Hearts and minds and work left undone

[Lex]

So did you read about the jurist in Yemen who freed the 19 al Queda allied fighters on the "technicality" that, well: Jihad isn't actually against sharia law?

I get the feeling some times like we're talking past each other.

My Kind of Town

[Soldier's Mom]

Those that regularly read my blog will know that we retired to a town in northern Arizona that we find reflects our values and also values its military -- active and veterans. We have a very large veterans population here and, thanks to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a representation of active military and about-to-be military since E-R has the largest college ROTC program in the country (predominantly AF, but with a growing number of the other services represented as well.) I recently met an Army instructor just re-assigned here to the mountains and pine forests and he's actively building the green-to-gold contingent there.

However, this town of 33,000 +/- is composed principally of farmers, ranchers, people who work at the regional medical facilities...

So today, our local paper highlighted the first ever JROTC program at our local high school (enrollment 2,000):

When U.S. Air Force Lt. Colonel Denny Peeples (Ret.) received the official go ahead for a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Prescott High School, he ordered 100 books.

Peeples thought that would be plenty since the average new ROTC program begins with less than 50 students. He got a big surprise when 146 students signed up for the program.

and

Gasho said the honor code says it all: I will not lie, cheat or steal, nor will I tolerate those who do.

For Peeples, his message is that life is a choice and students will always be faced with them.

"Cadets will gain respect for others and themselves. They will gain a new outlook on life and school. They will look at the world more optimistically through the process of understanding where people come from and not judge them," he said.

Read it all HERE... the quotes from those teenagers who will lead us through the rest of this century will make you proud.

(and to those who claim that our servicemembers are somehow coerced into service... you should read this article too!)

Coach K and Team USA Give Back

[Eddie]

Some of the US forces in South Korea got a treat last night:

"It felt great to come here and do something for the troops," said Wade, who plays for the Miami Heat. "It definitely helps us get motivated by realizing there are a lot of people behind us and we're representing our country." ............ Coach Krzyzewski said the trip to Yongsan, home to 25,000 personnel, was well worth the effort of getting up early and practicing in the stifling heat of the base gymnasium.

"It added depth to our trip," said Krzyzewski. "To be able to meet the servicemen and women and thank them for their service was a great feeling."

Now go make us proud and stop the losing streak of late in international competition.

Fuzziliciously overThinking the problem...

[John of Argghhh!]

Fuzzybear Lioness today:

Isn't it awfully presumptuous for me to think some stranger cares what I think of him, cares that he has my verbal approbation? If someone I didn't know told me they thought I was a nice person, I'd look at them like they were nuts; I don't care what some random unknown thinks of me. Does a warfighter?

In days when people claim to be able to "support the troops but not the war," does an easily-spoken "Thank you for your service" really mean anything anymore?

Go with your gut, Fuzzy. They do care. Even if they never say it. They notice, somewhere, deep inside. Your presence, there, at the USO, says more than all the magnets on all the cars put together.

You go, girl. I'm proud to have you as a Denizen.

The problem with elites

[CDR Salamander]

There is always a problem in a culture when the great mass of "elites" decide that they no longer wish to march to the sound of war drums. I know we have talked about it here in the American sense, but I didn't know Israel has the same problem.

Step by step, the top 1000th percentiles abandoned the existential national effort. They stopped doing reserve duty, they stopped sending their sons to the fighting units. They mocked those officers who warned about unilateral withdrawals. They mocked those officers who warned that the emergency warehouses were emptying out and the enemies were becoming stronger. And they deceived themselves and those around them that Tel Aviv is in fact Manhattan. Money is in fact everything. And thus they bequeathed to young Israelis a legacy of values that makes it very difficult for them to attack even when the attack is fully justified. Because a country that lacks equality, that lacks justice and that lacks faith in the rightness of its path, is a country for which it is very difficult to go on the attack. It is a country for which not many are willing to kill and be killed.

And in the Middle East of the 21st century, a country whose young elites find it difficult to kill and be killed for it is a country on borrowed time. A country that cannot endure.

When Lebanese civilians move...

[Major John]

who are they NOT frightened of? [AP slanting and snotty insinutations aside, that is].

Tehran Loses Confidence in Europe

[Soldier's Dad]

viaRussian news Agency Hat Tip Threatwatch

TEHRAN, August 13 (RIA Novosti) - Iran said Sunday it had lost confidence in Europe's intentions to settle its nuclear problem peacefully.

The five permanent UN Security Council members, including Russia and China, voted July 31 in favor of a resolution to set August 31 as a deadline for Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment activities. If Iran fails to fulfill the UN's demands, economic and diplomatic sanctions may be imposed on the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the Islamic Republic was surprised by the Europeans' behavior (the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution on Iran) and now did not believe in Europeans' good intentions to solve its nuclear issue by way of negotiations.

Hezbollah's rockets- not really a surprise?

[Eagle1]

I keep reading that Israel was "surprised" by the number and quality of Hezbollah rockets (see, for example, this from the Corner at National Review On-line:

Basically, Kramer argues, Iran gave Hezbollah a wide array of rocket technology (far more of it than Israel realized) for use against Israel in the event of an American and/or Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. But Iran’s orders were vague, and Hezbollah jumped the gun, thereby degrading the value of one of the key modes of (proxy) retaliation Iran had planned to use in the event of a move against its nuclear program. (emphasis added)

While the underlying argument in question has to do with whether Hezbollah's rocket attacks were planned or a mistake in timing, I keep getting stuck on the idea that Israel was unaware of the 12,000+ rockets Hezbollah has acquired or the nature of those rockets...

As I linked to here, the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin reported back in 2002 that Hezbollah had built up an arsenal of rockets, including "10,000 short and long-range rockets, including hundreds capable of striking into the civilian and industrial heartland of the Jewish state." Further, the report by Gary C. Gambill states:

Israeli officials have been complaining about massive Iranian airlifts to Hezbollah since March 2001, when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned that Iran, "in full cooperation with Syria," was providing Hezbollah with large numbers of rockets capable of hitting "the center of the country."1 By late January 2002, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was declaring before the Knesset that Iranian airlifts had expanded Hezbollah's arsenal to 10,000 "missiles" (this frequently-used term is technically incorrect, as even the long-range rockets lack in-flight guidance systems).2

Although Tehran issued repeated denials and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah carefully avoided confirming the airlift, other Hezbollah officials were less reserved. In May 2001, a member of the group's political bureau, Nawaf Moussawi, declared during a rally that "2.5 million Israelis are now in range of our missiles," a boast which appeared to confirm Sharon's claim.3 A February 2002 report by the Christian Science Monitor quoted a "well-connected . . . Hezbollah insider" as saying that "truckload after truckload" of military equipment had been arriving in the border district since the Israeli withdrawal in May 2000.4

After a New York Times article in September cited American officials as confirming that Hezbollah had received long-range Iranian-manufactured Fajr-3 and Fajr-5 rockets,5 even Nasrallah could not resist alluding to them. While careful to speak in hypothetical terms, he boasted of the suffering that such an arsenal could inflict on Israeli civilians. "In 1996 . . . with Katyushas alone, the resistance was able to displace two million people and [the Israeli government] had to look for places in central Israel to settle them," he declared last month. "[If] Hezbollah's missiles can now reach all population centers in Israel, then where can they flee?"6

Notwithstanding Nasrallah's wishful claims, most of Hezbollah's arsenal consists of old stand-byes (albeit in unprecedented numbers): 122mm Katyushas with a range of 12 miles (20 km) and 107mm Katyushas with a range of 5 miles (8 km). However, it also includes several hundred 240-mm Fajr-3 rockets and 333-mm Fajr-5 rockets.
***
Last month, the London Sunday Times reported that Iran has deployed Zelzal-2 "ballistic missiles" in Lebanon, capable of "carrying half a ton of chemical or conventional warheads as far as Tel Aviv." (footnotes omitted)

Again, while I have no idea whether Hezbollah's rocket firings as part of this recent skirmish were "premature" as far as Iran's grand strategic scheme, it is my opnion that reports of Israeli "surprise" in the types and numbers of rockets being fired at them are not based in reality. If the MEIB had the information, so did the government of Israel.

Not there probably weren't a couple of real surprises. For instance, the appearance of a suspected C-802 Anti-ship Cruise Missile in the area seems to have been a real stunner.

Bratty memories.

[John of Argghhh!]

Fellow brats: Come relive the fun!

Owner-Operators of Brats: Come see the dangers.

"Kibbles with mustard"

Ironic Headline of the Day

[SMASH]

The Ironic Headline of the Day Award goes to the Washington Post, for "Cease-Fire Takes Effect; More Fighting Expected."

It would be funny, were it not so true...