Winning The Media Battle

28. November 2005 · Comments Off on Winning The Media Battle · Categories: GWOT, Iraq, Military

This from Mark Sappenfield at CSM:

BROOK PARK, OHIO – Cpl. Stan Mayer has seen the worst of war. In the leaves of his photo album, there are casual memorials to the cost of the Iraq conflict – candid portraits of friends who never came home and graphic pictures of how insurgent bombs have shredded steel and bone.

Yet the Iraq of Corporal Mayer’s memory is not solely a place of death and loss. It is also a place of hope. It is the hope of the town of Hit, which he saw transform from an insurgent stronghold to a place where kids played on Marine trucks. It is the hope of villagers who whispered where roadside bombs were hidden. But most of all, it is the hope he saw in a young Iraqi girl who loved pens and Oreo cookies.

Like many soldiers and marines returning from Iraq, Mayer looks at the bleak portrayal of the war at home with perplexity – if not annoyance. It is a perception gap that has put the military and media at odds, as troops complain that the media care only about death tolls, while the media counter that their job is to look at the broader picture, not through the soda straw of troops’ individual experiences.

Yet as perceptions about Iraq have neared a tipping point in Congress, some soldiers and marines worry that their own stories are being lost in the cacophony of terror and fear. They acknowledge that their experience is just that – one person’s experience in one corner of a war-torn country. Yet amid the terrible scenes of reckless hate and lives lost, many members of one of the hardest-hit units insist that they saw at least the spark of progress.

Of course, The Christian Science Monitor isn’t The New York Times. But it’s a start.

I’m confident that it won’t take much to overcome the liberal “quagmire” meme, as it is, and always has been, written on tissue paper. Further, the American people have never shied away from sacrificing blood and treasure in the name of liberty – so long as they can be assured that progress is being made. Indeed, had those 2,100 lives been lost on the initial push to Baghdad, we still would have reveled at how “easily” we had accomplished the initial mission. It’s been the daily trickle of death – with no reported signs of progress – which has demoralized the general public.

Hat Tip: InstaPundit

Is The Fourth Circuit A Constitution-Free Zone?

23. November 2005 · Comments Off on Is The Fourth Circuit A Constitution-Free Zone? · Categories: General, GWOT

Relative to Jose Padilla’s indictment today, Jack M. Balkin at Balkinization has a cautionary post on the future:

The Padilla case is a sobering lesson in how much leeway the President has to imprison and detain people for long periods of time in violation of the Constitution. The fact that the government’s story about why Padilla was a threat has changed so frequently should give us pause the next time the government asserts that we should trust it when it rounds up U.S. citizens and claims the right to hold them indefinitely for our protection. Padilla may well be a very bad fellow, but we have a method of dealing with such bad fellows. It is called the rule of law, and we should not surrender it so readily merely because the President desires it.

Congress has had plenty of time (really, since 1861) to provide for a court system that will protect our rights while still furthering national security.

Among Those at War, Morale Remains Strong, for Now

21. November 2005 · Comments Off on Among Those at War, Morale Remains Strong, for Now · Categories: GWOT, Iraq, Military

This from Tom Shanker at the NYTimes:

But in interviews conducted by The New York Times in recent months with more than 200 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines stationed around the world, the sense emerged that the war had not broken the military – but that civilian leaders should not think for a moment that that could not happen.

[…]

While an overwhelming majority of those interviewed said their units had high morale and understood their mission, they expressed frustrations about long and repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Those deployments present the most significant problem for these troops, who were interviewed during a military correspondent’s travels in the war zone and around the world.

Even among those who have done tours in Iraq, most soldiers who were interviewed said they were willing to wait and see, at least through another yearlong rotation, before passing judgment. The December vote on a new Iraqi government and efforts to train local security forces offer at least the prospect of reductions in the American force by next summer.

But few wanted to talk about what would happen if, come next year or especially the year beyond, the military commitment to Iraq remained undiminished.

A growing percentage of ground troops are in Iraq or Afghanistan for a second or third tour. The Third Infantry Division, which led the drive to Baghdad in 2003, returned to Iraq this year with 65 percent of its troops having served previous tours.

Many of those returning to the combat zone said the latest tours were different. Bases in Iraq and Afghanistan show the money spent on infrastructure and recreation facilities. The hot food, air-conditioning, Internet facilities and giant gymnasium offered at major bases bolster morale in ways that may not be wholly understood by someone who has not just come off a dusty, dangerous patrol.

[…]

One indicator that military morale remains strong is the numbers of those who re-enlist while deployed.

“Our retention numbers are so high that it’s almost bizarre,” Rear Adm. Pete Daly, commander of Carrier Strike Group 11, said aboard the Nimitz while under way in the Persian Gulf.

Perhaps it is because, as many service members said, decisions about whether to continue with the military life are made not on the basis of what Congress or the president says, but out of the bond of loyalty they have come to share with their comrades in arms.

That does not help the military much when it comes to attracting new recruits. Troublesome questions about the cause in Iraq may be felt more severely among would-be troops than among those already in the military.

Many in uniform say it is the job of the nation’s political leaders to communicate the importance of the mission and the need for national sacrifice to a new generation of soldiers.

And then we have moonbats like this, condemning us for building “permanent” facilities in Iraq – with the obligatory PNAC reference. (Scroll down for my response.)

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

20. November 2005 · Comments Off on Keep Your Fingers Crossed · Categories: GWOT, Iraq

This from The Age:

US forces have sealed off a house in the northern city of Mosul where eight suspected al-Qaeda members died in a gunfight – some by their own hand to avoid capture.

A US official said that efforts were under way to determine if terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was among the dead.

[…]

American soldiers maintained control of the site, imposing extraordinary security measures, a day after a fierce gunbattle that broke out when Iraqi police and US soldiers surrounded a house after reports that al-Qaeda in Iraq members were inside.

Three insurgents detonated explosives and killed themselves to avoid capture, Iraqi officials said. Eleven Americans were wounded, according to the US military.

Update: White House spokesman Trent Duffy: “‘highly unlikely, not credible.”

This Begs Further Investigation

19. November 2005 · Comments Off on This Begs Further Investigation · Categories: GWOT, Military

I’m still trying to make sense ot this story from the Charlotte Observer:

A majority of current and former military members surveyed this week in North Carolina disagree with how President Bush is handling the war in Iraq, according to a poll released Friday.

More than 56 percent of military members surveyed in an Elon University poll said they disapprove or strongly disapprove with how the president is running the war.

Nearly 53 percent disapprove or strongly disapprove of Bush’s overall job performance.

The results are startling because military members almost always overwhelmingly support wars and the president, said poll director Hunter Bacot.

“Members of military are mirroring the general public’s” attitude toward the war, he said. “That is very telling.”

[…]

War and N.C. Military

An Elon University telephone survey taken this week asked 80 current and former military if the war in Iraq was worth fighting. Here are the results:

Not worth it 28.8 percent (23)

Worth it 18.8 percent (15)

Don’t know 51.3 percent (41)

Refused to answer 1.3 percent (1)

Watch ‘Em Squirm!

18. November 2005 · Comments Off on Watch ‘Em Squirm! · Categories: Ain't That America?, GWOT, Iraq, Military, War

After Rep. Jack Murtha’s (D-PA) explosive comment yesterday that we cut and run, exiting Iraq immediately and surrendering a la Francaise, the US House is this afternoon in the midst of really heated argument. The reason, is that Republicans, wishing to get on the public record just exactly how these folks feel about this, have scheduled a vote for this evening on the question: “Do we terminate the war immediately and recall our troops from Iraq without delay, or do we press on to victory?”

This is one day that I have found real enjoyment in watching C-Span. Republicans are pressing their case, and Democrats are squirming and squealing like the greased pig at the picnic. Of course, aside from Charlie Rangel and a few others who simply don’t care what the American public thinks, no one in his or her right mind wants the American public to know that they want us to surrender the war on terror. No way are these leftist cowards going to vote publicly to just give up and surrender to the islamofascists. This is going to be fun to watch as the evening comes on. I predict a rout in favor of continuing on to total victory.

UPDATE: At nearly midnight, voting in the House is imminent. I have heard many speeches, some bloviating, some with their chests poked out, promoting themselves. But there have been some who have spoken who should be listened to. For instance, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), who was a POW in Vietnam for seven years. When we left him in the Hanoi prison and left our comrades in Vietnam, he was horrified to think that his country had forgotten him and left him and the other POW’s to their fate, abandoned. What a sad chapter in our national history. I hope sincerely that we do not repeat this mistake again. Others who spoke and clearly do not support our troops nearly made me weep for their errors of judgement.

The vote is in progress now, clearly defeated, with something like 3 votes in favor of cutting and running. Those who so voted should be turned out of the house by their constituents, as they do not deserve the office they hold.

There certainly are some things that need to be changed in this war. First, the Pentagon needs to recognize that we need about 40% more troops in the region, a move that would certainly, I believe, shorten our need to be there. Second, we do need the Administration to be more forthcoming in what our plan for victory is. Someone needs to get the MSM to be more balanced in their reporting of what is going on over there, and I would throw out the suggestion that a very loud and strong boycott of the left-leaning, defeatist and one-sided media organizations may be effective. These are only a couple of suggestions intended to get the reader into the thinking mode, Perhaps some of our readers have more suggestions, better ones than I propose, and my intent here is to get you involved and to tell us what you think. Simply commenting to shoot this post in the foot is not productive, and personal attacks on anyone have no place here. Come on, folks. What do you think?

With no time left remaining on the vote, the totals right now are:
In favor of surrender, 3. In favor of staying to victory, 403. Members who did not vote numbered 22. No question where this is going, only three have put their career on the line by voting to cut and run, while the rest of the US House are telling us that they want to stay and finish the mission. Whether or not this is their real, heartfelt choice, we will see in the future what happens. Let’s see how the MSM spins this, and let’s add our voices to the House, in favor of victory.

Patriotic Vs. Unpatriotic Dissent

12. November 2005 · Comments Off on Patriotic Vs. Unpatriotic Dissent · Categories: GWOT, Iraq, Politics

A very well-written, and must-read, article at Tigerhawk:

Dissenters often (but not always) claim that they “support the troops.” Fairly or not, one often gets the impression that many of them do not really like soldiers and claim that they support them only as a political tactic, to avoid the backlash that followed the anti-war protests during Vietnam. Be that as it may, since our soldiers are fighting for the expressed purpose of preventing the enemy from achieving its victory conditions, it seems to me obvious that one cannot both advocate withdrawal and “support the troops,” at least in this superficial sense. “Supporting the troops” means nothing if it does not mean supporting their principal and motivating endeavor, which is to kill the enemy or otherwise deprive it of its capacity to fight. Advocates of early withdrawal do not “support the troops,” at least as long as most of the troops in question believe in their mission, which seems to be the case even today. Moreover, certain forms of dissent quite explicitly undermine the troops. For example, activists who seek to obstruct military recruitment raise the chances that any given soldier will have a longer tour in the Iraq theater. Preventing the replacement of a soldier is precisely the opposite of “supporting the troops”.

In any case, for a few people on the right the simple fact that anti-war dissent can help the enemy and undermine our soldiers is enough to destroy its legitimacy (it is actually very difficult to find examples of this point of view among influential serious people, but the left keeps claiming that the right says this, so let’s give the left the benefit of the doubt). They are wrong. The American system of government depends on open and public debate about policy. If some of that debate has the unintended consequence of giving hope to the enemy or demoralizing our soldiers, that is an acceptable price to pay. Our soldiers understand that the free society they defend exercises its freedom by arguing over the propriety and conduct of limited wars. They also understand that reasonable Americans can disagree about limited wars without being “unpatriotic,” even if their arguments inflict collateral damage on the war effort.

Read the whole thing

Hat Tip: InstaPundit

A Ray Of Light Through The Damnable Darkness

12. November 2005 · Comments Off on A Ray Of Light Through The Damnable Darkness · Categories: GWOT, Israel & Palestine

This from Scott Wilson at WaPo:

JENIN, West Bank — A photo of a slightly smiling Ahmed Khatib has joined the martyr posters on the walls of the refugee camp here. But the 12-year-old boy is shown cradling a guitar instead of the assault rifles brandished in the grim tributes around him. A large red question mark appears at the bottom.

“Why the Palestinian children are killed?” it asks in stilted English.


Ahmed Khatib

Ahmed Khatib, 12, was fatally shot by Israeli
soldiers on Nov. 3. (AP photo)


Ismail Khatib and his wife, Abla, have offered a response that has drawn praise from Israeli leaders and challenged Palestinians in this cramped refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli-Palestinian violence for years.

Ahmed, the couple’s son, was shot twice last week by Israeli soldiers in what the military said was a mistake made during the heat of street fighting near their house. The boy had been holding a toy gun. He died two days later in an Israeli hospital, and the Khatibs made the surprising choice of allowing his organs to be harvested for transplant to Israelis.

Six people, including five Israeli Jews, have received the boy’s heart, lungs, liver and kidneys since then. The recipients range from a 58-year-old woman to a 7-month-old girl, who died two days ago after failing to recover from surgery that gave her half of Ahmed’s liver. The rest are recovering.

I don’t think enough praise can be lavished on Ismail and Abla Khatib, for seeing past their own grief and the hatred teeming all around them.

Homeland Security = Gestapo

09. November 2005 · Comments Off on Homeland Security = Gestapo · Categories: General, GWOT

Here’s some major shark-jumping [emp. mine]:

Local Muslims yesterday reacted with sadness and outrage to a Department of Homeland Security official’s recent urging that they and Arab-Americans register with the federal government before flying, to reduce the chance their names are flagged as security risks.

[…]

But Gilbert Gordon, president of the Jerrahi Mosque in Chestnut Ridge, said any such program aimed at one specific group could be viewed as “an invasion of their privacy and an invasion of their civil liberty.”

[…]

Dobbs Ferry resident Salem Mikdadi, a board member of the Center for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Understanding in Irvington, took offense to the suggestion.

“I don’t want to be singled out as someone different. I am an American like everybody else and my faith is strictly personal,” said Mikdadi, a Muslim who came to the United States from the Palestinian territories 34 years ago. “Singling out individuals or groups of people and suggesting it’s a matter for their convenience to register, a lot of people might take offense.

[…]

“This is repugnant, objectionable and humiliating. These are Gestapo tactics,” said Dr. Shafi Bezar, chairman of the Westchester Muslim Center in Mount Vernon. “I would like to be safe when I travel, but not to this extent. This is insulting to target a particular group or particular religion.”

I guess we could implant them all with subcutaneous RFID tags.

Values Taught In French Schools

09. November 2005 · Comments Off on Values Taught In French Schools · Categories: European Disunion, GWOT

This from Dave Kopel at Volokh:

One textbook quotes with approval an article written in the run-up to the Iraq war, arguing for the urgency of containing American power, which imposes its will by force and is contemptuous of allies.

Also approvingly reprinted in a textbook is a student essay: Terrorism is a revolt against aggressors. As in France during the Nazi occupation, terrorism appears when a people suffer and have no other solution except explosives.

After the riots began, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy denounced the rioters as “racaille,” which translates as “rabble” or “scum,” depending on who is doing the translation. As the French begin to ponder how their nation came to be filled with a Fifth Column of Jew-hating, French-hating criminal scum, I hope that France re-examines its educational system which, by justifying terrorism against Americans and Israelis, appears to have taught principles that were readily usable to justify terrorism against the French themselves.

Read the whole thing.

Husaybah Has Been Cleared And Secured

08. November 2005 · Comments Off on Husaybah Has Been Cleared And Secured · Categories: GWOT, Iraq

Bill Roggio interviews Colonel Stephen W. Davis, the Commander of Marine Regimental Combat Team – 2:

Bill: What is the current status of Operation Steel Curtain?

Col Davis: Husaybah has been cleared and secured. Coalition forces are now conducting combat patrols. Construction is underway for basing of Iraqi and U.S. troops to maintain a permanent presence in the city, and provide security. We had a real good plan, but the execution was even better. I am pleased with the results of Operation Steel Curtain.

Read the whole thing.

Memo: Military Fact Checking

08. November 2005 · Comments Off on Memo: Military Fact Checking · Categories: General, GWOT, Iraq, Media Matters Not, Military

To: Major Media Orgs
From: Sgt Mom
Re: The Wonderful World of the Military

1. It looks like a number of otherwise reputable and professionally skeptical reporters and media outlets have been shown up… yet AGAIN as a bunch of gullible rubes, by a military veteran telling horrible stories of American-committed wartime atrocities. Well, at least, it was a real veteran this time, somewhat of an improvement as far as these things go. And this person was actually in the country, and in the neighborhood of the incidents which formed the initial inspiration of the atrocities to which he claimed to bear witness. But there were scads of other people there at the same time, none of whom seem to back up his soul-searing accounts of atrocities against Iraqi nationals.

2. This is an improvement, of a dubious sort, as far as telling improbable tales is concerned. In the immortal words of Pooh Bah, being at least verifiably in the right country, and at the right time can constitute “…corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.”

3. However, it seems you have not properly assimilated the point of my previous memo, on the subject of military fantasists. Your loss more than mine, I daresay. (And you have obviously not taken to heart the saying about “that, which is too good to be true, probably isn’t.”)

4. To reiterate my main point from my earlier memo: The life military is lived, perforce, cheek by jowl with others. Very little happens in the military world that is not witnessed by others, supported by others, planned by others, reported upon afterwards by others. Practically every significant event to which a military unit is party, amounts to a public forum. Given a specific unit, a specific location, and a specific date, there should rightfully be clouds of other witnesses, to such astonishing and horrific events. That no one else in SSgt. Massey’s unit, or reporters and photographers present at the time, will back his accounts of events speaks volumes. That it took a year for a news story concluding that such substantiation is conspicuously lacking speaks a whole library of them.

5. It would seem that there are indeed two classes of news story in this sad and wicked world. One sort of story is gone over exhaustively, researched extensively, picked apart down to the sub-atomic level, and every participant grilled slowly over an open fire and basted with a skeptical sauce. The other sort is a delicate and precious pearl, gently handled and buffed with flannel, lest it’s luster be dimmed. Frankly, I’d leave the second sort to the celebrity pages, and have the first sort applied equally across the board. At least then, journalism would stand a chance in recovering a portion of the respect in which it was formerly held.

6. Finally I would also be wary of any informant who claims to be a veteran… but says that his DD214 is either classified, or that the military authorities faked it to cover up what he was really doing. Really people— in the news business, skepticism is a virtue when applied across the board.

Sincerely
Sgt Mom

Paris Burns, All Europe At Risk

02. November 2005 · Comments Off on Paris Burns, All Europe At Risk · Categories: GWOT, World

Riots, by largely Islamic young people, in Paris, have spread dramatically:

Police have fought with protesters every night since last Thursday, when two teenagers were electrocuted after running into an electricity sub-station in the mistaken belief that they were being chased by the police. More than 150 fires have been reported, and tensions were increased after police fired tear gas into a mosque.

The battle to contain the riots, which have spread from the neighbourhood of Clichy-sous-Bois to nine other districts, has divided French opinion and M Chirac’s Cabinet.

Some observers feel a degree of sympathy with the protesters, many of whom are North African immigrants who live on dilapidated estates among endemic crime and unemployment.

Meanwhile, Francis Fukuyama at OpinionJournal, says this is the nature of European society:

We have tended to see jihadist terrorism as something produced in dysfunctional parts of the world, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan or the Middle East, and exported to Western countries. Protecting ourselves is a matter either of walling ourselves off, or, for the Bush administration, going “over there” and trying to fix the problem at its source by promoting democracy.

There is good reason for thinking, however, that a critical source of contemporary radical Islamism lies not in the Middle East, but in Western Europe. In addition to Bouyeri and the London bombers, the March 11 Madrid bombers and ringleaders of the September 11 attacks such as Mohamed Atta were radicalized in Europe. In the Netherlands, where upwards of 6% of the population is Muslim, there is plenty of radicalism despite the fact that Holland is both modern and democratic. And there exists no option for walling the Netherlands off from this problem.

The same is not true for a Muslim who lives as an immigrant in a suburb of Amsterdam or Paris. All of a sudden, your identity is up for grabs; you have seemingly infinite choices in deciding how far you want to try to integrate into the surrounding, non-Muslim society. In his book “Globalized Islam” (2004), the French scholar Olivier Roy argues persuasively that contemporary radicalism is precisely the product of the “deterritorialization” of Islam, which strips Muslim identity of all of the social supports it receives in a traditional Muslim society.

The identity problem is particularly severe for second- and third-generation children of immigrants. They grow up outside the traditional culture of their parents, but unlike most newcomers to the United States, few feel truly accepted by the surrounding society.

[…]

Since van Gogh’s murder, the Dutch have embarked on a vigorous and often impolitic debate on what it means to be Dutch, with some demanding of immigrants not just an ability to speak Dutch, but a detailed knowledge of Dutch history and culture that many Dutch people do not have themselves. But national identity has to be a source of inclusion, not exclusion; nor can it be based, contrary to the assertion of the gay Dutch politician Pym Fortuyn who was assassinated in 2003, on endless tolerance and valuelessness. The Dutch have at least broken through the stifling barrier of political correctness that has prevented most other European countries from even beginning a discussion of the interconnected issues of identity, culture and immigration. But getting the national identity question right is a delicate and elusive task.
Many Europeans assert that the American melting pot cannot be transported to European soil. Identity there remains rooted in blood, soil and ancient shared memory. This may be true, but if so, democracy in Europe will be in big trouble in the future as Muslims become an ever larger percentage of the population. And since Europe is today one of the main battlegrounds of the war on terrorism, this reality will matter for the rest of us as well.

While, short term, the hemorrhaging must be controlled, police-state tactics will prove to be counter-productive in the long run. Fundamental changes – to usher Muslim immigrants into the greater society – are in order.

Provocative Quote (051020)

20. October 2005 · Comments Off on Provocative Quote (051020) · Categories: GWOT

Beautiful Wife heard/read this one recently, she can’t remember where exactly so if you know, please let me know in the comments.

“The only thing Americans are willing to sacrifice for the War On Terror is their military, and they’re already tired of that.”

I’m just going to ask for your thoughts on this.

The Palestinian Civil War

14. October 2005 · Comments Off on The Palestinian Civil War · Categories: GWOT, World

This from Ha’aretz, via OpinionJournal’s Best of the Web:

In the report, the Palestinian Authority’s Interior Ministry cited 219 deaths as a result of inner-Palestinian violence compared to 218 deaths at the hands of Israeli security forces over the course of the first nine months of this year. The statistics reflect the relative calm in the territories vis-a-vis Israel as well as the increasing anarchy in PA-controlled areas.

As I have previously stated, I believe the Sharon administration expected this prior to their turn-over of Gaza. This is strong evidence of Palestinian incapacity for self-government.

But, beyond that, like al-Qeada, and the general Islamic Fundamentalist movement itself, this is an indicator of Islamic society’s internal collapse. It is important that we in the First World frame our philosophical thinking, vis-a-vis the GWOT, to this reference, moreso than simply a lashing-out against us.

But, more specifically, we in the United States must keep this in mind, as we endeavor to gently guide Iraq towards the establishment of a liberal democracy.

Five Years Ago Today

12. October 2005 · Comments Off on Five Years Ago Today · Categories: GWOT

Remember the Cole.

Wait-a-Minute (051007) Part II

07. October 2005 · Comments Off on Wait-a-Minute (051007) Part II · Categories: GWOT

With all the attention on the New York City Subway today, I sure hope Chicago and other cities with subways are looking at their own stuff. Can anyone say “classic misdirection?”

Senate Approves Detainee Treatment Rules

06. October 2005 · Comments Off on Senate Approves Detainee Treatment Rules · Categories: GWOT

I’m all for this:

The Republican-majority Senate followed the lead of maverick Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., voting 90-9 to add the anti-torture language to a $440 billion military spending bill that President Bush has threatened to veto if the anti-torture language is included. All but nine of the Senate’s 55 Republicans joined 43 Democrats and one independent in supporting the measure.

Yeah, I know, we’re dealing with terrorists who don’t think or act like we do, so…blah-blah-blah. That’s the point. We’re Americans and we don’t do that shit. We’re better than that.

To me this is an absolute no-brainer and the fact that the President has threatened to veto this completely blows my image of him. He may not be perfect, but I’ve always believed him to be a man of some honor and character.

Cruel and unusual punishment was one of those things that we gave the finger to England for a couple hundred years ago. And we’ve got a sitting President who won’t sign a bill banning our own use of it?

What the hell are we fighting for again? What ideals are we trying to spread? Come ON!

If we change who we are for these chucklefuck terrorists then they win. Leave the black ops bullshit to the operators ‘k? Everyday Marines, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen should know exactly what’s expected of them when they’re holding prisoners.

Milblogging goes mainstream

04. October 2005 · Comments Off on Milblogging goes mainstream · Categories: A Href, General, GWOT

Blackfive has the go-ahead from Simon & Schuster to edit a compilation of milblogs from OIF. Read all about it on his site. LT Smash will be one of the contributors.

Blackfive says, in part:

While I have already been in contact with about 30 MilBloggers, I could use your help. This is your opportunity to influence the content of a book – what posts would you like to see in a book (on the history) of our soldiers in the War on Terror?

Please either email me suggestions or put a link (if use http:// with the URL, the link will be live) in the Comments of the best Military Blog posts that you have read.

As editor, I’m looking at a wide range of experiences – Saying Goodbye (from deciding to serve in the military to leaving loved ones behind), Combat, the Weight of Command, the Fallen, Homefront (spouse and parent blogs), Humor, Time Off, and Coming Home.

And, as always, thank you for supporting and visiting MilBlogs. This is happening, quite frankly, because of all of you.

Personally, I’d like to see Capt Patti included in there, and Sgt Hook.

Hat tip to the Indepundit

Reporter Links Saddam to 9/11 – via OKC

29. September 2005 · Comments Off on Reporter Links Saddam to 9/11 – via OKC · Categories: GWOT, Iraq

Mark Tapscott blogs an extended summary by Oklahoma City reporter Jayne Davis, of her book, The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing:

“I later learned that during this same time frame, Al-Hussaini was residing with two former Iraqi Gulf War veterans who provided food-catering services to the commercial airlines at the Boston airport. In the wake of the suicide hijackings of 2001, law enforcement speculated that food services workers might have planted box cutters aboard the doomed flights.

“Hussain Al-Hussaini’s uncanny foreknowledge of a possible dire event slated to take place at Boston Logan Airport, the point of origin for Al-Qaeda’s murderous rampage of 2001, just grazes the surface of the disturbing nexus I have uncovered between 4-19 and 9-11. Was the Oklahoma bombing the silver bullet that could have prevented Black Tuesday?

[…]

“The Oklahoma City bombing, if orchestrated by an Iraqi/Al-Qaeda hit squad, certainly provides a salient rationale for war. How many more Americans would have been marked for death had the United States military not invaded Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein, a bloodthirsty broker of terror?

“The fallen heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom did not die in vain to end the proliferation of phantom weapons of mass destruction, but died to prevent another horrifying replay of April 19 and September 11.”

Read the whole thing.

Hat Tip: Our own APV

Why We Fight: New Version

28. September 2005 · Comments Off on Why We Fight: New Version · Categories: General, GWOT, History, Media Matters Not, War

To: Karen Hughes
From: Sgt. Mom
Re: The Modern Version of “Why We Fight”

1. It is a pity that explaining ourselves to the outside world in this current war has to be left to the government, but there you go. You fight the war with what you have, not what you wish you had. Hollywood this time is too incestuously self-involved, too out of touch with everything outside it’s tight little bicoastal enclaves of wealth, ease, and depravity to bother much with the rubes of flyover country – and too afraid, al la Rushdie and van Gogh, to risk a fatwa, a knife in a public street, a car bomb in Morton’s, or a representative from CAIR parked in their outer office. Pity about that— and a pretty sorry showing on the part of those who usually preen themselves on their audacity in “speaking truth to power.” It all depends on the power addressed, I guess.

2. I also gather that Charlotte Beers’ “softly, softly” series of advertisements featuring American Muslims singing the joys of life in the good old US of A went over like the proverbial lead balloon in the Muslim world. Well, if they were anything like the spots that used to air on AFRTS which expanded upon the joys of living in the country we served— well, we were left pretty much rolling our eyes and heading for the latrine, so I can’t see that Ms. Beers whould have been surprised. It’s a tough audience, which requires a tough sell. At this point, it may be necessary to take off the tidy white Madison Avenue gloves, and punch from the gut. Hard.

3. Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” series, from the Second World War might prove to be an instructive guide, editing together our enemies’ propaganda and newsreel film— turning their own words, deeds— and by implication their own hypocrisies against them, giving an audience an unvarnished look at the intentions and actions of our enemies. Skip the pretty pictures of nice American Moslems in their suburban 2-car garage lives; go straight to the point, and turn the video images of the Islamic Jihad, of Al Jazeera, and the Al-Quada websites right back at the Moslem world in every gory, stomach-churning detail.

4. Show the head-choppings, the murders and the executions, with blade and stone and shot to the head— of Moslems and Westerners alike. Show the jihadis blowing up busloads of schoolchildren and murdering election workers. Show them shouting “Allah Akbar!” as they saw the heads off live people, replay their every murder, boast and claim of responsibility- and give the credit for the source of the video. Show the video of Osama chuckling to his guests as he describes how the Towers collapsed. Include the ferocious, hate-filled rants of those bearded, spittle-beflecked Imams – those in the mosques of the West and the East, too; all those who don’t think anyone but their own congregations are listening.

5. Show too, the aftermath of their work— again, giving credit to the TV media of the Moslem world; show the blood, the body parts strewn all over, the wrecked lives of innocents. Show it all, and choke with blood and shame, anyone who still will try and claim that this version of Islam is a religion of peace. Show every instance of Islamic terrorism’s lies, hypocrisy, and bloodshed – especially the blood shed amongst Moslems by their coreligionists…

6. And finally, show us and the Islamic world as a footnote, the remains of dead jihadis, bits and pieces of their gruesome dead bodies, all mixed in with bits of metal from suicide bombs, dead in the dirt like so much garbage, or shot down like a dog by an American sniper. . . Show how clear and inglorious is the modern jihad, shoveled into an unmarked, un-mourned grave. Throw it all back in their faces— credited, and exhaustively footnoted— every ugly boast, word and deed.

7. Considering that most of the nastier stuff has been common video currency in the radical Islamic world, this might accomplish nothing more than a sort of “greatest jihad hits” highlights video – but it might also grab the attention of that so greatly hoped-for moderate Moslem demographic; those that might be greatly horrified about what has been perpetrated in their name and to their alleged benefit. And of course, the mainstream media-consuming American audience might also be enlightened.

8. At least, think about this public affairs outreach option. It’s not like there’s anything worse that hasn’t been done already.

Sincerely
Sgt Mom

War Protests

25. September 2005 · Comments Off on War Protests · Categories: GWOT

I can’t tell you how it feels to see someone protesting the war you’re fighting. I didn’t like seeing it during Desert Storm and I’m betting the folks over there now aren’t too thrilled either.

All I know is that it sucks right up there with finding out your best friend is dating your girlfriend.

It’s betrayal on a level that chokes your heart.

When are these assholes going to get it through their heads that when they protest the war it hurts the warriors? When will they figure out that protesting the war, only makes the enemy that much more sure of their cause and increases their morale while it weakens ours?

Perhaps We’ve Won The GWOT

20. September 2005 · Comments Off on Perhaps We’ve Won The GWOT · Categories: GWOT, Iraq, Stupidity

By order of Congress, the FBI has placed high priority on fighting adult pronographers:

Either the FBI has too much money, or the government’s priorities are screwed up, or both. If there’s another terror attack in America, how will Gonzalez and Mueller justify this? Maybe by blaming Congress: “Congress began funding the obscenity initiative in fiscal 2005 and specified that the FBI must devote 10 agents to adult pornography.”

This story is actually a few weeks old. It just comes to the fore now, as growing numbers of Americans support reduced funding for the real war, in Iraq, to make more money available for Katrina recovery:

Anniversary Meditation: Oceana, Eurasia

11. September 2005 · Comments Off on Anniversary Meditation: Oceana, Eurasia · Categories: General, GWOT, History

So the anniversary rolls around again, fainter yet and fainter as we put distance between ourselves, and a brilliant September day. A work-day then, a Sunday now, but still the great crack across our world-view, our basic assumptions, and for the families of some 3,000 a great jagged break in their lives. People set off for work, or to Disneyland, or headed home… grabbing a last cup of coffee, stuffing things into briefcases, focused on a day of travel, or at their desk, teleconferencing, checking out a suspected gas leak in the street, or pretending to pay attention to a cabin attendant going through the required safety brief. They were setting appointments, eating breakfast at their desk on the 102nd floor… and then the day stopped being ordinary, and everyone remembers where they were, and what they were doing.

Of course, some of us caught on faster than others; at mid-afternoon on the 11th, I was gently trying to explain to my employer why no one wanted to take calls, or come into the office to talk about their invention, that this whole planes-crashing-into-the-WTC-and-Pentagon thing was huge, unimaginably huge, and the repercussions would be enormous, and unforeseeable. (One of them being eventually the death of the enterprise I was employed by, but that is another story.) The planes being grounded— that’s what brought it home to him. The office in the Mercantile building had a gorgeous, unobstructed of downtown San Antonio, and the final flight-path of airliners coming in for a landing at the airport, sliding past our windows like beads on a string every few minutes… and then the sky was empty, and things were never quite the same again.

Reactions to 9/11 varied according to an infinite number of variables; how close to New York or the Pentagon, how connected to financial markets, or the media, or emergency services, or what kind of interest one had in politics, history, military, current events… but not always predictably. A fair number of people who had always been comfortably settled somewhere along the liberal segment along the range of political thought suddenly discovered their inner Jacksonian, moving abruptly and sometimes painfully into the conservative segment. Others, including many public intellectuals, moved farther along the range, and not a few toppled off the edge entirely… either that, or the spectrum itself lurched in the Jacksonian direction, leaving some like Lewis Lapham and Gore Vidal hanging from their fingertips and bleating about their own relevancy. And a clown like Ward Churchill could, thanks to weblogs and the internet, suddenly become all the more visible, and considerably less amusing to a national audience. The main-line news sources; newspapers, television, radio— they all have been stirred up, shaken out, questioned and dissected mercilessly by bloggers over the last four years, and in a couple of cases, actually driven to cover stories that ordinarily would have been passed over as irrelevant.

But it has been four years since that Tuesday morning. Children who were babies on that day are starting kindergarten this month. Children who were in the first or second grade that day, barely aware of anything more complicated than the alphabet, are on the verge of being teenagers in a world where the towers have never been, save in movies and history lessons. The reality of them, the solidity of steel and concrete fades and dissipates like smoke, shock and grief overlaid with time and the business of living in the world day to day. It is just something that has always been, and will go on for the forseeable future.

Indeed, the edges of my own memories are now blurred around the edges: in the last four years, my daughter deployed to the Middle East twice, my parents’ house burned to the ground, I have repainted and rehabbed my own kitchen, and gone to other employment , and taken over management of this weblog. We have gone through a bruising presidential election and a war on two fronts, we continue to face the threat of terrorism by international Islamic radical elements, and a slew of rotten Hollywood movies based on comic books and old TV shows. We have seen revolution in Lebanon, a tsunami in Thailand and Indonesia, terrorism in Bali, Beslan and London… and a hurricane wrecking one of our major cities and a swath of coastal lowlands the size of most European countries. Yes, the world does move on…

But today, we remember.

Memo: The Day After

22. August 2005 · Comments Off on Memo: The Day After · Categories: General, GWOT, History, Rant, sarcasm

To: Ms Sheehan and Friends
From: Sgt Mom
Re: Thinking Ahead

1. It seems that there are a lot of you out there with an enormous, throbbing hard-on to recreate those golden days of yore, those glorious patchouli-scented, Ho-Ho-Ho-Chi-Min chanting, drug-addled, socially-conscious days of freewheeling protests, days of rage and nights of long-haired hippy chicks getting it on with equally long-haired, sensitive draft-dodging musicians. OK, fine, everyone needs a hobby, but most people that in love with the past eventually hook up with a re-enactors group.

2. I will, however, accept that you mean well, and are acting from the best of intentions, but cannot help recalling the proverbial paving materiel of the access route to the infernal regions.

3. Should you be successful in infantilizing our volunteer military, and returning them from Afghanistan and Iraq to the bosoms of their families, from whence they were ripped by the brutal, unfeeling minions of the BushhitlerchimpAshKKKroftEvilOverlordRove conspiracy, repercussions in Afghanistan and Iraq will in all likelihood mirror those events which followed upon withdrawal of American troops and American support from South Vietnam.

4. In the interests of effective long-term planning, I urge that consideration of a refugee resettlement project become part of your “bring the troops home” campaign.

5. A comprehensive listing of those Iraqi and Afghan citizens who would be most endangered by an American withdrawal should be drawn up, to include (but not limited to) members of the current government, members of the military and police, the intelligentsia, minority clergy, employees of the American military and civil establishment, and their families. While the actual evacuation plan would be contingent upon actual events, and would probably fall to our military in any case, consideration should be made of where to position the initial reception camp. Ideally, it should be in-theater, situated in the territory of a friendly country.

6. Your input is also solicited on where to site the main refugee camps within CONUS, and on the processes for resettling families permanently in cities and towns across the USA— ideally in locations which as of this date, do not have good Persian or Afghan restaurants. Volunteers will be needed both at the grass-roots level, and to lobby Congress to set aside the funds for a refugee resettlement effort. This is a responsibility which should not be shirked, although it probably will, if past performance is any indication. At least you can say afterward that you tried.

7. Finally, if it is all about the $#%*#@!! oil, why did I just pay 2.53 a gallon for mid-grade last week, when I filled the tank of the VEV?

Sincerely
Sgt Mom

Special Ops Global Counter-Terrorism Battleplan

13. August 2005 · Comments Off on Special Ops Global Counter-Terrorism Battleplan · Categories: GWOT

This from Rowan Scarborough at WaTimes:

U.S. Special Operations Command has drafted a war plan that sets up procedures for how its commandos will work with other regional commands across the globe to hunt for senior Islamic terrorists.

The complex plan from SoCom in Tampa, Fla., has been in the works since summer 2002, when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed a secret directive authorizing it. His memo directed SoCom to come up with a plan for dispatching special operations forces on quick notice to virtually any spot in the world to kill or capture terrorists.

The Washington Times learned of the developing plan this week from defense sources, who said it is encountering resistance from some regional headquarters that object to SoCom operating autonomously in their territory. The plan has yet to be presented to Mr. Rumsfeld.

[…]

In early 2003, Mr. Rumsfeld elevated SoCom to a status equal to war-fighting commands, such as Central Command, which plan their own battles and executions. Until then, SoCom had only supported war-fighting commands. He also designated SoCom as the global command in the war on Islamic terrorists.

Frankly, I’m rather amazed in that this was so long in coming.

Hat Tip: LGF

Memo:Lamestream Media

08. August 2005 · Comments Off on Memo:Lamestream Media · Categories: General, GWOT, Media Matters Not, Military, Rant, War

To: Damian Cave, @ The New York Times
From: Sgt Mom
Re: Some Cheese with that Whine

1. So you are baffled, baffled, I say by the lack of coverage in the major media, to the stories of heroism in Irag and Afghanistan, and wonder disingenuously as to why the names of SFC Paul Smith, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester and Sgt. Rafael Peralta are not right up there in the consciousness of the nation as heroes, heroes on par with Audie Murphy and Alvin York. (My comparison, not yours. Audie Murphy and Alvin York were… oh, never mind. Use a search engine, or read some history books.) Such is your supple intellect and grasp of the obvious that you manage fix the blame anywhere but with your own media culture. “…The military, the White House and the culture at large have not publicized their actions with the zeal that was lavished on the heroes of World War I and World War II.”

2. Myself, I grasp the fact that the cluebirds are over your position, but at a very great height. I will do what I can, to bring certain realities within your reach. First, I suggest that you walk out of your office, leave the building, and stand on the sidewalk outside, and look back. (I assume of course, that you are a full-time employee of the paper of record. If you are a free-lancer, skip this paragraph.) Somewhere on the building you have just departed should be the inscription or legend, “New York Times.” Yes, Mr. Cave, you work for a newspaper, a fairly major national newspaper, as it turns out. I would suggest, if you wish an answer to your question as to why there is no attention paid to the heroes of this war, you first ask them of your co-workers at the Times.

3. And it’s not as if the stories have not been told: you know that mouse-clicky thing, to the side of the keyboard in front of the oddly-television appearing monitor on your desk? The stories are there, Mr. Cave, on the milblogs such as this, on Mudville Gazette (among hundreds of others), on various DOD websites, and at military press briefings. It’s called investigative reporting— remember when they covered that at j-school? Other newspapers can manage it, mostly papers in markets located close to military bases. Military bases… you know, those federal reserves, out in the sticks, full of noisy tanks and airplanes and things, and people with very short haircuts and a tendency to all wear the same sort of clothes? All these places have a little office on it someplace, called the Public Affairs office. They’d love to hear from you some time, tell you all about heroes and anything else about their personnel that you’d like to hear. Give them a jingle, they’re in the book.

4. And you expect to be spoon-fed by the White House, or the military, or whomever, about the heroes of this war? You want it tied up in a nice pink bow, or something, after three years of pretty much ignoring anything but the ever-floggable dead horse of Abu Ghraib/Guantanamo. Well, there is no contenting some people. Just do your job, instead of blaming everyone else. Pick up the phone, click on the mouse. I swear, when you go to the men’s room, do you have to have someone else hold your…. Oh, never mind, that’s a question to which I really don’t want an answer.

5. Just do your job. And stop whining.

Sincerely
Sgt Mom

(Correction pointed out by Byna… I should not do rants when I am cooking dinner at the same time, from an unfamiliar recipe!)

Update: Full-frontal evisceration of Mr. Cave is here, and a gallery of heroes here.

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