May 2006 Archives

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Sitting at the Table With Iran?

By Charlie

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States said Wednesday it would join in face-to-face talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program if Tehran first agreed to put challenged atomic activities on hold, a shift in tactics meant to offer the Iranians a last chance to avoid punishing sanctions.

Iran dismissed the offer as "a propaganda move."

Before leaving for meetings in Europe on Iran, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that while the U.S. was willing to join talks between European nations and Iran, it was also helping to prepare a package of sanctions that Tehran could face should it decline the new offer.

"We're prepared to go either way," she said

Look, we’ve covered this fairly thoroughly. Bottom Line Up Front:

-Iran won’t stop (verifiably) enriching uranium, therefore, the offer of the US participating in the talks is a diplomatic-based exercise, not a reality-based one.

-The EU-3 came to this conclusion 3 years ago, and is not prepared to either impose sanctions or lend their support to a military campaign.

-Russia and China will stick together. Until one of them can be peeled off to the West’s side, no sanctions will ever be imposed on Iran.

Therefore, working off of the “give a mouse a piece of cheese” model, the next move by the international community/Iran will be pressure on the US to engage in bilateral talks. This, of course, smacks of unilateralism.

But, hey… 2003 and OIF-1 was 3 years ago. I’m sure the world community would be fine with us engaging Iran in a good old-fashioned discussion like Southern and Southern (West Asian) gentlemen.

Read More »

Army Transformational Graphic of the day

By Charlie

Here's the whole thing.

Is Washington, DC a Quagmire?

By John

Rep. Steve King says that Iraq is safer for civilians than the District of Columbia.

Despite media coverage purporting to show that escalating violence in Iraq has the country spiraling out of control, civilian death statistics complied by Rep. Steve King, R-IA, indicate that Iraq actually has a lower civilian violent death rate than Washington, D.C. Using Pentagon statistics cross-checked with independent research, King said he came up with an annualized Iraqi civilian death rate of 27.51 per 100,000.

While that number sounds high - astonishingly, the Iowa Republican discovered that it's significantly lower than a number of major American cities, including the nation's capital.

"It's 45 violent deaths per 100,000 in Washington, D.C.," King told Crowley.

Maybe we should pull out.

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Palestinian Rocket Attack Video

By Charlie

This video from Powerline clears up the issue of what the "over the security barrier" rocket attacks we keep hearing about in Israel look like.

Background:

Israel says it is facing a new strategic threat from the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip, because of the smuggling of improved weapons across the Egyptian border. Israel believes it is headed for another round of conflict with the Islamic militant group, Hamas, which now heads the Palestinian Authority.

The Israeli army says Palestinian militants have smuggled some Katyusha rockets into the Gaza Strip, potentially threatening towns well inside Israel. Military sources say the rockets have been smuggled into Gaza through tunnels in the Rafah area, running under the border with Egypt. Israel abandoned Rafah, known as a corridor for weapons smuggling, when it pulled out of Gaza in August.
...
Katyusha rockets have a longer range than the homemade Palestinian Qassam rockets fired frequently at Israel. The Katyushas could hit strategic facilities like a power station in the nearby Israeli city of Ashkelon.

A little history on the Katyusha, which comes in 82mm and 132mm types :

Katyusha (Russian "Катюша") multiple rocket launchers were built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. These launchers acquired this name, unofficial but immediately recognized in the Red Army, from the title of a popular Russian wartime song, Katyusha. The song is about a girl longing for her beloved who is away from her while serving in the military. Katyusha is a tender Russian diminutive of a female name: Ekaterina (Katherine)→Katya→Katyusha.

The development of the Katyusha rocket launcher was a response to Nazi Germany's development of the six-barreled Nebelwerfer rocket mortar in 1936. The Red Army began work on rocket artillery design in 1938, and deployment of the 82mm BM-8 was approved on June 21, 1941. On July 14, 1941, an experimental artillery battery of seven launchers was first used in battle against the German army at Orsha in Belarus, under the command of Captain I. Flerov. The first eight regiments of missile artillery (36 launchers in each unit) were then created on August 8, 1941. An improved BM-13N ("normalized") design was developed in 1943, and more than 1800 of this model were manufactured by the end of WWII.

Qassam rockets, which are much less powerful and accurate, have been used since 2001. The prevalence of Katyushas, dangerous as they are, indicates increased levels of state support for the terror groups attacking Israel.

Michael Moore Sued

By John

Iraq War vet suing Moore for $85 million.

A double-amputee Iraq-war vet is suing Michael Moore for $85 million, claiming the portly peacenik recycled an old interview and used it out of context to make him appear anti-war in "Fahrenheit 9/11." Sgt. Peter Damon, 33, who strongly supports America's invasion of Iraq, said he never agreed to be in the 2004 movie, which trashes President Bush. In the 2003 interview, which he did at Walter Reed Army Hospital for NBC News, he discussed only a new painkiller the military was using on wounded vets. "They took the clip because it was a gut-wrenching scene," Damon said yesterday. "They sandwiched it in. [Moore] was using me as ammunition."

Moore would have been better off interviewing Jesse Macbeth.

Hotel Tango to Glenn.

America will be the sole superpower for the next 15 years

By Charlie

The OPFOR that the Army trains against in places like the National Training Center in California, or Fort Polk, LA, has been in flux since the Cold War ended. Back in the “good old days” OPFOR units mimicked USSR TTPs, disguised their vehicles to appear like T-72s and BMP-1s, and provided a real world classroom for Army units, heavy and light, to train against. After the Cold War, and especially after 9/11, OPFOR has gravitated toward the threat we fight now in Iraq and Afghanistan: asymmetric, shadowy, and reclusive. Some purists, however, point in a hyperventilated manner toward the remaining conventional threats in the world today: China, Russia, and, to a lesser extent, the Arab/Persian armies that work off of a bastardized Soviet doctrine. Basically, OPFOR trains units against “anything they want to train against.” This remains a sore spot to many today.

This localized argument about training troops has a larger connotation: will the US have a peer competitor in the near term (next 10-15 years)? If so, who would it be? The military might of a nation (it would have to be a nation) that could challenge America in a straight-up hot war would have to be able to overcome America’s enormous tactical experience, strategic depth, logistical expertise, and technological advances. Plus, hearkening back to the Cold War, our peer competitor could wage war anywhere in the world –what nation today can muster those resources?

We must remain vigilant to all threats, symmetrical and otherwise, but this post (some choice bits below the fold) takes on the China threat, and gives some non-military insight on how America is likely to remain the world’s sole superpower for the rest of the near term and beyond.

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Naming Your Planes 101

By John

Introducing the F-35 "Black Mamba."

The Air Force chief of staff will name the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by June 30, choosing from six monikers that range from the historic to the arcane, military and industry officials say. The Air Force and Navy both proposed Lightning II, while the Marine Corps advocated Spitfire II, said a U.S. officer familiar with the deliberations.The Air Force also submitted finalists Cyclone and Reaper, this officer said.The finalists also include two more curious suggestions – Black Mamba and Piasa.

Black Mamba? I guess Philippine Spitting Cobra and Gaboon Viper were already taken....

Hotel Tango: CDR Salamander

***Charlie adds (snarkily):

"In Africa, the saying goes 'In the bush, an elephant can kill you, a leopard can kill you, and a black mamba can kill you. But only with the mamba is death sure.' Hence its handle, 'Death Incarnate.'" Pretty cool, huh?"

Protestors Learn About Pepperspray

By John

"Before pepperspray, the mob was unruly; afterwards....not so much."

Iran: Why Diplomacy (alone) Won't Work

By Charlie

Iran’s current situation, stringing out multilateral talks until it can get nukes, seems to be working out wonderfully. Is there any way out of this impending train-wreck of international policy? Multilateralism has worked in the past, but Iran seems to have mastered the game of brinkmanship. Can anything be done? I say no, unless we change some perceptions.

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One Mind, Any Weapon

By Maj P

Via Blackfive and B-I-A, this magnificent little story.

Good work, Marine!

Maj p

Hollow Men

By John

Scientists lay down theoretical blueprints for invisibility cloak.

WASHINGTON - The key to creating a Harry Potter-like invisibility cloak lies in manmade materials unlike any in nature or the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, researchers say.

They're laying out a blueprint for turning science fiction into reality. And they say that, in theory, nothing's stopping them from making such a cloak.

Well, almost nothing: They still need to perfect the manufacture of those exotic materials with an ability to steer light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation around a cloaked object, rendering it as invisible as something tucked into a hole in space.

I understand none of that. What I do want to know is....

Is it an evil invisibilty cloak?

Get Out the Tinfoil

By John

The ever paranoid Alternet on the top ten signs of the impending US police state. Couldn't find one of the ten that was particularly convincing.

The Alternet website, by the way, strongly advocates Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. Just sayin'...

Finish the Job!

By Charlie

Owen West, writing (in all places) in the New York Times, hits one out of the park. He calls national unity on finishing the job in Iraq, and taking the fight to the terrorists who have been at war with this country for decades.

Somehow Operation Iraqi Freedom, not a large war by America's historical standards, has blossomed into a crisis of expectations that threatens our ability to react to future threats with a fist instead of five fingers. Instead of rallying we are squabbling, even as the slow fuse burns.

One party is overly sanguine, unwilling to acknowledge its errors. The other is overly maudlin, unable to forgive the same. The Bush administration seeks to insulate the public from the reality of war, placing its burden on the few. The press has tried to fill that gap by exposing the raw brutality of the insurgency; but it has often done so without context, leaving a clear implication that we can never win.

In the past, the American public could turn to its sons for martial perspective. Soldiers have historically been perhaps the country's truest reflection, a socio-economic cross-section borne from common ideals. The problem is, this war is not being fought by World War II's citizen-soldiers. Nor is it fought by Vietnam's draftees. Its wages are paid by a small cadre of volunteers that composes about one-tenth of 1 percent of the population — America's warrior class.

The insular nature of this group — and a war that has spiraled into politicization — has left the Americans disconnected and confused. It's as if they have been invited into the owner's box to settle a first-quarter disagreement on the coach's play-calling. Not only are they unprepared to talk play selection, most have never even seen a football game.

This confusion, in turn, affects our warriors, who are frustrated by the country's lack of cohesion and the depiction of their war. Iraq hasn't been easy on the military, either. But the strength of our warriors is their ability to adapt.
...
We are clashing with an enemy who has been at war with us in one form or another for two decades. Our military response may take decades more. We have crossed several rivers and the nation is hoping that ahead lie streams. But if they are oceans, we should heed Lincoln's call: "With malice toward none, with charity for all ... let us strive on to finish the work we are in."

Hooah, sir.

Happy Memorial Day Part II

By Charlie

Continuing on our theme this weekend, here's the text of a little speech given at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Happy Memorial Day

By John

"We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free."

-President Ronald Reagan, Omaha Beach, June 6 1984

President Reagan's tribute to the US soldiers who fought and died on the shores of Normandy was a speech so powerful that it echos still today. Read the whole thing below the fold, and remember why this tree of liberty we call America has flourished.

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America the Beautiful

By Charlie

I spent some time this weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and getting away from the bustle and congestion of Northern Virginia. While I was there, I took some time to reflect. Being surrounded by the majesty of nature, the enormity of the terrain, and the sheer peacefulness of the area, I arrived at a simple conclusion: America is a great place, and I’m lucky –or blessed- to live here and be a part of it.

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Iran Burning

By Charlie

Earlier this month, a cartoon was published in Iran. It poked fun at ethnic Azeris, who, following the current MidEast rational action SOP, started burning stuff.

The protests have spread.

Like basketball victories that turn into smash-and-grab riots, other groups in Iran have risen up in "solidarity" with the Azeris -for their own purposes. Meanwhile, in: Azerbaijan:

A peaceful demonstration by Azeris in the Iranian city of Tabriz and the subsequent violent crackdown on the protestors by Iranian law-enforcement agencies has resulted in public outrage in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Politicians, non-governmental organizations, and the general public have condemned the Iranian government for the bloodshed, which they attribute to the chauvinism and brutality of the Tehran regime.

Back in Tehran, the mullahs are- of course- blaming America!

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's supreme leader said Sunday the United States would fail to provoke ethnic strife in the Islamic republic after several days of protests over a cartoon that insulted the country's largest minority.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also said in a speech broadcast by state-run television that "trying to provoke ethnic and religious unrest is the last desperate shot by enemies."

While this is probably not America's fault, it has revealed a glaring weakness in the Iranian regime. Stay tuned.

Humor Update

By Charlie

Here is the complete PowerPoint version of "Bob on the Fob." Enjoy, and if anyone incorporates this into a BUB/CUB/Presentation, let me know and I'll post an update.

Also, I have a challenge to all of you PowerPoint Rangers out there: send me your most interesting/funniest/dumbest/most new-speak laden presentation. Knowledge (or lack thereof) is best when shared.

Memorial Day Memo

By John

Chris Michel, president of Military.com, on taking back Memorial Day:

This morning I opened the paper and a series of circulars spilled onto my lap – bright, colored pages with bold fonts and frenetic language: “Now through Memorial Day only!” and “A Don’t Miss Memorial Day Sales Event!” As I took a deep breath and gathered up the pages that had spilled to the floor, at once it struck me: We owe more than commerce to those who sacrificed the balance of their lives for their country. It's time to take back Memorial Day.

Read the whole thing.

DD-214 Forgery

By John

The plot thickens, when it should be fading away. Now fake ranger and real anti-war activist Jesse MacBeth has posted an alledged Form DD-214, the army's official separation/discharge form on a MySpace account.

Allah Pundit has more at Hot Air.

The form appears legit, at least after a cursory look. The language is correct (11 Bravo is the proper army speciality code for those branching into the infantry), and smaller items like the date are written in the proper military format.

But, like Jesse, the discharge paperwork comes apart after relatively minor scruntiny.

Here's why the form is bogus:

-Form attaches Jesse to BCTB 2D BN 47THIN CO D TR TC, which is a Fort Benning basic training brigade (BCTB is an ancronym for basic combat training brigade). Means one of two things: Jesse was an instructor, or a recruit.

-Time in service is listed as roughly a month and a half, which pretty much answers the instructor or recruit question.

-Misspelling on "ranger qualified."

-Box 14 for military education lists "none." An army ranger, one with combat experience no less, would have a minimum his basic training class, Ranger school class, advanced infantry school, jump school, etc listed.

-Discharge code reads JGA. 30 second Google search gives us the full translation for the JGA "reason for discharge" code: pregnancy.

-Font in boxes 11 and 13 (speciality and decorations, respectively) are different than form's standard font.

-Botton left box has some noticeable profanity. Not sure if that was a message to the milbloggers, from Jesse with love.

If Jesse was indeed a boot-camp dropout, he would have easy access to this form. You see, these DD-214s are often used as methods of verifying medical discharge from military service to potential employers/background investigators. Dishonorable discharge is a frequent disqualifier to careers in the civilian world, so the military makes the forms readily available to medical washouts for verification purposes.

This form makes Macbeth's story fairly easy to deconstruct. Jesse, as a boot camp dropout, would have an official DD-214 listening his training brigade (check), reason for discharge (check), duty station (check), name, address, and social (check, check, check). Since he made no real progress in the army, boxes listing any sort of decorations, education, combat experience, etc would be blank. With blank boxes 11 and 13, one could write just about anything in the free space, which is why the font in those boxes on Jesse's form is different from the font on the rest of the paperwork. I'm also 90% certain that forging official DoD documents is illegal.

I think Jesse just put the final nail in his coffin. In the meantime, go do something meaningful for memorial day, as there are plenty of real troops out there deserving of our appreciation and gratitude.

**Update** SMASH has more, plus a sharper copy of the form.

**Update 2** Uncle Jimbo:

Is this our little clown's discharge paperwork?

The answer is EL NO! The first and disqualifying lameness is Ranger Qualified Qualifyed under primary specialty, misspelled and inappropriate for that block.

I am calling the game there and I am sure we will have 71 Limas galore clerk debunking this pathetic rag.

And I speak as a serial document forger, OMG I shudder to think at the vast quantity of leave papers, and liberty passes and badges I made over the years to further the cause of freedom, justice and the American Way.

Remember Those Fighting

By Charlie

...this Memorial Day.

Sgt. Joshua Dubois and fellow “War Hawks” from the 506th Regimental Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, hone their marksmanship skills at the small-arms range at Forward Operating Base Rustimiyah in east Baghdad. This photo appeared on www.army.mil.

Powerful Stuff

By John

I've always found Gatorade commercials to be sappy and overdramatic. Here's the Gatorade Team proving me wrong....

It's terrible that certain foreign soccer fans violate the code of sportsmanlike conduct and turn our national team into a sh*t magnet for all the anti-American sentiment in the world. No athlete in any sport in any nation in the world should be subjected to what those guys are forced to put up with. World Cup starts in two weeks....shove it down their throats USA.

I found a funny Military Cartoon, at last!

By Charlie

/more to come.

"Zarqawi Aid" Still Least Desired/Most Likely to get you captured occupation in MidEast

By Charlie

May 23 (Bloomberg) -- An aide to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, today appeared on state-run Jordanian television and confessed to involvement in the killings of Iraqis and other Arabs.

Got that -our allies, subject to the will of the "Arab Street" are (and have been) rounding up AQ operatives. They just made a BIG catch in Jordan, and got him to confess (OP-FOR is coordinating with Cuba and China on the UN Human Rights Commission to ensure this guy's rights were not violated to get a confession. We'll let you know when we get this checked out.)

Why are the Arab autocracies increasingly (and effectively) stepping up their counter-terror campaigns? Perhaps because they now realize it is in their best interest to do so. Seeking to cut off AQ at the pass, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia have been using their pervasive and effective intelligence and state security service to round up AQ and other Islamic extremist groups/terrorists lately. Why, play to US interests? Because they know that their regime’s stability is linked to the stability of the region. If Islamic radicals gain a foothold in Iraq (or anywhere else) the local extremist forces will become bolstered and attempt to exert similar influence on their home government. Jordan, and the other nations, know this. So the only option they can take is to use their advantages against the enemy’s disadvantages. Their advantages are a well established intelligence apparatus, and the ability to leverage human intelligence and apply it to direct action operations. And it worked. More:

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Michael Yon Ripped Off

By John

And not by just anyone, Yon's famous photo of an American soldier and dying Iraqi girl was taken by one of the vilest of the vile print tabloids.

Michael writes:

John,
This horrible magazine, launching this Memorial Day weekend, shows photos of our wounded soldiers and is very anti-military. They indicate that I gave them this photo. I did NOT and never would have. This is flagrant copyright violation.....

Well, no one ever accused the tabloids OR the anti-war crowd of being classy. This is disgraceful on so many levels it's nauseating. I really wish Mike didn't have to constantly fight these battles for the rights to his own intellectual property (he fought -and won- a lengthy battle with the Army for the same photograph last year).

Blackfive has been all over the story. Matt included the following contact information for Shock Magazine:

The number for HFM is (212) 767-6000. Email Shock at shock@neodata.com and inbox@shocku.com.

The offending cover...

Here's some "shocking" reading for Shock Magazine, the US code on copyright infringement.

Please help Mike out. Let Shock Magazine exactly how you feel about copyright violations, and trashy, thieving tabloids as well.

**Update** Michelle is also pressing the Shock Mag clowns.

**Update 2** Shock seems to be moving foward with the issue. Link has a comments section.

Meanwhile, Mike responds...

China's Build-up: defense or offense?

By Charlie

BEIJING, China (AP) -- China has angrily rejected a U.S. Defense Department report that says Beijing is a potential military threat, insisting that its multibillion-dollar buildup is defensive.

Hmmm... What are they buying that is defensive? CNN says: "Beijing has spent heavily in recent years on adding submarines, missiles, fighter planes and other high-tech weapons to its arsenal in order to extend the reach of the 2.3 million-member People's Liberation Army, the world's largest fighting force." But I want specifics. Over at globalsecurity.org, I found them:

According to Pentagon analysts, China has bought Su-27 Flanker fighters and Su-30 Flanker interceptors, AA-12 Adder medium-range air-to-air missiles, SA-10 Grumble, SA-15 Gauntlet and SA-20 Triumf surface-to-air missiles, 3M-54E (SS-N-27B) anti-ship cruise missiles, Kilo-class diesel submarines, Sovremennyi-class destroyers, Il-76 Candid transport planes and Il-78 Midas in-flight refueling tankers.

Most of the stuff is (suprise) from Russia. Check below the fold for some more info. The $24K question: is China beefing up for offensive purposes, or is this just an attempt to modernize its very old equipment (that it has a lot of.)?

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North Korea "suprises" everyone by acting irrationally

By Charlie

Washington Times

SEOUL -- North Korea stunned South Korea yesterday with an abrupt decision to cancel landmark test runs of trains across the two nations' heavily guarded border, underscoring the mercurial [*] nature of the communist regime.

*Gasp!* Could it be that North Korea really doesn’t want to engage in activities that could possibly lead to peacefully coexistence and eventual peaceful reunification with the South?

"The responsibility for the collapse of scheduled trial runs lies in North Korea," Mr. Shin said. The tests would have been the first train crossings across the border in more than a half-century and were a high-profile element of efforts at detente between both sides since a pivotal summit in 2000.

Train service between the Koreas was halted in June 1951.

North Korea said yesterday that the situation on the divided peninsula had become too "unstable" to conduct the test runs, criticizing "pro-U.S. ultra-right conservative forces" in the South for "pushing the situation in Korea to an extreme phase of confrontation and war."

The trains would have opened up a line of communication and trade with the North, and could have alleviated the perpetual communist-sponsored famine, raised the (low) standard of living, and led to a greater understanding between the people of the peninsula. How interesting the North Korea decided to kill the deal. Like most tyrants, most recently the warlords in Somalia, famine and oppression are vital tools to repressing the populace and perpetuating the party’s power. ANY commo between the north and the south, economic or otherwise, is a direct threat to the stability of Kim Il Jong’s regime. So it comes as no surprise to me that the North would flirt with this idea and then back out at the last minute.

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Tire Not. Engage.

By John

My friend Steve Schippert of Threats Watch had some choice words for our domestic anti-war politicos earlier today.

Why is the defense of this nation a political issue at all? There are those who will argue that it is the manner in which we defend ourselves that is at issue.

That, my friends, is a convoluted disingenuous sheen of reason upon the unreasonable.

A former Attorney General currently vociferously defends a mass murdering dictator deposed by our own forces. An icon of the self-loathing anti-American academic Left, Noam Chomsky, embraces Hizballah, the chief beneficiary of Iran's terror export, and condemns the War on Terror as bigotry wrapped in fiction. A former Vice President travels to the home of fifteen 9/11 hijackers and professes that Arabs had been "indiscriminately rounded up" by America and its sitting president and held in "unforgivable" conditions.

These are not arguments of the manner in which to defend America. These are sycophantic rantings of whether to defend her. The flood of emotions in disbelieving reaction range from anger and rage to depression and grief.

We dare not rest as the most important front of the War on Terror and for the very survival of Western Civilization lies not upon the sands of distant shores, but in our own common discourse. The most important battlegrounds are around our dinner tables and in intelligent and persuasive common sense discussion among our peers, seeking the discomfort of battle and the very defense of defense rather than the comfort and unproductive endeavor of agreement among friends.

The line has been clearly drawn. Tire not. Engage.

Beautiful. The War on Terror isn't gay marriage or stem cell research or abortion. It isn't a topic that should be debated during high school forensics matches. We have a category here at Op For called "One Team, One Fight." Charlie and I are constantly searching for examples of one America, one war, one fight. It's how things should be, but aren't. There shouldn't even be a need for a category that recognizes something Americans should be doing in the first place.

Steve ended on a positive note and I agree. Ignore petty politics, fight the good fight, tire not and engage.

Hurricane Season’s coming! Run for your lives!

By Charlie

UPI:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said FEMA will test revamped command procedures with states in the next two weeks and, among other improvements, a week's supply of ice and water for 1 million people has been stockpiled.

The United States is "much more prepared as a nation than we have ever been to confront a major hurricane," Chertoff said.

U.S. officials also called on 60 million coastal residents to make their own disaster plans.
Officials from Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas told The Washington Post that much work and system testing remains to be done.

"It's kind of a race: Can we get all the things people needed before the 2005 hurricane season done before this hurricane season?" Florida Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate told the newspaper.

Yeah, we’ll be ready… perhaps too ready. I fear that this year, the first little hurricane that hits a US city will trigger a massive overreaction. Prepare for a convoy of MSM assets deploying to the first minor disaster that pops up, a National Guard Heavy Brigade Combat Team rolling into a seaside city with minor damage, prepared to finally find and dispatch with extreme prejudice that one guy who we heard might have shot at a medevac chopper one time.

Anyway, the Guard is ready to roll at a moment’s notice. I hope there isn’t a repeat of Katrina this year. Not because we won’t be ready, but because of the enormous damage it did. For those of you who haven’t seen the ridiculous destructive power of a hurricane, click below the fold so for some shots from last year’s disaster area.

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More on the Missile Defense for Europe

By Charlie

AP:

TEL AVIV, Israel -Iran test-fired a long-range missile, Israeli defense officials said Wednesday, as President Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed concern over Iran's nuclear program in Washington.

The defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters, said the missile was a Shihab-3 with a range of 900 miles, the same type of missile that has been test-fired several times in the past.

Olmert mentioned Iranian missiles of that range at a news conference in Washington after meeting with Bush, noting that it would give Iran the ability to strike any point in Europe as well as
Israel. He said it is not to late to stop the Iranian program.

Possible range of Iran's current strategic missile forces:

Current NATO countries:

Iran’s missiles are being taken as an emerging threat by serious nations across the globe. NATO countries are wise to the threat, but I fear for Europe. Centers of regional power like Paris, Brussels, Istanbul, and other areas outside of US defensive range remain vulnerable to the Iranians. As long as this regime remains in place, they will continue to research and improve their missile technology.

My take is that it should be an American responsibility to protect our forward deployed troops protected from missile threats. This extends to our allies that are aiding us in accomplishing our mission abroad. This (should) stop, however, with it becoming an American responsibility to shield Europe (or whoever else in the world) from all missile threats. As long as the EU thinks they can “negotiate” with Iranians who overtly mock the diplomatic proceedings- yet laughably participate to draw out the timeline enabling them to achieve their nuclear goals – the Europeans should be comfortable with the fact that they are increasingly coming into the range of the very weapons they are at the table to talk about. If the EU puts their infinite faith in the diplomatic process, let them back that up by keeping their soft underbellies vulnerable.

That being said, huzzah for theatre missile defense! May it be deployed successfully everywhere.

***Update***
How silly of me to not consider perpetual attention-grubbing Russia! John mentioned it below, but I think the obvious reason for the Missile Defense in Europe is to counter Iran, and to a lesser extent, Syria. However, Russia, like the drunk girl at the party who thinks that everyone is talking to her, wants to be popular so bad.

So Sayeth Pravda:

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in April of the current year that Russia had a right to take all necessary measures to safeguard Russia’s national security in the event Russia sees a threat near its borders. Furthermore, if the USA deploys its anti-missile base in Poland or even in Great Britain, it endangers Russia’s Plesetsk space port.

Because its all about you, right? More below.

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Introductions All Around

By John

Sgt. Hook wants you to meet Army Spc. Mladen Sudarevic. So do I.

Jesse Speaks!

By John

Good gawd I love Iowahawk.

Missile Defense to Poland?

By John

Old Gray Lady is reporting the Pentagon is interested in bringing missile defense to eastern Europe. The casus missili? Protecting Europe from a nuclear Iran, so sayeth the usual anonymous John Doe from the E-Ring.

"Iran understands the use of ballistic missiles to change strategic geography," said a senior American Defense official who asked not to be identified because he did not want to be drawn into the public debate. "This is a long lead-time item. We would much rather be a couple of years early than a couple of years late."

It makes sense, in a way. The US has stood up a total of 10 interceptor missiles in Alaska and California, stacked against the North Korean No Dong threat. Strategically placing another ten-spot of the modified missiles in the Czech Republic or Poland would kill two birds with one interceptor (har), helping to protect Europe from the Iranian Shahab-3 while cementing ties with one of the new NATO allies. Sounds good on paper, but there's an oh-so-small catch.

The current missile defense shield, the one deployed in the Pacific, doesn't exactly work. In fairness, it doesn't exactly not work either, the jury is still out. While the system hasn't had a successful test kill in years, the Pentagon still feels that the basic nuts-and-bolts technology is promising.

The idea of missile interceptors in the former USSR's backyard isn't exactly blowing the Kremlin's hair back either. In an interview with a Polish newspaper, Russian General Yuri N. Baluyevsky, the chief of the Russian military's general staff, cautioned the Poles:

"Go ahead and build that shield. You have to think, though, what will fall on your heads afterward. I do not foresee a nuclear conflict between Russia and the West. We do not have such plans. However, it is understandable that countries that are part of such a shield increase their risk."

Poland, however, is all but jumping up and down with their arms waving, yelling "pick me! pick me!"

"[The US] asked us officially if we were still interested in discussing the issue," Poland's deputy foreign minister, Witold Waszczykowski, said last month. "Of course we said yes and we are awaiting details."

If the United States does end up building a missile defense base in Poland, might I recommend placing the facility in or around Krakow? Aside from the historical city's choice location in the southwest corner of Poland, its name sounds like 105mm shells being fired.

Veterans' Personal Data Heisted

By John

Veterans' ID Theft may be largest ever.

The VA disclosed this week that the personal information — mainly from veterans discharged since 1975 — was stolen from a midlevel employee's home in what appeared to be a routine burglary.

The material included the veterans' Social Security numbers, birth dates and in some cases a disability rating — a score of between 1 to 100 on how disabled a veteran is. The agency declined to say whether additional information regarding the nature of the disability was disclosed.

I like the Democratic Underground's theory better:

Can you tell that I think this is much more sinister than some clerk stealing some records? The clerk is a cover story and is probably a CIA/NSA plant. This very coincidental with the recent CIA/NSA head resignation/nomination events.

The story is serious and I shouldn't laugh but....heh.

Federalism: Then and Now

By Charlie

Yugoslavia, the union of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, and Macedonia is no more. With the Montenegran vote for independence this week, followed by immediate talks of basing rights, security guarantees, and UN membership, the state that once was now is not. Tito, the dictator who pulled together these 5 ethnic enclaves into a greater state, (thankfully) isn’t alive to see his creation crumble, much like Stalin wasn’t around to watch the Wall fall in Berlin.

So, Yugoslavia: isolated incident, or harbinger of things to come elsewhere?

We’ve seen Iraq over the past few years roiling with ethnic tensions, so it isn’t hard to imagine Iraq going down the Balkan path, with the national government disintegrating, and ethnic nationalism taking charge, leaving us with a Kurdistan, Sunnistan, and Shiastan. Unfortunately, the prospects of an Iraqi Balkans replay are much more dire than the actual Balkans were. An oil-rich Kurdistan would immediately provoke an all-out war with the Turks, and the Iranians. A strategically located Shiastan would be increasingly under the sway of Iran, and a poor, landlocked Sunnistan would become the last bastion for the militant Salafist/Baathist insurgent/terrorist hordes.

Our only hope (help me Obi Wan) is that the Iraqis, with our considerable help, can successfully incorporate federalism into not only their constitution, but their method of governance. Remember, America was still working out the question of Federalism in 1861 –38 years later America was a world player that crushed Spanish imperialism and seized the mantle of power on the world stage.

Federalism, correctly applied, could alleviate many of the problems that befell states like Yugoslavia. Let’s hope Iraq gets the memo from Tito’s mistake.

The “Regime Stay” Strategy

By Charlie

Has neoconservatism run its course? We once said “you’re either with us or against us,” Now we are making deals with dictators like Libya’s Quaddafi. What happened? Did idealism get mugged by reality, or did spreading democracy suddenly become less important than nuclear proliferation? Perhaps our Post-Bush foreign policy will retain the “Jacksonianism” (or Monroe-ism applied all hemisperes vice one) while dropping the Wilsonianism.

Bottom Line Up Front: Maybe, in some cases, if a tyrant plays ball and gives up his nukes, we should play Monty Hall and make a deal. Call it the strategy of “Regime Stay.”

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I Laughed So Hard I Nearly Cried

By Maj P

I’m about halfway through Guests of the Ayatollah, Mark Bowden’s excellent book on the Iran hostage crisis. Being old enough to remember the event fairly well, I nevertheless knew very little detail about it. I strongly recommend the book, but be warned: it will make your blood boil.

So many things stand out, but there is one section that should make readers, Marines in particular, laugh out loud. Beginning on page 319, there is a great passage on how the Marine guards tormented their captors as only Marines can: by being deliberately and gleefully offensive.

Two Marines “kept up a constant torrent of verbal abuse.” Another Marine “had begun substituting the word ‘Khomeini’ for every foul word in the English language, and his fellow Marines adopted it with relish. When they needed to use the toilet, they would tell the guard, ‘I need to take a Khomeini.’”

“When the two Marines found a stack of the guards’ plates and eating utensils piled in the bathroom they urinated on them. One night they wrapped a butter knife in a rag [why is this so classically Marine?] and took turns poking it at the exposed wires of their lamp. It shorted out the electricity… They waited for the guards to replace the fuse and get the lights back on and then did it again.”

“When the guards installed a camera in the bathroom, after catching on that their captives were leaving notes for each other there, the Marines made a point of putting on lewd shows before it, offending their guards’ Islamic sensibilities so badly that they gave up and took it down.” Priceless!

Those are only a few humorous excerpts in an otherwise sobering book. Go read the whole thing.

Ranger Fraud

By John

This guy is a total fake. Disgraceful.

This same imposter crap happened during the Vietnam War, only back then they got away with it. Today it's impossible, due in large part to the milbloggers.

More coverage:
Hot Air
Blackfive
SMASH
Milblogs
CDR Salamander

Ginormous Military Reading List

By John

I compiled it with Professor Robert Farley of Lawyers, Guns, and Money....head over to his place for a look.

Graduation Speeches

By Charlie

I attended the graduation ceremony at the University of Virginia this weekend, and Governor Tim Kaine gave a great speech to the graduates. Light and airy, his address started out with a statement I couldn't agree more with:

As I stand here this morning, I can’t help but think about the futility of graduation speeches. I don’t remember anything any of my graduation speakers ever said. In fact, I was the speaker at one of my graduations – my high school graduation – and I can’t even remember what I said. So I hold no illusions about this speech being the central memory you carry forward from today.

Heh. Read the whole thing. Meanwhile, as I noted before, SECDEF Rumsfeld gave the address at VMI, in which he gave some advice the blogosphere could take to heart:

"For the first time in American history, the full view of war — its glories and its hours — is on display to the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,"

"Because of these new technologies, the American people are seeing things they never saw before about the realities of major conflict and postwar violence. They will need the help of those of you who have studied military strategy to better understand what it is they are seeing everyday and to become more aware that war requires continuous adjustments and calibrations, just as the enemy, an enemy with a brain, constantly adjusts its tactics."

Back to Gov. Kaine, I can't for the life of me remember anything a graduation speaker imparted to me. Anyone have anything they actually remember from theirs?

Force Protection, Anyone?

By Charlie

Check out the video on the Barrier1 site.

Great Article on Aviation, VMI, Marines, and the Virginia Army National Guard

By Charlie

Talk about having a story with everything! Via our buddy Murdoc:

Photo by: Cpl. Jonathan K. Teslevich

Nearly two dozen graduates of this prestigious institution are now serving in Army and Marine aviation units deployed to a remote desert airbase in Al Asad, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The soldier and Marine graduates of the institute explained how the VMI experience prepared them for the challenges of a combat environment.

"VMI gave me the foundation for being able to deal with a multitude of competing priorities," said a graduate with the Virginia Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment, Marine Aircraft Group 16 (Reinforced), 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. "Life at the institute is a constant risk-assessment where you have to balance your studies, extra duties and military training. Often you have to decide which thing, that day, is going to be least important and which thing has the greatest risk of coming back to haunt you."

Other graduates with the Virginia battalion explained similar benefits of attending a military institute.

"VMI prepared me in many ways, but simply put, VMI prepared me to accept each situation as it comes and realize that is just how things have to be sometimes," said 1st Lt. Gordon S. Larkin III, a pilot and maintenance platoon leader, 2-224 AVN. "I learned at VMI that if you make sure you 'Don't sweat the small stuff,' then when the big stuff comes you can handle it better."

Blessing or a Curse?

By John

I can't figure out if this piece is on the rise or the fall of net-centric warfare. Maybe technology is moving the military horizontally?

The finicky, incompatible equipment that’s given to the infantrymen and tank drivers in Charlie Company—the guys who are spending this cold, wet February night on the front—is primitive in comparison with the gear at the sprawling military base outside of Balad, where battalion-level commanders oversee the 300 troops in Charlie and three other companies. There, things are beginning to work like the network-centric theorists predicted, with drone video feeds and sensor data and situation reports flying in constantly. But to the guys in Charlie Company, this technological wizardry and the Pentagon’s futuristic hypotheses seem awfully far away.

There is a simple, but significant, reason why: Bringing frontline infantrymen into the network isn’t as easy as wiring up a headquarters. Battlefield gear has to be wireless, durable, secure, and completely effortless to use in the chaos of combat. The network is slowly expanding to meet the grunts. But the Department of Defense’s lumbering process for buying new equipment still virtually ensures that ground-level soldiers won’t be linked-in until early next decade. “The fog, friction and uncertainty of war are still there, same as always,” says retired Marine Col. T.X. Hammes, considered one of the leading authorities on counterinsurgency. “This net-centricity helps some, but it only goes as far as the battalion [the command echelon above the companies that do the actual fighting]. After that, these guys are on their own.”

Read the whole thing.

Fox News Story on Milblogs

By John

"Milblogs" Present Iraq War from Military Point of View

Charlie and I offered a few words of wisdom.

Seems Pretty Clear To Me

By Maj P

Pardon me for leaping in uninvited, but this article in today's WaPo caught my eye.

Sun Tzu tells us that if you know yourself and your enemy, you're good to go. I'm not sure we're even at the fifty-percent mark on those tasks.

We need to wise up.

Maj P

PS: For those few regular viwers of my little blog, sorry for the absence, been busy. I'll rectify that soon. Also absent recently has been Craig, but he just told me that he's thrown up a couple new posts.

The Fall of Scott Ritter

By John

Check out the former UNSCOM inspector's rant about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons:

The problems that plague Washington DC on the issue of Iran are the same problems that haunt America overall regarding Iraq -- no clear understanding of why we as a nation are doing what we are doing where we are doing it, and absolutely no system of accountability for those who are implicated, directly through their actions or indirectly through abrogation of duties and responsibilities, in embroiling America in such senseless conflict. There seems to be, especially among the so-called "anti-war" crowd, a tendency to blame the "system" for all that ails us, with a specific trend to isolate particular nodes of economic and/or political power for special indictment.

In this light, the current war in Iraq and the real possibility of war with Iran becomes the responsibility of "Big Oil," the "Neo Cons," the "Military Industrial Complex," and more recently, the "Israeli Lobby." There are more names one can add to the list; everyone, it seems, is to blame. Congress, while not getting a pass, does get special dispensation in so far that we can understand why the elected representatives of the people abrogate the trust and confidence we place in them by noting that they have fallen under the ever expanding control of "special interests," namely the aforementioned power nodes that are to blame for everything. Likewise, since these power nodes also control the mainstream media, one can begin to understand why it is that the pro-war message trumps the anti-war message every step of the way.

How far you've fallen Scott, this is real looney tunes stuff. Blaming ambiguous organizations like the Israeli lobby and Big Oil is a one-way ticket to fringe town, population you bro. And what's with the love-affair with quotation marks?

What's interesting about this column is that Ritter manages to blame every American organization short of the YMCA for the west vs. Iran spat, but doesn't hold the Mullahocracy the least bit accountable. Instead you get some trivial rehasing of old Jewish conspiracies under the vaguely worded (but important sounding!) power nodes.

Ritter used to be a respected guy. Why he'd drag his own name through the mud by writing junior high editorials like this is beyond me. Odd.

If you can stomach it, read the whole thing. I didn't even touch his rant on how greed is built into American DNA...

Milblogs

By John

Guys, I'm not kidding. This new "Corner" style milblogger-forum is awesome.

Click, bookmark, and read. Don't stop until you've scraped the bottom of the page.

AP Telling "At Least" Some of the Story

By John

The Associated Press' lead on the Iraq War's latest casaulty statistics is revealing:

"As of Thursday, May 18, 2006, at least 2,455 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 1,930 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The AP count is three higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT."

The AP did not specify where the 3 additional casaulties came from.

The Department of Defense has long mandated precise procedures for classifying and tallying casaulties. The DoD website Defense Link numbered Iraq War deaths at exactly -not "at least"- 2,452, with exactly 1,930 of those deaths officially classified as KIA (Killed in Action).

With one soldier still classified as MIA (Missing in Action), perhaps the AP's lead should have read "As of Thursday, May 18, 2006, at most 2,453 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003."

Russia Steps Up Defense Procurement

By Charlie

MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Armed Forces will get a large procurement of new weaponry by the end of this year, a deputy defense minister said Thursday.

"The modernization program for 2006 envisions the procurement of about 30 new T-90 tanks and modernization of more than 180 T-72 and T-80 tanks," Belousov said, adding that this meant older tanks would stay in service longer.

He said the army would receive more than 40 new BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), 100 BTR-80 and BTR-90 armored personnel carriers (APCs), new BMD-2 and BMD-3 airborne IFVs and about 4,500 Kamaz and Ural trucks. More than 350 IFVs, 170 APCs, and 90 airborne IFVs will be modernized, he said.

Belousov also said 50 frontline aircraft would be modernized, including Su-24 Fencer tactical bombers, Su-25 Frogfoot attack aircraft, Su-27 Flanker and MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters. He added that 20 surface-to-air missile systems would be modernized and equipped with new missiles.

"We have ordered more than 100 new missiles for these systems," Belousov said. The Army will also get more than 10 new Mi-28 Havoc and Ka-50 Hokum attack helicopters, he added.

"The Strategic Missile Forces will put a regiment of silo-based Topol-M ballistic missiles on combat duty by the end of this year," Belousov said.

Could this be to keep the CIS from breaking up-providing a physical threat instead of an economic one? Or perhaps they simply are vying to remain militarily relevant? Maybe it's to pressure the "stans" to stay in line. Perhaps they will simply do the upgrade and sell the leftovers to the highest bidder... you never know....

Yeah, That's a Good Strategy

By John

Iran Mocks European Nuclear Incentives

Iran's president mocked a package of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment, saying Wednesday they were like giving up gold for chocolate — defiance that appeared certain to complicate U.S. efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions. "Do you think you are dealing with a 4-year-old child to whom you can give some walnuts and chocolates and get gold from him?" President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked derisively.

Man, I wish Saddam had made it this easy....

Going Under!

By Charlie

The Oriskany sunk today:

IN THE GULF OF MEXICO - As hundreds of veterans looked on solemnly, the Navy blew holes in a retired aircraft carrier and sent the 888-foot USS Oriskany to the bottom of the sea Wednesday, creating the world's largest manmade reef.

Here's a link to the video.

Pic of the Day

By Charlie

Spc. Shan Neiger and fellow Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division try to avoid blowing sand while a Chinook CH-47D Helicopter from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade lands in the western desert area of Iraq during the last hours of Operation Iron Triangle on May 11, 2006. The goal of the operation was to capture or kill terrorists on the most wanted list. Photo by Spc. Teddy Wade.

Sun Tzu vs. Iran

By Charlie

Tonight, I am in the mood for Chinese food. That being said, I’ll serve up some Sun-Tzu-inspired strategic commentary on the Iran crisis for the noble readership of the blog.

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Navy Keeping a Close Eye on the Gulf

By Charlie

OPFOR's ever-vigilant Navy PAO sent me a link to this NPR story:

Coalition Forces Watch Over Iraq's Oil Platforms

In the southern waters off Iraq, the patrol ship USS Whirlwind keeps a constant vigil over two offshore oil-transfer platforms that are indispensable to Iraq. Some sailors call them the crown jewels.

The oil platforms bear the scars of a turbulent history: bullet holes and other damage from the Iran-Iraq war and also from the first Gulf War.

U.S. naval personnel work together with Iraqi marines to protect the oil platforms. On the al-Bashrah oil terminal, known as ABOT, the Iraqis live in a large building at one end called the White House, which has sleeping quarters and a mess hall. At the other end of the platform, the Americans live in converted cargo containers, piled three high.

These guys are doing some tough work. There aren't many stories about all the work the Navy is doing to train the Iraqi Navy, probably because the Bahgdad hotels most reporters file their balcony dispatches from aren't within eyesight of the coastline. Here's a bonus link on the USS Ogden "the Navy's oldest active amphibious ship, is currently serving as the Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) for the multinational maritime coalition operating in the North Persian Gulf., that is also working to train Iraqi sailors and Marines."

This graf caught me at the end of the piece:

In addition to protecting the terminals from terrorists and suicide bombers, the forces also have their eyes on the Iranian navy, which often intrudes several hundred yards into Iraqi waters.

Captain Pat Roane of the USS Lake Champlain says that coalition forces regularly have to tell the Iranian navy to back off.

Really? Hmmm...

Palestinians Take to the Streets, Demand More Chaos

By John

Hamas Sends Militant Force to the Streets

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Palestinians' defiant Hamas-led government sent a new militant force into the streets of Gaza on Wednesday, disregarding President Mahmoud Abbas' order banning the creation of the security body and raising the stakes in their deepening power struggle.Hamas appeared to have been propelled into action by mysterious drive-by shootings that killed two of its militants in theGaza Strip hours earlier. These and other recent cases of deadly infighting have threatened to plunge the Palestinian territories into bloody chaos......

The Hamas-led government and Abbas have been locked in a power struggle since the Islamic militant group ousted Abbas' long-ruling Fatah party in January parliamentary elections.

Well, on the bright side, maybe all the internal fighting and economic hardship will endgame with the Palestinians dropping all this death to Israel bunk and working towards a functioning system of governance. Or not...

A spokesman for Islamic Jihad who gave his name only as Abul Abed said the group would not give up its fight against Israel.

"This gives us more courage to fight them," he said after viewing the two bodies. "We are fighting with Israel for billions of Muslims in the world."

Sigh.

Adios Oriskany

By John

Murdoc has the story on the soon-to-be-sunk aircraft carrier, with pics.

She's headed to Davy Jones locker tomorrow, already making plans to dive on her.

VMI Class of 2006 Graduates

By Charlie

Secretary Rumsfeld responds to a warm welcome in Cameron Hall.
(VMI Photo by Kevin Remington)

LEXINGTON, Va., May 16, 2006 - Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld attracted a lot of attention as VMI's commencement speaker Tuesday, but in his remarks, he kept the focus on the Institute and the role the graduating Class of 2006 will play in serving their country.

Here is a link to the Audio of Secretary Rumsfeld's address to the Corps (some quotes below the fold)

Rumsfeld added that the country needs the help of men and women like VMI cadets who have studied military strategy to better understand the war they are seeing on television, the Internet and other media outlets.

He also highlighted the achievements of VMI alumni like Gen. George C. Marshall '01, a Nobel Prize winner and author of the Marshall Plan; Army Col. Jim Hickey '82, who commanded the operation that captured Saddam Hussein in December 2003; Navy Lt. Cmdr. David Williams '91 who died in the attack on the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001; and Jonathan Daniels '61, who was murdered by a segregationist in Alabama during the civil rights movement

Also addressing the graduates was Cadet Shawn Hogan of Salem, N.H., the Class of 2006 valedictorian; Cadet Michael Pasquale of South Salem, N.Y., class president; and Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, superintendent of VMI.

Special awards presented during the ceremony included the First Jackson-Hope Medal for highest attainment in scholarship to Cadet Joseph Davidoski of Virginia Beach. The Second Jackson-Hope Medal for second highest attainment in scholarship and the Society of Cincinnati Medal for efficiency of service and excellence of character were presented to Cadet Kyle Schriefer of Erie, Pa.

Here are some additional photos from the VMI site.

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New Army Streamers Authorized

By Charlie

The Army has designed and authorized battle streamers for the wars it has fought since 9/11.

Quick- Call Ridley Scott and Secure the Rights for Blackhawk Down:2

By Charlie

16 May 2006 – The Security Council took a major step forward today towards establishing a robust United Nations peacekeeping force in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region by unanimously adopting a resolution calling for the deployment on the ground of a joint UN-Africa Union (AU) team to pave the way for the operation, which would take over from the AU mission (AMIS) now monitoring the vast region.

Immediately welcoming the resolution’s adoption in a statement issued by his spokesman, the Secretary-General said the UN “hopes to dispatch, as quickly as possible, a joint UN/AU Technical Assessment Team to Darfur, and towards that end, is in continuous consultation with the Government of National Unity” of Sudan.

A "technical assistance team" is diplo-speak for a of couple diplomats who stay in the most expensive hotel in the country, and view the situation from air conditioned Land Cruisers from a distance. If they actually deploy UN peacekeepers, stand by for an "unfortunate incident."

Libya's Normal Now

By Charlie

Cairo -- The normalization of U.S.-Libya relations is a natural marriage of an American administration desperate for friends and oil in the Middle East and a government that needs to open its economy to the outside world, Arab and exiled Libyan observers said Monday.

The announcement Monday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was called proof that promotion of democracy is no longer a top priority of the Bush administration, which is grappling to hold Iraq together and has turned attention toward building alliances against a hostile Iran over its nuclear program. Libya has been ruled by Moammar Khadafy since he seized power in 1969.

"The timing can be explained by a need for the United States to have a positive breakthrough in the Middle East," said Mohamed Sayed Said, a political analyst at the Egyptian government-run Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "With Libya, Washington gets a regime that has converted itself from radicalism to accommodation.

This came across the wires the other day, and I thought it deserved attention. The Libyan regime was supporting terrorists, pursuing WMD, and repressing their populace –they could have gone the way of Bashar Assad of Syria and Mahmoud A-Team of Iran, instead they have chosen a path of reconciliation, and recognizing their progress by normalizing their status was a good call.

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Self Explanatory

By John

This google communique was intercepted earlier by Steve Spruiell at NRO. Speaks for itself.

Yeah.

Hotel Tango to SMASH.

Milblogger Double Team

By John

Many of you are familiar with Matty O'Blackfive's weekly appearances on Pundit Review Radio. Well this week, Matt's phenomenal-as-usual segment was augmented by a certain independent journalist/former green beret who has recently returned from Afghanistan.

Michael Yon and Matt teamed up for an entire hour with the WRKO team Sunday evening, waxing Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and -of course- a couple of folks you should know.

Ever since Matt started doing Pundit Review, I've been hooked (if you're a fan of blogs, you'll be a fan of Pundit Review, promise). But last night's episode went above and beyond.

Give it a listen, you won't be disappointed.

Oh....Canada

By John

Canadian Conservatives want to extend their Afghanistan mission until 2009.

Canadian liberals, however, do not.

Border Update

By Charlie

Well, the President says 6,000 Guard troops will be deployed to the border. That's probably 2 Brigades (-), plus a division headquarters element.

Questions left to be asked:
How long will the rotation be? one month? two? PCS?
Where will the troops come from? Border states, or the entire US?
Rules of Engagement?
What is the duration of the mission?

*Update: After seeing COL Hunt's FOX News brief to Bill O'Reilly, here is my $0.02 on how the troop deployment will shake out. BLUF: A (motorized) Light Infantry heavy force with robust MI/MP/CA support. Here's how *I* would organize our Border Task Force:

Read More »

Grown Ups vs Kids in the Sandbox

By Charlie

Rosa Brooks, columnist from the Los Angeles Times, has written a foreign policy Op-ed that belongs in the same school yard she references in her article: “A Preschool Lesson on Iran” –safely away from the adults who set policy for the world’s only superpower. Says Brooks:

ALL I NEED to know about international relations, I learned in kindergarten.

OK, I'm exaggerating: I should have said preschool. My oldest child is only 4. Still, preschool offers great training for anyone interested in improving U.S. foreign policy. Consider this scene, witnessed at the sandbox:

Child one: "That's my shovel!"

Child two: "You already have a shovel! This is MY shovel!"

Child one: "I want ALL the shovels! I will KILL you!"

Child two: "I will KILL YOU MORE!"

To foreign policy aficionados, it's a familiar scenario; e.g.:

U.S. (per President Bush): "[Iran] will be dealt with.... "

Iran (per President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad): "[The U.S. is] not capable of causing the least harm to the Iranian people; they will suffer more."

U.S. (per U.N. Ambassador John Bolton): "If [Iran] continues ... there will be tangible and painful consequences."

Iran (per supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei): "Iran will respond twofold to any attack."

U.S. (per Bush administration): "Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!"

In both the little sandbox and the big sandbox, conflicts like this often end in tears. But tears aren't inevitable. Sensible grown-ups de-escalate the situation by treating the little darlings like rational people, even if they're not, and behaving in a way that establishes clear expectations and respects the emotions of everyone concerned.

Ms. Brook’s premise is flawed in her exposition. She assumes that the US and Iran are the ones directly engaged in negotiations over the “shovel.” The rest of the Western world –in the form of the EU- has been doing the “you can’t have a shovel” debate with Iran (who usually replies with I WILL KILL YOU MORE!) for years now. Ms. Brooks’ “sensible grown up” IS in this case, America.

Read More »

It's like The Corner, Painted Green

By John

This is so cool.

The Greyhawks of the Mudville Gazette have rounded up an all-star cast of milbloggers to form a milblog forum more powerful than you could ever imagine.

I've read about 10 posts and I'm already hooked. Check it out. Now.

South Korean Youths: We Want Our Protectors Out!

By Charlie

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea -- Thousands of students and civic activists scuffled with police yesterday as they tried to approach the site of a new U.S. military base to protest expansion plans, but no major clashes occurred.

More than 4,000 anti-U.S. activists tussled with police near the site in Pyeongtaek, about 60 km south of Seoul, but couldn't break through a barricade blocking the road to the base site.

When reached for comment, Kim Jong Il twiddled his fingers and whispered "excellent..."

Would a Palestinian Civil War Benefit…the Palestinians?

By Charlie

If you are a nation-state, blue on red, symmetrically thinking type, the current Palestinian crisis presents a profound quandary. Ignoring the divisions in the Palestinian government for a moment –let’s look at the current border issue. Israel is set to dictate (unilaterally) its permanent borders before the end of the Bush administration, and the Palestinian authority isn’t going to be able to sit at the table where this decision is made. That should worry some Palestinians. Once Israel gets US approval for its plan (which it probably will), its security barrier will go up, artillery pieces and army QRF units will deploy forward, and the game will be over.

Will there still be attacks, incursions, and suicide bombings? Probably. Will there still be UN Resolutions, International condemnation, and threats from foreign governments? Yep. But once those final border lines are drawn, the intensity of the Arab-Israeli conflict will drawn down and eventually be replaced by the next world crisis. While this is a positive step for Israel, the Palestinians will be left-literally-outside the wire.

For the Palestinians, their claim to legitimate governance of themselves was forfeited when they elected a terrorist organization to “represent” them. This is a failure of Fatah, of course, for its incompetence in executing “tin-pot government task 1A: election rigging.” So Fatah and Hamas seem to be locked in a death struggle for control over the PA (or the Islamic Republic of Palestine…) that is intensifying, and may erupt into full-on Fanatical Muslim/Fanatical Muslim violence any day now. This leaves Israel, no matter how loathed on the international scene, with no “partner for peace” in the mid east. You can’t negotiate anything with someone who wants to kill you, has done so in the past, continues to do so currently, and swears to do so in the future –and to teach his kid to kill you too.

So, back to my nation-state/nation-state premise: If the Palestinian Nationalists in the form of Fatah (or whoever) can wrestle back control of the government from Hamas, they could lobby the very sympathetic international community and probably get an intervention of some sort before Israel draws its final border and puts up its wall. This would require, however, a full-scale civil war (as mentioned above) –that Fatah would have to win. IF Hamas wins the war, it will continue its warlike stance toward Israel, who will draw their borders and put up the wall anyway.

So –there’s my point: if Hamas can be defeated by Fatah, they can get a say in the borders of their country, keep the post-intifada status quo, and keep on killing Israelis by “conveniently” forgetting about their monopoly on the legitimate use of force once in a while. If the current violence continues, or if Hamas dominates, it works to Israel’s advantage because they can push ahead and establish their own borders.

Thoughts?

Happy New Market Day

By Charlie

* Samuel F. Atwill

* William H. Cabell

* Charles G. Crockett

* Alva C. Hartsfield

* Luther C. Haynes

* Thomas G. Jefferson

* Henry J. Jones

* William H. McDowell

* J. Beverly Stanard

* Joseph C. Wheelwright

...Died on the Field of Honor.

The VMI Corps of Cadets fought as a unit at the Battle of New Market, Virginia, on May 15, 1864. Two hundred fifty seven cadets were on the field, organized into a battalion of four companies of Infantry and one section of Artillery. Ten cadets were killed in battle or died later from the effects of their wounds; 45 were wounded.

The Virginia Military Institute is the only college in American history where the student body fought, as an infantry unit, in pitched battle. To this day, the Corps fixes bayonets at each parade to commemorate this honor.

Additionally, today was commissioning day at VMI, and I would like to extend my congratulations to all of the new 2LTs out there. Remember your training, and Good Luck!

Read More »

The Circle of Life (at the UN Security Council)

By Charlie

I think the logic here makes sense, although it might make your head explode...

Sri Lankans Prepare to get their War on

By Charlie

KILONOCHCHI, Sri Lanka -- In this Tamil rebel stronghold, hundreds of people stood in long lines over the weekend, stocking up on food and fuel and preparing for war.

Across much of the rest of Sri Lanka, there were long lines too - but lines of revelers taking part in celebrations marking one of the year's most important Buddhist festivals.

Spiraling violence has rocked a shaky 2002 cease-fire between the Tamil Tigers and the government, sparking fears the island nation could be plunged back into civil war.

The Sri Lankan air force launched airstrikes on guerrilla-held territory Thursday after Tamil suicide boats rammed and sank a navy patrol craft. The attack and subsequent sea battle killed dozens of people.

Many in Kilinochchi believe it is just a matter of time before the war resumes - some even welcome it.

"I want to fight and I am ready to go to war at any time when my commander orders," said Shankar, a young rebel soldier manning a checkpoint in the town.

I hope, but doubt, this can be resolved by diplomacy. Since 1983, 60,000 people have been killed in this conflict, and it looks like it is about to begin anew after a major naval engagement with the Sri Lankan government forces.

Why is this important? It's just one of the many "small wars" that are heating up across the globe, and it contributes to rampant instability throughout the third world. Will there be an international -or an American- intervention? Probably not, barring a massive humanitarian crisis, which is not atypical in these low-level conflicts.

It is something to keep an eye on in order to study the tactics, techniques, and procedures of irregular forces.

Old Gray Lady Awarded Second "Purple Star"

By John

Maria Gomez tried to find comfort on an Army officer's shoulder Wednesday in a church in Corona, Queens, during the funeral for her son. Sgt. Jose Gomez, 23, was killed on April 20 by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Behind her was Sergeant Gomez's stepfather, Felix Jimenez, and Marie Canario, the soldier's fiancée.

Uh, I see a sergeant first class. Still looking for that officer....

Times is on a roll this week....

Hotel Tango to Countercolumn

No Way

By John

I have to echo Greyhawk here, fact or fiction?

Border Update

By Charlie

House Passes Bill Allowing Military To Secure The Border

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to allow military forces to be used in border-security operations under certain circumstances.

The House voted 252-171 on an amendment to the Sonny Montgomery National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007.

According to the Pentagon, "the act gives authority to the Defense Department to assign military members to assist Homeland Security organizations in preventing the entry of terrorists, drug traffickers and illegal aliens into the United States and in inspecting cargo, vehicles and aircraft entering the United States to prevent weapons of mass destruction or other terrorist or drug trafficking items from entering the country."

Here's an interesting article on the "myths" of the posse comitatus act -from, oddly enough, the Homeland Security Institute I'm still waiting for the president's speech on Monday, but I think the tea leaves are reading a deployment of a large ammount of Guard troops to the border. Having been to operations following Katrina in the Gulf Coast, I can say without any doubt that if the Guard is deployed, they will accomplish their mission. If that mission is to seal the border -consider it sealed. I reiterate my hope that this won't be a dog-and-pony show, or a PCS duty assignment. This should be a temporary solution to hold the line until a civilian government agency can come in and do the job.

I'll close with this: The military shouldn't be viewed as the one-stop shop solution to all of the domestic problems in America.

The Mother of all MOABs

By Charlie

Global Security.org: Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), Direct Strike Hard Target Weapon / Big BLU

Boeing's Phantom Works is leading the effort to demonstrate the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). The three-phase technology demonstration builds on design studies that Boeing had conducted for the laboratory. Flight testing is envisaged around 2006. The 6 m [20 feet] long MOP features short-span wings and trellis-type tails. The 13,600 kg [30,000 lb] weapon contains a 2,700 kg [6,000 lb] explosive charge. MOP is designed to go deeper than any nuclear bunker buster and take out 25 percent of the underground and deeply buried targets. It is expected to penetrate as much as 60 meters [200 feet] through 5,000 psi reinforced concrete. It will burrow 8 meters into the ground through 10,000 psi reinforced concrete. Northrop Grumman is working on with Boeing to develop this conventional bunker buster. They are under contract to Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Who needs nukes when you've got these? If Iran is becoming a problem, strap these things to an MX missile and move a brigade of them to Bagram Air Field.

How We Fight

By John

Adam Kotsko asks a question worth answering:

It's indisputable that the US has superior firepower and has for quite a long time -- in fact, although I'm willing to be corrected here, I seem to remember that the US was basically always ahead of the USSR in the arms race. That factor aside, however, is there any evidence that the US has ever actually been good at war on a technical level? Are there any of these moments of strategic brilliance where an amazing victory was pulled off on a shoestring? I know that the US has had successful generals, but have we had talented generals, the kind who will go down in the history of military strategy?

Robert Farley of Lawyers, Guns, Money responded:

In terms of thinkers who have really transformed the way that the world has thought about war, I think that the only American worth naming would be Alfred Thayer Mahan, who was read all over the world at the turn of the last century and is still taken seriously today. Mahan's ideas had a profound effect on naval procurement in the early part of the twentieth century. Mahan didn't really have the opportunity to command or organize a fleet in battle, but he's certainly an important figure in the history of military theory, not too far off from Jomini or Clausewitz.

Mahan's contribution really lay at the political and high strategic levels, rather than at the operational or tactical. For these latter, I think that some of the Civil War generals come off pretty strongly. Lee is an interesting case; his obvious tactical and operational brilliance was marred by a lack of good strategic sense. Moreover, Lee was not in any way revolutionary; he was simply very, very good at Napoleonic tactics, and at understanding the weaknesses of the generals he was fighting. I think that Sherman and Grant made a more lasting contribution. Grant and Sherman were exceptional generals, and both understood the combination between the military and the political in a twentieth century manner. Of the others, I think that both Longstreet and McClellan deserve some accolades.

What about the twentieth century? I think it would be fair to say that the United States, prior to 1991, had not distinguished itself in operations or tactics in land campaigns.

I nodded when I read Farley's contention that Alfred Thayer Mahan is the shining star of American strategic thought, but I strongly disagree with his comments on America's lacking in stand-out operational and tactical land battles prior to 1991.

Interestingly enough, I consider one of the most brilliant military operations in 20th century American military history to be a battle which we strategically lost, fought in the middle of a war that we did not win.

The retreat from the "Frozen Chosin," the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War is precisely the type of brilliant operational success that Farley contends US ground forces lacked prior to Gulf War I.

Read More »

Stupid Reporter Tricks

By Charlie

Via Powerline:

From the corrections section of yesterday's New York Times:

An article and a picture caption yesterday about the funeral of Sgt. Jose Gomez of Queens, who was killed on April 20 in Iraq, referred incorrectly to the Army representative who comforted his mother. She was a sergeant first class — an enlisted woman, not an officer. The article also misstated the name of a service medal that a general presented to Sergeant Gomez's mother. It is a Purple Heart, not a Purple Star.

Wow. A "Purple Star". Way to go, New York Times. I'll take the rest of your articles on military matters -about standing up Iraqi battalions, to recruiting, to military morale, to battlefield dispatches -with an even MORE GIGANTIC grain of salt than before.

In fact, an idea just hit me! Op-For will now establish the prestigious "Purple Star" award for reporters who publish a military story that is out-of-whack.

I predict many of these.

Guard to Deploy to the Border?

By Charlie

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush is expected to announce efforts to tighten security at the U.S.-Mexico border, possibly sending more National Guard troops, in a prime-time address on Monday, a senior Bush administration official said on Friday. ... He said a rumored estimate of 10,000 such troops was simply wrong but would not give a precise figure. He said Bush might announce a mix of solutions, such as Guard troops, increased state and local enforcement and private sector responsibilities.

ABC:

May 12, 2006 — The White House is considering calling up more than 5,000 National Guard troops to help secure the border between the United States and Mexico.

The troops would not be involved directly in law enforcement, which is prohibited by law. Instead the National Guard would play a supporting role, manning surveillance cameras in border towns, taking over office duties to free up law enforcement officers for border patrol and operating unmanned surveillance aircraft drones.

So we're looking at a division sized element, to a brigade sized element. No mention about how long the deployment would be, or if it would be a permanent mission or a stop-gap until more border patrol units get trained up. Next ROEs would have to be implemented that would allow Guard units to defend themselves against Mexican military incursions, coyotes, and other business-as-usual items at the border. Finally, the force would need significant Aviation, MI, and Civil Affairs support. Stand by on this, it looks like an interesting summer is shaping up.

Europe Facing a New Missile Gap?

By Charlie

Nato: Missile threat to Europe warrants shield

Europe faces an increasing threat from attacks with long-range missiles and could help avert the danger by building a missile-defence network, a senior North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) official warned on Wednesday.

"There is a growing threat of long-range missile attacks on Nato territory and it is timely to examine ways and means of addressing that threat," said Marshall Billingslea, head of Nato's Conference of National Armaments Directors.

He refused to comment on what countries posed such a threat.

Hmmm... wonder what countries those could be..

The head of Israel's military intelligence said late last month that Iran, which has taken an increasingly hard line over its nuclear programme, had purchased North Korean long-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting Europe.

On April 29, Pakistan successfully test fired a nuclear capable missile with a range of at least 2 000km, the military said.

According to Global Security.org, the disposistion of the global strategic missiles is decisively aligned against Europe proper.

Iran has about 20 Shahab-3 missiles, with a range of 1,400 miles, and an unknown number of Shahab-4s, that can range 2,000 miles. Syria has about 200 sub-standard SCUD Bs and 60 SCUD-Cs.

I find it interesting that the folks bringing up this issue are from NATO, not from the various defense ministries across Europe. NATO forces are probably safe from the foreign ballistic missile threat, due to in-place theatre missile defense systems. The vulnerabilities in Europe are its cities, population centers, infrastructure, dams, power supplies, (electrical, hydro electrical, and nuclear), airports, seaports, and cultural centers. Any one of these could be targeted and threatened by enemy missile systems that can range them.

The Cold War was serious because USSR missiles could range our cities. The EU needs to get serious about its own defense, and realize that the American divisions that have been parked in Germany are going to be increasingly oriented toward protecting America, and not serving at the behest of the EU.

Europe has decided to take all of its grievances to the diplomatic table of discussion instead of the battlefield. That’s fine, and I think that it is a high-water mark of a civilization when it can solve disagreements without resorting to shooting each other. The problem is, some people in the world still prefer the shooting method –and trying to negotiate with them in the same manner you would work out a trade deal with Luxembourg is counter-productive and usually a waste of time.

So they have the luxury of keeping the “diplomatic process” open with Iran, and probably will continue to “negotiate” with other rising powers with ballistic missile capabilities in the coming years, because the EU knows that the blanket of security that protects it is paid for and provided by the United States of America. Now, I said this in an earlier post, but when you rely on someone else entirely for your own success, you set yourself up for failure in the future. What the EU has essentially done since its formation is funnel defense money into social programs that perpetuate its stagnant economy, declining birthrates, and bloated welfare dependency. America isn’t always going to be around to protect Europe, especially as their anti-US rhetoric grows. I hope the threat of a Shahab-4 sailing into Denmark during the next round of cartoon riots clarifies their situation for them.

Military.com Blogs Site Launched

By John

Big news for milbloggers, our slavemasters at Military.com have launched MilitaryBlog, a daily roundup of the best from the milblogsphere. Bookmark and blogroll em.

More Patriotism from the Anti-War Left

By John

How many times have you heard "we support the troops, but not the war?" How many times have you believed it?

Here's more proof that the anti-war movement is disguising their hatred with PC happiness. In an interview with the drummer of the band Godsmack, Jay Babcock of Arthur magazine repeatedly accused percussionist Sully Erna of the vilest of crimes: supporting the troops.

Babcock's biggest beef was that Godsmack songs were used in military recruitment ads.

Dean Esmay called the interview "bizzare." I'd say it goes a step beyond that...

JAY: You were telling me how powerful your music was, and what age the people are that listen to it, and you must have thought, 'Well the Navy sure thought it was useful,' so you tell me.

SULLY: Hey, listen. The Navy thought.... It's the same reason why wrestlers work out to the music, and extreme motocross riders listen to the music and do what they do. It's ENERGETIC music. It's very ATHLETIC. People feel that they get an adrenaline rush out of it or whatever, so, it goes with whatever's an extreme situation. But I doubt very seriously that a kid is going to join the Marines or the US Navy because he heard Godsmack as the underlying bed music in the commercial. They're gonna go and join the Navy because they want to jump out of helicopters and fuckin' shoot people! Or protect the country or whatever it is, and look at the cool infra-red goggles.

JAY: You said to MTV, "We're not a very political band but we're supportive of the U.S. military and how they approach things."

SULLY: Listen. Someone turned that around. I never said "and how they approach things."

The interview was then fawned over by HuffPo writer Howard Klein, who opposes recruitment "into the Bush Regime's war-profits-schemes." His words, not mine.

The anti-war left's position on military recruitment is the absolute pinnacle of elitist snobbery and condescension. They exhaust themselves trying to find outside causes that "forced" or "tricked" young men and women into signing up. It's never about service, it's never about sacrifice. To the elites, military service means that you will either be killed or be a killer, and thus successful recruitment efforts are the equivilant of sentencing kids to the gallows or turning them into faceless goverment murder machines.

This latest snafu is a perfect example of the ill-informed, paranoid hype that the anti-war movement thrives off of, just another situation where fear has to be fought with fact.

Open invitation to Jay Babcock and Howard Klein, they can contact Charlie or myself anyday, anytime to discuss why we chose to serve. I can guarentee you it wasn't because of a Godsmack song. These clowns clearly need assistance in understanding the military, and I'm just the man to help them.

Hotel Tangos to Dean's World and Murdoc.

Spam Attack

By John

Some of you may have noticed that our comment sections having been slammed with spam the last couple of days. I've been banning, junking, and repeating every 10-12 hours in hopes that this particular spambot runs out of steam, but I think that may be wishful thinking.

Fair warning, we may have to implement some sort of registration/comment approval if we keep getting hit.

By the way, I fully support making spamming a capital crime, punishable by death.

Like This Painting?

By Charlie

Than bid on it!

From Soldier's Angels, Holly Aho's got a painting she wants you to bid on..

OPFOR Quoted in Ruskie News

By Charlie

Folks, we've made it big time (altavista translation)

The high rank officers of the armed forces OF THE USA in their bloge (Internet- diary) op-for.com published list and scenarios of the wars, which can begin in the near future, reports Washington Profile. In the preface the authors indicate that the wars occur even when no one believes in their probability: "we infinitely were prepared for the battle with the Soviet Union in Europe, and everything ended by operation in Grenada". Officers predict, what conflicts can begin in the forseeable future

Read(?) the whole thing!

On Leadership

By Charlie

Well, in a break from writing about grand strategy, tactics, terrorism, and impending doom, I decided to take a brief break… and write a bit about leadership. Here are some leader lessons I’ve learned from VMI, the Army, and the civilian world. With the college season coming to an end, and many 2nd LTs getting their commissions, I thought it was about time I imparted some wisdom –so here we go:

1. Be Yourself
-Being yourself is important to anyone seeking to lead others. It means not pretending to be something you’re not, not inflating your accomplishments, and not trying to assert yourself as the “top dog” in the group. Unless you are the top dog in the group, so in that case, assert away. Bottom Line: don’t BS people about yourself, because they will eventually find out the real facts. Be yourself, warts and all, and you’ll get respect for it. Unless those warts keep you from doing pushups. In that case, you are worthless.

2. Be technically and tactically competent
-As a military officer, or a civilian leader, being proficient at your job is going to be essential to your career success. In Army jargon, technically competent means knowing how to fire and operate your weapon, tactically competent means being able to field the system in a real-world situation. Knowing your stuff, by the book and in the real world, lends respect to your decisions, which is essential for small group leadership.

3. Don’t expect others to do things you won’t do yourself
-This gets to the heart of leadership philosophies. If you think it’s a good idea for your unit to be physically fit, be physically fit yourself. If your want your group to put in extra hours, prepare to be there with them doing it. If you’re not willing to gut out the consequences of your own directives, reconsider giving them.

4. Know Yourself
-Knowing yourself is distinctly different from being yourself, because knowing what you are capable of is essential when you give your directives as a leader (see #3 and #2.) Also, knowing what you are not capable of is just as valuable. If you know you can’t drink 10 beers at the bar, don’t try to do it. If you are certain of your ability to do so, giddy up!

5. Set the Example
-Setting the example goes along with #3, but as a leader, you are expected to go above and beyond the standard. Therefore, if you want to implement a proposal, be the first to embrace it. If you direct your unit to achieve a specific goal, achieve it first, and extend your help to those you direct that may need help meeting your intent.

6. PT!
-Yep, PT. This goes with knowing yourself and setting the example. Staying in shape keeps you healthy, and staying in shape keeps you more able to lead. So stop being lazy, and get out and run!

7. Read Books
-Yep, read. Continuing your education, and informing yourself of the world and the events and history that influence it is essential to your personal growth and development. Read, learn, and stay tuned. You’ll be better connected to the world around you, and in a better position to influence it.

8. Realize you don’t know everything
-This one is important. Just because you graduated from college, or commissioned in the military, doesn’t mean you’ve been granted some sort of magical key to the knowledge base of the universe. (you get that when you start a blog). Seek knowledge from everyone around you, and learn as much as possible. It will give you credibility if you present yourself as open to new ideas, and not closed off, thinking you’ve figured out the world at 22.

9. Make mistakes & drive on
-Another important one. You’re going to mess up, eventually. Be honest and forthcoming about your mistakes, as well as your successes. Everyone knows LTs and young leaders have a learning curve. Be smart about it, suck it up, and drive on, learning as much from your mistakes as you can. It’s why they put erasers on pencils.

10. Listen to your platoon sergeant!
-Lastly, and most importantly, listen to your NCO. I can’t stress the importance of this. You’ll understand eventually, trust me.

Irregular Opposition to Seaborne Infantry

By Charlie

OK, Marines or not, check out this story:

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - At least 50 rebels were killed and 17 Sri Lankan sailors missing after a sea battle Thursday instigated by the Tamil Tigers left the country on the brink of civil war.

Tamil Tigers sank a navy patrol boat off the northern coast as it escorted a troop transport carrying 710 soldiers. In retaliation, the navy downed five rebel vessels and the air force launched airstrikes on guerrilla-held territory.

The escalation in violence could mark a return to civil war, as a 2002 cease-fire that stopped almost two decades of fighting appears increasingly unlikely to last.

"This is a very serious attack (by the Tigers), a blatant violation of the cease-fire agreement," government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told The Associated Press.

The patrol boat was part of a convoy escorting a troop carrier that was attacked by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels, navy spokesman Cmdr. D.K.P. Dassanayake said.

"About 15 LTTE boats including suicide boats attacked one of our vessels transporting 710 soldiers," Dassanayake said.

"Navy fast-attack boats escorting the vessel engaged the Tiger boats and one of them was destroyed by a suicide boat," he said, adding there were about 20 sailors on board the stricken vessel.

A search was ongoing late Thursday for the missing sailors who "made worthy efforts to save hundreds of soldiers who were on board the main vessel," Dassanayake said.

At least 50 Tiger guerrillas were on the sunken rebel boats and all were believed dead, Dassanayake said. A pro-rebel Web site quoted unnamed rebel sources as saying they lost only four guerrillas in the battle.

What the Tamil Tigers have just shown us in Sri Lanka (on a micro scale) are the guerilla TTPs for seaborne operations. Stay tuned.

Real Heroes at E3

By John

Well the rumors were true, the US Army showed up to this year's E3 convention in force. I've spent the last few hours bouncing between the static displays outside (which, rumor has it, attracted some anti-war protestors) and the America's Army room in the West Hall of the convention center.

I showed up hoping to get the real story on the impact of America's Army (official game of the US Army) on recruitment. That plan went straight out the window after I met the a few troops from the US Army's Real Heroes program.

Troops like Staff Sergeant and Silver Star recepient Matt Zedwick:

I had the opportunity to sit down with Matt for a few minutes yesterday. We talked about his actions in Iraq, and the Real Heroes program. It's exciting stuff folks.

You may have heard that the Army commissioned a toy company to produce action figures based on real soldiers. This is part of the same effort, only now the America's Army team is putting guys like Zedwick into the latest version of the game.

The idea behind Real Heroes is simple: mainstream actual Army troops through the internet, the America's Army video game, and action-figures.

You can read up on the program here, and be sure to check out Sgt. Zedwick's Silver Star write-up below the fold.

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No Caliphate but What We Make

By Charlie

AMMAN, JORDAN – The three middle-aged men sitting in an Indian restaurant in Jordan's capital scarcely look like Islamic revolutionaries. They are smartly dressed in Western-style suits and sip thoughtfully from cans of Pepsi as they share their plan to reshape the Muslim world.

"[President] Bush says that we want to enslave people and oppress their freedom of speech," says Abu Abdullah, a senior member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Party of Liberation. "But we want to free all people from being slaves of men and make them slaves of Allah." [oh, in that case, sign me up! -ed]

Hizb ut-Tahrir says that Muslims should abolish national boundaries within the Islamic world and return to a single Islamic state, known as "the Caliphate," that would stretch from Indonesia to Morocco and contain more than 1.5 billion people.

It's a simple and seductive idea that analysts believe may someday allow the group to rival existing Islamic movements, topple the rulers of Middle Eastern nations, and undermine those seeking to reconcile democracy and Islam and build bridges between East and West.

"A few years ago people laughed at them," says Zeyno Baran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and the leading expert on Hizb ut-Tahrir. "But now that [Osama] bin Laden, [Abu Musab al-] Zarqawi, and other Islamic groups are saying they want to recreate the Caliphate, people are taking them seriously."
...
"The Caliphate is a rallying point between the radicals and the more moderate Islamists," says Stephen Ulph, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation. "The idea of a government based on the Caliphate has a historical pedigree and Islamic legitimacy that Western systems of government by their very nature do not have."

Can this idea really be pulled off? I would say no, primarily because it is not in the best interests of the governments, the entrenched elites, and the businessmen, across the Arab and Muslim world. The idea of Pan-Arabism has been tried numerous times before, and leaders have risen riding the ideological tides of it, only to be broken by the cold realities of how the rest of the world operates. Pulling together a caliphate isn’t like uniting the colonies in the American Revolution. Unlike America’s oppressor King George, the Arab/Muslim world does not have a single despot who, if his influence could simply be shrugged off by strength of arms and faith, solely stands in the way of the establishment of a utopian Islamic paradise on Earth.

For these guys in the article, who hang out at coffee shops during their busy days of unemployment sipping (Western) beverages and waxing philosophical about the governmental structure of the caliphate, the real world revolution required to accomplish their goals is being waged just across their border. (insert Chicken-Hawk joke here).

What these big-thinkers don’t get is how difficult it is to re-make the world order. Bin Laden has been trying it since Afghanistan, where America drove out the Soviets with the help of useful idiots using our Stinger missiles. Dictators, Armies, Governments and industries don’t simply go quietly into the night when faced with the threat of annihilation, which is what a religious, Taliban-like government under Sharia law, across the entire Mideast would mean. I don’t see the Turkish or Egyptian armies furling up their flags and signing on to be “holy warriors” of the Caliphate. I don’t see the dictatorships of Algeria, Libya, Pakistan, and Syria simply saying “hey, we got it wrong, let’s all come together and join hands.” I don’t see the monarchies of Jordan and Morocco, whose monarchs have bloodlines traceable to the Prophet Mohammed, relinquishing their historic roles and pledging allegiance to a new “caliph”. I don’t see the oil-rich Saudis signing up for this, either.

The only real effort to establish a pan-Arab caliphate is the one being pushed by the terrorists, via Al Qaeda, in Iraq, and they are losing. Bad. The caliphate holds no territory, has no army, holds sway over no international power, and has no leader.

Bin Laden obviously wanted the job of caliph, but grossly misinterpreted the response to his terror attacks –and by his actions, America is now deeply committed to the Middle East militarily for the foreseeable future. Who, now, could proclaim himself caliph and be accepted by the entirety of the Muslim world? Al Sadr, the Iranian agent? Ahmadenijad, the Persian? Certainly not Iraqi leaders like Sistani, Talibani, and Jafari, who would all be derided as American puppets by the “true” Muslims of the world.

Who would rule in this new caliphate? Shias or Sunnis? What about the Alawites, Sufis, Moros, Berbers, and other minorities? Which nations would hold the seats of power? Who controls the oil? What about the threats from America, China, Russia, and Europe to this “rising power”? Everyone could probably agree on a capitol: Mecca, but that’s probably all they could agree on.

The Third World, Africa, and Southwest Asia, is simply too corrupt, too fractured along ethnic and religious lines, too broke (or in some circles too rich), and too disorganized to pull off a great re-casting of the global dice of power.

Until I am convinced otherwise, I would advise these Arab gentlemen quoted in the article to stop their inane ranting about a caliphate, and either work to make their own community and country better, or pick up an RPG and join the revolution.

Stryker Mobile Gun System Unveiled!

By Charlie

***UPDATED with huge image of Stryker arty below the fold...

FORT BENNING, Ga. (Army News Service, May 9, 2006) – The newest version of the Stryker vehicle, designed to provide fire power to Infantry units, will be unveiled May 15 at Fort Knox's Armor Warfighting Symposium.

The development of the Mobile Gun System is being managed by Fort Benning's Training and Doctrine Command System Manager-Stryker/Bradley.

The system was developed to meet the infantry’s need for a highly mobile support vehicle to supply rapid, direct fire, specifically during close assaults, said Dave Rogers, a TSM-Stryker senior analyst. The Mobile Gun System will eventually be integrated into Stryker Brigade Combat Teams.

"The Mobile Gun System brings a tremendous battlefield capability to the Stryker formation, providing direct fire support to infantrymen in close, complex terrain," said Col. Donald Sando, the director of the TSM Stryker/Bradley.

Read More »

The Life of the Oriskany

By Charlie

The USS Oriskany is going to be sunk to create a reef, the largest vessell ever to undertake such a mission. Here's some background:

· 1943: Congress authorized the construction of the attack aircraft carrier USS Oriskany CV-34.

· 1945: Launched, New York Naval Shipyard.

· 1950: Commissioned, New York Naval Shipyard.

· 1952: Became the first ship to round Cape Horn.

· 1952: Arrives at new home port in San Diego.

· 1952-53: Combat operations off Korea.

· 1953: "The Bridges at Toko Ri" filmed on board.

· 1958-59: Angled flight deck added during a major renovation at the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard.

· 1963: President Kennedy witnesses operational readiness demonstration aboard the Oriskany in San Diego.

· 1965: First combat operations off Vietnam.

· 1966: Magazine fire kills 44 crew members off Vietnam; arrives at new homeport, Alameda, Calif.

· 1967: Assists USS Forrestal when fire strikes that carrier off Vietnam.

· 1968: Overhaul and repairs, San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard.

· 1969-1973: Combat operations off Vietnam.

· 1975-76: Final cruise in western Pacific.

· 1976: Decommissioned, Alameda, Calif.

· 1995: Sold for scrap, Vallejo, Calif.

· 1997: Scrap contractor defaults, repossessed by Navy.

· 1999: Towed to Beaumont, Texas.

· 2003: Efforts under way to have Escambia County selected as site for sinking of decommissioned ship. Cities in other states also make bids.

· 2004: Towed to Corpus Christi, Texas, to be cleaned and prepared for use as artificial reef.

· 2004: Escambia County selected as site for sinking.

Great News From the UN!

By Charlie

Guess what, folks! The United Nations has a new Human Rights Council

United Nations — Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia won seats on the new UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday despite their poor human-rights records, but two rights abusers – Iran and Venezuela – were defeated.

Ohhh, the "abusers" were defeated! Thank goodness, lest some really bad countries get a seat to pass judgement on the rest of the world's rights records. But wait, there's more:

Human-rights groups said they were generally pleased with the 47 members elected to the council, which will replace the highly politicized Human Rights Commission. It was discredited in recent years because some countries with terrible rights records used their membership to protect one another from condemnation.

Well, I'm sure that won't happen again. Now who does a communist dictator need to talk to about cutting off the hands of free speech advocates and then shipping them to Siberia?*

Read More »

Press Room Pregame

By John

In the E3 press room, warplanning my day.

Have a French guy on my right, team of Japanese reporters on my left, and two Polish guys in front of me. Roughly 100 people in the room, armed with laptops, each an individual conduit to their respective countries. 100 people speaking to the world. This is the first time I've felt in awe of the internet, and its power.

Spoke with a member of the US Army team a few minutes ago, they've got some exciting stuff to show off.

More later....

Al Qaeda is Losing

By Charlie

They say so themselves in their latest batch of intercepted messages. (Thanks to CENTCOM for the link, by the way)

There is a clear absence of organization among the groups of the brothers in Baghdad, whether at the leadership level in Baghdad, the brigade leaders, or their groups therein. Coordination among them is very difficult, which appears clearly when the group undertake a join operations.

[...]

At the same time, the Americans and the Government were able to absorb our painful blows, sustain them, compensate their losses with new replacements, and follow strategic plans which allowed them in the past few years to take control of Baghdad as well as other areas one after the other. That is why every year is worse than the previous year as far as the Mujahidin’s control and influence over Baghdad.

[...]

First, their media power is presented by their special radio and TV stations as the sole Sunni information source, coupled with our weak media which is confined mainly to the Internet, without a flyer or newspaper to present these events.

Second, in the course of their control of the majority of the speakers at mosques who convert right into wrong and wrong into right, and present Islam in a sinful manner and sins in a Muslim manner. At the same time we did not have any positive impact or benefits from our operations.

Well, there obviously is gross mismanagement of the Iraq strategy here, and I think the best way to handle the situation is for all the leaders to admit there mistakes, and accept Zarqawi’s resignation. Al Qaeda based their entire strategy on lies and “cherry picking” of intelligence to present the picture that AQ forces were winning and accomplishing noble goals in Iraq. Now they seem to be paying the price of a flawed foreign policy, with hundreds (?) of their fighters dying every month (if you believe the inaccurate press reports coming out of the region).

Continuing, now with snarkiness off, AQ has made several huge mistakes in the recent months, like trying to change their strategy from low-level terror attacks to company-level assaults on coalition troops. Zarq probably didn’t finish his CGSC rotation, but an essential tenet of irregular warfare is being successful at operating at the terrorist level, gain civilian support, and then move up to the guerilla level of warfare. Going from zero to 100 mph in war, pitting untrained mujahedeen against war vet American troops seasoned by combat, just isn’t a good strategy. Not to mention the Fire Support, Air, and Intelligence advantages the coalition and the Iraqi Army have over the insurgents.

IEDs and suicide bombings play to terrorist strengths and coalition weaknesses. Actual company-sized assaults are what American troops (and thus Iraqis) train on from day one. The “insurgent” terrorists lack the basic infantry training America enjoys, as well as body armor, equipment, weapons, air support, fire support, designated marksmen, armor, and other sustainment advantages. If they want to continue large scale attacks, more terrorists will die, and that is a net gain for America.

Additionally, Zarq’s errors seem to be getting more and more attention, especially the video of him fumbling with a SAW. Martial skills are a symbol of manhood and honor in the Arab world, and even though it seems like an overstatement, that video of Z-man failing to grasp the concept of a charging rod hurt his street cred.

AQ in Iraq is hitting the wall, and they are looking for places to “strategically re-deploy.” Sudan is one such place, so is Gaza, so is Pakistan. All we have to do is hold the line on this. Victory is in sight.

Liveblogging E3

By John

I'm in Los Angeles for a few days to liveblog the Electronic Entertainment Expo, more popularly known as E3.

Shot of the LA Convention Center, taken earlier this afternoon

I know it seems like the relationship between the video game world and the military appears -externally, at least- a bit thin. You'd be surprised. Hell, the partnership has grown robust enough for me to burn three days in the traffic nightmare that is LA to get the full story.

Like I said in an earlier post, America's Army has revolutionized the way the military looks at recruiting, and the way the gaming industry looks at the military. The military's involvement in gaming is growing, and growing fast.

I registered earlier this afternoon, and have already heard some rumors flying around. Apparently the US Army is expected to be a major presence here this year, and is generating a hell of a lot of buzz. Their booth will be the first one I visit tomorrow morning.

Expect more posts and pictures. Till then....

American Imperialism Continues its Relentless March...

By Charlie

ABOARD USS DECATUR, At Sea - USS Decatur (DDG 73), operating as part of the Pakistani-led Combined Task Force 150, came to the aid of a distressed vessel off the coast of Somalia, April 28, and rescued seven Somali fishermen who'd run out of food and supplies.

The fishermen reported they'd been underway for three days when their engine failed. Although they attempted to rig a makeshift sail out of a tarp, the strong
current overpowered their efforts and pushed them further out to sea.

On their twelfth day adrift, the fishermen were spotted by a Sea Hawk (SH-60B) helicopter from the USS Roosevelt (DDG 80). The helicopter requested that a nearby dhow assist the mariners in the skiff. Decatur, upon hearing the bridge-to-bridge radio conversation between the helicopter and the dhow, proceeded towards the two vessels to render assistance.

Well, no pirates were involved off of the Somali coast this time. BUT, I do have a bit of history to relate about the name of the rescue ship. Commodore Stephen Decatur was the Jack Bauer of the early 19th Century:

Read More »

Why Darfur is Important

By Charlie

I know that there has been some back and forth in the comments section over Darfur, so I wanted to address the relevance of the current Darfur conflict to the war on terror.

First, Sudan is important because because Bin Laden says it's important:

The speaker also criticised Western involvement in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan, saying it was part of the "crusades against Islam" and called for militants to journey there to join the fight.

"I call on mujahideen and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arab peninsula, to prepare for long war again the crusader plunderers in Western Sudan,"

Sudan, and its Darfur region, are teetering on the definition of “failed states.” In the modern world, failed states can be just as dangerous as rouge ones, due to the fact that they can serve as incubators for well funded terror operations. Our strategy in the GWOT needs to be one of area denial. Everywhere terror groups begin to establish centers of gravity, we need to attack them, kill them, and break their stuff. If they want to move away from Iraq, fine, we’ll follow them and keep killing them until they stop trying to kill us.

Next, genocides need to be stopped, wherever they occur, period. Darfur, it seems is now becoming a celebrity cause, with folks like Peacemaker star George Clooney now jumping on the “Free Darfur” bandwagon. Mark Steyn comments:

Clooney is now demanding a "stronger multinational force to protect the civilians of Darfur".

Agreed. So let's get on to the details. If by "multinational" Clooney means a military intervention authorised by the UN, then he's a poseur and a fraud, and we should pay him no further heed. Meaningful UN action is never gonna happen. Sudan has at least two Security Council vetoes in its pocket: China gets 6 per cent of its oil from the country, while Russia has less obviously commercial reasons and more of a general philosophical belief in the right of sovereign states to butcher their own.

So forget a legal intervention authorised by the UN. If by "multinational" Clooney means military participation by the Sudanese regime's co-religionists, then dream on. The Arab League, as is its wont when one of its bloodier members gets a bad press, has circled the camels and chosen to confer its Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on Khartoum by holding its most recent summit there.

So who, in the end, does "multinational action" boil down to? The same small group of nations responsible for almost any meaningful global action, from Sierra Leone to Iraq to Afghanistan to the tsunami-devastated Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia and on to East Timor and the Solomon Islands. The same core of English-speaking countries, technically multinational but distressingly unicultural and unilingual and indeed, given that most of them share the same head of state, uniregal. The US, Britain, Australia and Canada (back in the game in Afghanistan) certainly attract other partners, from the gallant Poles to the Kingdom of Tonga.

But, whatever international law has to say on the subject, the only effective intervention around the world comes from ad hoc coalitions of the willing led by the doughty musketeers of the Anglosphere. Right now who's on the ground dragging the reluctant Sudanese through their negotiations with the African Union? America's Deputy Secretary of State Bob Zoellick and Britain's International Development Secretary Hilary Benn. Sorry, George, that's as "multinational" as it's gonna get.

Here’s what I think the take-away on this is: US power can accomplish pretty much anything it wants to in the world, if properly applied. The debate we need to have is two fold: Should Darfur be saved? And, should we save it?

My Immediate Reaction to the Text of Iranian President Ahmacrazyguy's Letter to Bush:

By Charlie

AP:

"Liberalism and Western-style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity,Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the Liberal democratic systems."

DR. EVIL: Your freedom has caused more pain and suffering in the world than any plan I ever dreamed of. Face it, freedom failed.

New CIA Chief Nomination: What's the Big Deal?

By John

ABC News:

Hayden, 61, would be the seventh military officer to head the CIA since 1946. But his nomination comes at a time when lawmakers are particularly concerned about the influence of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

With Hayden's installation, active duty or retired military officers would run all the major spy agencies as well as the intelligence hub, the National Counterterrorism Center.

Christian Science Monitor:

....one such military man who was director of central intelligence - Admiral Stansfield Turner, who served under President Carter, a Democrat - agrees that by law, the president is within his rights to name a military officer to that position. Still, he adds, "I don't happen to think this is the best time to have a military person, because the threat to the country is not a military one today so much as terrorism."

Monsters and Critics:

US President George W. Bush Monday picked an air force general to head the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), setting up a tough confirmation fight in Congress over the nominee's military background.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

President Bush's nomination of Gen. Michael Hayden as CIA chief ignited a confirmation fight Monday over the intelligence veteran's ties to the controversial eavesdropping program and his ability to be independent from the military establishment.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, please meet Ambassador John Negroponte:

National Intelligence Director and 100%, pure, uncut civilian.

I understand that there's legitimate concern over intelligence community becoming a new branch of the military. But it's important to maintain perspective here. Civilian oversight, both NID and Congressional, is still intact. And General Hayden is a well-respected spook, with a solid reputation as man who gets things accomplished.

A military presence in the CIA is precisely what the agency needs. Less anti-Bush leaking buffonery and more focus on the mission. Don't know if General Hayden will make it through Congress or not, but I hope that he does.

Create Peacekeeping Brigades?

By Charlie

From the Washington Times:

the United States needs a radical innovation in recruiting policy. We should create a genocide prevention division in the U.S. Army -- a Peace Corps with guns -- with individuals enlisting specifically for this purpose. There would be risks in such a venture, to be sure. But they are manageable and tolerable risks. By contrast, the Darfur genocide is unacceptable, intolerable, and a blight on our collective consciences.

Even if somehow this force proves unnecessary in Sudan -- an unlikely proposition -- there will be other conflicts for which such a force could prove very useful in the future.

The notion is this: of all those well-intentioned and admirable Americans rallying to call attention to Darfur and demand action, ask for volunteers to join a genocide prevention division for two years. They would begin their service with roughly 12 weeks of boot camp and 12 weeks of specialized training -- and then go to Darfur next winter. They would receive the same compensation and health benefits as regular troops, given their age and experience; other incentives such as educational assistance would be made roughly proportionate to their length of service.

This training regimen would be modeled after standard practice in today's Army and Marine Corps. To be sure, soldiers and Marines in regular units usually go beyond this regimen to have many months of additional practice and exercising before being deployed. Moreover, within their units, at any given moment most personnel are well into their first tour or on their second or third enlistments (the average soldier or Marine in today's armed forces has more than five years of military experience).

I think that this idea is great, and could probably be accomplished without much detriment to the current US force structure if the unit is stood up with enlistees from areas the military does not traditionally recruit from. The question is- would the ranks be filled by those who are quick to decry US armed intervention in Iraq and elsewhere as imperialism? Would this peacekeeping brigade be allowed to recruit on Ivy League campi? Would the people that protest and deface Army recruitment stations be the first to join up in this venture?

I think this is an idea whose time has come. The deployment of a quasi-militarized Peace Corps backed by a QRF of US military could do wonders for many troubled areas of the world. The question is – will those that despise America’s current foreign policy be willing to put a year of their lives, and possibly their lives themselves, on the line for such a program?

Future Wars

By Charlie

Sometimes wars happen where we least expect them, and don’t happen where we think they will erupt. We endlessly prepared for a Cold-War showdown with the Soviets in the Folda Gap, but ended up fighting in Grenada. I want to look into the “Tom Clancy crystal ball”, and predict some possible/probable future conflicts that may embroil America, but won’t be started by her. Here are some of my predictions:

The Battle for North Africa

Players: Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania vs. Libya and Morocco

The Setup: Libya’s Kaddaffi keels over, and leaves the country’s future leadership uncertain, and militarily weak. Meanwhile, Morocco becomes increasingly embroiled in an insurgency (funded by Algeria) on its southern border with Mauritania over the Western Sahara region. Algeria, with its client state Tunisia, sees this as the time to strike and achieve regional hegemony. Awash in petrodollars, Algeria has purchased the most modern military equipment in the region form Russia and the CIS. Domestically, Algeria needs an excuse to unite the country to cement their regime’s victories over the Islamist insurgents in the south. A new pan-Arab nationalism rhetoric emerges, and is acted upon at the opportune moment militarily.

The Tactics: Algeria rolls several tank brigades across the Moroccan border, supported by heavy artillery and air forces. In Mauritania, the insurgency ramps up with arms shipments of heavy weapons, ADA, and AT assets. This increasingly ties down the fairly modernized Moroccan mech units. Algeria’s initial incursion is a Blitzkrieg, which leaves Morocco fighting a delaying action while pleading for international assistance.

The Outcome: This scenario could shake up the balance of power in the entire region. Morocco, a longtime US ally, would no doubt get a sympathetic ear from America. The other wild card in this is Libya: would Algeria open up a second front to unify the North African coast under one Arab nationalist/socialist rule? How much of a fight would Libya put up minus their dictator? This region is becoming increasingly armed, and unstable. The emergence of a strongman/nation who can militarily dominate it is only a matter of time.

La Revolucion!

Players: Cuban pro-government forces vs Cuban independence forces

The Setup: Fidel croaks! Raul Castro, the heir apparent, gets a lukewarm response form the military in Cuba. Some of the officer corps defects, and allies with a well-funded pro-democracy movement, along with a returning force of “Free Cuba” volunteers from the refugee community in America. What results is a full scale guerilla war across Cuba, pitting the pro-Castro forces against a revolutionary army that sees a golden opportunity to break the Cuban status quo from the past 50 years of tyranny.

The Tactics: An irregular force with many Hispanic-American war veterans swarms Cuba with nascent support from America. The Cuban army fractures, and the government becomes viewed as illegitimate as the rebels plead for international assistance and the establishment of a Cuban democracy. Throughout the conflict, low-level light infantry conflict at the company and platoon level rage across the Caribbean garden spot. Guards at GTMO watch the battles with binoculars, and bet heavily on the revolution.

The Outcome: A Cuban democracy is possible within our lifetime, but it will take a fight to dislodge the Castro regime. Also, Venezuela could heavily support the Castro regime, leading to a US/Venezuela proxy war in Cuba. Depending on the level of American involvement, the outcome of this conjured-up conflict could go either way.

Chechnya, Round Two

Players: Russia vs Chechnyan Islamists

The Setup: The Islamist terrorists, not making any ground in Iraq, begin to quietly emigrate north taking their operational experience with them with the real hope of establishing an Islamist state elsewhere. Russia, caught off guard while in the busy business of exporting arms to everyone who will buy them, suddenly finds itself needing to use them at home. A resurgent Chechnya shreds a Russian “peacekeeping” regiment, drawing the Bear back into the ring with the Islamists for a second round.

Tactics: The Islamists deploy many of the tactics used against better trained and equipped US forces in the complex urban and mountainous terrain of Chechnya. IEDs, suicide bombings, low level infantry operations, and AT/ADA ambushes draw in several Soviet divisions to pacify the region a second time. Additional wrinkle: the acquisition of WMD artillery shells by the insurgents, and the reactions of the Russians if their troops were gassed.

The Outcome: Russia getting tied down with a resurgent Islamist movement may actually drive them closer to America, but it is unlikely America would become involved in this conflict. Russia’s military superiority would likely prevail, but depending on the Islamic resistance, it may be very costly.

Baby-Blue Hawk Down

The Players: The UN vs Sudanese-backed Islamists in Darfur

The Setup: A UN peacekeeping force deploys to Darfur, and immediately gets attacked on multiple fronts by warlords and Al Qaeda in the midst of a humanitarian disaster-come-genocide. Several UN choppers are downed, some aid workers killed, many kidnapped, and insurgents proclaim a new front in the war of global jihad.

Tactics: the usual “ala carte” terror tactic menu of IEDs, ambushes, and asymmetric fighting. The desired end-state for the Islamists is the establishment of a greater Islamic state in Africa, and the expansion of Islamic rule. The UN, humiliated by the attacks, goes to the international community and pleads for assistance. When donated funds are immediately misused, already-shaky UN credibility is shot, and a forced “last helicopter” withdraw of the toothless international peacekeeping detachment seems increasingly likely.

The Outcome: The UN’s international peacekeeping forces are not an army. Even though an Arab “militia” usually folds like a cheap lawn chair when confronted with an American infantry company, they will have surprising success against lightly-armed peacekeepers.

There are probably lots of these little wars lurking off in the distance. Got any other suggestions?

The Rise of Military Gaming

By John

The smash hit infantry simulator-video game, America's Army, was named as one of 18 finalists for the lauded Innovations in American Government Award last week.

The nomination is just one in a line of successes for the tactical shooter. The Army funded video game, designed primarily as an Army recruitment tool, has attracted over 7 million participants and spawned versions for the XBox and Playstation 2 titled "Rise of a Soldier." Statistics indicate that -at any given time- there are between 3,000 and 6,000 people playing America's Army online. "Rise of the Soldier" built on America's Army's success. Where AA's offered realistic combat scenarios as a key selling point, "Rise of the Soldier" offers hyper-realism, merging fact based special forces missions with a true-to-life career progression mode, allowing gamers to steer their soldier through an Army career.

And here's the kicker: America's Army is free.

Read More »

Post and Relief

By Maj P

With good-time Charlie back in the States, I'll stand down from frequent posting until his next tour. It's been fun, and I hope I've added a little to the discussion. I do seem to have started a quasi-intellectual PME debate.

Maj P

PS: Did I mention that I too, have a blog?? Visit early, visit often.

Picture of the Day: Along the Coast

By John

A C-130J Hercules from the Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing at Channel Island ANG Base, Calif., flies along the coast of Santa Cruz Island near California.

Photo Courtesy of the US Air Force

We Have Our Own Month?

By John

May is National Military Appreciation Month.

Hell I didn't know that.

Hey, notice that "Support the Troops" link we've got? Use it!

H/T Malkin

Blackfive Video!

By Charlie

Uncle J breaks down Iraq for everyone

Draft Hollywood!

By Charlie

I can't say I disagree with this:

We need some films celebrating the war against Islamo-fascism in Afghanistan and Iraq — and in Iran as well, if and when that becomes necessary. We need films like those that were made during World War II, films such as 1943's "Sahara" and "Action in the North Atlantic," or "The Fighting Seabees" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," which were released in 1944.

Not all of these were great films, or even good ones, but their patriotic tributes to our fighting forces inspired the nation.

When war comes, as it always will, and when it is justified, as it is now, some nuances and shades of gray have to be set aside. It is time, instead, for faith and for ferocity. Our enemies have these weapons, after all. Our movies should inspire us to have them too.

Question of the Day

By Charlie

Grizzled E7: Sir, will all them people I killed in Afghanistan keep me from getting a security clearance?

Read More »

Back in the USA

By Charlie

Well, I’m back. Where have I been? - A third world country, ostensibly for business, but also for research for a book that I will be writing this year. So now that I’m back in America, I’ve got some random thoughts I’ll present for you.

A communalist/communist/socialist mentality is detrimental to social development: People who tend to rely on others to accomplish goals necessary for their own advancement do so at their own peril. Personal responsibility, taking charge of one’s self, and taking responsibility for your decisions and actions aren’t distinctly American values, but they are vital for getting a society moving forward. Communism and Socialism foster dependency on the government, and the belief that “it will be taken care of for me.” A practical example of this: people are carelessly throwing trash onto the street. When we asked them why they didn’t just throw it in a dumpster (provided by the government and sitting a few feet away) they said, simply, that someone would come and clean up sweep the street later, so they didn’t have to worry about it. They weren’t asked when the last time the city leaders actually got their ducks in a row and hired someone to sweep the streets, but judging from the trash around the area, it hadn’t been cleaned in a long while. When your infrastructure is damaged and barely sufficient, your power grid is at 20%, and your administration is corrupt, the last thing (I think) you would want to do is put total faith in the government that screwed everything up in the first place. Step one is picking up your own trash.

There is a lot of hatred in the world today, and we should be thankful that we live in a country where (for the most part) everybody gets along. In America, we’re lucky that we have embraced a “multicultural melting-pot” and therefore accept everyone who abides by our laws and becomes a citizen. We don’t, for example, discriminate against people who are of a different religion, and tax them more, or apply different laws to one religious group that don’t apply to others. We accept ethnicity, where other cultures see it as casus belli. We don’t burn down all the houses of people with French ancestry in the neighborhood when France does something that angers us –other countries have yet to grasp this basic idea of “tolerance.” As I’ve said before, America is a force for good in this world, and a great country. It is sometimes too easy to blame everything on America for its role in the world –but there was a lot of hate and strife in the world before America came into being.

Finally, there are places in the world that view America as an enemy, and there are places that view us as the city on the hill –something to strive toward and emulate. Those that want to be like us see America as a bastion of strength, and see its military deployed abroad as fair and professional (not torturers and murderers as some in this country prefer to profile it as. Ask yourself- If not America, what country’s army would you prefer to be deployed to your country?). That’s a lot of pressure for those wearing the flag on their soldier, and a big role to fill as an ambassador abroad. People (for the most part) want to be successful, but in some third-world countries they just don’t know how to go about getting there. Ignoring harping cries of “Imperialism!”, America should extend a helping hand to those who want to step up and succeed.

All in all, it’s good to be back in the USA. I had a burger and a coke, my usual “returning to the states” ritual, and I continue to feel lucky and blessed to live in such a great country.

The More Things Change

By Maj P

Saw on Fox News today the report on the probability of OBL hiding out in the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Speaking of this and of military history, he who has read Churchill's great book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force-- if there were blogs back then he would have been a milblogger, as he was both participant and correspondent-- will recognize that there's nothing new under the sun on the old Northwest Frontier. John Masters would agree.

Maj P

For Mr Eric Blair

By Maj P

This is the long-promised answer to a commenter, Eric Blair, who has twice asked me about field historians in the Marine Corps. Sorry it took so long.

Basically, our detachment-- 12 Marines strong, including two combat artists (mdfay.blogpsot.com and alexdurr.net)-- goes out when there are large scale operations underway, and we document the actions of Marines in those operations. Each unit from battalion up is responsible for submitting its own semi-annual historical document called a command chronology. It tells what that unit is, where and when it was, what it was doing for the period in question, and to a small extent who was in it. We, on the other hand, are less concerned with a single unit than we are with the entire task force, however large or small it may be.

Our primary duty is oral history, a recorded interview with a single subject, usually covering a recent event. For senior officers we also do career level interviews. Those interviews are recorded in digital format, and archived at Quantico, protected by official use only for several years (for privacy and operational reasons). Selected ones are transcribed. They preserve the first-hand accounts of individual Marines, unfiltered and unedited. This is a valuable task; no one else in the Marine Corps undertakes it. In addition, we do a little photography, and also keep a journal recording our impressions of operations and providing some guidance to future researchers.

We also do some writing. I have been involved in a writing project that grew out of my tour in Iraq two years ago.

For a good blog from one of our Marines, look at vmicraig.blogspot.com.

I hope this answered your question! Let me know if it doesn't.

jpp

Looking for a Few Good Bloggers

By John

Got this in mail earlier....

You may have heard that CJ from A Soldier's Perspective is "retiring". Actually, he's not retiring, he's just old and balding. He's afraid that people will notice, as if showing up half sparkle-headed at the Milblog Conference helped.

In reality, A Soldier's Perspective is taking a new direction. In the tradition set by No End But Victory, CJ is transforming the ASP site into a multi-soldier, multi-marine forum. Are you a soldier or marine who would like to start a blog but just don't have the time to maintain a full-time blog? Was your blog shut down by Big Brother? Why was your Big Brother deployed with you to begin with? Are you still wetting your cot? If so, this is the place to talk about it.

A Soldier's Perspective is just that, a perspective from the point of view of a soldier or marine. If you're deployed, talk about the deployment. Post about something great that happened to you while on patrol. Post something not so great about that one MRE that had you constipated for 4 days before you erupted. Post about anything you like that has to do with military topics. If you can connect the dots between the Olsen Twins, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and your military service you can post about it (mmmm....Olsen Twins!!). There is really only one rule: no profanity! ASP readers are a sophisticated bunch who fart in private, pick their nose under the protection of cotton hankie, and wash their hair more than once a week.

CJ does not make any money of the site and doesn't charge to become a member. The ads don't even pay enough to run the site. If you've got something to say and want an immediate audience of hardcare readers, contact CJ and tell him you'd like a profile to post. You can email him directly at cj@soldiersperspective.us or visit www.soldiersperspective.us and contact him through the site.

Remember, the story you don't tell is the story the media doesn't care about. And while no one knows exactly what that means, it sounds VERY good.

If you're an aspiring milblogger who wants to reach a broad audience quickly, I can't think of a better opportunity....

Great Danes

By Maj P

Back in Iraq, this time two years ago, one of my interviewees was a Marine Corporal, exactly one day older than I, who had been a captain in the Swedish Army. I kid you not. A great guy, and a real warrior, too; I can see why his ancestors in longboats struck fear into the hearts of all Europe. Among the many interesting things he told me was that Swedes in his circle regarded the Norwegians as OK, and the Finns as good, tough people. But he was none too complimentary to the Danes.

Next time I talk to him, I’ll ask him if this might cause him to reconsider.

God bless the Danes. 500 Danes on the ground in Iraq beat 100,000 from any other country just sitting on their heels in Europe. We need more like ‘em. I believe I’ll go out and buy some Carlsberg.

Suggested Reading For Military-Bound Grads

By Maj P

** Updated and corrected**

I am an avid reader, voracious when I latch on to a subject that fires my interest. Most of the subject matter is military, what Marines call PME, for professional military education. The greater part of PME is self-study, for which I am a tireless advocate. (There’s also nudge-nudge wink-wink “PME,” to be found in both printed and electronic form, but that’s not a proper subject for this august forum.)

So if you have a family member who’s bound for the military, especially for a commission in the military (and it’s that time of year), here are four of my personal favorites.

Quartered Safe Out Here. George Macdonald Fraser (author of the incomparable Flashman books) tells of his time as a rifleman in Burma in the last year of WWII. The writing is exceptional, as are his powers of recall and his ability to place actions in context. For the budding officer, this book gives a good lesson on what makes the enlisted man tick, and what his life consists of.

Bugles And A Tiger. One of the true overlooked classics, John Masters recounts his entry into the British Army and life in a Gurkha regiment in India just before WWII. This book ought to be sub-titled, The Joys of Being a Lieutenant. It contains innumerable timeless lessons on leadership, and how one learns the ropes of this great profession.

A Rifleman Went To War. A most interesting, if grossly under-used, book on, well, the rifleman at war. Capt H. W. McBride ditched a long-held commission in the U.S. Army National Guard to enlist in the Canadian army in WWI. (Yes, WW ONE.) His observations on what makes a rifleman, and what that man will be called upon to do in battle, are as useful today as they were in 1918. (Cooper fans will know McBride as the mother lode of much of Cooper’s philosophies on arms and the man.)

Small Unit Action in Vietnam: Summer 1966. Before there was Bing West, famed author and former DoD under-secretary, there was Captain F. J. West, USMCR. He wrote this book as well as the more famous The Village. Small Unit Action is the better of the two; it has the value of a text-book without the overt lesson-giving. Use this to begin to understand some tactical fundamentals.

I cannot stress too much the value to the young officer of a comprehensive and balanced program of military reading. There is no problem of leadership or tactics that someone has not addressed before you, in a very similar, if not identical, fashion. Learn from them.

Any list of required reading will, like a list of must-have guns, start some controversy. Why didn’t you include [fill in the blank]?? Possibly because I haven’t read it, I think there’s something better on the same topic, or I read it and thought it sucked. Yes, I have a marked preference for British authors. I think they tell the story better. As more titles pop up in my mind, I’ll toss them out too.

Grass-eaters and Meat-eaters

By Maj P

I just put up a post at my blog, which is slightly out of the Op-For realm but still worth a look. Folks, grass-eaters don't win wars, that's all I'll say.

jpp

My Name is John and I'm a Pro dist

By John

About a week ago, I was accused of being a government pro dist, presumably for the work I do here on OpFor.

The jab got me thinking. The word "pro da" has become such an overused cliche that we've lost it's meaning. We hear it and we automatically start playing the word association game, you say pro da and I say . Or Soviet. Or t. You get the point.

But there is such thing as good pro da. We've always relied on a healthy dose of the stuff to get us through the tough wars. Rosie the Riveter said "We Can Do It!" and inspired thousands of American women to fuel the Allied logistics effort during World War II. "Loose Lips Sink Ships" was an easy way to keep Sailors security-conscious. And Uncle Sam's determined "I Want You" has long helped us maintain our all-volunteer force.

The US government still employs pro da, only these days we're more subtle about it. We call it "public relations," and try to sneak the message in under the public's collective radar screens. But this cause is no less just than the World Wars of the past. There's no shame in being honest about what we do.

As a milblogger, am I a government pro dist? Sure, why not? A pro dist is someone who systematically disseminates information that advocates a cause. My cause is winning this war, and I make no secret of the fact that I use OpFor to push information in support of that cause.

Pro da isn't always the Big Brother variety. The wonderful thing about free societies is that we can choose to accept or ignore the message. When governments use pro da to inspire and motivate their citizens, pro da can be an indispensable tool. It is when governments uses that tool to control their citizens that pro da becomes a dirty word. The anti-war community has lost sight of that distinction.

I pro dize because I believe in America and I believe in winning this fight. If that makes me a pro dist, then it's a title I'll wear with pride.

Bwahahahaha!

By John

And the anti-war crowd says we're losing to these idiots?

For those of you who haven't heard, this video was captured in a raid by coalition forces last month. It's the unedited version of Abu Masab Al-Zarqawi hopelessly fumbling with an American M-249 machine gun. Naturally the edited version, released on the internet earlier by AQ elements inside Iraq, shows a Rambo-ish Zarqawi laying into some unseen target down range, in full automatic mode.

Right.

In response, milblogger and former green beret Uncle Jimbo offered Al-Qaeda Iraq's fearless leader a free weapons tip:

"It's called a charging handle numbnuts. Pull it back, clear the round, push it foward, pull the trigger. Next time read the book, jackass."

Hahahaha!

MOUSSAOUI VERDICT

By Maj P

And this one's from ME.

WTF, OVER??? This is the perfect illustration of why we need military tribunals for the worst of the worst, and how easily a handful of fools on a jury can be swayed. (I’ve been on a jury, and if you’re a fool, you can be swayed pretty easily. If you’re a hard-nosed realist, it ain’t all that hard to figure out.) This wicked taunting little man has made us out to be the hand-wringing shirkers our enemies think we are. Damn, people! He admitted it, he revels in it. Vote for death and then let the sentence be carried out. It’s disgusting.

This is a good illustration of what I mean when I talk about the entire nation being locked in this war, not just the men and women on the front lines, but every single citizen, including the ones who STILL don’t realize it. The passengers of United 93 were in it, and they recognized it for what it was, stood up and did something about it. You Moussaoui jurors, the ones who voted for a life sentence? Your fighting hole was a jury box, and you had the enemy fixed in position and pinned down in front of you. Then you let him get away.

Let the next Moussaoui be tried by the military.

Two Notes From Iraq

By Maj P

The first, from an Army friend of mine in Baghdad, edited for content.

"Saturday, our convoy platoon had to go back to the area where they got hit so hard a month or so ago and lost one soldier and three others wounded. Here's the story.

"The convoy platoon went back to the same area on Saturday on another mission. They have been hit every single time they have traveled that stretch of road, most times within one five mile stretch. It is a significant event when they have to go down there, and you can feel the apprehension in the air around our HQ the day or so before they roll out.

"Imagine – it is almost a certainty you are going to get hit, one of your friends was killed here a month ago, but you’re going anyway… I spoke with one of the gunners and he said that it was just quiet on the radio as they came into the area. He said “they hate us down there – little kids flip you the bird and throw rocks at the vehicles, little old ladies yell at you, blown up buildings everywhere.” Then the people aren’t around anymore, and they got a “pop” as the primer on an IED went off, but the IED itself failed to blow. So they drive like hell. A few small arms rounds ping their vehicles. Gunners are spinning their turrets looking for any targets. Then boom, a small IED blows and the vehicle commanders are yelling Go Go Go! And then the insurgents start steady machine gun fire. Lead vehicle gunner yells “Where the f**k are they??” The second vehicle yells “contact left!” and opens up with his 50 cal. All of this is happening at 70 mph, literally, as the drivers try to maintain control and get out of the kill zone. The lead gunner swings his turret and lets loose with a 70 round burst as the Colonel in the back seat (the “package” and one of the reasons for this convoy) is sweeping the piles of hot brass out from under the gunner’s feet with his bare hands. The gunner screams “Die m-f'ers!!!” They watch an insurgent standing on an old railroad bed go down and then the trail vehicle pumps the body with more rounds. A dirt berm 75 yards out that might have a bad guy behind it is filled with rounds. Gunners spinning turrets, vehicle commanders shouting out “contacts” and urging fire discipline (short bursts), but the hyped and angry gunners are rocking and rolling. And then it’s over. They come out of the kill zone, drop their speed back to a more manageable 40 mph or so, a collective sigh, radio and guns quiet for a short minute, then the radio crackles with requests for sitreps and the troops start whooping and high-fiving and rehashing the battle as the last bits of adrenaline are released. Three dead bad guys dead, no Coalition hurt. A little payback.

"…This type of action happens every day over here. Don’t ever forget that we are still losing several Americans every single day, and 70% of them are to IEDs and convoy ambushes."

And the second one, on a lighter note, from a young Marine reserve sergeant, part of an artillery battery deployed over there as provisional MPs, and based at Fallujah:

"A few of us are kinda jealous because we’re living right next to an arty battery. Hearing them kinda makes us feel at home. Speaking of home, I miss it, but staying busy keeps my mind in the game… Fallujah has different smells in different places. One part smells like sulfur, another smells like sewage, but every night you can count on the lovely smell of trash burning.”

A Bit Tired...

By Maj P

but still here. I stood duty last night, so I'm a little groggy. But not too groggy to fulfill my duties at Op-For...

Picture of the Day

By John

U.S. Navy ships assigned to the George Washington Carrier Strike Group sail in formation for a strike group photo in the Carribean Sea April 29, 2006.

Photo Courtesy of the US Navy

Gulf War III

By John

Iran, Qatar Leaders Argue Over Gulf Name

An old dispute got a new airing this week, when the Iranian president and the emir of Qatar got into it over the name of the body of water that separates Iran from the Arabian peninsula.

Geographers have traditionally called it the Persian Gulf — after ancient Persia which is now called Iran. The Arabs would prefer to call it the Arabian Gulf.

State-run Tehran radio reported Wednesday that the dispute broke out a day earlier during a ceremony marking the departure of the Qatari emir, Sheik Hamad bin-Khalifa al-Thani.

The emir, seeking diplomatic goodwill, said he hoped Iran's national soccer team would bring pride to all the "Arabic Persian Gulf" region during the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Not missing a beat, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shot back:

"I believe you called it the Persian Gulf when you studied in school."

I, for one, support dubbing the gulf whichever name pisses off the Iranians the most.

How about the Gulf of Tel Aviv?

Bummer

By John

Moussaoui Spared the Death Penalty

Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui escaped the death penalty Wednesday as a jury decided he deserved life in prison instead for his role in the bloodiest terrorist attack in U.S. history. "America, you lost," Moussaoui taunted.

Well, let's hope that -in lieu of lethal injection- the 72 virgins Moussaoui was hoping for are replaced with 72 overweight jailbird Bubbas who will spend the next 60 years his life playing the slide trombone with his behind.

**Updated Goat Blogging!** Uncle Jimbo recommends the 72 Goat solution, and does it with a straight face.

Even More Hollywood Brilliance

By John

See? I told you we'd make this a recurring feature.

Today's Hollywood genius is Tim Robbins, who charged earlier today that America is morphing into Airstrip One. Plugging his new stage rendition of Orwell's 1984, Robbins:

...pointed out similarities between current US policies on terrorism and the authoritarian society described by Orwell .

"Unfortunately, the book and the play is more relevant now than it ever has been," he said. "(It) talks about continuous warfare as a means to control the Western economy, and as a way to control rebel elements within society through the use of fear, constant fear."

"In my country we seem to be sanctioning renditioning of innocent people without trial ... put them in jail without telling anyone ... and torture them out of suspicion of what we think they might do," Robbins said.

No, we aren't. I know you're an actor and all Robbins, but good god can we tone down the dramatics a bit?

And I'm sorry, perhaps a more economic savy reader could explain to me how you can whine about the high cost of the Iraq war in one breath, then claim that it is "a means to control the western economy" in the next?

Actually, do me a favor and read this again:

[1984] talks about continuous warfare as a means to control the Western economy

Can somebody please tell me what the hell that means?

Picture of the Day: Rocket's Red Glare!

By John

04/22/06 - U.S. Army Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Division conduct a test fire of the Multiple Launch Rocket System on Camp Fallujah, Iraq, April 22, 2006.

"On" Camp Fallujah?? Please let that be a typo!

Election Duty, and More Thoughts on Iraq

By Maj P

Right, just got in from serving as an election officer for the local elections in my county in Northern Virginia. The actual results I don't care about-- the contests were for town offices, and I don't live in a town-- but the turnout was bloody disgraceful. Not ten percent of the registered voters in that precinct bothered to vote, and the polls were open for eleven hours. People, you get the governments you deserve.

How does this relate to our mission in Iraq? Besides the obvious comparisons between the self-satisfied Northern Virginians on the one hand and the shot-at, bombed-out and put-upon Iraqis, there is more. One of the things that makes a civil society function is the presence of voluntary associations, and acts of civic participation, such as squeaky-clean election officers who can be absolutely relied on to conduct free and fair contests. Those institutions serve us well, and they take up the slack in places where government cannot or will not act. If we can install that sense of civic-mindedness in the Iraqis, we will have gone far toward winning the fight.

Oh, and here's one more... let us all hope and pray that a free and functioning Iraq will one day have progressed so far toward prosperity and stability that they can afford to have ten percent voter turnouts. But I'm not sure that's something to shoot for. SHAME ON US FOR PROVIDING A BAD EXAMPLE.

On Hate, Perception, and Baseball

By John

Consider this your political baseball zen for the day.

People hate the New York Yankees. And not just people who have reason to hate the Yanks, like Red Sox fans.

There's no real reason to hate the Yanks, other than the fact that they are the most successful and dynamic team in Major League history. So we think of reasons to hate them. We call George Steinbrenner a greedy, conniving sneak. We get one cocky remark out of Derek Jeter and all of a sudden the entire team is -and always has been- an arrogant, pushy baseball superpower. Perception becomes reality and so on.

I wonder how many people in the world have a real, geniune reason to hate the United States. And I wonder how much of that anti-American sentiment is just plain old Yankee-envy.

Rave Reviews for The War Tapes

By John

Noah Shachtman at Defense Tech and Andi from Andi's World both braved moonbat infested New York this weekend to catch the premier of The War Tapes.

Glowing reviews from both of them.

Defense Tech:

It's not only the best documentary to date about the conflict in Iraq. It just might change the face of journalism in the process.

Andi's World:

When you see this film, you will laugh outloud. You will cry. You will wince and you will recoil. But in the end, you will be very proud of the men and women who are putting their lives on the line in this long and difficult War on Terror. This film, more than anything I've ever seen or read, humanizes our troops. These soldiers are hysterically funny, articulate, intelligent, compassionate and loyal to their mission and their brothers-in-arms. Some may not agree with our premise for being in Iraq, but that doesn't stop them from doing their jobs with great integrity and courage.

What strikes me the most about the reaction to TWT isn't so much the positive reviews as it is the immense swelling of gratitude from "the community" (military, that is) for giving the troops a fair shake. Deborah Scranton and company could have easily turned TWT into a hit piece against the military, and would have been lauded as "courageous" for it by the Indy film world.

Good on her for taking the road less traveled. I can't wait to see this flick.

Read More »

Waiting on the NY Times Story.....

By John

Coalition Kills 15 Taliban in Afghanistan

Thanks to Radio Free Afghanistan for getting this story out. What the hell are the MSM stringers doing over there that they're missing a story like this?

Course if it were 15 coalition troopers killed, we'd see front page coverage nationwide.

Credit where credit is due though. CBS ran a nice piece earlier on a National Guard doctor treating Afghani children: American Doctors Treating 2 Afghan Children.

It's a start.....

Harvard....Getting It?

By John

Harvard Students Debriefed on Military Culture

How would the U.S. military interact with non-governmental organizations if American troops staged a humanitarian intervention in Sudan next year?

That question was the focus of seminars at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., attended by six Harvard undergraduates this past Friday.

The students, along with five fellows from the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, toured the college as part of the center’s “Military and American Democracy” study group.

The trip, co-sponsored by the International Relations Council, served as a “capstone event for our seminar,” according to a fellow and study group leader, Colonel Charles Hooper. “The purpose of both the seminar and the visit was to familiarize undergraduates with the education, culture, role, and missions of the American military,” he said.

Along with the seminars, the students visited the institution’s war-game facilities and historical sites and dined at the officers’ club overlooking Narragansett Bay.

“It really shows you what military leaders need to take into account in planning and executing operations,” said Vivek Viswanathan ’09, another attendee.

The Naval War College exists in large part to educate military and government officials in strategy and technology developments.

“There’s a tendency to think that all military leaders learn is to shoot people and blow things up,” Hooper said. “I think the students got a good appreciation for the broad strategic knowledge, language, history, philosophy, information management, politics, and economics that are all elements of the education of the modern military,” he added.

Hooper stressed the importance of overcoming common stereotypes about armed forces personnel. He said that Harvard students—as future leaders—should understand the “true role of the military in American society.”

6 brainiacs down, 19,494 to go. And credit to the University for keeping members of the Taliban out of their student body.

Taking notes Yale?

Gratuitous Air Refueling Picture of the Day

By John

An A-10 Thunderbolt II receives fuel from a KC-135E Stratotanker during a training mission Friday, April 14, 2006, over Tucson, Ariz. The A-10 is from the 358th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and the KC-135E is from the Air National Guard's 101st Air Refueling Wing at Bangor, Maine.

Photo Courtesy of the US Air Force

Reporting in

By Maj P

Thanks to John and Charlie for letting me guest-blog. John posted a REMF-ish picture of me lifted from my wife’s website, so I’ll try to find a more-warlike one of me.

I am a mobilized Marine Corps reservist, an artilleryman by trade, and at the moment a field historian with the small detachment at Marine Corps history division. It is our mission to go forth and document Marine Corps operations as they happen. The reason I took this job is that, at the time (late ’03), it was my only quick ticket out of town and into Iraq. I’m glad I did it.

Iraq. We can debate, if you like, the why’s and wherefore’s, but I’m not sure we’ll get too far. Instead, I’d like to address the nature of the campaign there, and why we need to stay in this fight and win it. This is how I saw it when I was there, and how I still see it today.

What’s at stake here is the need to break the cycle of radicalism and militancy in the Middle East by offering one country, Iraq, the opportunity to make of itself a functional, healthy state. A state that neither menaces its neighbors nor threatens world peace, a state that stands on its own two feet with a working economy and positive future. This is how we can build peace and stability in the whole region. Unfortunately it took a violent campaign to overthrow the old regime, and it is taking another campaign to reconstruct the country. We might all wish that it could have been done by other means, but there it is.

If you’ve ever heard the expression, “three steps forward and two steps backward,” you’ll appreciate the advances we’ve made in Iraq. In a post on my blog, I pointed out that it’s really nine ugly steps backward and ten painful steps forward. But that Tenth Step, or more accurately the series of small Tenth Steps being scored all across the country, will win the campaign. No single unit is going to strike a war-winning blow during its eight- or twelve-month tour in Iraq. But they do endure the nines steps taken backwards and then deliberately but purposefully resume the advance. Those small victories lead to greater ones. Greater ones will lead to a complete victory, and to our forces coming home.

My great concern is that the American public doesn’t understand that this is a long war, and the campaign in Iraq is but one part. Our famously short attention span could prove our undoing if we lose sight of what we’ve done and how far we still need to go, especially as elections draw near. The men and women overseas are certainly doing their part, but we can support them from here by letting our elected officials (and candidates) know that sustaining the fight in Iraq is the right course of action, a painful necessary part of defending the nation, and meeting and defeating our enemies.

In the next few weeks I hope to introduce you to some of the people who are bearing that burden now, old and valued friends.

MTF (more to follow).

jpp

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