War heroes

[Eagle1]

Cori Dauber at Ranting Profs finally finds a mention of Brian Chontosh in the New York Times. Her take here.

A nice pitch for Coast Guard modernization

[Eagle1]

The Coasties do more with less than anybody. Here's a nice pitch for them to get some modern tools to work with. The SBI is the Secure Borders Initiative.

With its increased responsibilities since 9/11, the Coast Guard is wearing out its equipment faster than ever. Deepwater, the Coast Guard modernization program funded by Congress before 9/11, envisioned retiring the service’s aging inventory of ships and planes over 30 years, grad­ually replacing them with an integrated set of assets including new vessels and sophisticated communications, computers, and sensors.

As the SBI makes progress on its five-year time­line of securing U.S. land borders, the sea border will certainly become an attractive route for smug­glers. Congress’s 30-year timeline for Coast Guard modernization simply will not meet post-9/11 needs or support the SBI’s goals.

Speeding up Deepwater would make America safer by introducing more capable assets sooner. A faster modernization would also save as much as $3 billion. Buying units at a faster rate would reduce costs per unit, and more quickly retiring older equipment that is more expensive to operate and maintain would save money as well.

Support the Coast Guard!

That's A Good Question

[Chap]

Jed Babbin asks: When do you think that letter will get printed?

There is so much mis-reporting about the successes of Iraq, even our generals sometimes get fed up sufficiently to write a letter to one of the offending papers. The Washington Post is one of the chief offenders, and has been for years. (If you have any doubts about it, see the ravings of WaPo Pentagon reporter Tom Ricks posted in yesterday's PowerLine.)

The latest offense by the Washington Post is another example of news manufacturing concocting stories in contravention of facts. Here's the letter Gen. Bill McCoy - who's in charge of construction projects in Iraq -- sent to the Washington Post on Sunday. They haven't printed it yet. Will they ever?

The letter is on the MNF-I site, all official-like.

When I arrived here a year ago we planned to complete 3,200 reconstruction projects. Today we are focusing on the completion of 3,700 projects. We’ve started 3,500 of those projects and completed almost 2,800…and work is continuing! This is not a failure to meet our commitment to the Iraqi people as the article states. In some cases we are not executing the same projects — we have changed to meet new priorities of three government changes in Iraq since our arrival — but in all cases, rest assured, these projects will be completed. We discussed this at length with the reporter…and he was taking notes and recording our conversations.

We told the reporter that, while 141 health clinic construction projects were taken away from a U.S. contractor who failed to perform, they were re-awarded to Iraqi contractors who are already demonstrating progress, have improved quality and shown their great desire to work with the United States to help Iraq improve … and they are doing so phenomenally!

We did talk to the reporter about on electricity. Three-quarters of Iraq gets twice as much electricity today as they did before the war. Furthermore, we are working with the Minister of Electricity to improve the situation in Baghdad daily and have doubled the hours of power from four to eight in the capitol in the last six months in spite of the fact that demand is markedly increased with Iraqis’ new ability to buy personal electrical products.

What is truly amazing to me is that we took the reporter to the Nasiriyah prison project and, while it is true that we terminated the prime U.S. contractor for failure to perform, the Iraqi sub-contractor continues to work there (now directly for us) and his progress and quality have improved significantly ... and he saw that! We are not turning unfinished work over to the Iraqis as he stated in his article; we are fulfilling the U.S. commitment to the people of Iraq and using Iraqis to do it!

Now, I do not doubt for one moment that this is a hard job and that there might just possibly be problems when you're moving as fast as possible and getting your supply chain and workers shot up in the process. ("Just-in-time" works for FedEx, but then again they don't have to plan on having Memphis Airport bombed.)

But this sounds different.

Leaving Korea with Honor is Easier Said than Done

[GIKorea]

I wrote in a posting a year ago that the Korean government at least owes the United States military an honorable face saving redeployment of forces from the peninsula. My argument centers around that if the Korean government wanted USFK to reduce or redeploy forces from the peninsula it should be done in a face saving way in which it doesn't appear that the US is retreating from South Korea due to rabid anti-Americanism running out of control in the country. The US should be able to redeploy forces off the peninsula with honor; however the ruling South Korean government thinks otherwise:

Seoul also insists on the loaded term withdrawal as the official designation for the project. "Since the issue first came up, the U.S. has asked Korea not use the word 'withdrawal'," the government official said. "But Cheong Wa Dae at the urging of the National Security Council has insisted.

The above comment was made in reference to the negotiations currently going on between the US and Korean governments over the handover of war time operational control of the ROK military and the US force reductions on the peninsula. The current Korean government is openly anti-American and seems determined to make the reduction of USFK an embarrassing "withdrawal" for the United States with public comments from the government and the Korean President Roh Moo-hyun about the US using failed policy with North Korea, encouragement of anti-Americanism in Korea, delay of the Camp Humphreys camp consolidation plan with violent anti-US protests, giving government subsidies to these violent anti-US groups, the fraudulent environmental issue, distribution of pro-North Korea propaganda in Seoul, and the denying of a bombing range for the US Air Force for a few quick recent examples off the top of my head.

Great Americans

[CDR Salamander]

A bitter-sweet article in the NYT about some Marines of Arab extraction and the problems they have with their family, friends, and community when they come back. No yellow ribbons, no welcome home parties, no Blue Stars in windows. Makes you proud of these Marines, and thankful that you have a better support system at home (imagine your wife protesting against what you are trying to do, because THEY not YOU are “her people”). BTW, I like Ace. I know a few Aces. All sorts of colors and extractions, but they are the same to me.

Why Do I Not Like the Sound of This?

[Soldier's Mom]

OK, Maybe they're just lost...

FBI Warns Law Enforcement to Look Out for 11 Missing Egyptian Exchange Students

The FBI alerted state and local authorities Monday to be on the lookout for 11 Egyptian exchange students who arrived in the U.S. last month but never showed up for class.

The men, who range in age from 18 to 22, were scheduled to attend a month-long program in U.S. history and culture, plus English language instruction, at Montana State University along with six other students. The group flew from Cairo and arrived in the U.S. on July 29. All entered the U.S. legally, but officials said the no-shows violated the terms of their visas and that the government would likely send them home once they turn up.

FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko emphasized that there was no indication that the men were involved in any illicit activity.

From Fox News... HERE

"Smoke in His Blood"

[Greyhawk]

Boston Herald:

Brian Fountaine has “smoke in his blood,” a condition that was passed on to him by his father and grandfather, two Boston firefighters who spent their lives in service to our city.

Fountaine, 24, has every intention of becoming the third generation in that heroic bloodline, a goal he set as a determined little boy, one of the many kids in Dorchester who played in his daddy’s BFD bunker gear.

But Fountaine may become the first Boston firefighter to work with prosthetic feet. The Army sergeant lost his lower legs in a bomb blast in Iraq on June 8.

Re: "Peaceful Succession" in Cuba?

[Greyhawk]

Heh - a reminder that the Cuban regime is following a very worn playbook.

Tom Ricks: Back Slidin' Man

[ArmyLawyer]

[this entire post pre-empted by Chap's post]

Jerk.

(semi-substance over at my place)

I Think They Call This "Rowback"

[Chap]

Tom Ricks regrets saying what he said.

Sorta.

HH: Great to have you here. I want to spend the vast bulk of our time on Fiasco and Iraq, but first, yesterday, you were on with Howard Kurtz' Reliable Sources, CNN, and in response to a question, you said that some military analyst had told you that Israel had, "purposefully left pockets of Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon, because as long as they're being rocketed, they can continue to have a sort of moral equivalency in their operations in Lebanon." That was reported on Powerline, Rush Limbaugh read it on the air today, quite a controversy. Anything to add to it, Thomas Ricks?

TR- Yeah, I wish I'd kept my mouth shut. What I said was accurate, that in an off-the-record conversation with some military analysts, a couple had said to me that they thought it was a smart strategy to leave some rocket pockets in place to help the Israelis shape public perceptions, and give their forces more freedom of maneuver in Lebanon. They weren't saying it was a bad strategy. They thought it was pretty intelligent, if it were the case. But I've since heard today from some very smart, well-informed people, that while such a strategy might be logical, and even morally defensible, that they thought the Israeli public just wouldn't stand for it, and they also expressed personal dismay to me that I had passed on the thought, which they thought was irresponsible.

HH: Do you want to name any of the analysts?

TR: No, it was an off-the-record conversation, and I want to honor that confidence.

HH: Okay, last question. Do you think they were leading you on at that point, or just telling you what they honestly meant?

TR: No, I think...I know from the context of the conversation, it was about many different things. That came up as a part of the conversation. These are very good, smart, retired U.S. military officers.

The link has a good discussion between Ricks and Hugh Hewitt on Ricks's new book,