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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.
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