A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Little Relief on Ward 53 - On the military plane that crossed the ocean at night, the wounded lay in stretchers stacked three high. The drone of engines was broken by the occasional sound of moaning. Sedated and sleeping, Pfc. Joshua Calloway was at the top of one stack last September. (READ MORE)
Kabul Blast Shows Taliban Capability - Since winter, the Taliban had been promising a spring offensive. It didn't come. Instead, NATO and U.S. forces have pounded the group's positions and killed its senior leadership. (READ MORE)
Congress Seeks New Direction for Nuclear Strategy - Congress is moving to change the direction of the Bush administration's nuclear weapons program by demanding the development of a comprehensive post-Sept. 11, 2001, nuclear strategy before it approves funding a new generation of warheads. (READ MORE)
Petraeus: Iraq 'Challenges' to Last for Years - Conditions in Iraq will not improve sufficiently by September to justify a drawdown of U.S. military forces, the top commander in Iraq said yesterday. (READ MORE)
Abbas forms Cabinet free of Hamas - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas swore in an emergency Cabinet free of Hamas members yesterday, prompting an immediate promise that the new government will have the "full support" of the U.S. government. (READ MORE)
Democratic Congress shows cracks - Republican campaign strategists and independent election analysts say that after five months of contentious House Democratic rule, the Republican Party's once-bleak congressional prospects for 2008 have markedly improved. (READ MORE)
Taliban offensive kills 35 in suicide hit - Taliban forces staged a major counteroffensive over the weekend against Dutch, Australian and Afghan forces, which have been steadily extending their territory in rugged Uruzgan province north of Kandahar. (READ MORE)
Kim Jong-il's health spurs successor talk - Increasingly credible reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is in failing health are raising questions about his continued leadership just as Pyongyang moves to shut down its nuclear-weapons program under a Feb. 13 international agreement. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Greyhawk: Once more into the breach “Okay, how long have I been gone? These days I glance at my watch as often to see what weekday it is, or what day of the month as I do for the actual time. There are two ways to roll into Iraq. The first is the most common from the past few years - you arrive, and work side by side with the person you're relieving for a few days, learn the system and all things that matter, and then he leaves and you've got it. This process is called RIP/TOA - Relieve in Place/Transfer of Authority.” (READ MORE)
The Online Chaplin: Reintegration Tip #2 Messed Up Beyond All Repair “There is an army acronym that chaplain’s aren’t ever suppose to say, so I will just allude to it. It means messed up beyond all repair. If you have been around army folk for more than about a day, I am sure you have heard it. On the phone a couple of days ago my wife said to me, ‘You aren’t coming home that way are you?’” (READ MORE)
Badger 6: From Lost Cause to . . “It is far too early to use a term like victory here in al-Anbar province. I am very cautious and I certainly don't want to read somewhere this ‘Badger 6’ guy said victory was at hand. The truth is undeniable though, from being on the verge of written off as loss to Al Qaeda, al-Anbar has made steady and demonstrable improvement since October of last year.” (READ MORE)
Calvey in Iraq: Remarkable restraint “Greetings from Baghdad! Less hot, but windy and dry still today. I wake up every morning with cottonmouth. Just when you thought you have already ingested enough water, your body tells you otherwise. I have been too busy even to work out the last 3 days. That's not good. I am out and about a lot, especially on trips to the Red Zone, so I am not getting fat, but I like to have a workout routine for overall health.” (READ MORE)
IraqPundit: What Iraqi civilians? It's all about Bush “The latest argument to abandon the Iraqi people comes from two thinkers at the Council on Foreign Relations. Actually, I misspoke. Steven Simon and Ray Takeyh don't even mention the Iraqi people. To the authors of the piece in the Washington Post, civilians are just an inconvenience. We are an annoyance for all those who accuse the Bush administration of complete failure. By now, everyone knows that the United States made some horrendous mistakes in Iraq. I'm not here to defend Bush's errors. But I do take issue with these people who ignore millions of Iraqi civilians.” (READ MORE)
Letters From the Desert: No More Boxes! “Since November I have received over 2,000 boxes valued at over $100,000 to share with the Soldiers here. You have inundated us with beef jerky, twizzlers, shampoo, dvd's and a host of other items. On behalf of all the guys and gals here, THANK YOU! However, my time here is short. We are told to cut off mail 30 days out, and I am near that magic number, Lord willing. So, my time now will be spent packing up, shipping things home, and preparing things for the Chaplain who will follow me.” (READ MORE)
Noah Pollak: Fatahland & Hamastan -- a roundup “Herewith a completely disorganized roundup of reporting and commentary about the past few days’ events in Gaza. Charles Levinson reports from inside Gaza on life in the new Hamastan. He went to observe the vigorous looting of Mohammad Dahlan’s seaside villa. ‘The boy digging up the tree paused and turned to us. “He lives like a king, and we have nothing to eat,” he said, before returning to his work.’” (READ MORE)
Matt Sanchez: Outside the Wire--A day in the Life “The days start off early throughout Iraq. The sun starts to rise just before five in the morning. I'm told that it rains, but for the time I've been here, I've never seen a cloud in the sky, except for billowy shapes of fine dust. Marine firepower is the only thing keeping insurgents at bay. Each time before they leave ‘home’, the Marines snap into condition one: bolt cocked and round in chamber.” (READ MORE)
Greyhawk: To Raise “Wander into a local higher HQ building near here (and I suspect this is true of more than one) and one of the first things you'll see is a memorial to the fallen, backdropped by a continuously scrolling slideshow with photos and information on Division's latest casualties of war. The faces represent a cross section of America, many are heartbreakingly young, and many of those who aren't leave young children behind. Each day new fathers without sons, and sons without fathers. Look hard enough at the screens and you'll see your own face looking back.” (READ MORE)
LTC Rich Phillips: Week 21--Winning the War “Well, we have our youngest patient yet. I don't think they get much younger. This little boy's mother was shot in the abdomen. We saved the mom and delivered the baby, who suffered a minor wound from the bullet. Mom and baby are doing fine, and my staff is enjoying caring for a newborn baby. I don't know why anyone would think we are losing this war. From my foxhole, it looks like we are winning the war in Afghanistan. I know that's not what the news reports, but I have found that there is a disconnect between what the news reports and the reality I see on the ground in Afghanistan.” (READ MORE)
Michael Yon: Death or Glory IV of IV "Few things are as reliably deceptive as appearance. If one of our jet pilots must eject, he might land out here among someone’s camels. I recall an officer talking about one of our helicopters crashing in Mosul, where local Iraqis were the first to the scene, and tried to help our people. Of course, sometimes the opposite occurs. The point is these people who live different lives and have different religions are not all out here plotting ways to kill us." (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Paul Greenberg: Is This Congress or Parliament? “Where do these people think they are, the House of Commons? The other day the U.S. Senate, sometimes laughingly referred to as the World's Greatest Deliberative Body, considered a motion of no confidence in the country's attorney general.” (READ MORE)
Donald Lambro: Pork-barrel Democratz Feeling the Heat “The Democrats, flush from their 2006 election gains, took over Congress in January, promising to end the legislative stalemate and pass a sweeping agenda for reform. Nearly six months later, they have backpedaled on their promises of reform; they've made little progress on major legislation; their job-approval ratings have taken a nosedive; and there's talk for the first time that House Democrats could lose seats to the Republicans in 2008.” (READ MORE)
Robert D. Novak: Bush's Veto Strategy “Addressing a Republican fund-raising dinner at the Washington Convention Center last Wednesday night, President Bush declared: ‘If the Democrats want to test us, that's why they give the president the veto. I'm looking forward to vetoing excessive spending, and I'm looking forward to having the United States Congress support my veto.’” (READ MORE)
Rich Lowry: Suicide John “Journalists spent months explaining how Sen. John McCain's stalwart support of the Iraq War would sink him in the Republican presidential primaries -- and it didn't. Then, they swooned over McCain's performance in a New Hampshire debate where he vigorously defended the Senate immigration bill -- and his numbers have been falling ever since.” (READ MORE)
Star Parker: A detached NAACP in crisis “The recent announcement by the NAACP of a major retrenchment due to funding shortfalls received brief coverage and got scant attention.” (READ MORE)
Dinesh D'Souza: Now what about those Duke professors “Nifong seems to be suffering from Recovering Southerner Syndrome. This is the ailment, first named on this blog, in which Southerners feel so guilty about slavery and segregation that they perform undignified backward somersaults to prove that they are ‘not really Southern.’” (READ MORE)
La Shawn Barber: Nifong’s Swan Song “Last year, an obscure prosecutor from North Carolina made a decision that would turn him into a national pariah and end his 28-year legal career.” (READ MORE)
Mike S. Adams: Homie-phobia “The other day, a guy at work was telling me about another university employee who has been siphoning gas from one of the university vehicles. It’s understandable that he’d want to steal gas. In the wake of this Republican ‘war for oil’ gas prices have never been higher.” (READ MORE)
Ken Connor: Thompson, Torts, and True Conservatism “Fred Thompson has not officially entered the race for President of the United States, yet already he is being assailed by Republican bluebloods who want preferential treatment in America's civil justice system. Thompson's crime? He was once a (gasp!) trial lawyer who supports equal justice for all.” (READ MORE)
Armstrong Williams: Father's Day “ In our world today, we are faced with many male role model figures who govern our country, our religion, or our family. All of these men have in some way influenced our beliefs and lives, may it be the laws and rules they create, or the strength with which they lead our families. As we celebrate Father's Day and the men that have played a role in our lives, we should also reflect upon the Heavenly Father and His work in this world.” (READ MORE)
Walter Olson: The Great American Pants Suit “When attorney Roy Pearson filed suit demanding $67 million from the Chung family, whose Washington dry cleaners had mishandled his pair of trousers, he must have felt he was sitting pretty. Menacing a merchant who's annoyed you with terrifyingly high legal penalties--that's the way to show who wears the pants, right?” (READ MORE)
John Fund: Card Tricks “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided to hold a vote this Wednesday on perhaps the most unpopular element of the Democratic agenda. The Employee Free Choice Act has already passed the House, but now it faces real hurdles in the Senate because, contrary to the name, it undermines workplace democracy. Under the so-called card-check bill, a company would no longer have the right to demand a secret-ballot election to certify a union, thus stripping 140 million American workers of the right to decide in private whether to organize.” (READ MORE)
WSJ: Hillary's Portfolio “Bill and Hillary Clinton disclosed last week that they have sold all of their stock holdings -- worth tens of millions -- and put that money in the bank. The stated goal is to avoid the ‘appearance of a conflict of interest’ as Senator Clinton campaigns for the White House.” (READ MORE) *Reg Req*
A Soldier's Mind: Frustrated Soldier Speaks His Mind About Media “This soldier, on the front lines, tells it like he sees it, about the media’s reporting of the war. To say that he’s frustrated is to put it mildly. He talks about the frustration of knowing that they’re making progress and killing enemies, only to turn on the news and not see that reported, but instead seeing coverage of nothing but things, that in his mind and the mind of the majority of the Troops, does nothing but embolden the enemy.” (READ MORE)
American Ranger: No Safe Havens for Terrorists “It’s always been hard for me to agree with a Democrat, even when he’s only ‘sort of’ a Democrat. Independent/former Democrat Joe Lieberman is on the money when he says a military strike against Iran should be considered in response to that rogue nation’s support of attacks on Americans in Iraq. I would argue that the same reasoning justifies attacks on training areas/safe havens in Syria and Pakistan. While it’s probably not a great idea to advertise such an option, we are at a crossroads in the world where everyone with their head in the sand must look at the reality that is facing us.” (READ MORE)
Big Dog: Remember, They Support the Troops “The Democrats support the troops and how dare anyone suggest otherwise. Just because they are trying to bring them home in defeat and vote against money for their mission does not, in any way, indicate that they do not have the utmost respect for our men and women in uniform. They said they support them now leave it alone. This does not apply to military officers, it would seem. Those who support the war and who are serving in high level positions are now coming under fire from the left.” (READ MORE)
Dafydd: Even MSM Agrees: Barely Started Counterinsurgency On a Roll! “The elite media doesn't realize it yet, but they have given the new counterinsurgency strategy the best review they possibly could -- by admitting that, though it has barely begun, we already now ‘have full control’ of 40% of Baghdad (our target), plus an additional 30% somewhat under control but not fully, leaving only 30% fully in insurgent hands. In other words, Baghdad is now 40% white, 30% pink, and 30% red. Not bad for a ‘surge’ that just began operations this week:” (READ MORE)
Uncle Jimbo @ Blackfive: Islamic civil war- Secular moderates v. Islamists “Yesterday I proposed a grand alliance to save Palestine, which involved raising the stakes by having Israel and the US lead in legitimizing Fatah and marginalizing Hamas to Gaza where they may well consume themselves. This seems to be actual US policy and with some backing from Old Europe and even Egypt and other moderate Arab states. Nobody really wants Hamas running things elections be damned.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Democrats gave up on democracy? “Have Democrats given up on democracy? This question is raised by Ronald Asmus, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs during the Clinton administration. People may recall that Clinton was into nation-building, which Gov. George Bush scoffed at during his presidential bid.” (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: (Video) Biden, Iran and emboldening the enemy “Appearing on This Week with George Stephanolopous Sunday, Senator and presidential candidate Joe Biden said that Iran is waging war on the United States…Biden’s answer would be unremarkable, reasonable even, if he hadn’t blamed Bush for Iran’s actions and said things on his own that have helped pave the way for Iran’s war against over the past few years.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: (Video) Petraeus, McConnell not quite eye to eye about surge plans “What’s going to happen after September? Petraeus refuses to tip his hand but does acknowledge that the surge won’t have accomplished its task by the time he delivers his progress report to Congress. McConnell’s coy too but hints that everyone anticipates a new strategy with different troop levels come the fall and that it’s probably going to look an awful lot like Baker-Hamilton:” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Pixie Dust, Please “Petraeus: War will not magically end in September. Counter-insurgency takes time. Iran and Syria are our enemies and want us to fail. That would be bad. Pols: But you promised. Give abandonment a chance. Bizarre military and political theories induced:” (READ MORE)
DJ Drummond: Some Thoughts on the Republican Field “I was watching ‘Meet the Press’ this morning, and it was nothing surprising. This morning, they were discussing the 2008 Presidential elections, and divided the discussion, reasonably enough, into the Republican and Democrat fields. They only discussed the major candidates, so I am afraid there was no mention of Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, or Albus Dumbledore. Where the discussion left balance and approach MSM norms, was the way the press panel discussed Republicans as a whole, and how they discussed Democrats as a whole.” (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: The Upcoming Budget Wars “If you got bored with Beltway politics in the first six veto-free years of the Bush administration, buckle your seatbelts -- because the ride is about to get bumpy indeed. Congress has twelve appropriations bills coming to the White House, and three-quarters of them look ripe for vetoes, as President Bush has decided to try fiscal responsibility in his last two years in office:” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express: LCpl Justin Sharratt On His Way to Dismissal of Charges! “What an incredible and celebratory day! Lt. Col Paul Ware, the hearing officer for Justin's article 32 hearing said today that the evidence presented does not support the charges!!!!! Here's the news from the NC Times... ‘The officer in charge of a military hearing expressed serious doubts Friday about the government's prosecution of Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, one of three Marines charged in the November 2005 shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha. Lt. Col. Paul Ware, who will recommend whether to send Sharratt to trial, challenged the prosecution, saying the government's theory of the case does not warrant the three counts of unpremeditated murder filed against Sharratt in December.’” (READ MORE)
Euphoric Reality: Haditha and the Media “I will be putting up some insider information later today about the ongoing Article 32 for one of the Marines in the Haditha case. The NCIS testimony was, in short, a joke. What a bunch of incompetent fools. At any rate, I’ll be bringing you some of that later today. In the meantime, take a moment to read this article by Phil Brennan from Newsmax. ‘When it comes to the November 2005 Haditha incident, which the media has characterized as a wanton massacre of 24 innocent civilians, it seems it is the truth that has been massacred — by the news media.’” (READ MORE)
Confederate Yankee: Liberal Senators Seek To Equate .50 BMG Rifles To Poison Gas, Grenades, Mines “If ever there has been a bill introduced in Congress to ban something based completely on fear and in the complete absence of any actual problem, S.1331, the so-called ‘Long-Range Sniper Rifle Safety Act of 2007’ may be a perfect example. The bill, introduced to the Senate on May 8 by Dianne Feinstein and co-sponsored by Senators Kennedy, Levin, Menendez, Mikulski, Clinton, Durbin, Boxer, Lautenberg, Shumer and Dodd (Democrats all), seeks to classify all firearms chambered for .50 BMG and similar calibers as ‘destructive devices’ under the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the National Firearms Act of 1934.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: The Road to Hamastan “The Palestinian Civil War in the Gaza Strip has ended with Hamas defeating Fatah, its long time rival. The fighting over the past six days resulted in over 110 reported deaths, and these are the numbers that can be confirmed. The highly motivated Hamas fighters immediately seized upon the victory to declare its Islamic State, with all the trappings of a strict interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law. By the few first hand accounts available from inside the Gaza Strip, the situation has degenerated into a cross of Lord of the Flies and Escape from New York.” (READ MORE)
Fjordman: Does Global Warming Cause Rape Waves? “Helle Klein, a former member of the board of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (SSU) and until recently the political editor-in-chief of Aftonbladet, Sweden’s largest newspaper, has stated that ‘If the debate is that there are problems caused by refugees and immigrants, we don’t want it.’ Sweden is in the midst of the worst rape wave in Scandinavian history. Judging from numbers from neighboring countries Norway and Denmark, this is probably intimately related to recent mass immigration, especially from Muslim countries.” (READ MORE)
Baron Bodissey: A Lethal Tantrum “As you may recall, back in March we reported on a little tantrum thrown by the autonomer of Nørrebro, a district of Copenhagen. It seems the youths were a little bit upset and found it necessary to burn some cars and throw things at the police in order to express their displeasure. ‘Autonomer’ is the Danish term for a hodge-podge of anarchists, Trotskyites, radical Greens and all the other players we see in the anti-war and anti-globalist demonstrations that erupt periodically across the Western world. Here in the USA it would be International ANSWER filling the same role.” (READ MORE)
GayPatriotWest: Blaming Bush — and the West — for all the World’s Ills “Yesterday, while at the gym, I was amused to see an episode of the Chris Matthews Show, amused because while he had a panel representing ostensibly diverse political points of views, the panelists spent the entire show (at least the part I watched) effectively calling the President of the United States a failure. As I watched, I wondered (yet again) if I would have become more critical of the president earlier in his term had his opponents not been so determined to prove him wrong in all his endeavors, including accusing him of being dishonest and delighting in the politics of personal destruction.” (READ MORE)
McQ: Someone You Should Know: SFC Jared C. Monti “I think I’ve mentioned that I have to practice these tributes a few hundred times (ok that’s an exaggeration, but you get the idea) before I can do them. Not just to ensure they sound right, but because there’s usually an emotional element to overcome as well. This week was a particularly tough one. It’s about a soldier who was killed in action in Afghanistan, SFC Jared Monti. What made it difficult is he wasn’t written about extensively by the media. So putting the tribute together took some time. I relied heavily on what other soldiers had written about him on a couple of tribute sites. Their words were very emotionally loaded but also told Monti’s story as no one else could. He was a hero in every sense of the word.” (READ MORE)
Right Truth: China, you've got some explaining to do “How is it that a country like China is hosting the Olympic Games? Did anyone do any research into the human rights atrocities in China? Do we really want to support China in this? And how will the free Western media be allowed to work when they cover the Olympic Games? Will they be free to report everything they see? John E. Carey, Mort Kondracke, James Kennedy Olds, and Richard McDermott have written an excellent article on China, ‘Chinese Government Staff: Happy News President Hu Jintao; We Ready For Happy Time Olympics!’, at Peace and Freedom. I will give you a pre-publication look at the article and a few quotes.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: Immigrants Would Be Wise To Take Arnold's Advice “I'm not the biggest Arnold Schwarzenegger fan, but when the man who could fairly be called the most successful living American immigrant gives other immigrants advice about how to succeed in America, it would seem wise to pay attention: ‘Schwarzenegger, who immigrated to the U.S. from Austria, recently told a group of Hispanic journalists that immigrants should stay away from Spanish-language television, books and newspapers.’” (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped: Gaza's Clarifications “As has been pointed out by many, events in Gaza have offered a ‘clarifying moment.’ Gaza will now be led by an avowedly Jew-hating terrorist group, part of an alliance of genocidal terror groups and states, dedicated to the destruction of the state of Israel and the imposition of a narrow and vicious form of Islam upon as many as they are able to cow and control. Clearly, the HISH alliance (Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, Hamas) see the tide of history moving in their direction; the next few years are going to be difficult for those of us who believe in tolerance and liberty.” (READ MORE)
Dean Barnett: The Contemptible Harry Reid (Also: Sargent Peppers Nutroots Marching Band!) “This whole Harry Reid-dumping-on-the-Generals thing has entered the realm of the surreal. As you may recall, the Politico reported that Reid said during a conference call with liberal bloggers that Peter Pace was ‘incompetent.’ What was odd about this was that none of said liberal bloggers reported the comment, apparently doing Reid a solid and showing sounder political judgment than the Senate Majority Leader. Let’s not forget that the Nutroots are still looking for ‘Fighting Dems’ to run for office.” (READ MORE)
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