| Monthly Archives | [−] |
| [−] |
| [−] |
| [−] |
Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1) the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2) in the public domain, with free use granted for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email.
Original content copyright © 2006 - 2008 by the respective authors. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed.
Site contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com
PRESIDENT BUSH:
The Senator's suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting, and it is shameful. The members of the United States military are plenty smart, and they are plenty brave; and the Senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology.
I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
Wynton has engaged. He's locked horns with John Kerry ‘Swiftboats' The Democrats.
The military bloggers are already in Def Con 1.The snide, hyper-elitism dripping from Kerry's words is arresting. But swirling beneath the surface of his comments is something deeper, something conservative critics have long identified and attacked among those they say belong to the "Blame America First" crowd, as former U.N. Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick so artfully once put it.
And that is this: What, if anything, will liberals fight for? What threat, if any, would be worthy of sacrificing one's educated comfort in order to use aggressive, American military power?
As said to Wynton in an email regarding his article and the politicization of the War on Terror...
Words mean things. We should all be listening intently.The stakes are too damn high. Consider this:
I say enough. Enough already. They are telling us precisely who they are. The podium can be pounded all day long, but words mean things.
Note: I feel compelled to say that it matters not what color your jersey, Blue or Red. It matters not what letter it bears, 'R' or 'D'. What matters is the security of this nation, the single responsibility solely tasked to the Federal Government of the United States of America in its Constitution. We are engaged - not by our choosing - in a war that will span many election cycles and perhaps many generations. It will not be won by ceding the indispensable weapon of 'Will' to the enemy who so clearly seeks to destroy us.
Defeating the enemy and National Security should be of primary concern. All else - Social Security, Abortion, etc. - are but debates about the luxuries that this security provides for. Period.
How could I have missed the opportunity?
If it weren't for George W. Bush, Kerry'd be able to say what he really means. Instead,
"It's that damned...Johnson!"Details here.
For those who miss the reference, click here.
Today’s John Kerry news. The man can’t help himself. He has to get body parts moving, one way or the other. Either he gets his foot caught in his mouth, or his hindquarters get a swift kick, or both at the same time. You have to wonder if he works for Karl Rove.
Here’s again is what he said, courtesy of MILBLOGGER Andi:
“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”Here’s his right this minute rebuttal.
Key graf:
I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.Okay, Senator Winter Soldier. I’m an Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) III Veteran, enlisted, smart as hell and twice as angry. I’ll lecture your sorry behind.
You are a disgrace. You offend the uniform you wore with such disdain, and you denigrate the service of your betters who have served in the military, without the dishonor you showed, during Vietnam, immediately thereafter, and in your complete dishonesty about your record then, and your votes as a US Senator related to Iraq.
We are not “stuck in Iraq.” Don’t want to take National Security seriously? That’s your prerogative, but don’t ask to represent me, in any fashion. Your party has chosen to abandon any responsibility for Iraq or the wider war on Terror, after voting time and again to approve of actions taken by this President you loath and insult.
You voted for it, before you voted against it. And now this. Even if you believe the idiocy that comes out of your mouth, do you have any idea what a moron you sound like? How much you manage to enrage your fellow veterans?
If you can’t buy a clue, keep your clueless hole shut. If not for our good, for your own.
(Cross-posted at Dadmanly.)
The week before critical US midterm elections, and the architects of a couple of high visibility public relations (PR) campaigns must be pretty satisfied.
Yes, Al Qaeda and the Democrats have every reason to be pleased.
Let’s talk declared enemies first. That’s right, Al Qaeda and their Media War.
These guys know what they’re doing, it’s pretty hard to argue with their success. They have an avowed PR Campaign, and captured documents reveal a complex and multi-faceted information operations (IO) effort, aimed at the instruments of Western media and their willing (if unwitting) practitioners.
What a result they’ve achieved.
All the news outlets are trumpeting “highest in a year” US Soldier deaths in Iraq, the very month before midterm elections. They did better than they hoped, no doubt, not just beating the year’s best, but moving ahead of the psychologically significant 100 per month figure. And coverage has been wall-to-wall, almost universal across all major media outlets, print, radio, TV, and cable.
Greyhawk of Mudville Gazette highlights a highly successful “Astroturfing” campaign, in which activist groups with a political agenda simulate a “grassroots” effort by “disillusioned” active duty soldiers against the war. Except, this grassroots effort was orchestrated by others that then “recruited” the military front-men required, as reported by the NY Sun (almost exclusively). Hence the term, “Astroturfing.” As described by Wikipedia:
In politics and advertising, the term astroturfing describes formal public relations (PR) campaigns which seek to create the impression of being a spontaneous, grassroots behavior. Hence the reference to the "AstroTurf" (artificial grass) is a metaphor to indicate "fake grassroots" support.Furthermore, as reported by Greyhawk and Blackfive, major media and responsive columnists have willingly transmitted Al Qaeda propaganda, without contrast or rebuttal, and without any acknowledgement of sources or evaluation of credibility. One suspects, since the source was not the Pentagon, no reason to suspect press manipulation, right?The goal of such campaign is to disguise the agenda of a political client as an independent public reaction to some political entity —a politician, political group, product, service, event. Astroturfers attempt to orchestrate the actions of apparently diverse and geographically distributed individuals, by both overt ("outreach," "awareness," etc.) and covert (disinformation) means. Astroturfing may be undertaken by anything from an individual pushing their own personal agenda through to highly organized professional groups with financial backing from large corporations.
Al Qaeda has every reason to be pleased with their PR campaign to turn the US electorate against the war and change the political equation in Washington.
As for the Democrats, let’s review their PR campaign.
(For that review, go check out Dadmanly. No need to take up space here.)
Feedback on an earlier post:
Greyhawk,Saw your comments on the Nature of the Enemy weekly update. We've just begun working on the Nature of the Enemy in this office, and any feedback -- even if it's negative -- is appreciated.
First of all, it is weekly, so the information is designed to be a quick read of brief blurbs on what is going in the global war on terror. Each day of the week, we send out a different product and post it on the net -- all of which can be accessed here, http://www.defenselink.mil/home/dodupdate/index-b.html. One deals with heroes in the global war on terror, another on recent news in Iraq, another summarizing what goes on in DoD each week. If the document was 10 pages as you suggest, I fear most people who receive it in their inboxes would delete it immediately.
Second, the audience of these products is diverse. We want to target those who are not as well versed in the goings on in the Global War on Terror. Those who well understand "the nature of the enemy" -- people like yourself as demonstrably indicated by your posts -- understand the stakes in this war. In short, you don't need convincing. Those who do not know anything or very little about the enemy's strategy, tactics and history are less likely to understand why this war must be won. We send it out to media, people around the building, and to staffers on Capitol Hill to establish a basic lexicon from which we can all proceed.
Any thoughts or input you may have would be greatly be appreciated.
Cheers,
Keith
Keith M. Urbahn
Writers Group
Office of the Secretary of Defense
Did John Kerry take a swipe at the men and women of our armed forces? A thread on Free Republic claims that Kerry said the following:
Tonight's "John Ziegler Show" on KFI 640AM in Southern CA played a clip from Senator John F Kerry's appearance at Pomona College with candidate Phil Angelides, Democrat for CA governor.At the event, Kerry had this to say about our brave military volunteers:
"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
Old habits die hard.
I've tried numerous times to download the audio file, but to no avail. If anyone else is able to do so, please verify in the comment section.
Update: I like this clever comment:
"You know, marrying rich women, if you make the most of it, if you court hard and do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Paris doing street mime for loose change."There, that's better.
I got a recorded phone call from Jack Murtha today.
Some blathering about how he is a war veteran that understands something or other.
Jacks obviously has never been to one of my families picnics.
I must say...Jack helped me....I was considering a vote for Senator Cantwell.
Her opponent is a political unkown. Jack helped me decide.
Jack helped me to decide to help folks that need a ride to the polls get a ride to the polls.
Jack helped me decide to donate another few hundred bucks to various candidates.
Jack helped me to decide to put a sign up in my yard.
Jack, I was having a very nice lunch with the Mrs. The Mrs. and I don't often have an opportunity for a nice lazy lunch alone and undisturbed.
What is it that you do not understand about DO NOT CALL.
I thought that I'd break out some of our campaign posters early. This one will be up at OPFOR tomorrow.
My logic is undeniable. Treat yourself. Join Team Air Force.
Update: Uh oh, one of OPFOR's Marine bloggers has betrayed me!
I spotted this on a neighborhood veterans' memorial in San Diego this weekend:
This is what we're fighting against here at home: an enemy without the courage to show his face.
Valour-IT is a continuation of fundraising by other means.
Here's your proof.
The crap I have to put up with....
We're here earlier than the other guys...but that's because we prepare the battlespace. First in, last out.
The Air Force? They just showed up early because they had a tee time and got lost.
It's that time of year everyone! Let me be the first to kick off the Valour-IT fundraising shenanigans by linking the Team Air Force Zoomie donation button.
Let's buy some laptops!
Kind of off topic, but I was talking to my sons about warplane names this weekend, and I decided that while the B-2 "Spirit" is probably the lamest recent name, there will probably never be another name cooler and more appropriate than the "Spitfire". Any thoughts from the airdales?
In the entry below I linked to a film clip - in the later part of it, some soldiers relate their proudest moment of their service. What is/was yours?
The Army provides a 12 minute explanation of "Boots on the Ground." I just left a meeting of several hundred Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers a few hours ago. When this film clip was shown, there was stone silence when it ended. A profound message for those of us who have been given the honor, the privilege, and the responsibility to leader Soldiers.
This message brought to you by Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.
"I scream, you scream, we all scream about how much we hate George Bush."
The Center for International Policy(A Fenton Client), works towards a more "sensible policy towards Cuba". It is run by William Goodfellow.
William Goodfellow is married to Dana Priest.
Dana Priest is national security and intelligience correspondent for the Washington Post (reg required).
I'm making up for some lost blogging time as you may see, one of the best military deals on the west coast. This is from their website. Check out the Silver Bullet, no, not the one I give silly, the ride at Knotts! (if you don't know what a silver bullet is, ask any Sailor or Marine)
Veteran's Tribute - Nov. 1 - 23 Knott's annual tribute to our Military, past and present. FREE admission for Veterans or current serving military personnel and one guest with proper I.D. presented at turnstile. Plus purchase up to six additional tickets for just $10.95 each! Ends November 23, 2006
And thank them for the support while you're there.
The contrasts abound. A while back the commander of a U.S. battalion (a relatively small unit) in Iraq suggested his troops all send letters to their home town papers to counter negative press and tell what they were really doing over there. Most of the troops who bothered to participate at all sent the sample letter the commander had prepared. Because this wasn't a professionally organised, media insider effort, they probably didn't realize that most "small town" papers are actualy parts of chains run by large media outlets, so they were actually sending multiple letters to a relatively few organizations.
The similarities in the letters from this unit were identified almost as soon as they appeared. The media ran with the story of the commander who had forced his troops to participate in what the media (and others) declared was an obviously coerced astroturf campaign.
Contrast that story with the "Redress" story - small unit in Iraq coordinates (in a bumbling, misguided, but true "grass roots" effort) to get the word out about the real story and makes unexpected negative headlines. But when the left wing machine engineers a major "astroturf" campaign designed to appear to be a "grass roots" movement of the troops it garners world-wide publicity with complete buy-in by that same media.
Want more? Military hires PR firm to get accurate stories favorable to the coalition into the Iraqi media - scandal erupts. But whenever possible the American media willingly participates in manipulative political ploys intended to dupe the American public.
And yes, the Cindy Sheehan story last year was also a Fenton-engineered media blitz.
Declared "obsolete" shortly after it was introduced. It went on and on.
Helped to sink the Bismarck, destroy 37 U-boats, defeat the Japanese at Midway and derail the "Tokyo Express."
Rescuer to some, night terror to others.
In various forms it served for over 40 years.
Maybe it had nine lives.
What was it?
Find out here.
Fenton Communications Client List
I would suggest that people should take a look at their Sunday Newspaper, and take a look at the Fenton Communications client list.
Then just mark each story as to whether it is a story that is favorable/unfavorable to a Fenton Communications client.
Draw your own conclusions as to whether a single public relations firm, elected by no one, who most Americans have never heard of, has too much influence on American public discourse.
Antimedia's post is a good Hutto bio.
And it turns out we've met a guy before in the same division of the same ship who also got all antiwar all of a sudden in May of 2004.
Seems like everyone has been commenting lately on music... Blackfive wrote on Beccy Cole, ... ArmyWifeToddlerMom, among others... just seemed natural to join in...
The other day I picked up John Mayer's latest studio release, “Continuum”. The first song on the CD is entitled, “Waiting on the World to Change” and it irked me a little, so I decided to pop in and comment over at Some Soldier's Mom
Part of my mini-rant includes, "If you’re just going to sit around “waiting on the world to change” then you have no one to blame but yourselves when it doesn't (change)."
Go on... I haven't given anyone a rant in a while... and as my rants go, it's a mild one...
.
A North Korean spy ring has been uncovered in South Korea and it’s members are really not surprising:
Authorities are holding a U.S. citizen, Michael Chang (44), who they say was trained as a spy in North Korea between 1989 and 1993, became a member of the ruling Korean Workers Party, pledged allegiance to the party, and spied for the North for 10 years. The National Intelligence Service and prosecutors on Thursday also alleged that a former member of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party’s central committee, Lee Jung-hun (42), and businessman Sohn Jung-mok (42) were persuaded by Chang to join him in spying for the North and until recently provided classified information to North Korean agents.The Seoul Central District Court issued arrest warrants for the three former student activists on Thursday. The NIS is expanding its investigation and also arrested the vice DLP secretary general Choi Ki-young and another former student activist identified as Lee (42) the same day.
By using the DLP’s political organization and cover, the spy ring’s tentacles stretched throughout just about every anti-US movement in Korea including the violent Camp Humphreys expansion protests:
The DPL vice secretary general has reportedly taken a leading role in pro-North Korean activities. He played a key part in organizing protests against the move of U.S. Forces Korea headquarters to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province and was also involved in demonstrations condemning the government’s support for the UN resolution sanctioning North Korea in the wake of its nuclear test. Party sources said Choi showed more interest in issues like the abolition of the National Security Law and anti-American protests in Pyeongtaek than questions of public welfare. He also participated in candle light vigils over the killing of two middle school girls by a U.S. Army vehicle some years ago.Lee Jung-hun also leaned toward a pro-North Korean ideology of national liberation when he was a member of the DLP’s central committee. National liberation, along with proletarian democracy, was one of the two major ideological strands among student activists in the 1980s. Since former student activists of the national liberation faction reportedly took a more active part in protests against free trade talks with the U.S. and the move of the USFK base, there is speculation linking the espionage scandal to the organized anti-American movement.
The spy ring has also been linked to the USFK environmental issue and even to trying to influence the recent election for the mayor of Seoul. Here is a report from One Free Korea:
Yesterday (October 27) morning I sent an email to Jennifer Glick, "owner" of the Appeal for Redress web site, and Director, Information Services, for Fourth Freedom Forum. My first question for her was to ask why her group wasn't listed as a sponsoring organization for the site. Given the group's mission, It seems like this is something they would be proud to be involved in.
I suspect it's because they want this to appear to be a "grass roots" campaign, rather than the orchestrated effort of several well-funded leftist organizations and political groups ("astroturfing") that it actually is, but unfortunately, I haven't received any response from Ms Glick, so I can only speculate.
But today I noticed the registration information for the site has changed.
I’ve been watching on how the military I beefing up the numbers of people to handle the wartime workload. On paper it’s looking good, everybody but the Navy Reserve is meeting their recruiting goals (they’re 1500 down). Being at the tip of the spear and going into harms way the way, the Army and Marine Corps are staying ahead. They’re offering huge bonus’s to their service people and bonus’s for people to cross from blue to green without losing rank.
Astroturfing (via wikipedia):
In politics and advertising, the term astroturfing describes formal public relations (PR) campaigns which seek to create the impression of being a spontaneous, grassroots behavior. Hence the reference to the "AstroTurf" (artificial grass) is a metaphor to indicate "fake grassroots" support.And that's what's occurring with the "Appeal for Redress" web site.The goal of such campaign is to disguise the agenda of a political client as an independent public reaction to some political entity —a politician, political group, product, service, event. Astroturfers attempt to orchestrate the actions of apparently diverse and geographically distributed individuals, by both overt ("outreach," "awareness," etc.) and covert (disinformation) means. Astroturfing may be undertaken by anything from an individual pushing their own personal agenda through to highly organised professional groups with financial backing from large corporations.
The missing piece of the puzzle was actually available from the start:
Yesterday, a company that does public relations for the liberal activist political action committee MoveOn.org, Fenton Communications, organized a conference call for reporters and three active-duty soldiers to unveil the soldiers' anti-war group Appeal for Redress.That's from the October 26 New York Sun - kudos to the only reporters in the crowd who had the guts to tell the truth about this. As of this writing, over 200 newspapers have carried the story; The Boston Globe, al-Jazeera, The Washington Post, ABC News, Reuters, The (UK) Guardian... but none of the stories acknowledge the orchestration of the event by Fenton Communications. Instead, virtually all of them detail the "grass roots" effort of the troops. Even without the Sun story, the mere fact that this appeared simultaneously in multiple "big media" outlets is evidence enough of such a campaign. In the pre-internet days this wouldn't be so obvious, but in these days of instant global communication the life cycle of such a story should hardly exceed 24 hours (and wouldn't have in the past without active media participation). But if you're among the few tech savvy and information hungry people interested in not taking such slickly-packaged information at face value, here are the facts about "Appeal for Redress" in order of discovery here.
<...>
A staff member at Fenton Communications who requested anonymity said his company was approached last week by a longtime peace activist and former director of the anti-nuclear proliferation front known as SANE/Freeze, David Cortright, to publicize Appeal for Redress. Mr. Cortright is now president of an Indiana-based nonprofit group, the Fourth Freedom Forum, and his biography on the organization's Web site says he helped raise "more than $300,000 for the Win Without War coalition to avert a preemptive attack on Iraq in 2002–03."
Come join us for a military funeral in small town 'Murica.
Writer and Blogger Cathy Seipp has a wonderfully breezy, near-insider’s reflection up at National Review Online, discussing the efforts of The Los Angeles Times to remain relevant in a changing media environment.
Seipp claims responsibility for coining Spring Street to describe the LA Times, similar to how Grey Lady describes their New York City counterpart. Seipp demonstrates long familiarity – no doubt breeding considerable contempt – for the Times, and passes along several common criticisms for the LA paper. A couple in particular caught my attention:
Many of the complaints about the Times’ new front-page redesign dwell on how the page looks too similar to USA Today. I stand behind no man when it comes to my distaste for USA Today — when I stay at hotels offering complimentary issues of the traveling salesman’s broadsheet, I always ring up the front desk to demand, “Take it away, take it away, take it away!” — but cynics take a different view.In light of all the recent discussion about journalism, embedded or otherwise, and MILBLOGS, I would draw a similar conclusion about mainstream media (MSM) in general.A TV writer and former magazine editor I know, for instance, once told me he cancelled his L.A. Times subscription to get USA Today instead, which really seems pretty crazy. He added that he just wants the following three questions answered when he reads his morning paper: 1) How are the Dodgers doing? 2) Rain today? 3) What’s on TV?
“Those are the only three answers I want from American journalism,” he noted. “USA Today is perfect.”
(Further commentary at Dadmanly.)
Anti-war elements really grasp at straws when it comes to finding credible military dissenters (Jesse MacBeth, Jim Massey, etc).
I honestly believe that any posting author on this blog could instantly achieve fame and fortune in these circles simply by speaking out against the mission. There's no standards with the anti-war community. If you wear the uniform and disagree with the war, your opinion automatically discounts the overwhelming number of soldiers who support it.
Marc Danziger (aka Armed Liberal) wrote a review of The Blog of War in The Examiner.
Here’s just a taste:
While it is an obvious thing to do to honor our dead soldiers, the joy of a book like this — and of the milblogs it gives a snapshot of — is to introduce you to very real words of our living ones. They are a very real manifestation of Whitman:What a great review. AL, posting at Winds of Change, also encourages buyers of the book to follow up by sending a little note to some interested parties:“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear. …”
Fewer and fewer Americans know soldiers as the tradition of military service slips into history. Buy the book, meet some, and listen to them.
And when you buy the book, take a moment to send an email or letter to both the White House and the Secretary of Defense, asking why it is that midlevel Pentagon bureaucrats are choking off the ability of our troops to blog and of our bloggers (see this from Michael Yon) to cover the troops:Thanks, Marc. We’re pleased and proud to have you on the team. Wish we had more like you.Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Mr. Yon;
I do not recognize your website as a media organization that we will use as a source to credential journalists covering MNF-I operations.
LTC Barry Johnson
Director, CPIC
www.mnf-iraq.comSome things speak for themselves. The war doesn't, and we need the voices of Blackfive and his band of bloggers, and of Michael Yon, and of all the men and women serving to try and comprehend what's going on over there.
(Cross-posted at Dadmanly)
Al Jazeera coverage here.
US troops call for Iraq pulloutYesterday 118, today 200. I expect ultimately there may be 655,000.*More than 200 men and women from the US armed services have joined a protest calling for American troops in Iraq to be brought home, organisers say.
According to a White House reporter, the original count was 65:
Q Tony, quick -- there's 65 active duty troops that are coming out with a letter today, saying they think the occupation should end, and they're saying that -- this is part of the military whistle blower. Any reaction to that?Would like more information on that Fenton Communications connection - if accurate this certainly implies something much more than the "grass roots" action portrayed in the press. But we already know that. (And it also implies the press knows that their stories are misleading.)MR. SNOW: Well, number one, it's a Fenton Communications job, which means clearly it's got a political edge to it. But number two it's not unusual for soldiers in a time of war to have some misgivings. I believe at least two of them have served in Iraq proper, active duty. We don't know how many have actually served --
Q I think the majority of them have.
MR. SNOW: But let's say they all did. You also have more than -- you have several hundred thousand who served in Iraq. You have reenlistment rates that have exceeded goals in all the military. You've had a number of people serving multiple tours of duty. And it appears that there's considerable --
Q They don't have much choice.
MR. SNOW: Well, no, I mean they do have choice. If you've got a chance to sign up or not sign up, and you decide that you're going to sign up again and go serve in Iraq, it means it means something to you. And so I believe that there is also -- you get 65 guys who are, unfortunately -- no, not unfortunately -- 65 people who are going to be able to get more press than the hundreds of thousands who have come back and said they're proud of their service.
*Including illustrious names like Colonel Mustard, General Disorder, and Private Parts.
Update: Many questions answered here.
Don't look if you want to believe "All Is Lost".
Looks like the Pentagon is fighting back against misleading MSM reports.
I said I thought the "Nature of the Enemy" effort was pathetic, but this looks like a winner.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he can clean up Iraq sooner than the most optimistic U.S. timeline yet proposed:
Iraq's prime minister said on Thursday he could get violence under control in six months, half the time U.S. generals say they need, provided Washington gave him more weaponry and more say over his own forces.That kind of leadership is exactly what is needed in Iraq - I say we give him what he wants, get out of the way as much as possible, and see what happens in six months.
<...>
"They think building Iraqi forces will need 12 to 18 months, for us to be in control of security," Maliki said, referring to remarks two days ago by U.S. commander General George Casey."We agree our forces need work but think that if, as we are asking, the rebuilding of our forces was in our own hands, then it would take not 12-18 months but six might be enough."
<...>
"I am now prime minister and overall commander of the armed forces yet I cannot move a single company without Coalition approval because of the U.N. mandate," Maliki said."I have to be careful fighting some militias and terrorists ... because they are better armed than the army and police," Maliki said. "The police are sharing rifles."
<...>
Asked what kind of Iraqi forces he wanted, Maliki said: "I'm not talking about modern tanks or modern warplanes and missiles ... I'm talking about having a well-trained army, swift and light on its feet and at the same time with medium weapons."
By the way, why wasn't this the biggest headline story of the day?
Holy cow! I picked the wrong week to be in MINIMIZE!
Blackfive's got a good discussion with Prine, and Dadmanly has some kind words on his post and followup. This week has had a theme about information flow:
There are a few more, but you get the point: if you sort and group together all these points, you get some interesting trends about information.
The site is a fraud.
That web site is registered to one J.E. Glick, of 803 North Main Street, Goshen, Indiana. A quick check of online white pages reveals that's the address of something called The Fourth Freedom Forum. (You can also read about the group here). Their opposition to war pre-dates Iraq and Afghanistan. They are a well funded, very professional organization. Jennifer Glick is listed in the group's contact page as Director, Information Services.
But The Fourth Freedom Forum isn't among the groups listed as sponsoring organizations on the web page. Those groups are Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, and Veterans For Peace.
It would seem the Fourth Freedom Forum wants to hide it's activities behind some groups and individuals seen as more credible to this particular cause. (I think "front groups" is the usual term.) Too bad the AP reporter who wrote this now obviously bogus but credence-enhancing line:
Jonathan Hutto, a Navy seaman based in Norfolk, Va., who set up the Web site a month ago, said the group has collected 118 names and is trying to verify that they are legitimate service members....in that rather lengthy advertisement-posed-as-news story for the obviously failing effort didn't bother to do the 5 minutes worth of digging I did to discover it's absolutely not true.
Hutto, who has never been to Iraq, was probably recruited for this project following publication of his letter to the socialist propaganda site "GI Special". (Background here - and you really ought to read this last link.)
Update: I may have been wrong - it looks like Hutto was "active" even before his military days:
Then there is the issue of the spokeman for "Appeals for Redress" featured in the media reports. Jonathan Hutto is described as a Navy seaman based in Norfolk VA who set up the website a month ago. But the media failed to report on Mr. Hutto's less than pro-American background.Funny that a guy with those credentials would join the military one year after the beginning of the Iraq war.According to his own writings, Hutto "enlisted in the United States Navy in January of 2004" after "working at non-profit organizations and an unsuccessful stint at teaching 5th grade post graduating from Howard University in 1999." The non-profit organization Hutto worked for was Amnesty International - not your typical voluteer organization. In 2002, Hutto was Membership Program Coordinator for the Mid-Atlantic Region of Amnesty International.
In 2001, Hutto was a speaker at The Fight against Police Violence: from Cincinnati to PG County, Maryland. Hutto's co-speaker at the event was Glova Scott of the Socialist Workers Party. The speech was posted on The Militant website. Hutto’s article, "Rebuilding the GI Movement", appeared in Thomas Barton’s GI Special on the Al-Basrah Iraqi Resistance website.
Or maybe it's not funny at all.
Update: Many questions answered here.
In Soldier Voices Part One, I reported that I have been mulling over diverse viewpoints of both supporters and opponents of our efforts in Iraq. I am concerned over feedback from boots really on the ground, lower ranking enlisted soldiers and officers.
In the midst of these reflections, I came across another kind of viewpoint, that of an embedded journalist. He doesn't share the predominant MILBLOGGER view -- not to speak for all of us -- of mainstream media (MSM), perhaps because he's a part of it.
But I get ahead of myself.
Blackfive linked, as I did, to Michael Yon’s piece on censorship and Michael Fumento’s piece on embedding. His links prompted journalist and veteran Carl Prine, to dismiss Fumento’s reporting as ill-informed, contrasting Fumento with Yon, who’s inability to get embedded Prine views as a shame (as do we all).
Prine was a Veteran Marine, then an inves
