GWOT – Page 5 – The Daily Brief

Capt. (Soon to be Maj.Loggie) Reports

04. March 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, GWOT, Iraq, Military, War

I got back from Afghanistan last week. Just got the home system hooked back up here in Germany so I’ve got web connectivity now.

After Action Report from the Stan:

I know you don’t get the reports from the media on what goes on over there, but we’ve got alot of international support. One of my missions was to assist the Lithuanian Provincial Reconstruction Team with their logistics. Fantastic people, fantastic soldiers. All about getting the job done. We have the support of the people of Afganistan. I could see that every day I went outside the wire in Herat. We were so safe there we didn’t need to ride around in uparmored vehicles and didn’t need to wear our helmets. That area is now under control of Italian and Spanish troops. We’re handing over RC South, the Kandahar Region, over to the British, Canadians, and Dutch. These guys have some top quality troops and they’re coming in hard and heavy. The Brits are sending in their Apache and Harrier Squadrons and the Canadians will have their Stryker type vehicles (which I think they call the Kodiak). Fantastic soldiers and ready to do the mission….I just hope that their governments don’t constrain them on the Rules of Engagement. The Canadians have already taken some casualties in IED strikes and Ambushes. The Romainains are there too, they do the Force protection in Kandahar, They’ve got a whole battalion from a motorized rifle Regiment there. The Poles and South Koreans each have an Engineer battalion doing mine clearing and construction. The Egyptians and Jordanians each have hospitals there giving care to the local Afghans. Norway, Austrialia, New Zealand, Denmark, and Germany all have contributed with either PRTs or Special Operations Forces.

Bottom line is that the coalition is strong and committed. The Afghan Army and Police have come along way. A crowd of people actually applauded when a border policeman arrested a truck driver for smuggling and after trying to bribe him, something that they have never seen before. Conditions are improving and the support of the locals is strong. The terrorists that are there are all along the Pak border and they infiltrate into RC South and East to cause chaos. They are generally not supported by the locals. Most of them work for ex warlords from the Taliban regime or are foreign fighters who believe in the Jihadi movement. But they rely on the IED and suicide bombers to attack us. If they do engage in an ambush it is usually from a distance so they can run…and rarely do they inflict casualties that way. When that does happen, we pounce on them with everything we’ve got available, and they pay, big time.

If you’d like you can post the above on the webpage, its all unclassified. And if there are any questions that come from it I’ll try to answer the best I can.

By the way. I just made the list for Major. Waiting for my promotion date, Once that happens I’ll be known from now on and for evermore as MAJ LOGGIE.

(PS– from Sgt. Mom…. well, as long as you are not known as “Major Pain-in-the-A**”….)

Iran To Enrich Uranium In Russia

26. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, GWOT, Iran, Technology, World

This from Reuters:

Busher, Iran – Iran has reached a “basic” agreement with Russia on a joint venture to enrich uranium and will continue talks in coming days, Iran’s nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said on Sunday.

My other sources believe the enrichment will be performed, at least partially, by Iranian personnel, but in Russian facilities. My only opinion, at this point, is: trust, but verify.

The WMD Files

21. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Iraq

Pajamas Media’s WMD Files: There are new videos from this weekend’s Intelligence Summit featuring interviews with Richard Miniter, James Woolsey and Bill Tierney.

Presented without comment as I haven’t watched them yet.

Let Me Get This Straight (UAE Port Deal Edition)

21. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Home Front

Leading members of your own party are asking for more time and review.

Former President Jimmy Carter is all for it.

And you’ll VETO any legislation that attempts to prevent the purchase by a United Arab Emirates-owned firm of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which runs six major U.S. ports.

Whiskey.

Tango.

Foxtrot?

Channeling Lewis Black: I. Am. Confused.

UN As Sponsor Of Terrorism

18. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Israel & Palestine

This from J. Peter Pham and Michael I. Krauss at TCS Daily:

One of the largest humanitarian programs is the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). One-third of UNRWA’s $350 million annual budget is furnished by American taxpayers, and a little more than half comes from their European counterparts. UNRWA is unlike any other international agency. It was established in 1949 by the General Assembly to carry out relief programs benefiting Arabs displaced (some quite voluntarily) during the fighting that erupted after the new state of Israel was simultaneously invaded by its five Arab neighbors. (Remarkably, the UN offered no such succor to the numerous Jewish communities, some dating from biblical times, which were forcibly evicted from Arab countries.) Not only is UNRWA unique in its exclusive concern for original Palestinian “refugees” and their descendants (now numbering over 4 million according to the agency’s rather loose criteria), it is the only refugee services organization whose raison d’être is not to resettle its charges, but rather to keep them and their dependents in squalid temporary dwellings while they await their “right of return.”

The needless festering of grievance in the undeniably miserable 59 camps (27 of which are located in the West Bank and Gaza) is not UNRWA’s only flaw, however. Indeed, far from being an impartial dispenser of humanitarian relief, UNRWA has become an enabler of terrorists, complicit through sins of commission and omission, in the cycle of violence wracking the Middle East.

Until the Bush administration blocked his reappointment last year, long-term UNRWA commissioner-general Peter Hansen made a career out of “see no evil, hear no evil” with respect to Hamas while imputing all manner of malfeasance on Israel. The final straw for Washington may have been Hansen’s candid admission during a television interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in late 2004: “I am sure there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll, and I don’t see that as a crime.” Hansen’s placid acquiescence to paying Hamas is usefully contrasted with his hysterical comments — since proven false by the UN’s own investigation — that Hansen had seen “with my own eyes” Israeli “helicopters strafing civilian residential areas,” “wholesale obliteration,” and “mass graves” during Israel’s Defensive Shield operation following the massacre of Passover celebrants by Palestinian terrorists in 2002. These “big lies” are on a par with Hamas’s citing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in its founding Covenant.

UNRWA’s anti-Semitism is not merely doled out to the press, however. The agency runs one of the region’s largest networks of schools, in which similar “ideas” are inculcated into a new generation of potential militants.

Read the whole thing (Hat Tip: Eugene Volokh, who’s post has a follow-up with Michael Krauss). But this is nothing new; this from Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S):

1. Reuters has a [video (WMV file)] taken during the Israeli army operation in the Zeitun quarter of Gaza City on May 11, 2004. It shows armed Palestinians using UNRWA ambulances to transport terrorists and possibly also remains of fallen Israeli soldiers.

2. Partial confirmation came from the statement made on May 13 by a UN spokesman, that during the incident (which occurred in Gaza on May 11), armed Palestinians threatened an UNRWA ambulance team and forced them to transport an armed and wounded Palestinian and his two armed escorts to a Gaza hospital. The spokesman noted that UNRWA censured the action “in the strongest terms possible.” He also noted that armed personnel are not permitted to enter UNRWA vehicles on any pretext whatsoever, and called upon Israel and the Palestinians to respect the agency’s neutrality.

3. In addition, since the beginning of the current ongoing hostilities, several incidents have been recorded in which terrorist organizations have used UNRWA facilities and vehicles (including ambulances) to facilitate their terrorist operations. Two prominent examples are:

a. Nidal ‘Abd al-Fataah ‘Abdallah Nizal, a Hamas activist from Qalqiliya who worked as an UNRWA ambulance driver (arrested in August 2002), admitted he had used one such vehicle to transport munitions to terrorists and had also exploited the freedom of movement he enjoyed to transmit messages to and from Hamas activists in various places.

b. Nahd Rashid Ahmad Atallah, a senior UNRWA employee working in the Gaza Strip who was in charge of distributing aid to refugees (arrested in August 2002), admitted that during June and July 2002 he had given rides in his car – an UNRWA vehicle – to armed terrorists belonging to the Popular Resistance Committees. The terrorists were on their way to attack Israeli soldiers at the Karni Checkpoint and to fire rockets at Israeli settlement in the northern Gaza Strip. He also used his UNRWA car to transport a bomb weighing 12 kg (about 25 lbs) to his brother-in-law, a Popular Resistance Committees operative (Note: the Popluar Resistance Committees are a militant faction of Fatah and are active primarilyin the Gaza Strip).

4. Nahd Atallah explained that he had used his car to transport terrorists to their targets because it belonged to the United Nations, and since the Israeli army did not search such vehicles, he could travel freely. His admission is a striking example of the way terrorist organizations exploit the privileges of relaxed security restrictions accorded UNRWA vehicles by Israeli forces. Such privileges are the result of humanitarian considerations and the Israeli desire to maintain correct relations with UN representatives active in the Palestinian Authority-administered territories.

And then there’s this four year old piece from Dr. John Hagee at World Net Daily:

The benefits are as follows: Suicide bombers come from the refugee camps to produce carnage on the streets of Jerusalem; killers take asylum in the refugee camps; mortars are fired from the refugee camps into Israeli settlements; food warehouses in refugee camps have been transformed into storage facilities for artillery shells, ammunition and mortar rounds; al-Qaida terrorist squads are based in the refugee camps; refugee camps organize official celebrations in honor of suicide bombers who kill Jews in Jerusalem.

This is really a terrific “benefit package,” funded entirely by the United Nations who is asking the United States to double its contribution. What’s wrong with this picture?

And then there’s this (also from 2002) from Ian Williams at The Nation:

That led to a joint call by Tom Lantos, ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, and Tom DeLay, the GOP whip, for Congressional hearings on UNRWA, with a suggestion of ending US funding, which pays for a third of UNRWA operations. Jumping on the bandwagon, Republican Eric Cantor of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism repeated the allegations.

We talk of cutting off aid to the PA under Hamas. But why are we continuing to fund terrorism through the UN?

What If?

16. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Home Front, Iraq

Just what if there actually were Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq?

Why is this a bad thing?

How come we have to be wrong?

Why is it so important to you that it was all nothing but a lie?

Why isn’t your assurance with your country instead of against it?

I don’t get it. I don’t understand it. I don’t think I want to but I’m still asking.

Syrian Reporter Gives Location Of Iraqi WMD

16. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Iraq, War

This from AFP, via 2LA Lebanese Association:

Nizar Nayuf (Nayyouf-Nayyuf), a Syrian journalist who recently defected from Syria to Western Europe and is known for bravely challenging the Syrian regime, said in a letter Monday, January 5, to Dutch newspaper “De Telegraaf,” that he knows the three sites where Iraq‘s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) are kept. The storage places are:

Tunnels dug under the town of al-Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria. These tunnels are an integral part of an underground factory, built by the North Koreans, for producing Syrian Scud missiles. Iraqi chemical weapons and long-range missiles are stored in these tunnels.

The village of Tal Snan, north of the town of Salamija, where there is a big Syrian air force camp. Vital parts of Iraq’s WMD are stored there.

. The city of Sjinsjar on the Syrian border with the Lebanon, south of Homs city.

Nayouf writes that the transfer of Iraqi WMD to Syria was organized by the commanders of Saddam Hussein‘s Special Republican Guard, including General Shalish, with the help of Assif Shoakat , Bashar Assad‘s cousin. Shoakat is the CEO of Bhaha, an import/export company owned by the Assad family.

In February 2003, a month before America’s invasion in Iraq, very few are aware about the efforts to bring the Weapons of Mass Destruction from Iraq to Syria, and the personal involvement of Bashar Assad and his family in the operation.

Nayouf, who has won prizes for journalistic integrity, says he wrote his letter because he has terminal cancer.

They have lots of accompanying documentation, check their site.

Ohhhhh, You Mean THIS WMD?

15. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Iraq: The Ugly

Jeff Goldstein has got news that I haven’t heard anywhere else today, although to be honest, I haven’t listened to the news since about noon.

Last Tuesday, I wrote about the (potential) forthcoming release of 12 hours of audio recordings between Saddam Hussein and his top advisers that, as the New York Sun story I quoted put it, “may provide clues to the whereabouts of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction”. According to the Sun report, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence was studying the tapes.

Go read the whole thing.

I’m not sayin’ nuthin’ until more comes out, but I’m making a list of my ol’ friends who have beat me up with, “There was NO WMD!” for the past three years…oh yes I am…

Hinderaker Counters Coleman Countering PFA

13. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, GWOT, Iraq, Media Matters Not

Over at PowerLine, John Hinderaker issues an extended retort to The Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman’s attack on the Progress for America sponsored Midwest Heroes ad, in support of the Iraq war.

Hinderacker does much to set the record straight. Coleman is an insufferable idiotarian, who shouldn’t even be given the time of day. However, his Star Tribune column gives him a rather large soapbox, and his factual errors and outright lies must be addressed.

However, Hinderaker frames his criticism of Coleman as an attack on the free speech rights of Lt. Col. Bob Stephenson, Staff Sgt. Marcellus Wilks, and Captain Mark Weber – the three Iraq vet “Midwest Heroes” featured in the ad – alluding, of course, to the over-the-top response of radical Islamists to the notorious “Mohammed” cartoons. In so doing, he degrades his entire argument.

Were Coleman to be threatening the beheading of the three servicemen, or the principals of PFA, the association would be valid. Coleman is doing nothing more than casting his lot in the free market of ideas. However, by playing the Freedom of Speech card, Hinderaker engages in the same rhetorical trickery as Coleman. This is shameful; he’s normally much better than that.

Hat Tip: InstaPundit

Memo: Free Press

11. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: European Disunion, General, GWOT, Media Matters Not, Pajama Game

To: Major Newspapers, Broadcast TV News Channels, NPR and especially (but not limited to) the ever lugubrious Daniel Schoor (What? He is still a practicing journalist? Who’d have thought it?)
Re: “Free Press” & The Affair of the Danish Cartoons

1. As far as American newsprint and broadcast television is concerned, the phrase “freedom of the press” is from this day now enshrined in my favorite set of viciously skeptical quote-marks. The affair of the Danish Cartoons, and their non-appearance in all but a handful of newspapers has put the lie to every bit of lip-service ever paid to the notion that the American people had a right to know… had an absolute right, enshrined in the foundations of our very Republic to know… well, whatever it was that would goose the ratings, or boost circulation this week… A right that every journalist would fearlessly defend, with every fiber of his principled, journalistic being. Oops, there seems to be a little contradiction there. Principled… journalist… now there is a concept worn to tatters by this little international imbroglio, especially after Eason-gate, Rather-Gate and all the other tedious-gates. It’s pretty obvious that in this case, especially, mainstream media couldn’t defend the concept of a free press against a troop of marauding Brownie Girl Scouts, not when the threat is something a little more substantial than a couple of rabid letters to the editor and maybe a dozen or two cancelled subscriptions, some yanked adverts and maybe… in the case of a really egregious offense… a consumer boycott.

2. Thanks for all the ringing endorsements of principle, though — they made inspiring reads when a journo went to jail to protect a source, or a loud-mouthed bully of a politician ran off at the mouth. And to be fair there were just enough brave, and risk taking journalists who lived up to it, and sometimes died for it. It does look like they were the exception; most of the journalistic crowd seems only able to cope with jail food for a couple of days, and go on the Today Show to bask in the warm glow of peer approval for weeks afterwards.

3. My own hometown newspaper has a rather schizo take on it all: the two local cartoonists are riled and indignant, and very much in favor of publishing the original twelve Danish cartoons, but the paper has also rolled out two members of the local Muslim community to lecture us all about sensitivity and insult to Islam and otherwise wrap us in the inoffensive warm swaddling quilt of the whole multi-cultural experience. Dear no, the great unwashed general public must never be offended or upset, never given a chance to look at the facts and make up their own mind, and the ever-seething Muslim Street must never be given an excuse to torch another street full of cars, or a handy embassy. Not even if enough people without internet access are now curious about what in heck the fuss is all about. No, no, no; the cartoons are too vile, to insulting. Mustn’t be seen, musn’t have the delicate sensibilities be offended… just take our word that the 12 cartoons are that horrible!

4. 4. Funny, that: the tender sensibilities of Muslims taking offense at something or other, twice a day and three times on Fridays over matters that run the gamut from the real, through the exaggerated and terminating in the completely imaginary. However, this well known and often demonstrated propensity for over-the-top outrage didn’t stop any Western newspaper from publishing the Abu Graib pictures, or the bogus Koran-flushing story. All that sent the Muslim Street onto high seeth mode for simply months, without shaking a particle of our mainstream media’s devotion towards the general public’s right to know. Repercussions from this adherence to principle landed on everyone else but the gentlemen of the press. One might be forgiven at this point for suspecting that press deference to Muslim sensibilities in this case is directly proportional to a well-established tendency for the offended to directly underline their unhappiness with sharp knives, exploding garments, creative arson, and fatwas, along with the more customary threats of lawsuits and consumer boycotts. It all depends, as my mother used to say, upon whose ox has been gored, and on this occasion, the major media’s ox has been well and truly gored.

5. Myself, I have begun to wonder if major media’s almost hysterical insistence on the original 12 Danish Cartoons being so vile, so insulting and hurtful as to be unworthy of print space or airtime isn’t a trifle self-serving. I have seen them, (and linked to them and put up one on this website) as has practically anyone who has internet access, a bit of curiosity and the ability to do a simple search. It’ll be very hard for an old-line news organization who has stuck to the party line about the offensive nature of them to actually put them out there, in print or on the air, and have all those people who still take them seriously realize in actuality, they are pretty mild… about one half step more cutting than “Family Circle” or “Dagwood & Blondie”. There would be a great many people reading the morning paper, or watching prime time news in that case, scratching their heads and thinking “That is what they got so upset about?” A dozen bland little sketches, only two of which had any satiric bite at all— all the fuss was about that? Oh, no best keep the cover locked into place… after all, the public doesn’t have to know everything. Best let them go on believing that main line media does really believe in freedom of the press.

6. Unless believing in it really means a bit of real danger and risk. Myself, the next time I hear someone pontificating away on the awesome responsibilities involved in upholding the “freedom of the press”… and they are from a newspaper which refused to run the Danish Cartoons, or a television station which refused to air them, citing “community sensitivities” or “deference to religious feelings” or whatever the sad excuse du jour is…. I shall laugh and laugh and laugh.

Sincerely
Sgt. Mom

Danish Cartoons, Redoux

06. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: Ain't That America?, General, General Nonsense, GWOT, Media Matters Not, sarcasm, The Funny

Amusingly, that lugubrious old talking prune, NPR’s Daniel Shorr was coming out on the side of being all sensitive and being responsible about “using the power of the press” as regards the Matter of the Danish Cartoons. (Doesn’t that sound like a very dull Sherlock Holmes adventure, or the worst name for a war since the “War of Jenkins’ Ear”?) Just like the pet professor of international relations whom my local paper keeps on hand to drivel on about the Moslem world and international relations, and how the US must…must…zzzzz… oh, sorry. Dozed off there for a moment. I do that when reading the gentleman’s editorials, but so do probably most of his students.

Anyway, predictable, dull, predictable… oops, did I say that already? Anyway, both these prize examples of overpaid old media had pretty much the same take… the cartoons were horrible! Vile! Insulting! And the major media had done a Good Thing by not putting them out in front of us proles so we could make up our own mind… which is that they are only a little more tame than a Dick and Jane grade school reader. Poor, innocent and clueless Mr. Shorr also alledged that said cartoons were very difficult to find and view… at which statement I can only shake my head in pity and hope that someone in the NPR studio will either enlighten him about this internet and search engine thingy, or hand him a box of Kleenex to wipe off the senile drool.

And besides, if the Danish Cartoons were the far end in vile insult to Islam in general, then a great many parties are in for a most awful shock. Oh, yes, in accordance with my call to comic arms of several years ago, we have just begun to take the piss, point the finger, and laugh, laugh, laugh.

(The Dutch website would, of course be far more amusing to those who actually can speak Dutch, but some of the entries are in English… and some of them are quite understandible, as well as being not work-safe, in the strict meaning of the word. I really have to admire the mad Photoshop skilz, though. Thanks to Rantburg and Silent Running, and the Instapundit, whose thunderous tread shakes the whole blog-world.)

Women in the Military – A Story That Can’t Help

06. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Media Matters Not, Military, My Head Hurts, War

Greyhawk over at Mudville Gazette tells us about an interesting story that is no doubt supposed to make us even more upset about the war:

The latest Iraq war urban legend: Several female service members have died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day due to fear of being raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women’s latrine after dark.

Say what you will about the story (be sure to read the whole thing). Here’s what is bothering me:

Why it matters: Because the Left believes what they’re told to believe. Random Lefty blog response via technorati:

Jill at Feministe

Female soldiers in Iraq are having to make an impossible choice: Risk being raped , or risk dying of dehydration. Many of them have ended up dead.

Nicole in London: Tales of Los Angeles Expat

If I get one comment from ANYONE saying that this proves that women don’t belong in the army. . . Grrrrrr.

And that last comment gets to my point.

Greyhawk pretty much shreds the story (now being perpetuated by Col Janis Karpinski, of Abu Ghraib fame) to bits. If it were true, it would be a horrible, horrible thing, and all of us at the Brief would be outraged. But considering how “shred-able” it is, wouldn’t the folks on the left want to tread pretty lightly before giving the “No Women In Combat” supporters ammunition like this?

(Hat tip: Kathryn Jean Lopez at The Corner)

Kinda, Sorta 9/11ish

05. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: European Disunion, General, GWOT, Pajama Game, War, World

All this last week I have been returning, almost obsessively to certain blogs for continuing updates on the Danish cartoon story. It is a marvel of jaw-dropping proportions of how a dozen fairly innocuous sketches, published in a comparatively small national newspaper, in a small European country have gotten the goat, so to speak, of seething mobs a good few countries or continents away. I rather suspect some of the rioters are only vaguely aware, in a kind of trivial pursuit/jeopardy question obscure factoid sort of way that there is a Denmark, and even fewer could find it on a map, but there they are, howling away and waving weapons and signs— invariably neatly lettered in English, how curious is that?!… and burning flags again… where the heck did they get all those Danish flags— is there some sort of “Flags R’ US” big box chain store serving Damascus, Jakarta and Gaza with all their banner barbeque needs?

It’s the fabled Muslim Street again, at a full roiling, furiously bubbling seeth, parked in front of an embassy, intimidating and threatening diplomatic staff, business interests and free-lance do-gooders, all alike. For more than two decades America (AKA “The Great Satan”) pretty much had a lock on that gig, as a focus for the Muslim ire, and it is initially passing strange and going into Outer Limits territory to see it happening to some other national interest, especially to a tidy, comfortably inoffensive little country like Denmark. The original action is so minor in comparison to the snowballing reaction—it’s rather like seeing the Animal Regulation people backed up by a tactical SWAT team go after the neighbor down the street on account of a unlicensed and unleashed teacup Chihuahua. You just keep scratching your head and wondering ‘what the f**k brought all that on?’ Or alternately, ‘what the f**k doesn’t set off the seething Muslim Street?’Or daringly, even ‘Since anything and everything sets off the seething Muslim Street, may as well publish and be damned!’

I personally confess to a great deal of appalled sympathy for the Danes, and the Norwegians, and all those other Europeans and Britons who see this issue clearly, just now. The whole issue of intellectual and press freedom, and open discussion of anything and everything, won for us with such great struggle and with so many setbacks, is a central value. All the previous little kerfuffles, all those spats about artist-poseurs smearing themselves with chocolate, or a canvas with elephant dung, or some tiresome leftist with a captive university audience, or some writer-pseud striking a daring pose by sticking it to the bourgeoisie; All that before was just a pose, a trivial and momentary diversion; this now, this is for real. Are we now willing to publish, or write about, or talk about an issue that might have permanent and fatal consequences, over a principle that we have had so long been accustomed to? Now that a threat has been issued that we must perforce obey the dictates of a religion, a religion alien to most of us? A dictate backed up by threats of murder and violence?
” Nice little country you got here, be a shame if anything happened to it.”
The demand, couched as a seemingly reasonable request to be “respectful” and understanding of a particularly belief is put reasonably, counting on us to be reasonable, courteous… but the implications are huge and only just dawning on those who have been not been following this, admittedly in a desultory way, for the last four months.

If we value the soul of Western democracies, of a free press, of being able do discuss anything at all in the media, old and new, print and TV, in the halls of universities and governments, in coffee shops and around office water coolers, without fear or favor, we cannot yield on this. Because being once constrained by Moslems, under threat, there is no reason to deny it to any other special party that may raise a complaint, backed by a similar threat. Once debate can be shut down on the grounds of “being respectful” to one belief, once criticism can be howled down on that ground, it can be done on behalf of any other religion or party, or group… and then what you have is no longer free. It may be something… but it is no longer free. Once the exception is made, we are pretty much lost, as much as the media outlets in the Mexican border towns are, when it comes to publishing anything about narco-trafficking , or independent Russian media is, about anything to do with the oligarchy.

And this is the realization that suddenly, and with a great deal of horror, that a lot of people in Britain and in Continental Europe may have come to this week, of how close they stand to the abyss, and how easily they may be struck a near-mortal blow, a blow at the intellectual heart, rather than the physical one struck on 9/11 to the US, for nothing more than being who they are in the eyes of Moslem extremists, rather than anything particular that they might have done.

Die Gedanken Sind Frei

01. February 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, GWOT, Pajama Game, Politics, War, World

“I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

So this is where we stand, with Voltaire’s noble words about intellectual freedom and the right to contemplate and openly discuss orthodoxies and heresies of any sort, with an eye towards seeing that they stand or fall, strengths and weaknesses dissected and revealed. A former President of these united States, whose grasp of the concept of intellectual freedom is as apparently as shaky as his grip on marriage vows, appears to interpret belief in it to mean that a certain favored class of adherents to a particular orthodoxy are free from ever having those beliefs challenged, criticized, mildly mocked, or even having their feelings hurt. Such is the state of their tender sensitivities, this class must be treated with special regard, their core beliefs never questioned – or as it turns out, illustrated.

One might, with a great deal of experience and cynicism, suspect that a large part of this exaggerated deference is mostly due to the very high probability that self-styled representatives of the offended orthodoxy will show up at the door of the affronting party, singly or in force, wielding sharp weapons, explosive items, fatwas, lawsuits, serious armaments, or merely shrill accusations of racism and prejudice, according to the inclination, location and experience of the offended parties. One might also suspect that not a few intellectual, political and cultural establishments might have already made a quick calculation of the risks and benefits and preemptively rolled over, and quietly began self-censoring themselves. Speaking truth to power might really have some risks, best be sure that the power spoken to is either defanged or merely rolls its’ eyes derisively at yet another dreary polemic by Noam Chomsky, Oliver Stone or John LeCarre. Best not say anything at all about the “religion of peace” lest the gentlemen with sharp knives be forced to demonstrate their imperfect acceptance of the Western tradition of open debate and dissent.

There is an old saying, to the effect that the most binding chains are the ones we put on ourselves. And the most insidious and effective censorship is that kind that we also put on ourselves, the censorship that strangles the question before it can even be asked. And that might be one of the points raised by the editor of the Jyllands-Posten all these months ago; that thoughtful people, earnestly wishing to be polite, tolerant and sensitive of others, began moving down that path that eventually ends— if we are not aware— with our wrists humbly held up for the manacles of imposed censorship to be firmly snapped on. A drift that began with good manners ends with limits imposed by maladroit legislation or a baying mob, maybe even both, and all the important issues of the day, which ought to be discussed— vociferously, noisily and with all the thrown crockery at our disposal— are removed from the arena where they ought to be, to fester and simmer away in odd corners. What has been more insupportable in recent years, is that our courtesy in this respect is not even reciprocated: the vilest sort of caricatures and insult imaginable regarding Westerners, Christians, Jews, Americans and others too varied to mention have free and frequent circulation in Muslim and Arab-oriented and funded media.

One does wonder about a religion and culture so sensitive of insult, yet so free about dealing it out wholesale and by the bucket to others?
Is this Prophet and belief set so fragile that the merest whisper of non-adoration, of criticism and caricature will shatter it, irrevocably? Are its dutiful defenders secretly in such fear of that shattering, of the doubt that might be raised by any breath of irrelevance in a country which pays allegiance to another tradition, that the doors of dissent from orthodoxy must be slammed shut on parody, criticism, literary hyperbole, and scholarly analysis?

Umm, no. I think not. Not here. Not now. The strength of the West is in that very noisy disputation, our freedom to put everything on the table, to question, to non-conform, and by disputation and argument, make our beliefs even stronger for having all the idiocy knocked out of them. As such has been our custom, and in the reported words of Martin Luther, at the Diet of Worms: “Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by scripture and plain reason–I do not accept the authority of popes and councils for they have contradicted each other–my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, God help me. Amen.”

Everything is on the table. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. These are the cartoons, here is a good link, curtesy of Samizdata. (Later: More discussion here…. oh, and buy Danish!!!!)

Center for the Intrepid

31. January 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, GWOT, Home Front, Military, Veteran's Affairs

I take my medical appointments and BAMC (Brook Army Medical Center) and work nearby, so I have had the opportunity to watch this complex being built.The writer of the linked article about it is the local papers’ military reporter– he is one of the good guys, been embedded in Iraq, and worships at the shrine of Ernie Pyle and all. I’ve emailed him back and forth about military stuff, but I think he is too much of a gentleman to put the real answers about why this place is being funded by donations;

—-It would take damn near forever for our solons to get it in gear and approve this through the regular channels—

—-The usual suspects (those who have that silly-ass bumper sticker on their cars about schools getting everything they need and the military having to hold bake sales) would bitch about a lavish, gold-plated state of the art anything benefitting military people—

—-While military medicine does have their showplaces, most medical care takes place in rather spartan facilities, many decades old and built strictly for utility and to be used by many, many people; this kind of very specialized and state of the art facility is more often lavished on high-end athletes and movie stars—

It’s going to be a beautiful looking building, though, and all the more valued by the troops who will use it, and their families.

I’ve Been Saying This For The Last 2 1/2 Years

26. January 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Iraq

Now we have it from one of Iraq’s top Generals: The WMDs went to Syria:

The Iraqi general, Georges Sada, makes the charges in a new book, “Saddam’s Secrets,” released this week. He detailed the transfers in an interview yesterday with The New York Sun.

“There are weapons of mass destruction gone out from Iraq to Syria, and they must be found and returned to safe hands,” Mr. Sada said. “I am confident they were taken over.”

Mr. Sada’s comments come just more than a month after Israel’s top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon, told the Sun that Saddam “transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria.”

I added the link to the earlier story. Notice as well that General Sada is saying the other thing I’ve been harping on: these weapons must be accounted for.

Pakistani Poll: US Up, Al-Qaeda Down

25. January 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT

Some good news from the Miami Herald:

Pakistanis who have a favorable opinion of the United States doubled to more than 46 percent today from 23 percent in May 2005. According to a poll conducted by the nonpartisan organization Terror Free Tomorrow with fieldwork by ACNielsen Pakistan, for the first time since 9/11 more Pakistanis are favorable to the United States than unfavorable.

Yet the recent poll from Pakistan has an even more important finding for the war on terror: Muslim opinion toward bin Laden, and indeed terrorism, moves in tandem with opinion of the United States. As Pakistan witnessed a surge of pro-American sentiment, more unexpectedly there was a concomitant and dramatic drop in support for bin Laden and terrorism. Tellingly, Pakistanis who disapproved of bin Laden doubled at almost the exact same percentage as those who became favorable to the United States (23 percent to 41 percent disapproval of bin Laden; 23 percent to 46 percent approval of the United States).

But the most interesting and important finding is why the Pakistani public changed its view of terrorism and the United States — and why some antipathy still remains.

The reason is clear: American assistance to the victims of the devastating Oct. 8, 2005, earthquake in Pakistan. In fact, 78 percent of Pakistanis said that American aid to earthquake victims has made them feel more favorable to the United States. Even 79 percent of Pakistanis who have confidence in bin Laden now have a more-favorable opinion of the United States because of U.S. earthquake assistance.

Another surprise: The United States fared much better in the opinion of Pakistanis than either other Western countries who furnished substantial relief, or al Qaeda’s radical Islamist allies themselves, who also made a much-publicized effort to provide earthquake aid.

More evidence that we are winning the war for hearts and minds.

It’s Confirmed: Terrorists Were In Targeted Buildings

17. January 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, World

This from Riaz Khan at AP:

At least four foreign terrorists died in the purported U.S. airstrike aimed at al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader in a Pakistani border village, the provincial government said Tuesday.

A statement, issued by the administration of Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, also said that between 10 and 12 foreign extremists had been invited to the dinner at the village hit in Friday’s attack.

It was the first official confirmation by Pakistani authorities that foreign militants were killed in the attack on the village of Damadola. Women and children also died, triggering outrage in this Islamic nation.

[…]

The statement, citing the chief official in the Bajur region where the Damadola is located, said its findings were from a report compiled by a “joint investigation team” but gave no specifics on who was included in the team.

“Four or five foreign terrorists have been killed in this missile attack whose dead bodies have been taken away by their companions to hide the real reason of the attack,” the statement said.

“It is regrettable that 18 local people lost their lives in the attack, but this fact also cannot be denied, that 10-12 foreign extremists had been invited on a dinner,” it said.

This totally discredits the argument that we were targeting “innocent civilians.” As with any wartime scenario, association with the enemy makes one a priori a viable target.

It is also important to note that this confirmation came from the “provincial government,” which has more authority in the region than Islamabad. This goes to the argument that we attacked a “friendly sovereign nation.” Just as with the 2002 Hellfire strike in Yemen, it is rather dubious to apply the European nation-state sovereignty model to much of the Islamic world, as they are unable to police within their own borders.

Reason Interview With Russell Tice

16. January 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: General, GWOT

Julian Sanchez at Reason Online has this must-read interview with NSA whistleblower Russell Tice

Hat Tip:Orin Kerr at Volokh

Update: MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews has an interview with fmr. FISA Court Council Kenneth Bass, which complements this quite well. I believe they have podcasts – he’s on in the third quarter.

Extraordinary Rendition Started Under Clinton

01. January 2006 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Politics

Cap’n Ed Morrissy reports on new information that extraordinary rendition of GWOT detainees started under the Clinton administration, back in 1995. And, the Bush administration actually curtailed the program. Not mentioned in either Ed’s post, or his primary source article, is if Congress was aware of rendition in the ’90s. If so, this would be yet another example of Congressional Jackasses exercising a double-standard on the Bushies verses the Clintonistas.

Was Rove The Source Of NSA Spying Leak?

23. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Politics

Today on FNC’s Cavuto on Business, conservative firebrand Ann Coulter stated her belief that White House Machiavellian Karl Rove is giving Capitol Hill Democrats enough rope to hang themselves with on the NSA wiretapping issue. Knowing that a strong national defense is politically popular, she says, “just let Barbara Boxer keep calling for impeachment.”

So, if one follows that logic out, the question is presented, “did Rove actually provide (or, more likely, instruct another Libby-esce underling to provide) the original leak?”

Well, for anyone short of the most raving Jackass Party partisans, it may be tough to believe that anyone in the White House would give up highly classified national defense information for political gain. However, we must take into account that we are up against a clever and nimble enemy, and any intelligence program instituted 4 years ago might not be effective today. If that is the case – if the unwarranted NSA wiretaps were no longer delivering much, if any, valuable information (something quite plausible if one is to believe, as most pundits claim, that Al Qeada no longer exists as a cohesive organization) – it becomes conceivable that a leak of the program’s existence could become a viable political tool.

Jackson Lee Jumps The Shark

20. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Politics, Stupidity

I have never had much respect for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D. TX). But, on today’s Kudlow & Co. on CNBC, she surpassed even her own level of idiocy: On the economy, it was just her whole stock monotone – “the only ones to benefit are the top 1%.” So Sheila, do I take it all the new jobs that have been created are for CEOs?

But then the discussion turned to the domestic (actually domestic/foreign) communications spying kerfuffle. And she issued a demand the Bush administration SHOULD RELEASE THE NAMES OF EVERY TARGET OF THE PROGRAM! It took me a minute to scrape my jaw off the floor after hearing this. As if our national security hasn’t been damaged enough already – let’s just compromise everything. What does she think this is, an Easter egg hunt?

Patriot Act Extension Defeated – For Now

16. December 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Drug Prohibition, GWOT, Politics

In case you haven’t heard, the cloture vote, to close filibuster in the Senate, on the Patriot Act extension, went down – getting only 52 yeas with 60 required.

I will have to take a look at the actual text of the bill currently on the Senate floor to make a definitive judgement. But my initial reaction to this is positive, as most of what Congress does is pure mischief. But, in this case, as Orin Kerr at Volokh points out, much of this bill (at least at the instant he reviewed it) pulls back the iron hand of government:

For those of us who think of the Patriot Act as actual legislation rather than a symbol of the Bush Administration, this is rather puzzling stuff. The dirty little secret about the Patriot Act is that only about 3% of the Act is controversial, and only about a third of that 3% is going to expire on December 31st. Further, much of the reauthorization actually puts new limits on a number of the controversial non-sunsetting provisions, and some of the sunsetting provisions increased privacy protections. As a result, it’s not immediately obvious to me whether we’ll have greater civil liberties on January 1, 2006 if the Patriot Act is reauthorized or if it is allowed to expire. (To be fair, though, I’d have to run through the effect of every expiring section and all of the reauthorization language to check this – maybe I would feel differently if I did.)

Well, perhaps that’s good – if that’s actually what happens. My greatest problem with the Patriot Act is with its potential for abuse. But I must admit, actual abuses have been rather rare. But they have not been non-existent.

Necessary Clarification

30. November 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Iraq, Military, Politics

The White House has issued this paper on our strategy in Iraq, which the President’s speech today tracked. Glenn Reynolds reminds us of Steven Den Beste’s seminal post from two years ago, and links to TigerHawk, who has been keeping the flame alive.

What I’m not seeing, however, is some tie-in between achievement of objectives and redeployment of troops.

Spirit of America Continues Holiday Drive

28. November 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: Ain't That America?, GWOT, Iraq: The Good

Spirit of America has launched a fundraising campaign that began last week and will run through the end of this year. Bloggers have joined together in the past to get the word out and this time we’re joined by Gen Tommy Franks and Senator John McCain.

Spirit of America’s mission is to extend the goodwill of the American people to assist those advancing freedom, democracy and peace abroad. We provide support to those on the front lines: American military and civilian personnel and people who call to Americans for help in their struggle for freedom and democracy.

Spirit of America is a 501c3 nonprofit supported solely through private-sector contributions. We do not receive funding from the government or military. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible.

Please check out the videos and and the website and see if you can’t help our folks in Iraq and Afghanistan show the people there the true spirit of the American people. You generosity can make a world of difference.

Terrorists Using Booby-Trapped Toys

28. November 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Iraq

This from South Africa’s News24.com:

Baghdad – The Iraqi army said on Thursday it had seized a number of booby-trapped children’s dolls, accusing insurgents of using the explosive-filled toys to target children.

The dolls were found in a car, each one containing a grenade or other explosive, said an army statement.

The government said that two men driving the car had been arrested in the western Baghdad district of Abu Ghraib.

“This is the same type of doll as that handed out on several occasions by US soldiers to children,” said government spokesperson Leith Kubba.

Pentagon Way Ahead Of Congressional Dems On Drawdowns

28. November 2005 · Comments Off · Categories: GWOT, Iraq, Military, Politics

I don’t generally get around to WestHawk; this is from three weeks ago:

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Defense announced its troop rotation plan for Iraq for mid 2006. Only six Army brigades have been given warning orders for deployment to Iraq in mid 2006 (and only one of these six brigades is from the National Guard). In addition to these Army units, the Marine Corps will continue to support two regimental combat teams (equivalent to a brigade) in Iraq.

This winter and spring there will be 15-17 U.S. brigades in Iraq, including the 4-brigade strong 101st Airborne and 4th Infantry Divisions, 2 brigade-equivalents from the Marine Corps, and a variety of independent brigades (Stryker, armored cavalry regiment, etc.).

Thus, yesterday’s Defense Department announcement is a planned halving in U.S. maneuver units in Iraq between winter and summer.

Read the whole thing.

Hat Tip: Donald Sensing, who cites this as further proof that the Jackasses’ demands for Iraq drawdowns are nothing more than politics.

The Daily Brief