Mobile Aircraft Repair Service

What were the Army Air Force, Merchant Mariners, Naval Armed Guards, and early sea-going helicopters doing in "Generals" and "Colonels?"

Answer here.

No Surprise

Usually it's politicians, soldiers, or other great figures who are honored with statues or monuments* in public squares.

In Cuba, it's NY Times reporters.

In that glowing article Matthews wrote: "The personality of the man (Castro) is overpowering. It was easy to see that his men adored him and also to see why he has caught the imagination of the youth of Cuba all over the island. Here was an educated, dedicated fanatic, a man of ideals, of courage and of remarkable qualities of leadership."

The interview may have also helped Castro by exaggerating the size of his rebel force. Castro later bragged he only had 18 men at the time, but made them pass in front of the American reporter several times.

Less than two years after the interview, Castro and his revolutionary companion Ernesto "Che" Guevara swept down from the hills and overthrew the Batista government in a leftist revolution that steered Cuba toward communism.

Matthews is dead, but his spirit certainly lives on.

(See also Walter Duranty.)

*Or even just a plaque in the middle of nowhere.

Salute

Miss Arkansas: 2nd Lt. Kelly George, deputy chief of public affairs for the 314th Airlift Wing, Little Rock Air Force Base.

Cngratulations to her, but this might be the quote of the year decade: "training for pageants is similar to being an Airman in the Air Force."

Major Dad, Departing

Bravo Zulu, shipmate, to you and your family. Now continue to go forth and do Great Things.

Re: Murtha And How Democracies Perish

Bad Bob was right: Lex's latest is a corker. Go ye and read of it.

Lex starts by referencing a book by Jean-François Revel, the author who also wrote Without Marx Or Jesus and Anti-Americanism. The latter book was revelatory when I read it in '02 (here's an article by Revel detailing some of the thesis) and I intend to read more of Revel's work.

Revel passed the same year as la Fallaci. I shall miss them both and look for those who will lead where they led.

la cucaracha?

Somebody's got some 'splainin' to do:

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss.
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Not all of the quarters are as bleak as Duncan's, but the despair of Building 18 symbolizes a larger problem in Walter Reed's treatment of the wounded, according to dozens of soldiers, family members, veterans aid groups, and current and former Walter Reed staff members interviewed by two Washington Post reporters, who spent more than four months visiting the outpatient world without the knowledge or permission of Walter Reed officials. Many agreed to be quoted by name; others said they feared Army retribution if they complained publicly.

Murtha, and "How Democracies Perish"

Jean-Francois Revel has been there, done that:

Democracy tends to ignore, even deny, threats to its existence because it loathes doing what is necessary to counter them… What we end up with in what is conventionally called Western society is a topsy-turvy situation in which those seeking to destroy democracy appear to be fighting for legitimate aims, while its defenders are pictured as repressive reactionaries. Identification of democracy’s internal and external adversaries with the forces of progress, legitimacy, even peace, discredits and paralyzes the efforts of people who are only trying to preserve their institutions…

Unlike the Western leadership, which is tormented by remorse and a sense of guilt, Soviet leaders’ consciences are perfectly clear, which allows them to use brute force with utter serenity both to preserve their power at home and to extend it abroad.

Early Battles of "the Surge"

Having been sent to Iraq with the Senate's unanimous approval, General Petraeus sends his first message to the men and women of Multi-National Force - Iraq:

Headquarters
Multi-National Force - Iraq
Baghdad, Iraq
APO AE 09342-1400

February 10, 2007

Office of the Commanding General

To the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Civilians of Multi-National Force-Iraq:

We serve in Iraq at a critical time. The war here will soon enter its fifth year. A decisive moment approaches. Shoulder-to-shoulder with our Iraqi comrades, we will conduct a pivotal campaign to improve security for the Iraqi people. The stakes could not be higher.

Our task is crucial. Security is essential for Iraq to build its future. Only with security can the Iraqi government come to grips with the tough issues it confronts and develop the capacity to serve its citizens. The hopes of the Iraqi people and the coalition countries are with us.

The enemies of Iraq will shrink at no act, however barbaric. They will do all that they can to shake the confidence of the people and to convince the world that this effort is doomed. We must not underestimate them.

Officially known as Combat Outpost Casino, the Alamo represents the first attempt at putting U.S. and Iraqi forces in smaller stations where they will live together, in the middle of the neighborhoods they are assigned to protect.

Dozens of such posts are planned, and they will be manned by many of the 21,500 additional combat soldiers President Bush has pledged to send to Iraq. The idea is that living in the neighborhoods will do what three years of patrols launched from larger, more distant bases could not.
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The outposts also pose a crucial test for Gen. David Petraeus, the new U.S. commander in Iraq, and his plans to reshape the way the American military deals with the Iraqi insurgency.
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Battles between militants are tamped down in minutes instead of hours. U.S. officers and local sheiks have exchanged cell phone numbers. Merchants have opened a few sparsely stocked shops, and residents are more willing to share information with American troops.

"We see more, we hear more and we learn more when we're out here," said Lt. Erik Klapmeier, a 24-year-old platoon leader from Geneva, Ill., who led the patrol down Exchange Street. "We've learned more in the last month here than we did in the two months before."

Meanwhile, back in the Senate

WASHINGTON - After Republicans blocked a Senate debate for a second time, Democrats said Saturday they'll drop efforts to pass a non-binding resolution opposing President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq and instead will offer a flurry of anti-war legislation "just like in the days of Vietnam."

The tough talk came a day after the House of Representatives passed its own anti-Iraq resolution and as the GOP used a procedural vote to stop the Senate from taking a position on the 21,500 troop increase.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats would be "relentless."

"There will be resolution after resolution, amendment after amendment . . . just like in the days of Vietnam," Schumer said. "The pressure will mount, the president will find he has no strategy, he will have to change his strategy and the vast majority of our troops will be taken out of harm's way and come home."