MilBlogs (Daily Archive)

« June 15, 2006 | Main | June 17, 2006 »

June 16, 2006

A Stetson for VALOR IT

[Grim]

Taxes being due yesterday, I've nothing to offer the pot right now -- but I am willing to make a personal sacrifice for Project VALOR IT.

If you think you'd like to own one of Grim's own Stetson hats, follow the link.

Posted at 2345Z

Re: New MCPON

[Major John]

Chap -

"He also graduated from the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy in May 2003 and completed the Command Sergeants Major course. " So at least we know he has been trained well, right?

Oh, and he has an Army Commendation Medal too.

Good choice, I should think!

Posted at 2058Z

Sad Wags and Bad Wagers

[Dadmanly]

Victor Davis Hanson today in NRO suggests that Betting on Defeat in Iraq is far from a safe bet, however many war opponents make the wager.

Here are the problems with those who want to recant earlier support of the more – or take less ambiguously negative positions vice earlier, less definable stances:

Continue reading "Sad Wags and Bad Wagers "

1. The argument, notably from Senator Kerry, that “We were misled.”

Hanson knows his history, of which Kerry either knows not, or as he’s famously practiced in the past, selectively aware not. This has always been the definable characteristic about Kerry’s position on Iraq: that he cannot be held to account for any of his votes or public statements, because he’s either a complete fool, or a complete dupe, or some combination of both. Heck, if you were junior in your state to Ted Kennedy, and owed your political career to him, my guess is, if you weren’t that stupid to begin with, you’d get that way quick. Misled, yes, I try to be. Thanks for asking.

(Hanson has more of a principled, reasoned rejoinder than I. Me, I find the repetitive trotting out of fact and history for people who know truth from fiction only too well, boring and a waste of time.)

2. Shifting positions in a war that shifts positions.

Hanson makes the excellent observation that wars and battle spaces evolve. This is beyond the grasp of partisan opportunists and politicos, who know no principle or ethic save, “what gets me and mine ahead?” One risks much who plans public appearances and media campaigns based on combat status that is old before the cameras roll. (This evokes Kerry again, who has quite the reputation for staling just long enough to take a stand that appears ridiculous and two weeks old by the time he takes it.)

3. Legitimate Criticism of the War is different than slander.

Milblogs have highly attuned senses in this regard. If you are uncertain whether a criticism is legitimate, or slanderous, ask a Milblogger. (Or consider who criticizes, it’s usually pretty obvious.)

As Hanson says,

…Much of the Left’s rhetoric was not merely anti-Bush, but in its pessimism devolved into de facto anti-Americanism.

Senator Durbin compared Guantanamo Bay to the worst excesses of the Nazis. Senator Kennedy suggested that Abu Ghraib, where thousands perished under Saddam Hussein, had simply “reopened under new management: U.S. management.” Democratic-party chairman Howard Dean confidently asserted that the Iraq war was not winnable. John Kerry in his youth alleged that Americans were like Genghis Khan in their savagery; in his golden years, he once again insists that we are “terrorizing” Iraqi civilians. With friends like these, what war critic needs enemies? Americans can take disapproval that we are not fighting “smart,” but they resent the notion that we are somehow downright evil.

You don’t have to react to this kind of hysteria with fury or wrath to see it for slander. Most of us who support the war don’t dehumanize our opponents or brand them as evil. Stupid? Misguided? Ignorant? Partisan? Crazed? Sure, those and more, but outside of a few really sick individuals, I don’t think they’re Satan’s minions or anything. At least I don’t think so…

4. The mainstream media can’t be trusted on Iraq.

There had to be one of Hanson’s points so obvious, what’s there to discuss?

5. How Iraq turns out in the end hasn’t happened yet.

Let’s get this straight: The war to remove Saddam Hussein, along with the war to topple the Taliban in Afghanistan, were stunningly successful efforts to free 50 million people from brutal thug-ocracies. It’s nation building that has been more problematic, which even the war’s critics acknowledged in their opposition to our efforts, before they began.

You don’t hear anything from critics about our stunning success in the prior, only our failures in the latter. Hmmmm.

Hanson wraps it up neatly in a paragraph:

The three-week effort to remove Saddam Hussein was a landmark success. The subsequent three-year occupation in his place has been messy, costly, and unpopular. But the result of the third and final stage that Iraq has evolved into — an existential fight between Iraqi democracy and al Qaeda and Islamic fundamentalism — is still uncertain. If we draw the terrorists out, defeat them in the heart of the ancient caliphate, and win the allegiance of enough democratic Iraqis to crush the Islamicists, then our military has won a far greater victory than the removal of Saddam Hussein.

6. What’s YOUR Plan?

Hanson notes the utter paucity of alternatives. Representative Nancy Pelosi defines the syndrome, weekly offering accusatory bromides that consist of little more than, “It’s a disaster! Give it over to us! Once we’re in charge, we’ll figure out how it NEEDS to be done. We should have a plan any day now! I mean, other than the Plan where you vote us into Congress and the Presidency!”

(As to no plan at all, opponents might consider how Military men and women would take to being in a dangerous place without a plan. Our Military and the Iraqi Security Forces have all kinds of PLAN, or you’d be hearing about it BIG TIME from GI Joes and Janes. Again, refer to Milblogs.)

Meanwhile, what’s the status of the current Plan that is continually derided by Opponents as No Plan At All? According to Hanson:

So we are nearing the denouement of the Iraq war, where we wanted to be all along: in support of a full-fledged and democratically elected government that will either win or lose its own struggle.

7. No Links! No WMD! No Ties to Terror! A Distraction from 9/11 Bad Guys!

Irrelevant or untrue, increasingly so as time passes and Iraqi and Al Qaeda documents surface, supporting Hussein’s ties to and support of terror and terror entities, his real WMD capabilities and desire for greater.

Hanson concludes:

Once a democratically elected Iraqi government emerged, and a national army was trained, the only way we could lose this war was to forfeit it at home, through the influence of an adroit, loud minority of critics that for either base or misguided reasons really does wish us to lose. They really do.

There’s little else to conclude.

All done!

Posted at 2033Z

Reveries of 'Nam

[Dadmanly]

Michael Barone penned an excellent essay about media-enabled left-wing nostalgia. Barone notes how those of a certain political persuasion, and their friends in the media, have had a pretty bad couple of weeks. Recent events don’t just represent losses with political implications, but threaten to soundly discredit their Vietnam and Watergate déjà vu reveries.

Barone identifies the Democratic loss in the California 50th District, the killing of Zarqawi and the completion of the Iraqi government, and the non-indictment of Presidential Advisor Karl Rove as the possibly mortal blows against their reactionary self-image.

What resonated most with me (okay, smacked me upside my head) was how Barone managed to so precisely indict the media for creating and sustaining these illusions of the left, while at the same time chastening the press with bygone examples of the journalist as “American Citizen First,” in contrast to today’s “citizen of the world.” All without saying so explicitly:

In all this a key role was played by the press. Cries went up early for the appointment of a special prosecutor: Patrick Fitzgerald would be another Archibald Cox or Leon Jaworski. Eager to bring down another Republican administration, the editorialists of the New York Times evidently failed to realize that the case could not be pursued without asking reporters to reveal the names of sources who had been promised confidentiality. America's newsrooms are populated largely by liberals who regard the Vietnam and Watergate stories as the great achievements of their profession. The peak of their ambition is to achieve the fame and wealth of great reporters like David Halberstam and Bob Woodward. But this time it was not Republican administration officials who went to prison. It was Judith Miller, then of the New York Times itself.

Interestingly, Bob Woodward himself contradicted Mr. Fitzgerald's statement, made the day that he announced the one indictment he has obtained, of former vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby, that Mr. Libby was the first to disclose Ms. Plame's name to a reporter. The press reaction was to turn on Mr. Woodward, who has been covering this administration as a new story rather than as a reprise of Vietnam and Watergate.

Historians may regard it as a curious thing that the left and the press have been so determined to fit current events into templates based on events that occurred 30 to 40 years ago. The people who effectively framed the issues raised by Vietnam and Watergate did something like the opposite; they insisted that Vietnam was not a reprise of World War II or Korea and that Watergate was something different from the operations J. Edgar Hoover conducted for Franklin Roosevelt or John Kennedy. Journalists in the 1940s, '50s and early '60s tended to believe they had a duty to buttress Americans' faith in their leaders and their government. Journalists since Vietnam and Watergate have tended to believe that they have a duty to undermine such faith, especially when the wrong party is in office.

That, gentle reader, explains the battle Milbloggers inherit when they try to speak truth about the War on Terror, terrorist enemies, or the vital service of our Military in this war. The Military fulfills the most critical function that Government provides its citizens, that of national defense. It is arguably its most visible function as well. (Not counting tax collection I guess!)

Which means, we are an essential part of the Government that the media so mistrusts, and the faith in which they duty-bound to undermine. Especially, as Barone says, “when the wrong party is in office.”

Posted at 2029Z

Joe Wilson: Military Strategist

[Andi]

Joe Wilson on Iraq.

Former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose wife was at the center of a CIA leak case that led to the indictment of Vice President Cheney's top aide, argued Wednesday that the U.S. needs to bring Iraqi insurgents and their "foreign patrons" to the conference table for negotiations.
During a panel discussion at the liberal Take Back America conference in Washington, D.C., Wilson said diplomatic efforts to establish Iraq as a democratic power in the region should also include "the Egyptians, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Iranians ... the Turks, probably some leading powers from Europe and Russia, all of whom have interests at stake."

Thanks, Joe. You've left me clamoring for more....

Posted at 1920Z

The New MCPON

[Chap]

The new senior enlisted for the Navy is a hospital corpsman wth a surface warfare pin and an FMF badge. He's currently command master chief at JTF-Gitmo. Bio is here. Pac guy, was CMC on Cable which is a hard hard job. Master's in National Security and Strategic Studies.

I like the sound of it already. Let's see how long he gets to work on real things before uniform issues pop up...

Posted at 1652Z

Napalm Sticks to Kids

[SMASH]

The funny thing about dark humor is that it's so over-the-top outrageous, so unexpected, that you can't help but laugh. It's the same type of thing that turned Howard Stern into a phenomenon, but with a military twist.

Once upon a time, military recruits would sing "jodies" with unrepeatable lyrics while running in formation. Some were sexual in nature, while others told tales of blood and gore. One popular jody was titled "Napalm Sticks to Kids."

To be clear, these are not meant to be taken literally. We don't actually do these horrible things. It's a self-charicature. That's why it's funny.

More here.

Posted at 1632Z

It's Friday, so Afghanistan News must be up?!

[Major John]

"Get in there men, I hear the News of Afghanistan is up!"

Posted at 1337Z

Looky what I found...

[John of Argghhh!]

...while cleaning up in the Arsenal!

Ain't it grand having a wife that lets you own things like this? And a government that lets you ship it as Professional Books and Equipment? Gotta have that Military Historian tag on your MOS, but hey - ya shoulda seen the look on the movers face when he hadda move these.

And that shot didn't include the 175mm and 8" rounds. Yes. All inert, btw. Put the phone down. All legal where I live.

Oh, and to answer the question about the wife? Why yes, yes it is.

Just remember - that nice portly bearded fellow moving in next door to you could be... me.

To further refine my statement under cross examination: that nice, portly, graying, bearded fellow...

Posted at 1321Z

Like Chap sez - It's Payday!

[John of Argghhh!]

So shave off a little green to Project Valour-IT!

From yesterday:

Weekend 2214.11
Monday 2475
Tuesday 3801
Wednesday 5850.00
Thursday 2080

Total $16,420.

Interesting note: As of the time of that update, we were ahead of National Review Online and their week-long fundraiser. This morning, as I hit "post" on this, they're at $16,915.

So - for those of you who like a little competition - how about we set our goal to *Beat* NRO's fundraising totals? Just for the bragging rights? Something I can drop in Jonah's coffee tomorrow morning?

Please?

It's not like it's not for a Good Cause.

So, the fundraising for Project Valour-IT continues today - and ends tonight in terms of blogging it - until the Big Push this fall. This was just a raid to warm everybody up and refine the TTPs.

Please click on the graphic below - and give up a little beer/winecooler/pack of cigarettes/movie rental money (or more, like Blackhawk!) to help the wounded re-connect to their wired lives. At this point - I'm just wanting to stay ahead of NRO!

Feel free to join us! And those of you who already have - thank you ever so much!

(Feel free to swipe the roll-code)

(If you are a supporting blog and aren't listed - drop me a note!)

Posted at 1312Z

Re: Durka Durka

[Bubblehead]

Phibian --
I think the reason that not many of us are having fun with the "Hadji Girl" kerfuffle is that we know from bitter experience what's going to happen next -- the MSM, having found out that people in the military sometimes sing inappropriate songs among themselves for entertainment, will start crawling around to find more examples of this "scandalous" behavior, and all of us know we're vulnerable. I can just imagine the story some enterprising reporter will file:

"It's not only Marines who sing culturally insensitive tunes; even submariners revel in chanting horribly sexist songs abusing people called "skimmers" (probably slang for a down-trodden minority group), and this reporter even found one song in which the lyrics imply that 97% of the sub's crew intends to commit sodomy with one oppressed woman. As early as boot camp, recruits are indoctrinated that it's OK to physically assault civilians (specifically someone named "Jody") who may be dating their old girlfriend -- clearly an example of misplaced sexual aggression."

Posted at 0439Z

We Got Zarqawi!

[Buck Sargent]

Okay, I'm a week late and a million dinars short on this one, but gimme a break, I've just spent a week atop what I believe is the tallest point in Iraq (approx. 5,000 ft) helping provide additional security for some commo guys. (Basically, Antenna City).

I don't even have my laptop with me, which is torture considering I'm so bored I've already resorted to multiple games of Battleship conducted over two ICOM handheld radios. But I do have a Tom Wolfe novel along for the ride, my only saving grace.

Okay people, this is on borrowed computer and satellite internet time. I better skedaddle before the commo pukes wake up and kick me off so they can download Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sabrina the Teenage Witch or whatever it is those candyasses watch.

Out.

Posted at 0352Z