MilBlogs

From SWJ

Brigadier General Kevin Bergner, spokesman for Multi-National Force – Iraq, comments: "Around here, folks like to read Small Wars Journal, Blackfive and The Mudville Gazette."

Military blogs offer readers a front-row seat into the camaraderie, pride and challenges of those in uniform. No one can better represent the experiences of a soldier than soldiers themselves, and "milbloggers" deployed to the frontlines of the war on terror offer first-hand insights into their service and sacrifice.
Why does this matter? Because milbloggers uniquely reveal the human face of our forces, from a young trooper patrolling Baghdad neighborhoods to a doctor saving lives at a Combat Support Hospital. First-hand accounts are an important way to communicate the creativity, commitment, and the lighter moments of those who are placing their lives on the line. In the past decade, new technologies from satellite phones to Internet technology have changed the relationship between information and warfare. The military's former inclination to control information has been replaced by an appreciation of the risks, but more importantly the opportunities of cyberspace.
One example is when soldiers, of their own initiative, create and maintain personal blogs about their day-to-day experiences. Since blogs have the potential to reach a global audience, we have established clear guidance to ensure that blogging does not violate operational security, individual privacy, military policy or propriety. Our troops are fast learners, so while we have had a few breaches there have been many more positive experiences shared.
By no means do all military blogs paint a positive picture, nor should they. Each posting represents an individual's musings at a particular point in time. We are waging a historic fight against a ruthless enemy. It is also a campaign that historians will be able to learn more broadly about from anecdotes and insights in today's military blogs.

Glad to hear some are reading Milblogs. Now if we could get those in Congress to.

Hold Firm

The “surge against the surge” in Washington politics reached a seeming high tide this week. As the rhetoric swells, Congressional surfer dudes (and even some Republicans) fixate on polls, presumed mandates, and each new breaker of partisan advantage.

War opponents bob up and down on the “wave,” and the media frames the action at the beachfront with an almost universal storyline of the surge against the surge, reflected in “increasing GOP resistance to the war.”

Please. The “presumed GOP” the media points to in their caricatures are the same fair-weather Republicans indistinguishable from the Democratic colleagues in bluer than blue state constituencies. No surprises at all with any of them. (Has Senator Specter supported his fellow Republicans on any substantive policy issue in the pas 4 years? Just asking.)

Two opinion pieces from Friday make strong and compelling arguments to urge the President and what Republican support remains for possible victory to hold firm.

Mario Loyola, writing at National Review Online, succinctly summarizes where we stand in Iraq:

Just weeks into the decisive counteroffensive of the war, we are breaking the back of enemy resistance across that central third of Iraq that was always the focus of the war. Thousands of insurgents have been captured and hundreds killed; the Shiite death-squads have been overawed, and have gone largely into hiding; the al Qaeda leadership is being annihilated before our eyes; and whole tribes — formerly bitter enemies of the Coalition — are coming over to our side wholesale, swelling the ranks of the Iraqi security forces. Anbar province, which just months ago was thought an unassailable base for al Qaeda, is fast becoming an unassailable pillar of the new Iraqi state.

(More excerpts from Loyola, and thoughts from Charles Krauthammer, over at Dadmanly.)

RE: Badgers? UPDATED

State Department Wages War On Wasps

(AP) WASHINGTON As if the insurgency in Iraq and the fight against terrorism wasn't enough, U.S. diplomats are now struggling with a new threat: menacing "killer" wasps that have infested areas around the State Department's headquarters.

Large numbers of the fearsome looking insects, which can grow to about two inches, are congregating in the vicinity of State's Harry S. Truman building and causing distress to employees, according to an internal memorandum obtained by The Associated Press

Giant NWO Lizards unleashed are Eating and Terrorizing Amerikans

Pet owners in Cape Coral, Florida are being warned to keep a close eye on their animals. Recently monitor lizards have been appearing more often in Cape Coral, and some believe they're eating cats.

Have we all resorted to Weapons of Mass Animals?

I doubt it, I just think the animals want to dominate the world.

UPDATE: I'm telling you, they are out to get us. And they're deadly

Badgers?

We don't need no steenking badgers.