Unit Cohesion

I watched the Baghdad briefing today. The commander of CPATT was repeatedly grilled on how the National Police Re-training program could possibly make a difference. The journalist asking the question didn't understand the answers.

I am pretty certain that the average Joe in the street, and by extension, the average Journalist doesn't understand "Unit Cohesion".

A simple mans versions is that 12 guys with guns all doing there own thing isn't a very effective force. 12 guys that have trained together, and have learned to trust that each has an interdepent role in protecting the other and projecting force is. I'm not the best 'splainer either.

Updated - The Pentagon Channel should be more careful about the dates of briefings. Todays 21 Feb Baghdad Briefing is actually from the 7th.

While "Unit Cohesion" is common knowledge to anyone who has every served in the military, it isn't something that is tought at Journalism School. Virtually all journalists function pretty much independently. They don't know the basics of why a squad arranges itself in a certain pattern. They don't understand what every Private in the Army understands, if one member of the squad is out of position, then the whole squad is at risk.

If the reporter to the left of the reporter asking the question doesn't do his job, it doesn't personnally effect the reporter asking his question, or might possibly make the reporter who is asking the questions job easier.

Some advice to the good General who was trying to 'splain himself. You need to put together a plain english background paper for journalists on unit cohesion. I would also recommend putting together a 60 second verbal explanation that one repeats everytime the question of training comes up.

Making the War Winnable

Most Americans want to win.

Our Iraqi allies want us there.

Jack Murtha and al Qaeda want us to lose.

Making the War Unwinnable

Rich Lowry draws the same conclusion from Congressman Murtha’s “slow bleed” anti-war strategy as I did, not that I can claim any great insight, as it’s the only conclusion possible. Lowry describes Murtha’s deceits in National Review Online.

Rep. Murtha, who cannot seem to help himself any more in matters of subtle politics, than he can keep himself or his friends from slurping loudly at the public till, let slip his ulterior motives in a webcast for MoveCongress.org. His Grand Plan involves making a phony show of support for the troops, pretending to continue to let the military fight, but by every means possible to strip away any capability for the military to actually conduct the fight.

Murtha believes – or wants us to believe – that there’s “no military solution in Iraq,” because there’s no real terrorist threat in Iraq. If we leave, Al Qaeda disappears. This would sound pretty astonishing, coming from a government representative, but from the same man who thought we could base a Middle East “quick reaction force” in Okinawa, it’s all of a stripe. He defines “beclowning.”

“It must fail so that it can end.” So the Democrats believe. So that they can “win,” though America must lose. It’s a sacrifice they’re prepared to have us all make on their behalf.

Making the war unwinnable. That’s the Democrat intent.

Support the troops. Let them win.

(Extended Commentary, with excerpts from NRO, over at Dadmanly.)

Death and Politics

Jonah Goldberg, posting at The Corner (here and here), highlights the factual basis behind what a lot of military people know intuitively, and goes virtually unrecognized by the media and the public whose trust they so willfully neglect.

We lose no more soldiers in Iraq than we would lose, on average, through training accidents, other accidents, and other causes. In other words, soldiers are no less safe (or no more in danger) in Iraq than they are anywhere else.

Sound incredible? It shouldn’t.

Because our soldiers are in Iraq, they are a target for terrorist attack, just as they are virtually anywhere in the world, and have been for two to three decades. Just as are diplomats, business people, and journalists.

The original impetus for Jonah’s post is what he describes as “a powerful op-ed,” written by Alicia Colon in the NY Sun. More on that article later. Jonah updates his original post, passing on feedback from a reader, providing detail to back up the assertion that more soldiers died from 1993-1996 than have died during the equivalent period from 2003 to present.

(Cross-posted at Dadmanly, with more in the Extended Entry.)

The Danger Room

Noah Shachtman, editor of Defense Tech and 2007 Milblog conference panelist, has moved to new digs with Wired Magazine. His blog, heh...X-Men fans bite your knuckles, The Danger Room, will cover a military techno-wizardry spectrum similiar to what we saw with Defense Tech. Only now it's with Wired. In Noah's own words:

We'll be talking about what's next in law enforcement, homeland security, and the military here. Not just the gear -- although you'll get more than your fair share of killer drones, electronic weapons, and nuclear threats, don't worry. We'll look at new strategies, new thinking, and new tactics in national security, as well. And we'll follow the personalities and politics surrounding these developments. Because within a military-industrial complex that chews up a trillion dollars a year, there are plenty of power struggles, both behind the scenes, and in front of the cameras.

Noah has been a great friend to the milblogging community over the years (that's why he got invited to be a panelist...duh), so let's return the favor and help him get his new blog off the ground.

Re: Military Commissions Act

And to add to the fun it's military commission month (more specifically, Love For LCDR Swift month) at Vanity Fair and Esquire.

Does the Military Commissions Act Apply to Foreign Detainees?

DC Circuit: No. From the opinion:

Everyone who has followed the interaction between Congress and the Supreme Court knows full well that one of the primary purposes of the MCA was to overrule Hamdan.

Everyone, that is, except the detainees. Their cases, they argue, are not covered. The arguments are creative but not cogent. To
accept them would be to defy the will of Congress. Section 7(b) could not be clearer. It states that “the amendment made by subsection (a)” – which repeals habeas jurisdiction – applies to “all cases, without exception” relating to any aspect of detention. It is almost as if the proponents of these words were slamming their fists on the table shouting “When we say ‘all,’
we mean all – without exception!”

Emphasis in original. Yup, the DC circuit just threw in some boldface type for the hell of it. That's awesome.

As to whether the denial of jurisdiction violates the Suspension Clause of the Constitution:

The Supreme Court has stated the Suspension Clause protects the writ “as it existed in 1789,” when the first Judiciary Act created the federal courts and granted jurisdiction to issue writs of habeas corpus.
...
We are aware of no case prior to 1789 going the detainees’ way, and we are convinced that the writ in 1789 would not have been available to aliens held at an overseas military base leased from a foreign government.

The detainees encounter another difficulty with their Suspension Clause claim. Precedent in this court and the Supreme Court holds that the Constitution does not confer rights on aliens without property or presence within the United States.

Of course, that the DC Circuit is bound by the MCA doesn't mean much considering how unwilling the Supreme Court has been to entertain the notion that it doesn't have jurisdiction over a particular case.

OMG - Britain Drawing Down in Iraq

(note I'm practicing being a MSM headline writer)

lBlair to announce Withdrawl

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce on Wednesday a new timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, with 1,500 to return home in several weeks, the BBC reported.

Many will have missed "Yesterdays" news -via UK Defence News

The Iraqi Army division based in Basra has transferred from Coalition command, and is now – for the first time – taking its orders direct from an Iraqi headquarters in Baghdad.