael L. LiCalzi, Cpl. Steve Vahaviolos, Lance Cpl. David J. Gramessanchez and Lance Cpl. Jason K. Burnett – were killed in a non-battle accident while operating north of Fallujah.
“These Marines gave their precious lives in support of our critical mission,” said Col. Larry D. Nicholson, RCT-5’s commanding officer. “I need not remind the members of this audience that the challenge of merely executing our assigned mission is daunting indeed. It matters not that they were not felled by enemy fire, for it was enemy contact they sought when they were taken from us. What matters is they were Marines – four great Marines.”
Nicholson spoke to the packed chapel of more than 200 Marines. Before them were four rifles, boots, identification tags and tanker’s helmets. They were the final physical reminder of their fellow Marines in this world.
“Whether you knew them personally or not is irrelevant,” Nicholson said. “They are your brothers, now and forever. Our brothers did not die in vain. They died freeing a nation enslaved for decades under the oppressive yoke of a tyrannical dictatorship and now coveted by terrorist as a base for which to launch a Global War on Terror.”
Capt. Edward Y. Blakiston, A Company’s commander, spoke of Marines’ reactions when they received the news of the four Marines’ deaths. They were resolute, determined, focused and ready to carry out the necessary missions to recover their fellow Marines.
“On the morning of May 11, a giant hole was ripped through the soul of this company,” said 33-year-old Blakiston, from Umatilla, Fla. “In one fell swoop, we lost four of our own. It was almost surreal that morning as everyone focused on the tasks at hand. As time moves on though, the loss slowly sweeps in. Little everyday events remind us of them and the fact that they are gone, show us how much of our lives they really were.”
CNN says:
"CNN Presents" travels with injured troops in Iraq on the journey from frontlines to their homes. "Wounded Warriors" takes a personal look at fallen soldiers and the medics and pilots who save them. "Wounded Warriors" airs Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET.
From CNN Press Center...
CNN Presents: Wounded Warriors May 27 & 28 (Memorial Day Weekend)Americans trust, if their sons, daughters, husbands or wives are sent to Iraq, that the military will take care of their loved ones and bring them home quickly should they be injured. On a very special documentary CNN PRESENTS: "WOUNDED WARRIORS" we will show you exactly how that happens… from the point of injury on the battlefield… all the way home. CNN Correspondent Alex Quade follows the medical care our troops receive in Iraq at each "level of care": from the time they are wounded, through “the golden hour” with buddy care and helicopter medevac, to field hospitals, and then aeromedical evacuation to Landstuhl, Germany, where these wounded warriors have more treatment before returning to Walter Reed and other facilities in the U.S. Ms.Quade follows a number of these warriors as they receive stateside treatment and make hard decisions about their futures.
For more than 18-months, Ms.Quade has been documenting the stories of these battlefield heroes… not only those who have been wounded but those who are providing medical care. She also came across what could become a brand new level of care for all branches of the military: the first “Wounded Warriors Barracks” in America, an experiment conceived by one of the injured Marines Quade has covered from the moment he was wounded near Iskandiriyah, Iraq
IMHO: The current version of the Senate comprehensive immigration bill is a piece of hastily crafted, poorly written and marginally thoughtful legislation. They should get this right and not rush just because after doing nothing for 20 years they feel they have to act before the next election. Get this right -- not rush. Secure our borders... THEN we can talk immigration reform. The reform part doesn't have to be done in a day or a week... We should be putting together legislation that can actually work and that the American public will support... and this isn't it. (And if Ted Kennedy is all for it -- we should be really wary!)
I'm ranting about it over at my place...
According to this CNN article, the Navy recently conducted a successful terminal phase interception of a test missile on the Pacific Test Range. One part of the article jumped out at me:
"The Navy already can shoot down a missile in its final stage with a Patriot Advanced Capability 3, or PAC-3, missile launched from land."
I always thought the Patriot was an Army program. Has the Navy been muscling in, or is it just that the AP writer didn't understand the difference between the Army and the Navy?
I have some more info on the Navy Area Defense System (yes, it's a bad acronym) here.
In Update III to this entry at Q and O, McQ seems to be stating that the Yahoo profile of the person with the same E-mail address as MacBeth's "sister" has a picture that would seem to make it unlikely that the poster is, in fact, his sister. I don't think that this is slam dunk for saying it's not his sister, though; other than the possibility that MacBeth may have been adopted (he did have the name change when he was two), we also have to consider the fact that no one puts their actual photo up on their Yahoo profile.
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "The Rich Get Richer."
...because this story is indeed rich. And getting richer.
Is she really his sister? Or is this more "fake but accurate?"
Also: McQ uncovers some evidence that Jesse might be an Army boot camp dropout. Too bad he never learned how to wear his uniform properly.
These people and more are at every commencement at West Point... They have been for years. They usually show up outside the gates with fake coffins and dressed in costumes... carrying signs.
Frankly, the only signs that are appropraite are ones that say "Thank you for volunteering to fight for my freedoms."
Moonbats. They just don't get it.
1. Matt is a soothsayer. He predicted that Home of the Brave would anger the MSM and that they’d slam it in reviews. And thank God they did! The Washington Post hit piece sent the book soaring over 40,000 spots on Amazon.com and spurred on our friends at NewsMax to run this.
2. The news cycle reigns supreme. Don’t fight against the tide; flow with it. Ergo the revamped Memorial Day publicity and release. TV and radio are set to kick into high gear. More to come...
3. Andi can take Ann Scott Tyson—EASILY!
4. Steve Forbes has a heart for our Armed Forces like no other; he hosted an amazing book launch party and was so gracious to the Home of the Brave heroes who were able to attend. [see pictures] When I got home there was an email waiting in my inbox from Steve Forbes. He wanted to thank US for allowing him to host the event. Unbelievable. It was a truly moving event.
5. The safest lectern in America is one flanked by SGT Marco Martinez, LTC Mark Mitchell, MSGT William Markham, and SGT Leigh Ann Hester. [Again, see pictures]
Thanks, again, to all those who are supporting Cap's final book through blogging and/or Amazon.com reviews.
It's so cool to see Milbloggers flexing their growing media muscle. Cap and I wanted Home of the Brave to spark a broader, national debate over the MSM's portrayal of our Armed Forces broadly, and OIF specifically. This is, of course, a battle milbloggers wage daily--and deftly. I continue to tell my NYC book buddies that the MSM and the snooty literary types can no longer ignore milbloggers as a real and expanding force. Not all of them believe me yet, but they will. They will.
I already had the answer to this question... but let's see what Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) said on Neil Cavuto's show yesterday:
NEIL CAVUTO: well, is ted kennedy a threat to our national security? Not quite. My next guess says his constantly mouthing off on the iraq war is. Senator, what's got your goat?SEN. JOHN ENSIGN: Well, i think that politicians and leaders in this country have a very serious responsibility when we are at war to carefully choose the words that they say. When we are at war, the enemy will look for ways to politically divide our country. Certainly the terrorists are looking at ways to divide our country and i think that many of the leaders, including ted kennedy, nancy pelosi, dick durbin and others have been very irresponsible in the way that they have chosen their words, i guess, is the best way to say t i mean, when you talk about abu abu ghraib as being the same as reopening saddam hussein's torture chambers, as ted kennedy did, dick durbin compared what we were doing in guantanamo bay to the soviet do you go logs and the nazis those kind of comments do our nation harm and they build support for the terrorists around the world.
CAVUTO: what do you want to do about it?SEN. ENSIGN: Well, you know, my purpose for, you know, talking about it is to call people to be more responsible. It is irresponsible, i think, to give fundraising help to the terrorists who give recruiting help to the terrorists by making our country look like that we are one of these evil dictators. I think that that's irresponsible and we should have leaders in this country that are much more responsible, much more measured in what they say and some of these leaders have been irresponsible in what they have said.
Trailer for Oliver Stone's September 11th film is out.
He managed to get through the trailer without blaming America for 9/11, let's see if he can make it through the whole movie...
Yup, and they were (rightly) lauded for their actions.
Even when troops actually do witness violations of the Geneva Convention, the anti-war left's narrative of the military as a murder machine is contradicted.
...is poorly educated, extremely gullible, and easily (mis)led.
A congressman and a con man together in The Adventures of Jesse and Jack.
Spec. Joseph M. Darby - turned his fellow Abu Ghraib guards' home spun porn collection over to military authorities in December 2003 and started the process that led to their convictions for abusing the prisoners there.
His role has been very much downplayed as it detracts from the fiction that Mary Mapes uncovered the abuse months later.
With respect to Iranian weapons testing, especially of the "indigenously" produced stuff, color me unimpressed.
Just as we excoriate and expose poseurs like Jesse MacBeth, it is right that we remember real heroes like Hugh Thompson and Ron Ridenhour.
Let no one say that we don't recognize the heroic actions of those who keep our honor clean.
What would one expect from the Michican Dept of Education, they employ Juan Cole don't they?
...and brought them to people's attention.
More - he acted to end the crime.
Chief Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson.
That's the name FbL couldn't remember.
Has there ever been a Vet who accused the US of war crimes that wasn't a complete fraud?
**Update** Actually I should caveat that.....has there have been a vet who accused the US of war crimes based on personal experience who wasn't full of it?
I think we're rapidly approaching the last straw.
Blackfive, reaching out to try and understand a troubled young man.
Pentagon feels that the Iranian medium-range missile is enough of a threat to consider standing up a missile defense base in Poland or the Czech Republic.
Read your '2,000 miles' skepticism and said to myself 'not miles, Smash.' Skepticism shared, Smash. Not to mention sole claim to 'idiot status' over here for carelessly transposing Miles and Kilometers within the frightening confines of my own 'brain housing group'...and (shudders) writing a post that made sense of the nonsense. Yikes. Perhaps I should develop an affinity for normal sleeping hours and only then revisit missiles? Apologies to readers for that.
For a brief 3 or 4 points of the Shahab-3 development (in KM!)...
"Ich bin United Stateser"?
Meanwhile, San Francisco wants to ban the Junior ROTC, and the Stamford, Connecticut school district wants to eliminate the Veteran's Day holiday.
I'm not sure I want my kinds going to school in America...
Your Eurobureau Chief checking in with the latest from my side of the Atlantic:
German public opinion believes a "clash of civilizations" is under way between Christians and Muslims that will lead to further domestic and international conflict, a report commissioned by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung finds.Germany is in the midst of "a conflict spiral," researchers from the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research reported last week. "Conceptions of Islam were already negative" but have hardened "noticeably in recent times," the survey's authors Elisabeth Noelle and Thomas Petersen reported.
"Germans are increasingly of the opinion that a lasting, peaceful coexistence with the Islamic world will not be possible," Noelle and Petersen concluded.
An amazing story from InstaPundit: the banning of "America" from our schools.
After the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers no longer qualified as North Americans, but apparently the British, Spanish, French and Native Americans did. What people in the United States are to be called after the Revolution is not clear, so long as they are not referred to as Americans.Apparently they think "suckers" is the appropriate term.
A 1950 mile range? Color me extremely skeptical. Iran has a long history of exaggerating their military capabilities.
Most sources I've seen estimate an 800-1000 mile range. And if it's anything like its predecessors, it probably has a very high failure rate as it approaches the extreme end of that range. Iraqi versions of the Soviet Scud had a tendency to fall apart during re-entry.
With conventional explosives, this is a terror weapon. It has no tactical military value.
With a nuclear, biological, or chemical warhead, however, it could do some serious damage.
The latest "Vent" is all about Jesse MacBeth, and the MilBlogs site is prominently featured.
Thanks, Michelle! But if you must salute, please do it properly.
...the reunion I'm working on getting into, mentioned in this post, is more than the Great Raid... it's *all* veterans of the WWII Ranger Battalions.
I think I need to bring Jesse along, so he can meet some real Rangers and swap stories.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Now *there's* a visual.
I have little doubt about the purpose of the launch, which is almost certainly just as you suggest, SMASH. Scribbled some on it last night wth added context in Iran 'Reaches Out' With Shahab-3 Missile Launch.
Regarding the Shahab-3 capabilities, the truth is we're not sure exactly what it can do, but the 800 mile barrier was eclipsed by recent versions. In fact, some estimates suggest that the newest itteration of the Shahab-3 approaches 1950 miles (personally think that may be a healthy stretch).
An interesting bit of context for consideration was that Khatami suspended the Shahab-4 and Shahab-5 programs 'officially' in 2003, citing that the 2,000 mile range of the Shahab-4 was beyond the needs of Iran. Whether or not the programs were truly shut remains to be seen, but the continued testing of -3's and the silence of the -4's suggests to me that they had likely considerably extended the capabilities of the old -3's for far cheaper than developing the -4's.
Forgive the geek talk. As a former HAWKer, I have an affinity for things that fly fast without aid of strings or pilots. (Sorry, GH.)
I'm hoping that this will be fair and balanced (ok, I couldn't resist).
From the CNN press release:
CNN.com Solicits Multimedia Content from Users as Part of ‘Coming Home’ Coverage, TributeCNN.com has launched a user-generated content feature as part of “Coming Home: Families and War,” an upcoming “Special Report” that explores the impact of the war in Iraq on U.S. troops and their families. At http://www.cnn.com/cominghomestories, users can submit their personal "Coming Home" videos, audio files, photos and text stories, as well as messages to U.S. troops in Iraq for possible inclusion in the special report.
For Memorial Day weekend, CNN plans to offer coverage on multiple platforms with CNN/U.S. airing CNN Presents documentaries about D-Day and soldiers wounded during the war in Iraq; coverage on Headline News; and related reports, through real-time, streaming coverage on up to four simultaneous feeds on CNN Pipeline.
On Friday, May 26, “Coming Home: Families and War” will go live on CNN.com. Through multimedia components and emotive reporting, “Coming Home” explores how the current war differs from previous conflicts, including the effects on social support systems for military families. These compelling stories include a pictorial of a war widow facing her first Memorial Day since her husband died in Iraq. This CNN.com “Special Report” can be found at www.cnn.com/cominghome.
“Coming Home” also will discuss the growing numbers of women in uniform, the effects of long-term deployments, innovations in the way troops keep in touch with loved ones and medical advancements in helping troops recover from war injuries. The Special Report will feature a breadth of stories, audio slide shows, charts and photo galleries as well as a site to allow users to submit personal recollections and messages to troops.
Submit stories and videos, etc., HERE
The Iranians test launched a Shihab-3 missile Tuesday night, most probably in an effort to intimidate the U.S. and Israel on the occasion of a meeting between Prime Minister Olmert and President Bush in Washington.
The Shihab-3 is an Iranian modification of the North Korean Nodong-1, which is an evolution of the old Soviet Scud-C, which in turn was based on the design of the German V-2 from the Second World War.
Of course, much has changed in rocket design since the 1940's. The Shihab reportedly has a range of about 800 miles, and can carry a warhead of about 2500 lbs. But it's basically just a larger, re-engineered version of Wernher von Braun's original design.
IMHO The excesses of McCarthyism effectively immunized the hard left from public scrutiny. While we hear endless battering of the Hard Right in public discourse, the Hard Left is for the most part left to either spread it's message, or in the best case, discredit itself.
I might get to meet some veterans of The Great Raid! Whee!
By the way - if you like pointless blog contests and think you're a geek about militaria - come check out our latest contest and it's conclusion. We try to do one a week, usually highlighting an artifact in the holdings of the Arsenal of Argghhh (this part is *always* under construction and can be punishing if you are coming in with dialup, sorry)!
Castle Argghhh! - the only place on the 'net where you can find stuff like this...
And it *isn't* pr0n.
Something has happened to this country that my grandfathers would scarcely recognize and certainly struggle to fathom. That this requires discussion disgusts me daily.
While it can be traced back to before the 60's (though blossoming then), what really happened was the galvanization of self-loathing using Vietnam as a social catalyst. But the face of this nation changed most significantly when the election of the greatest true conservative leader on a chilly 1980 November evening forced a barely contained media into open rooting for a specific political party. The degeneration of policy discussion and political leadership since has been palpable, fueled by the successes of anti-military media coverage developed during the Vietnam era and skillfully maintained and nearly perfected since then.
And such is the nature of the degeneration of American politics. That this repulsive decay also consumes the very defense of the world's one true beacon of freedom causes true physical discomfort. For we do not own that freedom but are tasked with her defense and care by default.
That we must defend her from ourselves is heartbreaking. That we dare not pause to rest lest we lose her from within is enraging.
How does that go, Life imitates the Onion? This time, it’s the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) imitates Scrappleface.
The New York Times reports that the ACLU moves to halt free speech internally (excerpt in extended entry):
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Halfway around the world, Sgt. Pat P. Delahanty got to spend a half hour of quiet time face-to-face with his wife and kids.
“It was hard at first to see them on the screen and not be able to touch them,” said Delahanty, a 26-year-old infantryman from Bronx, N.Y. “But it was good. I really needed it.”
Sixteen Marines from 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment got the chance to not only talk to their families back home, but to see them as they chatted during a live teleconference May 20.
Marines working with the infantry companies seldom get to call home. They rely on packages and letters to stay connected with family left behind.
“We don’t get to use the phone very often,” said Sgt. Januario S. Nimer, a 31-year-old infantryman from San Diego. “This was a real treat to get to see my wife and kids.”
Nimer, who is on his third deployment to Iraq, said he never got the opportunity to do anything like this during his other deployments.
“I feel recharged for the rest of the deployment now,” Nimer said.
The Marines said they talked about the usual things they always talk about when they get the chance to call. But his opportunity made things seem more realistic, Delahanty said.
The San Francisco Board of Education appears poised to kick the military's Junior ROTC programs out of the city's public schools, saying the Pentagon's refusal to allow openly gay service members is deplorable and not in line with the school district's anti-discrimination policy.School board members are scheduled to introduce a resolution tonight outlawing the JROTC because of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule. The resolution calls that policy an "unjust, indefensible, unintelligent, state-sanctioned act of homophobia."
Not sure how many kids will lose college scholarships based on this, but the article says “1,625 students in seven San Francisco public high schools” are JROTC members.
Tinfoil sales expected to soar:
Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden won a bipartisan endorsement from the Senate intelligence committee Tuesday to head the CIA at a time of reorganization and troubled morale, and legislative leaders said they hope to have the full Senate confirm him for the job by Thursday.
<...>
Hayden won the backing of the committee's eight Republicans and four of seven Democrats. Those voting against him were Democrats Evan Bayh of Indiana, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and Ron Wyden of Oregon.
Q: What does Jesse MacBeth say when given an order?
It's Fleet Week in NYC starting Wednesday... Fleet Week was one of my favorite times in New York... All those uniforms! It was always wonderful to stop the sailors and thank them... buy them lunches and dinners... New Yorkers really loved having the sailors around town...
Here's a blog (GASP!) of local (NY) reporter Yaron Steinbuch on Board the Kearsarge, an Amphibious Assault Ship... Air Force Capt. Scott O'Grady who was shot down over Bosnia in June 1995 was rescued by Marine helicopters from the Kearsarge. Steinbuch gives a lot of history and details about the ship in the blog.
The Kearsarge, at 40,500 tons, is eclipsed in size by aircraft carriers. The USS Ronald Reagan, for example, weighs more than 100,000 tons. Nevertheless, the Kearsarge is no slouch. Here are some more stats:-- Two steam propulsion plants deliver a combined 70,000 horsepower, propelling the ship at more than 24 knots (about 29 mph for us landlubbers).
-- The generators provide more than 16,000 kilowatts of power -- enough to light 13,500 homes.
-- Two pumping stations give the ship a 450,000-gallon fueling capacity for aircraft and other vehicles.
-- Distilling plants provide up to 200,000 gallons of fresh water daily.
-- The air-conditioning equipment is enough to control a 32-story office building.I don't know how many miles of corridors there are, but they are all white and full of tubes, vents, pipes, levers -- you name it. Some of them are barely illuminated with red lighting. Now if I can only find my cabin, er ... stateroom.
More info on Fleet Week... HERE.including a list of the ships and the locations and special features and presentations around the town.
If you are in the NYC area (or can get one of those last minute cheap weekend fares), please make an effort to show your appreciation and thanks to the men and women of the US Navy... and visit the ships and exhibits and presentations... you won't be disappointed.
Bravo Zulu! Hey Smash!
Courtesy Allah, a new statement from Jessie "Micah" MacBeth.
As a decorated combat veteran of Bush's Iraq misadventure, I am all too familiar with the saying "the first casualty of war is truth." Because this administration sold us a war of empire...
Thanks to author and reporter D. Burge of Iowa for the information.
Bin Laden: Moussaoui Wasn't Sept. 11 Conspirator
The Funeral of CW03 Eric Totten Funeral, 20May06
The Patriot Guard Rode at this Funeral... The pictures are incredible and the work of a 3ID soldier's Dad who rode with the Guard...
Bless them all...
From the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS) website:
Boeing Grants "Extra" Lump Sum Money As Thank YouBoeing recognizes employees for military service who were called to active military duty under 9/11 orders between June 2004 and March 2006. These employees will receive a $3,000 lump sum payment in May from Boeing in recognition of their service. "We are proud of your service and grateful for the work you've done to keep our country safe," said Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney. All Boeing employees and employees of Boeing U.S. subsidiaries are eligible for the payment. This is the second such payment Boeing has provided to employees serving in the military. The first was made in June 2004 to employees called to active military duty between September 2001 and May 2004.
Couldn't help but to find this funny.
Maj P --for those of you who don't know him-- is the USMC's official historian and a fellow VMI man. He's now Op For's emergency backup guest blogger.
More AI Madness... about the USA (of course!) Someone should write these people and let them know that ... ummm... we're at war.
Detentions in Iraq and AfghanistanDuring the year, thousands of “security internees” were held without charge or trial by US forces in Iraq. Regulations governing detentions stipulated that internees must either be released or transferred to Iraqi criminal jurisdiction within 18 months. They also provided that detainees could continue to be interned by the US-led Multi-National Force indefinitely for “continued imperative reasons of security”. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited detainees in internment facilities but not those held in US division or brigade holding facilities immediately after arrest.
In Afghanistan, hundreds of detainees continued to be held in US military custody without charge or trial or access to families or lawyers at Bagram airbase, some for more than a year. Although the ICRC had access to detainees at Bagram, it had no access to detainees held in an unknown number of US forward operating bases. There were reports of ill-treatment in such facilities, including detainees being stripped naked during interrogation and deprived of food and sleep.
So raise your hand if you are shocked that the worst claims that AI makes are that these terrorists and murderers are being held too long and that they occasionally might be naked... and hungry? (I'm looking around to see if anyone has raised their hand in the room I'm in... nope. No hands here...)
Somebody wasted no time in updating his Wikipedia entry.
about Amnesty International, but their 2006 Annual Report is probably the most biased and anti-American piece of drivel ever written. If you read the regional overviews, not only are we apparently the largest most evil violator of human rights in the world, but you're going to be surprised to learn that every other country in the world that has violated someone's human rights at some point in that country's history could not have done it without explicit or implicit help/cajoling/assistance from the USA... Damn we must be good... er, bad.
These quotes are just from the AI Secretary General about 2005...
Grave abuses in Afghanistan and Iraq cast a shadow over much of the human rights debate, as torture and terror feed off each other in a vicious cycle. The brutality and intensity of attacks by armed groups in these and other countries grow, taking a heavy toll on human lives.
Despite the opposition of the USA, support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) has grown ...
In the USA there was similar questioning of the Bush Administration’s claim that in its fight against terrorism it could exempt itself from the prohibition against torture and ill-treatment. [...]In the end, it was President Bush who blinked first and was forced to withdraw his opposition to the bill. However, the bill had a serious sting in its tail, with an amendment which stripped Guantanamo detainees of the right to file habeas corpus appeals in a federal court and barred them from seeking court review of their treatment or conditions of detention. Nevertheless, the President’s public climb-down was indicative of the pressure being put on the Administration by powerful divisions within the USA and increasing concern among its allies abroad.
Love to see those Europeople squirm...
European governments squirmed as one story after another revealed their role as junior partners of the USA in its “war on terror”. There was public outcry following media reports of possible collusion between the US Administration and some European governments on “CIA black sites” – alleged secret detention centres on European territory.
"lone voice in the wilderness"?? hooboy...
The demand for the closure of the detention centre in Guantanamo Bay gained greater momentum with the UN, various European institutions, and political and opinion leaders, including prominent US figures, adding their voices to the growing pressure. What was once AI’s lone voice in the wilderness has now become a crescendo of condemnation against the most blatant symbol of US abuse of power.
ok, this horse is seriously dead and broken... hold the whip...
The USA has not categorically rejected the use of certain forms of torture or ill-treatment. It has failed to institute an independent investigation into the role of senior US officials in the abuses committed in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere, despite growing evidence of high-level involvement.
yep... it's all our fault...
The “export value” of the “war on terror” has not decreased either. With the tacit or explicit approval of the USA, countries like Egypt, Jordan and Yemen continue to detain, without charge or fair trial, people suspected of involvement in terrorism.
If you're looking to waste your money, you can buy the full report for about US$47. You can also just read it online...
Jesse MacBeth may not be an Army Ranger. But I recently spent a couple of weeks on a tiny island off the coast of South Korea with Petty Officer Patrick Lasswell, and I can verify that he is, in fact, a Navy Reservist.
Not that anyone would lie about that.
That's the title of Ann Scott Tyson's review of Home of the Brave.
Let's make this book a bestseller and render Tyson's out-of-touch review irrelevant.
Ann - you just don't get it, and I doubt you ever will.
Let me throw down the gauntlet on something else that happened on the news today, and see if I get any enraged military-related IT guys try to explain why this is okay.
Let's see. Today's report: The VA loses personal data for right about everybody since 1974. Last couple of months: DoD computer system leaks out names and passwords for everybody on the system. The company DoD personnel are forced to get credit accounts for loses an entire backup tape set with said data. And on and on and on, and those are just the ones we know about.
Back when promotion lists passed by Congress and published in the Congressional Record still included full SSNs, a light colonel I know had a spectacular amount of trouble when the results of what the guy did when he stole her identity became apparent. It sure made it hard for her to get some free time, what with trying to recover her family's credit and keep her house and all.
I don't know about you, but if I were the bad guy I'd suddenly ruin the credit and empty the bank accounts of a whole lot of people at once, doing everything from sending magazine subscriptions to buying illegal substances over the internet from person to person to you name it. It would be quite an information warfare H&I fire. If I didn't take the time for that I'd do something like accidentally happened to General Schoomaker anyway by screwing up his pay so badly it would take forever to fix. It's very hard to keep focused on being a staff weenie or shooting well when someone's trying to reposess your house, and you have to explain to your wife why the FBI is inquiring about the disgusting illegal pictures that arrived in the mail paid for by your government credit card and delivered to your house.
This is the kind of extra worry that happens when valuable information is not given the protection it deserves, complicated by decisions made by people whose VCRs still flash 12:00 and were captured by the latest buzzword-compatible IT brief.
Where is the Bruce Schneier in DoD? Why are we not able to correct this cascading failure?
While reading the IVAW's statement distancing themselves from Jesse MacBeth, I noticed an advertisement for an anti-war documentary, "Sir! No Sir!" It's supposed to be about the "G.I. Underground" during the Vietnam War, but I noticed something in the trailer that didn't look quite right to me...
Fake but accurate? You be the judge.
Hey, that "dress wearing" thing--man, don't diss the dress wearers by comparing the petty fraudster that way. Sgt. Hester would kick your butt. (Even 1stSgt Farr would laugh--you have to be tough to wear a camo kilt in Iraq...)
During the Hoist the Black Flag podcast, someone (I think it was Rusty) asked about camel spiders.
Here's a gruesome video (via Doc) of a camel spider eating a lizard.
And just to ruin the fun, here's a myth-busting National Geographic article on solpugids (the scientific name for camel spiders, which actually aren't spiders at all).
The Marines of 3/25, Lima Company, will be the subject of an A&E "Combat Diary." It airs at 9 PM, EST, on Thursday.
Some of us didn't understand why a Reserve battalion was being deployed to that area, at that time. But they were, and they did their duty. Tune in and hear the story of the hardest-hit combat unit of the Iraq war.
Semper Fi, 3/25.
Tomorrow should be interesting. Diana Irey, John Murtha's opponent, will be holding a press conference with "veterans" in Washington, D.C..
IVAW releases a preliminary statement on Jesse MacBeth:
Iraq Veterans Against the War recently learned of a video interview with Jesse MacBeth that directs viewers to IVAW’s website and phone number. IVAW was not made aware of the creation of this video program and our input on it was never sought by its producers. Jesse MacBeth is not a spokesperson for IVAW and any claims made by MacBeth about his service have not been verified. We are currently investigating these claims and will have a full statement pending its resolution.
D'oh!
Frauds
This isn’t the first time a dress wearing, twinkie eating, zit face bag of bones piece of crap decided to imitate one of our finest. Here is a heart punch into a wanna be that should have stayed in bed.
But this isn’t the first piece of monkey crap to wake up and decide “hey, Im going to play soldier today” or for that fact Marine! The latest was in April of this year where
60,000.
That's the first week sales figure for Neil Young's latest.
Place your bets below.
I'll be on with Ace and Jeff at 4:04 Eastern. (Listen online at the link - channel one.)
We'll be talking about Jeff's Victorian Doll collection, Mrs Greyhawk's secret recipe for the soup she takes to the wounded troops, MRE coffee, and time permitting Jesse MacBeth.
May be taking calls too.
Update: Smash was on also. And Rusty Shakleford.
Good times.
I pass this on from an email I received this morning... These guys are out to spread the good news and counter the lopsided coverage of the war..
Thank you for your support in our fight for freedom in this Global War on Terror! The response from America's Silent Majority has been overwhelming, and we appreciate your support. The American public is finally hearing loud and clear that the troops overwhelmingly support our national mission of fighting terror and defending freedom around the world! I thank you for your continuing support.We're excited about the support we've received thus far thanks to friends like you, and I wanted to give you a quick update on what is happening with Vets for Freedom:
First, I'd like to tell everyone about our new website at www.vetsforfreedom.org. The response to our first email was so overwhelming that unfortunately, some portions of our email list were lost. Therefore, I strongly urge everyone to visit the new site and sign-up for email updates, even if you have done so previously. Our new website was built using all the latest technology so once you sign-up on the new site, you'll always be able to receive the latest Vets for Freedom news and information. Please help us ensure that we have your correct information by visting the new site and signing-up for email updates. Thanks!
Also, Vets for Freedom has been taking the mainstream media by storm! In the past several weeks, we have appeared for commentary numerous times on CNN and FOX, and have also been featured by the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Knight-Ridder, USA Today, and numerous other media outlets across the country. You can watch highlights of our pro-mission coverage here.
Finally, I'd like to thank you again for your continued support, and ask you to make a generous contribution. Using our secure, online donation page, you can support Vets for Freedom and help us continue to serve as a positive voice for veterans and all Americans who believe in the fight for freedom around the world. Please make you most generous contribution here. Thank you!Thank you for you continued support of our noble mission! Semper Fi!
Wade Zirkle
Executive Director
Over at Real Clear Politics, the boring story about Katrina that the media didn't find interesting.
Greyhawk - if Jesse *was* Army, we flushed him, so we did right. It's not like this crowd needs an excuse, anyway.
I know I don't... heck, I don't even need the truth for a good snark against my brothers-and-sisters-in-arms!
But don't any pencil-necked, sunken-chested, latte-sipping civvys pile on my uniformed bros, past, present, and future. If we can't criticize John Kerry 'cuz we weren't there, then I don't need to listen to any patchouli-scented furball rif on the Jarheads, Zoomies, and Squids. That's *my* territory!
Hey! You! Put my latte' down, dammit!
(This report was compiled from multiple sources. If anyone has amplifying or conflicting information, please provide it in the comments.)
According to the Army, nobody by the name of Jesse MacBeth (or many of the obvious alternate spellings of that name) has ever attended or graduated from Ranger school. The Army has no record of anyone by that name serving at Ft. Benning, or Ft. Lewis. In fact, the Army has no record of anyone named Jesse MacBeth serving in its ranks. Ever.
An article in the Eastern Arizona Courier, dated November 3, 2003, begins with the following paragraphs:
The war in Iraq was officially called to an end a few months ago, but according to Private First Class Jesse MacBeth, 19, of Pima, the turmoil has just begun.MacBeth, a ranger in the U.S. Army, returned to the states two-and-a-half months ago after sustaining an injury in his back. He spent 14 months serving in the Middle East -- first in Afghanistan and then in Baghdad. Formerly from Tucson, MacBeth now resides in Pima, where he has family, friends and a fiancé. He said that small-town life is the perfect remedy for the various traumas that he suffered during his service in the Middle East.
If true (and it clearly isn't), this would mean that MacBeth had returned home from Iraq in mid-August (coincidentally, about the same time I returned from my deployment). This was long before either of the two major actions in Fallujah.
But wait, it gets better:
Thank you lord as there is no Marine by the name of Jesse MacBeth or has there been a Marine with that name. Four Marines are in the Corps with that last name and none are him. He's Probably Airforce……(Aim high!)
Most of the contributers here would recognize the poet who was inspired enough to pen the lines in the extended section, but I'll withold the identity.
But some things just gotta be shared...
Previous entry of mine - withdrawn. Too many pictures, wrong dimensions, not as pop-ups. I have much to learn about Moveable Type. After I finish my 40 push-ups, that is.
I will try to keep an eye out for anything from the DoD or the Army on our Faux Ranger.
Yours,
A chastened Major John
For awhile I thought everyone was spending too much time on Poseur Jesse, but then I started thinking, no. Someone like him needs to have the strongest possible light on him as possible. Flood the marketplace so he will crawl back in whatever hole he came from. That way, perhaps the next attention starved loser will think twice about smearing men better than himself. Maybe. There will be more. There will be more.
Via email:
Joe Chenelly here -- I don't know if you remember me, but I am formally of Army Times. I wrote a few articles about you and other MilBloggers last year. I left Army Times for a public affairs officer with the Corps about seven months ago. Well, I left that position last month to help publicize the National Symposium for the Needs of Young Veterans. The event's official Web site is http://www.veteransnationalsymposium.org/.Joe did a great job telling the MilBlogs story in Army Times, and this event looks like one well worth publicizing.
Real vets - for the real "reality based" community.
The thought had occured to me (and I also pray that it isn't true) that Jesse MacBeth could have enlisted in the Marines. After all, he does roll up his sleeves and wear pin-on collar devices in something that vaguely approximates USMC uniform regulations.
Note that I didn't say "is a Marine," because the most plausible scenario, if he did in fact enlist, is that this guy was a boot camp washout who later came up with the Army Ranger story to cover up for his failure.
Dear Lord,
I don't ask for much, but please, if it turns out that MacBeth wasn't Army, please reveal that the stuttering pencil necked geek isn't Air Force or Navy either. Cause it could get mighty rough around these parts if it turns out that's the case.
In Jesus name we pray,
Amen
Michelle Malkin is on the Jesse MacBeth story now too, and says
I just talked to the Army spokesman as well. Paul Boyce told me: "At a minimum, this appears to have been concocted" and "some sort of hoax." Special Ops Command and State Department have been alerted. The uniform issues of the alleged soldier were a "red flag," Boyce said. As were MacBeth's claims to have entered the Army at 16 and exit at age 20, and have been both Army Ranger and Special Ops, and have received the Purple Heart and other medals. I asked whether there would be a criminal investigation. Boyce said they would follow up on any substantial leads.But they had better work fast - Allah has been watching this story spread, and there are now talk radio folks touting Jesse as the real deal.
The original St Louis Tribune story debunking the outrageous claims of Jimmy Massey has vanished into their archives.
Fortunately, Michelle Malkin was following the story very closely. Very closely.
ZAIDON, Iraq Cpl. Jason L. Campbell pulled his Kevlar helmet off his head and struggled to get free of his body armor. Its tangle of ammunition pouches, ceramic plates, radios and grenades.
It’s not an uncommon load for an infantryman here in Iraq. But Campbell’s not an ordinary infantryman. He’s a Reconnaissance Marine and he’s performing a mission that just 10 years ago would have unthinkable in Iraq.
Maybe some of you would be willing to contact snopes.com to get them to update this entry listed as "undetermined":
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/iraqmayor.asp
I noticed it mentioned a few posts down, and it irritates me that they haven't updated it despite my contacting them and pointing them to some links that verify that the mayor of Tal'Afar really did write more than one thank you letter to American troops. Hell, he's visited us recently in the U.S. and repeated his message of thanks.
How many people and news organizations need to report something before snopes.com updates? I don't know...
According to this blogger :
“Initial research by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg shows no Soldier with the name of Jesse Macbeth having ever been assigned to the Special Forces or the Army Rangers — which are, in fact, two separate disciplines. This appears to be some sort of hoax. No Soldier by that name at Fort Lewis to our knowledge, in the past, either. Of course, the line about "go into the Army or go to jail" is vintage TV script not heard since the 1960s. There are also numerous wear and appearance issues with the Soldier's uniform — a mix of foreign uniforms with the sleeves rolled up like a Marine and a badly floppy tan beret worn like a pastry chef. Of course, the allegations of war crimes are vague, as are the awards the Soldier allegedly received.”
Via QandO
LGF has more
These guys think so. Via the BBC, no less.
So - click the laptop and give it a shot, 'k?
And a big shout out to the author Mr.Richard Greene, for making someone feel a lot safer about things. Those who know, know. Those who don't - don't need to.
The New York Times displays a highly selective bit of attentiveness about good news in Iraq:
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 22 — In the wave of lawlessness and frantic self-interest that has washed over this war-weary nation, small acts of pure altruism often go unnoticed.-- As unnoticed as almost every other element of good news, when it’s the New York Times that would be doing the noticing.
So why do they notice “small act of pure altruism?”
Why, so they can beat the drum of quagmire, civil war, mass exodus and war torn chaos, of course!
More commentary and Times foolishness here.
The Navy chaplain Greyhawk discusses below really seems to be quite the jerk, IMO. I've got some background information on the story here.
NORFOLK NAVAL STATION, Va. – An evangelical Navy chaplain who attended a press conference and offered a prayer “in Jesus’ name” at the event while in uniform will be court-martialed for disobeying his commanding officer’s order not to do so.
Holy cow! I for one pray our brave sailors are never again exposed to that sort of language!
But the Chaplain isn’t really being court martialed for the prayer.
After the Navy issued a new policy in February stating that the religious expressions of chaplains outside worship services “should be non-sectarian in nature,” Klingenschmitt subsequently attended a March 30 press conference protesting that policy. At the event, held in front of the White House by former Chief Justice of Alabama Roy Moore, Klingenschmitt offered a “ceremonial” prayer.Klingenschmitt had been ordered not to take part. The Navy subsequently charged him with “attending and participating” in that news conference, disobeying the order.
According to this report from CNN, a Greek F-16 collided with a Turkish fighter it had been sent to intercept earlier today. The Greek Defense Minstry apparently claimed that the Turkish fighter had violated Greek airspace.
This follows the reported collision of two Italian F-16s earlier off Sardinia during the NATO exercise Spring Flag 06, which was not supposed to extend to the Greeks and Turks, which makes me think the collision wasn't just a training exercise gone horribly wrong.
...now would be a good time to recharge Project Valour-IT, the laptops for the wounded, doncha think? You should think, since Valour-IT was invented by milbloggers and mostly funded by us and our readers. Let's help the living wounded, as a way to honor the Fallen.
Click here and read while I slime Lex and Matt, or just click the Cox and Forkum cartoon below and send the equivalent of a six-pack or holiday steak to Project Valour-IT. The troops who've been wounded badly enough that a voice-activated laptop is a useful and welcome tool are worth that much, doncha think?
And yes, you'll get a receipt and it's tax deductible. It's a Soldiers Angels project.
Update: Fuzzybear Lioness, the Driving Force® behind Project Valour-IT provides this update (this being done on a whim as my major Memorial Day theme, I kinda caught her by surprise):
Guys, that would be wonderful! I've been meaning to roll out some changes/updates recently, so this would be a great time.The official website is a bit out of date at the moment (I have a huge list of changes to be made--I'm waiting on the webmaster, but it should be updated any day now). In the meantime, anything on the project blog (very up-to-date) supercedes the main website.
From a comment attached to the Jesse MacBeth video:
If Jesse MacBeth is or isn't who he claims to be, so what? Does being a fake change the fact that this war is grossly illegal, corrupt and immoral? Does it change the fact that the U.S. admin lies, condones and practices torture, illegal captivity, kidnapping, rape, use of napalm ... uses depleted uranium on its own troops as well as on foreign soil?
The author of this comment is... wait for it... "Truthwatch."
Steve Schippert's comments from the Milblogging conference? He had an excellent point on how the distortions, lies, and frauds of Vietnam's anti-war movement will never again be possible, thanks to the milbloggers.
I think Jessie MacBeth would agree.....
Insurgents hamper U.S., Iraqi forces in Ramadi
I feel so dumb, I thought insurgents killed people. Apparently, they are only "hampering".
Insurgents hamper U.S., Iraqi forces in Ramadi
I feel so dumb, I thought insurgents killed people. Apparently, they are only "hampering".
National Review Online posts the heartfelt response of President Bush to the President of Iran.
Here's how it opens:
Thank you for your invitation to accept Islam. As you know, I am a Christian. Throughout your letter you accuse me of being a bad Christian, which leaves me puzzled as to why you think I might make a good Muslim. However, before you proselytize outside your own country, you might want to address the condition of the Islamic faith in Iran.
...just pulled the awards from his profile. It's still there, but it's sans awards.
Greyhawk called it - but Allah has taken care of that for you with his screencaps.
So, will Our Hero post new ones, after some advice on what are good choices? Or just leave it be?
Here's some advice for you, Jessie.
Lessee, wanna be plausible, but not too mundane.
Ranger Tab
Jump Wings with 1 Combat Star
Combat Infantryman's Badge.
Expert Marksman, Rifle.
Sharpshooter, Pistol
Sharpshooter, Recoiless Rifle.
Bronze Star (with V, natch!).
Purple Heart.
Army Commendation
Army Achievement, 2 Oak Leaf Clusters.
Good Conduct Medal.
OIF and OEF Ribbons.
NDSM.
Army Service
Skip the Overseas Service, since you're basically claiming to have been stateside and deployed your entire time in service.
That'll be nice and juicy. Skip the V on the Bronze Star to really be safe.
via Payson Arizona Roundup - Dec 16th 2003
Tuesday, December 16, 2003 Editor: Spec. Jesse MacBeth, of Pima, recently returned from the war in Iraq.
Published: Monday, April 12, 2004Jesse MacBeth told another story.
MacBeth, a 20-year-old U.S. soldier who recently returned from Iraq after sustaining a back injury, said Coffee Plantation banned him from the store in March for the way he was dressed -- in his training uniform.
If I got this correct so far, he returned from Iraq prior to Dec 2003 with a back injury.
FORT BENNING, Ga. (USASOC News Service, Aug. 7, 2003) — After multiple deployments over the past two years in support of the Global War on Terrorism, members of the 75th Ranger Regiment and its three battalions came here Aug. 3-7 to participate in Ranger Rendezvous 2003.
All three of the Ranger Battalions were at Fort Benning in August 2003 having a BBQ.
Even the crowd at Democratic Underground is starting to realize it's a fake... their "blame game" is quite amusing. I wonder if any of them ever think, "Why is it that everything I get excited about turns out to be wrong? Maybe the rest of the information I'm getting about Iraq,. or Rove indictments, is wrong too..."
...on this MacBeth story, and Allah keeps updating hie collection. He's also screen captured those military.com pages - which I suspect might "disappear" from the original site.
I can't help but notice the similarities to the Jimmy Massey story. If both these "IVAW" vets had killed as many Iraqis as they claim to have the country would be empty.
Not really related, but a bit of tangential trivia:
Mrs. Smash is a very talented thespian, and has done a couple of Shakespearean productions in recent years. She played Ophelia in Hamlet, and Bianca in Taming of the Shrew. She also stage-managed two productions of The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged), which isn't really Shakespeare, but is quite funny.
One thing I've learned from hanging out with actors is that they never say the word "MacBeth," if they can avoid it. Apparently the play is cursed, and the mere mention of it is rumored to bring bad luck upon a theater company. Instead, they refer to it as "The Scottish Play," or "The Scottish Tragedy," or just plain "M".
On account of we need more culture around these parts, here's a bit more of that classic literature:
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
-- Shakespeare, MacBeth
You should read the account of what happened when Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink showed up at Donald Rumsfeld's house.
What am I saying? Thanks to tgslTakoma, you can watch it.
As some of you know, I occasionally attend these "functions" here in DC. I do it so you don't have to.
UPDATE 8:22 p.m.: Bill O'Reilly is talking about this right now and showing footage of the moonbats at Rumsfeld's house.
... just reminded me of Micah Wright.
Phony Ranger Micah Wright (You have to scroll down at link to see the big pictures at the bottom of the post). It's been just over two years since we helped expose that fraud.
Our man Jesse has a profile on Military.com. H/t, Barb at Righty in a Lefty State.
So, I'm supposed to believe he served from 2001 to 2005 and:
An E4 with a Special Forces tab?
A Ranger with only a Marksman's (lowest basic qualification award) medal?
A Combat Infantryman's Badge *with* Star *and* a Close Combat Badge *with* Star (that's two awards *each*)?
An E4 Special Forces Ranger with 3 *combat* jumps, but otherwise only cherry (basic) Jump Wings? Has 3/75 made three combat jumps since 2001? And is it really possible to be with them over that period of time, as a grunt, and still only have cherry wings?
4 years in service, with all that skill, and all he has to show for it is a Bronze Star sans V (which is a performance award, not a heroism award), a Purple Heart, and a Good Conduct Medal? And while he has his National Defense Service Medal, Overseas Service and Army Service Ribbons showing - no GWOT ribbons? No Army Achievement or Army Commendation Medals?
Eh?
Someone should contact the members of the two groups he's joined and see if they remember him.
Methinks, were I MacBeth, I would worry that the Birnam Wood, even now, might be moving to Dunsinane.
Which is allegory people - don't do anything dumb on my part!
GW Bush's iPod contains "illegal" (according to RIAA) musicIf so, here be another: "Beatles, Stones Top Hillary Clinton's iPod Picks"--headline, FoxNews.com, May 22
In the video linked below, we see that President Bush's iPod contains songs by the Beatles; since no Beatles songs have been licensed for the iTunes Music Store yet, these must have come from ripped CDs. Remember last February, when the RIAA told a federal agency that ripping CDs is illegal? I wonder if they'll bring charges.
Arrrrrr.
And here be a som'at related story, with video.
The video also appears at Information Clearing House, with the tagline "What we are doing over there is wrong." Some of the commenters there have also begun to express doubts and reservations about MacBeth's credibility.
Jesse (sometimes spelled "Jessie") also appears in a blog entry by Abbie Pickett at Operation Truth:
More troops than ever before are surviving heavy combat, and as I read Corporal Poole's story of brain and head injury I can't help but think of my friends who have looked death straight in the face and lived to tell the story. Their stories are much like Poole's, joined at 17 looking for a better life, only to be nearly killed by 23 or 21 or 20. I think of Robert Acosta who lost his arm and nearly his legs, and of Thomas Yong who will never walk again. I think of Jesse MacBeth and Herold Noel who will forever wear shrapnel in their skin. These are only a few names of the over 16,000 soldier that have returned home injured.
Pickett is a genuine Iraq veteran (and a poster child for female vets suffering from PTSD), who should have easily been able to pick out a fraud like MacBeth.
SECNAV spoke truth yesterday. In an interview with the San Diego Fishwrap, he touches on a big I-told-you-so. We over BRAC'd SoCal (all California if you ask me) in the 1990s. With the importance of Asia in the 21st Century, we just don't have enough military space where we need it. We once did. We won't get it back. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Static, bean counting got us here.
Don't even get me started on Mare Island, Moffett Field, and Long Beach. I am sure we all have stories. Guam is small, Barbers Point is overgrown, Japan and Korea don't want anymore...........but hey, everyone wants to fly out of Lemoore -- right?
Short term thinking. Then again, in the 90s we thought it was a good idea to sell/give the Chinese military technology.
Noah Shachtman and David Axe on the rise of net-centric warfare:
Every war becomes a proving ground for new tactics and new technologies. Battleships rose to prominence in World War I; tanks and bombers determined the course of World War II; Vietnam brought air power definitively into the Jet Age. The current conflict is no different. The Pentagon began this war believing its new, networked technologies would help make U.S. ground forces practically unstoppable in Iraq. Slow-moving, unwired armies like Saddam Hussein’s were the kind of foe network-centric warriors were designed to carve up quickly. During the invasion in March 2003, that proved to be largely the case—despite most of the soldiers not being wired up at all. It was enough that their commanders had systems like BFT, which let them march to Baghdad faster than anyone imagined possible, with half the troops it took to fight the Gulf War in 1991. But now, more than three years into sectarian conflict and a violent insurgency that has cost nearly 2,400 American lives, an investigation of the current state of network-centric warfare reveals that frontline troops have a critical need for networked gear—gear that hasn’t come yet. “There is a connectivity gap,” states a recent Army War College report. “Information is not reaching the lowest levels.”
Read the whole thing.
Great article from Fox News on milbloggers. Andi, Blackfive, Dadmanly, Greyhawk, Steve Schippert, and Op For are featured.
For those of you who don't know him, Major Mike Lawhorn is an Army public affairs officer who is doing a year long tour with Fox News. He's also got a great blog called Kosovo Dad, which is well worth a read. His article wasn't bad either, heh.
Starving Marines beg Iraqis for food.
Female GIs die of dehydration after they quit drinking water for fear rape if they go to the latrines at night.
Headless bodies everywhere.
Over (xx) thousand troops "maimed", "grievously injured", or "lost".
There are tons of "urban legends" concerning Iraq. I'm not talking about different opinions or perceptions, I'm talking about outright false stories, often propagated by the media, and always cheered by the anti-war crowd.
Let's collect 'em all. If you've got some on your home blog, post a link to them here. If you know of some on other blogs, link them too. We'll compile the whole collection of links into one big entry. We can even assign a "red" green" or "amber" (because yellow is the color of cowardice, that's why!) to them like Snopes does. (Speaking of which, did the Mayor of Tall Afar write a letter to US troops? You bet he did. Sorry Snopes, you're wrong.)
The Atwar Bahjat story remains amber, though.
I propose this as a long-term project, but today seems a fine day to start.
Hell, we could do several pages on Jack Murtha claims alone.
Never a clearer case...
Here's CNN coverage of a speech the President gave in Chicago today...
CHICAGO (AP) -- More than three years after the Iraq invasion, President Bush acknowledged to war-weary Americans Monday that the situation is improving only gradually and urged patience with "more days of challenge and loss.""Our progress is incremental," Bush said during a freewheeling question-and-answer session with restaurant industry representatives after a speech on Iraq and the war on terror. "Freedom is moving, but it's in incremental steps and the enemy's progress is almost instant on their TV screens."
The president used his opening remarks to herald the swearing-in of the Iraqi government on Saturday, saying it represents "a watershed event" for the troubled region and "a turning in the struggle between freedom and terror."
Yet, with the new government facing security challenges and a host of other problems and the U.S. public increasingly disapproving of his leadership of the war, Bush repeatedly returned to the word "incremental" to describe progress there.
The president acknowledged the American lives lost in Iraq, past mistakes and tough days to come.
"Our nation's been through three difficult years in Iraq," Bush said. "And the way forward will bring more days of challenge and loss. The progress we've made has been hard fought and it's been incremental. There have been setbacks and missteps like Abu Ghraib. They were felt immediately and have been difficult to overcome."
And here's FoxNews coverage...
WHITE HOUSE — President Bush on Monday said the inauguration of Iraq's new cabinet over the weekend is a "watershed event" that marks the newest "constitutional democracy in the heart of the Middle East" and a major milestone in that country's movement toward stability."This is a free government under a democratic constitution and its formation marks a victory for the cause of freedom in the Middle East," Bush told the National Restaurant Association meeting in Chicago.
Bush called on Iraq's new government to seize the moment and for the country's three main sectarian groups to pursue a common agenda. Bush told the crowd that in a phone call to Iraq's three main leaders, he congratulated new Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and promised continued U.S. support.
Remember Jon Adam? He was the American GI kidnapped by terrorists in Iraq last year. But his real name was Special Ops Cody, and he was 12 inches tall and made of plastic. We milbloggers had some fun with that one too. Blogs had debunked the story within hours - I was one of them.
But later that night I got a call. We had a guy named John Adams in my unit in Iraq and the DoD had identified all the John Adam, John Adams, Jon Adam, and Jon Adams in Iraq and were making absolutely sure that they were okay. That's wonderful, but if you followed the links above you know the effort was borderline fraud waste and abuse. But hey, you gotta be sure you know? Don't want to come off looking stupid.
So being a super secret unknown blogger, I had to pretend to be ignorant of what the call was about (they wouldn't reveal the top secret reason why they were tracking down every John Adams in the theater) and assured them that our John Adams was just fine, thanks. No really, I promise. He's okay.
No doubt within days they were able to confidently declare the story a hoax.
No doubt within a few weeks we might hear something from the Pentagon on this whole MacBeth story too - if it explodes into a major scandal.
From CNN.com... I hope they charge and jail the little twit... How do we know that he didn't sell the data and claim it was stolen?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Personal data on about 26.5 million U.S. military veterans was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans Affairs data analyst who improperly took the material home, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Monday.The data included names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for the veterans, Nicholson said, but "there is no indication at this time" that the data had been used for identify theft.
Nicholson said the theft of the data took place this month, but declined to identify the employee or the location of the burglary.
The Left fawns over their latest anti-war hero poseur:
Macbeth is a former US Army Ranger, who served in Iraq for 16 months before being wounded and ultimately discharged. His squad did night raids, using the same techniques the Marines are accused of, 4 or 5 times a night for many months. Macbeth, who is now a member of "Iraq Veterans Against the War," was interviewed for the public access TV show "Indymedia Presents." His story is available here: www.peacefilms.org. In this interview Jessie describes killing children to make the parents talk. He describes one episode where his squad responded to the much-reported incident in Falluja where 4 US mercenaries were killed and hung from a bridge. Shortly after Iraqis killed the mercenaries, according to Macbeth, his squad of Rangers gunned down Iraqis praying inside a mosque on a holy day, then hung some of the bodies from rafters, and defaced the mosque with graffiti. Macbeth's hand held the smoking gun, and his testimony in this interview shows clearly that the Marines who are now in trouble for very similar actions are not the exception to US tactics in Iraq, but represent only one in many incidents of war crimes.
It would almost be a shame to tell them he's a fraud.
(Wow - headline includes no complete words!)
Grim's post below points out the missing piece of this whole Jesse MacBeth story. I've been scanning the .mil sites for some kind of response, but zip. Nada. Zilch.
Possible reasons: Belief that it's not imporatant. Not aware of the developing story. "Researching and staffing" a reply takes time.
But by now, and in fact hours ago, the military could have put out a statement on whether Jesse was in the units he claimed he was, whether those units were where he claimed they were, etc. etc. If not: he's a liar. And if so, by now they should have hauled him off to jail somewhere for crimes against humanity - he confessed, for gosh sakes. (That could be in the works, but I doubt it.)
Rumsfeld has repeatedly expressed his frustratrion that the lie has travelled 'round the world while the truth is lacing up it's shoes. For whatever reason, that's already happened today. You think the terrorist network hasn't spread this story far and wide? You think anyone in any foreign land is going to translate the MilBlog response into the native tongue? It ain't gonna happen.
I've pointed this out before, more people read milblogs than read the CENTCOM web site, but a quick response from the DoD would have been nice in this instance.
(Coming up: A "funny" story I never told from my Iraq days).
Here's a photo of Iraq Veteran Against the War Jesse MacBeth (left foreground, holding banner), leading an anti-war march in Tacoma, Washington.
According to this site, the photo was taken March 19, 2006.
That explains it -- MacBeth must have been a Marine, because they're the ones who did the Fallujah seige in
April 2004 (this would also explain the sleeves). As far as I know (and I could be wrong), the Rangers weren't involved in that operation. But he had already returned from Iraq with a "back injury," so maybe he reovered, and went back for a second tour (this time as a Ranger) in time for the Battle of Fallujah in November. That must have been when he shot all those people in the mosque, and got stabbed all those times...
I'm so confused.
Now hold on there SMASH, there's no way Jesse was in that coffee shop in April 2004 - he was in Fallujah!
We would leave the bodies in the streets and blame it on the Shi'ites or the Sunnis. [In Fallujah] we were ordered to go into mosques and slaughter people while they were praying. I won't go into full detail because I'm still haunted by the memories.What was the assault on Fallujah like?
Fallujah is where we slaughtered people in mosques. We provoked the people there. Some people escaped from the mosques and saw us. We would dig holes and leave mass graves of children, women, and old men. We were ordered to let people die on the street. We were told that the Geneva Convention means nothing to us in combat.
He was involved in a protest at a coffeshop near Arizona State University in April, 2004 -- barely a year after the war in Iraq began. He claims he "returned from Iraq after sustaining a back injury" (no mention of slaughtering women and children). He couldn't possibly have completed a 16-month tour by then, without the benefit of a time machine.
Jesse MacBeth told another story.MacBeth, a 20-year-old U.S. soldier who recently returned from Iraq after sustaining a back injury, said Coffee Plantation banned him from the store in March for the way he was dressed -- in his training uniform.
He had been sipping coffee calmly when a store employee asked him to leave. He refused.
Management insisted that he leave even after he took out his military ID card. Security guards escorted him off the premises under threat of arrest if he returned.
He said he hoped the protest would disrupt the flow of customers into the store.
"If you cut down the customers a lot, then they won't keep their business going," MacBeth said. "That's the whole point, to let society know what's going on."
Someone really should look into the background of the other IVAW members.
After I-MBC, we had a conversation about Public Affairs, and getting into the game of the information war. In the comments there, we have an illustration of how things like this Jesse MacBeth situation become a problem. The most important sections for today's business are here and here.
The USSR fought a heavy propaganda war against the United States throughout the Cold War. They funded hostile political movements and parties in nations across the globe; newspapers and whole news services; NGOs that would tend to be hostile to American interests; and so forth... After the USSR closed up shop, a lot of those organizations continued to exist on the infrastructure the USSR had built for them.... That White Phosphorous story, for example, started in an Italian Communist organ. It got worldwide distribution fast because it was pushed by this interlaced infrastructure of allied, anti-American groups. And then it got picked up by the Islamist organizations. That's the new piece in the puzzle, and it shows how dangerous that old, continuing structure of enemy organizations still is. If you look at websites run by Hizb-ut Tharir (say, 1924.org), you'll see that they have learned that they can draw on and assimiliate these old organizations' messages.You guys have been given a gift today. The blogosphere has punched this one down for you. But it's not going to go away because of that.
This guy's name, and his BS story, are going to appear around the world in several languages before it's done. It will be distributed by these old communist networks, and picked up by Hizb-ut Tahrir and their ilk. It's been knocked down in English, but if you don't get ready to knock it down in French and Italian, in Indonesia and Pakistan and Malaysia, it will still do the damage. Those people, the ones we need to keep from becoming anti-American terror supporters, aren't coming back to the English blogs. If you don't get into their media space, in their language, all they'll ever see is this guy's claims that he went into mosques as a Ranger and killed people at prayer.
The blogs have done their part. Be ready to use what you've been given.
In the extended section, excerpts from that interview with Jesse MacBeth. If his confession is true, he's a murderer and should be tried and sentenced to death.
Jesse better be ready to give names. Who pulled the trigger? Who gave the order? This is cold blooded murder he's confessing to.
I'll go further - after the trial, put Jesse, his buddies, and his chain of command up to whoever gave the order on a gallows, and l'll pull the lever.
I might have to wait in line for that honor though. The 75th Ranger Regiment (to which Jesse claims to belong) doesn't treat his sort of "soldier" very kindly:
BAGHDAD — Five Army Rangers have been charged with abusing detainees after a Sept. 7 incident in which Iraqi prisoners allegedly were punched and kicked while in their custody, U.S. military officials in Baghdad said Monday.The five soldiers, whose names and ranks are being withheld, were charged Saturday with assault, maltreatment and dereliction of duty.
The soldiers are assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment, an elite special operations unit based at Fort Benning, Ga. They were guarding a small group of prisoners who were about to be moved to detention facilities in Iraq.
<...>
Although the prisoners received mostly bruises, Keefe said, "the allegations are serious. We don't tolerate people who are going to behave that way."
The IA 7th Division is West of Ramadi, the IA 1st Division is East of Ramadi. Given the level of recruitment in AlAnbar, one would think that their respective AOR's would eventually include Ramadi.
The US could commit 2 or 3 brigades to Ramadi, and then spend 12-24 months transitioning security to the ISF, or the US could keep some level of "lid" on the violence in Ramadi, and wait for the Iraqi's to be in a position to "Clear and Hold" Ramadi on their own.
I missed this from Murdoc...everyone loves pictures.
POSEUR WARRIORS are not a new phenomenon. A junior sailor from my first ship was busted in the San Diego airport for impersonating a Navy SEAL. He was wearing choker whites with ensign shoulderboards and a SEAL trident. A Naval officer spotted him easily, because the shoulderboards were attached upside down.
He was busted to E-1, and put on restriction for a month. But his real punishment was the years of ridicule that he got from his fellow Sailors.
MORE: SocialistAlternative.Org interviews "Jesse Macbeth, formerly a Special Forces Ranger in Iraq."
While it's of obvious significance, I wouldn't place too much emphasis on whether or not Jessie MacBeth is an ex-Ranger.
Remember Dennis Edwards?
One more liar in the chain doesn't increase the credibility of any of them.
And the key point is that Ranger or not, MacBeth is a liar.
Given the sheer numbers of troops who've deployed the past three years it's not surprising that some go this route on return. The military is society in microcosm, with heroes, villains, glory hounds, and a few very 'emotionally troubled' individuals. But mostly a lot of average folks trying to do the right thing.
Here in Germany the wife and I visit the wounded troops who've been evac'd out of Iraq. Many express the complaint that the Rules of Engagement are far too restrictive (sometimes referred to as "the hearts and minds bullshit"), and that their hands are tied from responding with the force they'd prefer to attacks. But they follow those rules. While that could be the sort of background that could lead to a snap (as alleged in the Marine incident) it's far removed from the "orders from the top" accusations that this guy is throwing around.
I've mentioned the ROE bit before...
Update: Via Soldier's Mom, MacBeth's "profile" from Military.com's "Buddy Locator". (Note: military.com is a commercial site, not a military site.)
Greyhawk, just followed your Mudville link to this article on Time.com about Ramadi. As much as I distrust Michael Ware and his motives, it paints a pretty accurate picture of everything that we were briefed about Ramadi and how out of control it is still. Our battalion was prepared to move down there after Mosul and spend the last quarter of our deployment doing what we could to put the hammer down on the insurgents. But then the new Iraqi PM was chosen and suddenly the political winds shifted and we were sent packing to sleepy, deserted Tal Afar instead.
How $45m Secretly Bought Freedom Of Foreign HostagesDocuments seen by The Times show three countries paid ransoms in spite of denying it in public
FRANCE, Italy and Germany sanctioned the payment of $45 million in deals to free nine hostages abducted in Iraq, according to documents seen by The Times.
All three governments have publicly denied paying ransom money. But according to the documents, held by security officials in Baghdad who have played a crucial role in hostage negotiations, sums from $2.5 million to $10 million per person have been paid over the past 21 months. Among those said to have received cash ransoms was the gang responsible for seizing British hostages including Kenneth Bigley, the murdered Liverpool engineer.
The Montenegrans have voted to take their nation out of the rump Yugoslav Federation. Good riddance, I say...to Yugoslavia, not to Montenegro. The Serbs made their choice to go for a "Greater Serbia" instead of acting like the Slovenes - peaceful and seeking to become part of Europe. Compare the fate of the two, and you'll see the consequences of such choices. Hopefully this will be the last chapter in the story of Yugoslavia.
This is what I remember of Yugoslavia and what it meant...this used to be Zetra Ice Arena in Sarajevo. When I was there in 1997 with SFOR, the parking lots had mostly been turned into graveyards for victims of the seige.
A recent article in National Journal too comfortably arrives at the conclusion that deterrence of a nuclear Iran through MAD(Mutually Assured Destruction) is certain. We should hope that this is true, for it would mean that the messianic nature that parts of the regime exhibit is nothing but false bravado. That would be a dangerous conclusion if the article even considered it. But it does not. How seriously can we take the conclusions of a lengthy (and at times even well reasoned) article that fails to even mention the most frightening and least predictable aspect of the Iranian theocracy?
Forgive the shameless plug (I try to avoid them), but perhaps you will agree that Distinguishing Impatience from Urgency is an important consideration.
With the godless China and Russia, the psyches of our adversaries were clearly different than that which appears evident among at least some of the Iranian leadership. I, for one, care not to will to my children a nuclear 'Cold War' (supposedly insured by MAD) with the world's foremost state sponsor of international terrorism...a tyrrany in which at least some leaders appear bent on ushering the return of the 12th Imam. ....I certainly care not to do so blindly, as Paul Starobin seems comfortable doing.
(H/t to Eagle1 for the reminder).
Over at the Castle, National Maritime Day, Past and Present.
[Update 1514 23 May: Not surprisingly, all the original links in this post are now dead, as the "progressive" websites scramble to cover their butts. Those who've come here from some of the other coverage of this issue (I'm pretty sure this was the first milblog post on MacBeth) can check out the rest of the site for more information -- or, if you'd like, you can head to my home blog and read about submarines.]
Lots of "progressives" will probably be excited today about a new "interview" with an alleged former "Ranger", "Jessie MacBeth", being hyped by the Centre for Research on Globalization. The alleged Ranger accuses American soldiers of all sorts of war crimes. Luckily, the makers of the film didn't know enough about how military uniforms really work, so real soldiers are pointing out the discrepancies to show it's unlikely that this person was really who he claims to be. Examples of the discrepancies noted in the site's comments are in the extended entry.
Echoing a lot of what many(but not all) of us here have had to say about the MSM, the war, and the “Revolt of the Pensioners;” Victor Davis Hanson does an outstanding WWII send-up. A must read.
This is going to be big news today. For those who'd like to comment on it, though, you might want to consider how the NSA report differs from this report, linked at milblog Euphoric Reality, on terrorists crossing the American southern border. Both use classified documents as part of their report; both transmit the information from those documents, using the press, to people who aren't authorized to receive it.
The relevant parts of the US Code are here and here, if you'd like to look them over for yourself. I put up my own thoughts here, if you're interested in those.
On the night that HBO airs "Baghdad ER", these women are on the cover of Time magazine? And they think someone really cares whether we like the Dixie Chicks or they like us or what their opinion of the world is? Get a grip people... You definitely need a reality slap up side the head...
Programmers say that even now a heartfelt apology could help set things right with listeners, but it's not happening. "If people are going to ask me to apologize based on who I am," says Maines, "I don't know what to do about that. I can't change who I am."As proof, the first single from the Dixie Chicks' new album, "Taking the Long Way" (out May 23), is called "Not Ready to Make Nice." It is, as one country radio programmer says, "a four-minute f--- you to the format and our listeners. I like the Chicks, and I won't play it."
Really. "Radical Chicks?" Get a grip "Dixie Chicks in the Line of Fire"? My a$$$,"sisters". Only ones in the line of fire these days are American soldiers, sailors and marines protecting these spoiled rich women's right to shoot their mouths off and say stupid things.. And the rest of us don't care one lick if they ever sell another record. Jeez louise.
Professor Cori Dauber's observations here are spot on. I can find more real news, interesting news, and good stories about the war (not necessarily "good news", but good reporting) in a small paper than I can find in a bigger one. And it's changing information warfare:
Only now that all these papers have their own web sites is it possible to discover that there's this second, competing, exclusive narrative -- and to discover that fact in real time.Maybe that's a very long argument only of interest to a researcher, but I'd argue that it's just another example of the way the military is fighting in a radically different media environment than ever before. This really is the first Internet war, and that fact can (is) having real consequences.
Heh. I just read that thing, too. Guess I've got some catching up to do!
Funny thing is, I'm just quibbling on the fringes of y'all's good analyses. You should see me "disagreeing" with paid experts when I say that it might be a good idea to not assume Iran's nuclear capability is ten years away, or to assume there is no cultural or religious significance to the Amahdinejad letter to Bush...
Even though Chap's favorite pastime is disagreeing with our Iran analysis, you have got to give the guy credit for citing a reference from March 1925.
I admit that I'm still chapped about John Murtha receiving the Profile in Courage Award. So, in an effort to define true courage, let me introduce you to 1st Lt. Raymond G. Baronie, who recently received "a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with combat “V” for valor for his courageous actions while deployed to Iraq."
According to command members, Baronie could have taken a much safer route to the end of his deployment. Instead, he regularly placed himself in harm’s way to better understand how he could be a more effective and efficient leader.
Meet a truly courageous young man.
So I'm picking a bone with the local Barnes & Noble bookstore...
We also made our pilgrimage through the Barnes & Noble Bookstore. The Hubs likes to browse and I wanted to pick up Home of the Brave.Since it is a newly released book, I went to the two fairly large "Just Released" tables, but the book wasn't among the 40 or so books displayed on either. So I went to the reference/help desk and asked a college-aged young man who looked the book up, walked me to the "Military History" shelves, and handed me a copy of the book -- shelved at the bottom under the "W" authors.
I said, "I was expecting this to be on the Just Released tables. After all," I continued, "it is a new release." To which he replied in a flippant and somewhat condescending manner, "Welllll, we can't fit all of them up there." To which I immediately and forcefully said (in a quite clearly "I am ticked" voice), "Well, THIS one should be there. It's about the Heroes who are protecting the rights of people to read and write what they want and to keep places like this in business." I didn't wait for a reply, but turned and walked off
Hoping you'll pick on the same bone and pass the bone around the blosphere... maybe we can make another small difference ...
Here is a perfect example that the continuing leftist violence in Korea is not only limited to policemen and US & ROK soldiers:
For the first time in the 60-year political history of the Republic of Korea, the leader of the major opposition party has suffered a terror attack in broad daylight in the middle of Seoul. Grand National Party chairwoman Park Guen-hye suffered an 11-cm long cut to her face from ear to jaw at an election rally in Shinchon, Seoul, when a man in his 50s slashed her with a box cutter. The cut required over 60 stitches. A hospital official said if nearby major blood vessels had been cut, Park might have been in critical condition. She reportedly needs at least a week in hospital and will be unable to speak normally for several months. She will have to cancel all campaigning. Having to live with an ugly scar on, she must also have suffered a great psychological shock.
There are 4 forms of Jihad-the Heart, Tongue, Hand and Sword.
The first 3 forms are practiced by Mormon's and Fundamentalist Christians.(Christians gave up the 4th form at the end of the Crusades)
Blood Money - money paid for a wrongful death. 1/2 for woman and non-believers. If one checks insurance payouts for deaths in auto accidents the payouts for the primary wage earners are substantially higher than the payouts for non-wager earners.
IMHO - The translations are perjoritive. Blood Money sounds much more like something a blood thirsty heathen would pay rather than a "wrongful death payment" paid out by "Farmers Insurance Group".
In the extended entry, excerpts from those Saudi school textbooks.
Mrs. G - RedState offers some analysis of the upcoming Murtha/Irey election.
According to campaignmoney.com
Jack "The Mouth" Murtha has $1.4 Million in Campaign Money
Diana Irey has $54 thousand.
On the plus side for Ms Irey she has hired Brabender Cox as her media firm. Which has an 80% win rate.
Personnally, I'm going to give till it hurts to send Mouth Murtha to the barn. I can think of no better message to send to Murtha and his Code Pink fans.
But is it really impossible to replicate Tal Afar and Sadr City elsewhere in Iraq? Are the troop requirements (usually placed in the hundreds of thousands) really so large as to make such efforts ridiculous to contemplate? The only way to answer these questions is to think through a battle plan with care. And when appropriate models are applied, the answer that emerges is likely to be: It is indeed possible to imagine a campaign that would bring more rapid success. No individual could devise such a plan alone, and the considerations that follow do not pretend to be a finished blueprint. Rather, they amount to a kind of opening bid, intended to invite a serious examination of the question.
...Vietnam veteran (Airborne!) and poet laureate of the milblogs endorses Diana Irey, John "Jack" Murtha's opponent in the upcoming elections.
Because if I could afford this - we'd have a Kewl Venue for the next Milblogger Conference!
Mebbe if we all chip in... build a Milblogger Resort and Retirement Community!
...is being waged on two fronts, against two enemies.
"Divide and conquer" would be a nice approach - but thus far they are inseperable.
The Hilton may have kicked out the wounded troops, but others have stepped up to the plate so they can still "step" up to the plate too.
The Italian Ambassador, Gianni Castellaneta, and his wife, Lila, heard about Fran O’Brien’s dinners through an Italian sponsor and offered to have the wounded servicemembers over to the embassy at some point as well, according to Shoshana Bryen, a member of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, another sponsor.After Fran O’Brien’s lost its lease at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, the Italian ambassador and his wife decided to make good on their plans to welcome the wounded veterans, Bryen said Friday night.
“They have turned themselves inside out to be helpful,” Bryen said.
Bryen added that another hotel in downtown Washington, the Crowne Plaza at 14th and K streets, has since committed to continuing to holding the Friday dinners for wounded veterans. They have held two dinners so far since Fran O’Brien’s closed.
If we ever see Arab Militaries highlighting stuff like this, we'll know we've had a world-changing impact on the Region.
What does it mean to say "he cursed him out"? We use the phrase today only in a very informal way. We forget that it has an ancient, formal meaning.
Doc Russia calls down the formal curse on the head of a former Marine. This is something I have never seen done before, and hope never to see again.
The guy making the acusations is too much of a lightweight for Cpl Andoscia's remarks to be called "speaking truth to power" - so lets just call it "speaking truth to liar."
Via Phil Carter (who's blogging from Iraq) this New Yorker piece by George Packer.
Both links offer essential commentary on counter-insurgency operations vis-à-vis Iraq today. At the heart of the matter, a debate over the best of two responses - US troops in numerous small FOBs "on the streets" in routine close contact with friend and foe or pooled in larger central bases from which they can strike as the need arises. The debate itself may be more media contrivance - or a slight misunderstanding/over-simplification of the topic. The military (strategic, tactical, logistical) issue is less "either/or" and more evolutionary - the pull back is the goal (actually just another step to full withdrawal) and the real question is how soon?
The New Yorker bit appears long, but after about the first two-thirds it devolves from thoughtful analysis and useful insight on strategy and tactics into the political (Theme: "hate hate Rummy arrogant hate Bush stupid hate hate" translated into New Yorker intellectual-ese), but you'll see the shift quite clearly and can simply exit out at that point if you so choose.
The focus of much of the useful discussion is Tall Afar, environs from which our own Buck Sargent reports, time permitting. The well known letter-writing mayor of that town is currently visiting the US.
Lex,
Oh, yea. And this guy is a real hero to freedom.
He wants to be brave? Instead of having the actor do the Star Spangled Anthem, have him do the Muslim (Sunni or Shiite) call to prayer......then I will call him "brave."
Headline, the Washington Post: Violence Kills 3, Wounds 21 in Baghdad.
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Roadside bombs and a drive-by shooting killed three Iraqis and wounded 21 on Sunday, a day after the formation of the country's new national unity government.I suspect if you studied 3 years of media headlines/lead paragraphs on Iraq you'd find that there are four main causes of death there:
Violence
Bombs
Guns
American Soldiers and Marines
Real puppy-killers like Big Oil, the Israel Lobby, the media, neocons, even the American people. Notably absent however, is any mention of the Mullahs.
Of the seven American submariners to be awarded the Medal of Honor for service during WWII, only one survives -- Gene Fluckey, CO of USS Barb (SS 220). In addition to the Medal of Honor, he earned four Navy Crosses, a record of bravery that will likely never be surpassed. I posted some more information about this unique American late last year.
Word on the street is that Adm. Fluckey may be about to pass on. Please remember him and his family in your prayers during this trying time. In the meantime, we can remember him as he was during his "finest hours", as detailed in his MOH citation:
Maybe we should post some warnings...
This from CNN Entertainment
Army: HBO documentary could trigger stress disorderWASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Army surgeon general is warning that the HBO documentary "Baghdad ER" is so graphic that military personnel watching it could experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
In a memo dated May 9 and obtained by CNN, Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley said the film "shows the ravages and anguish of war."
"Those who view this documentary may experience many emotions," he said in the memo. "If they have been stationed in Iraq, they may re-experience some symptoms of post-traumatic stress, such as flashbacks or nightmares."
Maybe they should have thought of this (a) before they allowed the filming, and (b) before premiering it at 22 Army facilities?
Tal Afar Mayor Najim Al Jibouri makes his first visit to the United States. On his agenda, a speech to soldiers and their families at Ft. Carson, Colorado. What a speech it was.
COLORADO SPRINGS - An Iraqi mayor stood before troops lined up on the lawn at Fort Carson on Friday morning and said only two words in English.But those two words brought the crowd to its feet.
"Thank you."
It was a telling gesture from Tal Afar Mayor Najim Al Jibouri, who spoke for about 20 minutes in his native tongue praising the 3rd Armored Cavalry for saving his city from certain ruin.
Read the entire article here.
as I said in a comment over at Cdr Salamander's place -- Having had a soldier wounded in Iraq (and who will face at least 2 more deployments of said soldier under his current Reg. Army contract), I am certain I will not watch it.
But frankly, except for Automatic Bob (Herbert) who MAKES it anti-war, the HBO crew could film in ERs across the USA and produce just as graphic documentaries: this is what guns do... this is what knives do... this is what meth does... My question is, is the HBO documentary per se crafted as an anti-war piece? THAT would piss me off.
I'm pretty sure most Americans already know how they stand on the war and I don't think this documentary will actually change their minds. The anti-[war] [Bush] [Cheney] crowd will use ANYTHING it can to try to dissuade the American public from the Mission in Iraq. Those of us who can not be dissuaded will see the heroes in the doctors, nurses and the soldiers who choose to fight.
How they feel before viewing this is how they will feel after they view it -- with either side saying, "See! See! What'd I tell you?" The best we can do is to tell people "See -- Heroes all. What'd I tell ya??"
Not much doing around the Great Brown North of Iraq lately. Though it'd be a good opportunity to finish up some old posts that I never quite followed through on.
Who needs an emergency backup man-cannon when you've got a rescue rocket?
Militants hiding in a vineyard and armed with machine guns ambushed an Afghan army convoy Saturday, shooting dead four soldiers but losing 15 of their own.
Being a zoomie, I'm no expert in squad to company level tactics. But irrespective of service.... if you prepare and execute an ambush, and the enemy kills 15 of your guys while losing only 4 of his own, you do have to wonder who exactly is doing the ambushing.
Guess who will receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Monday? (Scroll Down)
Murtha, 73, is to be awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston on Monday for his bold pronouncement last November that U.S. troops should be pulled out of Iraq. The Democratic hawk and retired Marines Reserves colonel surprised the administration and drew the ire of conservatives.
Yeah. Real courageous. My nomination for the Profile in Courage Award can't be narrowed down to one person. I'll start with this group of people, and I'm just getting warmed up.
There are many areas in the world where US soldiers need to be careful of being assaulted at and the streets of Seoul, Korea are no exception. A perfect example of this was the 2002 kidnapping and beating of three US soldiers in Seoul. The three soldiers were on their way home to Camp Red Cloud from a weekend shopping trip to Seoul using the local subway when a known pro-North Korean activist, Mr. Seo and his henchmen approached them and then assaulted the three soldiers which led to a brawl between the soldiers and the activists.
The soldiers fleeing the mob that was assaulting them, fled from the subway and were further chased by the mob outside of the subway. Korean riot police who were stationed near a hospital due to an unrelated protest intervened and rescued two of the soldiers from the mob. The third soldier captured by the mob was taken to a local stadium, beaten and paraded in front of a cheering crowd, and then forced to make coerced statements on national Korean TV with help from the Korean police before being handed over. Video of the mob chase can be seen from this site.
So what happened you may ask after what could easily be called assault and kidnapping? Well the GI's were blamed of course. The activists who assaulted them blamed the soldiers for starting the fight and demanded they be tried and sentenced in Korean court. The media instantly believed and promoted the activists side of the story and demonized the three soldiers in the newspapers blaming them for the assault while not publishing the soldiers' side of the story.
HBO will show this program on the 21st. It’s an in your face display of what happens in a military ER. My thoughts…….if you want to see limbs being cut off, massive trauma and service members passing away, you should have got on the plane headed to Iraq or Afghanistan and spent a year there for your country. Personally I will pass on the viewing as I will probably recognize a few of the warriors. Your call.
Capt B sends…..
Another drill weekend, and my Navy Reserve unit is losing up to four Sailors.
- One Sailor has volunteered to deploy with another unit to Kuwait (his second OIF deployment).
- Another Sailor is volunteering to go with the same unit, but doesn't yet have orders (his rating is not in high demand for this mission).
- A third Sailor has been involuntarily mobilized to go to Kuwait (for the second time; he confesses to me that he's actually looking forward to it).
- A fourth Sailor is voluntarily transferring to the active duty Army under the "Blue to Green" program.
Since we returned from Kuwait in 2003, such "surges" of attrition has become commonplace whenever another Naval Coastal Warfare detachment is preparing to deploy. Most NCW Sailors have deployed at least once since 2001; many have deployed two or even three times.
The good news (or bad news, depending on your perspective), is that this will likely be the final OIF deployment for a reserve Naval Coastal Warfare detachment, as future deployments will be handled by the recently commissioned active duty NCW squadrons.
This doesn't mean, however, that NCW reservists are off the hook. Individual augmentations will almost certainly continue, and we must remain ready to deploy within 48-72 hours for contingency operations -- but the bulk of the maritime force protection mission will soon shift back to the active duty Navy.
Pass the coffee and donuts.
Even on this day of Iraqi triumph I couldn't help but note that some the the old guard Socialists in the UK keep "gnawing on old plots."
Today's chew is from Alexander Cockburn in the Independent.
Here's the sublead:
Across central Iraq, there is an exodus of people fleeing for their lives as sectarian assassins and death squads hunt them down. At ground level, Iraq is disintegrating as ethnic cleansing takes hold on a massive scale.This follows an earlier attempt by the AP and the NY Times to counteract the recent Taheri piece about the very low trickle of refugees and the high rate of returning Iraqis.
Cockburn tries the same gambit, using anecdotal evidence (one case seemingly) to protray a "mass exodus of the middle class.
I guess they couldn't very well let news of the formation of the new Government go unchallenged by a subjective scare piece from the Old Left. Gnaw away, aging lefties!
Congratulations are due to the Iraqi people, who once again, met another deadline and achieved another milestone on the path to a functional democracy.
Just as an observation, their track record to date puts them in the upper 25 Percentile for the world's nations, don't you think?
Yet we will see another goalpost set, another remark from Friedman about what we need to see in the next 6-9 months or it's all for naught.
The Iraqi people, meanwhile, we quietly continue making progress.
"Do you personally think the government is listening to your phone conversations?" Yes 30% No 56% Unsure 14%
Something is beyond wrong with either the perceptions of the average American or the Pollng methodology. How can it be that 30% of adults believe the government would bother to listen to their phones calls?
Here's a list of the cabinet so far... from Fox News:
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A list of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's 39-member Cabinet. The Cabinet includes two women.
Another Springtime for Hitler???
Hirata believes the current novel, issued in a cover patterned with violets, was written by Saddam and has a melodic clarity to it that suggests it could be adapted to the stage."I really think this book should be made into a musical," she said. "And once this is done, it should play in the heart of his enemy's country, on Broadway."
Hooboy... the sad part is that there are probably a few producers who would actualy consider staging this -- WHILE WE'RE STILL AT WAR... and sadder still that there are probably a number of Hollywood types that will be rushing to acquire the rights for the movie...
On a different note, if I had a claim against Saddam, I'd be rushing to file a claim on any profits the book garnered....
I'm sure you celebrate National Maritime Day every year, right?
A day to honor the Merchant Marine and their proud history as set out here.
While we tend to forget World War II except for big events like Pearl Harbor and D-Day, the Merchant Marine did a lot of dangerous sailing in harm's way and paid a heavy price:
In naval history - the USS Stark was struck by an Iraqi Exocet missile in the Arabian Gulf - collateral damage in the "Tanker Wars" between Iraq and Iran.
And an RA-5C Vigilante was shot down by ground fire over Hanoi - although both the pilot and his nav ejected and survived the crash, they did not long survive their captors' tender mercies.
Chief Washington correspondent Andi with developments in the Fran O'Brien's story.
Every time the Hilton expands their attempts to justify kicking the wounded vets out they just keep looking worse.
Headlines, lead paragraphs from here and there.
New York Times: Iraqis Name Cabinet Today But Security Ministers Later
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Saturday, May 20 — Iraqi political leaders still have not agreed on candidates for the two most important cabinet posts, the Ministries of Interior and Defense, but presentation of a new government on Saturday will go ahead anyway, officials said Friday.
Washington Post: Two Cabinet Posts Yet Undecided
BAGHDAD, May 19 -- Iraq's prime minister-designate was ready to present his cabinet nominees to parliament on Saturday but had not yet decided who would fill the two most important positions, aides and politicians said Friday night.
London Times: Exit Route For Allies After New Iraq Deal
TONY BLAIR and President Bush are preparing to hail the formation of Iraq’s first permanent government since the fall of Saddam Hussein today — a development that should finally allow them to begin withdrawing their 140,000 troops from an ever more hostile country.
Aljazeera: Iraqi parliament approves government
Iraq's parliament has approved the country's new government during a session in Baghdad.
In a show of hands, the 275 members of parliament approved the list of cabinet ministers read out by Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister-designate.
The new ministers then took their oaths in the session, held inside the city's heavily fortified Green Zone and broadcast on Aljazeera Live.
I know that public opinion polls are pretty useless, but I can't help myself...
A majority of Americans approve (or at least don't mind) that the NSA has phone records
But this set of results of polls on the War on Terrorism might be the coolest (ok, maybe the most interesting) because it has the source of the questions (CBS, Fox, USAToday, etc.) and some questions asked over time have trending info...
I said I couldn't help myself...
Over at the Counterterrorism Blog, Bill Roggio sorts through the hash the MSM has made of reports on a Taliban offensive. Reported here:
The news reports of a major Taliban offensive in southeastern Afghanistan are inaccurate, as Coalition offensives and Taliban attacks have been lumped together to give the impression of a coordinated Taliban assault in multiple provinces. A reading of the various reports indicates that while the Taliban has launched a major strike on a police station and government center in Helmand province and a small scale attack on a police patrol in Ghazni, as well as two suicide attacks against U.S. contractors in Herat and an Afghan army base in Ghazni, the fighting in Kandahar was initiated by Afghan and Coalition security forces during planned operations.Bill also addresses the potential impact of such misleading reporting.
A very worthwhile read.
Saddam's Book of Last Minute Fairy Tales is out in Japan. Make sure to order your copy. All proceeds benefit future delusional tyrants.
So Mexico plans to protest the US border plan. They're angry with US for wanting to secure OUR border... and because we won't make it easier for Mexican citizens to become US citizens? I think it is all about the US$20 BILLION that flows to Mexico annually. Heaven forbid Mexico or any other country has to fix the problems THERE so that their people don't want/have to come here. Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up....
Mexico to Protest U.S. Border Plan By REUTERS Published: May 19, 2006MEXICO CITY, May 18 — Mexico will formally complain to the United States about plans to build security fences and deploy National Guard troops on the border to curb illegal immigration, Mexico's foreign minister, Luis Ernesto Derbez, said Thursday.
"There are 12 million Mexicans on the other side, 12 million people who live every day in anguish about the need for a reform to let them live peacefully," Mr. Derbez said. He said Mexico would send a diplomatic note to the United States about American plans for the border.
Such notes are often sent as a form of protest when nations are at odds with each other.
Mexico wants the United States to make it easier for immigrants to attain legal status, and supports a guest-worker program rather than a tightening of the border.
The status of illegal immigrants in the United States is a major political issue in Mexico. Opponents have criticized President Vicente Fox as not protesting strenuously enough against American efforts to tighten the porous frontier. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leftist candidate in the presidential election, which will be held in July, accused Mr. Fox on Wednesday of being "a plaything, a puppet of foreign governments."
And note: they're not protesting that the Mexican President or goverment did nothing to help poor Mexicans in Mexico -- they're protesting because the American government is trying to help Americans in America. No, sometimes you just can't make this stuff up.
Communist organization A.N.S.W.E.R. will be celebrating their special day by marching on the White House....again. This year's demand? "Hands off Venezuela and Cuba!"
A.N.S.W.E.R. wrote on their website:
the May 20 Hands Off Venezuela and Cuba Coalition - is organizing a demonstration in Washington, DC to demand the U.S. cease all threats and campaigns against the sovereign countries of Cuba and Venezuela. This demonstration comes at a critical time as the Bush administration is moving aggressively to overthrow the democratically elected government of Venezuela, while it initiates new provocations against the people of Cuba.
If there was a top-ten list of Stupid Dictator Tricks, drumming up fears of an imaginary American invasion would be number one. Favorite of Castro, Stalin, Kim Jong-Il, Chavez, and other dictatorial all-stars. Hell Castro's been crying "Marines!" for 50 years now and A.N.S.W.E.R. is still falling for it.
It's sad to see naive American kids falling for used-car salesman lines like "Hands off Cuba and Venezuela," and it's even worse to see them acting as mouthpieces for clowns like Fidel Castro and Hugh Chavez.
Currently in South Korea a battle continues to rage over the Camp Humphreys expansion. Camp Humphreys is being expanded in order to consolidate Yongsan Garrison in Seoul and the 2nd Infantry Division units located near the DMZ all in one hub which gives 8th Army strategic flexibility in order to deploy forces from the peninsula while simultaneously reducing the USFK footprint in the country.
However, to expand the camp the small farming village of Daechu-ri had to be annexed by the Korean government. The farmers were offered a compensation package and 70% of the farmers took the compensation and left. However, the remaining farmers are refusing to move and the typical anti-US groups backed by North Korea moved into the village and have used the village to spread their anti-US hate messages. Off and on violence has escalated over the past year until a couple of weeks ago when the Korean police and military moved in to remove the anti-US groups from Daechu-ri once and for all and the "Lord of the Ringesque" battle captured on video can be seen here.
"League of Nations urges US to release all German prisoners"
Opponents of the Roosevelt administration, still upset over the massive intelligence failure that led to last months tragic "Battle of the Bulge", joined calls from the League of Nations to shut down American POW camps for Germans. "Some of these prisoners have been held for more than three years, without a trial, and without any access to lawyers", a famous Hollywood starlet complained. "Germany wasn't even involved in the so-called 'sneak attack' on Pearl Harbor".
Waheed, a translator for Afghani forces, is still blogging away in English. He's trying his darndest, and updates with an article every week or two. He's worth a look. Omar he ain't but then again neither am I!
Los Angeles-based commercial filmmaker 900 Frames will film and produce the staged suicide bombing, showing viewers the time just before, during and after the explosion, in an effort to capture the impact of the act.A group of scholars, businessmen and activists in Iraq and abroad put up the $1 million in production costs, which includes hiring over 200 mostly local actors.
One would think the Hollywood peace lovers would produce such a film for free.
You want reports on Guantanamo? We got reports on Guantanamo. The first 4 are from this week:
'Not enough interrogators' at Guantanamo
Only about one-quarter of the prisoners held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay are interrogated regularly, because there are not enough translators and interrogators to question them all, the US admiral in charge said.
U.S. To Turn Over 16 Saudis From Guantanamo To Riyadh
The United States plans to turn over 16 Saudis suspected of terrorist activities and held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to Saudi Arabian authorities, the Saudi foreign minister and American officials said Wednesday.
Eight Pakistanis To Leave Guantanamo
The US will soon release eight of the 29 Pakistanis held at the US military's Guantanamo Bay prison, interior minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said Tuesday.
Freed From Guantanamo, 5 Face Danger In Albania
Five Chinese Muslims recently released from the Guantanamo Bay prison are living under increasingly dangerous conditions in Albania, the only country to let them in after the United States determined they were not ''enemy combatants," according to their lawyer.
And finally, this blast from the past:
New Sisyphus reports on former Marine and current Foreign Service Officer in Iraq.
If you haven't met Soldier's Dad, who is no relation to Soldier's Mom, let me just say by way of brief introduction that no one can match his ability to find additional interesting facts about a story.
Edited(worse meant fewer homicides, better would be a better term)
Comparing murders rates for countries is a valid comparison. Iraq is better(#5) than Venezula which ranks #4 for most homicides per capita, followed by Russia and Mexico.
Comparing a country to a city is a statistical slight of hand. Violence tends to concentrate in cities. For Baghdad to be equivalent to Washington DC then it would be experiencing no more than 8 murders per day.(The NYC Murder rate pre-Guiliani). Estimates vary widely as to the post-Sammara Bombing homicide rate in Baghdad. I believe 16-20 to be "consensus".
Raytheon works to fix heat-ray in time for Iraq test next year .
Or since it's a heat ray, maybe cool is the wrong word.
The journalist backs away from his original story.
Several experts are casting doubt on reports that Iran had passed a law requiring the country’s Jews and other religious minorities to wear coloured badges identifying them as non-Muslims.
The part about the national "Islamic dress code," however, appears to be true.
So Chairman Mao, instead of Hitler. Choose your poison.
More thoughts here.
1st Sgt Von Zehle is famous for a bit more than importing Saddam's Car.
How does the saying go - "No good deed goes unpunished"
Via the Legion of Dumb, we get a call for magnets.
Lots and lots of magnets.
Enough to cover a Humvee. From Iowahawk:
Attention all members of the Legion of Dumb! Your first official mission has been assigned. Old Pal (and full Fellow in the Legion of Dumb) Dr Darren Lee has long supplied me with his special homemade Ozark "hair tonic", and believe you me, it is some of the mellowest, smoothest, low-hangover "hair tonic" you will ever comb. Now Doc is over in the Big Sandy making life miserable for Zarkman, so I'd like to return the favor. Doc writes:
Naturally you will get the picture of the completed project. I must not let the
evil Cavalry types get ahead of me on this one. Perhaps your readers would like to take part with a secret PSYOP decoder
ring going to the best magnet.
This is exactly the type of surreal absurdist activity the LOD was founded to support. Thus you are hereby commanded: Send your weirdest refrigerator magnets immediately to
And while you're at it, you can support our other servicemen and women by supporting Operation Gratitude which is aiming to get 40,000 care packages together by the 4th of July.
Greyhawk - Perhaps the feds are low on luxurious armored cars?
At Blue Crab Boulevard, a letter from a son in Iraq. You really want to read this.
Andi - the odd thing is he bought that car in 2003, and a year ago it got a lot of press attention.
And the feds are taking it from him now?
It might just maybe kinda sorta have something to do with you all not being able to keep your mouths shut about secret, critical intelligence gathering activities on which the lives of Americans at home and abroad rest? oh. okay
From our friends at the NYTimes:
WASHINGTON, May 18 — There were two types of senators at Thursday's confirmation hearing for Gen. Michael V. Hayden: the briefed, and the briefed-nots.The former were mostly polite. The latter, especially Democrats, threw the Congressional equivalent of a temper tantrum.
After Hayden explained that it was not his decision as to who did or did not get briefed:
That did not appear to satisfy Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine. Earlier in the day she had complained that the small number of lawmakers who were briefed before Wednesday were "handcuffed" because they were not permitted to share information with colleagues."The notification to a very limited group — they could do nothing much with that information, essentially — is not the kind of checks and balances that I think our founding fathers had in mind," Ms. Snowe said.
Well, I think the founding fathers might have expected that if you said something was secret, it was secret..
Soldier's Mom, no one will believe we didn't coordinate those two posts below - but we didn't.
Two years ago when our son graduated from the on-base school here in Germany, closed circuit TV was set up to allow the deployed parents to watch. Early in the ceremony, those kids were called one by one to stand and wave at the camera, to cheers from the crowd. One shouting "Hi mom" is something I'll never forget.
Especially when I hear stories about pampered, spoiled, and ill-prepared little s#!ts like those the New School just ejected into the world.
Aparently not at the New School. These kids wouldn't know one of America's elite if he stood before them.
Do these people actually get jobs?
Makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it...
Soldiers to Watch Graduations Online Associated Press | May 19, 2006 CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - In his 20-year career as a Soldier, 1st Sgt. Michael McElveen has missed a lot of important moments with his family - birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. But on Saturday he will get to watch his daughter, 18-year-old Fatima, walk across the stage and accept her high school diploma - even though he is still thousands of miles away in Iraq.Seven high schools near Fort Campbell, the home of the Army's storied 101st Airborne Division, will broadcast their graduation ceremonies live over the Internet for the first time for family members stationed overseas.
Is it safer to be a civilian resident in Iraq than in some U.S. cities and other countries?
There's them what sez it is, and there's them what sez it ain't.
Here's one Senator's response...
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) made the following statement in response to a United Nations panel report calling for the shutdown of the terrorist detainment center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.“Instead of finding new ways to criticize the United States, the United Nations should focus their attention on real human rights abuses. Iran is reportedly trying to revive Nazi tactics of discrimination against Jews and Christians and hundreds of thousands are dying because of genocide in Darfur,” said Senator DeMint. “In the meantime, America will not forget the lessons of September 11th, and will keep captured terrorists from killing more innocent Americans.”
AMEN, Senator.
From the ABCnews.com story (my emphasis):
U.N. investigators were invited to inspect the facilities at Guantanamo but chose not to, White House press secretary Tony Snow said."It is important to note that everything that is done in terms of questioning detainees is fully within the boundaries of American law," Snow said.
Further, Snow said the United States makes sure that prisoners are provided with food, clothing and other basic necessities and have the opportunity to worship.
"In short," Snow said, "we are according every consideration consistent with not only the law but the needs of safety and security at Guantanamo to the people who are there."
State Department legal adviser John B. Bellinger III, who led the U.S. delegation at the U.N. panel hearing, said the committee appeared not to have read a lot of the information Washington had supplied or had ignored it.
And the Catch-22 inherent in the UN report of closing the facility but not sending known, violent terrorists to places that might, ahem, ACTUALLY torture the detainees is not lost on Bellinger:
Bellinger added that the United States was working "very hard" to address concerns about Guantanamo, but that critics had failed to come up with suggestions on what to do with the detainees."If you add in the recommendation in this report that Guantanamo ought to be closed but large numbers of people can't be sent back to certain countries, there's not really a very good solution," he said.
Once again, all the "experts" and all the anti-US critics have all the answers... no solutions.
And I have just a two word response to this... ok, it's not a polite response.. but it's concise:
The panel asked the United States to report back within a year with its response to several of its concerns and recommendations.
Anyone who knows him will tell you that Doc is a real bookworm. So, it's no surprise that his latest recreational project has been to build, stock, and organize a library for his unit.
Doc's latest photo album update features care-packages, camel spiders, battle scars, scorpions, sandstorms, cute puppies, and lots of photos of Sailors and Marines goofing off.
Noted here yesterday:
Turkey, thanks to Ataturk has long been a secular republic with a Moslem population. Now the secularists take to the streets to protest the slaying of a judge by a "suspected Islamist gunman" and to show their support for Turkey to remain secular ... and more in the Corner today:Erdogan’s and the AKP’s statements that all of this must be plots of outsiders are falling on deaf ears. Turks have had enough of their government’s unwillingness to take responsibility for its actions and its incitement. What some Turks are asking, though, is why the U.S. media is paying so little attention to the crisis. This isn’t just an instance of Turks being Turkey-centric. But it seems that when Islamists threaten to make inroads, U.S. media is all over the story. But when liberals fight back, there is silence. This is not only true in Turkey, but extends to general media sympathy toward Islamism.
More here.Erdogan and the AKP are perceived as not as secular as some would like.
Posted at 2100Z
Terrorists in some Middle Eastern jails are killing time by chatting on cell phones. Guess who's on speed dial?
With all those cell phones, terrorists in numerous prisons in the Middle East have been afforded the luxury of running veritable press centers. Each Al Qaida prison wing has its spokesman and the number most widely dialed is the newsroom of Al-Jazeera, where the entire Middle East can hear the latest pronouncements of jihad.Shocked. Shocked, I say.
Mon Dieu! - Even as the beautiful people gather in Cannes, it seems that yet another wave of riots threatens to sweep Paris:
A group of French feminists wants to get rid of the word "mademoiselle", or "miss," saying the term turns a female into an inferior being defined by her marital status.Next thing you know les petite filles will want to watch soccer, too."When you get letters, the postman or anyone passing by your mailbox can see whether you are married or not. It's nobody's business," said Mathilde, an unmarried 40-year old, who has launched a petition for the government to abolish the term.
"The term mademoiselle puts a diminutive view on our girls, it turns them into incomplete 'little things', never really autonomous, who will not become real adults unless they find a husband or become mothers," says her petition, which has been signed by some 4,200 people.
Sure, just throw me right in.
I'd much rather talk about Cannes, but I don't get the VIP invite that the Greyhawks receive.
And maybe it's just us fundies, but what on earth could "Tiananmen Square, where the politics are almost as hot as the sex" possibly mean?
Is it some kind of obscure reference to a sexual position or practice?
"Man, it was a hot scene. We all had our Tainanmen's Squared!"
And if so, how come Matt or Smash aren't talking about it?
Give Them What They Want. The prisoners at Gitmo that is, not the UN.
Two reports from AP, of two curiously timed events:
Guantanamo Prison Guards, Inmates Clash
U.N. Urges U.S. to Shut Guantanamo Prison
Bottom line up front, buried 30 paragraphs down in the piece on the UN Report:
Andreas Mavrommatis, a Cypriot rights expert who chaired the committee's review of the United States, said the report should not be blown out of proportion because the United States has "a very good record of human rights" overall.Fat chance.
The AP characterizes the Gitmo prisoner “uprising” in a way that strongly suggests that prisoners made suicide attempts to draw in guards, conduct attacks and other harassing actions, and (thereby) gain media attention.
Silly little Dadmanly - babbling on about Iraq while the beautiful people are gathering at Cannes:
WITH the manufactured hysteria over "The Da Vinci Code" now little more than a fast-fading hangover, the 59th Cannes Film Festival has begun in earnest. And just as they do every year, the programmers have proved that in between the critical grandstanding and the public-relations hyperbole there actually is room for art, or at the very least some satisfying films. The first few days here have not yet produced any revelations, but filmgoers have again been able to tour the cinematic world, passing through Paris on the way to Paraguay and Tiananmen Square, where the politics are almost as hot as the sex.As the current head of the MilBlog's European Bureau, it is my duty to share this with you. Look how artfully the reporter works in a reference to Fahrenheit 9/11:
In "Fast Food," Mr. Linklater and Mr. Schlosser, who wrote the screenplay together, trace a miscellany of characters from both sides of the American-Mexican border as they experience the perils of globalization. The most essential political film from an American director since Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," it may not turn you into a vegetarian, but it will definitely make your think twice about our fast-food culture.I don't know about that reporter, but this reporter says: "yo quero Taco Bell, baby". Ohhh la la.
The USA Today reporter who broke the telecom/NSA story gave $2,000 to the Gephardt presidential campaign in 2003. That's not big news, since most reporters are staunch Democrats you'd likely find that with any story.
But this is:
Two of the three phone companies Cauley fingered, BellSouth and Verizon, have since denied the accuracy of the May 11 USA Today story, and BellSouth yesterday went so far as to demand the newspaper “retract the false and unsubstantiated statements” made by Cauley in her piece.
On the other hand, Amir Taheri describes the new law pretty extensively:
The law mandates the government to make sure that all Iranians wear "standard Islamic garments" designed to remove ethnic and class distinctions reflected in clothing, and to eliminate "the influence of the infidel" on the way Iranians, especially, the young dress. It also envisages separate dress codes for religious minorities, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who will have to adopt distinct colour schemes to make them identifiable in public. The new codes would enable Muslims to easily recognize non-Muslims so that they can avoid shaking hands with them by mistake, and thus becoming najis (unclean).The new law, drafted during the presidency of Muhammad Khatami in 2004, had been blocked within the Majlis. That blockage, however, has been removed under pressure from Khatami's successor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The new law replaces the one passed in 1982 dealing with women's clothes. That law imposed the hijab and focused on the need to force women to cover their hair in public. The emphasis on the hijab was based on the belief that women's hair emanates an "evil ray" that drives men "into lustful irrationality" and thus causes harm to Islam. The new law cannot come into effect until consensus is reached on what constitutes "authentic Islamic attire."
There's much more at the link. I'm more inclined to believe Taheri's lengthy and detailed story, than Meir Javedanfar one-line dismissal. But I could be wrong.
Or foot, as the case may be...
Iranian women soccer fans are devastated following a decision by Iran's Supreme Leader that women are not allowed to watch men's soccer games in person. This decision comes just a month after Iran's President said women are allowed to watch soccer matches at stadiums.Just as well - it's been demonstrated that soccer promotes hooliganism:
TEHRAN, June 8 -- One of the victories scored at Azadi Stadium on Wednesday evening was Iran's soccer triumph over the island nation of Bahrain, an easy 1-0 win that guaranteed Iran a slot in next year's World Cup tournament and set off dancing in the streets of the capital.But that's their culture, and we have to respect that.Another sort of victory came about 90 minutes before the game, when a crowd of female soccer fans pushed their way past guards outside the stadium. Defying a rule that has banned women from soccer matches for more than a quarter-century in the Islamic republic, the young activists demanded seats in the sports complex that Iran's religious rulers named Azadi, or "freedom."
No doubt some Americans would prefer not to listen to women prattle on during a game either - with or without a bag over their heads. But that's not the reason given for banning them in Iran.
The National Post is sending shockwaves across the country this morning with a report that Iran's Parliament has passed a law requiring mandatory Holocaust style badges to identify Jews and Christians.Via Rocket's Brain Trust.But independent reporter Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli Middle East expert who was born and raised in Tehran, says the report is false.
"It's absolutely factually incorrect," he told The New 940 Montreal.
Reuters Alertnet doesn't list Iraq as a "Featured Emergency" anymore.
While there is still plenty of killing gong on in Iraq, the major "controversies" are pretty much either being addressed or resolved. The civil war hasn't materialized, at least not in a scale that would interest the media.
So it's been what, almost a week, and we have over 200 posts, representation from all the services, plenty of pics, milblog humor, and even some intraservice snarking. Sounds like it's been a great start!
Thanks to our hosts, Greyhawk and Mrs. Greyhawk, for all their efforts on our behalf, getting this started, making it a reality, and doing such a great job. You two are the best!
By now, Amir Taheri’s comprehensive assessment of Iraq in Commentary has received wide attention. Read the whole thing.
Taheri begins his report about the Real Iraq, describing the almost universal puzzlement of those who visit Iraq for any length, and return to compare their observations with mainstream media (MSM) reporting:
Within hours of arriving here, as I can attest from a recent visit, one is confronted with an image of Iraq that is unrecognizable.Taheri recounts the many ways public opinion is molded by prominent (and often hysterical) reporting, and concludes:
it is no wonder the American public registers disillusion with Iraq and everyone who embroiled the U.S. in its troubles.Summary, round-up with other links and commentary here.
Just for reference, the Hilton Family of Brands are:
Conrad Hotels
Doubletree
Embassy Suites Hotels
Hampton Inn
Hampton Inns & Suites
Hilton Hotels
Hilton Garden Inn
Hilton Grand Vacations Club
Homewood Suites by Hilton
Scandic
Tell your friends and family.
...in the same sense they forgot about Jane Fonda and John Kerry. Blackfive with more.
Meanwhile, according to a Hilton Senior VP, the guys at Fran's not only refused to pay rent, their place was a dump:
The most salient point is that the proprietors of Fran O'Brien's had not paid their rent for four months. This is on top of numerous health an safety violations present in the restaurant that were in clear violation of the lease.Short version: NOKD.
The Russian patrol ship Pytlivy will be joining a NATO anti-terrorist exercise in the Mediterranean it is reported here:
The fleet’s press service told ITAR-TASS on Friday that five-day exercises of the Russian ship and Britain’s frigate Nottingham would be held in preparation for joining NATO’s anti-terrorist operation Active Endeavour.Probably a good idea to invite the Russians, but still... it seems odd somehow.Officers of a NATO mobile training group have come on the board of the Pytlivy for preparing the joint drill.
“The programme of the exercises includes joint manoeuvres, familiarisation with standard procedures and work with secret documents of NATO,” the press service said.
NATO communications equipment SEMARCOM will be installed on the Russian ship for this.
A group of officers from the Pytlivy will pay a coordination visit to the headquarters of the command of the South naval component of NATO allied military forces during a brief stop at the Naples port on Saturday.
While Iran is still focused on Jews, Palestinian factions are realizing just how much they can hate each other within their own territory. Reference Palestinian Authority Infighting Escalates for context and witness events that seem to show a region increasingly ripping itself apart without the aid of the American 'War Machine'. There's enough hate to go around without attaching it to us Yanks.
Caliphate, anyone?
Surely the Iranians understand the historical significance of this law. A finger in the eye of the West.
A national unity government for Iraq will be unveiled this weekend.
I'm sure some of you have seen this before - but it was new to me.
A Moment of Warrior Zen. I like the music - the pictures are just value-added...
Update: Link removed. Sigh. Even when people admit to having a bandwidth issues, not attributing to them is inexcusable. And you should ask for permission.
Sigh. Thanks for pointing it out, Mike. I'll admit I don't remember everything I've ever seen everywhere. Still, if I take something and host it from someone who has low-bandwidth, I get permission and attribute it. Fooey. Go here - click "Until Then".
This presentation was originally created for and dedicated to a wonderful young lady who lost her husband in Afghanistan who we got to know over the internet. I posted this one for her but also as a reminder to those who live near families whose husbands have given their lives for their country and those who are currently serving. We must not forget the families of those who serve and sacrifice for the rest of us. Shortly I will be posting approved charities you can donate to if you would like to help these families in need.Music - "Homeward Bound" from The Road Home by The Choirs of Brigham Young University - © 2003 Tantara Records
The Road Home CD is available for purchase at www.tantararecords.com.
Posted at 1412Z | Comments (1)
Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.
Yes, I have a passion for covering the Iranian mullahcracy. I can offer no better example as to why. If the EU would kindly refrain from making the Clintonian NoKor offers of nuclear reactors to a fascist Iranian nuclear threat, it would be greatly appreciated.
I do not want a shooting war with Iran. But, if it were to ever come to that, there are clearly even fewer debatable objections of principle than those offered leading up to Iraq.
We often say "Never Forget" in reference to the murderous attacks on civilians on 11Sept01.
May we not forget that our fathers and grandfathers lived their lives saying "Never Again" in reference to the ignored rise of Nazi Germany.
Pay attention. It's free.
I'd like to know what Doc or Chuck Z. think of this:
Before long, he said, the effort to document the daily activities became psychologically grueling because ''you just knew that every single day that door was going to open up, that the helicopter was going to land, and they were just going to bring in something that looked like hamburger instead of a human being.''
Doc has flown on many of those CASEVAC helo flights as a corpsman; Chuck has only flown on one, as a patient.
I'd also like to hear from Major Pain (if anyone has contact info), who served in Baghdad with the 21st CSH.
5/18/2006 - -- Joseph Stutzman and Robert Attard, contractors from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., switch an AGM-114 Hellfire missile from one MQ-1 Predator to another on May 16, 2006, at Balad Air Base, Iraq. Mr. Stutzman and Mr. Attard are aircraft mechanics assigned to the 46th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit. Contractors began replacing some military maintainers in February 2006, and recently took over as the primary mechanics for the Predator. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Brian Ferguson)
Heh. At what point do we just let the troops go, and DoD becomes DoDCMA? Department of Defense Contract Management Agency?
Not an idle question, as this paper discusses.
Hey - *I'm* a contractor. I have a dog in this fight. But as I look around and see where contractors serve, and the rules under which they serve - I question both the aptness of using contractors for certain mission-critical functions - and the codicils in the contracts under which they function - to include ones where truly mission-critical infrastructure personnel are designated as NEO evacuees in the event of conflict, their jobs putatively taken over by their uniformed supervisors. Supervisors who, when I was watching them perform *their* duties, didn't seem to have much slack time to take on another, full-time, mission-critical task set.
Contractors aren't going away - and for many tasks they shouldn't - but where does the mission creep end? I see the appeal of contracting out a lot of essentially war-time only jobs to this Secretary of Defense - he doesn't want the increase in end-strength and force expansion/contraction issues (and long term expenses) that go with it - he can just hire what he wants off the market and run with it, and not take on the long term burden of permanent full-time (or even part-time) troops. He offloads the pension/medical/overhead issues to industry, only having to partially fund them while contracts are in force.
Whattaya think? This is a smart group.
Cross-posted at Castle Argghhh!.
I think CDR Salamander and I both have strong feelings about Baghdad ER.
War should cause you to have strong feelings. It's a game of life and death. People should be forced to face that fact and all the ugliness that goes with it, especially the ones who want to continue having the right to vote for their leaders every few years. This doesn't just apply to what's happening on the ground here in Baghdad and around Iraq.
Islamist fanatics and the damage they cause should get equal airplay. It's time for the world to have an honest discussion about what life would be like under a Zarqawi or a Bin Laden instead of the Bush so many love to hate. You think it hurts to fight this war? Wait till a dirty bomb goes off in London or Los Angelese during rush hour. It's a very real threat, and the source of the threat isn't the U.S. Government, despite its propensity to act foolish, waste money and stagger around like a drunken idiot from time to time.
Should we be cautious about trading liberty for security. H**l yes. Should we watch our government carefully to make sure it doesn't get out of control. Absolutely. I'm worried. Should we all get honest with ourselves about Islam and its fundamentalist adherents. We d**n well better.
This war is a lot bigger than Iraq and Afghanistan. It's in your backyard, and a lot of you aren't willing to be honest with yourselves yet.
No, I am not happy. I feel better now after venting over at my blog, but looking back to what has been written over the last month by the usual subjects in the MSM, and the all the garbage from .mil sources that are being sent my way about "How I should see it...", I had to dig some more.
Here is my take. I may be on my own here, but this is going to be used like a club by the Left to hit the war. Count on it.
Not what I want to hear...
After being wounded in Iraq, Chris Dominick hasn't had much luck finding work."I'm really faced with a lot of brick walls. Nobody really, really, really wants to hire a person in a wheelchair," he said.
Other soldiers have faces similar job hunting dilemmas.
"They may have been a sniper in Iraq. [There] aren't many companies looking for snipers in this country," said Perry Borman with the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes.
So someone did something about it... They held a Veterans Job Fair in my hometown
Every city in America should hold one of these fairs...
So the ER Season Finale -- "Twenty-One Guns" -- was this evening. I haven't watched the show much the past few seasons, but saw last week's episode in which a soldier/Dr./character was killed in Iraq... and, in typical "ER" anti-everything fashion, other characters "went off" on the war... The funeral for the soldier was in the season's finale and I was hoping they weren't going to do anything but portray the funeral and burial with the dignity and solemnity it deserved...
If you care at all about a television show, you can read my thoughts here...
Never have the words "at least" pissed me off so much.
It's time to get busy on the 2007 MilBlog Conference. Some preliminary plans are already underway, and I'll just tell you that it's going to be amazing. There are some fun surprises in the works. The MilBlog Conference is "our" conference, and that's where you come in.
A fatal shooting in San Diego closes the world's busiest international border crossing.
A Port Authority detective who carried his slain colleague's handcuffs all the way to Afghanistan so he could personally slap them on terrorists' wrists will get his department's highest honor today for taking the war on terror from Ground Zero to the doorstep of al Qaeda.Detective Thomas McHale Jr. will get the PA's Medal of Honor for his heroic actions fighting to prevent another 9/11 during his two-month tour of duty in Central Asia with the Joint Terrorism Task Force in 2002.
In a dramatic tribute, McHale locked up would-be suicide bombers and al Qaeda bigs - including high-ranking al Qaeda fiends like Abu Zubaydah - with the handcuffs originally owned by fellow PA Police Officer Donald McIntyre, who died in the 9/11 attack.
Using the cuffs, which were pulled out of the rubble of the World Trade Center, was a way for the fallen officer to get justice, McHale said.
Salamander brings up a good point. No matter how weird our uniforms get, our allies will always come up with some weirder.
As I work at an Air Force base, I also received the email with the various "future uniforms". I believe that there will be no way they pick the "retardant-neck Star Trek" uniforms...
"Is Murtha old news? Is Iraq old news?"
Yes.
Most of my non-military friends are talking about immigration, American Idol, or both.
Still not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing...
I agree that Wretchard's post was outstanding. It inspired not one nor two but three posts and discussion threads at Grim's Hall. Commenters had a lot to say and think about the subject (although the third post's comments derailed, for reasons I still find a little mysterious, into a discussion of the causes of the American Civil War).
I think the core problem is the total failure of the key models around which we've built international life -- the UN, criminal law, and problems that have developed between nations in their understanding of the Geneva Conventions. Without those models, we don't even have a good way to think or talk about the problems facing us. There aren't new models yet. We're left with rehashed fights between people arguing for applying either this old model or that one, when neither apply any more.
I'm not in the U.S., but I get the impression this really didn't get a lot of coverage. Nothing on the NY Times site front page now, f'rinstance.
Is Murtha old news? Is Iraq old news?
Here's one for the water cooler talk tomorrow.
"That explains where ______s come from!" (Insert your favorite branch of miltary in blank.)
..at VMI really deserves a viewing.
I'm not seeing the arrogance here.
I watched Murtha at a "press Briefing" on C-Span last evening which was supposedly on the topic of Iraq and the Defense Spending Bill... but it was clearly a "let's dangle these anti-Bush statements in front of the old guy and see what we get." It was difficult at times to hear the "press" questions, but then you'd hear from Murtha, "Oh, absolutely... " and his ranting... and then "Oh definitiely" and some more anti-Bush and anti-Republican rantings... and his proclamations that it will be a landslide for the Democrats this '06 election... There was nothing objective on the part of the press (what a surprise!) and the briefing had very little to do with the actual state of affairs in Iraq or the Defense Spending Bill. It was truly outrageous! It was quite apparent that Murtha has become the outrageous sound bite king for the media that has lost the distinction between NEWS and OPINION.
I am working as hard as I ever have to maintain restraint regarding Murtha's latest. Perhaps I am demonstrating better judgment than the esteemed Congressman? Perhaps the bottle will not remain corked forever, but if she blows, the current daydream is that it blows in one room with one microphone, one camera, and two men.
I will express but one of the bubbles pushing hard against the cork...
An email contact (in the extended entry) from someone looking to interview a milblogger for an educational program.
If you're interested, email me (greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com) and I'll send you the contact info.
This has started making the rounds:
Although it is difficult to keep up with politics from over here, your comments on immediate withdrawal have been noted by all of us. I cannot tell you the overall sense of discouragement, sense of betrayal and the feeling that few appreciate our efforts your comments have created. 1BCT has been frequently deployed in support of the War on Terrorism and we believe it is the correct fight and we believe we are winning. We have seen a significant improvement on the ground since we began combat operations in Baghdad three months ago.Rest here.I started in the US Army in 1968 and retired in 1992, with most of my time in Special Forces or Airborne Infantry units. I came out of retirement to come to Iraq with the 1BCT and I enjoy service with these outstanding officers and men. They are better than we were and they carry the terrific burden of frequent deployments and a high operational-tempo. There are few complaints as they feel the mission is extremely important to the nation's security, their families and to most Iraqis. They are dedicated to winning and I believe they are winning. It is obvious to this 'old paratrooper' that your comments have hurt their morale and will eventually impact negatively on their efforts here.
If there were half as many GIs annoyed with Rumsfeld as there are with Murtha the SecDef would have to retire. Among the troops Murtha is held in near-universal scorn.
The Dems just can't get that juke box to play any other song...
After listening to Senator Carl Levin, (D-MI) go on and on about how Americans awoke to the news last week that they are being spied on by their government.. and based his remarks on the now highly questionable USAToday story on turning over telephone records to NSA... Levin then goes on and asks whether Hayden will continue the practice of politicizing the work of the CIA to support Administration's policies... From the Republican Conference:
Despite all findings to the contrary, Senator Levin continues to level the charge that the CIA manipulated intelligence to support Administration policies. For example, during his opening statement at the confirmation hearing of General Hayden, Senator Levin wondered whether the CIA under General Hayden would “shape intelligence to support administration policies . . . as director Tenet did.” In making this charge, Senator Levin did not provide any evidence in support of it. It is an assertion that has been rejected by every investigation looking into the matter. For example, the SSCI report, which Senator Levin signed, found no politicization of intelligence. The WMD Commission rejected Senator Levin’s specific charge when it “found no evidence of ‘politicization’ even under the broader definition used by the CIA’s Ombudsman for Politicization, which is not limited solely to the case in which a policymaker applies overt pressure on an analyst to change an assessment. The definition adopted by the CIA is broader, and includes any ‘unprofessional manipulation of information and judgments’ by intelligence officers to please what those officers perceive to be policymakers’ preferences.” WMD Commission Final Report, p. 188
If Levin were actually on to something, amazing how good we must be to get all the Coalition and other intelligence sources to also support the Administration's policies!
And if you want to see just how little Americans know about the technical aspects (or even just the basics) of data mining... you need to read the tinfoiling going on over at The Chicago Tribune's The Swamp... whoo. Even Patrick Henry and Ben Franklin get bantied about...
I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the closed session of the hearings... Oh, wait -- with all the leaks, it'll be on the evening news...
The Baltimore Sun jumps back on the Bureaucratic Leak Express with a splashy NSA story based on anonymous sources. Can you say, “BLE(H)?!”
This one covers NSA Information Technology (IT) management and decision-making, and dredges up for daylight inspection a seeming muck of IT project gossip. The apparent sources for the story are disgruntled NSA bureau-boobs, who have timed their leak to coincide with the target of their animus, that nasty General Hayden who used to be their boss.
More commentary here.
Wretchard, as is his wont, posts an exceptional essay at The Belmont Club. He senses a change in the blogosphere. This fair wind brings hope, I think.
Austin Bay agrees with Wretchard’s analysis, and suggests what’s caused the change.
Just six more months, according the Thomas Friedman.
Ever notice that no matter how busy they are, or what you order, the local Chinese takeout restaurant always tells you it will be "twenty minute?" Just an observation. Maybe Friedman has some kind of journalistic version of carpal tunnel?
(I would argue that the very fact that things continue to be dependent on future outcomes, and not explained by past events, means we've succeeded. For won't that always be true?)
That email I mentioned earlier. You can probably guess my reply to this:
My name is Matt Wright and I found your site when I googled my video “Lazy Ramadi”. Thanks for mentioning it on your site. We had a good time making it. I was hoping I could ask a favor. You have the video linked to Break.com. Break took the video without asking and then tried to pressure me into selling them total control of the video. I told them no thanks. Also they have posted an older version of the video. YouTube.com has the version I would like to have on the web. This version has a tag at the beginning and end asking people to visit two web sites www.dav.org Disable American Veterans and www.uswoundedsoldiers.com. So many people are watching it now we were hoping the video might do a little good. I asked break to switch to the new version and even uploaded it to their site. Their answer was “we will only switch the videos if I get them control and pull the video from other sites. YouTube.com on the other hand understood immediately what I was trying to do. Not only did they swap the two versions but the put the video up on their home page to give it more visibility. Ifilm.com is in the process of doing this as well.Short version of my reply: "I can do better than that - I can publish your email if it's all right with you."Here is a link to YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k3L-_Snu7kIf you could switch the link that would be great.
Thanks again,
SSG Matt Wright
Camp Ramadi
Ar Ramadi, Iraq
Turns out it was.
The Navy's TFU was AFU. I know. The USAF uniforms are just .... well.... only the AirFarce.
Have strength though. You could be in the Turkish Air Force.
2. Why SMASH moved and changed jobs.
Just sayin'.
Today's so-called elite educational institutions are failing us. They produce graduates who engage in what academics calls "critical thinking," but most of the rest of us recognize as unbridled cynicism.
I'm proud of my Annapolis experience. I earned a (bachelor of science) degree in history, but I also got a very well-rounded education in science, engineering, leadership, ethics, and physical fitness. How many Ivy League schools even attempt to do that these days?
On April 23, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt delivered his famous "Citizenship in a Republic" address to the faculty and students of the Sorbonne in Paris. It was a very pointed speech, later made famous for the following unforgettable passage:
What's even more interesting than the content of this post at T.F. Boggs - is that it was linked to by the Army in it's internal daily news summary, Stand-To! , which is available to anyone who wants to subscribe to it. The Army (despite the assumptions people make about the institution) actually does a pretty good job, all things considered, of not sugar-coating and in fact facilitating awareness of dissent and dis-satisfaction. Without a witch-hunt mentality.
Here's another winner in the silly military uniform sweepstakes:
Believe it or not, there is a Navy Chief Petty Officer in the foreground of this photo, working at her computer. Notice how the blue digiltal pattern helps this fierce admin warrior blend in with her natural surroundings...
Just got an email from the guy who made Lazy Ramadi. Very interesting story - hopefully I'll be able to pass it on soon.
Now that you've watched it, vist Disabled American Veterans and www.uswoundedsoldiers.com.
I wrote a piece on the topic more than a year ago now. The short version is this: the military is one of the last places in America where you can find the kinds of men who filled the top ranks of our society a century ago. The Ivy Leagues have fallen way behind the military services -- to say nothing of the military academies -- in producing fully educated gentlemen in the Western tradition.
What is now produced in "elite" society is -- as one of the greatest Harvard men and Americans of all, Francis Parkman, put it -- "pallid and emasculate." He continued, "For the student there is, in its season, no better place than the saddle, and no better companion than the rifle or the oar."
That kind of man is now, as he was in Parkman's time, the American elite.
Someone should be broadcasting into Iran how much it is going to cost to clean up their little enrichment facility.
The Energy Department manages cleanup at the contaminated Hanford site, created in the 1940s as part of the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Cleanup costs are expected to total $50 billion to $60 billion and the work to continue until 2035.
Thanks Blackhawk for the heads up, on this NY Times article about the US offering North Korea a peace treaty.
I wouldn't put to much stock in this talk of a peace treaty. I think the US may be trying to call North Korea's bluff because the Norks have long complained about not having a peace treaty signed. The North Koreans have no intentions of giving up all of their nuclear weapons because they ensure regime survival. A peace treaty will not cause the North Koreans to denuclearize because it is not in their interest to do so. Even a peace treaty that allows the North Koreans to keep the nukes they already have which is anywhere from 5-15 depending on what estimate your read is not in their interest as well.
Why you ask? IMHO the North Koreans want to keep the US military in Korea where they are currently at. The current status quo is perfect for them. The US military stationed in South Korea gives North Korea legitimacy as a world threat not to be taken likely because the world's lone super power is taking them seriously enough that they have 32,000 soldiers forward deployed to deal with them. So if the US is taking North Korea so seriously, than why shouldn't everyone else? This status quo allows the North Koreans to make outrageous demands for aid which are usually granted which helps keeps the regime a float.
Additionally the majority of the US soldiers are located within North Korea's artillery range which means if war did happen the US forces could be easily destroyed thus reducing the threat of an actual military intervention into North Korea to rid them of their nuclear weapons program. It is best for North Korea to keep the US forces right where they are at and a peace treaty would not keep this status quo.
So don't get to excited about this development.
[Note: This all started with that goofy beret order. Sigh...]
Dud is right. Funny how the Air Force now wants to wear a weak version of Marine Dress Blues (sorry, John-Zoomie, not Class A's - or Alphas in Knuckledrag-speak) and even the short sleeve Charlies (Class C's for non-knuckledraggers)...which actually look good. (Poor Army, you guys still have to wear those green polyester shirts made of over-sized napkins?)
Here's what really strikes me as funny...the collared necking in Marine Dress Blues served a functional purpose - to defend against neck strikes from a slashing cutlass while boarding ship by force. It was made of hardened leather and saved many a life. Hence the term 'Leatherneck'.
Now, my military history is not what it could be [help me out here, Grim] but perhaps I just missed the swashbuckling days of Air Force mid-air boardings, taking forcable command of Tu-160 Blackjacks. What great combat flight suits those must have been.
In any event, do we now drop the 'Zoomies' moniker and, out of due respect, now call them 'Fire-Retardant-Necks'?
Forgive me one more post-script on this thread.
I followed the links to the site of one of the authors, and downloaded the sample chapter. I skimmed a bit of it, and just from what I read, I have to agree with the many reviews available online.
Charlie scribbled this piece out last night, well worth a read.
So Charlie starts craving Chinese food and pounds out a post on Sun Tzu. I've been there. One time I was in the mood for Taco Bell and wrote a lengthy essay on immigration.
The best propaganda never dies. This is my favorite story. I've missed it while it's been away. It's good to see it again.
I especially love this part: "Richard Walker is the nom de plume of a former mainstream news producer who now writes for AFP so he can expose the kinds of subjects that he was forbidden to cover in the controlled press."
Yeah, that's believable. Nobody in the "mainstream news" exposes secret American government programs. Heck, they even expose the real ones.
Blech, those are like blue versions of the marine class As.
Alls I have to say is thank God for flight suits.
Too bad about those uniforms. I've heard that at least one service has some good-looking ones.
I have to respectfully contend to Mrs. Greyhawk that the snazzy AF uniforms have nothing on the complete hideousness of the new Navy uniforms....
Dear John,
These snazzy new Air Force duds should make you forget all about those VMI uniforms
Yes, now is the time for the second-ever Battle Star Gallactica reference here.
(And I do mean “duds”.)
It's got history, National Guard snarkage at the Active Component, PM-style tech discussion, and an Evil Reactionary By-the-book I've-never-seen-a-reg-I-couldn't-follow-slavishly Colonel foiled by sharp enlisted guys! What's not to like?
I think next time might be Army's turn (is it too early to start talking about the Army-Navy game?)
This summer, two Courts Martial involving present and former Navy football players. "Players" being the word.
I like to read a lot. I recently read War of the Running Dogs, a rather dry tome chronicling how the British defeated a communist insurgency in Malaysia. This is the only historical example I know of where a "Western" government defeated a grass roots insurgency.
What are some other books I should add to my reading list? What should commanders on the ground (although I am not one) be reading to give them historical perspective and some ideas that might be helpful here in Iraq?
The ex-USS Oriskany (CV 34) was sunk off Pensacola today to make an artificial reef. As much as submariners like to see surface ships blow up, it's still somewhat awe-inspiring to see a ship this big go down...
Haider Ajina sends his translation of news from Iraq:
Greetings,The following is a headline and article from the Iraqi newspaper ‘Iraq Alghed’ of May 17th.
“Iraqi women have four ministerial posts “
Iraqi prime minister designate Noori Almaliki requested that elected parties nominate women for ministerial posts to be held by their parties. He said, ‘So far we have four women nominated for ministerial positions’. Addressing the Iraqi United Coalition Almaliki said. ‘The ministerial map is almost complete; we await today the final answer from the ‘Iraqi list’ and ’Alfadhileh party’. The positions for the interior and defense ministry will be filled by qualified individuals out side of political cluster’. He added ‘it is imperative to oversee activities of the ministries to insure their effectiveness and that they do not become closed to one group or another”. He affirmed the importance of women having good representation in the new government’. He added ‘We will award proportional ministerial positions to Turkmen, Kurds and Christian as per their national entitlements’.
I had dinner tonight with my father, a retired senior naval officer. After dinner, I asked him a hypothetical question: "If you had inside knowledge of an ongoing UCMJ investigation, and a reporter asked you about it, what would you tell him?"
"I wouldn't comment."
"Why not?"
"It wouldn't be proper. I might prejudice the investigation."
"That's what I thought you'd say."
"So, why do you ask?"
I won't repeat what he said next.
Rummy at the old alma mater, the Verrrrrry Military Institute. Not Virginia's Mentally Insane, SMASH.
You can listen to his speech here. Pay particularly close attention to these two paragraphs if you do listen in:
For the first time in American history, the full view of war, it's horrors and glories are on display to the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Today's warfighters are conducting battles in the era of digital cameras, satellite phones, the internet, 24 hour news, blogs. And because of these technologies, people are seeing things they've never saw before about the realities of conflict, and of post-war violence.And they will need the help of those of you who have studied military strategy to better understand what it is they are seeing every day and to become more aware that war requires continuous adjustments and calibrations, just as the enemy, an enemy with a brain, is constantly adjusting its tactics.
Yup, roger that.
GI Korea here reporting for duty. Thanks Mrs. G for the invite, it is a privilege to be able to add topics from the Korea AO with all these other great Milbloggers.
I thought everyone might find these recently taken pictures from inside North Korea interesting. They are from a Russian computer scientist Artemiy Lebedev who recently visited the country and took probably the best collection of pictures from inside North Korea I have ever seen. The website is in Russian but the pictures are amazing. It is a four part series and all four links are below:
The photographer has mostly pictures from Pyongyang, a few of the countryside on his way to the JSA, and finally pictures of the JSA from the North Korean side. Keep in mind that the pictures from Pyongyang are from North Korea's showcase city. It just makes you wonder what kind of shape the other cities are in if their capitol looks so run down.
It's time to get busy on the 2007 MilBlog Conference. Some preliminary plans are already underway, and I'll just tell you that it's going to be amazing. There are some fun surprises in the works. The MilBlog Conference is "our" conference, and that's where you come in.
With a hat tip to Blackhawk who left a reference to this story in a comment to Andi's "Mythbusting" post, seems we're soon to have the first "what really happened at Gitmo" movie foist upon us. And, as Blackhawk says, judging by the content of just the publicity poster, we're pretty certain it's not an objective look at the situation:
The Motion Picture Association of America has censored a poster advertising a film about the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Canada lost her first female soldier since WWII.
A Gunner.
Captain Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard.
And before you blow it off with a "So, like we haven't?" Remember what our first female soldier losses of this war felt like to many of us. It will be no less true in the Great White North.
As evidenced by this post at the Canadian Group Milblog, The Torch.
Now is the time at Castle Argghhh! when we dance: In Memoriam.
She's downing brews with Rick Rescorla, Jimmy Doohan, and Smokey Smith, VC, at Fiddler's Green.
Thanks for the very nice link. Seems lots of folks are asking the same kinds of questions.
Rep. Murtha, that Code Pink-certified veteran, was consistent in his objections going into and out of Somalia. No mention of whether he accused Marines of shooting innocents in "cold blood" for that event.
I'm not sure the number of bodies in place is the correct metric. Do you need armed troops to establish a security space? Aid workers? Lawyers? Forensic accountants? The need differs in different places, and I would argue that this also has some parallels in the post-World War Two occupations combined with the Marshall Plan actions (which were myriad and complex) as well as turn of the century pacification. For the eternal "runup to Iraq" argument, Countercolumn has a persuasive set of arguments and a comparison to Algeria.
The other issue is what you want to do in the place you land. If it's Haiti, I'd argue that the culture would have to change before there stopped being periodic political disasters there. If Somalia, you have to change the culture by breaking the "me against my brother, my family against my tribe, my tribe against the others" mentality. If Zimbabwe, it's reestablishing some kind of normalcy before the hyperinflation and socialist destruction kill huge numbers of people.
Lots of angles to discuss this stuff, indeed.
Representative John Murtha accuses our Marines of killing "innocent civilians in cold blood."
Rep. John Murtha, an influential Pennsylvania lawmaker and outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, said today Marines had “killed innocent civilians in cold blood” after allegedly responding to a roadside bomb ambush that killed a Marine during a patrol in Haditha, Iraq, Nov. 19.
The incident is currently under investigation, but Murtha already has the facts.
Navy Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr, Commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, takes us Inside Guantanamo Bay. He concludes the tour with this:
The U.S. government remains committed to not detaining any person any longer than is absolutely required. We are, in fact, outright releasing or transferring detainees to their home countries and other nations willing to accept them. In my reading of history, simply releasing enemy combatants during the course of an ongoing war is unprecedented..Despite articles written by defense attorneys and young translators arguing the contrary, these are, in fact, dangerous men in our custody. Make no mistake about it--we are keeping enemies of our nation off the battlefield. This is an enormous challenge. These terrorists are not represented by any nation or government. They do not adhere to the rules of war. That said, we treat them humanely, in full compliance with all laws and international obligations.
The young Americans serving here in Guantanamo are upholding the highest ideals of honor and duty in a remote location, face to face with some of the most dangerous men on the planet. Your readers should be proud of them. I am proud to be their commander.
A new shipment in Kandahar. YIPPIE!
Support for Warlords? Posted on this a couple of days ago here.
Note that the President of Somalia was elected by the "warlords' parliment". The article reports:
Abdullahi Yusuf has been elected the new President of Somalia by the warlords' parliament in Kenya. President Yusuf, himself a warlord and leader of the autonomous Puntland region, was hailed by the Somali MPs but described as a "war criminal" and "dictator" by others. Somaliland fears renewed tension after Mr Yusuf's election.
As some unnamed source says (more or less) in the WaPo piece, it's a mess in Somalia.
UPDATE: Though this post generally refers to the Somali piracy issue, there is some good insight (provided by an outfit named Protocol, which is self-described as a "private intelligence and security specialist company") into the situation in Somalia. Maybe someone else can support or challenge Protocol's work.
Speaking of Small Wars, go give a cruise around Small Wars Journal. Good men over there.
U.S. Secretly Backing Warlords In Somalia
More than a decade after U.S. troops withdrew from Somalia following a disastrous military intervention, officials of Somalia's interim government and some U.S. analysts of Africa policy say the United States has returned to the African country, secretly supporting secular warlords who have been waging fierce battles against Islamic groups for control of the capital, Mogadishu.I always wondered what the hell that "warlord" bit was about - even back when the Marines first landed. Obviously the Somalis don't speak English as a primary language, so is there some equivalent term they use for their leaders that actually translates to warlord? Or is it the equivalent of "mastermind" - another overused journalistic device?
By the way, I anticipate no outrage at all about the revelations in this story. You'll find the headline rather vaguely supported at best, but if we're taking sides there - so what?
Reffing hawk's post below, I hereby nominate Justin Timberlake for the human tests of Noonan's man cannon....SPLAT!
Guess who's starring in Stop Loss:
Ex-boy-bander Justin Timberlake is reportedly furthering his movie career by signing on for his first leading role in the war drama 'Stop-Loss.'"Justin is thrilled about getting his first leading role," said a source. "It is a huge challenge for him and he's excited as well as nervous."
My friend, Mike Tucker of Gunner Palace, recently posted about the movies that Hollywood will be making in the future.
Mike's post at GP is here - War at the Movies. Check it out.
He points to a New York Daily News article about the upcoming movies about Iraq...and, hold on to your seats!, as far as I can tell, they're all *gasp!* negative. Check this out:
...Tom Cruise has optioned and may star in "The Fall of the Warrior King," based on a New York Times story about a disgraced Army commander in Iraq. Ron Howard is scheduled to direct "Last Man Home," about the search for a missing American G.I. there. Ridley Scott will produce "The Invisible World," about a kidnapped female journalist, and "Boys Don't Cry" director Kimberly Peirce will helm "Stop-Loss," which centers on a soldier who doesn't want to go back to Baghdad.Just last week, Deborah Scranton's documentary "The War Tapes," made by New Hampshire National Guardsmen with hand-held cameras, won the top prize in its category at the Tribeca Film Festival.
But racing reality is not without its fears for "Crash" screenwriter Paul Haggis. "I'm scared out of my wits," Haggis told us. "Which I think is a good thing for a filmmaker, or any artist." Just last week, Haggis completed the script for "Death and Dishonor," about a father searching for his son who went missing on the way home from Iraq. He's also directing a screen version of former White House terrorism czar Richard Clarke's book "Against All Enemies."...
*sputtering* "Tom Cruise"?!
"Racing reality"?!
"Stop-Loss" the movie?!
@#$%ing Hollywood!
PS - BTW, the War Tapes is an exceptional film. Then, again, Hollywood had nothing to do with it.
I know there are only 3 of us forward at this time and by looking at some of the topics, there doesn't seem to be much going on here in Iraq. While you guys back home are all figuring out these arm chair battle plans, us guys on the ground are actually doing work on some serious tactics and improvements that you can't find on CNN. We have implemented a few changes to the Marine Urban Battle Strategy manual (MUBS). Here's a picture of the new text book Marine Fighting Position developed for hot desert environments (psss, don't tell anyone).
1: You have to remember the moment in time. The problem was "how."
2: 100% correct. Clinton's Bay of Pigs. Avoidable.
3: Disagree. It drives me nuts when people throw out a 500-700K number. It is a poison pill. The logic train goes like this.
- You need 500K.
- You cannot sustain that level for any length of time beyond 1 cycle without substantial international (read German, Indian, etc) personnel or an immediate draft and full mobilization.
- You will not get the international divisions. An immediate draft will not happen, nor will full mobilization.
- You will not get 500K.
- You don't invade.
Rinse. Repeat.
History did not begin in 2001, or 2003.
Read Chap's piece (found via link below). The two blocked quotes he places together near the beginning tell you just about everything you need to know about how we got to where we are today.
Once you've followed that link above, I offer three statements to discuss (or simply ponder):
1. We should not have gone into Somalia
2. Once in Somalia, we should not have fled.
3. We should not have gone into Iraq with less than a half-million shooters.
Without going into deep explanation:
Without the hindsight knowledge of 2, I was uncommitted on 1. I completely agree with 2, and disagree with 3. (My positions are unchanged from the moments these events happened.)
The small war approach may not work in Iraq, but it had to be tried, and it hasn't failed yet. I acknowledge that many have strong feelings to the contrary. We really haven't applied all our potential "might" to the larger war, and failure in Iraq as small war may eventually require us to do so on some unknown future battlefield (Somalia? Sudan? Iran?) of the GwoT, in much the same way as failure in Somalia was but one point on the line that led to 9/11 and beyond.
Ummm, John. Is this really the crowd you want to say "Man Cannon" around?
There has been an ongoing battle at Columbia University to get ROTC reinstated on the campus. There are many veterans enrolled at the university and they have a very active Milvets organization. About a year ago, the students' governing body rejected the proposal to restore ROTC to the campus.
Shane Hachey, a U.S. Army veteran, a 2004 graduated of Columbia University's School of General Studies and a current student at Harvard Law School. sent this letter via e-mail on May 6, 2006, the 1st anniversary of the senate vote against ROTC, to all members of the Columbia University Senate. Shane is a long time advocate for ROTC and the military community at Columbia University.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the ROTC Task Force,I would like to say a few words about the possibility of returning ROTC to Columbia’s campus. There are several issues here that have been ignored or poorly addressed, and I think that I can help clarify some of them. Just to put my background on the table, I graduated from GS last spring, and am in my first semester at Harvard Law School. I joined the Army right after high school, spending five years as an Army Military Policeman. I was stationed in Germany for several years and spent nine months patrolling the Bosnian/Croatian border in 1996 enforcing the Dayton Peace Accords while attached to NATO. Much of what I have to say in this letter will be covered in an opinion piece that I submitted to the Spectator, but I am not sure if they will print it. I apologize for any redundancy.
First of all, I think we should question the wisdom of getting rid of ROTC in the first place. I know that many at Columbia view the school’s history of protest with pride, and I largely agree—my father is a Vietnam veteran, and I appreciate the effort of the thousands of people who worked to help bring people like him home and to end the war. However, I think some skepticism is in order. I know that during the last few years of the war there was increasing pressure to end the college deferment, an action which would have put privileged Ivy-Leaguers on the front lines with high-school dropouts. I think it is legitimate to ask to what degree radical Columbia students were protesting out of principle and to what degree they were protesting to save their own skins. Having seen the fear, confusion, and anger exhibited by Columbia students when faced with the mere possibility of a draft in the wake of 9/11, I can only imagine that a real draft funneling men to an ongoing war would have a similar, compounded effect. Again, I am not questioning the legitimacy of Vietnam-era protests in general or even on Columbia’s campus, but I think the possibility that the motivation behind ROTC’s banishment was less (perhaps far less) than noble or well-reasoned should factor into considerations of whether to return the program to the campus. Besides the motivation, I think it would be relevant to look into the actual and potential benefits of kicking ROTC off campus. I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but that is really a research project that I haven’t looked into and don’t have the time to read or write about. As it appears on the surface, an administration caving in to angry students out of fear seems to be one of the least sensible reasons for doing anything at a university.
And the 3rd consecutive (annual) Columbia Spectator Editorial Board has endorsed the return of ROTC and military recruiters to Columbia University. Read "Staff Editorial: Opportunity Disguised":
This is not the first time the return of ROTC has been endorsed by the Columbia Spectator... and a 2004 poll showed that 2/3 of the student body supported the return of ROTC. However, the "elitist" student senate overwhelmingly voted in 2005 -- amidst a spate of anti-Iraq war diatribes -- to block the return of ROTC to the Columbia Campus. A Senate voting against the wishes of those they represent? Sounds like the next generation for higher office...
There are a number of proposals kicking around... Before anyone gets their undies all twisted, these proposals are only prospective - for future enlistees... This from "No More 20-Year Retirements?" in the current issue of "Military Officer" Magazine from the Military Officers Association of America
DoD PANELl RECOMMENDS SWEEPING CHANGES TO MILITARY COMPENSATION SYSTEM.
The Pentagon’s Defense Advisory Committee on Military Compensation (DACMC) used its final public hearing Feb. 28 to announce preliminary recommendations for sweeping changes to the military compensation system.
DACMC’s recommended changes (most of which DACMC envisions as applying only to future service entrants) include:
Major John: Dude, like totally go check out the sample track one on this old album It's these dudes in Vietnam and the Captain is trying to get some volunteers for this totally bogus mission.
John N/Steve S (if you is indeed two people): Where is America's elite? They is off gettin' educated in the gooder schools, from whut I here.
I would respectfully submit that 'America's Elite' are currently dirty, sweaty, thirsty and tired in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere...but 'elite' may be a subjective interpretation of perspective. I sit rather confident in my character-based perspective.
I agree with John that a nice start to including the 'elite' (perspective check) is allowing the ROTC on an Ivy League campus or two. I would, however, take that a step farther and energetically argue that any collegiate educational institution expressly disallowing ROTC activities be 'expressly disallowed' federal funding of any type. As an educator, allow me to add that yes, private institutions recieve federal funding...it's called Federal Tuition Assistance. The federal government will not issue loans for a student to pay an institution unless that institution meets some strict guidelines, which are routinely inspected.
If they cede that too, then by all means, ban the ROTC. It's a free country.
I tried to find Karpinki's Female Soldier's Die from Dehydration nonsense. Couldn't find any evidence whatsoever. Karpinski may be the proof that the Pentagon was sending mentally unstable people to Iraq.
"The EU3-plus-three political director meeting has been postponed to allow for further preparation on the EU3 offer to Iran," the ministry spokesman said. "We are not able to confirm the new date just yet."
Hmmm...Perhaps we shall offer them two reactors.
Note to self: Iran's nuclear program is not for sale. Non-negotiable. How many times can they tell me before I get it?
No worries. We still have ten years. Whew...
In a recent military.com op-ed, Kathryn Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaffer call for class integration in the military, arguing that America's priviledged is playing hooky when it comes to military service.
Now, we are trying to make the case to that privileged culture that serving in the military is not just about personal preference, but for the good of the country. But we notice that the effort to broaden the class-base of the military -- to include more members of the upper middle classes -- is not necessarily popular among those who serve. Who needs em? is how this position can be summed up. In other words, if someone has neither the need, because they have better options, nor the desire, why should they serve?
Okay, easy fix fellas. Allow ROTC back at Ivy League schools. Seems like an easier solution than whining about this ambiguous "priviledged class."
Major John asks, "I wonder if the folks that would have gone to the Naval Reserve in peacetime are going to the Marine Reserves now?"
Eagle1 notes that submariners are volunteering for duty in Baghdad.
This is consistent with my observations in the Navy Reserve before and after our deployment to Kuwait. In the months leading up to our mobilization, we had a big influx of sailors volunteering to join our unit, because they wanted to be "part of the action." Many of these were Seabees and ex-Marines; we even had one guy who was a veteran of the French Foreign Legion.
After we got back home, we experienced major attrition. Some of this was for the usual reasons: rotations had been delayed by deployment, and some folks just decided they couldn't stay in the Reserves for personal or family reasons. But a substantial number left our unit because we were entering a "down period," and they wanted to keep contributing. Some of these people went to other NCW units getting ready to deploy. Others transferred to the Marine Reserves, or even went back on active duty. One guy ended up in the *shudder* Army.
Why is the Navy Reserves having so much trouble with recruiting? Probably because we're not perceived as major contributors to the war effort. Contrary to popular belief, most people don't sign up for the paycheck -- especially not in wartime.
They sign up because they want to serve.
I once was disinvited from a shipyard meeting after using the expression "sand-crabs" but here the term takes on a different meaning as three intrepid submariners do Iraq:
The gritty, sandy soil of Iraq, far from any ocean, is an unlikely place to find a trio of submarine Sailors.BZ to them and to other sailors who are going feet dry in Iraq.And yet these three undersea warriors have joined the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team (CMATT) in that war-weary nation in a daunting mission. Trading their duties in the relative comfort of shore stations in the United States for the unexpected perils and occasional rewards of a front-line position in the Global War on Terrorism, the three submariners have exchanged their coveralls for desert camouflage to help rebuild the Iraqi military and its infrastructure. Headquartered in Baghdad, CMATT works under the guidance of the Coalition Provisional Authority to supply buildings, weapons, equipment, and training for Iraq’s new security and defense forces.
ETC(SS) Jason Taggart, YN2(SS) Randy Murray, and YN2(SS) Karl Rosenkranz, who served together onboard USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN-730), volunteered for this unique assignment. After a week of training and processing at Fort Bliss, Texas, they climbed aboard a plane for Kuwait and then moved on to Baghdad.
UPDATE: And, yes, I should note the article is from a couple of years ago, but the point remains the same. Good people are out there doing good things.
Poppy? Who has time to worry about poppies? Every 20th plant in this vineyard was for the farmers, uh, hash stash...
It's stunning how many people respond to questions on Iran's 'nuclear window' by citing the all-too-comfy ten-year prediction that appears in the CIA's National Intelligence Estimate. But the suddenly-credible intel powerhouse analysis flies in the face of...hold on...IAEA head Mohamed ElBaredei. I scratch my head in wonder when thinking how few bothered to notice in December that ElBaredei (yes, ElBaredei) gave the shortest known 'credible' timeline for Iranian nuclear weapons production.
James S. Robbins has written an important piece putting the CIA's own nuclear projections track record into perspective. (Hint: Not Pretty.) Way back in December, we also took a very close look at ElBaredei's projection of a nuclear-armed Iran in less than three years. Links to both can be found here. Pay attention. It's free.
The Naval Institute hides a lot of its articles behind a subscription firewall, which is counter to the concept of disseminating ideas to people. Which may well be why their 'eForums' are all empty and we've got so many squids on this blog.
The firewall means people will not be able to see things like this interesting piece from a guy who is figuring out why this "sea basing" thing might be really, really cool.
However, current events and certain cultural and religious trends combine to suggest that creating and maintaining a fixed land base of operations in the region may be at best problematic, and at worst impossible. The sea, the last international commons on the planet, provides ample room for maneuver and defense, and it is an arena in which the capabilities of the United States, in the form of its Navy, are unmatched. When combined with the strike capability of its sister service, the U.S. Marine Corps, the resulting expeditionary strike group provides ample capability to continue to influence the direction of the new economic heartland in Southwest Asia for years to come.The Army guys in the Horn of Africa sure liked hot meals, showers, and getting their helicopters repaired at sea...
Inspired by Lex's "good on ya" to our Aussie allies, I wanted to give a shout-out to the group that I worked most closely with at CENTCOM -- the Poles. They really hung it out there for us, both politically and militarily. They took command of Multinational Division Center South for 2 1/2 years in Iraq, and are still there helping the Iraqis. Plus, their special forces guys (GROM) kick some serious butt.
The volunteering Eagle 1 is doing here with enthusiastic support is similar to what's driving a lot of folks to show up the next day at the same job in a tie here at my current work, and also driving people to work in places like Blackwater, Titan, FedEx and KBR. With 20 year retirements and 'up-or-out' policies, we've got a lot of folks in their forties and fifties who are capable of doing good work but are no longer of the active service. As a future retirement check collector, I don't want to wait to 30 to be vested; but as a taxpayer, we're wasting some opportunities here.
Anyone know if there are rumblings like that now that civil service reforms have started?
On OPSEC, before I hit the hay.
Did you all see that we were quoted in some Russian newspaper a few days ago?
You never know who's reading....
Because we don’t say it often enough, thanks for being at our side. We know it’s not always popular everywhere you go - but you should know it’s always appreciated here.
The US president and Australian prime minister have reaffirmed their alliance in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after talks at the White House.Australia’s John Howard told President George W Bush Canberra was committed to supporting a lengthy war on terror.
Good on 'ya, mates. Buy yez all a beer, sometimes.
A Michael O'Hanlon article got me steamed, so I started writing, and next thing you know there's thousands of words on the blog.
Now discussion on the concept resulted in another multithousand word essay on the mechanics of making a genocide prevention corps.
Somebody stop me before I blog again. My fingers hurt...
The This Is Not Amnesty plan (with or without the 1st Border Battalion) will put 100 Million New Legal Immigrants on a path to citizenship by 2026. That's a 1/3 population jump purely by influx, not including natural birthrate or current illegal immigrants. Consider also that CIRA would reverse the current Visa measure by which the majority of lmmigrant Visas (80%) are currently awarded to professionals (doctors, engineers, programmers, etc.), and the majority will instead be awarded to more needy unskilled laborers, and nearly all permitted permanent residency convertable to citizenship. Doesn't sound much like 'Temporary Guest Workers'.
But remember, what President Bush "just described is not amnesty." I really don't care what it's called. Call it Cure for Cancer. I don't want any.
One-Third of our current population. Think about that long and hard.
Is this what we have cheapened American Citizenship to? If so, can someone please then inform me what the hell we are fighting a global war on multiple fronts for? What exactly are we defending if our own very citizenship is reduced to junk bond status?
During our chat last night, Michael Yon asked me something that has been itching my brain all day.
"Where are all the British milbloggers? The Aussies? The Canadians?"
I gave him one, The Cabarfeidh Pages, which is a British blog. That was the only non-US milblog that I could think of.
For whatever reason, whole phenomena hasn't seem to have caught on with our English-speaking allies. I kinda wish it would.
**Update** Via Milblogging.Com, I found a fairly decent Canadian blog called The Torch. The others listed have an annoying habit of writing half their posts in French, shudder.
Also check out Canadian Heroes.
640 troopers of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment recently stood in a mass formation, all with their right hands raised, reenlisting in your Army.
Hundreds participated in a re-enlistment ceremony Friday, standing bolt straight on the shiny wood floor in a Fort Carson gym, raising their right hands and swearing they'd do anything to support and defend the United States.
Retention is key to keeping the Army's formations filled with combat experienced Soldiers and building leaders of the future. It is also a great gauge of a unit's morale. Looks like morale is pretty damn high in the 3rd ACR.
THE GOOD NEWS: On the active duty side, retention is historically high and all four services exceeded their recruiting goals for the eleventh month in a row.
THE BAD NEWS: Among the reserves and guard components, only the Marine Reserves and the Air National Guard met their recruiting targets in April. The big loser is the Navy Reserve, which only got 75 percent of their goal.
Hmm...
...and yet, the conspiracy theorists still say that it isn't a plane. These are the people that the leaders of one of our major political parties are listening to.
Heartless Libertarian reminds us that other athletes have done Good Things in difficult times.
Hello all. John Noonan here. Steve Schippert asked me to type in for him that it's an honor be be among present company. Once he learns to read and write, I am sure he'll be entering his own posts. (Jarheads...) Here's hoping he soon completes the Hooked on Phonics I sent him last month. At any rate, he's here, so learn to skip around the junk he asks me to enter for him.
I wonder who types for him elsewhere. It concerns me because, when blogging as 'USMC_Vet', he seems to have become the latest Tool o' the Left. Personally, I think he's positioning himself for a run at a Senate seat in Ohio or some other silly state. Next thing you know, he'll be picking fights with the Capital Police and ramming his POV into cement barriers. Greyhawk, please reconsider this contributor.
So Hollywood wants to put their version of Operation Iraqi Freedom (wonder if they even know that term) on the big screen. Let's start with the mad sofa-jumper:
If you thought the Sept. 11 film "United 93" was a little too immediate to bring to theaters, you haven't seen anything yet.Some of Hollywood's biggest names are already working on or signed on to films centered on the Iraq war, reports the New York Daily News.
Tom Cruise has optioned the rights to -- and is considering starring in -- "The Fall of the Warrior King," a drama based on a New York Times story about a disgraced Army commander in Iraq.
The buffet is now open.
Ron Howard has signed on to direct "Last Man Home," about the search for a missing American G.I. in Iraq.Ridley Scott will produce "The Invisible World," about a kidnapped female journalist.
And Kimberly Peirce, who directed the dark "Boys Don't Cry," will helm "Stop-Loss," which reportedly follows a soldier who doesn't want to go back to serve in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the Daily News says, "Crash" screenwriter Paul Haggis has just finished the script for "Death and Dishonor," about a father searching for a son who has gone AWOL on the way home from Iraq. He's also directing a film adaptation of former White House terrorism czar Richard Clarke's controversial book "Against All Enemies." Haggis said creating movies about a war that is still going on poses new challenges for filmmakers.
No thanks, we've got something better to see.
Dear Mr. President:
Once again, it looks like you might need some help in getting the right thing done. This time it seems to be immigration and the border with Mexico.
I see Senator Kerry and some others are worried that the National Guard is over burdened by those other necessary things over in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fine.
I, as a military retiree, hereby volunteer to be recalled to active service to lend a hand on the US border. I encourage my fellow retirees to do the same. There are a lot of us, and I think we could work up a pretty good duty rotation and help the Guard get some down time. I don't think our ability to stand watch, drive vehicles or communicate have been much affected by retirement. But as we are not talking about a war zone, I'm not sure much else in needed.
I'm pretty sure there are some retired Swift Boat vets who might also volunteer, though I think Senator Kerry let his military affilation lapse short of retirement, so he may not be one of them.
I think there is some law under which this is possible. See here.
And even though, as a gray area retired reservist, I don't draw any retired pay, all I really ask is "3 hots and cot" and a chance to be useful to my country.
As for our fitness to serve, well, Tennyson said it pretty well:
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Very respectfully,
Eagle1
They're out today. I have all the links here. Yes, you can see the 757.
Well said, Dadmanly. Iraq changed after Abu Ghraib, most significantly the avg monthly US death toll up by about 40%.
John of OpFor brings up Duncan Hunter's thoughts for the "Big John" in his post below. There's a private entity already working on it (the disaster relief angle), though they aren't after using carriers. Beauchamp Tower Corporation.
And I see Smash beat me to the 'post' button on Chavez. Still - anybody think there's a Venezuelan or Cuban pilot who'd like to participate in a Live-Fire demo with a Carrier Air Group?
Of course, mebbe I'm just being bloody-minded on that live-fire thing.
Hugo Chavez is considering the sale of his 21 F-16s to Iran. Or maybe Cuba, Russia, or China.
Why? Because we won't sell him any upgrades or spare parts.
That's where Rep. John Hunter wants to send the aging carrier USS John F. Kennedy, as -get this- a way of shaming our allies into taking the NATO alliance seriously. Rep. Hunter commented:
"Typically the United States brings the T-bone steaks and some of our allies bring the plastic forks. The John F. Kennedy might be a center for ... inspiring our allies to do more with respect to defense."
Well yeah, I'll buy that. Sans the Brits of course. And those dudes are already working on their own supercarriers, with the Frenchies showing interest.
So who in Europe could afford the thing? Or staff it? Big John has a crew of several thousand...
The other idea floated (har) was to give her to the coast guard as a "floating disaster relief base."
I smell bacon!
Well there's Kerry's little twirl on the current immigration proposal... Once again, criticism but no plan... Man of words... man of inaction...
Here's an immigration reform site that grades every Congressman and Senator -- recently and historically -- on various aspects of immigration reform based on voting records... Kind of interesting... McCain's grade is hardly shocking given his moveable position on Immigration... Kerry's grade is somewhat surprising (but I still wouldn't vote for him) This site allows you to check the report cards of elected officials -- and has a link to send free faxes... I note that some of the information is a little out of date... but it's still interesting... Americans for Better Immigration
Buck here, sounding off. My unit recently moved up to Tal Afar from Mosul, but don't believe the latest MSM hype about the city falling back into chaos -- there isn't a darn thing going on up here. It's practically a ghost town. The battle damage from the 3rd ACR cleaning this place out is still plainly visible, but the IA and IP's have got the streets almost completely locked down with checkpoints everywhere you look. It looks like it'll take quite some time to get Tal Afar back to normal, but then again, I never saw it before so who knows what "normal" exactly is for this place. It's obviously never been very developed, but there are some nice, almost palacial homes.
I'll check back in when I can. Sixty days and counting!
Soldiers' Angel Celebrates 101st Birthday Filling Care Packages for Soldiers
Follow-up to Smash's post.
Blackfive and Greyhawk picked up this remarkable post by Armed Liberal over at Winds of Change. I’m glad they did. I’ve been meaning to get to this all day.
I share Blackfive’s opinion of Karpinski and how she dealt with what was surely a bad situation made worse by extreme failures of leadership. (Hers, among others.) I remember well when news of AG broke, and to say reports infuriated me would be grand understatement.
...to the President's immigration speech:
“This is a moment when the far right is horribly wrong and leadership is required to set a course for common sense. We need a comprehensive answer to immigration that includes tightening border security, but putting another burden on the backs of the National Guard troops who are serving their second tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan isn’t the right answer. The National Guard which has borne the burden of a broken policy in Iraq shouldn’t have to bear the burden of an incomplete immigration policy. The right answer is to listen to the 9/11 Commission and put the border patrol agents we need right there on the border. It won’t satisfy the right wing, but it’s the right policy.
You can read a chapter from the book here. This one is the story of Rafael Peralta, and it resonates today.
Rafael Peralta was not born in America, but he died defending her.Read it all.It’s the stuff you hear about in boot camp, about World War II and Tarawa Marines who won the Medal of Honor,” said Corporal Rob Rogers, one of Peralta’s platoon mates.i
A Mexican immigrant, Peralta joined the Marines the day he received his green card. His love for America was no secret; it showed in everything he did.
Sergeant Peralta’s younger sister, Karen, 13, was left to confront life without a father and now older brother. She worried that his life and legacy would soon be forgotten: “I know that right now, people are really nice and everything. When it’s going to be like, one year, or two years, they are going to forget about him….Right now they are giving medals to my mom for everything. But I know that when it comes to later on, they are going to forget him, they’re gonna forget about him.”Not here they won't.
Just set up an account for Buck Sargent. That makes three bloggers here who are in Iraq, Trevor and Doc being the other two.
Dang - our first "security leak". Now that John has revealed the existence of the email, we'll just publish it in full.
(Okay, actually I've redacted the part about using our extraordinary wiretap privileges to get all the best stories faster, but the rest is just as written.)
Looks like I've attracted the attention of whole bunches of army.mil, pentagon.mil, and senate.gov lookers this morning on my post on how some wounded soldiers have been treated upon their return to their units... uh-oh...
ARMED LIBERAL has lunch with BGEN COL (ret) Janet Karpinski, and comes away unimpressed.
Snerk. In our Super-Sekrit email, we just got spanked by Mrs. G. for being slugs and ignorant rubes. Guilty!
Best part - she called Lex....
Wait for it...
Soldier.
Life is good.
Donovan isn't kidding, the Air Force plans to cut some 40,000 people from the ranks. Some of the jobs, like public affairs, are looking at a meager 20% retention for officers who were commissioned in 2002 and 2003. That means if you're a PAO, and an LT, you better start looking for that Fox News job right quick.
Luckily for me, I'm in a "safe" field. God Bless the operational Air Force!
Since it seems explosion pictures are desirable, I wanted to put one up - but the darn thing was a dud...
Damn, what a collection of bloggers....but who let the Navy in?
Thanks to the Greyhawks for letting this non-blogger play a little. Should be a lot of fun. Thanks to all of you guys for keeping me in the loop over the years. Some tremendous writers out there...you too Smash.
After a few minutes of reflection, I came up with a couple of thoughts. I put 'em here for what it is worth.
Hey, finally onboard and it looks like I missed all the initial fun.
First things first. SMASH, trust me: you don't want to know what I am wearing right now.
Second: In honor of The Corner format.....I want to be the first to bring up Battlestar Galactica. Why? Well, for years my "irregular heart beat got me knocked out of flight school and they sent me home" father wonders why I refuse to watch JAG. He asks me, in response to my harumph, what pray tell can he watch on TV that reflects what it is like in the Navy. After mild reflection, I stated, to my disbelief more than his, that he should "Watch Battlestar Galactica (TNS), stir in some Rescue Me - and balance with a watching of Gunner Palace." He still likes JAG. Hopefully this won't get me kicked out on the first day. Oh, in case you are wondering SMASH - sorry to let you down - but it is PT gear.
What the heck, since Noonan is writing about Army stuff, Dusty and I might as well write about Air Force stuff. At least Dusty was an A10 jock. Our take of the recent State of the Air Force memo is up at Castle Argghhh!.
One of the smart guys in the Navy's Strategic Studies Group, Jeff Cares, got out and started Alidade Incorporated. He's been thinking Big Thoughts for a while, and might just have an idea worth shaking up people: a critique of Network-Centric Warfare.
A critique is not a bad idea. I've long been unable to understand half of what I hear from most of the acolytes of Net Centric, and my attempts to read what Admiral Cebrowski was on about was like reading Wonkese in the original--highly unsatisfying and frustrating. Many times "net centric" "effects based" "FORCENet" devolves into handwaving that a guy like me can't translate into "break things and kill people".
Haven't read the book yet, but Alidade will be holding too-rich-for-my-budget seminars in Norfolk and D.C. to propagate the new ideas. For cheapskates like me, there's a discussion list for free.
Might be worth a look, might not.
The American Legion steps into the battle to save the cross at Mount Soledad.
The commander of the American Legion has joined those calling for President Bush to take action to save the Mount Soledad cross veterans memorial in Southern California, which a federal judge has ordered removed.In a letter to the president, National Commander Thomas L. Bock wrote, "We are particularly concerned in this case that a dangerous precedent could be set that would endanger veterans memorials across America, perhaps even the 9,000 crosses that mark the final resting places of our World War II heroes at Normandy Beach."
Seeing Major John report aboard reminded me of my story about the Illinois National Guard. So there I was, in a hotel bar in Warsaw, Poland. I was there attending a manning conference for the Polish-led Multi-National Division in Iraq as a CENTCOM REMF, and I had gotten an action item that afternoon to find out if the Illinois National Guard was going to be providing more admin support troops for the upcoming rotation. (The ILNG and the Polish Army had a pre-existing "State Partnership" relationship.) As I'm complaining about my tasker, some Army officers come into the bar and sit down. They weren't attending our conference, so we went over to check 'em out. One of them turned out to be the Adjutent General of the Illinois NG, who was in Poland in support of the aforementioned "State Partnership". Easiest action item I ever had.
If you are interested in what's happening in Iraq from a slightly more positive perspective, then you may be interested in this. . .
Multi-National Force - Iraq has developed an HTML weekly newsletter that is likely of interest to a large portion of the audience here.
You can see this week's edition here. If you like what you see, please sign up to get a new edition in your in-box every Monday.
We are also looking for constructive feedback.
My piece on the new CROWS simulator is over at Defense Tech.
How does the Posse Comitatus Act affect President Bush's plan to deploy up to 6,000 Guard troops to the border?
Sec. 1385. - Use of Army and Air Force as posse comitatus
- Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
It would appear to prohibit the use of the military (including the Guard) in the enforcement of our immigration laws without explicit authorization by Congress. Perhaps that's why Bush said, "Guard units will not be involved in direct law enforcement activities; that duty will be done by the Border Patrol."
Which brings up an important question: What, exactly, will these 6,000 troops be doing?
Bush says they will be employed in "operating surveillance systems, analyzing intelligence, installing fences and vehicle barriers, building patrol roads, and providing training." But the actual enforcement will be left to the still-overtaxed Border Patrol.
So, if these Guard units run across any illegal aliens attempting to cross the border, all they can do is call the nearest Border Patrol station -- and if no Border Patrol agents are available, they're just specatators?
May marks the month we recognize the contributions of Asian/Pacific Islanders to the defense of America through their service in the military.
"Throughout our history, Asian/Pacific Americans have been patriots, answering the call to defend our Nation and to protect the blessings of liberty and democracy. Today, in the war on terror, Asian/Pacific Americans serve proudly as they carry on our Nation's noble tradition of advancing the cause of freedom around the world. We are grateful for the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform and those who love and support them as we fight to protect our homeland and make the world safe for democracy."-From the Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month Proclamation By President George W. Bush-
Take the 100th Infantry Battalion, Go For Broke, a Hawaii National Guard unit that witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor, but because the ranks were made up of mostly Japanese-Americans, were initially disarmed and not allowed to defend America.
Three days after the attack, their rifles were taken away and they were guarded at gunpoint even when they went to the latrine. Why? Their parents came from the country that attacked America. They were Nisei - American-born sons of Japanese immigrants. The next day the men were given back their rifles and resumed their duties, but the atmosphere of fear, hatred and suspicion continued.
But the patriotic spirit of the young Japanese-American (Nisei) soldiers pervailed and the 100th Infantry Battalion was attached to the 442nd Combat Infantry Group and sent to Europe in 1943. The rest as they say, is history.
"Didn't they teach you about professional appearance during your four years at the Virginia Institute for Wayward Boys?"
In other news, I just got off the phone with Michael Yon. I'm kicking myself, forgot to get the skinny on this Deuce Four movie we keep hearing rumblings about.
And ha @ Andi.
I guess this means the Guard is here. Just remember, nothing I say is official Guard (Illinois or otherwise) policy or position - just my own gums flapping (or would it be fingers waggling?).
...some order will be established, no doubt.
That said, since we're all being so jejune this evening...
Reporting for CQ Duty as ordered. I think that my friends of the seagoing service refer to it as "having the watch." None the less, I'm here and in full dress mess. I'm also pecking this out on my laptop sitting atop a stack of cardboard boxes, stealing service from a kindly neighbor via my WiFi bus card, wondering which spot on the floor I'll throw my fart sack tonight.
In case you haven't guessed, I'm in the middle of a PCS move, but didn't want the Navy guys to monopolize our opening ceremony so...
It's opening day here. Full dress uniforms are prescribed. I'm wearing my choker whites right now.
Noonan: this means no tennis shoes, torn jeans, or untucked shirts. Didn't they teach you about professional appearance during your four years at the Virginia Institute for Wayward Boys?
John Noonan - I hardly think SMASH "enforced" the dress code. Set a standard? Maybe. Looked more respectable than some? Possibly. But enforced? Nope. Now, if you want to talk fashion, you're speaking my language, but I doubt the readers of this blog are very interested. I do, however, have a few words to say about "milfashion." It's simply not for everyone.
While we're on the subject, I still haven't warmed up to the universal Beret policy. Not that I hold a grudge or anything......
John Donovan - thanks for bringing in the big guns, I was sinking in the Naval images. The Army needs to establish its presence in these parts. Hook and Matt, we could use your help.
And folks, I'm not a one-hit wonder (Cindy Sheehan). It's just that Sheehan has been in my backyard recently, and it takes a while to get her out of your system when she's been up close and personal.
...or hangover?
Is that why these guys here fire a noonday gun?
Kidding aside, I'm honored to be sharing pixels with folks like Jonah's Military Guys. Man, I wandered into a high class joint here...wonder how long my paycheck will last at this bar.
Oil tanker as mine sweeper? Operation Earnest Will, anyone? I do have a nice poster from my old Naval Control of Shipping days of the Bridgeton leading her 'escorts."
An old post sort of on topic here.
Chap is right, Smash is right. Bubblehead is right. Sea lanes. Sea lanes. Sea lanes. And the purpose of the Navy:
(quoted here)
A navy's purposes deal with the movement and delivery of goods and services at sea; in contrast, an army's purpose is to purchase and possess real estate. Thus a navy is in the links business, while the army is in the nodes business. Seen that way, a navy performs one or more of four functions and no others:
At sea, it (1) assures that our own goods and services are safe, and (2) that an enemy's are not. From the sea, it (3) guarantees safe delivery of goods and services ashore, and (4) prevents delivery ashore by an enemy navy.
You know, mine warfare is always underappreciated until you need it.
Checking in... nice job here, to the Greyhawks (and their invited guests!)
Fingle-danged gout. Okay, enough whining.
I see Smash has the dress code (snerk) and Matt will probably be bringing in the Brown Beverages.
So, Greyhawk - aside from the awesome setup - d'you think you can manage this group of miscreants any better than the chat room at the Conference?
Especially since many of the Usual Suspects were part of your problem there?
Hmmmm. There are *waaaay* too many sailors in here. Guess someone doesn't have much work to do. I know what this place needs.
Guns.
Like this Maxim in the Arsenal of Argghhh!.
And, this:
Just marking my territory, 'Hawk. I promise not to be a bandwidth hog if the Navy behaves.
I expect to be a bandwidth hog.
Hi Troops, honored to be joining the team. Nice look too!
So will SMASH be enforcing the dress code like he did at the milblogging conference?
Concur with all, with one caveat. There are few ports in the world that handle deep water and very large merchants. Strategically, access to those ports are a strategic 'strait' for globalization trade flow, since despite all our technological geegaws we still need to move atoms and not just bits. That's why Smash's other job is so important.
Straits are attractive targets, but so is Sembawang or San Diego, and those have the added negative attraction of news cameras to advertise the destruction. If looking at seaborne attack on globalization nodes, ports might be more attractive to an enemy.
"[W]e probably have some plans in place to deal with any Iranian attempts to close down the Straits of Hormuz."
No need for hedging, you can delete the word "probably" from that statement. We've been actively wargaming this scenario since at least 1979 (and probably even before then).
Many thanks for GreyHawk's invitation. From the beginning, Cap Weinberger and I felt that the milblogs
held the key to overcoming the MSM's naysaying and negativity about our military and, specifically, OIF, and we said so in our book's controversial afterword titled, "Have the Mainstream Media Ignored Our Heroes?"
So I am grateful for the invite.
As GreyHawk, Blackfive, Andi, and others have kindly mentioned, Cap and my book, Home of the Brave : Honoring the Unsung Heroes in the War on Terror
You couldn't ask for a better contrast of theses.
When we got to baggage claim Sonny, our pleasant well-dressed chauffeur, stood smiling with a placcard that read "Hall." I think my blue jeans, short-sleeve shirt, and tennis shoes sort of threw him off.
We arrived at the 70 Park Place Hotel, the place where our publisher has me for the next four nights. Incredible joint. But best of all, any moment now, four of the heroes we profile in Home of the Brave will be checking in as well. Tomorrow Steve Forbes will be hosting the official book launch party from 6-8PM in the Forbes Building. If your publisher is serious about the marketing effort they will usually supply a few hundred books for the event to be given to guests and signed by the author(s). I thought it would be really cool to have the heroes sign books as well. So I asked Steve Forbes's folks to set up a signing table for the heroes. I know I'll be standing in that line.
After the Forbes launch party the plan is to head over to FOX News for Hannity & Colmes. Whether the President's immigration speech will get us bumped remains to be seen. You just have to roll with the news cycle, so there's no fighting it. Still, Sean kindly blurbbed the cover of the book, so we're hopeful that if we have to reschedule we can rebook soon. If I'm on, I'll likely have one or two heroes with me.
Other confirmed media bookings include: Laura Ingraham's Radio Show, Michael Reagan's Radio Show, FOX & Friends, plugs by Rush Limbaugh, and many more. I'll try to blog a bit before or after these. If there are specific aspects of the NYC book publishing/publicity process you'd like me to address, just ask and I'll do my best to answer them.
Gotta run. Taking the Mrs. out to dinner. Any recommendations?
Onward,
W
Smash makes some good points about maritime chokepoints below, and correctly mentions that, despite what you might hear from some quarters, we probably have some plans in place to deal with any Iranian attempts to close down the Straits of Hormuz. Our biggest potential problem if the flag drops comes from the perceived difficulties we might face in dealing with the Iranians, spurred on by alarmist editorials from people who should know better about militarily-useless "superweapons" the Iranians may have developed.
Charlie at Op-For asks, "Would a Palestinian Civil War Benefit…the Palestinians?"
The Canadians are using "noisy" UAVs to pin down the Taliban:
Afghans had learned, when fighting the Russians during the 1980s, to fall flat on the ground when they heard aircraft overhead. From the air, the dirt colored Afghan clothes blended in with the ground, making the prone Afghans invisible. That doesn't work with UAVs, who have a much better view of the ground than passing aircraft or helicopters. UAVs also carry heat sensors. But it gets worse for the prone Taliban. Not only are the bad guys now immobile, but they tend to stay that way for a while, as the Sperwer circles overhead, and the pursuing Canadian troops get closer.
The Sperwer UAV is built by SAGEM, a French company.
...Wynton Hall might stop by later. He's the co-author (with the late Caspar Weinberger ) of Home of the Brave : Honoring the Unsung Heroes in the War on Terror
Blackfive and Mike Yon were on Pundit Review radio last night - listen here.
And Blackfive's on-air "Someone you should Know" segment was a tribute to Soldier's Angels founder Patti Bader. Check it out.
Spreading the word - it's why we're here.
The military has been guarding the southern border for some time, via the Air Force's Tethered Aerostat Radar System; baloon-borne radars whose primary purpose is detection of northbound low flying planes (drug smugglers, dontcha know).
A few years ago I visited several of the sites. They're manned by civilians, but managed by the USAF, so not quite the same as having actual active duty folks patrolling the border. But the guys at the sites assured me - and I have no reason to believe they were joking - that their efforts had been so successful that the smugglers were relying increasingly on foot soldiers to walk their goods over the border. A not-uncommon site (they said by way of warning me) in the area was a lone gunman (AK47, specifically ) strolling northward with a big backpack.
Something for the Guard to prepare for. What will they do when they meet any such well-armed "immigrants"?
I suppose since the White House went to the trouble to send some excerpts of the President's speech I should post them here. See below.
Or read Scott Ott's version.
Maybe we can get a Texas ANG guy to blog from the border.
(The US Naval Academy) recently created a Center for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies to give context to individual departments' teaching of the politics, economy, language and history of that region. Other centers specializing in Asia, Latin America and Africa may follow.Faculty members have begun offering anthropology, literature and history courses that focus on certain regions as well. These include teaching about the Crusades from the Arab perspective, or multicultural literature.
Ryan McGeough, a (USNA) sophomore from South Dartmouth, Mass., who wants to be a Marine or Navy SEAL, said learning Arabic has been a challenge but one that will almost certainly be worth it.
"It's one of those things that's going to help me when I get out of here, since I'm sure to be on the ground somewhere speaking Arabic," said McGeough, 21. "Knowing even a little will help me and my troops a lot more."
I studied French back when I was a mid - and I'm still ready to serve, should my country ever need my services in that department.
STRATEGYPAGE has a list of "The Five Most Attractive Targets" for international terrorists. It's a good list, but I don't think it's quite so easy to "shut down" the Strait of Malacca (about 2 miles wide at its narrowest point), even if you did manage to sink a big ship in the middle of the shallow portion of the channel. Likewise, the Strait of Hormuz is vulnerable to mines, submarines, and Iranian missiles -- but the U.S. Navy has some contingency plans for that particular scenario.
By far the most worrisome maritime choke point, in my book, is the Suez Canal. Very easy to shut down, and the effect on the world economy would be devastating. Security for the canal is the responsiblity of the Egyptian military. U.S. Naval vessels pass through it all the time...
Marines don't wear pink, for starters.
There, that's more like it.
Smash is not timid about venturing into enemy camps.
So is heavy metal and thrash-type stuff now officially right wing conservative music? I suppose Ted Nugent won't be surprised.
Unscrupulous recruiters using a band to entice young people to join the military - reminds me of this one episode of the Simpson's where the Navy guy forms a boy band...
Vietnam and the United States have reached an agreement in principle on terms for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization, clearing the way for Vietnam to join the group this year.
Condi Rice announces the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Libya.
Today's Winds of Change Monday Winds of War round-up links to an alarming piece by Gordon Thomas at World Net Daily, about Al Qaeda operations and coordination of terrorist support in the Americas...
Some of it looked significant, other parts seem anecdotal. Demands more attention.
Dude, that's embarassing. At least he didn't yak, like Rick "Two Bags" Reilly.
Stephen Hayes serves as correspondent in reporting on the Bush Administration’s war against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), published in the Weekly Standard.
I guess Intel -- or rather news that our Intel operations are under assault from within or without -- will always be what fires me up.
This guy has found a way to chew gum in a manner that would entertain aviator types. Just ask the dude..
Dude?
(via b3ta,link not safe for work; actually, not safe for humans)
...bring the noise, it's time to rock ya from the delta to the DMZ...
Welcome to the new headquarters of the MilBlogs Ring. Live, worldwide, 24/7 free speech from those who help make it possible. You'll see some familiar names here, and hopefully some new. (Don't worry, we aren't abandoning the "home blogs" this is just a gathering place for "off duty" conversation.)
Scroll around, make yourselves at home. Bookmark us and stop by anytime, we're never closed.
And if you're a milblogger don't feel left out - we're going to expand, and you're part of the plan.
Lex, something about your post only registered long after I first read it. A quote from the story you linked:
Blasts kill 14 at Baghdad airportSo, was it "at" - or "near"? To a casual reader this might seem like a nitpick, but for us this is more than a semantic issue. There are layers of security that must be breached to achieve "at". I suspect "near" is the reality, but "at" somehow made it's way into the headline.Fourteen people have died and six were hurt in a double suicide attack near Baghdad airport, on a day of violence that claimed at least 30 lives in Iraq...
I noticed when I was there during the Jan 2005 election and prior that suicide bombers would strike "near" political party headquarters and other hard targets, invariably claiming some number of victims. The reality (that never found it's way into the story) was that security was working - insofar as the intended targets were missed. On one day in particular (if memory serves) there were 5 such attacks that essentially failed. Of course, as a result of those failures, innocent bystanders were killed. (If anyone is compelled to blame anyone other than the bombers, I have more words for you here.)
And the next day headlines reported attacks "on" locations a, b, c, etc, along with total dead (probably including the bombers). Their failed attacks were redeemed somewhat by the effectiveness of those headlines.
But days later, purple fingers.
KENNETH ALLARD on the "uppity military:"
[T]he same sloppy thinking, mindless stereotypes and casual acceptance of second-class citizenship that once marked American race relations all now reign unchallenged whenever the military class appears to be getting a little uppity. Fact is, there is a gap — already miles-wide and growing every day — between the American people and their highly professional military.
This is the battle we're fighting at home today -- it's a battle for the hearts and minds of the American people -- and we can't afford to lose this one.
Countercolumn's Jason van Steenwyk has a good response to the CNN/MSNBC military "outrage" of the day.
OpFor translates Iranian concessions generation strategic theory in the format any staff officer understands.
Apparently Ramadi chose their side in the Jerky Wars. Is Smash down with that?
And is jerky the new East Coast / West Coast thing?
Okay Andi - here's a second opinion:
Marine Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski, 20, died May 9, 2005, in a hospital in Fallujah of shrapnel wounds from a mortar shell that exploded near him during combat in Anbar Province.The AP is carrying that story. I think there are plenty of Americans who'd align themselves with Prazynski over Sheehan, although Matthews might not know any himself.Until then, John Prazynski, 43, a soft-spoken suburban real-estate broker, didn’t consider himself political and never expected to become a public figure, much less a pro-war activist.
On opening day of the baseball season in Cincinnati, he joined President Bush and two wounded soldiers on the field in pregame ceremonies. Prazynski said he wanted to thank Bush for his support “and give him two thumbs up with his positive stance on security, military and veterans’ issues.”
Prazynski has been interviewed repeatedly by news media about the war in the past year, while organizing a series of 5-kilometer runs and motorcycle rides to raise money for scholarships for children of slain soldiers and Marines.
“I do this to keep Taylor’s memory alive,” said Prazynski.
Robert Stokely, for one.
I suppose "Go Out There and Conquer the World" is so passé these days.
Scary stuff. Really scary stuff.
But then again, there's a history there (scroll down).
Mark Steyn: coupla thousand words.
Google: one screenshot.
Can't say who wins on this one.
From the Chronicles of Jake we learn the importance of taking care of one's feet, especially those of an infantryman.
"Sound hearts are not much good if the feet won't stand." - Teddy Roosevelt
These boots were made for walking...
A San Antonio columnist (via RCP) opines on the nature of public reaction to an "uppity" military in a description of the attempt to improve American intelligence. Can't say as I quite get what he's on about, but I expect Charlie Moskos to be quoted about it in 5...4...3...2..
(Who's Charlie Moskos? He's the only veteran who's a sociologist that happens to be on everyone's speed dial. He's everywhere when someone talks about the civilian-military gap, or military demographic trends, or other similar subjects.)
BoingBoing points to an entertaining selection of Soviet equipment for sale or display, like this ten rotor crypto unit.
I like the helicopter that fits in the torpedo tube myself...
Soldiers’ Angels Ship 5,000th Backpack To Help Wounded Soldiers In Overseas Hospital
Read this too. It's not about the numbers.
Every once in a while I check out the military pictures group on USENET. Found these pictures, with no attribution, of the memorial service for SDVT-1 and 160th SOG members we lost in Afghanistan last year.
Fair winds and following seas--and if you want to donate to the Naval Special Warrior Foundation or the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, those organizations are Froggy-endorsed.
Photos after the jump.
Over the weekend I exchanged a few emails with Jay Babcock, the editor of Arthur magazine, regarding his very contentious interview with Sully Erna, lead singer of Godsmack. It seems that Sully is a proud supporter of the U.S. Military, while Jay is not.
I left a comment on Jay's site, and it all went downhill from there. Check out the blow-by-blow here.
Well said Lex. I think one of the early indicators of actual civil war in Iraq (as opposed to "sectarian violence") will be that all Sunnis will be dead. The numbers support this.
If the folks that ran the PX out here actually paid attention to what we actually want, they would be rolling in the dough. Haven’t they realized after 3 years that every time Halo is on the racks that they’re all gone within an hour? If there were customer survey forms for the PX, I haven’t seen them yet.
I don't know - maybe it's Western-style military training - you know, Purpose, Method, Endstate and all that, but headlines like these, and the accompanying text leave me wondering:
Blasts kill 14 at Baghdad airport
Two cars packed with explosives ripped through a busy car park
Fourteen people have died and six were hurt in a double suicide attack near Baghdad airport, on a day of violence that claimed at least 30 lives in Iraq...The blasts came after a spate of overnight bombings destroyed several Shia Muslim shrines near the city of Baquba, some 40 miles (65 km) north-east of Baghdad.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says much of the violence now is playing into a scenario of rising sectarian tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
The shrine attacks were clearly yet another provocation aimed at adding fuel to the flames, our correspondent adds.
I mean, it's clear that the anti-Iraqi forces don't have anything like a unified political vision - unless you count rejectionist nihilsm as a vision - but you just have to wonder at the military logic of this kind of insensate violence:
First insurgent: Praise be! We have through our brutal campaign of indiscriminate violence succeeded in accomplishing Step #1 of our glorious military plan. We have finally overcome the forces of sectarian moderation and fanned the retributive emotions of the majority Shi'a population! While also alienating the Kurds!
Second insurgent: Give thanks! The Shi'a outnumber us three to one, control the military and interior ministries, and are now well armed, trained and equipped!
First insurgent: And don't forget, brother: The Shi'a and the Kurdish populations sit atop the natural wealth of the entire country! While we are masters of the trackless desert wasteland! On to Step #2!
Second insurgent:
First insurgent:
Second insurgent: What was Step #2 again brother?
First insurgent: I'm thinking, I'm thinking.
Perhaps this one: Thousands Rally Against U.S. Troops.
But it's still early.
Video game industry is told it needs to grow upSlumping sales? Let's ditch the girls in bikinis.THINGS got off to a bad start this week when Wonder Woman was refused entry to the building.
The problem, it seemed, was a new set of rules from the organisers of the annual E3 video games conference. The message was clear: any kind of semi-nudity, even a pair of superhero bikini bottoms, would not be tolerated. Gamers needed to grow up, get sex off their minds and concentrate on the wholesome family entertainment of stealing fast cars and firing lasers at giant alien crabs.The video games business was desperate to be taken seriously at the jamboree this year. After 12 months of slumping sales — and a failure to live up to its prediction of overtaking Hollywood as America’s primary form of entertainment — the industry was expecting big things from the unveiling of next-generation hardware, such as the Sony PlayStation 3.
Should we ban such things here?
Oddly enough, I heard a rumor that Hollywood was considering using scantily clad, beautiful women in some upcoming movies as a lure to attract viewers. I'm not sure if that's true though - it seems like it might cheapen the industry.
Eagle1: The NCW Squadron (successor units to the Harbor Defense Command) "Commodores" still wear Command at Sea pins, even though they are land-based commands, while the MIUWU and IBU COs are stuck with shore command pins. And the IBU skippers never stop bitching about it, believe me.
A fellow MIUWU sailor, eh? Small world...
Smash: I spent 5 great years in MIUWU land - and was CO of one of the units that deployed for ODS. Our only boats at that time were Zodiacs. The PSU and the MIUWU were linked together under the Port Security Harbor Defense commander and he worked for the Harbor Defense Commander (some time over a beer, we can mull over how the shore based ODS PSHD COs got Command at Sea badges for being the bosses over two shore commands (MIUWU and PSU).
Many jolly turf wars followed ODS over who would boss the MIUWUs...I guess NCW is as good a place as any (though I was of the crowd that argued that the better idea was to let the senior MIUWU or PSU CO be the Port Security guy and cut out what I viewed as an unnecessary level of command at the PSHD (NCW det?) level.
Assuming we'll be FOC on Monday, any suggestions as to what I should wear?
Eagle1: the MIUWUs are still around; I served in one during my stint in Kuwait back in 2003. The original MIUWUs did have boats, but the Navy took the boats away when they split out the IBUs in the late 1990s.
MIUWUs, IBUs, and Coast Guard PSUs typically deploy together as part of a Naval Coastal Warfare detachment to provide port security overseas. Since the end of Vietnam, the NCW community has consisted almost entirely of reserve units. But earlier this year the first active duty NCW squadron was commissioned in San Diego, and the second will be commissioned at Little Creek later this month, so we can expect to see a lot more of these high speed boats deploying overseas in the near future.
The picture is of boats of PSU 303 which was teamed with MIUWU-108 in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
And the boats could fly!
Hope there's more to this story:
PORTLAND, Ore.— An Oregon congressman is calling for an investigation into military recruiting practices after the Army signed up an autistic teen for one of its most dangerous jobs.Being recruited is not the same as completing training, of course, but that's a distinction a reporter won't make. Or the big general - the general public.Jared Guinther of Portland, Ore., enlisted to be a cavalry scout — even though he didn’t realize at first that there was a war in Iraq.
His parents said the Army recruiters aggressively pursued the high school senior, offering him a $4,000 signing bonus and $67,000 for college.
Brenda Guinther said she called Army recruiters and explained that her son was autistic, but they laughed her off. She told the Oregonian newspaper that a recruiter’s supervisor told her that her son “doesn’t need his mommy to make his decisions for him.”
This kind of looks like fun, doesn't it?
The mission of IBU is to provide a rapidly deployable, armed, small-craft capability with precise navigation to support expeditionary forces in littoral regions.These aluminum-hull boats are armed with two to three .50 caliber machine guns, MK 19 grenade launchers and M-16 machine guns. IBUs can reach speeds of more than 30 knots and are capable of making 360-degree turns within seconds, among other capabilities.
Not NECC, nor even SEAL SBS support, but good clean fun. And at 30 knots in shallow water, even Chap and his boys might have a hard time getting a firing solution ;-)
Hey campers. Nice site Mrs GH.
It's hard enough getting two of us to show up in the first place, and now we're talking in stereo...
Testing to see if this works for submariners. I think it's great that we're starting this during National Military Appreciation Month -- although it seems as though it isn't actually, officially, National Military Appreciation Month.
On comments, I think comments shouldn't be used for cross posting or excerpting in order to keep discussion at the milblogs with the entire content being discussed. However, i think there could be some value in having a topic and discussion piece...comments would be needed for that.
Por ejemplo, discuss the impact of jerky in theater...
So this is movable type. I'm impressed. Now I know what I'm missing.
Thanks for setting this up, Greyhawks!
Test, test, 1...2...3...we start bombing in...is this thing on?
123 123 123 123 123 123
Heellloooooooooooooooo, can you hear me now?
Site design and management: Mrs Greyhawk
Original content copyright © 2006 by the respective authors
