Campaign for Victory

Starting at.....

VMI! WaPo:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will launch a high-profile effort next week to convince Americans that the Iraq war is winnable, embracing the unpopular conflict with renewed vigor as he attempts to reignite his stalling bid for the presidency.

With the Virginia Military Institute as a backdrop, McCain plans to argue in a speech on Wednesday that victory in Iraq is essential to American security and that President Bush's war machine is finally getting on track after four years, aides and advisers said.

Goldberg at The Corner sez: I think this is a bold, brave and possibly even smart move on McCain's part.

Yup. My vote goes to the candidate who is going to see this thing through (and..ahem...ones that use my beloved alma mater as a backdrop for victory speeches). The entire Democratic field and a few Republican candidates are dancing around the dicey Iraq issue right now. They'll have to fully address it eventually..with a clear position and clear strategy, but McCain is facing it head on, right now...acknowledging that we'll probably still be in theater 2008...and committing his campaign to victory.

"Brave, bold, and smart" is a pretty accurate way of framing it, methinks.

Hotel Tango: The Corner

The Surge at 60%

MNF-I

3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) arrives in theater

Multi-National Corps – Iraq PAO

BAGHDAD – Multi-National Corps-Iraq welcomed a third U.S. brigade this week to assist the Iraqi Security Forces in support of Fardh Al-Qanoon. The brigade from Ft. Benning, Ga., will assist Iraqi Security Forces in reducing violence and protecting Iraqi citizens. This Brigade will complete arrival in Baghdad by April 8.

The brigade includes more than 3,000 Soldiers.

The 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division will be deployed in and around the city of Baghdad. Their mission will be to assist Iraqi Security Forces to clear, control and retain key areas of the capital city in order to reduce violence and better protect the Iraqi populace.

RE: Expanding My Mind

Billions of people across the world face hunger, severe water shortages and displacement as a result of increased temperatures, an international panel of scientists and politicians concluded yesterday.

viaReaon Magazine

Earth Day 1970 provoked a torrent of apocalyptic predictions. "We have about five more years at the outside to do something," ecologist Kenneth Watt declared to a Swarthmore College audience on April 19, 1970. Harvard biologist George Wald estimated that "civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind."

Insight

A video interview with General Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani, former commander of the 2nd Corps of the Iraqi Republican Guards from Iraq's Al-Baghdadiya TV, at Memri.

Transcript here.

Excerpts:

Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani: Let me give you another example. In 1994, I commanded the Republican Guards Al-Madina Al-Munawara division. At the time, the leadership thought we should regain Kuwait. I was the most veteran division commander...

Interviewer: In 1994?! Regaining Kuwait?!

Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani: In September, 1994.

Interviewer: Who brought this up?

Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani: The supervisor of the Republican Guards [Qussay] presented the position of President Saddam Hussein, the chief commander of the armed forces. This was at the Republican Guards headquarters, in the presence of the commander of the Republican Guards, and the commanders of the six corps we had then.

Interviewer: He met with the corps commanders?

Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani: Yes. He asked us: "What military capabilities are available to the Republican Guards to carry out this mission?" I was the first commander to talk...

Interviewer: Was this political madness, or what?

Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani: I think the siege took its toll and was weakening the Iraqi people, and apparently this was one of the options.
<...>
Interviewer: Where was Saddam Hussein during the war? Was he in Baghdad? Did he move from one place to another? Was he in the operations headquarters of the chief-of-staff?

Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani: According to my information, he was in Baghdad, and would come to the operations rooms of the Republican Guards and the army. He moved from one place to another in this way. One of the brothers told me that on April 7, he raised his fist to show that victory was ours. This was on April 7...

Interviewer: While the Americans were...

Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani: Inside Baghdad.

Interviewer: You met with him and knew what he thought. How could the chief commander of the armed forces... Let's set politics aside – he was a military commander as well, so how could he say those things?

Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani: Let me quote something he said once. Whether I agreed with him at the time or not is another matter. He said: "Victory will be ours, we will definitely win, because we are the only army in the world that still fights for the sake of Allah, and Allah will not abandon this army until it wins, and I am telling you that the Americans will reach a desert near Baghdad, and there we will bring America to its knees. Then, I will send you to liberate Palestine. The reason Allah will help us bring America to its knees..."

Interviewer: Did you hear this from him?

Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani: I heard it myself from President Saddam Hussein.

[...]

Interviewer: But what about the facts? Did anyone ask him what the grounds were for such a victory?

Ra'd Majid Al-Hamdani: In our private meeting in 1994, which I mentioned earlier, I said to him... He was tired of hearing the facts that were presented to him in this way. He said to me: "Look, you think one plus one equals two. But for me, it could equal ten, because I have a mission."

(Via the Dawn Patrol)

Expanding your minds

In order to broaden the appeal of MilBlogs I've decided to throw some non-military news up.

Enjoy.

New York Men At High Risk of HIV Eligible for Circumcision

New York health officials are considering initiating a campaign that proposes circumcision for men at high risks of contracting AIDS.

Officials at the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said the planned campaign to encourage the procedure was inspired by a recent World Health Organization announcement backing circumcision as an effective way to prevent the syndrome, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday that he was still not sure what role the city should have and that this was a plan in working progress, not knowing “whether it's something that the government should be involved in, or just giving advice and making sure that people get educated.”

More hunger, drought, and hurricanes on the way as the world warms

Billions of people across the world face hunger, severe water shortages and displacement as a result of increased temperatures, an international panel of scientists and politicians concluded yesterday.

10 Reasons (Besides Howard Stern) Why Sanjaya's Still On 'Idol'

Whether it's entertainment value, pity, the media or contrariness — it's working.

Florida felons to get voting rights back

Some felons in Florida will be getting their right to vote back.

Republican Governor Charlie Crist and the state clemency board have today approved a rule that restores voting and other civil rights.

The state attorney general strongly objects.

Crist has long favored making it easier for felons who have done their time to once again vote. He says it's a matter of justice.

There is compromise in the plan. Murderers and other violent felons will still need a hearing or review.

War foes go to public for winning answers

Democratic policymakers searching for a winning argument for why it's time to get out of Iraq have ditched expert advisers - and appealed to the public for help.