Heh, eh?

[Greyhawk]

Now that's funny there, eh?

I supose that's the Donut of Misery on their lapels - didn't know that was actually an authorized badge.

Commander-In-Chief Trophy Stays In Annapolis

[Bubblehead]

Navy 24, Air Force 17. Sure, I suppose Navy still has to beat Army, but based on the last few year's results, that's kind of a foregone conclusion...

Got No Mo?

[Greyhawk]

(Bumped - great discussion going- as expected.)

A discussion at Instapundit that grew from a post at Iraq the Model - and should be of interest to milbloggers.

ONE OF MY QUESTIONS about the war effort in Iraq is why we lost momentum -- as I noted before, the old saying is that you can do anything with bayonets except sit on them, and we've been sitting on them in Iraq instead of taking the war effort to our enemies, many of whom are outside of Iraq. Mohammed of Iraq the Model has a lengthy discussion of that very topic. Excerpt: "The insurgents, terrorists and militias operating in Iraq depend on foreign support for money, training, technology and in some cases men. Moreover the influence of foreign interference is clear even in the political arena in Iraq through the numerous political crises the country had faced. Thus, this war will not see an end unless America revives the preemptive war strategy and start chasing the enemies and striking their bases in the region, especially in Syria and Iran."

That seems right to me, and I don't understand why the Bush Administration has let the momentum grind to a halt.

Read the rest, which includes an email that makes several points I've seen made in comments here. I have my own thoughts on this, basically about the shaping of perception, and whether the DoD, CENTCOM, et al do (or even perhaps can do) a very good job of countering perceptions that have been shaped. (Have we lost momentum? Or has America lost track of our momentum? If so, hving been AFK for the better part of three months should I blame myself?) Okay, kidding on that last point, but I'm very much interested in useful feedback on the first two, and one thing I've noticed here (at least when a certain troll is successfully ignored) is an abundance of exactly that from multiple sources on most worthy topics.

Hypocritic Oath?

[Greyhawk]

Some years ago the TV series M*A*S*H popularized the fictional experiences of a group of medical professionals in Korea during the war. Every week Americans shared the struggle of Captain (Dr.) Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, U.S. Army, to heal the wounded of a war he perceived as pointless. It was his determination to heal those he could heal - at great personal sacrifice - that Americans found laudible, of course, and whether the viewer was pro- or anti- war in general (a largely theoritical issue in those peaceful days) such a position was undeniably admirable, perhaps even more so to those who harbored their own personal doubts as to their own ability to live up to such an ideal.

But screw all that, the dawn of a new day is upon us. Last month:

The US Army paid $184,000 for Mary Hanna to go to Tufts University School of Medicine for four years, and in exchange she agreed to serve four years of active duty and another four in the reserve after becoming a doctor.

But just before Christmas, as she was nearing the end of her anesthesiology residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Hanna, 30, of Somerville notified the Army that her religious beliefs were now ``incompatible with military service."

...the Army refused Hanna's request after considering conflicting opinions from priests, a psychiatrist, and military brass about whether Hanna was opposed to war or trying to evade service.

But yesterday, the day before Hanna was scheduled to report for duty at Fort Bliss, Texas, a federal judge stepped in and prohibited the Army from forcing Hanna into service, at least until Oct. 10.

US District Judge Nancy Gertner scheduled an Oct. 5 hearing on Hanna's assertion that the Army violated her constitutional rights by denying her conscientious objector status.

She's not just seeking an excuse from serving in Iraq - her lawyer insists that Hanna's beliefs prevent her from even treating soldiers on American soil.

That scheduled hearing has now been completed (swift justice indeed!), and Dr. Hanna is now free to treat (or not treat) whomever she pleases - at substantially more pay than the relatively meager salary of a US Army Captain:

Now This Is What I'm Looking For

[Chap]

Via Media Lies, a post from an angry American. An angry American who happens to be a Muslim.

This is what I'm talking about.

You say that the word of God is the highest. Yes, it is. But you are not worthy of it. You have abandoned God and you have started worshipping your own satanic egos that rejoice at the killing of innocent people. You don't represent Muslims or, for that matter, any decent human being who believes in the sanctity of life. Many among us American Muslims have differences with our administration on domestic and foreign issues, just like many other Americans do. But the plurality of opinions does not mean that we deprive ourselves of the civility that God demands from us. America is our home and will always be our home. Its interests are ours, and its people are ours. When you talk of killing of Americans, you first have to kill 6 million or so Muslims who will stand for every American's right to live and enjoy the life as commanded by God.

By growing a beard, shouting some religious slogans and misquoting and misusing some verses of the divine scriptures, you cannot incite Muslims to do things that are contrary to our religion. Yes, you even fail to understand the basic Islamic principles of life and living. Islam demands peace in all aspects of life, Islam demands respect for life. Islam demands justice.

What you are doing in Iraq, Afghanistan, India or other parts of the world is anti-human and anti-divine. You are an enemy of Islam as much as you are an enemy of America. You must understand that God who entrusted you with life is the same God who spelled his spirit in every human being regardless of his or her religion or ethnicity or nationality or status. You are violating him.

We feel totally disgusted with your action and we condemn you without any reservation. Don't come to our mosques to preach this hatred. Don't visit our Islamic centers to spill the blood of innocents. Don't think that just because we share the same religion, we would show some sympathy to you. You are not of us. You don't belong to the religion whose followers are trying to live a peaceful life for themselves and others serving the divine according to their understanding. In our understanding of faith, you appear as anti-divine and anti-human. We reject you now as we rejected you yesterday.

RE: Annapolis

[John Noonan]

May I suggest sending reps from a different institution Salamander?

And that's just supper marchdown. You should see em on parade :)

Perspective

[Eagle1]

Ben Stein places the Washington scandal du jour in a different light here.

Everything, every blessed part of my American life, my glorious life as an American comes down to this: far better men and women than I am offer up their lives to keep me and 300 million like me, alive, well, and free.

Can we give they Joint credit or something?

[CDR Salamander]

Ungh. I can see USMC veins popping out of foreheads all over the place......I think we need some West Point trained officers at Annapolis. This is just pathetic. You know what Vince Lombardi said about fundamentals....

Yep, Charles is in charge.

Re: Here We Go Again

[ArmyLawyer]

The article Andi linked to leaves out a detail or two included in other reporting of the story:

The Marine, a paralegal who was at the U.S. Navy station in Cuba last month, alleges that several guards she talked to at the base club boasted of routinely hitting detainees.
...
She said some Marines invited her to the base club Sept. 23. She didn't see them but a group of at least 15 sailors invited her to join them. She said she spoke with the sailors for about an hour, during which she had one drink, and that the sailors did not appear drunk.

That doesn't necessarily add or detract from the validity of the sworn statement, but it provides a further context for how/when/where the alleged boasting took place.

UPDATE: The version of the story linked from Drudge adds another "detail":

The lawyer sent the statement on behalf of a paralegal who said men she met on Sept. 23 at a bar on the base identified themselves to her as guards. The woman, whose name was blacked out, said she spent about an hour talking with them. No one was in uniform, she said.

Again, standard disclaimers apply.

Re: Haditha in the news

[Greyhawk]

Driving in to work I caught the end of an NPR interview with William Langewiesche, a journalist who has reported from Iraq since 2003. The subject: Haditha - Langewiesche has just published an article on the topic in Vanity Fair.

I was actually surprised at what I heard, Langewiesche has done as fine a job of capturing most of the key issues, and he's successfully managed to distance himself from the situation without abandoning his humanity - most "war reporters" fall short at such endeavors, if they ever even bother to try. I disagree with a few of his fine points and conclusions, but most of my complaints are semantic in nature - a word change here or there and I'd be in complete agreement with what he said and wrote. (But then I'd not have been challenged by his ideas, and what's the use in that?)

The folks at the Pentagon should hear/read this too. I suggest starting with the audio interview here, then moving on to the article.

Side note: if you, like me, are on the internet more and more frequently via PDA or similar device, you'll be glad to know that Vanity Fair formats automatically for your device. I'm amazed at the number of web sites that don't - or don't even offer a PDA option - they should know better. (Webmasters take note.)

Excerpt below - don't click if you're easilly offended by the way young Marines sometimes actually talk. (This excerpt contains the only such examples in the piece, by the way.)